Project Profile

M340 Lift Station Upgrade

Lift Sation M340 Upgrades City of Huntington Beach

Customer Background

The City of Huntington Beach, located in northwestern Orange County, California, is a full-service residential city with approximately 200,000 residents. The city owns and operates its water utility and wastewater collection system, which serves its citizens. The utility’s assets include sewer lift stations, wells, reservoirs, flood stations, and turnouts for reselling imported water to local cities and agencies. The City has engaged EA through consecutive 3-year professional services agreements to provide SCADA integration and support for its water utility department.

Project Background

The project’s objective is to upgrade the City’s sewer lift stations. This includes standardizing panel drawings and PLC programs, implementing panels and PLCS in new lift stations, and upgrading newer and older sites.

Specifically, EA developed standardized panel drawings and PLC programs as part of the upgrade process for all of the City’s sewer lift stations in order to ensure consistency and improve efficiency across the entire system. In cases where existing lift stations were old and unsuitable for upgrades, the City is constructing new lift stations to replace them. The new lift stations will have the updated PLC programs and panel drawings integrated by EA. So far, one newer lift station and two older ones have been upgraded, with a total of 27 sewer lift stations scheduled for upgrades.

EA Solutions

EA provided a comprehensive solution for the SCADA integration and upgrades of the City’s water utility. The key components of EA’s solution included the PLC programming and panel drawings EA developed that ensured uniformity and efficient operation across all lift stations. Modifications were made to account for any unique aspects of the system, such as in Trinidad Park.

A challenge during the process was to minimize downtime and ensure uninterrupted sewer system operation. EA successfully completed upgrades within three days and despite initial communication lag, EA and the city’s electrician worked seamlessly once both sides were ready. The standardized SAT testing confirmed the successful integration of the PLC programming and panel drawings without any issues.

With the upgrades, the City now has increased visibility into system issues and can troubleshoot and edit the PLC code if necessary. Furthermore, the use of modern technology minimizes hazards associated with older PLC systems. This upgrade empowers the City to address operational challenges proactively. The standardization achieved through EA’s solution improves the efficiency of future upgrades and reduces costs.

Key Insights

-Standardization
-PLC Upgrade

Key Technologies

-Modicon M340s
-Schneider Electric Magelis OIT