Design/Build Upgrades to the Boothbay Harbor Sewer District's Pump Station Monitoring System
Weston & Sampson worked with the Boothbay Harbor Sewer District and a control system integrator/panel shop for design-build upgrades to the District’s outdated pump station monitoring. The District’s system consists of 18 pump stations and 17 miles of sewer and force main, collecting approximately 0.4 mgd of wastewater for treatment at the 0.6-mgd capacity sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treatment facility prior to discharge to the tidewaters of Boothbay Harbor Bay. Pump stations are duplex systems, with one triplex system.
The project was initiated to address communication issues due to high-power voice radios, provide control options in addition to monitoring, develop a standard for future pump stations, and provide a PC Windows-based graphical user interface with the latest SCADA software and hardware.
The project began with a radio path study and a short design phase to select equipment, document process control and monitoring functionality, and design the panels. Panel design was conducted by the integrator. Final project phases included panel fabrication, programming, radio installation, and testing.
Each pump station was retrofitted with a new radio panel consisting of a programmable logic controller (PLC), radio, antenna, and operator interface to monitor and control the pumps and associated instruments. Two stations also received new pump control panels. The District has a wide variety of level control systems and pump types, so the design was flexible to allow monitoring of current systems while providing features to enable future standardization as the level systems are upgraded.
In addition to new radios, antennae, and panels at the pump stations, a new SCADA control station with Citect Software, master radio and antenna, and autodialer was installed and configured at the wastewater treatment facility. The SCADA system hardware was designed to incorporate SBR treatment system controls in the future.
The design-build approach resulted in cost savings and other benefits. Engineering fees were reduced due to the integrator and engineer working together during design. No bidding costs were incurred, and the District was directly involved in product selection, process control design, and scheduling.
- Design/build
- Licensed radio
- Coastal community
- Pump station controls upgrade
- Citect SCADA software
- Sixnet PLCs