Industry Focus: How Wonderware Software Helps Address the Unique Challenges of the Water and Waste Water Market

by Steve Garbrecht, Wonderware Marketing Program Manager

Since 2004, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) has conducted the State of the Industry survey to take the pulse of the water industry in North America, compiling detailed and comprehensive data about critical issues and concerns. The most recent AWWA State of the Industry Report identifies the top issues AWWA members see today as critical in the operation of water and waste water systems.

This article lists the top five issues, in order of importance as expressed by AWWA members, and how Wonderware software can be of assistance in addressing them.

Wonderware provides software to help industrial operations run more efficiently and at lower costs. While it can't solve all of the problems the industry is facing, such as finding new sources of water, it can be of great benefit in assisting to address all the major concerns in the industry.

Issue #1 – Regulatory Factors

Wonderware insures the critical data that is required to generate the necessary regulatory reporting is collected and stored regardless of local networking issues that may arise. Wonderware has developed its revolutionary System Platform product such that in the event of a network or server failure, the data is stored locally and then forwarded to the Historian when the problems have been corrected. Loss of historical data is not readily accepted by the regulatory agencies so utilizing Wonderware software prevents this from occurring thereby protecting the Water/Wastewater operator from the potential fines and penalties that such data loss may generate.

Wonderware software is also built with the ability to easily extract data from control devices and systems and then transform this data into meaningful information. This new information is easily assembled into reports using Microsoft® tools such as Excel, Word or SharePoint Web reports. Wonderware software is completely open, allowing the extraction of information using open interfaces such as MS SQL. These reports are completely customizable to meet any regulatory agency's format or delivery method. Reports can also be automatically scheduled and uploaded at a regular frequency. The Wonderware software also provides a long term data archive that can be used to create reports anytime in the future as the need arises.

Issue #2 – Business Factors

On one hand, the financing of repairs, replacements, upgrades and new water systems is becoming a key concern, on the other hand, water districts and municipalities face severe limitations to increase rates. This is further exemplified by the growing imbalance between the cost of operations versus the rates customers are paying for water and waste water services.

Water system operators can choose to pass these rising costs onto consumers, which is typically rot with unfavorable political implications, or find ways to reduce operating costs to remain more competitive. Included in these costs is the engineering and maintenance of the SCADA/HMI system, which must continually be modified to include new infrastructure changes that have been undertaken. Wonderware has developed its software to allow customers to develop "standardized" engineering and graphics that can be utilized again and again without the need for re-development thereby saving countless hours of engineering time and the associated costs. By utilizing standards within their operations, customers have discovered many ways to reduce costs and improve operational effectiveness.

Issue #3 – Source Water Supply

With growing population and demand across the world, new sources of water are harder to come by and in many cases existing ground water resources are being depleted. This is creating a continued long term shortage. At the same time, existing source water protection is coming to the forefront.

In many regions and municipalities Water operators are required to provide a report that identifies the amount of water put into the system versus the amount of water returned for treatment. This report identifies the water loss through leaking mains and is often part of the evaluation that determines what infrastructure improvements must be undertaken. Wonderware software is designed to monitor process variables in real time so that operators can easily determine through both live and historical data where they are experiencing water loss — right to the particular main that is causing the problem if needed.

While Wonderware can't make water appear where there is none today, it can help you conserve water resources and assist with the exploitation of new resources. This includes assisting with the control and automation of new technologies such as desalinization and expanded reclamation and treatment facilities. Wonderware software is recognized across the System Integrator community as a powerful technology platform for automation and information applications. Because of its flexibility, Wonderware software can be molded into any type of application. Also communicating with any automation system, database or business system isn't a problem with Wonderware software.

Issue #4 – Aging and Failing Infrastructure

Many water systems in bigger cities are getting older and starting to fail. A sub-component of this aging infrastructure is the SCADA Systems installed during the 1980's and 1990's when the advent of PLCs and lower priced HMI software became viable for water system operations. These systems may not be failing, but are becoming less and less valuable as increased operational monitoring and business integration requirements face the industry.

Wonderware software provides a choice in augmenting existing automation systems which does not require ripping out and replacing aging equipment. Wonderware software can be cost effectively installed on top of existing PLCs and HMI products to provide more modern operation management systems that provide an advanced visualization of process information, remote monitoring, easy reporting, alarm detection and incidence avoidance.

Issue #5 – Workforce Related Factors

It is estimated that in the next ten years, 40% of the qualified workers in the water industry are expected to retire, leaving the industry with a severe gap in operating experience. This results in the need to create a higher level of prestige for workers to attract new personnel while at the same time controlling salary and training costs. Also, as part of this mass exodus of the post-war baby boomer generation from the workforce, along with them goes their combined industry knowledge and operations savvy.

Wonderware has designed its software so customers can develop standards for both engineering and operational control so each and every application looks the same and more importantly is operationally the same. This is critically important when faced with having to train new operations personnel. With Wonderware software the operator only needs to learn how the system works for one facility and they then know how the application works across all facilities, thereby reducing the cost and time required for training.

Wonderware software is extremely powerful yet very easy to use. Operations people can easily and remotely control and monitor the status of operational assets and equipment utilizing standard displays. By creating an environment that is advanced and easy to work in, new employees are much more satisfied with their jobs, which have been shown to lead to improved moral and retention. Furthermore, existing operations best practices can be captured and enforced before knowledgeable employees exit the workforce. As a result, operations standards can be maintained without the need for more skilled personnel.

Conclusion

Wonderware software is very useful for the Water and Waste Water operations. It is also an excellent tool set and enabler for SIs and VARs to utilize in building operations management solutions, be they HMI, SCADA or Information Management and Reporting solutions. With 20 years of experience in the software industry and over 400,000 licenses in the field, you can count on Wonderware to deliver software that helps to solve many industry challenges today, as well as into the future.