As Americans, it can be all too easy to take the availability of good, clean water for granted. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and our world's focus on hand washing and disinfecting, this resource has never been more critical.
Local municipalities take care of their community water needs by investing in water treatment and wastewater management facilities. These complexes are primarily designed by our civil engineering partners, but it's our pleasure as mechanical and electrical engineers to support our colleagues by designing essential site power, electrical systems to support equipment, domestic plumbing systems and HVAC for buildings.
The A/E/C industry is looking into which projects will be delayed, re-prioritized, or lose funding now and in the months to come. Federal, State and local governments are doing the same, while also indicating renewed investment in critical infrastructure. Water, and it's availability for use by citizens coast-to-coast, is as critical as it gets. We look forward to doing our part to keep it flowing.
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City of Gillette Water System Improvements
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Wyoming may not be known for it's population density, but with surges in several mining industries in the state over the past 20 years, many communities have grown. One of these is Gillette, the fourth largest city in Wyoming, which has seen it's population increase by more than 50 percent since 2000.
This influx obviously has created the need for expanded infrastructure.
Since 2012, West Plains Engineering has worked with civil engineer DOWL to supported the City of Gillette
on more than $2.5 million in water system upgrades to support the community growth. This relationship began with comprehensive Level I and Level II feasibility studies of the existing system, which identified and prioritized improvements. to the southwest part of the city as Phase 1.
Our initial focus was on the southwest part of the city. This $2.3 million phase included new booster pump stations and control valve buildings. The booster pumps and a backup generator were also designed with a new Adjustable Frequency Drive. In addition to HVAC, domestic plumbing and conventional power and lighting systems, the project also featured upgrades and expansion of the existing SCADA system, which utilizes both land line and radio communication links.
Since then, we have also added a new booster pump station in the city's Pineview Subdivision, and two new water control buildings in the Stone Gate subdivision. Our team is currently working on another water control building for the city, and Phase 4 of the planned system improvements.
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Daren Beckloff, P.E. is an electrical engineer and manager of the WPE Power Division. Daren has more than 25 years of experience in utility engineering, and has been one of our lead engineers for water system improvements for municipal clients across Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska.
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Strategic Direction Report
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By: Daren Beckloff, P.E. | Power Division Manager
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It’s a common question, and in an industry chalk full of acronyms, an understandable one. SCADA stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. The term is thrown around somewhat loosely, but essentially, it’s about control of equipment. On the water and wastewater side, it usually pertains to control of motors and pumps, and treatment of water/wastewater.
A SCADA system is usually comprised of multiple components including the programmable logic controller (PLC), remote terminal unit (RTU), telemetry, and control devices. The PLC is the brains of the system. It takes all the data and stores it or sends out signals based on what was received. An RTU can house a PLC or the telemetry system (how the system communicates over radio, Ethernet, fiber, or other means). The main SCADA system is usually placed on a computer either in the facility or at a remote location. This typically includes a human machine interface (HMI) so the user can check and see how the system is performing either real time or at a historical point. The output involves diagrams and graphs of the system and its performance, as shown on a visual screen, see diagram above.
Remote access via the internet through a webpage is one of the most common features that today’s SCADA systems can employ and that clients need for flexibility. Many of our municipal clients, including the City of Sturgis, Gillette, Sheridan, Rolling Hills and Rapid City, either have this capability or are in the process of upgrading their systems. Of course, the issue this potentially presents is security. The SCADA system must have ample firewalls and password protections to prevent system hacking.
Another topic of discussion is whether to have the SCADA system hardware on site or on the cloud. Cloud-based SCADA systems are becoming more popular with clients because they don’t need to have separate computers to house the system and maintain data storage. This can all be done by a particular SCADA system software provider that will maintain the system and provide off-site storage for a subscription fee.
Radio telemetry is common for municipal and rural water systems due to the limited communication networks available in these areas. Radio telemetry has it limits based on line of sight and other geographical obstacles, along with bandwidth. Path studies are conducted to see if transmitters/receivers can communicate between sites, what kind of antenna is needed and at what height it must be placed.
Alarm notification is also an important part of a SCADA system. It can be a separate piece of software that will notify operators of alarms remotely via telemetry either via email, text message or voice message. Software can be programmed with a number of contacts to message during an alarm event. This is helpful for remote water sites that are not typically manned.
SCADA systems play an important role in water and wastewater systems. They make the operation run as intended, while also monitoring the system for data, trends and alarms to improve performance. Ultimately, they utilize technology to provide greater control and information on infrastructure operations – giving utilities personnel confidence that their system is running reliably.
Download Other Strategic Direction Reports
engineer-authored white papers from West Plains Engineering.
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Big Time Systems for Small Town Water
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Town of Rolling Hills SCADA
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Team
Civil Engineering Professionals Inc. (CEPI)
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The Town of Rollings Hills in central Wyoming is a small incorporated community of just under 500 people. In 2016, our electrical team worked with civil engineering firm Civil Engineering Professionals Inc. (CEPI) on a project to design a new SCADA system to serve five (5) existing well sites and one (1) new tank site.
West Plains also provided engineering design for the electrical service to the new well house and connections to the pumps, chlorination equipment, and other devices in the building. Next, we developed upgrades or modifications to the existing electrical services at the remaining three (3) existing well sites as deemed necessary or required for any pump upgrades, the addition of a chlorination system and SCADA equipment.
Notably, at the new tank site, we utilized a new solar service to feed all devices and SCADA equipment.
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Andrew Maxwell is an electrical designer in our Casper office and has been with West Plains since 2008. During this time, he has worked closely with Wyoming civil firms to improve and develop the water infrastructure in more than a dozen communities.
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Andrew Maxwell
Title:
Electrical Designer
Years with WPE:
11
Home Team:
Wife: Becca
Kids: Cyler, Ava & Alexa
Pictured: Andrew Maxwell (right) presents a $1,000 donation from WPE to the Knights of Columbus Coats for Kids drive.
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Aside from a few years spent in Rapid City at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology where he got his electrical engineering degree, Andrew Maxwell has lived in Casper, WY his entire life. He's engrained in the community, and dedicated to helping not just Casper, but all of his home state, thrive.
Professionally, Andrew has been the lead electrical designer on a large number of street lighting and water distribution projects to improve the infrastructure for communities across Wyoming. That includes more than 15 water and wastewater projects supporting a dozen different towns.
He also routinely works with the City of Casper and several school districts in the area to repair and upgrade the facilities serving local government and education.
But Andrew's community involvement goes much deeper than electrical designs. He's active in the local arm of Knights of Columbus, participating in volunteer work and fundraising year-round for the organization. In fact, thanks to his nomination, WPE donated $1,000 to the group's Coats for Kids drive in 2019 through our corporate giving program.
Andrew also gives his time as a coach for the Casper Soccer Club. He and his wife Becca have three children, and their son Cyler plays for the organization with Andrew coaching the U12 Boys team.
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Upgrading to UV Technology
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City of Volga Wastewater Treatment Facility Improvements
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The City of Volga, South Dakota lies straight west of I-90 and the college town of Brookings, which is home to South Dakota State University. With a population under 1,500, Volga is typical of many rural communities in the region which focus mostly on agriculture and small business. Maintaining infrastructure to support these industries, and the people who work in them, is an essential role for local government.
In 2017, West Plains Engineering worked with Banner Associates on a fairly substantial improvement to the city's wastewater treatment facility. Over time, the existing complex had become outdated and was due for an upgrade, which would not only allow for the City's growth projections, but also help to meet the anticipated changes to their discharge permit.
The project included a new pre-treatment building, as well as replacements and improvements within the existing 30-year-old blower building. Notably, the City also elected to add a UV system within an outdoor channel prior to the discharge to aid in the changes for permitting
(photo inset)
. UV systems are generally installed for disinfecting biologically treated wastewater in channels before discharge to the environment. UV treatment assures that the treated water meets USEPA standards. Our team brought 480V power to the site, and designed for the equipment loads not only for the UV system itself, but also for the blower motors and building needs.
Mechanically, the pre-treatment and blower buildings both involved special attention be paid to the heating and ventilation systems. For example, the process room in the pre-treatment building included an air-to-air heat recovery unit to maintain a temperature of 50 degrees, while the new blowers in the blower room drew air from outside to safely ventilate the space.
Finally, to assure easy operation of the facility, our team helped upgrade the Motor Control Center and assure power requirements were met for instrumentation and controls equipment.
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Mike Fisher, P.E. is a an Electrical Engineer and Sioux Falls Office Manager. He has been with West Plains Engineering since 2013 and a consulting engineer in eastern South Dakota for more than 30 years.
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West Plains Engineering News
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Our focus throughout this pandemic has been on caring for and supporting our employees, families, communities and clients. We've shared our Taking Care of Business initiatives and messages with you along the way, and are so grateful for the kind words and support you've given back.
We'll continue the conversation going forward, and hope you'll keep in touch. In the meantime, check out past issues of our weekly email and Our Perspective stories from our staff by clicking below.
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Isaac Anderson, Mechanical Engineer
Anthony Barella, CAD Technician
Asa Brocar, CAD Technician
Marty Christensen, Principal
David Clark, Mechanical Engineer
Kelli Crouse, Marketing Director
Sara Norstrom, Electrical Designer
Neal Schmid, CAD Technician
Darrin Tille, Mechanical Designer
Mike Fisher, Office Manager
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One Chili Champ to Rule Them All
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“Acts of sabotage, treachery, or general sneakiness will result in immediate disqualification.”
So stated the official rules of the Sioux Falls Chili Cookoff, which was held throughout the month of February (before social distancing came into play). When it comes to chili – we don’t mess around.
The bracket style contest had a total of 10 entries spread across two rounds. CAD Technician Jeff Metzger (above right) stamped his ticket to the finals in Round One, followed by Electrical Engineer Jonathan Kennedy (above left) and Electrical Designer Todd Baack (above center) sharing the top spot in Round Two. But in the end, there can only be one chili champion.
Congratulations to Todd Baack on being crowned the 2020 West Plains Engineering Chili Cookoff Champ!
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All chili was given a blind taste test and scored based on several factors
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Our high security prep kitchen.
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Rapid City, SD | Sioux Falls, SD | Bismarck, ND | Casper, WY | Cedar Rapids, IA
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