Water Treatment Control System

When the town of Denison, TX decided to replace their aging SCADA system at the Randell Water Treatment Plant, they gave themselves a budget of $100K. For a growing town of just over 20,000 residents, that money was highly sought after for many municipal needs, from roads to employees.But a new SCADA system was also badly needed.  Not only was their system out of date, but it was also overly complex for their city employees to manage.

When programming needed to be altered in any way, they were forced to pay a specialist, who understood ladder logic programming, to come in from out of town. This was both time consuming and expensive. Angus Evans, Water Plant Superintendent in Denison, knew they needed a system they could operate and program themselves.

The Right Fit

After doing some research, Evans found ControlByWeb's X-600M Expandable I/O system that not only was easy to program in-house, but one that also worked with their existing equipment. The cost of the system would also come in significantly under budget. The platform was a perfect fit. The X-600M's no-code programming, open communications, and small price tag was exactly what they needed. Evans currently uses seven X-600M controllers and various expansion modules to monitor and control Denison's sedimentation-filtration treatment system, rated to treat up to 12.8 million gallons per day.The total price tag for their new control system came in around $10K; about 90% under budget.

“We use the X-600M from ControlByWeb as both our process controllers and SCADA in our municipal water supply treatment facility. They’re easier to set up and program than a Ladder Logic PLC and their graphing feature gives us what we need to monitor every parameter at our water plant. We created our control system using the X-600M for around $10k as opposed to the $100k that our city had budgeted, and we no longer need to call in a ladder logic programmer to adjust our controls"

Agnus Evans, Water Plant Superintendent

The new control system was installed in the fall of 2017. Several years later, Evans is still happy. The controllers have proven reliable and easy to program. With the X-600M, his crew can monitor and control a variety of I/O points such as:

• Pressure
• pH
• Turbidity
• Level
• Flow
• Chlorine residual
• Pump speed
• Motor Speed
• Motor Temperature
• Motor Run Status
• Valve Position
• Pressure Switches
• Limit Switches

The controllers have been reliable, the support from ControlByWeb has been awesome, and there is nothing proprietary about their software or communications that limits what we can do. We’re able to monitor any 4-20mA or digital signal so we can do all the pump, motor, and valve control storage process.

Common water treatment control problems

• Expensive controls - Industrial control systems are prohibitively expensive for smalll and rural communities, resulting in funding difficulties & delays
• Too Expensive or Unreliable - Most community water systems lack the technical staff to program control logic using code languages, making it more expensive and time consuming to maintain control systems 
• Limited Use-Cases - A proprietary system don’t always work with existing computer, networking, or process equipment. Otherwise unnecessary upgrades add to the cost of ownership of these systems 

ControlByWeb solutions

• Inexpensive solutions - Our industrial grade I/O devices are reliable, but very affordable. Their expandable, modular nature means you only buy what you need
  
• Simples to use - Our no-code task builder makes set-up and programming easy for nearly anyone. Our programmable I/O controllers don’t require a programmer
  
• Open, non proprietary - Embedded web server for setup, monitoring and control along with open communication protocols like modbus TCP/IP mean you won’t have to upgrade your equipment