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Water and Sanitation Districts Use Wireless Data Radios to Monitor Water Quality and Safety

ControlGlobal.com
01/16/2013

FreeWave Technologies and Process Control Dynamics, Inc. (PCD Sales) have installed wireless data radios for Parker Water and Sanitation District's communication network.

The radios provide real-time monitoring and transmission of critical data to help ensure high-quality, safe water for more than 17,000 single family equivalents (SFEs) living across 43 square miles of the Parker, Colorado community. Currently, Parker Water and Sanitation District uses FreeWave's HTPlus, FGR Serial radios and FGR2-IO radios.

According to Kirk Magnusson, systems administration manager at Parker Water and Sanitation District, FreeWave's radios were easily integrated into their existing Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) network and can communicate with all of the company's programmable logic controllers (PLCs). "The result is one cohesive system that sends critical data in real-time," said Magnusson.

With the configuration and diagnostics tools that FreeWave offers, personel at Parker Water and Sanitation District  can manage the radios from their desktop. With their old system, if a radio had a communication issue, someone from the team would have to drive out and fix it locally. "The advantages of selecting FreeWave radios have resulted in exceptional reliability and performance, but we also have been especially impressed by FreeWave's around-the-clock customer support," said Mafnusson.

Prior to selecting FreeWave, Parker Water and Sanitation District was looking for a radio provider that could help it achieve reliable wireless data communication with real-time data transmission.  While it had a communication system in place, there was a 10-minute delay in data transmission and the radios it used were incompatible with each other. With the help of PCD Sales and the opportunity to do a path study prior to purchasing FreeWave radios, Parker Water and Sanitation District determined that FreeWave was the best choice for its network. Today, the radios are used for monitoring critical data at its water and wastewater facilities, including tank levels, temperatures, pressures, and pump control.

Parker Water and Sanitation District currently has several FreeWave radio models deployed in the field.