Progressive City Expands Capabilities and Reduces Operating Costs

Midlothian, Texas, one of the fastest growing cities in the state, works hard to stay on the cutting edge of technology to support expansion while keeping costs down. With 12 pump stations and counting, a population on the rise, and a growing realization of the importance of pump reliability, Midlothian turned to RACO Manufacturing and Engineering Company for improved functionality and a more efficient way to monitor the performance of their pump stations.

Technology to-do list
The top priority for the city of Midlothian was obtaining the ability to monitor pump performance on-demand to ensure optimum pump performance and prevent the disastrous effects that can come from a pump problem going unnoticed.

Now that the city has installed RACO’s AlarmAgent.com , a wireless web-based alarm detection and notification system, the city’s staff can review flow rates, start rates and alternations of pump cycles all on-demand. AlarmAgent.com makes monitoring pumps in a lead/lag operation simple, ensuring equal loads and shared wear. (Click here to view graphical performance reports.) The staff can also monitor high and low water level alarm points in wet wells, spotting potential problems before a pump or pump part gets seriously damaged.

For example, if a high-level condition in the wet well were to go unobserved, sewer water could begin backing up into city resident’s basements. This could create costly property damage, and would also violate EPA Clean Water drinking laws. Similarly, if a low-level condition in the wet well went unnoticed, air could enter the pump and cavitate, creating devastating pump damage.

Recently, AlarmAgent.com alerted a city worker to a particular pump inefficiency that turned out to be the result of a mop-head clogged in the pump. This early warning prevented severe pump damage from taking place.

Additionally, by pinpointing specific trouble spots in the morning through the AlarmAgent.com Web site, and only having to check out those specific pumps each day, the city saves a lot of time and frees the staff to do other important city work. Click here to view how the on-demand stats show problems as they occur.

A genuine partnership
Each time a lift station is added in Midlothian, the new standard city procedures dictate that AlarmAgent.com be added as well. The on-demand, SCADA-like capabilities and scalability that AlarmAgent.com provides are exactly what the city of Midlothian needed to gain better control of their pump monitoring. The city’s pumps now perform at their ideal capacity a higher percentage of the time, lowering operating costs and using less energy. Most importantly, the city has greater access to pump flow information for preventing catastrophic failures before they can happen.

Midlothian has developed a genuine partnership with RACO, and views their focus on innovation as a perfect match to the city’s approach of both intelligent budgeting and management of growth.