PROFILE
The City of Fort Wayne, Indiana provides wastewater collection service for approximately 250,000 people. In 2007 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) issued a consent decree to the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana to improve water quality and prevent negative effects from CSO events by achieving over a 90% reduction in these overflows by the end of 2025.
One component of Fort Wayne’s comprehensive CSO event reduction program is Telog’s wireless CSO monitoring system. Telog’s alarming and report generating capabilities provide City of Fort Wayne, Indiana with the real-time alerts they need and also generate reports required to ensure consent decree compliance.
BENEFITS
Real Time Reporting - Fort Wayne’s Telog’s wireless CSO monitoring system is comprised of a battery operated recording telemetry unit with cellular modem and Telog Enterprise Software. Prior to installing the Telog system, field personnel would download data from all meters once a week so if an overflow event occurred after the download, it would not be seen until the following week. Now, with the Telog system, current conditions can be easily viewed in Enterprise or alerted to via an alarm text and/or email.
Streamline Data Collection - A common challenge for utilities is how to gather, analyze, and use data from different systems such as plant SCADA, metering, USGS information, etc. The City of Fort Wayne, Indiana knew it would be critical to get all these data sources into one system. Telog Enterprise provides a common platform for collecting data from these different systems, analyzing it, and generating the reports that City of Fort Wayne, Indiana does on an ongoing basis.
Security - Utilities are looking for a more secure way to bring data into their networks. Verizon Wireless worked with Telog and the City to build a private network for all the Telog devices. The benefit of a private network is that it is a wireless extension of Fort Wayne’s own IP network so the devices are not accessible from the regular internet and they can be controlled and managed as needed.
CONCLUSION
In June of 2015, the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana had record rainfall amounts which caused a lot of flooding throughout the system. In the past it would be a guessing game as to where pumps should be placed to be the most effective. The Telog wireless wastewater collection monitoring system helped Ft. Wayne see where overflows were occurring so pumps could be strategically placed in the local sewer. The pumps directed water into the interceptor systems so backups could be avoided.
