Florida Utility Partners With SEL to Protect Aquifer

Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) constructed a wetland pond at Kanapaha Middle School (KMS) to replenish the aquifer with approximately 600,000 gallons of high-quality water and to serve as an environmental education tool for students.

To provide optimal conditions for the wetland, the water level in the pond must be maintained at an average depth of 12 to 18 inches. The ability to automatically control the water level was lost after the pump controller that performed liquid level monitoring stopped communicating with GRU’s SCADA system. GRU needed a robust pump control solution that could easily integrate into the wetland system to maintain its operation and connectivity.

Customer Profile

Customer: Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU)

Location: Gainesville, Florida

Industry: Water and Wastewater

Application: Liquid Level Control

GRU selected the SEL-2411P Pump Automation Controller to replace the faulty controller. The SEL-2411P easily integrated into the KMS wetland system and works well with GRU’s existing radios and equipment to connect to their SCADA system. Using the “time of day” mode of operation, GRU set the SEL-2411P to pump water into the pond at specific times when their operations personnel would be available to handle any issues, such as sinkholes or demand changes. Also, because reclaimed-water customers in Florida irrigate in the early mornings, GRU wanted to ensure that it could meet this competing demand.

By delivering time-stamped data to GRU’s SCADA system with the DNP3 protocol, the SEL-2411P helped operators efficiently troubleshoot system performance issues. This capability was key to identifying problems, like when a motor-operated valve began sticking when commanded to open, which GRU was then able to efficiently resolve.

Results

The pump controller has been reliably monitoring and controlling water levels in the KMS wetland pond since the controller’s installation in 2016. For GRU, addressing challenges with solutions that combine state-of-the-art technology with natural processes is especially valuable. In addition to being fiscally responsible, these solutions require little work to implement and even less to maintain.

GRU is a multiservice utility owned by the City of Gainesville and the fifth largest municipal electric utility in Florida. GRU serves approximately 93,000 retail and wholesale customers in Gainesville and the surrounding areas, offering the following services:

• Electricity
• Natural gas
• Water
• Wastewater
• Telecommunications