Mackenzie District Council Bulk Water Filling Sites 

Project overview

Council gets called on regularly to supply drinking water to rural customers in the district, who are not on a town supply. Engineers at MDC liked ADRs bulk water filling station solution and decided to roll it out at three sites in Twizel, Takapo and Fairlie.

These three new sites are integrated with the existing monitoring and alarming system, while ensuring accurate control and billing for remote areas.

The Challenge

Mackenzie DC uses Abbey Systems Aspex & Powerlink SCADA software for the monitoring, alarming and control of their water and wastewater network. They wanted the new bulk water sites to connect to that network for monitoring and alarming, but also wanted the standard suite of water reports and operator security controls that ADR has developed for the Brodersen RTUs.

The Solution

Operators connect their water tanker to the coupling point and use a simple touch screen HMI logon to authorise the transaction and open the supply valve. After they’ve drawn the required water volume, they close the valve, and the transaction is logged to their account.

The site is monitored and controlled by a Brodersen RTU32M. It has a list of approved contractors and only authorises access for those approved to take water. It records and stores water take volumes by each individual and these reports are subsequently sent to the Council for billing.

The RTU32M uses onboard PLC programming and DNP3/IP & Mobus communications protocols. It is updated and supported by ADR over the cellular network. The sites also use the local Ashcomms VHF radio network for monitoring and alarming purposes.

Double boxed bulk water control cabinet