Trimble Case Studies IoT Implementation in San Francisco Public Utilities Commission: A Case Study

	IoT Implementation in San Francisco Public Utilities Commission: A Case Study Trimble

IoT Implementation in San Francisco Public Utilities Commission: A Case Study

Trimble

Technology Category	Cybersecurity & Privacy - Intrusion Detection Sensors - Liquid Detection Sensors
Applicable Industries	Electrical Grids Utilities
Applicable Functions	Maintenance Quality Assurance
Use Cases	Leakage & Flood Monitoring Water Utility Management
Services	System Integration Testing & Certification
Challenge	The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), the third largest municipal utility in California, provides water, wastewater, and electric power services. The SFPUC manages an extensive wastewater system that collects, conveys, and provides secondary treatment to combined sewage flows within the City and County of San Francisco. However, like many utilities, SFPUC faces challenges such as environmental compliance, climate variability, aging infrastructure networks, financial shortages, and labor efficiencies. The SFPUC's environmental monitoring program is driven by regulatory compliance, calibration of the city-wide hydraulic and hydrologic (H&H) model, establishment of repair and rehabilitation prioritization, and real-time operational decision support. Other factors include early warning from collection system to plant operations, pre-development monitoring for upgrades, and forensic analysis of wet-weather and storm effects. Read More
About Customer	The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is the third largest municipal utility in California, providing essential utility services such as water, wastewater, and electric power. The SFPUC manages a vast wastewater system that collects, conveys, and provides secondary treatment to combined sewage flows within the City and County of San Francisco. The system includes 1,010 miles of sewer pipes, a wet weather transport/storage system, and three treatment plants taking in flows from roof drains, domestic sewage, and street runoff. The SFPUC's mission is to provide high quality, efficient, and reliable services in a manner that is inclusive of environmental and community interests, and that sustains the resources entrusted to its care. Read More
Customer Name	San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Read More
Solution	To address these challenges, SFPUC implemented Trimble's Telog family of Internet of Things (IoT) wireless battery-powered data recorders. These devices enable utilities to collect, monitor, and manage water and environmental data collected from the field, and access the information via the web and mobile applications. Trimble Telog Enterprise software securely captures and centrally stores remote monitoring data, processes alarms and alerts, and allows data access for third-party software. Its alarm-based messaging activates when rain or flow has exceeded a critical threshold, assisting in the decision-making process and tracking correlation between multiple data sets or trends in real time. The SFPUC uses Trimble wireless monitoring technology for its speed of deployment, open architecture, rapid scalability, and minimal engineering. The solution also provided a lower total cost of ownership compared to traditional SCADA technologies. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Cybersecurity & Privacy - Intrusion Detection

Sensors - Liquid Detection Sensors

Applicable Industries

Electrical Grids

Utilities

Applicable Functions

Maintenance

Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Leakage & Flood Monitoring

Water Utility Management

Services

System Integration

Testing & Certification

Challenge

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), the third largest municipal utility in California, provides water, wastewater, and electric power services. The SFPUC manages an extensive wastewater system that collects, conveys, and provides secondary treatment to combined sewage flows within the City and County of San Francisco. However, like many utilities, SFPUC faces challenges such as environmental compliance, climate variability, aging infrastructure networks, financial shortages, and labor efficiencies. The SFPUC's environmental monitoring program is driven by regulatory compliance, calibration of the city-wide hydraulic and hydrologic (H&H) model, establishment of repair and rehabilitation prioritization, and real-time operational decision support. Other factors include early warning from collection system to plant operations, pre-development monitoring for upgrades, and forensic analysis of wet-weather and storm effects.

About Customer

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is the third largest municipal utility in California, providing essential utility services such as water, wastewater, and electric power. The SFPUC manages a vast wastewater system that collects, conveys, and provides secondary treatment to combined sewage flows within the City and County of San Francisco. The system includes 1,010 miles of sewer pipes, a wet weather transport/storage system, and three treatment plants taking in flows from roof drains, domestic sewage, and street runoff. The SFPUC's mission is to provide high quality, efficient, and reliable services in a manner that is inclusive of environmental and community interests, and that sustains the resources entrusted to its care.

Customer Name

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC)

Solution

To address these challenges, SFPUC implemented Trimble's Telog family of Internet of Things (IoT) wireless battery-powered data recorders. These devices enable utilities to collect, monitor, and manage water and environmental data collected from the field, and access the information via the web and mobile applications. Trimble Telog Enterprise software securely captures and centrally stores remote monitoring data, processes alarms and alerts, and allows data access for third-party software. Its alarm-based messaging activates when rain or flow has exceeded a critical threshold, assisting in the decision-making process and tracking correlation between multiple data sets or trends in real time. The SFPUC uses Trimble wireless monitoring technology for its speed of deployment, open architecture, rapid scalability, and minimal engineering. The solution also provided a lower total cost of ownership compared to traditional SCADA technologies.

Impact #1	Since implementing Trimble’s system, the SFPUC has experienced several operational benefits. The system has enabled the SFPUC to use data to support operational decision-making in real-time, prioritize repairs and rehabilitation, and develop calibrated models. It has also increased the SFPUC's knowledge of the system and ability to do forensic analysis, such as pipe flow reversal during wet weather. The SFPUC management decided subsequent actions would incorporate real-time web API for the public where appropriate, a low-power radio mesh network such as LTE-M or LoRaWAN, and RTDs to integrate real-time data and rain forecast with a simplified H&H model. The system was able to adapt well and it provides near real-time data in critical locations.

Impact #1

Since implementing Trimble’s system, the SFPUC has experienced several operational benefits. The system has enabled the SFPUC to use data to support operational decision-making in real-time, prioritize repairs and rehabilitation, and develop calibrated models. It has also increased the SFPUC's knowledge of the system and ability to do forensic analysis, such as pipe flow reversal during wet weather. The SFPUC management decided subsequent actions would incorporate real-time web API for the public where appropriate, a low-power radio mesh network such as LTE-M or LoRaWAN, and RTDs to integrate real-time data and rain forecast with a simplified H&H model. The system was able to adapt well and it provides near real-time data in critical locations.

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Overview

IoT Implementation in San Francisco Public Utilities Commission: A Case Study

Operational Impact