The Union Water project for the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) encompasses the monitoring and control of various utility complexes in the south-western Ontario region.  With water towers, pumping stations, and valve chambers located throughout the Leamington, Kingsville, Cottam and Essex area, ESAC developed a communication system to access each of these locations both locally, and remotely from the water treatment plant in Ruthven.

The Union Water SCADA system has been in place for several years with Wonderware redundant HMI software allowing operators to monitor and control the system remotely.  Transparent communications over rural distances such as those in south-western Ontario display the advantages of ESAC systems.  Operators spend their time monitoring the Union Water system instead of troubleshooting bothersome communications. Trending and SQL reporting are popular options among management considering ESAC systems.  These functions help relay the real meaning behind each number.  As seen here, turbidity at various locations can be compared over time to make further indications about water quality to management. ESAC developed process automation permitting the water treatment plant to operate in 'cruise control'.  High lift pumps, filter systems and low lift pumps are automatically controlled based on the system demand with chemical control ensuring the delivered quality. Avoiding costly practices is of high concern for any utility organization.  For this reason, operators at each location have the option of switching control from remote to local and vice versa.  This allows the crew to ensure that control is only occurring at one location.  Mistakes are avoided by maintaining exclusive control.