Columbia Weather Systems

The Albany-Millersburg Water Reclamation Facility was the destination for our field trip last week. About two years ago, the City of Albany Public Works Department purchased an Orion 420 Weather Station to replace aging mechanical equipment. We took advantage of their proximity to learn more about weather monitoring for water/wastewater treatment. The Weather Display is mounted on the wall along with other monitors to keep an eye on activity across the facility.  Orion all-in-one sensor with ultrasonic wind speed and direction and impact rain sensor.  Chris explains the process of wastewater treatment. Aaron monitors met data with WeatherMaster Software. Thanks to Christopher Burr and Aaron Budiselich of the Facilities Automation team, our hosts for the tour!

The idea of “Smart Water” involves the use of advanced technologies and data to improve operating efficiencies and maintain quality of life for constituents. Smart water utilities are adding Internet of Things (IoT) “assets” such as meteorological sensors to acquire data, in addition to traditional monitoring of flow, pressure, distribution, consumption. Meaningful and actionable data can be used for anomaly detection and control, as well as optimization and prediction. 1 Weather information can be automatically monitored and archived for periodic and incident reporting. Historical data can be analyzed for process optimization, modeling and planning. Adaptations can be automated based on weather parameters for operations with minor fluctuations, as well as emergency measures based on extreme conditions. According to Jonathon Sudar, of CUWCD, “Our weather data is collected through a PLC and then stored in a historian program where it can be represented graphically and reviewed....