Source : The Hindu Date : 30.06.2009

Proposal to computerise water distribution gets sanction

Staff Reporter

TIRUNELVELI: The Managing Director of Municipalities, P. Senthil Kumar has given administrative sanction for the corporation’s proposal to establish Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA) at a cost of Rs. 3.15 crore to monitor the storage and distribution of drinking water to the residents from the ground-level and overhead tanks in various areas under its jurisdiction.

After the civic body proposed to execute two major drinking water schemes at a cost of Rs.22.22 crore for the benefit of residents in six wards and to integrate all existing and future drinking water schemes to ensure effective distribution of the ‘white gold’ in sufficient quantity to its residents, it was decided to computerise the drinking water storage and distribution system.

Since more than 10 drinking water schemes were in operation here with the perennial Tamirabharani River being the fulcrum of these projects, it was decided in December 2007 to follow Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA) in the distribution of drinking water to the residents and maintenance of the infrastructure associated with this foremost responsibility of the local body.

SCADA systems, a branch of instrumentation engineering, include input-output signal hardware, controllers, human – machine interfacing (HMI), networks, communications, databases and software.

Centralised

The term SCADA usually refers to centralised systems which monitor and control entire sites or complexes of systems spread out over large areas (on the scale of kilometres or miles). Most site control is performed automatically by Remote Control Units (RTUs) or by Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs).

SCADA, used in power plants as well as in oil and gas refining, telecommunications, transportation, and water and waste control, is a category of software application program for process control, the gathering of data in real time from remote locations in order to control equipment and conditions. The system includes hardware and software components.

The hardware gathers and feeds data into a computer that has SCADA software installed.

Records and logs

The computer then processes this data and presents it in a timely manner. SCADA also records and logs all events into a file stored on a hard disk or sends them to a printer and warns when conditions become hazardous by sounding alarms.

Since the system is found to be handy and effective in various industries, the corporation got the council’s approval and sent it to the Ministry of Local Administration.

“Based on our submission, Dr. Senthil Kumar has given administrative sanction for this project and tenders for the execution of this scheme would be floated shortly after getting the technical sanction. We would have to send the progress report on or before 10th of every month,” Mayor A.L. Subramanian said.

He also informed that Rs. 3.24 crore had been sanctioned by the State government for giving new lease of life to the existing drinking water distribution system and construction of drainage channels, both at Melapalayam.