The City of Williams Lake will be making some upgrades to their water distribution and sewer collection networks that rely heavily on a central communication system.
Councilor and Chair of the Public Works Committee, Ivan Bonnell says the SCADA project will provide needed upgrades to the City’s obsolete system.
“That’s the electronic monitoring of the systems to raise any alerts if there are any problems with the pumps or valves or any other electronic components. The last time we did a SCADAÂ upgrade was in 1995 or 1996.”
In a report Engineering Technologist, Jeff Bernardy says the existing system has become increasingly unreliable and lacks compatibility with new hardware/software technologies due to age and lack of available replacement parts.
“It will bring the technology up to date with the technology of the 21st century here,” says Bonnell.
“So you’ll be able to add new components to the system that will be compatible with the newer upgrades. Talking about 20 old years is kind of in anthropological terms-prehistoric.”
Bonnell says the upgrade will have no impact on current water or sewer rates.
The City of Williams Lake awarded a contract for the project earlier this week for a little over $360,000 with a construction review of $33,800.
There is no confirmed timeline for when the upgrades will commence or be completed.