Managing California’s Water Infrastructure

Kyle Maxey posted 2016-02-23

California's Shasta Dam

Innovyze, a Colorado company that develops analytic software for wet infrastructure, has announced that the Rancho California Water District (RCWD) has chosen to use its software, SCADAWatch, to ensure that the district’s water resources are being used in the most productive manner.

Founded in 1965, the RCWD delivers water to more than 156 square miles of primarily agricultural land east of Los Angeles. With responsibilities for the cities of Temecula, Murrieta, certain unincorporated parts Riverside county and the surrounding regions, the RCWD plays a major role in feeding the agricultural heart of Southern California.

Currently, the RCWD maintains 31 pump stations, 48 active potable ground wells, 39 storage reservoirs with a combined capacity of nearly 150 million gallons and some 903 miles of pipe to deliver the precious commodity. To say the RCWD’s job of coordinating and monitoring all of these assets is complex is an understatement.

To manage this intricate assemblage of infrastructure, SCADAWatch gives utilities like the RCWD the ability to monitor complex streams of data coming in from stations spread across their service region. With a real-time dashboard that can produce high-fidelity, easy-to-understand analytics and the ability to generate easily-distributable reports for rapid response or archiving, SCADAWatch is a powerful solution for a complex problem.

The SCADAWatch analytics dashboards provide critical information on operational water infrastructure.

“SCADAWatch equips us with real-time operational and predictive analytics that help us make faster and more confident decisions for optimal performance of our water distribution system,” said Warren Back, operations manager for the RCWD. “[It gives] us a comprehensive view into the performance of our water systems and [enables] us to improve operational decisions and better manage risks with information to make decisions about asset renewal and rehabilitation.”

Though it’s no secret that California’s water resources are dwindling under the pressures of a prolonged drought, mismanagement and the insatiable thirst of the most populous state in the nation, local water districts have begun to deliver solutions to the ongoing crisis. If you're looking for proof that technology is making a difference, look no further than the RCWD. By adopting state-of-the-art monitoring techniques and a powerful infrastructure analytics software, the RCWD is much better prepared to stave off one of Mother Nature’s more devastating conditions, prolonged drought.