Mackay Regional Council has awarded the tender to implement a new SCADA and Telemetry system at 78 sewage pump stations and 10 water reservoirs and pump stations to MPA Engineering Pty Ltd.
MPA Engineering beat out other tenderers including Cell Consultancy Pty Ltd, Comlek Group Pty Ltd,Rad-tel Engineering Pty Ltd and Stowe Australia Pty Ltd.
Council said that “awarding the contract to MPA Engineering Pty Ltd represents the most advantageous outcome and demonstrated value for money to Mackay Regional Council based on their demonstrated understanding of Council’s requirements and the previous experience outlined indicates that they have extensive experience working on projects similar in nature.”
According to the council; “the current telemetry network in Mackay uses a ClearSCADA (Supervisory Control and Data) control system operating at Paget Depot, along with Rad-Tel RTUs (Remote Terminal Unit) at the numerous sewerage pumping stations (160) and water asset sites (25) within the Mackay networks. The existing telemetry assets are utilised for monitoring and control and are an integral component of an effective early warning and control network for Mackay Regional Council’s Water and Wastewater network. All RTUs communicate to the ClearSCADA server via a heavily overloaded analogue repeater at Mt Blackwood. The Water Services Telemetry Strategy identified that the existing overloaded analogue radio network was a weakness and as a result a new digital radio network has been installed.
“The next phase of the overall SCADA and telemetry upgrade project involves replacement of the existing obsolete 3000 and 5000 Series Rad-Tel RTUs along with their analogue radios with new RTUs and digital radios. This project is aligned with the intent of the Telemetry & SCADA Systems Concept Design Report and Mackay Water and Waste Services vision on SCADA systems which is: “To set up a SCADA system that enables all MWS staff to have sufficient information, in a location, that allows them to safely, effectively and efficiently do their job”.
“Shortages of spares for the 3000 Series RTUs and radios, plus a requirement to unload the existing overloaded analogue radio network onto the new digital radio network, has made this project a priority for Mackay Water Services.
“Failure to proceed with this project will risk the integrity of the telemetry network leading to reduced visibility of sewage and water networks (operators may not be aware of sewage spillages) and inefficiencies in the network reporting leading to reduced monitoring capability and will ultimately place additional workload onto operations as they will have to manually monitor and control water and waste assets as 3000 Series RTUs and radios fail (and are unable to be replaced).”
