AWWA CSC91044

One technical objective in the design of The City of Mobile, Alabama, new water treatment plant was that the entire operation should be computer controlled from a single command station as a distributive control system. Filters are automatically operated and backwashed; seven chemical systems are automatically controlled. Water levels in two remote storage tanks are relayed by radio telemetry to the computer for determination of high service pumps operations. Sludge produced by the filters is dewatered on site in a separate centrifuge facility. While the three centrifuge units are automatically operated locally, the central computer monitors the status of the facility. This paper describes major automated features, the computer system that controls them, and plant operations.