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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION DATE: 09/25/06 ITEM: 3.e Department Approval: Manager Reviewed: Agenda Section: Item Description: Authorize Replacement of Supervisory Control and Data Access System (SCADA) Background: The city has operated a water distribution system and sanitary sewer collection system since the early 1960's. Sio� sewer facilities were constructed over the years as the city developed. These are critical health and safety services vital to our everyday lives that need to function 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Each system has a pumping station that needs to operate without failure to ensure there is no loss of pressure in the water system and no property damage due to sewer backups or flooding of private property. We monitor these pumping stations utilizing SCADA (Supervisory Control and DATA Acquisition). This system allows operations staff and supervisory staff to monitor operations and be notified immediately of any monitored failure. These types of failures can range from power failure to high water alarms. We can also review pumping flows and tank elevations to optimize efficiency and reduce power demand to save on energy bills and participate in load management programs. The existing SCADA system was purchased in1992 and was state of the art technology at that time. It has proprietary hardware and software components that cannot be serviced by city staff or competing vendors. We are captive to the installing vendor and pay their regular and emergency service rates. The existing system is outdated and no longer supported. A major failure would put the city at risk of property damage or loss of water pressure. We are seeing an increasing number of short-term communications failures requiring immediate response. The hardware dialer, the call-out mechanism that alerts city staff, frequently fails and requires resetting. These problems are increasing overtime call-out costs to the city, as many are monitoring system failures and not pumping system failures. We have been planning for replacement of the SCADA system for several years and have explored several current technology options. Discussion: Staff has explored four non-proprietary replacement options for the SCADA system. We feel installing non-proprietary, off-the-shelf hardware gives us the most flexibility for system expansion and competitive pricing. We are also looking for flexibility in the data communications to allow the city to adapt to current and future networking technology. With additional fiber optic infrastructure being constructed and the potential for a citywide data network in the future, we feel it is important to utilize and share common data networks in place to maximize cost savizags. Another pr�arzty considered is purchasing a system that city IT staff can help support to reduce outside vendor maintenance and troubleshooting costs. Another