City of Los Angeles Monitors Critical Flows with Flo-Dar (part 2)

The second phase of the cityâs project was to replace the 35 original 'real timeä flowmeters provided by the manufacturer originally contracted to provide the turn-key flow monitoring equipment/services package.   Due to the favorable results and maintenance cost savings realized with the 75 'near-timeä flowmeters, Marsh-McBirney was again selected to provide 35 Flo-Dar Model 464 Flowmeters.  The flowmeters would provide real time data through a programmable logic controller (PLC) (pictured at right).  Whitney indicated that even though these meters were installed for real-time flow checks through the PLC, the Engineering group likes the Flo-Ware software so much that a phone line will be provided for the data to be transmitted via modem.  The data will be automatically formatted for Flo-Ware and used for data analysis by the Engineering group.  According to Whitney the goal of this phase of the project is to have an interactive graphic in the collection systems facility that will provide instantaneous flow readouts of each monitoring location with the push of a button.  A future goal being discussed is to utilize radio modems eliminating the need for costly phone line charges.

The move away from the "turn-key" contracts has been a success.  The flow data gathered by the 110 Flo-Dar flowmeters is being used by the City to evaluate flows throughout the wastewater collection system, identify any hydraulic deficiencies, establish maintenance priorities and to calibrate the cityâs predictive sewer modeling system.  Whitney believes there is a trend by other California municipalities to move away from turn-key flow monitoring packaged services in favor of the purchase of maintenance-free flowmeters with easy-to-use reporting software, like the Marsh-McBirney Flo-Dar.

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