Colorado Springs Utilities
Colorado Springs Utilities improves water quality control with AVEVA PI System
Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) processes 14,000 samples and 80,000 analytes each year from eight watersheds, seven treatment plants, 38 reservoirs, four post-chlorination stations, two wastewater facilities and more than 2,700 miles of pipelines. The utility suffered from dependence on SCADA operators, non-integrated systems and the complexity of a vast service area. Deploying AVEVA PI System now enables it to collect real-time water quality data and proactively monitor critical indicators, rather than analyzing historical data that was sometimes disconnected from current conditions. The gains are dramatic: analysis report turnaround time has dropped from three weeks to just fifteen minutes, full system integration provides maximum operational visibility, overtime is down 58%, vehicle use down 30% and effluent chlorine costs down 10%.
Testimonials
FAQ
How does AVEVA PI System improve water quality control at a large utility?
Colorado Springs Utilities processes 14,000 samples and 80,000 analytes a year across eight watersheds, seven plants, 38 reservoirs and 2,700 miles of pipelines. AVEVA PI System collects quality data in real time and presents it to teams through contextualized dashboards. Rather than analyzing historical data that is sometimes disconnected from reality, operators proactively monitor critical indicators and respond immediately to deviations. This data management approach turns water quality from after-the-fact control into real-time management.
How can reporting go from three weeks to fifteen minutes?
Before AVEVA PI System, Colorado Springs Utilities took three weeks to produce its water quality analysis reports. Deploying PI System cut this time to fifteen minutes. This dramatic acceleration comes from centralizing data, automating calculations and dynamically generating dashboards. For a water utility, this means unprecedented operational responsiveness to quality incidents and a greater ability to demonstrate compliance to health authorities.
What financial gains does real-time monitoring bring to a water operator?
Colorado Springs Utilities achieved impressive measurable results with AVEVA PI System: a 58% reduction in overtime hours, a 30% drop in vehicle use and a 10% decrease in effluent chlorine costs. These gains come from better planning of interventions, greater situational awareness and optimized chemical dosing. It is a concrete example of the ROI of a data management strategy in the water sector, where every percentage point of efficiency gained translates into substantial savings.
How can several disparate information systems be integrated on a single platform?
AVEVA PI System acts as a universal data hub, able to connect to a water utility's SCADA, laboratories, ERP and business tools. Colorado Springs Utilities unified its previously siloed systems into a single operational view. This full integration provides maximum visibility across the entire chain, from watersheds to distribution points. It is a standard of digital transformation in water and wastewater, where regulatory complexity requires end-to-end traceability.
Why is reducing dependence on SCADA operators strategic?
Heavy dependence on SCADA operators creates bottlenecks: only a few people can extract or interpret the data. AVEVA PI System democratizes access to information by giving each department its own dashboards and analyses, without going through SCADA. For Colorado Springs Utilities, this team empowerment freed SCADA operators for higher-value tasks and improved collaboration between laboratories, operations and maintenance. It is a major lever for organizational efficiency.