Coffs Harbour City Council’s well earned reputation for innovation and skill has also been translated into income for the city.
“We’re earning revenue in hard dollars to save money,” said Stephen Sawtell, Council’s General Manager. “A very good example is the innovative computerised control system – or telemetry system – that our IT staff developed inhouse to run our extensive water and wastewater pumping network.
“We have successfully marketed this system to other councils and organisations across Australia and we expect it to have earned us close to $1 million by the end of 2009. This is money that Council can then use directly for the benefit of the city and our community.”
Coffs Harbour Water’s ‘Telemetry – Switchboard Standardisation’ system allows the water and wastewater network throughout the Coffs Harbour area to be controlled remotely and alerts staff immediately to possible pump or treatment plant failures.
“Essentially it monitors and measures the pump station network and the flows at each pump station,” said Stephen Sawtell. “The telemetry system monitors the flows and the pumping speed is varied accordingly. The pump stations work faster only when they need to. This saves power and, as a result, the cost of the electricity needed to run the system has dropped.
“Similarly, the components used in the construction of the telemetry system are ‘off the shelf’ components. This means we don’t face a costly upgrade every few years and also means efficiencies in maintenance. So far, we calculate that we’ve saved in excess of $1million in maintenance with this system.”
Environmentally, the potential savings are also enormous.
“The system also alerts staff to any pump failures immediately which means they can react even faster to such incidents and minimise any possible environmental problems,” Stephen Sawtell said. “It is a win win situation for the city on every level.”
For more information on Coffs Harbour City Council’s telemetry system, contact Jason Gordon, Council’s Director City Services, on (02) 6648 4401.
