Lake Michigan Fresh Water Intake Cribs

SCOPE

To provide updated, reliable monitoring and testing ability for systems on the two active Lake Michigan fresh water intake cribs that supply the city’s two water purification plants, the South and Jardine, considered the largest in the world. These cribs are historic structures that were built in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Both active cribs are about 2.5 miles offshore and house the required pumps and motors needed to supply the 10-20 foot diameter intake tunnels. These tunnels were dug over 100 feet below lake level to feed lake water to the two water purification plants that supply fresh water to millions of citizens and industry in Chicago and 118 surrounding suburbs.

DELIVERED

Allan ICS provided the control panels and computer equipment that remotely monitors the backup power generation and HVAC systems as well as providing periodic testing capability controlled from the Jardine Water Purification Plant.

This remote SCADA system application communicates through an existing microwave security system to the onshore control center. The upgraded monitoring and controls provided through the modern communication network allows for greater reliability and maintenance of this important Lake Michigan fresh water resource for millions of citizens and industry.

Integration Details

Major components we provided include Allen-Bradley PLC-5’s with redundant processors and computers that use Intellution iFIX SCADA software.