Since adding Mission M110 RTUs to 40 lift stations, Lenawee County, Mich., has saved time, manpower and money. As county drain commissioner, Stephen May runs a utility responsible for maintaining 707 separate drainage districts encompassing more than 1,500 miles of drains.
Mission has helped him reduce site inspections, find holes in riser pumps more quickly, and resolve a major billing dispute with the power company.
Before installing Mission RTUs, utility workers in Lenawee County conducted site inspections at 40 lift stations two or three times a week. Site inspections have now been reduced to once a week, freeing up man-hours otherwise spent driving to and inspecting lift stations. Utility workers are using this extra time to catch up on maintenance that might otherwise be neglected due to budget issues and schedule conflicts.
The utility also identified stations needing repair more quickly by using wet and dry season run time comparisons compiled by Mission. After one recent alert, crews pulled a pump and discovered a large hole in the riser pipe. May reported, "The hole would have been found eventually, but the run time variance notification alerted us to the problem much sooner."
Lenawee County avoided power company overcharges when its Mission units indicated power fluctuation problems with one particular station. The power company checked their equipment and claimed that everything was working correctly on their end.
"The power problem occurred again about a month and a half later,” May said. “We were able to show the power company the readings from our Mission reports, proving that the problem was on their end ... and [they] adjusted the billing. The Mission unit more than paid for itself with that single instance."