TELEMETERING: FIVE UTILITIES’ EXPERIENCES

The five articles that make up this joint discussion are based on papers originally delivered at a recent California Section meeting.∗ All of them have a common underlying theme: Telemetering makes it possible to accomplish measurement and control in a way that would be inconvenient manually. The lead article recounts the size of the Sunnyvale system and proceeds to elaborate on the tone transmission adopted to control the various pressures, water levels, and flow rates located throughout the system. Of value to many readers is a description of what can go wrong, how to interpret the malfunctions, and what to do to correct the situation. The second paper concentrates on explaining the difference between a system designed with electromechanical controllers (hard‐wire) and one that makes use of a digital computer (soft‐wire). The author explains that, initially, the essential difference is cost vs. versatility. However, because water systems are becoming more and more complex, it is increasingly essential to adopt the so‐called softwire technique. In the third article, the author describes how his company began encountering problems that could not be solved readily using manual methods, how telemetering and remote control gradually were introduced, and how each previous experience was applied to the next expansion phase. One of the prime accomplishments enabled by remote control, according to the author, is the ability to mix, and to avoid mixing, waters from different sources. The last two articles assay the cost of telemetering for the particular systems with which the authors are involved. Although the systems are radically different (one is a combine), both are said to be operating profitably. In one case, the labor savings have been calculated.