IIoT for Water and Wastewater Treatment: How to Monitor Pumps, Aeration, and Chemical Dosing in Real Time
· 9 min read
Water and wastewater treatment plants run 24/7/365 with zero tolerance for failure. When a lift station pump fails at 2 AM during a storm, raw sewage backs up into neighborhoods. When a chemical dosing system malfunctions, treated water can violate EPA discharge limits. When a blower in the aeration basin trips offline, the biological treatment process degrades within hours.
Yet most treatment plants still operate with decades-old SCADA systems that show what's happening right now but can't tell you what's about to go wrong. The industry is ripe for IIoT — and the ROI is enormous when downtime means environmental violations and public health emergencies.