‍Population trends in the United States continue to favor temperateclimates and Florida is a leading example of both organic growth and migration.  The population growth rate there regularlyoutpaces much of the country and is routinely in the top three in the USaccording to the Census Bureau.  The resultantdevelopment demands that utility providers remain innovative in how they provideresources to their customers. 

Reclaimed water is a key component of the delivery for municipalities like Jacksonville, FL.  The Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) delivers potable water to nearly 400,000 customers. They also provide reclaimed water to nearly 30,000 customers today. The reuse water infrastructure is critical for irrigation uses; urban, non-potable use; agricultural use in specific circumstances; wetlands management; and recharging of groundwater via rapid infiltration basins, absorption fields, and direct injection to ground waters. 

JEA recently commissioned BlacksFord Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) site can deliver as much as six million gallons or 6 MGD of reclaimed water each day.  ITG Technologies, or ITG, provided turnkey automation and communication systems for the deployment of this facility over multiple years and phases.  With a nearly fifteen year working relationship with JEA, ITG was the natural choice to build, test, and commission the automation systems of this complex project.  This was not only because of the task of the site build itself, but also because this location was to be a prototype for programming, deployment, and support within the JEA ecosystem.  ITG worked with the provider for years to standardize the Siemens programming blocks used there.  The intention was to create tools which would later be common across all sites, code and methods that will streamline operations, minimize variability in purchased and deployed controllers.  These standards will also provide a simple maintenance experience for JEA’s in-house Control System Technicians(CSTs).  This deployment was the culmination of the long-term effort by both parties.   

ITG designed and deployed a system based on the Siemens S7-1500 control platform.  More than fifteen system control panels were connected via a combination of Profinet and Profibus DP using both copper and fiber media.  Profinet connections via fiber optic cable handled controller to controller communication, provided a connection to the system supervisory control (SCADA),and allowed for connection to JEA’s corporate network.  A combination of fiber and copper cable connected system remote I/O as well as standalone controllers and meters, third party devices, various instruments, and system valves.   

Main system code was deployed on the Siemens controllers.  New panels by ITG provided connections and control in the existing Operations and Electrical buildings, multiple bioreactor units, a new Electrical building, and new reclaimed water pumpstation.  Connections were provided for subsystems which were provided by others to facilitate SCADA visibility for those units as well.  The third-party connections included integration of re-aeration blower panels, biosolids control system, centrifuge controller, and multiple smaller motor control centers (MCCs).  System SCADA was provided via Siemens WinCC.  This application also utilized standard blocks and code as designed by ITG for client use and reuse elsewhere.

ITG provided an extensive instrumentation package as part of the automation system.  The team leveraged their extensive experience to provide and deploy flow instruments and controllers from vendors including Endress & Hauser and FCI, water analysis via Hach, level and pressure control from Rosemount, Siemens Hydro ranger ultrasonic level, and more.  As intended, the ITG package included turnkey responsibility for these items and their connections.  The result was seamless delivery.   

ITG planned and executed detailed Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) and pre-deployment training for JEA personnel. In addition, ITG functioned as the client representative at multiple acceptance testing events with complex instrumentation providers.  This rigorous pre-deployment testing regiment allowed ITG to identify potential issues prior to attempts at commissioning, thus streamlining system startup at the construction site.  Final training included both a focus on the system equipment as well as the new standardized code.  The client personnel were able to understand and maintain all elements of the systems from the date of deployment.   

The southeast is the most populous region of the nation and the growth rate there is forecast to remain strong. Municipalities like JEA will have to remain innovative in their approaches for delivery of utilities. Partners like ITG will play a critical role for the solutions they provide, and municipalities will increasingly lean on experts like them to develop innovative and efficient solutions.  For the most complex systems and projects in the southeast US, the highly qualified team from ITG stands ready to aid in the modernization and expansion of all critical infrastructure systems. Artificial intelligence (AI) as a single force is driving the world’s economy in ways not seen in a long time.  Information touting the potential of the field has flooded the media and created a fervor amongst the general population and with investors.  Major markets report that the growth seen in 2023 has been fueled by AI and led by key players in the field.  Sources indicate that more than 35% of businesses are using AI and sophisticated companies routinely have AI or its functional subset machine learning (ML) in the top three of current initiatives.