Case Study - Water Pollution Control

Coney Island Water Pollution Control Plant – Brooklyn , NY

Coney Island Water Pollution Control Plant serves a large portion of central Brooklyn , New York . The plant included gas detection equipment from Sierra Monitor and another manufacturer and was scheduled for upgrade. However, on August 5, 2003, a four alarm fire erupted in the plant. Damage was extensive, and included the scrubbers and absorbers that aerate and dissipate fumes to control odors when the plant processes waste water.

Due to the close proximity of the plant to residential neighborhoods combined with the damaged odor control apparatus, this became a fast moving project as local residents complained to the authorities. New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYFDEP) initiated emergency bid solicitation and contractor selection to provide the emergency repairs, but area residents still had to wait for six months for more extensive and permanent repairs to begin.

The fire pushed these improvements to the plant to the forefront. The gas sensor network for the repaired and upgraded Water Pollution Control Plant called for 96 gas sensors with controllers and a communication link to the plant wide Allen Bradley network.

The NYCDEP was looking for more than a simple collection of gas detectors. The project called for a network of gas sensors that could interface with an existing Allen Bradley distributed control system. Sierra Monitor proposed a complete gas detection/control system that met these requirements providing both ease of installation and communication options.

The Sentry Gas Risk Management system with digital communications between the sensors and controllers resulted in less wiring and conduit providing a faster installation. The FieldServer gateway was used to provide the direct link necessary to the plant DCS via EtherNet/IP. This EtherNet/IP link eliminated the need for the additional PLC’s to interface the gas monitoring system with the plant DCS.

The plant operators were very pleased with the entire package which went beyond any other gas detection system currently available.