TankScan Helps Obtain Flow Measurements at a Remote Storm Water Outfall
Sep, 12 2023
Case Studies
Environmental Management Services, Inc. (EMS)
Environmental Management Services, Inc. (EMS) is a veteran-owned small business providing services in the southeastern United States. Their services include civil engineering, environmental engineering, professional land surveying, and turnkey environmental remediation. The staff includes engineers, geologists, biologists, EH&S auditors, surveyors, technicians, and equipment operators.
Applications: Storm Water Outfall Monitoring
Market: Environmental Management
Problem
While helping a sawmill client with environmental issues, EMS learned that the facility was struggling to get flow measurements at a remote stormwater outfall five days per week as required by their state permit. The outfall is at least a ten-minute walk each way from the plant operation. The flow accumulates in a stilling well, then flows through a V-notch weir. The sawmill had been sending a technician from the plant to read the staff gauge Monday through Friday each week, a task that nobody wanted to do, especially in bad weather.
Solution
In order to solve the problem, EMS identified and specified the TankScan wireless tank monitoring system with real-time data access. The system is battery operated, weather proof and uses wireless cellular data, so no phone wiring or power supply is needed. A mount with a 2-inch standard thread was fabricated to mount the unit above the stilling well. Installation was simple, and it was easy to calibrate the real-time readings to the staff gauge water height.
Results
Now, operators can log into the system from any computer connected to the internet and access the logged data. The sawmill gets the data with 24/7/365 access without ever having to send a man out to the remote location. “We searched a lot of remote telemetry systems, and TankScan provided a complete system with everything we needed at a great price.” Ken Ruckstuhl, EMS Project Manager. The end-user/client thought the price for the equipment, and the annual cellular service subscription, were very reasonable and expected the system to pay for itself in labor savings within the first year of service.