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Star Valley Ranch moves to shore up water system after SCADA outage
Summary
Town Administrator Aitken told the council a SCADA outage left tanks nearly empty; the town authorized battery-backup purchases, will install a new SCADA program, and ordered flow meters and chlorine lines as part of a multiweek recovery and resilience plan.
Town Administrator Aitken reported at the Sept. 24 work session that a recent SCADA outage and backup failure left the town’s water tanks nearly empty and prompted an immediate operational response. Aitken said the outage occurred the previous week and generated no automatic alerts; crews discovered low tank levels when Public Works Director Zack Edwards opened the tanks on Saturday. Possible causes identified were a router problem, an internet outage, a Microsoft update, or lightning; the town’s battery backup also failed.
To prevent recurrence, Aitken said the town has purchased new battery backups and is investigating router and internet performance with Silver Star, which found internet running at about 5 Mbps rather than the expected 30 Mbps. The town is also documenting procedures in a manual for future incidents. "Zack, Trevor, and Clay took shifts staying overnight to monitor the pumps while refilling the tanks," Mayor Rok said during the update.
Aitken told the council that tank cleaners inspected and cleaned both tanks on Sunday and that the town is awaiting a written report. The town also had an EPA Level 2 inspection on Sept. 15 and is expecting that report in coming weeks, Aitken said.
For longer-term reliability, the town purchased a new SCADA program from Simply SCADA and expects it to be operational within about six weeks. Aitken said the town also signed an agreement to purchase large flow meters (delivery expected in roughly six weeks) and ordered new chlorine lines for all wells and the spring, including the emergency well. These purchases are intended to improve monitoring and control and to provide better data and alerts going forward.
The council did not take a formal vote on these plans at the work session; Aitken said staff will return with implementation details and timeline updates at future meetings.
