OCWD 2 Million Gallon Tank

Daily Workflows with GIS + GPS

Oldham County Water District

Who & What We Are

Providing the best quality water to it's customers has always been the priority at OCWD! A staff of 20 serves more than 8600 metered customers. The organization has been a long-time user of mapping technology. Located adjacent to the State of Kentucky's largest city, OCWD is still considered a rural water district. Some quick facts -

  • Water is sourced from 10 wells along the Ohio River
  • The wells are 130 feet deep in the aquifer
  • The system has 370 miles of water main
  • There are 13 water tanks for system storage
  • 3.5 million gallons of daily water use
  • 13 million gallons of daily treatment capacity
  • 1.2 billion gallons of water treated annually

Public facing web application.

Well field and water treatment plant location.

Two of ten production wells located adjacent to the Ohio River. These are 130 feet deep into the alluvium, where natural filtration occurs prior to being pumped to the water treatment plant. The flood waters seen here would have no impact on the purity of the water when pumped.

There are ten pumps at the water treatment facility. A clear well with a capacity of 2 million gallons is adjacent to the building. OCWD uses SCADA to monitor the system in real-time. The antennas on the tower relay the signals for viewing through a web page.

What Will Be Covered Today

  • Brief history of GIS and GPS use at OCWD
  • Daily workflows for OCWD field crews using GIS/GPS
  • Using GIS/ GPS for 811 locates
  • New construction and as-built collection processes

OCWD GIS History

OCWD was originally formed in the early 1960's, with infrastructure as old as 1953. Digital mapping of the water system began in 2001 with the first purchase of GIS software. A majority of the system was digitized using scanned drawings. Many as-built and as-designed representations were scanned, georeferenced, and used to digitize buried components as close to actuality as possible.

At the same time a map grade GPS was obtained. This was used to collect and map visible infrastructure. The unit shown required downloading and post-processing of field data. Normal accuracy at the time of collection was sub-meter, as a general rule. Once finalized, this unit was capable of 30 centimeter.

Timeline of significant changes -

  • 2007 - adopted the Esri ArcGIS Solution for Local Government template
  • 2013 - purchased a survey grade GPS unit
  • 2016 - hired a full-time GIS manager
  • 2017 - signed a Small Utility Enterprise License Agreement with Esri
  • 2017 - purchased first high accuracy GNSS receiver for use with mobile devices

GIS + GPS Workflows

After a diligent research and testing period, OCWD purchased a new receiver, connecting it to a dedicated tablet. The one selected (  Eos Arrow Gold  ) is a centimeter accuracy device with RTK (real-time) connection. As staff were trained with the new equipment, it became evident that field capturing workflows could be made more efficient.

In order to track locations that needed to be captured in the historic workflow, a "Field Communications" layer and web map had been constructed. As staff would alert the GIS department that something needed collected with GPS, it was placed on the map as a 'to-do' item.

The first GPS + Collector combination was assigned to one of the two OCWD field crews. A new workflow was attempted where the crew would use the Field Communications layer to capture new meter installations. This would preclude the need for an extra trip for later collection.

This process was also extended to any work the crew did that would add better information to the system data. In this case a natural rupture provided an opportunity to install an additional valve which would limit the number of out-of-service customers for future breaks in the area. The new configuration was collected, then added to the system map shortly afterward.

In many cases, a rupture allows for updating of the water main location. This small leak repair resulted in a nearly 9 foot correction. This can have huge ramifications when responding to line locate requests. Especially when marking smaller diameter lines.

“Installing each meter used to cost us approximately $211.91 in labor and fuel. With the high-accuracy mobile GIS workflow, the cost per meter went down to $111.19.” - Kenny Ratliff, OCWD GIS Manager

Line Locate Requests

Website for Kentucky 811.

Call Before You Dig!

Kentucky has an organization for processing requests to locate and mark underground utilities. Membership is a choice by organizations. Those that do not belong must be contacted directly. The locations seen here have been documented using Survey123.

Strikes to water mains occurs quite frequently. Even after the lines have been marked! Using Survey123, staff will document each response and markings. Photos are required in case someone disputes the infrastructure was marked.

In many cases there is a question of where the water line really runs. Each time a line is located by uncovering, the crew uses the GPS / Collector to accurately capture the location. Future markings can be relocated with the GNSS configuration to within inches - saving time and money on revisits.

For this effort, the GPS satellites aligned to provide 0.8 centimeter accuracy. This screen capture shows the locate point created using the Field Communications map app. The water main is actually 6.21 feet on the map from where it is in reality.

Back in the GIS office, the collected points are instantly seen upon map refresh. The next slide is a video demonstrating the editing process for adding this field collection into the enterprise geodatabase.

New Installations and As-Built Capture

Shortly after hiring a full-time GIS person, OCWD began to require all new installations be captured by it's staff. Initially, this entailed notifying the GIS office who responded with the single unit available. After the transition to the GPS / Collector workflow, virtually any staff that was free could respond. Projects handled by internal crews are easy to capture, as they now carry the units on their trucks.

This small leak repair not only resulted in correcting the location of the main and meters. The line size was also updated. For future work, the crews will be better prepared with the right equipment and fittings before ever leaving the shop.

Benefits

  • Being able to reference collected points will describe through attribution, this pipe running under other existing infrastructure
  • There is a Field Communications 'archive' layer that allows for immediate access to photos for reference
  • Per the previous section, we can use the equipment to locate a bell, fitting, or entire stretch of main to within inches

The next video demonstrates adding new developments during the installation.

Once field collection points are processed, the AGOL web map is used to close them. They are then processed to the Archive layer.

The Archive hosted layer currently contains over 3,800 points. Being a hosted service allows for retention of any attachments to the record. An Attachment Viewer is being constructed to allow staff to filter and reference points as needed.

Bonus Material!

Dashboard for tracking field communications activities.

Dashboard tracking locate request activity.

Web map tool that allows for filtering of field activities or archived records, by various attribution.

Summary - What does the future hold?

“We want to be as accurate as possible capturing our data. Although extremely helpful it is not necessarily for today, but I firmly believe it will be of greatest importance years down the road, when the cost of potholing and repairs are sure to be much more expensive.” - Russ Rose, OCWD CEO

  • Kentucky future legislation may dictate an additional GPS / Collector configuration
  • Continue to expand the use of high accuracy GNSS collection for more efficiency
  • As mobile application (Collector) capability evolves, update staff training to leverage (such as map scaling, snapping)
  • Implement the new Eos line locate connection for use with wire locating wand

Thanks for attending today's webinar!

Presenter Information -

Kenny Ratliff, OCWD GIS Manager

kratliff@oldhamcountywater.com

Phone - 502.222.1690

Well field and water treatment plant location.

Website for Kentucky 811.

Dashboard for tracking field communications activities.

Dashboard tracking locate request activity.

Web map tool that allows for filtering of field activities or archived records, by various attribution.