CLEAN WATER
MATTERS
Discover how the City of Trenton
increased wastewater treatment
efficiency by standardizing
control and leveraging
support services.
>> If something goes wrong for a city’s wastewa-
ter treatment, everything flushed at factories
and homes can overflow untreated into rivers, lakes and
streams. To help prevent this possibility, the City of
Trenton, Michigan upgraded its wastewater treatment
plant in 2002 with several layers of process protection
and redundancy. Five years later, the plant superintendent
added a services and support contract. Now, the plant has
reduced operations costs, downtime and maintenance, all
while increasing process reliability.
Trenton’s wastewater treatment plant includes many
off-site components, and it processes an average of 4
million gallons of wastewater per day, with capacity of
6.5 million gallons per day. The process is susceptible to
unpredictable weather conditions in which errors can have
a direct and harmful impact on the receiving stream.
When Trenton’s wastewater treatment plant superin-
tendent Pat Raftery coordinated the plant-wide upgrade in
2002, he planned for a standardized process control system.
“I wanted only the most reliable equipment,” he says.
“The industrial byproduct in the wastewater we treat can be
really hard on electrical components. When we were looking
to overhaul the plant, we wrote our specifications so anyone
submitting a proposal to carry out the upgrade could only use
Rockwell Automation controllers and software.”
Standardized Control
Trenton upgraded its main process control system to in-
clude redundant Allen-Bradley® ControlLogix® program-
mable automation controllers (PAC) (www.rockwellauto
mation.com/go/tj10pac).
WWW.ROCKWELLAUTOMATION.COM/THEJOURNAL
The FactoryTalk® AssetCentre change management
software (http://bit.ly/4RdRov) helps ensure compliance with
the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment
requirements for disaster recovery. The plant’s power distribu-
tion system uses Allen-Bradley IntelliCENTER® Motor
Control Center software (www.rockwellautomation.com/go/
intellicenter) with Allen-Bradley Powermonitor™ meters.
Additionally, the plant’s Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition (SCADA) system is monitored by redundant serv-
ers running FactoryTalk View SE human-machine interface
(HMI) software, and uses wireless EtherNet/IPTM to monitor
four remote pumping stations that run on Allen-Bradley Pow-
erFlex® drives (www.rockwellautomation.com/go/tjpowerflex).
With the upgrade, Raftery and his employees can monitor
and control the plant with ease. “If someone calls me with an
issue at the plant at 5 a.m., I can log in remotely and trouble-
shoot the problem immediately,” Raftery explains.
The standardized system allows Raftery to run the
plant with 11 operators and just one electrical technician.
Support Adds Reliability
Trenton’s automation system helps reduce costs and in-
crease safety, but running a high-tech process plant requires
high-tech support. Raftery decided to leverage a Rockwell
Automation services and support contract to keep operating
expenses low and help keep the plant running reliably.
The plant receives monthly on-site visits from a preferred
Rockwell Automation technician, Rockwell Automation
software upgrades, a fixed rate for emergency service and
Rockwell Automation TechConnectSM Support. TechCon-
nect provides unlimited, real-time access via phone or online
OCTOBER 2010 | THE JOURNAL 23
 “We’re spoiled with the automation system we have now.”
— Pat Raftery, Wastewater Treatment Plant Superintendent, Trenton, Michigan

to the Rockwell Automation global
network of customer support resources.
Protection Plus Lower Costs
The monthly visits from the Rockwell
Automation technician have had a
direct impact on Trenton’s wastewater
treatment operations. Plant operators
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simply create a checklist of issues for
the technician to address during his
visit. The technician also regularly
trains operators so they can immedi-
ately leverage software upgrades.
Raftery also has the option of pull-
ing in a specific area specialist when
necessary. For example, when the
plant experienced a drive problem, he
requested that a Rockwell Automation
drive technician make the monthly
visit instead of the regular technician.
“It is incredibly valuable to our day-
to-day operations to have regular visits
from the Rockwell Automation techni-
cian who is familiar with us and our
plant,” Raftery says. In an emergency,
this support becomes the plant’s lifeline.
Not long after the plant contracted
services from Rockwell Automation,
it experienced a main server melt-
down. Raftery and his team couldn’t
monitor what was happening at their

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off-site pumping stations nor control
any plant functions remotely — and
the plant’s sole electrical technician
was on vacation.
Raftery quickly contacted Rock-
well Automation and within five
hours, the problem was fi xed.
“We’re spoiled with the automation
system we have now,” says Raftery.
“The Rockwell Automation service
contract means we don’t have to
worry about operation failures from
technical issues. I can allow my em-
%(1',1* 5HILQLQJDQGLPSURYLQJWKH352&(66 ployees to take vacations with peace
QRWVLPSO\LQVSHFWLQJWKHSDUW of mind. I know the plant will be
fine,” he explains.
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PDQXIDFWXULQJSURFHVVFKDQJHV The citizens of Trenton can rest
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easy, too. Rockwell Automation spe-
cialists are providing comprehensive
&DWFKPDQXIDFWXULQJGHIHFWV%()25(WKH\KDSSHQ services to support their municipal
wastewater treatment operations. Lo-
722/,1* Q Q Q cal waterways and the populace are
protected, and the added protection
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helps keep the cost of wastewater
treatment low for taxpayers.
:(/',1* Rockwell Automation Services
and Support
www.rockwellautomation.com/go/
tjservices
Rockwell Automation Water
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www.rockwellautomation.com/
industries/water

24 THE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2010 WWW.ROCKWELLAUTOMATION.COM/THEJOURNAL