Sevier River Basin, USA
The Sevier River Basin (Basin) in south-central Utah is one of the state=s major drainages. A closed river basin, it encompasses 12.5 percent of the state=s total area. From the headwaters, 400 kilometers south of Salt Lake City, the river flows north and then west 300 river kilometers before reaching Sevier Lake. Since the turn of the century, irrigation has depleted the river and the only flows that reach the terminal lake are occasional floods, like those in 1983 and 1984, and some return flow.
Automation System
The Sevier River Basin is instrumented with low-cost automation equipment and a low-cost SCADA system which uses the Internet (www.sevierriver.org) and web browser as a delivery vehicle for real-time data display[2]. The automation system includes 3 large reservoirs, 3 smaller re-regulating reservoirs, and 15 diversion structures. Additionally, there are 10 river monitoring sites, 15 canal monitoring sites, plus four weather stations (and counting). Most of the field sites (including those with control) are solar powered. A typical field installation is described in this paper's companion piece[3]. The general characteristics of the automation system are shown in Table 2.
Table 1. Automation Project Comparison
| IrrigationProject | Automation Type | Gate Actuators | Communication | Datalogger | Base Station Software | Internet Integration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sevier River Basin | C | Commercial and "Do-It-Yourself" | VHFCellularLand-line Phone(limited) Satellite(limited) | CR10X Datalogger | Internet | Nearly Total |
| Jungtai Irrigation Scheme | D | Commercial and"Do-It-Yourself" | Land-line Phone | CR10X Datalogger | Datalogger | None |
| Kerian Irrigation Scheme | D | Commercial | Cellular Phone (GSM) | MC-1000 Datalogger | Datalogger | None |
| Kerian Irrigation Scheme | C | Commercial | UHF SHF Satellite (limited) | Unknown | Off-the-Shelf SCADA | Partial |
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With the installation of the low-cost monitoring and control system, the Association is not only in the business of water distribution, but is advancing into the information distribution business also. The concept is that better and more timely information leads to better decision-making and enhanced water management.