Dallas Water Utilities Project Earns Top Gold Award from ACEC Texas
Mbroh Engineering and Dallas Water Utilities (DWU) have been honored with a Gold Medal, the top honor, in the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC)-Texas Chapter Gold Engineering Excellence Awards and have advanced to the national competition. The winning project is DWU’s Wastewater Facilities Safety and Security Improvements Project and included physical security improvements at five DWU wastewater locations for a total of 336 security assets across multiple sites.
The Mbroh Team provided improvements to security cameras, card readers, access controllers, servers, workstations and networking. Additionally, a security risk assessment addressed security improvements in the areas of perimeter fence protection, railroad track conditions for delivery of chlorine, and physical site security.
The City of Dallas and DWU maintain water, wastewater and stormwater plants across the Dallas region and place a high priority on the safety and security of each plant that encompasses water quality, equipment protection and personnel protection. DWU has developed high standards for protection of plant locations, including critical infrastructure such as entrance gates and guardhouses, perimeter fences, chemical storage and distribution, electrical distribution and equipment, SCADA control rooms, and server rooms.
The project’s improvements contribute to the protection of water and wastewater infrastructure from both external and internal threats that could compromise service to DWU’s 2.4 million customers in Dallas and 27 nearby communities. Additionally, at DWU’s Central WWTP, the addition of security fencing and rehabilitation of railroad tracks for delivery of chlorine rail cars contributes to security of the surrounding community by mitigating risk of security events and potential rail car accidents that could affect the safe treatment of water and safe air to breathe for citizens.
Updates completed by the Mbroh Team advance best practices for security measures of municipal water/wastewater infrastructure systems through:
- Implementation of Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) Communication Protocol
- Installation of Fail Safe and Fail Secure Locks
- Use of Badge Access by Employee Role
- Development and Implementation of Corporate Standards
- Integration of Multiple Disciplines During Design
- Coordination During Construction for Timing and Access
Congratulations to DWU and the Mbroh Team for their outstanding efforts on this project! Read more online about ACEC Texas and ACEC on their websites.
