Tredyffrin weighs $37,134 sewer control security upgrade

Tredyffrin Township supervisors are scheduled to consider a $37,133.53 upgrade to remote control systems at three sanitary sewer pump stations on Wednesday, November 4. The request appears on the meeting agenda under township business.

A September 28 staff memo says the stations already use Flygt SCADA systems that allow operators to run them remotely through a cloud system. Staff sought updated security equipment from Xylem. The agenda requests authorization; it does not establish approval or completed work.

What the equipment connects

SCADA stands for supervisory control and data acquisition. The National Institute of Standards and Technology describes these systems as tools for gathering operational information and controlling equipment across distributed sites.

The attached equipment quote lists Secure Connect cloud kits, LTE antenna equipment, labor and one year of prepaid cloud service. Xylem's product page identifies Secure Connect as the current name of its former Avensor offering and describes access to operating data, trends and alerts through web and mobile interfaces.

Those descriptions explain the technology's intended role. They do not establish which features will be activated locally or independently demonstrate a security improvement.

How the proposed price adds up

The September 25 quotation breaks out the following amounts on PDF pages 54 and 55:

• Station Avenue: $9,478.07.
• Atwater Church: $12,832.40.
• Glenn Avenue: $12,832.06.
• Freight: $1,991.

The three station amounts total $35,142.53. Adding freight produces the $37,133.53 request.

The memo proposes purchasing through COSTARS. Pennsylvania's Department of General Services describes COSTARS as a cooperative purchasing program through which eligible local organizations can use contracts managed by the state. That purchasing route does not itself verify equipment performance or the final project cost.

What remains to be confirmed

The quotation's terms give prices a 30 day validity period. The November meeting falls after that window. The attached schedule also leaves delivery timing unspecified.

Before treating the request as a final commitment, useful follow up records would include confirmed pricing, installation and activation dates, and renewal charges after the prepaid service year. These are purchasing questions, not evidence that an outage or breach occurred.

The township's meeting listing gives a 7 p.m. start at Keene Hall, 1100 DuPortail Road in Berwyn, with Zoom participation and a township video stream. Check that listing for changes and the eventual meeting record.

For a separate local purchase with documented cellular service costs, see our Willistown sewer monitoring guide. More reporting appears in the Chester County coverage hub.

Photo: Sergei Wing on Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License. Illustrative stock photograph of pipes and machinery in a utility room, not Tredyffrin facilities or the proposed equipment.