Tetra Tech Digital Systems unified Vallecitos Water District’s three SCADA systems, strengthening security, stability, and scalability for future district operations.
Vallecitos Water District provides potable-water distribution, wastewater treatment, and reclamation services to more than 108,000 people across a 45-square-mile area in greater San Marcos, California. In 2022, the district engaged Tetra Tech to assess its SCADA infrastructure, and our audit identified opportunities to strengthen disaster recovery, cyber and physical security, and hardware performance. It also identified operational value in consolidating separate water distribution, collections, and treatment SCADA systems into one environment.
To establish the new platform, our team upgraded the standalone AVEVA InTouch environment to AVEVA System Platform OMI and consolidated three SCADA systems. Phase 1 defined the platform design, while Phase 2 deployed new server hardware and software, virtualization technology, and network enhancements. The work included a VMWare hyperconverged server cluster hosting 37 virtual machines, server upgrades, and a re-architected network design aligned with modern security and automation standards.
We created a dedicated test environment that simulates the SCADA network, software, virtual machines, and programmable logic controllers (PLC), enabling changes to be developed and validated before production deployment. Our engineers also implemented segmented network architecture across 23 networks and 86 sites, using virtual local area networks (VLAN), a demilitarized zone (DMZ), and Palo Alto firewalls to separate functional areas and control communications. The centralized platform improved visualization and provided an intuitive interface while establishing a scalable foundation for continued system enhancements.
Benefits
- Consolidated three SCADA systems into one centralized platform
- Segmented 23 networks across 86 district sites
- Deployed 37 virtual machines on a hyperconverged server cluster