SOUTHERN NEVADA WATER AUTHORITY (SNWA)
	Telecommunications Operations Support System Plan, Design & Construction
	SNWA provides water treatment and transmission to the communities of the greater Las Vegas Valley in Nevada.

Issue
To meet the drinking water needs of their rapidly-growing metropolitan area, SNWA initiated a multi-billion dollar capital improvement program to expand treatment and transmission capacity from 400 MGD to over 900 MGD. To support this growing infrastructure SNWA needed to:

• Control processes at more than 50 locations across the Las Vegas valley
• Establish a fast, reliable and redundant network
• Design and implement a telecommunications systems to support SCADA, Information Technology, Security and Voice systems

Solution
Westin provided design and construction engineering services for communications planning and construction to connect both new and existing SNWA water delivery facilities. Westin has been involved in this project since 1995, beginning with the expansion of SNWA’s digital microwave backbone and the conversion of RTU communications from analog circuits to digital circuits. In 1998, Westin developed the Telecommunications Master Plan as the guiding document for a new SONET fiber optic system utilizing water pipeline routes and leased fiber optic cable. It included recommendations to migrate from their DS1/DS3 based microwave and fiber modem system to a SONET fiber optic system utilizing water pipeline routes and leased fiber optic cable. The new telecommunications system includes more than 120 cable miles of loop-protected fiber optic cable.

The final phase of the SONET fiber system implementation is in construction. Westin is integral in ongoing design and construction services for the phased implementation of the Master Plan as new facilities are brought into service and existing facilities are upgraded to SONET technology.

The system architecture consists of an OC-48 backbone connecting the water treatment facilities and SNWA's administrative offices. The OC-48 links carry three 100 Mbps Ethernet SCADA WAN circuits, one 100 Mbps IS WAN circuit, 40 Mbps of MPG-2 security video circuits, and several DS1 circuits for PBX networking. There are over 40 OC-12 links for remote site communications (10 Mbps Ethernet, 10Mbps security video, voice circuits and analog and digital signals) as well as an OC-48 enterprise network. This network forms rings around the Las Vegas valley linking treatment facilities to engineering, management, operations and administrative offices. All of the rings are engineered for sub-second recovery from failure.

Outcome
SNWA has retired all of their old microwave sites and now operates exclusively on a reliable fiber optic network. Control system data is transmitted rapidly and securely, assuring that management decision making about water transmission and water quality is based on accurate and timely data.