Homeland Security is at the forefront of every Public Water Utility in the U.S. This is underpinned by the Federal Government’s 2002 Bioterrorism Act, which legislates that water supplies must be protected from potential terrorist threats. Following on from a recent security review, Northshore Utility District has deployed an IndigoVision site-wide integrated IP video surveillance system using HD cameras to help it combat terrorism and improve public and staff safety. The integrated solution was designed and installed by IndigoVision’s Partner, Reliable Security Sound & Data, who has also been the District’s designated security vendor of choice for many years.
Northshore Utility District is a special-purpose water and sewer utility located at the Northeast end of Lake Washington in King County, Washington. The District encompasses more than 44 square kilometers and serves more than 65,000 people. With 420 kilometers of sewer pipe, 15 lift stations, 415 kilometers of water main, 3 water pumping stations and eight water storage facilities with a combined capacity of 132 million liters, Northshore creates a demanding security environment. This requires a distributed solution that can stream high-quality surveillance video over large distances.
The new system replaced analog surveillance equipment that was end-of-life and delivered poor quality video. Stephen Schommer, the district’s Information Systems & Technology Director, said, “There were a number of instances where the old surveillance system caught intruders close up on camera, but we still couldn’t get a clear picture for identification. In contrast, the new IndigoVision HD cameras provide us with amazing video quality – in some cases it’s like looking out of the window.”
A combination of 38 HD and standard-definition cameras have been installed at the main site headquarters and at five remote pumping station/reservoir sites, the furthest being more than 8 kilometers away. Operators using IndigoVision’s security management software can view live and recorded video from any camera. Video is recorded on stand-alone RAID-5 NVRs.
IndigoVision’s distributed architecture allows any camera, video workstation or NVR to be located at any point on the network. Video from the headquarters and each of the remote sites is recorded onto locally installed NVRs. Live and archived video from the remote sites is accessed over a standard broadband link by operators at the main site. The ability to deliver HD video across low bandwidth network links is made possible because of IndigoVision’s class-leading compression technology.
“Since starting Reliable Security in 1980, I have waited 30 years to see video this good,” said Bill Miller, President, Reliable Security Sound & Data. “What makes it even better are the very low bit rates that the HD cameras are using, which range from around 1 to 2.5 mbps, depending on the amount of scene motion.”