City of Covington receives $75,000 for improvements

Covington has received $75,000 from the state to be used on utility improvements.

Covington Mayor Candace Watkins said the money will be coupled with $225,000 of recovery money from the Louisiana Recovery Authority to install a remote monitoring system for lift stations.

Watkins said the 59 lift stations in Covington need to be monitored daily, and the SCADA system will allow the city to do this more efficiently than the present system. The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system will allow public works to monitor the lift stations from a central location instead of traveling to each station every day.

This will result in a savings of both time and money plus wear and tear on vehicles in the public works department.

In addition, Watkins said that at some point in the future, the SCADA system will allow the public works department to control the flow of waste to the treatment facility, therefore making that system more efficient as well.

Total cost of the system, including installation, is expected to run about $300,000. The financial savings to the city in personnel and equipment in the public works department has not yet been determined.

Act 19 of the 2008 regular session General Appropriations Act granted the line item appropriation to the city.