SDT + Artesis at water utility pumping stations: cavitation and drives

A water utility's pumping stations span dozens, sometimes hundreds, of units scattered across a city: first- and second-lift stations, sewage lift stations (SLS), and water treatment stations. There's rarely enough staff to visit them all, and a failure at a lift station isn't just downtime — it's a direct flooding and fine risk. SDT340 catches cavitation and bearing wear in seconds on a route, while Artesis e-MCM keeps motor condition under control without opening the machine or stopping the pump.

Industry overview: SDT by industry · Artesis by industry. Related topic — submersible pump diagnostics.

Water utility facility map

Facility	Key components	Typical problem	Tool
First-lift station (intake)	Submersible and horizontal pumps	Cavitation, impeller wear	SDT340
Second-lift station	Pump units, motors	Imbalance, winding overheating	SDT340 + Artesis e-MCM
Sewage lift stations	Sewage pumps, submersible motors	Clogging, cavitation, phase loss	SDT340, ESA
Water treatment plant	Dosing pumps, aeration compressors, valves	Air leaks, seal wear	LeakChecker
Tanks and clear wells	Valves, check valves	Leak-by on a closed valve	SDT340 (passive ultrasound)

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Cavitation — the main enemy of a network pump

Cavitation destroys an impeller from the inside over months and is barely visible from outside until vibration becomes severe and repair is already unavoidable. Ultrasonic monitoring hears the characteristic high-frequency "crackling" of cavitation at the pump suction long before it shows up in vibration data.

Signs SDT340 catches on a route:

• rising broadband ultrasonic signal at the suction pipe;
• unstable amplitude, "crackling" in the headphones;
• rising bearing-housing level with unchanged vibration.

→ Pump cavitation: signs and diagnostics · Pump cavitation: ESA + ultrasound

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Pump motor diagnostics without stopping the station

A pumping station rarely has a spare unit for every pump, so diagnosing the motor without a stop isn't optional — it's a requirement. Artesis e-MCM connects at the motor terminals of a running pump and, through current and voltage analysis (ESA), shows:

Defect	What ESA sees
Stator inter-turn short	Rising sidebands around the line frequency
Broken or cracked rotor bar	Characteristic slip sidebands
Rotor eccentricity (common in submersible pumps)	Current spectrum asymmetry
Supply power quality issues	Harmonics, phase imbalance

For remote or hard-to-reach stations (an SLS on the city outskirts, out-of-town facilities), Artesis IoT connects the data to the cloud — the dispatcher sees station status on one screen without a site visit.

→ e-MCM + SDT340: two levels of drive diagnostics · Centralizing the fleet with Artesis IoT

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Lubrication and bearings of pump units

Horizontal pump units on the drive side are often over- or under-greased manually "by the book" — both extremes shorten bearing life.

→ Pump and fan bearing lubrication · LUBExpert bearing lubrication

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Leaks at the water treatment station

Aeration compressors, reagent dosing pumps, pneumatic valve actuators — wherever there's compressed air, there are losses. At water treatment stations with continuously running aeration compressors, leaks directly increase the electricity bill.

→ The economics of compressed-air leaks · LeakChecker

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Why this fits a water utility specifically

Water utility constraint	How SDT + Artesis addresses it
Few staff for dozens of stations	SDT340 route: 5–10 minutes per unit
No spare pumps	Motor diagnostics without a stop (ESA)
Facilities scattered across the city	Artesis IoT — remote monitoring of key stations
Limited repair budget	Early cavitation and winding defects mean planned repair, not a winter emergency

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90-day rollout

Month	Focus
1	Pump unit register, priority — stations with no spare
2	ESA baseline on motors + SDT340 route for cavitation and bearings
3	Connect critical remote lift stations to Artesis IoT, first report

A similar rollout: SDT 90-day route · e-MCM 90-day pilot.

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KEG TRK — SDT and Artesis for water utilities and treatment stations in Kazakhstan. SDT catalog · Artesis catalog