Active RFID Solution Helps Alco Water Service Meet Security Compliance and Track Assets

Alco Water Service supplies water to about 9,000 connections (roughly 30,000 residents) in Salinas, CA, operating nine well sites spread across a ten-mile radius. Each site consists of a small pump house surrounded by a barbed fence — all unmanned.

The Bioterrorism Act of 2002 requires water utilities serving populations of 3,300 or more to assess vulnerability to acts of terrorism. Alco needed to restrict pump station access to authorized workers only, maintain detailed time-stamped activity logs, and quickly locate vital assets like flow meters in emergencies.

Manual tracking was unreliable, couldn't scale across nine remote sites, and made it difficult to know where equipment was — creating both security and operational risks.

AssetPulse deployed a system of active RFID tags and readers from RF Code, operating at 433 MHz. Badges were issued to all personnel and readers were placed at optimal locations after testing for interference with Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs). Reader range was tuned down so tags are only detected within station boundaries.

RFID interrogators were installed at five pump stations, the administrative office, and a maintenance shop. The system includes battery-backed uninterruptible power supply for 30 minutes during outages, with generator backup after that.

AssetGather software was installed on Alco's central server, networked to all sites. The web-based dashboard provides multi-location reporting categorized by activity type, location, and time period. It also sends configurable alert notifications for out-of-normal activity patterns — such as after-hours or weekend access.

The software integrates with Alco's time-and-attendance system, allowing employees to reference the tag-read history to verify work hours and station visits.

After 18 months in production, the system has already returned its approximately $100,000 investment through improved asset utilization and avoided replacement costs for lost equipment.

Employees reference AssetGather to find where and when an item was last detected — eliminating unnecessary trips to remote pump stations. Productivity improved without any increase in labor spending.

Seeing the immediate benefits, Alco extended the system to track meters that frequently move between sites. The company is also considering tracking larger equipment and field trucks within the same AssetGather system.