CASE STUDY
Myers Environmental
Industry
Water/Wastewater
Sector
Contract Water/Wastewater Operator
Application
Primary Operations
Project Type
SCADA Deployment
01
Background
Myers Environmental is a water and wastewater contract operator serving small rural communities throughout Northeast Pennsylvania. The company provides licensed water and wastewater operators to municipalities that lack licensed operators on staff—a critical service given the worsening shortage of qualified operators in the industry.
The relationship with CoStream began through a licensed operator at the Bloomsburg treatment facility who had previously worked with CoStream's original parent company, Martz Technologies. After Bloomsburg's previous integrator failed to meet expectations, the facility's staff sought out Martz Technologies for a better solution. The traditional system that had been installed never quite worked properly, making Bloomsburg willing to give CoStream (formerly VZRscada) an opportunity to prove its value.
02
Problem
While Bloomsburg faced its own operational challenges, Myers Environmental confronted a broader systemic issue inherent to contract operations. As a contract operator firm, Myers naturally inherits whatever technology and control systems their client communities already have in place. This meant their operators had to interface with a wide range of different systems with varying levels of user intuitiveness—a challenge that has been ongoing for most, if not all, contract operator firms in the industry.
The operators assigned to these accounts were ultimately forced to deal with whatever operational technology (OT) systems their clients had implemented. Each small community they served had likely worked with different firms for OT support and couldn't afford the substantial upfront costs associated with developing and installing traditional SCADA systems. Prior to CoStream, their client communities were either using traditional SCADA solutions or relying on very basic hardware for general alarms.
This fragmented technology landscape created significant inefficiencies. A common platform across their clients would simplify operators' daily jobs and ultimately provide a better quality of life. With the ongoing shortage of operators making contract operators extremely valuable, these professionals needed systems they could rely on—systems that would make their jobs easier through remote operation capabilities, automated reporting, and readily available OT support.
03
Solution
03
Results
The primary economic outcome was improved operator efficiency through enhanced remote access capabilities and streamlined workflows for managing ever-changing reporting requirements. For the small communities Myers Environmental serves, CoStream delivered a lower total cost of ownership compared to traditional solutions.
An unexpected benefit emerged in organic expansion. While Myers Environmental advocates for CoStream, they aren't the decision makers at the communities they serve. However, positive operator experiences at Bloomsburg led Myers to bring CoStream to Nescopeck and Shickshinny. Prior to CoStream, operators were left to their own devices to make disparate systems work—or simply limp by with suboptimal performance.
Myers Environmental values CoStream's on-call support, ease of use, and reliability—three pillars that directly address the core challenges facing contract operators in an industry with a critical workforce shortage.