Sustainable Water System

The client is an innovative provider of industrial water and wastewater treatment solutions, known for delivering sustainable services across a variety of sectors.

With a focus on resource recovery and environmental impact, they design and operate advanced water systems that convert waste streams into usable outputs and drastically reduce operational footprint.

As part of their continuous improvement strategy, they pursued a cutting-edge control system to pilot a first-of-its-kind onsite recycling process that could scale with future operational needs.

In the Beginning...

Our client had big ambitions: design a fully automated industrial wastewater recycling system that could support a major facility with a sustainable, closed-loop water process. The goal was to recycle up to 438,000 gallons of water per year, reducing dependence on external sources while minimizing environmental footprint.

The Plot Thickens

The catch? This was their very first prototype—an “all eyes on it” pilot machine. As the system ran in real-world conditions, new ideas surfaced constantly. Valves changed, motors swapped, performance optimizations were needed, and the control logic had to evolve right along with the machine. The client needed a partner who could support rapid iteration, remote troubleshooting, and ongoing refinement without slowing production momentum.

What made the project unique was its hybrid nature: part R&D, part production system. It needed the structure of an industrial control system, but also the agility to evolve quickly as the client refined their process and prepared for broader deployment.

Vertech designed and built the main control panel, integrated a Rockwell CompactLogix PLC, and developed a modern HMI experience using Ignition—with 23 screens, 145 tags, and 211 alarms supporting safe and smooth operation.

To enable a scalable, data-driven future, the system was built using an IIoT architecture:

A local edge gateway for core machine control and tag collection
A central Ignition gateway in AWS for visualization, analytics, and system management
Dual SQL Server databases logging around 200 updates per second, with more on the way as the client ramps up a machine learning initiative

The Happy Ending

Today, the client has a highly automated, remotely supported wastewater recycling system that helps their customer significantly reduce water usage, all powered by a flexible control architecture that can grow as their sustainability program expands.