Video analytics protects water tanks

15 Jul 09

The two massive tanks, located at separate remote sites, hold up to one million gallons (3.8m litres) and serve 15,000 residents.

The existing surveillance system was upgraded after a group of individuals climbed one of the tanks – a prank which cost the municipality US$9,000 and forced a 48-hour shutdown in order to inspect the premises and ensure the water supply was not compromised.

Both tanks have been equipped with ioimage wide dynamic range IP cameras with built-in self-sustained video analytics to monitor the top hatches and service maintenance ladders – areas most vulnerable to sabotage.

Surveillance staff at the monitoring center is instantly alerted to unauthorized vehicles and persons entering the premises, loiterers and accidental security breaches such as an employee neglecting to lock a gate. Notifications are also sent to their blackberries and via email.

The project – which was partially funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development – has been a great success, according to Frank Caruso, IT director for the Borough of Kutztown.

“Our previous surveillance system was unreliable and prone to false alarms,” said Caruso.

“We had to search through reams of video to find what triggered an alert, which could have been anything from a deer to one of our own maintenance vehicles. We need instant visual verification to know that an alert is authentic, and the ioimage solution does just that. Now we are aware of who is on the premises at any one time and can effectively monitor the vicinity.”

Set-up was easy and the system has quickly proven itself, according to Dennis Cichelli, Director of LANtek Inc, who installed the system.

“All we had to do was some preliminary work to set fields of depth, while false alarms caused by small animals, birds and moving branches have been virtually eliminated,” said Cichelli.

John Whiteman, ioimage president, Americas, said: “This installation illustrates how video analytics is highly effective in protecting critical infrastructure such as water storage tanks.”

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