Water Utility Pumphouse Monitoring

The utility selected Canaro to bring their monitoring online across their 10 pumphouses. Canaro is a Canadian platform that brings data on the whole operation to a single pane of glass; it has built-in connectivity over WiFi, cellular and satellite, onboard sensors and a comprehensive alerting system.

Each pumphouse gets the same kit; one Canaro Hub Pro and the same set of add-ons. That uniformity helps on multiple levels; not only is every site built the same way, troubleshot the same way, and repaired the same way, Interlude (Canaro's AI layer) can learn what normal looks like across the fleet and send alerts if anything deviates from that norm.

Canaro Hub Pro is the central device installed at each site; it connects via WiFi, cellular and satellite and is the link between local sensors and the Canaro dashboard. If cellular fails, Canaro Hub Pro seamlessly falls back to satellite connection to eliminate visibility gaps; it also includes built-in temperature, humidity, air quality, noise, vibration and tamper sensors, all built-in.

An external antenna is installed on the outside of each pumphouse to boost cellular signal and ensure reliable satellite backup, even at the more remote sites where coverage is marginal.

To monitor access, a door sensor (via Dry Contact Add-On) is installed at each site, connecting wirelessly with the Canaro Hub Pro. Every door open and close lands on the dashboard in real time; useful for spotting unscheduled access between service visits.

Water pressure, flow, chlorine and turbidity sensors are also installed at each pumphouse, all integrated into Canaro via 4–20mA Add-Ons. Each Add-On pairs with an off-the-shelf transducer or analyzer the utility already specifies for their lines; Canaro just reads the current loop and translates it into a live reading on the dashboard. The 4–20mA Add-On runs on USB-C with a robust backup battery that keeps monitoring through hours-long outages and recharges automatically when power returns.

A Leak Sensor Add-On is positioned in each pumphouse's wet zone, placed where a seal failure or pipe sweat would show up first.

The utility runs on Enterprise Standard; the mid-tier Enterprise plan. The decision driver is two-fold: fleet-level features (multi-user accounts, role-based access, priority support) and Interlude, the AI layer included with every Enterprise tier.

The connectivity plan is WiFi, Cellular & Satellite. WiFi is unavailable at any of the pumphouses, so in practice cellular is doing the work where coverage holds, with satellite as the failover for the more remote sites along the line. The external antenna at each pumphouse keeps both links as strong as possible.

Enterprise rates are negotiated based on fleet size and tier; for a 10-hub fleet at this tier with satellite backup, costs land at ~$34/mo/hub.

Every Canaro plan has two parts: a connectivity plan (how the hub stays online) and an account plan (what the dashboard can do).

Each site takes one short visit. Hub Pro mounts to the wall with the included plate and plugs into any outlet. The external antenna is fixed to the outside of the pumphouse and cabled back to the Hub Pro. The Leak Add-On clicks onto its own plate at the wet zone. Each 4–20mA Add-On wires into its paired sensor's current loop (pressure transducer, flow meter, chlorine analyzer, turbidity analyzer). The Dry Contact Add-On pairs wirelessly with the Hub Pro and wires into the door sensor.

On the dashboard, the technician scans the hub's activation code, links the add-ons, and names the site by pumphouse number. Thresholds are configured once on a template and pushed to all 10 sites; there's no per-site copy-paste of configuration.

Total time on site is closer to a service-call window than an install day.

Each pumphouse runs the same alert set, applied uniformly across the fleet:

• Power loss; instant alert if the hub loses mains (backup battery keeps it reporting)
• Temperature; motor housing or ambient outside its safe band
• Pressure; outside the line's operating range (high or low)
• Flow; outside expected range (drop suggests a break, spike suggests a downstream issue)
• Chlorine residual; below the minimum required for safe distribution
• Turbidity; above the threshold for safe distribution
• Leak; wet-zone moisture detected
• Door access; pumphouse door opens outside a scheduled service window
• Connectivity; hub off-network for more than a set window

Alerts route through SMS, email, and phone call with 30-minute acknowledgement escalation; if no one acknowledges, the alert climbs the on-call rotation until it lands with someone who will.

The threshold alerts above catch every event that's already happening. Interlude is what catches the events that are about to happen.

Included with every Enterprise plan, Interlude listens to the hub's onboard microphone and accelerometer and learns what each pumphouse normally sounds and feels like. When the background noise shifts; a bearing starting to grind, a pump cavitating, a valve chattering; Interlude flags it before it crosses any threshold the operators wrote.

Same story with vibration. A motor mount loosening up over time produces a measurable signature long before it shears off. Interlude tags the change, the dashboard surfaces it, and a technician inspects the site on the next routine pass; instead of getting a 3am call after the pump quits.