ABL was retained by the Municipality of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, in the fall of 1999 to convert the Nictaux sewage treatment plant's existing control system. The plant, a 70,000 GPD sequencing batch reactor (SBR), had been constructed in 1998 by other consultants and suppliers. Since commissioning, the SBR control system had failed to function effectively and reliably. As a result, the plant operators had to disable the automated controls and revert to manual sequencing of valves and pumps. This required a high degree of operator attention, resulting in high manpower costs.

ABL's SBR process logic was customized to suit the specific equipment and tankage configuration of the Nictaux plant. Since some of the features of the new control system required upgraded hardware, the PLC in the control panel was replaced as well. With the upgraded equipment and process control logic, the process has been operating reliably and efficiently with much less operator attention. The resulting manpower savings were even more substantial than first anticipated and the cost of the upgrade was recouped in under six months.