The Otay Water District

Location:
San Diego County, California

Plant Capacity and Application:
Water and sewer services for approximately 200,000 residents per day

Service Type:
Network Systems Infrastructure Consulting Services

Customer Since:
 •May 2003

Major System Upgrades and Additions:
 •Active Directory
 •Exchange 2003
 •NT4.0 Migration
 •Desktop Migration
 •Network Design
 •24x7x365 Network Monitoring and Management

Objective: Bioterrorism Act Security Compliance and Network Efficiency Upgrades

The Otay Water District is a publicly-owned water and sewer service Special District of California, authorized in 1956 by the State Legislature. The District’s service area encompasses 129 square miles of southeastern San Diego County, California. Otay facilities serve the water and/or sewer service needs of approximately 200,000 people living in the communities of southern El Cajon, La Mesa, Rancho San Diego, Jamul, Spring Valley, Bonita, eastern Chula Vista, EastLake and Otay Mesa along the international border with Mexico.

The Otay Water District also owns and operates a wastewater collection and reclamation system, providing public sewer service to approximately 5,000 homes and businesses within the Jamacha drainage basin. Included in this system is the Ralph W. Chapman Water Recycling Facility which produces up to 1.3 million gallons of high-quality reclaimed water everyday.

Challenge: Vulnerability Assessment and System Enhancements

Following the 2001 terrorist attacks, the District took steps, in addition to standard security measures, to protect Otay’s water supply. The District was also mandated by the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 to conduct a Vulnerability Assessment on the treatment plant and its facilities. The assessment was designed to evaluate any potential threats to which The Otay Water District may be susceptible, such as insider sabotage, terrorism or vandalism.

The Otay Water District knew that upgrading their IT systems to comply with the regulations of the Bioterrorism Act would be just one of many computer system upgrade projects they had planned for the near future. Although The Otay Water District employs very experienced and competent engineers, taking on these projects in-house would require several more highly-skilled engineers and could not be done economically compared to outsourcing. Being a government facility and a critical utility that impacts so many people each day, The District was looking for an extremely responsive partner with a wide breadth of service offerings and an excellent track record. After a thorough evaluation of network service firms, The Otay Water District’s LAN administrator and IT Operations Supervisor chose Network Insight to perform their Vulnerability Assessment.

Solution: An Updated, Safety-compliant Solution and Data Traffic

"We originally hired Network Insight for our Vulnerability Study project and were impressed by their responsiveness, technical knowledge and wide range of services. We now utilize Network Insight for all our network needs because it is less expensive than providing the same quality services inhouse and more convenient than contracting with several different companies."

-Bill Jenkins
IT Operations Supervisor
Otay Water District

The study identified corrective action to reduce or mitigate risks to the District’s facilities. Network Insight’s Systems Consultants implemented Active Directory and Exchange 2003, and performed an NT4.0 and desktop migration. They also provided general system advances such as increased speed and reliability. Network Insight now also provides a better way to monitor and control the Water District’s system infrastructure at lower maintenance and regulatory compliance costs with its around-the-clock critical monitoring and maintenance for the entire network. As an important part of Network Insight’s offering, these 24x7x365 network management services were fully functioning within 30 days of completing the system upgrades.

Result: A Secure, Cost-effective and Efficient Network

Since implementation, The Otay Water District’s upgraded IT systems provide advanced security, operating and control technology. The new system has a positive impact on The Otay District’s economy and safety and the project as a whole serves as a model for effective public-private partnerships.

The result is a cost-effective, state of the art, infrastructure that enhances quality of service to the public while assuring safety and regulatory compliance. Moreover, the design and solution allow for future upgrades and modifications that can be performed seamlessly so The Otay Water District can more easily accommodate future changes.

Founded in 1998, Network Insight, LLC, is a world-class network services and management company offering a unique, vendor neutral approach to serving its clients. Our team of highly skilled engineers and project managers works closely with clients to develop the best network solutions to serve each company’s unique business goals and strategies.

Network Insight provides a comprehensive range of network services to address the complete lifecycle of network development and management including consulting and project management for network infrastructure, systems and physical infrastructure requirements, and outsourced or co-sourced network management services.

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