Case Study: Emerald Coast Utilities Authority achieves 50% faster hurricane recovery with Trimble GeoXT GPS

Emerald Coast Utilities Authority - Customer Case Study

Emerald Coast Utilities Authority, which maintains water, wastewater and sanitation systems for Escambia County/Pensacola Beach, faced repeated hurricane devastation—most notably Hurricane Opal (1995) and Hurricane Ivan (2004). Ivan’s 35-foot waves and tidal surges pushed up to 10-foot piles of sand onto the barrier islands, burying hundreds of fire hydrants, meters and other utility assets and rendering traditional paper maps and metal detectors ineffective.

To prepare for future storms staff used Trimble GeoXT handheld GPS units to record precise locations of hydrants, valves, meters and manholes, building a GPS database. After Ivan they used the stored coordinates to flag and recover buried assets ahead of beach-clearing equipment, locating nearly every item (losing only two of 200 hydrants), cutting recovery time by more than 50%, and prompting a countywide GIS mapping program and a dedicated GIS hire.

Emerald Coast Utilities Authority

Alberto Frank

Integrated Systems Specialist