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SCADA alarm notification by SMS, from the system you already run

SCADA alarm notification by SMS puts the site, the point and the value on the standby operator's phone. A lift station, well or reservoir alarm becomes one text. Your SCADA already emails the alarm, so you add one address. Welco only receives that email, so nothing connects to your control network.

Text me my SCADA alarmsBook a demo

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  • No dialer or modem
  • No control-network access
  • No per-user fees

Works by email with

  • Ignition
  • GE iFIX
  • WIN-911
  • QEI

A pump station schematic: Wet well 4 level rises above its 8 ft high alarm setpoint to 8.6 ft and the alarm turns on. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: [Lift Station 4] Wet well HIGH, 2.6 m at 2:14 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: an alert email, "New Alarm from LS4: Wet Well Level HIGH", arrives at Welco and becomes one text to the standby operator: "Welco: [Lift Station 4] Wet well HIGH, 2.6 m at 2:14 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

What operators get with Welco

  • The standby operator knows

    The alarm reaches whoever has standby with the site, the point and the value, not a voice reading tag names.

  • Only alarms worth the drive

    On a rural system the drive can be 40 minutes each way. Text HIGH HIGH and LOW LOW at night, and leave warnings for the day crew.

  • A power outage won't bury the phone

    When an ice storm knocks out power and 40 points trip at once, flood limits send a few texts that say something is wrong.

  • Your control network stays closed

    Welco reads the alarm email your SCADA sends out. There is no remote access, no agent and no port to open.

A 2:14 a.m. lift station alarm

Heavy fall rain is filling the sewers. Nobody is at the HMI, and the wet well at Lift Station 4 is rising.

  1. SCADA emails the alarm, as it always has

    --- ALARM --- HIGH --- LS4 Wet Well Level --- 2.6 m

  2. Welco picks the standby operator

    The sender is your approved SCADA mail relay. After 4:30 p.m., lift station alarms go to the standby phone.

  3. One text with everything needed to decide

    Welco: [Lift Station 4] Wet well HIGH, 2.6 m at 2:14 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

  4. The operator answers from the truck

    Heading to LS4, 25 min out

  5. The reply lands in the public works mailbox

    Welco emails replies to the alarm's sender. Send alarms through a mailbox your crew reads, and the morning shift sees who went out.

    Reply from the standby phone: Heading to LS4, 25 min out

  6. Return to normal stays in email

    A rule keeps the all-clear out of texts, so nobody else is woken for good news.

Times are an example. Text delivery depends on mobile networks. A reply does not acknowledge the alarm in SCADA.

What is SCADA alarm notification?

SCADA alarm notification is how a plant's control system tells a person that something needs attention. SCADA (the software that runs and watches a plant or its remote sites) shows the alarm on a screen. Notification carries it to someone who isn't looking at that screen.

For years that meant a voice autodialer on a phone line, a cellular modem, or email sent to a carrier's text gateway. Welco uses the alarm email instead. Your SCADA sends it as usual, and Welco turns it into a text for whoever is on call.

How Welco gets a SCADA alarm to a phone

Setup is three steps, and the SCADA side is one email address. Your SCADA tech or integrator can do it, and the SCADA change takes minutes.

  1. Sign up and verify your municipality or company

    Create a Welco account and answer a few questions. We check every business before it can send, so your alarm number only carries alarms.

  2. Invite your operators

    Email each operator an invite. They join with their own cellphone and reply YES to one text. Until they do, Welco sends them nothing.

  3. Add Welco to the alarm email

    In your SCADA, notifier or mail relay, add your Welco address as one more recipient. Approve the sending address in Welco, then trigger a test alarm. Everyone already on the alarm email keeps getting it.

Your next lift station alarm can be a text

Add one email address in your SCADA. Keep everything else.

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing

Text me my SCADA alarmsBook a demo

Pick your SCADA system or alarm type

Each page shows the exact menus, a real-looking alarm before and after, and what operators ask. Not listed? The general SCADA setup guide covers any system that can email an alarm.

Example SCADA alarm texts

These are masked examples of common alarms, including one from a cold pumphouse. Each one fits on a lock screen.

  • Well level: Welco: [Pump Station 2] Well 3 level LOW LOW alarm at 1:58 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.
  • Booster pump: Welco: [North Booster] Pump 2 FAIL TO START at 4:07 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.
  • Pumphouse heat: Welco: [Pumphouse 2] Building temp LOW, 3 C at 11:42 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.

A phone showing these alert texts: Well level, "Welco: [Pump Station 2] Well 3 level LOW LOW alarm at 1:58 PM. Reply STOP to opt out."; Booster pump, "Welco: [North Booster] Pump 2 FAIL TO START at 4:07 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."; Pumphouse heat, "Welco: [Pumphouse 2] Building temp LOW, 3 C at 11:42 PM. Reply STOP to opt out."

Alarm callouts before and after Welco

Callouts the old way

  • A voice dialer reads tag names over a phone line, one alarm at a time.
  • A cellular modem and data plan somebody has to keep paying for and testing.
  • Carrier email-to-text that went quiet. Bell retired Text via Email on December 31, 2025, per its end-of-life FAQ.
  • Every alarm and every return to normal rings the phone.

Callouts with Welco

  • The site, the point and the value in one text, readable at a glance.
  • No hardware. The alarm email your SCADA already sends does the work.
  • Verified, alerts-only numbers that carry nothing but alarms.
  • Rules text the alarms worth a drive and leave the rest in email.

Plan who gets which alarm before you switch

A text at 3 a.m. should mean someone needs to drive out, maybe on a snowy road. Sort your alarms into three groups first, then build one rule per group.

  • Wake someone up: wet well HIGH HIGH, reservoir LOW LOW, pump fail to start, loss of hydro power, low building heat, chlorine feed failure. These go to the on-call phone at any hour.
  • Tell the day crew: warnings, low battery on an RTU, comm fail on a site that has a backup. These go to the shift crew during work hours only.
  • Keep in email: return to normal, acknowledged, and daily reports. Nobody needs a text for good news.

Welco features SCADA crews use most

Each one answers a question operators ask before they trust texts at night.

  • Alarm rules

    Match the site, the point or words like HIGH HIGH, then choose who gets the text.

  • On-call and after-hours routing

    Different phones by time of day and day of week, so standby gets nights and weekends.

  • Several phones per alarm

    Send an overflow alarm to the standby operator and the chief operator at the same time.

  • One-text alarms

    Cut headers, tag paths and footers so each alarm fits one text and one credit.

  • Delivery reports

    See in plain English whether each text reached each phone, and why not if it didn't.

  • Test mode

    Trip an alarm and check the result in the feed without sending a text or using credits.

Who uses SCADA alarm texts

Anyone who answers plant alarms when nobody is at the HMI. The same setup covers temperature alarm text alerts and building management alarms by text.

Do you still need a dialer or WIN-911?

Maybe. Welco sends texts. It does not place voice calls, wait for an operator to acknowledge, or escalate to the next person if nobody answers.

If your operating rules or your council need voice callouts with acknowledgment, keep a callout tool for that. You can use Welco for the texts and keep a callout system as a backup. If WIN-911 stays, you can still text its alarm email through Welco. Compare the two in WIN-911 alternative.

Frequently asked questions

Does my SCADA need an SMS module to send alarm texts?

No. If your SCADA, HMI or alarm notifier can send an email, that is enough. You add your Welco address as one more alarm recipient, and Welco turns each email into a text. Nothing is installed on the SCADA server, and you don't need a modem or a cellular plan.

Does Welco connect to our SCADA or control network?

No. Welco only receives the alarm email your SCADA or mail relay sends out. There is no remote access, no agent and no inbound connection to the control network. Your IT team, or the municipality's IT contractor, only needs to allow outbound email.

Can different alarms go to different operators?

Yes. Alarm rules can match the site name, the point or words like HIGH HIGH, then pick who gets the text. Time rules send night alarms to the person on standby and day alarms to the crew. One alarm can also go to several phones at once.

What happens if 50 points alarm after a power outage?

Flood control limits how many texts reach each phone in an alarm flood, so operators get a few texts that say something is wrong. The full list stays in the SCADA alarm summary and in your Welco feed. You can also drop return-to-normal messages so the all-clear doesn't double the count.

Can an operator acknowledge the alarm by replying?

Not in SCADA. A reply comes back to your alarm mailbox as an email, so the crew can see who is going out. The alarm itself is acknowledged at the HMI or in your SCADA as usual.

Is this secure enough for a municipal water system?

Only senders you approve can trigger texts, so a stranger can't text your crew by guessing your Welco address. Each phone opts in with YES first. Alarm numbers are used for alerts only and are never shared with marketing senders. See the security page for how data is handled.

Do operators need an app to get SCADA alarm texts?

No. The alarm arrives as an ordinary text on any cellphone that can receive texts, whatever the carrier. Each one starts with Welco: and ends with the opt-out line, so operators know who sent it. There is nothing to install, log in to or keep updated.

How much does SCADA alarm texting cost with Welco?

No per-user fees, no hardware, no setup fee. A short alarm uses one message credit, and long ones use more unless you trim them. A 7-day free trial with 15 credits lets you test a real alarm first. Current plans are on the pricing page.

Get tonight's SCADA alarms on the standby phone

Add your Welco address to the alarm email you already send.

Text me my SCADA alarmsBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing