Skip to content
WelcoYour alerts, by text.

Irrigation district alarm notification for pumps, canals and wells

When a river pump trips or a check structure runs high at night, the ditch rider should know before water tops the bank. Welco texts the site, the alarm and the reading from the email your SCADA, PLC or telemetry logger sends today. The district adds one email address, and the pump plant and canal need no new equipment.

Text me my SCADA alarmsBook a demo

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

  • Works from the alarm email you have
  • Nothing installed at the site
  • No per-rider fees

Works by email with

  • PLC alarms
  • Data loggers
  • Pump & lift stations
  • Tank & well levels

A canal check structure: the Check 4 pool rises past its 4 ft high mark to 4.6 ft and the high-level alarm turns on. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: [Check 4] Main canal level HIGH, 4.6 ft at 9:34 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: alerts arrive through the night and each goes to the right person. 9:34 PM, to Ditch rider, upper canal: "Welco: [Check 4] Main canal level HIGH, 4.6 ft at 9:34 PM. Reply STOP to opt out." 1:07 AM, to On-call pump tech: "Welco: [River Pump Plant] Pump 3 TRIPPED, motor overload at 1:07 AM. Reply STOP to opt out." 5:22 AM, to Watermaster: "Welco: [Well 12] Water level LOW, well pump stopped at 5:22 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

What a district gets from Welco during water season

Each canal, pump and well alarm reaches the rider or tech who covers that site, by text. It comes from the alarm email your SCADA or loggers already send.

  • Each reach texts its own rider

    An alert rule matches a site name like Check 4 or Lateral 9, so the lower canal rider sleeps through upper canal alarms.

  • Pump trips find the pump tech

    River pump plant alarms go to the pump tech, and a bank breach can reach the water master too through several phones per alert.

  • A line drop stays a few texts

    When a power outage trips every pump at once, flood control caps the burst so the rider can still read the list.

  • Quiet phones after the last delivery

    When the canal goes dry, switch the canal rules off so only wells and power alarms text anyone. Switch them back on before the first water order.

A tripped river pump on a July night

The district runs four big pumps at the river plant, with one rider on each reach and one pump tech on call. Here is one trip, start to finish.

  1. The evening rule takes over

    After 6 PM, after-hours routing sends canal alarms to the rider on that reach and pump alarms to the pump tech.

  2. SCADA emails a motor overload

    ALM RIVER_PP P2_OL PUMP 2 MOTOR OVERLOAD TRIP STATE=TRIPPED PUMPS ON=3

  3. The pump tech and the water master both get it

    Welco: [River Pump Plant] Pump 2 overload TRIP, 3 of 4 pumps running at 12:41 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

  4. The pump tech answers from the pickup

    Heading to river plant, will reset P2 and cut back the Lateral 14 order

  5. The reply lands in the district alarm mailbox

    Welco sends the text reply by email to the address the alarm came from, so the office knows who drove out. See replies by email.

    Reply from the pump tech's phone: Heading to river plant, will reset P2 and cut back the Lateral 14 order

  6. The water master sets the day's orders

    The delivery report shows both phones got the text, and the reply explains why Lateral 14 ran short overnight.

These times are an example, and mobile networks set the delivery pace. A rider's reply leaves the pump trip standing on the HMI until someone clears it there.

How to set up irrigation alarm texts before first water

Whoever runs your SCADA or telemetry can do this in an afternoon. The alarm system only needs one more email address.

  1. Sign up and verify the district

    Tell us who you are and which alarms you'll send. We check every business first, so the alert number carries district alarms only.

  2. Invite riders and the pump tech

    Each person opens the invite, types their own mobile and confirms with YES. Summer riders join the same way when they start.

  3. Add Welco and run a dry test

    Put your Welco address beside today's alarm recipients and approve the sender. Test mode shows each text before any rider gets one.

Get the next pump trip on the pump tech's phone

Sign up, verify your district and point one alarm email at Welco.

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

Text me my SCADA alarmsBook a demo

What irrigation equipment can send alarm texts?

Anything at the district that sends an email can feed Welco. That includes river and booster pump stations, gate and pump PLCs and cell telemetry loggers on laterals and turnouts.

Canal and pump alarms riders act on

These are masked examples from a district night. Water and sewer utilities and rural electric co-ops chase similar pump and power alarms, as our industry alarm pages show.

  • Turnout: Welco: [Lateral 14] Turnout flow 0 CFS, order is 6 CFS at 11:15 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.
  • Check structure: Welco: [Check 9] Gate position FAULT, failed to move at 3:02 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.
  • Well: Welco: [Well 21] Pump OFF, power lost at the pump panel at 4:48 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

A phone showing these alert texts: Turnout, "Welco: [Lateral 14] Turnout flow 0 CFS, order is 6 CFS at 11:15 PM. Reply STOP to opt out."; Check structure, "Welco: [Check 9] Gate position FAULT, failed to move at 3:02 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."; Well, "Welco: [Well 21] Pump OFF, power lost at the pump panel at 4:48 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

Which irrigation district alarms should text a rider?

Text the alarms that waste water, flood a field or short a grower's order if nobody acts tonight. Readings that only drift can wait for the morning drive.

Alarms worth a night text

  • A river or booster pump trip, since every lateral below it runs short.
  • Canal level HIGH at a check structure, before water tops the bank.
  • Turnout flow far below the order, which usually means a plugged gate or screen.
  • A gate that fails to move when SCADA or the rider sends a new position.
  • Power lost at a well or a remote pump panel.

Alarms the morning drive can catch

Low logger batteries, slow level trends and short pressure dips that recover on their own. Keep those in email so riders trust that a text means a drive.

Give every site a name the rules can match

Use the same site names in SCADA, on the canal and in your rules, like Check 4 or Lateral 9. The guide to splitting night duty helps when two riders share a reach.

A pipeline pressure alarm from a telemetry logger

Many districts watch remote sites with cell-connected data loggers. Their alarm emails carry a station number, the limit and the reading. Welco turns that into one line a rider can read in the truck.

Alert email from alerts@telemetry.example.com, subject “Alarm: Lateral 9 Pipeline Pressure”. Welco trims it to one text of 93 characters: “Welco: [Lateral 9] Pipeline pressure 91.4 PSI, above 85 at 10:13 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [Lateral 9] Pipeline pressure 91.4 PSI, above 85 at 10:13 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters217931 credit

Animation: the alert email "Alarm: Lateral 9 Pipeline Pressure" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [Lateral 9] Pipeline pressure 91.4 PSI, above 85 at 10:13 PM. Reply STOP to opt out."

Trimming to one text keeps the site, the reading and the time. The web link and station number stay in the email.

How night alarm calls change for ditch riders

The old way

  • The pump plant dialer reads a point number, and the rider calls the office to learn which pump.
  • Alarm texts go to a phone's carrier email address, a path the carriers are shutting down.
  • Every rider hears every alarm, whatever reach it came from.
  • A spill over the weir gets found on the morning drive.

With Welco

  • The site, the alarm and the reading on the rider's lock screen.
  • Each reach texts only the rider covering it tonight.
  • One verified number that carries district alarms and nothing else.
  • Night replies wait in the alarm mailbox for the water master.

Frequently asked questions

Our pump stations have no internet. Can they still send alarms to Welco?

Yes, as long as the alarm gets to an email somewhere. Many districts bring remote sites back to a central SCADA over radio or cell, and that SCADA sends the email. A data logger with its own cell modem can email too. If nothing ever emails the alarm, Welco has nothing to text.

Do riders need an app, and do they have to agree to the texts?

There is no app. The alarm shows up as an ordinary text on any mobile phone a rider already carries. Each rider joins with their own number and confirms once, and replying STOP takes them off the list.

What happens when a rider replies to an alarm text?

Welco emails the reply to the address that sent the alarm, such as the district's SCADA mailbox. It works as a note between people. The alarm itself stays active in SCADA until someone clears it at the HMI.

Does Welco replace the pump plant dialer or change today's alarm emails?

Today's alarm emails keep reaching everyone on the list, because Welco is just one more recipient. Welco only sends texts, so a district that needs voice callouts can keep its dialer beside it. The Sensaphone comparison lays out who should pick which.

Could someone outside the district text our riders, or reach our SCADA?

No. Only senders you approve can trigger a text, and mail from anyone else is refused. Welco receives the alarm email your SCADA sends out, so there is no inbound path to the control network or the radios.

How is Welco priced for a district with seasonal riders?

There are no per-user fees, so adding summer riders doesn't add a seat cost, and there is no hardware or setup fee. You pay for the message credits your alarms use. If a month runs out, texts pause or draw on a credit pack, never an overage charge. Start with a 7-day trial and 15 credits; the verification card is only charged once you approve a plan from Welco pricing.

Have the next canal alarm reach the rider on that reach

Send one alarm email to Welco and pick who covers each site.

Text me my SCADA alarmsBook a demo

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