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Lift station alarm text for wet well, pump and power alarms

A lift station alarm text puts the station, the pump and the wet well level on the standby operator's phone before they get dressed. Add your Welco address to the station alarm email your SCADA sends today. Wet well high, pump fail and power loss then each arrive as one short line, at 3 AM or any other hour.

Text me my lift station alarmsBook a demo

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

  • No dialer or phone line
  • Nothing added at the station
  • No per-user fees

Works by email with

  • Pump & lift stations
  • Ignition
  • GE iFIX

Setup guide for

  • VTScada

A lift station wet well in section: the lead pump fails, the level rises past the OFF, LEAD ON and LAG ON floats to 6.9 ft and tips the 6.5 ft high-alarm float. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: [Lift Station 9] Pump 1 FAIL, wet well 6.9 ft at 3:02 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: a long Lift station SCADA alert email is trimmed into one short text: "Welco: [Lift Station 9] Pump 1 FAIL, wet well 6.9 ft at 3:02 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

What the standby operator gets

  • Station, alarm and wet well level

    One line says which station, what failed and how high the well is. The tag name and the viewer link stay in email.

  • Nights to standby, days to the crew

    After-hours routing sends night and weekend alarms to the standby phone and daytime alarms to everyone.

  • A storm doesn't mean 30 texts

    When every station trips HIGH at once, flood control keeps phones to a few texts. The SCADA screen keeps the full list.

  • No phone line to keep alive

    The alarm email your SCADA already sends replaces the phone-line dialer's job of telling a person.

Which lift station alarms should send a text

A lift station has a short list of alarms that can turn into a spill or a backup. Those are the ones to send to a phone with SCADA alarm notification. The rest can wait for the morning report. For storage tanks and wells, see tank and well level alarm texts.

  • Wet well HIGH and HIGH HIGH. Levels are rising faster than the pumps can move water.
  • Pump fail to start, or pump fault. Often an overload, a seal leak or a stuck float.
  • Utility power fail, or generator running. The station is on backup or about to lose it.
  • Comm fail. SCADA has lost the radio or cellular link to the station, so you are blind there.
  • Intrusion or hatch open. Someone is inside a fenced site after hours.

A thunderstorm evening across two stations

Storms hit several stations at once. This is how the evening plays out with Welco.

  1. Utility power drops at Lift Station 3

    Urgent alarm LS_03_PWR was triggered at 10/6/2026 7:55:20 PM.

  2. The standby phone learns the generator took over

    Welco: [LS 3] Utility power FAIL, generator running at 7:55 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.

  3. Lift Station 12's wet well climbs past HIGH HIGH

    Urgent alarm LS_12_WW_HH was triggered at 10/6/2026 8:40:12 PM.

  4. A HIGH HIGH rule adds the chief operator

    Wet well HIGH HIGH goes to the standby operator and the chief operator. Plain HIGH stays with standby only.

  5. Both phones get the overflow warning

    Welco: [LS 12 Oak Hollow] Wet well HIGH HIGH, 9.4 ft at 8:40 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.

  6. Standby answers from the truck

    Generator holding at LS 3. Going to LS 12

  7. The chief operator reads the plan in the alarm mailbox

    Welco emails replies to the alarm's sender. The reply is a note to people and doesn't acknowledge anything in SCADA.

    Reply from the standby phone: Generator holding at LS 3. Going to LS 12

Times are an example. Text delivery depends on mobile networks.

Send lift station alarms to the on-call phone in 4 steps

This works when the station's alarms already reach a SCADA server, a telemetry service or an RTU that can send email. The SCADA alarm setup steps cover the SCADA side in detail.

  1. Find where the alarm email starts

    Most lift stations report to a central SCADA over radio or cellular, and the SCADA sends the email. Some cellular RTUs and telemetry services email alarms on their own. Note the address the email comes from.

  2. Approve that sender and invite your operators

    In Welco, add the sending address to the senders allowed to text operators. Then invite each operator. They join with their own mobile and reply YES to a first text.

  3. Add your Welco address to the alarm email

    Wherever the alarm email's recipients are set, add your Welco address. If you used a carrier address like 5551234567@vtext.com, replace it. One water district made this exact swap.

  4. Pull a float or force a test alarm

    Trigger one real alarm at a station you trust, such as a test HIGH level. Check that the text names the right station and lands on the right phone.

Send your next wet well alarm to a phone

Point your lift station alarm email at Welco and invite the on-call operator.

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

Text me my lift station alarmsBook a demo

More lift station alarm texts

Masked examples of the alarms water and wastewater crews and town public works teams route to a phone. A one-text trim rule shapes each one.

  • Seal: Welco: [LS 6] Pump 2 seal leak alarm at 5:38 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.
  • Hatch: Welco: [LS 14] Wet well hatch OPEN, intrusion at 11:16 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.
  • Comm: Welco: [LS 8] Radio COMM FAIL, no data since 2:47 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

A phone showing these alert texts: Seal, "Welco: [LS 6] Pump 2 seal leak alarm at 5:38 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."; Hatch, "Welco: [LS 14] Wet well hatch OPEN, intrusion at 11:16 PM. Reply STOP to opt out."; Comm, "Welco: [LS 8] Radio COMM FAIL, no data since 2:47 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

Route station alarms to the right person

Small crews cover many stations. A few rules keep the right phone ringing.

  • Split stations by area

    If the north side and the south side have different crews, an alarm rule can match the station name and pick the phone.

  • Weekly standby handover

    If operators take turns by the week, change the standby phone in Welco at handover. SCADA keeps sending to the same address.

  • Comm fail to the day crew

    A comm fail at a station with a working float backup can wait for morning. Text it to the day crew only.

Frequently asked questions

Can Welco replace the autodialer at a lift station?

It can replace the part that tells a person, as long as the alarm reaches a system that sends email. If the station already reports to SCADA, the SCADA email is enough. If the dialer is the only thing watching the station, you need an RTU or telemetry link that can email first.

Does Welco touch the station PLC or the SCADA radio network?

No. Welco never talks to a station, a PLC or the radio system. It only receives the alarm email after your SCADA or telemetry service sends it out. Nothing is added in the station panel.

Who gets the text when two operators share call?

Both, if both have joined and you put them on the same rule. Each phone gets one copy. Time-based routing can also send nights to one number and days to another.

Can the standby operator clear the station alarm by replying?

No. A reply reaches your alarm mailbox as an email, which helps the crew see who went out. The alarm is still acknowledged in SCADA or at the station, as it is today.

Will a return to normal also send a text?

Only if the SCADA emails it and you let it through. Many crews like to know a wet well came back down. Others keep clears in email. A Welco rule can drop emails that say Normal or Cleared, so only active alarms become texts.

Does this work for irrigation and stormwater pump stations?

Yes. If the station's alarm reaches an email, it can become a text, whatever the pump moves. The same setup covers canal pumps and gates. See irrigation district alarm texts for the alarms they route.

What do lift station alarm texts cost?

There are no per-user fees, hardware costs or setup fees with Welco. Each short station alarm uses one message credit for each phone it reaches. A trim rule keeps a long scanner email to one credit. See the pricing page for plans.

Know about the next wet well alarm before it spills

Add your Welco address to the station alarm email and the on-call operator gets a text.

Text me my lift station alarmsBook a demo

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