March 2014

wso
WATER SYSTEM OPERATOR

TM
Managing Our Most Valuable Resource

March 2014
www.wsomag.com
New twist on UV-T measurement

Page 24
TECHNOLOGY DEEP DIVE:
BRIGHT IDEAS:
Innovative nancing in Lowell, Mass.

Page 16
Robert Tagert Production Supervisor East Vincent Township, Pa.
Commitment by Collaboration
Page 18
TEAMWORK AND DEDICATION BRING A PARTNERSHIP DIRECTORS AWARD FOR A PENNSYLVANIA TEAM
Filter efficiency in Freehold, N.J.
SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE:
Page 30
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Contents
March 2014
QUALITY LEADERS
Plant: Fifteen and Counting
Page 8
For the water utility servicing one of Minnesotas Twin Cities, the Partnership provides a motivation and a method to improve every facet of operations.
BY JIM FORCE
Plant: A New Direction
Page 26
Consolidating distribution under the street and utility division lets the North Chicago water plant focus on producing a quality product and increasing efciency.
BY TRUDE WITHAM
ON THE COVER: The staff at the Shady Lane Water Treatment Plant in Pennsylvanias East Vincent Township has overcome challenges like high turbidity from rain events, algae blooms, and mostly manual operation. The operations staff, led by Robert Tagert, production supervisor, has tackled them all and achieved success. (Photography by K. Scott Kreider)
Plant: Commitment by Collaboration

BY TRUDE WITHAM
Page 18
Operators at a Pennsylvania facility rely on teamwork and dedication to achieve excellence and a Partnership for Safe Water Directors Award.
ON TAP Page 5
TECHNOLOGY DEEP DIVE Page 24
Try It. Buy It.
Maybe its time for the water profession to embrace more fully a recruiting and training technique that has worked well for numerous other industries.
BY TED J. RULSEH, EDITOR
A New Twist on UV-T Measurement

Aquionics offers a UV-C LED light source with a single lamp and sensor in a compact package designed for versatility.
BY TED J. RULSEH
WORTH NOTING Page 42 People/Awards; Education; Events
Coming Next Issue: April 2014

FOCUS: ACE14 Pre-Show Issue/Product Preview
On Tap: From prison to the water business? Quality Leaders Operator: Mark Riggsby, Denmar Correctional Center, Hillsboro, W.Va. Quality Leaders Plant: Award-winning performance in Spring Hill, Tenn. Quality Leaders Agency: Distribution excellence in Harvest, Ala. Winning Them Over: Award-winning educator in Rio Rancho, N.M. Technology Deep Dive: ALDRUM G3 drum thickener from Alfa Laval Sustainable Practice: Triple bottom line at Palm Bay Utilities, Fla.
SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE Page 30 @WSOMAG.COM Page 6 Visit daily for news, features and blogs. Get the most from WSO magazine. WINNING THEM OVER Page 14
Free Flowing
New lter media at the water treatment plant reduces energy costs, improves ow-through and lowers chemical usage for the Township of Freehold, N.J.
BY LISA BALCERAK
Learning by Doing
Interns at the water and wastewater utility in Denton, Texas, gain valuable skills while helping staff members perform essential tasks.
LINDA J. EDMONDSON
PRODUCT FOCUS Page 32 Tanks, Structures and Components

BY CRAIG MANDLI
BRIGHT IDEAS Page 16
Tricks of the Trade
A Massachusetts water utility applies innovative nancing to complete a cost-saving solar energy project with no increase in rates.
BY DANIEL J. LAHIFF AND ROBERT S. LITTLE, P.E.
CASE STUDIES Page 36 Tanks, Structures and Components

BY CRAIG MANDLI
INDUSTRY NEWS Page 39 PRODUCT NEWS Page 40 Product Spotlight: Vertical booster pumps save space, conserve energy
BY ED WODALSKI
PROJECTS AND AWARDS Page 23
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Advertiser Index
March 2014
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Every day is Earth Day.
Were met with a new challenge each day. Whether its the sewer or water department ... we take our jobs very seriously, and Jeff Chartier the key thing is knowing that were in An Original Environmentalist SUPERINTENDENT compliance and not polluting our waters. Town of Bristol (N.H.) Sewer
and Water Department
Read about original environmentalists like Jeff each month in Treatment Plant Operator.
FREE subscription at www.tpomag.com
ON TAP
BY TED J. RULSEH, EDITOR
Try It. Buy It.

Maybe its time for the water profession to embrace more fully a recruiting and training technique that has worked well for numerous other industries
hen interviewing water system operators for stories for this magazine, I usually ask, How did you get involved in this profession? Surprisingly often, the answer is some variation on, I needed a job. Sure, many people choose the water business out of pure interest, or out of a passion to do good for the environment and community. But others some of whom grow up to be outstanding operators and leaders come into the profession almost by chance. They get a job, they take an interest, they stay. And they make it a career. And maybe right there is a partial answer to the challenge the industry faces in recruiting new people to replace the many veterans planning to retire in the coming years. In a couple of words: internships and apprenticeships.
ships, actual apprenticeships? Theres a lot of talk in the industry about the need to elevate the stature of water professionals, such as by calling them technicians or specialists instead of operators. What raises stature more than a program that treats the career seriously, in the same manner as plumbing, electrical, carpentry and other skilled trades? My own state (Wisconsin) is among those that offer apprenticeships, in this case for wastewater treatment operators. These three-year paid apprenticeships consist of 90 percent on-the-job training and 10 percent classroom instruction. Apprentices learn directly under the supervision
Magnet for the young
Internships are common in just about every industry. Theyre offered to high school, technical college or university students as part of their preparation for careers. Certainly some water utilities offer them. Consider the story in this issue of WSO about an excellent internship program for college students in Denton, Texas. Why are internships especially valuable for the water professions? Because young people dont gravitate toward water careers the way they do toward electronics, computer programming, engineering, banking, graphic design or journalism. Amid all the glamour elds, the water business isnt on the radar. So, why not let more young folks try it out? Traditional recruitment tools talking to guidance counselors, exhibiting at job fairs, conducting tours are ne as far as they go, but they rarely go far enough. How about offering internships, real hands-on work for a summer, to kids who simply need a job? These days especially, many students, high school or college, do need jobs. A water system that advertised for summer internships would almost surely get a ood of inquiries. So you take in the applications. You screen for those who seem suited for a profession that involves science, math, and mechanical and technical aptitude. And you choose the best candidates. You end up not just showing young people a career or telling them about it. You let them experience it long enough to take genuine interest.
raditional recruitment tools talking to guidance counselors, exhibiting at job fairs, conducting tours are ne as far as they go, but they rarely go far enough. How about offering internships, real hands-on work for a summer, to kids who simply need a job?
of experienced operators. Program organizers believe it creates a highquality pipeline for future professionals. Internships and apprenticeships can be great for experienced staff as well as the young people they help train. It can only be satisfying for a longtime operator to teach a young person about the career he or she loves. Playing the role of mentor also helps operators reafrm their convictions about the profession. And the enthusiasm of a young, curious person has a way of rubbing off on someone older.
Time to act?
At least one water agency leader, Bruce Bartel, treatment manager for NEW Water in Green Bay, Wis., sees apprenticeships as part of the answer to a growing shortage of operators. People in the eld arent getting any younger, he says. Its time for people in our profession to step up. I keep hearing that we need to get young people involved in wastewater treatment. I think this is a great way to do it. Through internships and apprenticeships, the water industry could create, collectively, thousands of part-time and full-time jobs for energetic young people looking for work and a career direction. From where I sit, these programs look like an excellent way to bring high-quality people into the water business. wso
wsomag.com March 2014
Stepping it up
If you want to up the ante, how about, instead of or in addition to intern-
@wsomag.com
Visit the site daily for new, exclusive content. Read our blogs, find resources and get the most out of WSO magazine.
HIGH RIVER HEROES
OVERHEARD ONLINE
Every time I give a tour, people say, Youve got to be kidding me. They think we just treat toilet water. Theyre shocked at what were doing with electricity.
What Are the Top 10 Water Sector Technology Innovations? www.wsomag.com/featured
STUDY GUIDE
Prepare for Fluoride Dosing Questions Water Plant Operators Fight Flooding
Water plant operators in the small town of High River, Alberta, became local heroes this past summer for their actions during one of Canadas costliest natural disasters. As oodwaters penetrated the town, facility supervisor Chad Moore and operator Colin Andrews made the eleventh hour decision to hunker down at the water plant as the river crested. Read their story and nd out what they learned through the experience. www.wsomag.com/featured Are you studying for a state operator license? Are you dealing with test anxiety? If so, or if you just want to test your skills, take a look at this study guide on uoride dosing. Youll nd sample questions and answer explanations to prepare you for test day. Just remember to breathe, and youll be ne. www.wsomag.com/featured
CHASING LEAKS
Utilities Organize Races for Fix-A-Leak Week

This year, WaterSense and its partners celebrate the fth annual Fix-a-Leak Week with the theme Chasing Leaks, which has spurred several organizations throughout the country to organize fun runs and timed race events. Find out whats involved in such an event from pre-race promotions to event budgets, and learn how utilities are bringing attention to non-revenue water loss. www.wsomag.com/featured
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QUALITY LEADERS
PLANT
FIFTEEN
STORY: JIM FORCE PHOTOGRAPHY: KATE PURDY
AND COUNTING
For the water utility servicing one of Minnesotas Twin Cities, the Partnership provides a motivation and a method to improve every facet of operations
8
The lobby of the customer service area at the McCarrons Water Treatment Plant includes a model of a one-inch water service.
St. Paul (Minn.) Regional Water Services, McCarrons Water Treatment Plant
BUILT: | 1922,
expanded 1937 and 1958 mgd SERVICE AREA: | City of St. Paul and 10 suburbs POPULATION SERVED: | 415,000 SOURCE WATER: | Mississippi River, 10 wells TREATMENT PROCESS: Conventional with granular activated carbon ltration INFRASTRUCTURE: 12 pumping stations, 14 elevated storage tanks, 7 reservoirs SYSTEM STORAGE: | 121.5 million gallons ANNUAL BUDGET: | $58 million WEBSITE: | www.stpaul.gov
TREATMENT CAPACITY: | 132
or 15 consecutive years, St. Paul (Minn.) Regional Water Services (SPRWS) has been honored with a Directors Award from the Partnership for Safe Water. But that doesnt mean St. Paul is resting on its laurels. Its remarkable record, matched by only a dozen other water utilities in the nation, serves only to motivate the team to keep improving the efciency and performance of the McCarrons Water Treatment Plant and the distribution system. Having met high standards for turbidity control, and having sharply reduced taste and odor complaints, the agency now aims for even more pristine water, better treatment process control, greater source water protection, watershed improvement and more. Jim Bode, supervisor of water quality, explains that, having met the Partnerships Phase 3 requirements for a decade and a half, St. Paul is striving for Phase 4 recognition at the McCarrons plant and for Partnership Phase 1 classication for its distribution system.
The 440-foot-tall 1928 Highland Water Tower, made of brick, Kasota stone, and Bedford stone, is still used today. Alexis Rossow, lab technician, tests water at the Beebe Road Pumping Station.
After we installed the oxygenation system at Vadnais Lake, our raw water DO and redox potential both increased, improving coagulation and occulation at the plant. The oc particles settle better.
JIM BODE
A long journey
Standing at the large tabletop model of the SPRWS system in the tileoored central room of the 1922 vintage ltration building, Bode and Che Fei Chen, water-quality specialist, point out how raw water moves more than 17 miles from the Mississippi River to the McCarrons plant. Two 60-inch underground conduits transport river water to a chain of small lakes Pleasant, Sucker and Vadnais north of the plant. The water passes from lake to lake through a series of underground conduits and surface channels. Finally, from Lake Vadnais, it ows through a pair of 90-inch underground conduits to the plant on Rice Street in the northern part of the city. Sucker and Vadnais lakes and their shorelines are owned and protected by SPRWS; swimming and boating are prohibited. Swimming is permitted in Pleasant Lake, although motorized boating is not. The public accepts the prohibitions, Bode says, especially in the post-9/11 era. The surface water is supplemented by groundwater drawn from a series of 10 wells, drilled from 438 feet to 465 feet deep into the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer. The well water cools the surface water and adds
mineral content, which aids in softening and occulation. On an annual basis, the ratio is about 90 percent surface and 10 percent well water.
Tom Blanchard, maintenance worker, works on pipes for the plants Vantage hydronic boiler (Fulton).
Tough standards
At the plant, the incoming ow is coagulated with aluminum sulfate, then mixed with slaked pebble lime in a rapid-mix system to begin the softening step. After a three-stage occulation process and sedimentation, the water is recarbonated with carbon dioxide. Next come 24 biologically active granular activated carbon lters containing FILTRASORB 300 carbon from Calgon Carbon Corporation, removing particulate and enabling the plant to meet stringent turbidity standards. The lters, rebuilt and upgraded in 2006, also have dramatically reduced taste and odor complaints from the plants population base of 415,000. Bode brings up a spreadsheet on his computer showing that before the lters were installed, taste and odor complaints could run as high as 250 per year almost one customer phone call per business day. Now, the
10
TOWARD THE OPTIMUM

The St. Paul Regional Water Services McCarrons Water Treatment Plant is one of only 13 facilities in the United States to receive Directors Award status from the Partnership for Safe Water for 15 consecutive years. It means the plant has continuously met the requirements for commitment to process optimization, collection of baseline and annual data to document performance, and publication of a self-assessment report on progress toward process excellence. The Partnerships centerpiece is a self assessment procedure by which plant teams systematically analyze, identify and correct factors that could limit treatment system performance. The utility must honestly and openly examine its treatment plant to locate areas for improvement. The water system then sets an action plan and begins work on those improvements. The results of the self-assessment are reported to the Partnership, and a team of utility peers evaluates the report to determine whether the water plant is making enough progress toward treatment optimization to warrant a Directors Award. Says Jim Bode, water-quality supervisor for SPRWS, The goal is stable operation no big swings in turbidity, chlorine or pH. The Partnership never lets you sit on your hands. Youre always stretching, reaching for new goals. Adds Che Fei Chen, water-quality specialist, The Partnership gives you a realistic view of all your treatment processes. It provides you with tools to help you do your best. Bode points to another benet of the Partnership: The training has promoted coordination between the operations staff and maintenance staff, who have different levels of knowledge and expertise. Now they have the same vision and goals. The utilitys operations staff numbers 40. Steve Schneider is general manager. Besides Bode and Chen, key team members include Rich Hibbard, civil engineer; Jim Graupmann, production division manager; Chuck Kavaloski and Phil Zollinger, water production supervisor II; and Keith Anderson and Chad Wrightson, water production supervisor I.
complaints number about one per month. Our raw water tends to have a musty, beet taste to it, Bode says. Its not a health risk, but the reduction in taste makes this a less stressful atmosphere to work in. Aesthetics are a big deal here. The lters still contain the original GAC media: We havent had to replace any carbon yet. The bacteria are very diverse and still very active. As long as theyre happy, were happy. Finally, the product water is disinfected with chlorine, delivered as liquid by railcar and gasied via evaporation at the plant. It is ammoniated to form chloramines, which maintain the chlorine residual throughout St. Pauls lengthy distribution system. Chloramines are much more stable
11
and persist throughout our system, preventing regrowth, Bode says. The chlorinators and ammoniators are from Severn Trent Services and Evoqua Water Technologies. The chemical feed pumps are Pulsafeeder. For nished water storage, St. Paul maintains 111.5 million gallons of capacity in 14 elevated storage tanks and seven ground-level or underground reservoirs.
Always improving
Excellent turbidity performance and effective taste and odor control are just two examples of continuous process improvement at St. Paul. Just about all aspects of the treatment plant and distribution system are constantly analyzed for better performance. The plants automation system is a good example. The crew at the Production Division of the St. Paul Regional water treatment plant. We installed a SCADA system in 1998, says Bode. Were constantly trying to upgrade the alarms, operator interface and architecture. years documenting main breaks, which have run as high as 149 per year Two years ago, we brought in Larry Larsen as a staff SCADA administraand occur mostly during the citys frigid winters. The data goes back to tor, and we are making a full network switch from a Data Highway Plus 1980. The utility is now using the data to make correlations among a network to Ethernet. That will improve our data processing speed, particnumber of factors to estimate the likelihood that a given line will break. ularly in our chemical feed pumps and low- and high-service pumps, as Through a statistical model, SPRWS aims to predict potential breaks well as our pressure readings in the distribution system and efuent based on the size and age of pipe, the location in specic pressure zones, monitoring for water-quality control. the operating pressure, soils and land use. The idea is to predict the In the past, SCADA services were contracted out, but Bode prefers probability that a main will break, and that will help us make huge strides someone on staff working on improvements eight hours a day: We have in our capital improvement plan, Hibbard says. better control. Its a very positive development. The utility is also moving toward faster cellular connecThe goal is stable operation no big swings in turbidity, tions for remote pump stations, tanks and towers: We have been operating on privately licensed radio. chlorine or pH. The Partnership never lets you sit on your Another initiative is source water improvement. hands. Youre always stretching, reaching for new goals. In 2011, aiming to combat eutrophication, the agency JIM BODE installed an oxygenation system (Mobley Engineering) containing 3,000 linear feet of porous-hose oxygen diffusers in Lake Meanwhile, St. Paul is focusing a similar microscope on pressure Vadnais. It has worked, and a similar system is being installed in three of issues. The distribution system contains 16 pressure zones, relatively isothe deepest sections of Pleasant Lake. The diffusers can deliver 100 perlated from each other. At present, pressure readings are taken at booster cent oxygen, keeping the water and sediment zones of the lakes in an oxistations, but the Partnership standards include continuous monitoring of dized state and tying up phosphorus in the bottom sediment. pressure zones. We plan eventually to monitor pressures at the lowest Our raw water has low turbidity with moderate natural organic and highest points in each of the zones, says Hibbard. Were setting up material concentration, says Bode. After we installed the oxygenation a pilot project to do that, using Telog HPR 32 pressure recorders that can system at Vadnais Lake, our raw water DO and redox potential both read pressure up to 20 times per second and can pick up daily uctuaincreased, improving coagulation and occulation at the plant. The oc tions. If that runs smoothly, well probably expand the program. particles settle better. Hibbard plans to use public park facilities to test the program, tapping into their plumbing systems and recording data via wireless signals: Its Better distribution possible that pressure issues have been causing some of our main breaks. St. Paul is taking steps toward more efcient and effective operations in a number of other areas, including the distribution system, a 1,200-mile Looking ahead network of mostly older 6-inch cast-iron pipes. Despite the progress and the honors, SPRWS looks ahead to new chalRich Hibbard, civil engineer, says the utility is also taking part in the lenges and requirements. Bode mentions continued efforts to eliminate Partnerships Water Distribution System Optimization Program at the nitrication in the distribution system and to remove phosphorus from Phase 1 stage. At present, the emphasis is on main breaks, pressure levels the source water supply, along with continued improvements in turbidity and chlorine residual. reduction, controls strategy, disinfection, solids thickening and dewaterHibbard says the team has done a pretty good job over the last 30 ing, and lter backwash water proling. The utility also keeps an eye on
12
Jim Bode, water quality supervisor
potential regulations, especially those limiting lead and copper. Changes in those rules could be a challenge for us, Bode says. In late 2013, SPRWS issued a request for proposals for an asset management master plan for the plant and distribution system. We expect a report back in May detailing what things need to be xed rst, Bode says. We want to look at the condition of the plant and whether we would have room for ozone for disinfection if needed. Our clariers are old and dont have owmeters on them. Our softening and settling processes are outdated, and they limit our capacity. Bode, Hibbard and staff expect the next round of improvements to help drive SPRWS toward Presidents or Excellence Award recognition associated with Phase 4 in the Partnership for Safe Water program. It will be tough, but wed like to get there, says Bode. The beat goes on. wso
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13
WINNING THEM OVER

Intern Benjamin Cruz deploys monitoring equipment at the plant raw water intake in Lewisville Lake. Interns are trained to program, deploy and retrieve monitoring devices and analyze and interpret the data at monitoring stations around the city. This intern went on to become a public health ofcer in the U.S. Air Force.
Learning by Doing
Interns at the water and wastewater utility in Denton, Texas, gain valuable skills while helping staff members perform essential tasks
BY LINDA J. EDMONDSON
he Water Utilities Department in Denton, Texas, is proud of educating its community about water conservation, water protection and nonpoint source pollution. The staff regularly provides school, college, community and professional groups with tours of the drinking water and wastewater treatment plants. But Dentons educational mission goes farther, to include a robust internship program that gives learning opportunities to as many as ve college students each year.
University contacts
The Denton Public Works staff works closely with the University of North Texas, Texas Womans University and North Central Texas College, according to David Hunter, manager of watershed
protection and industrial pretreatment for Dentons Environmental Services and Sustainability Department. We are part of the curriculum for all three of these institutions and regularly reach out to them about internship opportunities, says Hunter. Whether the internships are paid or voluntary, students learn about the operation of the water plants by supporting the staff members: 15 in the two water plants, 21 in the wastewater plant, eight in the lab and eight in industrial pretreatment. Interns rst learn how to handle simple operational tasks and may be trained to operate monitoring equipment, perform laboratory and eld analyses, and use various computer models that explain surface water phenomena. Those who show strong interest
and aptitude gradually gain more responsibility.
Learning through challenges

Dentons Lake Lewisville Water Treatment Plant and the newer Ray
of two water sources, lies 10 miles downstream from where wastewater efuent is discharged. Our current watershed intern visits area schools to speak about these challenges and the importance of our wastewater treatment program, while also completing research on toxicology of specic substances in the wastewater system, says Hunter. Another intern is doing some amazing things in our pretreatment program. We believe that water resource management including drinking water, wastewater and stormwater provides cool opportunities for interns to apply what theyve learned in school to our day-today operations. They also get hands-on experience using some very sophisticated tools, several of which are the same as those used by NASA. The majority of Dentons interns are about to graduate or are pursuing graduate degrees. The utility tries to provide high-potential interns with a small stipend. Those selected for internships may be in programs that require them
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DENTON WATER UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
We believe that water resource management including drinking water, wastewater and stormwater provides cool opportunities for our interns to apply what theyve learned in school to our day-to-day operations.
DAVID HUNTER
Roberts Water Production Plant produce a combined 50 mgd for Dentons 120,000 residents. Interns experience how the drinking water and wastewater treatment staffs work together on the departments challenges. Lake Lewisville, one
to complete research projects that are adaptable to water or wastewater operations. On occasion, interns may be assigned research projects that benet the utility, such as studies on the fate and transport of emerging contaminants.
14
Intern Mendie Schmidt (foreground) works with Denton staff member JoEtta Dailey as they sample benthic macro-invertebrates in a stream. Data interns gather has been used in several state and federally funded research projects and in joint projects with universities, engineering rms and federal agencies. Upon college graduation, this intern was hired by the Denton Water Utilities department.
WSO welcomes stories

about your public information and education efforts for future Winning them Over articles. Send your suggestions to editor@wsomag.com or call 715/277-4094.
Championing careers
While encouraging careers in water or wastewater, Denton staff members try to ensure that tour groups and interns understand how public water utilities connect, and that water careers involve many disciplines such as nance, economics, computer science, engineering, purchasing, genetic testing and even forensic science. They proudly point to one former intern who went on to a career as a Navy entomologist and environmental health ofcer. I end every tour with a discussion of all the careers available in water utilities, says Kathy Gault, SCADA-regulatory coordinator in the Water Production Department. Although its still a male-dominated area, the number of women in the eld is denitely increasing. I started my career in wastewater almost 25 years ago and moved to drinking water 17 years ago. Three of the citys cur-
rent interns are women. Hunter says the utility eventually wants to bring in even more interns, including one or two from high schools. The effects of recent droughts across the state, and an increase in zebra mussels in inland waters, have created more reasons to have interns. Hunter envisions them helping the staff address needs such as nancial and risk projections for water usage and conservation scenarios. Im a true cheerleader for water-related careers, says Hunter. No matter where you go in the world or what level of economic success you obtain, you will always need to ush a toilet or get clean drinking water. Which means, from a job standpoint, there will always be rewarding careers in drinking water and wastewater treatment. wso
15
BRIGHT IDEAS
Tricks of the Trade

A Massachusetts water utility applies innovative nancing to complete a cost-saving solar energy project with no increase in rates
BY DANIEL J. LAHIFF AND ROBERT S. LITTLE, P.E.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF WOODARD & CURRAN
The solar panels incorporate the latest technology, including online monitoring of energy production.
n todays economic climate, generating new revenue is a challenge for almost any municipality. Upgrades, repairs and new infrastructure are continuous needs, and they require funds. Yet rate and tax increases unappealing in the best of times are even more difcult in a slow economy. Facing this dilemma, the City of Lowell, Mass., found a solution in a creative approach at its drinking water utility. The Lowell Regional Water Utility (LRWU) serves 135,000 residents and businesses in Lowell, Dracut, Tyngsboro and Chelmsford, purifying more than 4.6 billion gallons of water per year. The city and utility used innovative nancing to install a solar photovoltaic (PV) array on the roof and grounds of the water treatment facility. The project created a new revenue source through the sale of Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) and saves energy costs by reducing power purchases from the electric utility. The $2.2 million project was completed on budget and went online on May 28, 2013.
Low-interest nancing
The City of Lowell retained the Woodard & Curran engineering rm to provide planning, engineering design and permitting, as well as public bidding, construction oversight and funding assistance for installing the 610 kW PV array. The rm had identied the opportunity and evaluated the feasibility of using a PV system to reduce costs and bring in revenue.
and cut treatment facility energy consumption. The 2 percent interest SRF loans, administered by the Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust, will fund 54 clean-water projects totaling more than $391 million and 35 drinking water initiatives totaling nearly $121 million. Thirty-two of the projects, worth some $337 million, are for renewable energy or green infrastructure projects, or green components of projects. Those projects involve energy-efciency upgrades The project included trenching for to treatment plants and the on-site the electrical cable. installation of renewable energy technologies, such as solar cells and hydroelectric power. The projects supported by SRF funding help communities across the state improve water quality in our rivers, lakes and estuaries, and also protect the public health, says Rick Sullivan, state energy and environmental affairs secretary. The renewable and energy efciency measures included in the projects will also help to cut air emissions from treatment plants and stabilize municipal energy costs.
he solar array In Lowell applied an existing and rapidly improving technology to increase revenue and drive down costs. It incorporates the latest solar technology, including online monitoring that allows Lowell personnel to track energy production in real time.
ABC Soils, a Massachusetts-based Women Business Enterprise, joined the team for on-site construction observation. Acting in concert, the city and Woodard & Curran obtained a $2.2 million low-interest State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan for the project. Lowells status as an Environmental Justice Community, and the fact the project involved renewable energy, qualied the city to have 19 percent of the loan principal, about $400,000, forgiven. Last year, 89 clean-water and drinking water projects in 67 communities, regional water supply and wastewater treatment districts were awarded more than $512 million in low-interest SRF loans to fund projects to improve water quality, upgrade or replace aging sewer infrastructure,
Innovative application
The solar array in Lowell applied an existing and rapidly improving technology to increase revenue and drive down costs. It incorporates the latest solar technology, including online monitoring that allows Lowell personnel to track energy production in real time. Unlike many municipal solar projects that are owned and operated by third parties, the City of Lowell owns its array and can take full advantage of the states SREC Program. SRECs represent the renewable attributes of solar generation, bundled in minimum denominations of 1 MWh. The Massachusetts Solar Carve-Out provides a means for SRECs to be created and veried. It also allows electric suppliers to buy the certicates to meet their solar renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requirements. In the early planning stages of the project, a feasibility study included a nancial analysis of the various options, helping the city determine the best alternative. A Project Evaluation Form eventually helped Lowell obtain the SRF loan through a competitive application process. Although cities and towns procure many solar projects through power purchase agreements (PPAs) with large solar development rms, Lowell
16
The $2.2 million solar installation was completed on budget and went online in May 2013.
procured its project under Massachusetts General Law (MGL) Chapter 149, typically used for building construction contracts. This procurement method allowed the city to take advantage of the low-interest SRF program. All power generated by the solar array will be used on site, reducing the utilitys electric bills.
Counting benets
With construction complete, the city and the LRWU own and operate the solar array and directly see the nancial rewards: an estimated $150,000 per year in electricity savings and SREC revenue. Furthermore, the added revenue allowed the PV project to be built and other capital upgrades made without increasing rates. The PV array is expected to produce more than 400 MWh of sustainable electricity per year, about 12 percent of the power needed to operate one of the utilitys high-lift pumps. This saves more than $50,000 per year and eliminates related emissions from fossil-fuel generation. The project also has signicant benets in public perception. The portion of the array in front of the treatment facility is highly visible from busy Massachusetts Route 110 and serves as a showpiece that clearly demonstrates commitment to green energy. After funding was awarded, there was limited time to complete the design; meet the approval, bidding and award deadlines; and receive SRF funding and principal forgiveness. Teamwork enabled design and bidding to be completed and the construction contract awarded within the aggressive timeframe. Through favorable bid pricing and a benecial construction climate, the city was able to expand the systems power production capacity to generate more revenue and further offset energy consumption without exceeding the original project budget. With the revenue from SRECs and electricity savings, the city benets nancially from an existing space that had been underutilized. The new revenue will allow citywide improvements that will bring benets to residents and business owners without increasing their rates. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Daniel J. Lahiff is executive director of the Lowell (Mass.) Regional Water Utility. Robert S. Little, P.E., is a vice president with Woodard & Curran in Andover, Mass. He can be reached at rlittle@ woodardcurran.com. wso
WSO welcomes stories

about your plant and system innovations for future Bright Ideas articles. Send your suggestions to editor@wsomag.com or call 715/277-4094.
17
QUALITY LEADERS
PLANT
COMMITMENT
BY COLLABORATION
18
STORY: TRUDE WITHAM PHOTOGRAPHY: K. SCOTT KREIDER
Operators at a Pennsylvania facility rely on teamwork and dedication to achieve excellence and a Partnership for Safe Water Directors Award
We have spikes in the river water quality from rain events. The quality can change from very clean water to very high turbidity in a short time.
ROBERT TAGERT
ucked away in the woods of East Vincent Township along Pennsylvanias Schuykill River, the Shady Lane Water Treatment Plant has seen its share of challenges: lack of automation, high turbidity from rain events, algae blooms and the demands of meeting Partnership for Safe Water goals. The operations staff has tackled them all and achieved success through dedication and teamwork. The plant received the Partnership Directors Award in December 2012 after implementing measures to improve operations. Operator suggestions included adding an alum dosing chart to improve chemical use efciency and installing a measuring device on sedimentation bafe walls to measure sludge levels. When treatment challenges occur, the operators meet during the shift change to discuss issues and help each other through them, says Robert Tagert, production supervisor. They have a lot of years of collective experience. They conduct jar tests to make sure theyre optimizing chemical feeds, and they consult log books to see what they did in the past to solve the problem.
The Shady Lane facility is designed to deliver 3.7 mgd. It received a signicant upgrade in 1998.
Shady Lane Water Treatment Plant, East Vincent Township, Pa.

FOUNDED: | 1917 POPULATION SERVED: | 15,000 SERVICE AREA: | Montgomery SOURCE WATER: | Schuykill
and Chester counties River TREATMENT PROCESS: | Conventional DISTRIBUTION: | 270 miles of water mains SYSTEM STORAGE: | 8.4 million gallons KEY CHALLENGE: Meeting future growth and regulatory demands, achieving Phase IV of the Partnership program WEBSITE: | www.amwater.com/paaw
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Plant operator Keith Crump primes the raw water pumps to start up the treatment plant for the day.
The team works well together. If an operator is busy with a problem, another team member will chip in to help, says Tagert.
Rebuilt lters
Built in 1917, the 3.7 mgd conventional ltration plant serves about 15,000 customers in Montgomery and Chester counties. Pennsylvania American Water took over operations in 2001. The plant completed a twophase upgrade in 1998, adding a new intake and piping. All four lters were rebuilt with new media and underdrains, improving turbidity levels and increasing lter efciency. The plant switched from lime to sodium hydroxide feed for pH adjustment and replaced dry alum with bulk liquid alum to cut turbidity. Despite the upgrade, challenges remain. The lters are small, as is the 60,000-gallon clearwell, says Tagert. The plants footprint hasnt changed, so adding new equipment can be a challenge. Still, the facility performs well for an old plant: The staff does great work, and it takes very little management for them to do a good job. Water from the Schuykill River ows into a deep well. Raw water is pumped from there (Peerless Splitcase pumps) into the plant, where alum, potassium permanganate and chlorine are injected via chemical feed pumps (Milton Roy). The water passes through a static mixer before entering six mixing basins. After polymer addition, the water enters the primary settling tank, where a vacuum system removes settled oc. Next, the water enters four secondary settling basins, the four lters, and nally the clearwell, where it is injected with chlorine, 25 percent sodium hydroxide
and zinc orthophosphate. The finished water pumps (Peerless Splitcase), filters and other equipment are automated. This involved a lot of wiring and ROBERT TAGERT programming, says Tagert. We installed several water-quality analyzers and improved our chemical feed systems for better monitoring and control. Other improvements include better lter backwash controls and automation of the raw water system (vacuum priming system, ow pacing on chemical feed system and more monitoring devices).
Maintenance relief operator Richard Dunlap runs a manganese test on a water sample in the lab at the Shady Lane plant.
When treatment challenges occur, the operators meet during the shift change to discuss issues and help each other through them.
Experienced team
A staff of eight keeps the plant humming 12 to 24 hours a day depending on water demand. During the hot, dry summer, demand nearly doubles. Tagert, a Class A, E wastewater operator, has been with the plant for ve years. Other team members are: Jeff Chamberlain, production superintendent, Class A, E water operators license, 41 years with the plant. Sandra Weiss, water-quality supervisor, Class A water operator, 24 years. Plant operators Bruce Call (Class A, E, 25 years), Keith Crump (Class A, E, 15 years), Barry Holzhauser (one year). Ed Harrington (Class A, 24 years), and Richard Dunlap (Class A, 20 years), maintenance relief operators. During a typical day, operators start up the plant, open valves, turn
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Dunlap measures river levels at the water plants intake.
Robert Tagert, production supervisor, displays his Directors Award.
A GOOD JOURNEY
The Shady Lane Water Treatment Plant earned the Partnership for Safe Water Directors Award in December 2012 for completing Phase III of the program. American Water management recognized the team for its commitment to high-quality water. We had a celebration at the plant and invited local and state ofcials, recalls Robert Tagert, plant production supervisor. Some people from our corporate ofce also attended. The plant is one of 32 Pennsylvania American Water facilities that have received the Directors award. A little over a year ago, our water-quality supervisor, Sandra Weiss, set us on the path to achieving Phase III by gathering a few years worth of data and preparing the application, says Tagert. She asked the operations team for suggestions on how the plant could be improved. The program made us look more in depth at our operations. We went through each step with everyone sitting down and talking about it. Some improvements were done right away, while others required budgeting for and purchasing equipment. Sandy referred to it as a journey. It was a good journey that we all took together. The end result was denitely worth what we put into it, as it helped make everyone better operators and showed how much we care about the water we are providing to our customers. The improvements we are making will lead to more efcient operation and will ultimately cut costs.
on the pumps, take lab samples, manually backwash the lters and inspect the chemical feeders. The on-site lab performs wet chemistry tests for turbidity, alkalinity, pH, hardness, iron, manganese, color, zinc, orthophosphate and chlorine residual. Compliance samples are sent to a company lab in Illinois and bacteria samples to a company lab in Exeter, Pa. Operators perform light maintenance, such as maintaining water-quality analyzers, changing chemical feed tubing and greasing and rebuilding pumps. The local American Water maintenance division staff assists when needed. These staff members are located throughout Pennsylvania, but our primary maintenance services team member, Bill Fox, is based in Yardley, Pa., and covers the southeast part of the state, says Tagert. Some projects have been contracted out, such as installing a vacuum priming system, a ow orice on the backwash line to control backwash ow to the lters, and new exterior LED security lighting. The plant conducts in-house safety training, and operators attend outside classes to meet or exceed the required continuing education units. The company also brings in training consultants through the state and national AWWA. We dont conduct plant tours because of the plants age, says Tagert. Its just not designed to have children touring the facility, but weve had some local ofcials take tours. We attend community days, where we set up a table and eld questions. We also conduct presentations for local businesses and womens groups.
Operation challenges
The plants greatest challenge is turbidity. We have spikes in the river water quality from rain events, says Tagert. The quality can change from very clean water to very high turbidity in a short time. Ten inches of rain fell in June 2013, including three inches in one day. This created a spike above 600 NTU, says Tagert. These spikes last a short time, then settle down around 200 and gradually drop from there. Our normal nished water turbidity is 0.03 to 0.04 NTU, which is well below the Partnership goal.
Despite high rains, ooding has not been a problem. The plant sits up pretty high from the river, and I imagine it is just over the oodplain, Tagert says. Im told that during Hurricane Agnes in 1972 the water came close to ooding the plant, but never reached it. Our intake and deep well, which are located right at the river, do ood out from time to time, but this has not created any issues for us. An air burst system helps remove debris from the intake screens, a big help during high turbidity and in fall when the leaves start dropping. During dry conditions, the river drops and the raw water pH increases. Operators adjust the alum feed and reduce the sodium hydroxide feed to lower the pH. When algae blooms occur, operators adjust the treatment chemistry; the blooms have not caused any taste or odor issues.
On the grow
A future challenge will be dealing with growth as people move from neighboring Philadelphia. Says Tagert, Growth in 2012 was a little over two percent, but the economy is picking up, and there are more housing developments going in and commercial construction. Permitted for 3.7 mgd, the plant averages 2.8 to 3.0 mgd. During peak demand in the summer, the ow rises to 3.5 mgd.
21

Milton Roy, LLC
800/693-4295 www.miltonroy.com
Peerless Pump Company

800/879-0182 www.peerlesspump.com
The staff at the Shady Lane Water Treatment Plant includes, from left, Keith Crump, plant operator; Robert Tagert, production supervisor; Bruce Call, plant operator; Richard Dunlap, maintenance relief operator; Barry Holzhauser, plant operator; and Ed Harrington, maintenance relief operator.
They have a lot of pride in what they do and in having such high-quality water going out. Its a great team that communicates well, and Im proud of them.
ROBERT TAGERT
We currently rely on the plant, four wells and interconnects with two neighboring water systems [Pennsylvania American Water Norristown and Phoenixville Borough Water] to supply our additional water needs, Tagert says. Another challenge will be completing Phase IV of the Partnership pro-
gram. In the meantime, team members will keep doing what they do best: providing exceptional quality water to the community. They have a lot of pride in what they do and in having such high-quality water going out, says Tagert. Its a great team that communicates well, and Im proud of them. wso
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Projects & Awards

I. Kruger wins contract for ACTIFLO system in water plant expansion
I. Kruger, a Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies company, won a contract with the City of Lake Oswego, Ore., managing partner for the Lake Oswego-Tigard Water Supply Partnership, as part of a $250 million program to upgrade, upsize and modernize the water supply system serving the two communities. The 38 mgd water treatment plant expansion will include two 20 mgd ACTIFLO high-rate ballasted clarication systems. The installation includes the rst full-scale sludge waste volume reduction system (high-concentration sludge system) in the United States. The ACTIFLO process is to be in operation in October.
Miox chemical generators deployed to Philippines for disaster relief

Miox Corporation partnered with Operation Blessing International for disaster relief in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan. Six Miox BPS portable sodium hypochlorite generators and one SANILEC 6 sodium hypochlorite generator were deployed. The seven drinking water treatment units have a combined capacity of 500,000 gpd.
Engineered Treatment Systems to supply UV system for Moline

The City of Moline chose Engineered Treatment Systems to install a UV disinfection system with eight ETS SX-635-16 drinking water reactors, each installed after an existing lter in the drinking water treatment plant. The units are third party validated in accordance with the U.S. EPA Guidance manual.
Flowserve wins order for desalination plant equipment

Flowserve Corporation won a multimillion dollar order from M.N. Larnaca Desalination to provide a complete pump package and energy recovery devices at Larnaca, a 15.9 mgd seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant in the Republic of Cyprus. The project will use the companys Calder Dual Work Exchange Energy Recovery units with Flowserve DMX pumps in the high-pressure feed service.
Xylem wins $2.7 million contract for New Jersey stormwater drainage system
Xylem won a $2.7 million contract to supply the equipment and technology for a stormwater drainage system to protect against future storm damage along Route 35 on the New Jersey coastline. The system is a key part of a $265 million reconstruction program that follows the damage caused by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012. The drainage system will consist of 47 Flygt Slimline pumps and 27 smaller Flygt submersible N-pumps in nine pump stations at intervals along a 12-mile stretch of road that was severely damaged by the storm. Flygt MultiSmart pump controllers will ensure efcient operation of the system. Each pump station will be able to move 25,000 to 35,000 gpm. The system is to be in operation before summer 2014.
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Calgon Carbon wins 10-year reactivation service contract in Glendale, Ariz.

Calgon Carbon Corporation and the City of Glendale, Ariz., signed a 10year contract for reactivation services for activated carbon used to treat the citys drinking water. The contract is expected to involve about 1.25 million pounds of activated carbon per year. It was the third 10-year reactivation contract the company secured in Arizona since the beginning of 2012. (Phoenix and Scottsdale were the others.) To support these and other projects in the region, the company built a new reactivation facility in Gila Bend, Ariz. wso
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23
TECHNOLOGY DEEP DIVE
1. The PearlSense technology comes in a handheld unit for use in laboratories or for eld grab samples. 2. The PearlSense unit is most often used in inline congurations. The single LED light source simplies measurement and enhances accuracy.
A New Twist on UV-T Measurement

Aquionics offers a UV-C LED light source with a single lamp and sensor in a compact package designed for versatility
BY TED J. RULSEH
onitoring UV light transmittance (UV-T) is important to control of disinfection in drinking water systems. A new offering from Aquionics is designed to provide highly stable UV-T readings under all water conditions over an extended lifetime. The company says its PearlSense T254 unit is the rst UV-T monitor to incorporate a UV-C LED light-source in place of a conventional mercury lamp. Use of a single lamp and sensor in place of multiple lamps and sensors adds consistency to readings. The unit can be installed directly into a pipe (as in most drinking water plants) or in open channels. It can also be used ofine for purposes such as grab sample testing. Dan Shaver, business development manager with Aquionics, talked about the device in an interview with Water System Operator.
Weve tried to offer a very simple, plug-and-play UV-T measurement instrument so plants that may historically have thought they didnt need to measure UV-T online will instead say, Why dont we?
DAN SHAVER
Getting the best performance out of a UV system and getting the best disinfection is a function of three variables. The UV transmittance of the water is one. The others are ow rate and lamp intensity. If you dont measure those three parameters together, youre missing out on running your system at the most cost-effective rate.
wso: Why is accurate UV-T measurement important in drinking water disinfection? Shaver: Having the most accurate indication of changes in water quality helps a drinking water plant operate a UV disinfection system at the optimum performance, and at the most efcient UV dose. The ability to take accurate measurements enables them to make changes on more than a weekly or monthly basis. Accurate measurement translates to better results.
24
wso: Historically, how have water systems measured UV-T? Shaver: There are two basic ways. A lot of plants, during the design phase of their UV systems, have acquired a ballpark gure of their UV-T based on historical values. That means they would be running their system based on one value that is xed for all time. A step up from that would be taking grab samples, having the UV-T measured in their on-site lab or in a commercial lab, and making modications to their process
based on the changes they see in those samples. That method is only as good as the frequency of sampling and measuring.
wso: How does your device differ from other inline instruments for UV-T measurement? Shaver: There are various instruments on the market that measure UV-T online and give real-time values for changes in water quality. They operate in various ways to deliver the most accurate UV-T readings. Most of these devices use mercury lamps or ash lamps as light sources. Theyre generally programmed to look at a sample in the water about once a minute, with the light source on continuously. We feel our instrument with a single UV LED light source simplies the process. A big benet of an LED is that you dont have to run the light
wso: Is this instrument mainly for surface water systems where raw water quality is more variable? Shaver: We think every utility should measure UV-T regardless of the water source. Yes, there will be more uctuations in surface water than in groundwater, but if a plant runs disinfection equipment based on a historic UV-T number and theyre not able to track changes in real time or on a frequent basis, they could be missing out on energy savings by not running their system as efciently as possible. Weve tried to offer a very simple, plug-and-play UV-T measurement instrument so plants that may historically have thought they didnt need to measure UV-T online will instead say, Why dont we? The technology is simple, the maintenance is extremely low, the footprint is small and its affordable. Were trying to make it accessible to everybody. wso: In what circumstances might a utility use a hand-held version of this technology? Shaver: A consultant could use a hand-held unit to go into the eld and take individual samples, such as in the early stages of designing a UV system. Or they may need to take samples during the evaluation phase of a UV system installation. Some plants may opt to have the technology on hand to take measurements on grab samples and use the resulting values as a basis for running their system. wso
Were able to use a single lamp and a single sensor because an LED is so small and has such a stable output. ... It gives you an accurate measurement and it also enables us to design a product that is very compact.
DAN SHAVER
source continuously to get accurate readings. When you turn the LED on, its instantly on at full power. So you only need to turn the LED on when youre taking a measurement. If you want to take a UV-T measurement once per minute, you only have to turn that LED on for the instant when you take the reading. Lamp life is not a factor because youre turning the LED on when you need it and then turning it off. You can power cycle it as many times as you want. It doesnt affect the quality of the light, and there is no warmup time.
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wso: What is the benet of using just one lamp and one sensor in the instrument? Shaver: Were able to use a single lamp and a single sensor because an LED is so small and has such a stable output. With only one sensor, we dont have to compensate for variations in sensor tolerance. It gives an accurate measurement, and it also enables us to design a product that is very compact. It ts in the palm of your hand. There is no need for, say, a large box next to the UV reactor. wso: How does this device function when congured for inline UV-T measurement? Shaver: We provide adapters that allow an operator to tap the device directly into a pipe at the inlet to the UV reactor. The footprint is so small that its easy to tap it into a standard connection and then run the communications back to the control panel. A 4-20 mA analog signal comes out of the instrument. Users can take that signal, tie it into their control panel, and use that to make changes in UV output based on the uctuations they see in the water quality. If they wish, they can set up an algorithm to allow the changes to be made automatically. If they dont have large uctuations in water quality, they might just check it every morning and know where their system needs to be running that day. Then if there were big spikes up or down in UV-T, the system could alert them by way of an alarm. wso: Does this device require maintenance when mounted in inline congurations? Shaver: It has the ability to clean itself automatically when its mounted in a pipe. You dont have to take it out of the pipe to clean it. It has a wiper system so that every time the LED turns on to take a sample, a cleaning function is also performed to keep the quartz windows clear of fouling and make sure the measurements remain accurate. Also, the use of an LED means that no annual lamp replacement is required.
25
A NEW
STORY: TRUDE WITHAM PHOTOGRAPHY: TAYLOR GLASCOCK
DIRECTION
Consolidating distribution under the street and utility division lets the North Chicago water plant focus on producing a quality product and increasing efciency
hen the City of North Chicago consolidated the water, street and engineering divisions into a single public works department in 2011, the goal was to cut costs, create efciencies and increase communication. The distribution crew merged with the street crew to form the street and utility division. That has been good for the staff at the North Chicago (Ill.) Water Treatment Plant. Now the water plant team only has to focus on plant operations and not distribution, says Josh Wheeler, city engineer and public works director. Not only can they spend all their time producing quality water, but the allocation of resources is much more efcient. Since 2011, the 16.4 mgd conventional treatment plant has completed an impressive number of improvements, including energy efcient lighting and variable-frequency drives (VFDs), that have saved $200,000 a year on electricity. In 2012 and 2013, the plant upgraded the SCADA system, cleaned the intake, switched from chlorine gas to liquid chlorine, refurbished the sludge tanks and replenished (topped off) the media in the facilitys 11 lters. In spite of all these changes, the transition has been smooth. There has been no negative impact, says David Soto, water plant foreman. Its really wondrous how it all works. Before, we operated the plant as needed,
QUALITY LEADERS
Highly experienced
PLANT
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A team of 10 handles the North Chicago plant, which serves about 20,000 people (4,100 metered customers). Treatment consists of chlorination at the intake on Lake Michigan, screening, chemical addition, rapid mixing, occulation, coagulation, sedimentation, ltration, uoridation and chlorine disinfection.
Its really wondrous how it all works. Before, we operated the plant as needed, but in a 20th century rather than a 21st century manner. We were being reactive, and now were proactive.
The teams experience and training contribute to the plants success. Almost all our employees started their careers here or arrived early in their careers, and when they came, they stayed, says Wheeler, who has been with the city for two years. As city engineer, he is the sole employee in the engineering division and oversees the newly consolidated Public Works Department.
DAVID SOTO
but in a 20th century rather than a 21st century manner. We were being reactive, and now were proactive. The nished water quality has improved too. Our sedimentation tanks are completely clean, so by the time the water gets to the lters, its pretty good quality with low turbidity, says Soto. Average nished water turbidity is 0.04 NTU, well below the 0.15 NTU limit.
Quintin Hampton Sr., head mechanic, works on a raw water pump at the North Chicago Water Plant (U.S. MOTORS/Nidec Motor Corporation).
Soto started in the street department in 1979 and became an operator a year later. He was promoted to assistant superintendent and then distribution foreman; he moved to his current position in 2011. He holds a Class A license. Reporting to him are: Jerry Gray Sr., senior operator, Class A license, 25 years with the plant Operators Emmanuel Henry, Class A, 23 years; Kenneth Edmonds, Class C, 12 years; Dewayne Roberson, Class A, 12 years; Tim Coleman, Class A, 14 years; and Clifford Young, Class A, 17 years Quintin Hampton Sr., head mechanic, 27 years Fred Taylor, electrician, nine years Michael Clayborne, maintenance II, nine years The plants six operators work eight-hour shifts, Tuesday through Saturday or Sunday through Thursday. They add chemicals, check rotating equipment, run hourly tests, backwash lters and maintain tank levels and pressures. They also perform minor repairs on valves, pumps and other equipment. Operators can take continuing education classes from the AWWA and seminars from the Illinois Potable Water Supply Operators Association and the North Suburban Water Works Association. The plant offers onthe-job training when needed for certication or to learn new equipment. OSHA training is provided by Safety and Training Consulting.
Steady improvements
Built in 1936, the North Chicago plant was upgraded in the 1950s, 1970s and 1990s. In 1991, the plant added a centrifuge (Centrisys Corp.) to dewater the alum sludge. We have an auger [also Centrisys] that transfers the dried product to a 10-cubic-yard box, which a waste company
North Chicago (Ill.) Water Treatment Plant

BUILT: | 1936 POPULATION SERVED: | 20,000 SERVICE AREA: | City
(4,100 metered customers) of North Chicago (6 square miles) SOURCE WATER: | Lake Michigan TREATMENT CAPACITY: | 16.4 mgd TREATMENT PROCESS: | Conventional, with centrifuge and surge tank DISTRIBUTION: | 70.68 miles of pipe SYSTEM STORAGE: | 4 million gallons KEY CHALLENGE: | Implementing future upgrades ANNUAL BUDGET: | $6.75 million (plant and distribution) WEBSITE: | www.northchicago.org
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picks up and takes to the landll, says Soto. By centrifuging rather than pumping to the wastewater treatment plant, weve been able to reduce our sludge handling cost from $300,000 to $30,000 a year. An unusual addition was a surge tank in 2006. The plant partnered with Abbott Laboratories (now AbbVie) in North Chicago to add a 30,000-gallon surge tank that would prevent water surges to AbbVie facilities and the entire distribution system. The North Chicago plant supplies AbbVie with raw water directly from Lake Michigan. A sudden pressure change can affect AbbVies pharmaceutical manufacturing. Explains Wheeler, Sudden changes in pressure in distribution cause sudden water main breaks. The surge tank reverses the ow of water, which causes the level in the tank to drop. The change in water ow reduces pressure based on the effects of friction within the pipe. Since we installed the surge tank, concerns at AbbVie have been reduced, David Soto, and breaks in the system now water plant foreman mostly occur due to age rather than pressure surges. In 2011-12, new traveling water screens (FMC Corp.), high-service pumps (Peerless Pumps and Goulds Pumps) with VFDs, and screw pumps further improved plant operations. In 2013, the plant upgraded the buildings (new roof, repainting), replaced the occulator motor and sedimentation pumps, cleaned the intake and refurbished the sludge tanks. Previously, we had 18 to 19 feet of sludge in the tanks, says Wheeler. Our disposal cost was $75,000 a year, and our labor cost, which included overtime, was $25,000. Our new proactive maintenance program cuts that by 75 percent.
Josh Wheeler, city engineer and public works director, with a mural of the water treatment process.
Easier operation
The upgrades have improved operators lives. The new SCADA system has made it easier to run the plant, says Soto. We used to have to walk around every hour and check the equipment, but now we have alarms that alert us to any problems. Cleaning of the intake solved a zebra mussel problem. Wheeler observes, We had installed a chlorine line in our intake line, but the chlorine line stopped working about two years after it was installed, and hadnt functioned for about 10 years. We cleaned the intake line only when absolutely necessary. When the line needed cleaning again in 2012, we had Lindahl Marine clean it and also remove the broken chlorine line. Our new policy is to inspect the intake line yearly and clean it if needed. That will improve water quality, extend pump life and reduce overall costs. The buildings look better, too. Weve improved the plants aesthetics, and we have great pride in the way it looks, says Wheeler. The city plans to provide tours during Public Works Week in May each year and start an annual tour program with the local schools.
A few challenges
With the upgrades came a few challenges. Soto states, Before the SCADA system upgrade, the operators controlled everything manually, so they had to get used to operating and monitoring the equipment through the SCADA. Hands-on training helped them come up to speed on the systems Wonderware software (Invensys). Our lters are now on auto/remote and controlled through the SCADA,
The North Chicago treatment plant on Lake Michigan has seen substantial improvements since 2011, including a SCADA system upgrade.
SELF-RELIANT TEAM
The operators greatest strength at the North Chicago Water Treatment Plant is self-reliance. When someone calls in sick, someone else will automatically step up and ll in, says David Soto, plant foreman. They have a sheet thats lled out weekly so they can keep track of who is working when, and they self-regulate to make sure the job is covered. Theyre also highly motivated, says Josh Wheeler, public works director: Its not an EPA requirement for them to be licensed, but they all have their Class A, and they take pride in that. They work as a team by communicating at each shift change. They make the next operator aware of any anomalies and changes that occurred during the previous shift, rather than leaving it up to the next guy to gure it out and reinvent the wheel. Adds Soto, They come in on time and do a great job. This helps us as managers, because we dont have to worry about the day-today operation.
The team of the North Chicago Water Treatment Plant includes, from left, Josh Wheeler, public works director/city engineer; David Soto, water plant foreman; Quintin Hampton Sr., head plant mechanic; Emmanuel Henry, water plant operator; Michael Clayborne, water plant maintenance II; and Jerry Gray Sr., water plant operator.
Soto, Hampton and Taylor are the innovators. They are the ones who initiated projects like the chlorine gas to liquid change, the lighting efciency switchover and the SCADA upgrade, as well as submitting ideas for future projects.
JOSH WHEELER
but when they backwash, the operators still open the valves manually, Soto says. Were responsible for a lot of water, so we need careful operator attention to the lters. The addition of a 1 MW natural-gas-fueled emergency generator in the next few years will provide peace of mind. We have two power lines coming into the plant now, so if we have a power failure on one line, the other can run the plant, says Wheeler. If we lose both lines, we would have a problem. Con Ed has us on their priority list, and we have a water tower that would keep us going for a day or two.
Innovative group
The operations team has found ingenious ways to improve plant performance. We were the rst plant in the area to have a centrifuge, says Wheeler. We call it the dinosaur because it has a 26-inch bowl, unlike the new ones that have a 19-inch bowl. It was taking a long time to ll up, so Quintin Hampton came up with good ideas to improve operation, which is why we dont have sludge problems now. Hampton moved the polymer feed line from the centrifuge intake and connected it to the head of the sludge pump. The pump now acts as a mixer so that the water begins to separate from the sludge before it enters the machine. That results in a drier product.
Hampton also provided cross-training to operators for sedimentation tank cleaning and centrifuge operation, improving operator versatility. He continues to impart his knowledge of the plant to others to prepare the next generation for maintaining the plant as he nears retirement, says Wheeler. Meanwhile, electrician Taylor kept an old meter reading system operating. The system started breaking and the parts and batteries for it were no longer available, says Wheeler. So Fred called a few of the contractors he used to work for who were doing demolition work at some old factories, and they said he could help himself to any discarded SCADA system parts. Taylor retrieved four functional Allen-Bradley input cards and three output cards, saving the plant about $10,000. Taylor was also instrumental in rehabilitating the plants lighting system with money from a $20,000 grant, reducing the electric bill by 25 to 30 percent. Wheeler observes, Soto, Hampton and Taylor are the innovators. They are the ones who initiated projects like the chlorine gas to liquid change, the lighting efciency switchover and the SCADA upgrade, as well as submitting ideas for future projects. They continually provide (Continued on page 31)
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SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE
Operators including Chris Beeh (left) and John McBride were involved in every step of lter rehabilitation at the Jackson Mills Road water plant.
Free Flowing
New lter media at the water treatment plant reduces energy costs, improves ow-through and lowers chemical usage for the township of Freehold, N.J.
BY LISA BALCERAK
hen the 25-year-old lters at the Jackson Mills Road water treatment plant began to fail, the Township of Freehold water utility decided to upgrade the lter media as well as the lter system. By switching to manganese greensand plus lter media, the utility saves $10,000 in energy costs and $15,000 in chemical costs annually, while doubling the ow-through rate. Freehold is a New Jersey bedroom community for New York City. The water utility has 11,600 service customers and an annual operation budget of $600,000. About $500,000 is invested back into the system through capital improvements, such as the lter rehabilitation project. The township has 10 wells with capacities from 500 to 1,200 gpm and buys surface water (up to 880,000 gpd) from United Water. The utility combines and treats the water at three plants that total 8.14 mgd capacity. Five team members handle operations and maintenance of the plants and pipeline. All operators have T-1 to T-3 water treatment licenses.
Beeh is shown at a SCADA monitoring station from which plant personnel control ltration and other processes.
The utilitys Jackson Mills Road plant, built in 1985, uses oxidation reduction treatment and is automated with a SCADA system. Lime is used for pH control and chlorine oxidation. Previously, the plant used four multimedia pressure lters with manganese greensand, anthracite and garnet as lter media for iron and manganese removal. BOB KOCHES Potassium permanganate was used to recharge the greensand continuously. Each lter processed about 250,000 gallons before backwash. The water utility annually inspected the lter vessel, and a lab checked the media for effective grain size. The existing lter media was 25 years old and in good condition with grain hardness, effective size and uniformed coefcient near that of new material, says Bob Koches, superintendent of public utilities. This is a true representation of how well the operators take care of the plant.
Our operators are really special. Weve created an atmosphere of letting them do the things they need to do on their own because they know the operation and maintenance best.
Filter checks
However, in 2010, operators noticed some mounding of the media in a lter and possible drain problems during the air-wash cycle. The mounding indicated a break in the air line because the air was not coming up through the entire lter evenly. Realizing that the lter system had reached its useful life, the Freehold team decided to undertake total plant lter rehabilitation. All four lters were vacuumed or shoveled by hand to remove media, and all internal lter parts were removed. A new air-wash system, sand strainers and inuent/efuent lines were installed. The project cost $250,000, paid with capital fund savings and a 30-year loan from the township.
New lter media

Instead of returning to manganese greensand, the utility upgraded to manganese greensand plus because it is harder and more durable and requires fewer chemicals. Manganese greensand is very soft and easily crushed, so we had to add sodium aluminate to harden it up, Koches says. Manganese greensand plus has a manganese oxide coating and is extremely hard, so we dont have to worry about the water pressures put on it. Also, the old lter media used potassium permanganate as a recharging agent. Now we just use sodium hypochlorite for recharging it is cheaper and already being used for disinfecting. Weve eliminated the need for potassium permanganate and sodium aluminate. The reduction in chemicals saves $15,000 annually, and there is less labor for maintaining the chemical feed systems.
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Potassium permanganate is time-consuming in its maintenance, Koches says. It turns everything a purple-brown color and takes up a lot of surface area. We were mixing batches in a large tank. The chemical feed systems required daily readings and inspections because they ran constantly. Now weve eliminated those chemical feed systems and related maintenance. With the improved hardness of manganese greensand plus, the plant has increased ow-through between backwashes, saving up to $10,000 in energy because the backwash pumps run only half as often. We are no longer concerned with head pressures on the lters because we dont worry about crushing the harder greensand plus, Koches says. This allows for quite a bit more ow-through and loading on the lters, so weve doubled our capacity to 500,000 gallons between lter backwashes and reduced the related energy-consumption and water-wasting. In addition, fewer backwashes mean the plant is discharging less water into the sanitary sewer system, which is environmentally important.
(Continued from page 29)

Team members including Manny Henry made a successful transition from manual to automated plant operation.
Operator care
Operators were involved in every step of lter rehabilitation. They worked closely with contractors during the changeover and learned about the new system and its capabilities. Our operators are really special, Koches says. Weve created an atmosphere of letting them do the things they need to do on their own because they know the operation and maintenance best. They enjoy WSO welcomes stories making decisions on their own, about your green and environmentally progressive initiatives and they take the water plant for future Sustainable Practice home with them every night. Our articles. Send your suggestions operators are just extremely into to editor@wsomag.com or their jobs. wso
call 715/277-4094.
input for upgrades and enhancements, doing what they can to make the plant a top-of-the-line water facility.
Future plans
The city has a ve-year water plant capital improvement plan for future upgrades such as clearwell cleaning, transformer replacement, generator addition, centrifuge maintenance and other items to be budgeted. The team is also looking to add UV disinfection. That wont happen for three to ve years, but with EPA regulations becoming more stringent, it will give us an extra measure of protection, says Wheeler. Why not plan for it now? One thing they wont have to worry about is capacity. We are running at around 4 to 6 mgd, and weve never run at the permitted capacity, says Wheeler. The city is not growing, and in fact, Wheeler is concerned about future water sales: We have some smaller industries, but a lot have moved out. AbbVie is our number one water customer, and if they should leave, we would have excess water to sell. The city is over 100 years old and has gone through many changes. What was once a major industrial town is now reinventing itself and doing what it can to increase business and create residential areas that are suitable for second-time and not just rst-time homeowners. Wheeler believes his purpose as public works director is to set an example for everyone else, so people will ask: How do you do what you do, and what can we do better? This way, neighboring plants that are similar in size and funding can learn from us, he says. I believe that the more you work as a team internally, the more you can work externally. It ends up being better for everyone. wso

Centrisys Corporation
877/339-5496 www.centrisys.com 866/860-4760 www.fmc.com
Invensys Operations Management

949/727-3200 www.iom.invensys.com 888/637-7333 www.usmotors.com
FMC Corporation
Nidec Motor Corporation
Goulds Water Technology a Xylem Brand
Peerless Pump Company

800/879-0182 www.peerlesspump.com
866/325-4210 www.gouldswatertechnology.com
31
PRODUCT FOCUS:
BY CRAIG MANDLI
TANKS, STRUCTURES AND COMPONENTS

Plant infrastructure, including buildings and shelters, clariers, covers and domes, and tanks, form the storage side of most potable water treatment systems. Here are several of those products, along with coatings, linings and other components, that enable clean distribution.
Clariers
Microsand ballasted clarication process
The ACTIFLO microsand ballasted clarication process from Kruger USA combines microsandenhanced oc formation and microsand-enhanced settling. It effectively treats low-turbidity mountain runoff, reservoir waters with algae, waters with high TOC, hard water, soft water, groundwater, ashy rivers, brackish water and seawater. The process uses microsand as a seed for oc formation that later acts as a ballast. The ballasted oc settles rapidly, allowing compact clarier designs with high overow rates and short retention times. 919/677-8310; www.krugerusa.com.
Bafes
Building panel system
The berglass (FRP) COMPOSOLITE building panel system from Strongwell is strong, lightweight, corrosion-resistant and easy to install as an alternative to corrugated bafe wall systems. The design enables increased column spacing. For retrots, panels can be mounted to existing columns or attached to H-beams or concrete walls for durability and cost savings. The system can be used with EXTREN structural shapes to form an all-FRP composite system (except for the stainless steel fasteners). 276/645-8000; www.strongwell.com.
Solids-contact clarier
Hi-Tech solids-contact clariers from Kusters Water suit water and wastewater treatment applications including raw water intake, turbidity removal, cold lime softening, metals removal and other types of high-rate clarication. Collectors and drives in various styles meet job-specic requirements. 800/264-7005; www.kusterswater.com.
Buildings/Structures
Fabric truss arch structure
The Hercules Truss Arch structure from ClearSpan Fabric Structures can be built up to 300 feet wide and at any length. Its helical anchor pile foundation allows the fabric structures to be temporary or permanent and erected in a short time. Once a building has been shipped, up to 10,000 square feet can be installed per week. Buildings can be easily disassembled and reinstalled. The structure is made from triple-galvanized structural steel tubing and high-density polyethylene rip-stop fabric. 866/643-1010; www.clearspan.com.
Sodium hypochlorite generator

The SciCHLOR sodium hypochlorite generator with SciCELL technology from Scienco/FAST produces hypochlorite on demand from salt, water and electricity. Its compact design includes an integral brine tank, chlorine storage tankage, control panel, multi-pass SciCELL unit and recirculation pump. The design creates a uniform chemical reaction, allowing the system to use a recirculating method for minimal operator attention, automatic production and consistent chlorine strength (up to 0.8 percent). As the hypochlorite is used, the water automatically rells the brine tank. 314/756-9300; www.sciencofast.com.
Rigid-frame tension fabric building

Fabric buildings from Legacy Building Solutions use a durable rigid frame in place of hollow-tube, open web truss framing. The solid structural steel beams allow multiple coating options, including hot-dip galvanizing, red oxide primer and powder coat. Buildings can be customized for width, length and height. Structures can be modied to provide eave extensions and interior columns and can be engineered to handle additional loads for conveyors, sprinklers and other systems. The buildings have corrosion-free polyethylene fabric roofs. PVC fabrics are also available. The fabric allows natural light to permeate the structure; insulation can be added to meet energy codes. 877/2591528; www.legacybuildingsolutions.com.
Water treatment plant

The Trident HS package water treatment plant from WesTech Engineering provides multi-barrier protection for difcult-to-treat surface water, groundwater, industrial process water and tertiary wastewater. It consists of packaged high-rate settling, adsorption clarication, mixed-media ltration and optional UV disinfection. It handles high raw-water turbidity and solids loading and achieves TOC reductions that can exceed 70 percent. 801/265-1000; www.westech-inc.com.
Chemical storage enclosure

Chemical storage enclosures from RM Products provide continuous noncorroding berglass material from oor to wall to ceiling. All buildings are factory assembled and ready to use upon delivery. Units can be relocated with a forklift or tilt-and-load truck. 800/363-0867; www.rmberglass.com.
Coatings and Linings

Life-extending lining system
The Raven 405 Series from Raven Lining Systems provides long-term performance in damp
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environments. Its 100 percent solids, zero-VOC polymers demonstrate adhesion, low porosity and high chemical and abrasion resistance. Its ultra-high build properties make it suitable for overhead and vertical application. It is used on new concrete to protect against corrosion and extend structure life, and can be used on deteriorated structures such as brick, concrete or steel. 800/324-2810; www.ravenlining.com.
A low-prole design minimizes internal volume, reducing odor treatment requirements. Covers isolate thermal air masses to maintain operating temperatures and eliminate freezing. Modular construction enables rapid installation. 815/838-8331; www.environeticsinc.com.
Elastomeric polyurea lining system

Rhino Extreme two-component, rapid curing, elastomeric polyurea lining system from Rhino Linings Corporation is formulated for colder substrates and extreme outdoor conditions where water, humidity or low temperatures may exist. When used over geotextile, it is a fast way to install a dependable secondary containment area around tank elds. In less than a day, applicators can create seamless containment linings that cover thousands of square feet. The material offers high hardness and elongation and high tensile strength, and resists tears and abrasion. 858/450-0441; www.rhinolinings industrial.com.
Flat cover system

The Composi-Cover at cover system from Fiberglass Fabricators provides an alternative to aluminum covers. It is easy to install, works on rectangular and round tanks and functions as an algae/weir cover system. It accommodates long, unsupported spans. The system includes large, lightweight access hatches and a variety of penetration options. It resists chemicals, corrosion and UV. After installation, the cover requires minimal maintenance. 888/593-3552; www.bfab.com.
Floating disc cover system

The LemTec Hexa-Cover from Lemna Technologies adapts to any pond or tank and offers odor, algae and evaporation control and heat retention. It incorporates hexagonal discs made of recycled polypropylene with interlocking edges and a buttressed prole that allows for self-leveling, adjustment and dispersion, ensuring maximum surface area coverage in all conditions. It installs quickly with low cost and little equipment. It has discreet discs that distribute themselves across the water surface to accommodate any basin equipment, piping or water level uctuations. 612/253-2000; www.lemnatechnologies.com.
Epoxy-modied cement mortar

RestoKrete No. 208 epoxy-modied cement mortar from Sauereisen is a substrate repair material and water-resistant barrier for preventing inow and inltration in concrete or brick substrates. It lls voids, irregularities and air pockets in concrete, is pumpable and sprayable, and is easily applied by spin-cast or straight shot methods. It is also trowelable up to 1/2-inch thickness. 412/963-0303; www.sauereisen.com.
Modied epoxy
Dura-Plate 301, a solvent-free, surface and humidity tolerant two-pack modied epoxy from Sherwin-Williams, can be applied over damp steel without dew point restrictions in treatment facilities with pipe galleries. It protects sweating pipes from corrosion and eliminates odors from coatings that contain high levels of solvent. It is suitable for marginal surface preparation, preventing damage to equipment such as treatment pumps and motors that can be affected by abrasive blasting. 800/524-5979; www.sherwin-williams.com/protective.
Doors/Hatches
Quick-opening manway
Quick-opening manways (watertight doors) from Chase Associates provide access to concrete and steel tanks and can be installed in new construction or retrotted. They provide safe ground-level access during tank construction and quick, secure entry over the tanks life. In-swing styles seal an ASME anged and dished cover against a liquid-tight, replaceable gasket. A hand-wheel release operates only when the tank is empty and provides access within seconds without tools. Out-swing styles secure an ASME cover with threaded hand knobs. Security covers are available for tanks in public locations. Units are available in mild steel, stainless steel and other alloys. 888/626-9297; www.manways.com.
Covers/Domes
Floating bird ball blanket
Floating bird ball blankets from Environmental Controls Company (ECC) help solve difcult liquid storage problems. Hollow plastic balls placed on the surface of a liquid automatically arrange themselves into a close-packed formation to cover 91 percent of the surface area. 910/245-2241; www.eccllc.us.
Safety gate
The XL Series adjustable self-closing safety gate from FabEnCo ts openings up to 60 inches at ladderways, platforms, stairs, catwalks and mezzanines. It is available in carbon steel and in aluminum and stainless steel for special applications and environments. Finishes include galvanized and safety yellow powder coat. Custom gates can be made for unusual openings. Shipped complete, gates can be installed in minutes on all types of handrails (left or right) or to existing walls. 800/962-6111; www.safetygate.com. (continued)
Filter cover
Defender lter covers from Environetics prevent algae growth, contain odor and maintain operating temperatures. Opaque covers block UV light, prohibiting algae growth and keeping lters clean. A mechanical attachment system provides a positive seal for effective odor containment.
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PRODUCT FOCUS:

Stainless steel slide gate
The stainless steel slide gate from Hydro Gate combines the advantages of a cast-iron slide gate with the economy of a fabricated slide gate. The gate, frame, wedges and guides are made of durable and corrosionresistant 304 or 316 stainless steel. The specially designed seal assembly, wedge system and resilient ush bottom seal provide low leakage in seated and unseated conditions. The zero leak rate exceeds AWWA C501 leak rate standards. 800/678-8228; www.hydrogate.com. the shaft, while a leak-proof cable entry prevents water from wicking inside the motor. It has a close-coupled design, direct-drive motor, and cable plug that will plug and unplug without an electrician. It is resistant to clogging by brous material, and has extremely long maintenance intervals, as well as requiring minimized spare parts inventories. It only requires oil change intervals for every 16,000 operating hours or two years. 804/565-8372; www.ksbusa.com.
Stainless steel water mixer

The PWM100 water mixer from PAX Water Technologies has a self-install design; it is easily lowered through the tank hatch. It helps eliminate thermal stratication, reduce residual loss, lower disinfection byproducts and prevent ice formation. It uses a biomimetic nozzle that enables a vortex ow pattern inside storage tanks. It can self-right on a tank oor even on a sloped surface and is compact and easy to install and retrieve. The mixer is made of 316 stainless steel and is NSF/ANSI 61 certied. 866/729-6493; www.paxwater.com.
Port sliding wall penstock

Orbinox offers the Model MU square or rectangular port sliding wall penstock sealed on all four sides. It is used for on-off or control applications in wells, tanks and pipe outlets. It has carbon- or stainless steel construction with tight elastomer seals. It is available in a wide range of dimensions and for many pressure heads. 450/622-8775; www.orbinox.com.
Grating/Handrails
Fall protection grating system
The fall protection grating system from The Bilco Co. provides a permanent means of fall protection for the companys line of single and double leaf oor access doors, and meets OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.23 requirements. The system is constructed of lightweight aluminum grating and stainless steel hardware for corrosion resistance. It also features a stainless steel hold-open device that secures each panel in the full 90-degree position. The grating panel has a safety yellow powder-coat nish, making it durable, attractive and scratch-resistant. The system is available on all standard-size 300 PSF and H-20 reinforced access doors, and can be supplied on custom-size doors when specied. Retrot kits are also available for installation on existing products in the eld. 203/934-6363; www.bilco.com.
Storage Steel/Concrete/Plastic/Fiberglass
Bolted stainless steel tank
Bolted stainless steel tanks from American Structures can be used for water, wastewater, commercial and municipal storage applications. Bolted stainless steel provides sustainability with minimal maintenance. 715/235-4225; www.ameristruc.com.
Polyethylene tanks
Corrosion- and chemical-resistant polyethylene tanks from Assmann Corporation of America are made from virgin high-density crosslink or FDA-compliant linear polyethylene. They provide low-temperature impact resistance, are UV stabilized and come in many capacities and colors. Custom rotational molding, accessory ttings and custom colors are available. The tanks are certied to NSF/ANSI Standard 61 Drinking Water System Components Health Effects for multiple potable water contact materials up to 140 degrees F. 888/357-3181; www.assmann-usa.com.
Molded grating
Molded grating from Fibergrate Composite Structures is certied to NSF Standard 61 for potable water contact. It is available in numerous grating congurations and many panel sizes with various surface options. It is used in all phases of potable water treatment facilities, including ltration, water and chemical storage, and collection and treatment areas. It is corrosion resistant, requires minimal maintenance and is lightweight and easy to fabricate. It provides long service life and low life cycle cost. 800/527-4043; www.bergrate.com.
Prestressed concrete tank

Wire-wrapped prestressed concrete storage tanks from Caldwell Tanks are economical units constructed to comply with AWWA D110 and ACI 372. They are low-maintenance units for applications including potable water, municipal and industrial wastewater, and thermal energy storage. 502/964-3361; www.caldwelltanks.com.
Mixers
Horizontal submersible mixer
The Amamix horizontal submersible mixer from KSB mixes and homogenizes. It has a tandem mechanical sealing arrangement that seals
Folding frame tank

Folding Frame Tanks from Husky Portable Containment are available in steel or aluminum frames with size and material options (includ-
34
ing EXLON). Easy-lift handles are installed on all liners, making them quick to fold and allowing easy removal of liquids. Folding frames are also pinchfree. 800/260-9950; www.huskyportable.com.
Dry bulk storage silo

Welded, one-piece, dry bulk storage silos from Imperial Industries can be customized to the application. Bulk silos and tanks are cost-effective on maintenance, and save material handling costs over many years of use. Tanks are available in carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminum, in silo diameters to 16 feet, and in capacities to 12,000 cubic feet. Paint nishes per the Imperial standard or customer paint specications are available on carbon steel silos. Standard guardrail and ladder assemblies in aluminum, carbon steel and galvanized steel ensure easy assembly and maintenance-free durability. 800/558-2945; www.imperialind.com.
tenance, simple cleaning, long service life and fast, low-cost assembly. The tanks store potable water, raw water and wastewater with a surface that does not harbor or promote bacteria and resists very low and very high temperatures. 949/759-3200; www. unitedind.com.
Bolted tank
Epoxy-coated, at-panel bolted tanks from USA Tank offer a at-seam, eld-assembled design that eliminates ange connections and lap gaskets. Use of the latest sealant reduces the risk of bolted panel seam leaks. Tanks are erected from ground level with a jacking system, improving safety. Enduro Coat one-part, heat-curable fusion-bonded thermosetting epoxy coating provides corrosion protection. 866/700-2500; www. usatanksales.com.
Collapsible storage bladder

Collapsible storage bladders from MPC Containment are available in sizes from 250 to more than 210,000 gallons. They can be used for potable, gray or blackwater. They are fabricated using military-grade materials and NSF-certied potable water-grade materials. All exible bladders are available in custom designs and sizes and include ttings as required. 800/621-0146; www.mpccontainment.com.
Water Towers/Components
Expansion joint
The 233-L and 234-L all-rubber high-lateral expansion joints from Proco Products operate up to 145 psig (nominal size dependent) or up to 250 degrees F (elastomer dependent) and can be specied for numerous piping system requirements. They are constructed of various elastomers with rubberimpregnated polyester tire cord and a reinforcing ring at the top of the arch to provide stability in large lateral offset conditions. The four-arch design can offer up to 8 inches of lateral offset, providing savings when attaching to a pipe system next to water tanks and reservoirs. 800/3443246; www.procoproducts.com. wso
Bolted steel tank

Bolted steel storage tanks from Superior Tank Co. have modular design that allows them to be packed and easily shipped anywhere. Tanks up to 2 million gallons t into a standard-size shipping container and are delivered directly to the job site. Tank kits come complete with hardware and ttings and are ready to erect. Panels arrive with factory-applied powder-coat nish. 888/221-8265; www.superiortank.com.
Every day is Earth Day.
Potable water bolted tank

Potable water bolted RTP tanks from Tank Connection Afliate Group are available with geodesic domes. The company fabricates and installs custom bolted RTP, eld-weld, shopweld and hybrid tank designs. 620/423-3010; www.tankconnection.com.
Were met with a new challenge each day. Were all cross-trained, and that means we can rely on each other for just about everything. We take our jobs very seriously, and the key thing is knowing that were in compliance and not polluting our waters.
Jeff Chartier An Original Environmentalist
SUPERINTENDENT Town of Bristol (N.H.) Sewer and Water Department
Glass fused-to-steel bolted storage tanks

Glass fused-to-steel bolted storage tanks from United Industries Group are coated inside and out with glass enamel that binds to the metal and forms a hard, chemically inert layer that permanently protects against rust, corrosion, undercutting, abrasion and stains. Modular construction allows easy transport and assembly, tank expansion, low main-
Read about original environmentalists like Jeff each month in Treatment Plant Operator.
FREE subscription at www.tpomag.com

35
CASE STUDIES:
BY CRAIG MANDLI
New prestressed tank accommodates expected growth

Problem
The inux of new residents, businesses and recreational users to the City of Pocatello, Idaho, made additional water storage necessary. The city wanted to take advantage of federal grant money to build a 1-milliongallon prestressed concrete water storage tank. cally prestressed using fully automated equipment. Located in the foothills south of town, the tank was unique in being fully buried so it would not detract from the natural scenery.
Solution
The city chose a prestressed concrete tank design from DN Tanks as the most cost-effective solution for an underground water storage lifeline facility. With an inside diameter of 85 feet and a wall height of 26 feet, the tank was built using a poured-in-place corewall and a at concrete slab roof supported by 21 concrete columns, each 24 inches in diameter. All joints incorporated PVC waterstops to ensure a watertight structure. The 10-inch-thick corewall was circumferentially and verti-
RESULT
Upon completion, the project gave the community safe, reliable water storage to accommodate recent and future growth. It will help facilitate new development expected in the area. 800/227-8181; www.dntanks.com.
Tight space adds challenge to water tank replacement

Problem
The Watuppa Water Board of Fall River, Mass., needed to replace a water storage tank with a new 1-million-gallon tank. The conned site was close to a large cellphone tower and in the middle of a suburban neighborhood, raising concerns about construction trafc, equipment, noise, environmental issues and overall safety. delivery and lay-down and for placement of a large crane for setting the tanks AWWA D-100 knuckle umbrella roof in place.
RESULT
Fisher worked with a local paint contractor to make sure surrounding homes and property would not be affected by the painting of the tanks exterior. The replacement tank was installed without incident. 610/494-7200; www.shertank.com.
Solution
The city and the Fay, Spofford and Thorndike (FST) engineering rm devised a plan for demolition of the existing tank. Fisher Tank Company worked with FST to fabricate and construct the replacement tank, and to develop a construction plan to minimize impact on the neighborhood. They carefully planned for materials
Covers provide algae and odor control

Problem
The Penitencia Water Treatment Plant in San Jose, Calif., was replacing chlorine with ozone for primary disinfection. The plan was to reduce or eliminate chlorine feed at the head of the plant and so reduce formation of disinfection byproducts. Past attempts to reduce chlorine feed led to algae growth on the basins walls, launders and tube settlers, at times creating taste and odor issues. However, if prechlorination were continued at the same rate to control algae, the benets of ozonation would be reduced. ble NSF 61-approved coated fabric cover tensioned over a series of low-prole aluminum arches. The covers block sunlight and can be quickly disconnected and retracted to access tank internals for maintenance or inspection. Rainwater drains off the covers automatically.
Solution
District staff chose to cover the tube settler basins because the cost could be recovered through hypochlorite reduction. Geomembrane Technologies provided its retractable, structurally supported covers over the tube settler basins. The cover system consists of a dura-
RESULT
The covers met the plants requirements. Algae growth was controlled and hypochlorite feed reduced. Tube settler cleaning was signicantly reduced. The covers were installed on budget while the basins remained in service. 506/449-0993; www.gticovers.com.
36
Town cuts THMs in potable water with removal system

Problem
The Town of York, N.Y., (population 1,000) purchases its water from a neighboring town, which chlorinates lake water and stores it in concrete ponds. The water as received can be high in trihalomethanes (THM) due to chlorine reacting with the waters natural organic material. To meet the U.S. EPA THM limit of 80 ug/L throughout the distribution system, York ofcials needed to treat the water to eliminate the THMs created at the disinfection point. the spray nozzles, where THMs are volatilized and removed through rooftop vents. A GridBee GS-12 submersible mixer ensures that the water exiting the spray nozzles is well mixed with the remaining water in the tank.
Solution
After consulting with their engineer, town ofcials decided that the GridBee THM removal system from Medora Corporation could provide the greatest percentage reduction at the tank, no matter what came in from the supplier. The system combines mixing and air-stripping technologies to remove THMs from the water and purge them through a venting system. A submersible pump pushes water through
RESULT
Yorks twin tanks (east and west) measured the same amount of THMs in inow water. The west tank, without the GridBee system, had no change in THM level in the outow water. The GridBee-equipped east tank measured a 62 percent reduction in THMs in outow water, meeting the EPA rule. 866/4378076; www.medoraco.com.
Epoxy lining refurbished an iconic water standpipe

Problem
Restoration of the iconic standpipe and carillon at the University at Albany (N.Y.) was challenging given its location within a reecting pool at the center of the busy campus. The project involved removal of leadbased exterior paint in accord with health and safety regulations. The project also required replacement of the interior lining system with a lining specied to meet state health department regulations governing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in drinking water. epoxy lining certied under NSF/ ANSI Standard 61. The interior coating included a zinc-rich urethane prime coat for an extended maintenance cycle. Low-VOC white and metallic uoropolymer coatings provided exterior steel with UV light resistance and high color and gloss retention.
Solution
Scaffolding enclosed in plastic sheeting contained sandblasting debris during interior and exterior renovation of the 251-foot high standpipe. Sandblasting equipment used low-decibel compressors, minimizing the disruption of students and faculty. The 320,000-gallon tank was drained, rusted steel sections replaced, and the interior coated with Series FC22 Epoxoline from Tnemec Company, a 100 percent solids
RESULT
VOCs were undetectable in water samples taken from the nished tank. The standpipe returned to service in September 2013. 800/863-6321; www. tnemec.com.
Water treatment plant restored using repair mortar

Problem
The Raccoon Creek Water Treatment Plant in Summerville, Ga., was badly deteriorated. A thorough engineering study sought to determine whether the plant could be repaired while in continuous operation or had to be replaced. was used on the occulation tanks and sedimentation basins.
RESULT
The plant was restored while remaining in service, saving millions of dollars for the communities that depend on its output. 800/961-4477; www.xypex.com.
Solution
The study found that the plant could be repaired to optimal working condition using Megamix II from Xypex. The construction schedule was divided into three phases, allowing work to proceed while water treatment continued. More than 306,000 pounds of Megamix II
(continued)
37
CASE STUDIES:

Inclined plate technology utilized for turbidity removal
Problem
Meota, Saskatchewan, on the southwest shore of Jacksh Lake, is surrounded by recreational communities. The lakes water poses challenges to communities that would like to use it for drinking water. Under normal conditions the water is turbid from organic and inorganic compounds. Three new shallow inltration wells were drilled nearby to take advantage of the soils natural ltration. However, the new water source contained high amounts of iron, manganese and TOC. high solids separation efciency and deliver claried water to the Simul-Wash ltration component. The efciency of the plates allows for a smaller sedimentation compartment and a lower overall equipment footprint and cost. Solids in the sedimentation compartment are periodically cleared out through a sludge removal system.
Solution
The Unitized Treatment System from Tonka Water with inclined plate technology (UTS-P) was installed. Coagulant is added to the raw water before it enters the UTS-P unit. As the water ows by gravity through the unit, it undergoes occulation, sedimentation and media ltration. The water then travels to the sedimentation compartment and upward through stainless steel inclined plate settlers. The settlers offer
RESULT
Meota now has a highly efcient plant producing high-quality water with minimal operator involvement. Before treatment, turbidity levels were 23 NTU; current levels are 0.063 NTU. 763/559-2837; www.tonkawater.com. wso
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NEWS
38
Neptune-Benson names CEO
Neptune-Benson, manufacturer of commercial aquatic ltration systems, ultraviolet disinfection systems and aquatics components, named Kenneth Rodi chief executive ofcer.
PRIMEX adds sales engineer

PRIMEX, formerly Control Works, hired Perry Baldwin as sales engineer. Based in Milford, Ohio, Baldwin has 30 years of engineering experience and 10 years experience in the wastewater control panel industry.
REPRINTS Extra! Extra!

Troy Hall Water Division manager Moorhead, Minn.
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The Bilco Co. partnered with Colt Group, a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of smoke and natural ventilation products for commercial buildings. Bilco will serve as a distributor for Colts line of products in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Krausz Industries opens Florida facility
Krausz Industries, manufacturer of the Hymax coupling, opened a facility in Ocala, Fla. The location will warehouse product for the water and wastewater industry and provide custom fabrication.
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KDF Fluid Treatment celebrates 30th anniversary
KDF Fluid Treatment celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2014. Founded by Don Heskett in 1984, KDF produces lter media for water pretreatment, primary treatment and industrial applications.
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LUDECA launches Keep It Running microsite

LUDECA launched its Keep It Running microsite, www.keepitrunning.com. The site supports the companys new message of No Excuses for High Vibration, Misalignment and Unbalance. It includes blogs, video tutorials, white papers and maintenance technologies.
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BRIGHT IDEAS:
Automated meter reading in Davie County, N.C.

Page 36
Plant upgrades in Rockville, Md.

Page 30
GREAT!
STORY: TED J. RULSEH PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN BORGE
TASTES
Water plant supervisor Kris Knutson adjusts an ozone gas feed valve. Ozonation has helped Moorhead Public Service correct recurring odor issues caused by source water variation. (Gas owmeter by ERDCO Engineering Corporation, valve by Modentic Industrial Corp.)
Technology and teamwork help Moorhead Public Service deliver consistently high-quality water from a highly variable source in Minnesotas Red River
TECH TALK:
Keys to success with wireless SCADA

Page 38
Tastes Great!
MOORHEAD PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERS HIGH-QUALITY WATER FROM VARIABLE SOURCES
Page 10
QUALITY LEADERS
PLANT
he Red River is best known for periodic oods that afict North Dakota, most notably around Grand Forks. Much farther south, in Moorhead, Minn., the river is known for something else, though mainly to the staff at the water treatment plant. Up here, its not a big river, says treatment plant operator Dan Haman. Local events can have a large impact on it. A rain event can often wash interesting water into the river, especially if the weather has been dry for a while. Years ago, that led to complaints from customers about odor and bad taste in the water coming from the tap. That no longer happens. In 1995, Moorhead Public Service added ozonation to its treatment process, and it proved to be a reliable cure. In fact, for the past two years, Moorheads water has been voted the best tasting in the state in a competition held by the Minnesota section of the American Water Works Association. Troy Hall, Water Division manager, credits the treatment technology, along with a talented operations team, with keeping the process on track. When we look at the SCADA and see our water-quality trends, we want to see atlines everything just humming along, says Hall. Through teamwork, thats what weve accomplished.
Variable source
What the Moorhead team calls the North Treatment Plant (10 mgd capacity) was built in 1995. The old 6 mgd treatment plant is now rarely used: The staff operates it periodically just to make sure it remains functional and available for emergencies. When the plant operates, it treats well water only. The new plant, with 10 full-time and two part-time staff members, was designed specically to deal with variable source water in the Red River. The utility also draws well water from the Buffalo Aquifer, but the river provides about 85 percent of the source water on an annual basis. Theres a reason its called the Red River, says Nate Halbakken, lead treatment plant operator. Which is to say its not what one would call
POSTERS
Starting At
THE MPS TEAM
Staff members at the Moorhead Public Service water treatment plant are: Troy Hall, Water Division manager, 19 years of service, Class A license Kris Knutson, water plant supervisor, six years, Class A Nate Halbakken, lead water treatment plant operator, nine years, Class A Jason Yonke, lead water treatment plant operator, 14 years, Class A Gena Dahl, water plant chemist, four years Dan Haman, water plant operator, six years, Class C Daryl Brahos, water plant operator, four years, Class C Christopher Capecchi, water plant operator, one year Christopher Knutson, water plant operator, one year, Class D Alan Neer, water plant operator, four years, Class A Leslee Storlie, part-time water plant operator, one year Kevin Young, part-time water plant operator, one year
When we look at the SCADA and see our water-quality trends, we want to see atlines everything just humming along. Through teamwork, thats what weve been able to accomplish.
TROY HALL
Water treatment plant operator Dan Haman adjusts gas ow on ozone generator from WEDECO, a division of Xylem.
Hall cites SCADA work as an example of the teams cooperation. For the past decade, we have done all our SCADA work internally, he says. Its not a perfect SCADA, but it has been built by people who really care about the end result. When we want to make a change in how a process works, we all work together. Ive done some SCADA work in the ofce. Kris and Dan have done screen development for various purposes. It has evolved almost entirely inhouse. We also select and install our own instrumentation.
Problem solvers
Teamwork has helped the Moorhead staff resolve a variety of process issues. Several years ago, pH variability was a constant challenge. Working together, staff members made the correction by installing pH probes, making plumbing changes, and doing SCADA programming. In another instance, rising non-carbonate hardness in the Red River was taking a toll on the soda ash feed pumps. A former operator located a peristaltic pump model (Watson-Marlow) that appeared better suited to the task. Operators, an instrument technician and electricians from the utilitys electrical side worked together to test and install the new pumps. In a few months, we went from having to service the pumps every week to having almost no problems, says Haman. Another improvement involved installing a meter in the intake line to sample Red River water for conductivity as a way to predict total hardness in the river in real time. The team did the job, including data analysis and SCADA programming, entirely in-house, installing a used instrument purchased on the Internet for a few hundred dollars. Future plans include installing instrumentation at the river pumping station, about three miles (two hours of in-pipe travel time) from the plant. Im excited about that, says Haman. Well be able to see changes in the water before it gets to the plant and so deal with them more effectively. Hall calls it a privilege to lead a staff with many and diverse talents. The strengths of our people make it all work, he says. We try our best every day to use the strengths of the people we have. The results show up daily in the water glasses of Moorhead residents. wso
Part-time water treatment plant operator Leslee Storlie uses a Thermix stirrer from Thermo Scientic Water Analysis in a lab testing protocol.
Moorhead (Minn.) Public Service

FOUNDED: | 1896 POPULATION SERVED: | 42,000 TERRITORY: | Cities CAPACITY: | 16
Members of the MPS Water Division team are, back, from left, water plant staff members Dan Haman, Kris Knutson, Nate Halbakken, Troy Hall, Jason Yonke, Chris Knutson, Alan Neer, Chris Capecchi and Daryl Brahos; front row, distribution crew members Jared Heller, Chris Perlichek, Matt Andvik, Phil Shequen and Matt Mehl.
SYSTEM STORAGE: | 7.9 SOURCE WATER: | Red TREATMENT PROCESS: INFRASTRUCTURE:
KEY CHALLENGE: | Source ANNUAL BUDGET: | $4.5
of Moorhead and Dilworth, Oakport Township mgd million gallons River (85%), Buffalo Aquifer (15%) Lime/soda ash softening, ozonation, dual media ltration 190 miles of water mains, three water towers, two ground storage tanks, two reservoirs on plant sites water variability million (operations)
activated carbon were fed at the river pumping station, but at times that wasnt enough. When taste and odor problems arose, complaint calls came in bunches.
Reliable process
WEBSITE: | www.mpsutility.com
UV Pure revises wholesale channel
clean. The Red is subject to wide variations in organic matter and hardness, related to weather and the nature of the watershed, Hall observes. Normal ows range from about 3,000 to 5,500 cubic feet per second. The main feeder streams include the Otter Tail River, with generally high water quality; the Bois de Sioux River, with very poor water quality; and the Wild Rice River. Every river system that feeds the Red is variable, depending on how much rain were getting at the time, says Hall. At the old treatment plant, which used lime and soda ash softening and dual-media ltration, the wide source water variations overwhelmed the process. At the time, the source water included about 60 percent river and 40 percent well water. Potassium permanganate and sometimes
The MWH engineering rm (then known as Montgomery Watson) designed the new treatment plant. The Moorhead team has steadily improved on the design with instrumentation and updates to the SCADA system, originally supplied by Instrument Control Systems (ICS). One river pump station and two well pump stations deliver raw water directly into the plant. The waters mix in an inuent chamber, and the ow then enters two 5.5 mgd softening basins (Inlco Degremont). Typically, only one basin operates at a time, and when both operate, they work in parallel. Water in the basins is fed with lime and soda ash, along with ferric sulfate as a coagulant and polymer for occulation. Ammonia is also added in the softening stage for bromate control in the downstream ozonation process. The WEDECO ozonation/recarbonation chamber (Xylem) has six cells fed with variable amounts of ozone and carbon dioxide, depending on raw water conditions. Residual ozone is sampled at various points in the chamber. Before nal ltration, uoride is added, along with sodium hexametaphosphate for heavy metal sequestration and corrosion control. The
plants four dual-media lter cells each hold two feet of anthracite coal atop 12 inches of sand. The ltered water goes to the clear well, where chlorine is fed to combine with ammonia and form chloramines for disinfectant residual. The water is then delivered to the reservoirs and water towers (7.9 million gallons total system storage).
Ozone does it
Hall notes that ozonation is KRIS KNUTSON the key to odor and taste control. We ozonate at very high pH [at times 11 or higher] so that we benet from some advanced oxidation, he says. Ozone has been a really big improvement since it came online in 1995. It helps break down the organic material. Sometimes we feed CO2 with the ozone as the pH is dropping down close to that of the product water. That helps with taste and odor, too. But it wasnt technology alone that conquered the variability of Red River water. The plant staffs diligence had a lot to do with it. Since we started this plant, we have probably doubled or tripled the amount of online instrumentation, says Hall. Our SCADA gives us a lot of information about water quality and whats happening in the process, and were constantly trying to improve that. The systems programmable logic controllers and other control hardware are from Allen-Bradley (Rockwell Automation), and the SCADA software is from IntelliSys Inc. Online instrumentation in the treatment plant and water system includes:
We dont like to keep secrets between positions. We expect all our operators to be very familiar with the SCADA. As a supervisor, I try to involve the operators so they can help me out with data analysis, maintenance tasks, or whatever happens to come up.
Water from Moorhead, Minn., won the rst two Best in Glass taste competitions held by the state section of the American Water Works Association at its annual conference in September in Duluth. The event includes a vendor show where water samples from communities that enter the competition are subjected to a taste test and a popular vote among the attendees. The eld is narrowed to the top three vote-getters, which go to a second round of tasting by a panel of three from Minnesota section members and a celebrity judge. In both 2009 and 2010, we won both the popular and the panel vote, says Troy Hall, Water Division manager for Moorhead Public Service. The ofcial winner is the sample selected by the panel of judges. Another honor awaits: The plant is to be featured during 2012 on an episode of the Discovery Channels Dirty Jobs program, showing the process of cleaning the softening basins. Says Hall, It has been a fun year.
Water Division manager Troy Hall
The strengths of our people make it all work. We try our best every day to use the strengths of the people we have.
TROY HALL
The SCADA is programmed with the U.S. EPA ozone contact time (CT) requirements for disinfection. The ozone analyzers feed data directly into the SCADA, which calculates the actual CT value in real time. In operations, we adjust the ozone, pH or whatever parameter is necessary to make sure the actual plant CT value is above the EPA requirements, says Haman. Once we meet the disinfection requirement, 99 percent of the time the odor and taste issues are taken care of.
MORE INFO:
Emerson Process Management
800/854-8257 www.raihome.com 800/553-0550 www.erdco.com 800/227-4224 www.hach.com
35
OI Analytical
800/653-1711 www.oico.com
(See ad page 29)
ERDCO Engineering Corporation
Rockwell Automation
Hach Company
414/382-2000 www.rockwellautomation.com
Three total chlorine analyzers from Wallace & Tiernan (Siemens Water Technologies Corp.) Monochloramine/ammonia analyzer, five pH monitors, and eight turbidimeters from Hach Company Two pH controllers (CO2 auto control), four ozone analyzers and two conductivity meters from Rosemount Analytical (Emerson Process Management) Organic online analyzer from s::can Measuring Systems Benchtop lab equipment includes a turbidimeter and spectrophotometer from Hach Company, total organic carbon analyzer from OI Analytical, an IC chromatograph from Dionex, now sold as Thermo Scientic Water Analysis, and an Orion pH meter from Thermo Scientic Water Analysis. The team tests raw water for hardness and alkalinity every four hours and tests the nished water every eight hours. The ozone analyzers test the water in the ozone contact chamber every 20 seconds. Ozone dosage is adjusted manually based on monitoring for ozone residual. We have to adjust the ozone feed rate as water quality changes on a good day, just a couple of times; on a bad day, once an hour or more, says Haman.
As a team
The staffs success derives in part from the team atmosphere its leaders try to create. Theres a lot of overlap in the way we do things a lot of cross-training, notes Kris Knutson, water plant supervisor. We dont like to keep secrets between positions. We expect all our operators to be very familiar with the SCADA. As a supervisor, I try to involve the operators so they can help me out with data analysis, maintenance tasks, or whatever happens to come up. Halbakken adds, We communicate with each other. If one of us sees a problem, we alert the others. Everybody is always looking to keep the best product going out of the plant at all times. If that means someone has to be called at three in the morning to deal with a problem, everybodys open to that. Everyones willing to help out. Notes Haman, We try to work to each others strengths and shore up our weaknesses. For example, Nate is better at plumbing than I am, so Ill give him plumbing jobs. In turn, he can give me data to analyze to nd out when is the best time to order lime. We each have our little projects and our specialties.
s::can Measuring Systems

888/296-8250 www.s-can.us
ICS Healy-Ruff
763/559-0568 www.icshealyruff.com
Siemens Water Technologies Corp.

866/926-8420 www.water.siemens.com
Inlco Degremont, Inc.
804/756-7600 www.degremont-technologies.com
Thermo Scientific Water Analysis

800/225-1480 www.thermoscientic.com/water
IntelliSys, Inc.
800/347-9977 www.intellisyssoftware.com
Watson-Marlow Pumps Group

800/282-8823 www.wmpg.com
Modentic Industrial Corp.

www.modentic.com.tw
Xylem
MWH Global
303/533-1900 www.mwhglobal.com
704/409-9700 www.xyleminc.com
Reprinted with permission from WSO / Month 0000 / 2012, COLE Publishing Inc., P.O. Box 220, Three Lakes, WI 54562 / 800-257-7222 / www.wsomag.com
UV Pure Technologies, developer and manufacturer of UV water purication systems, revised its wholesale distribution channel. The company will provide wholesalers with direct pricing, next-day shipping of parts, technical support and training. The North American wholesale channel structure follows UV Pures termination of its nonexclusive master distribution agreement with 3M Purication.
wso
TM

January/February 2012
www.wsomag.com
BRIGHT IDEAS:
Automated meter reading in Davie County, N.C.

Page 36
Water plant supervisor Kris Knutson adjusts an ozone gas feed valve. Ozonation has helped Moorhead Public Service correct recurring odor issues caused by source water variation. (Gas owmeter by ERDCO Engineering Corporation, valve by Modentic Industrial Corp.)
Plant upgrades in Rockville, Md.

Page 30
TECH TALK:
Keys to success with wireless SCADA

Page 38
Troy Hall Water Division manager Moorhead, Minn.
Tastes Great!
MOORHEAD PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERS HIGH-QUALITY WATER FROM VARIABLE SOURCES
Page 10
GREAT! GREA
STORY: TED J. RULSEH PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN BORGE
TASTES
Technology and teamwork help Moorhead Public Service deliver consistently high-quality water from a highly variable source in Minnesotas Red River
When we look at the SCADA and see our water-quality trends, we want to see atlines everything just humming along. Through teamwork, thats what weve been able to accomplish.
TROY HALL
QUALITY LEADERS
PLANT
he Red River is best known for periodic oods that afict North Dakota, most notably around Grand Forks. Much farther south, in Moorhead, Minn., the river is known for something else, though mainly to the staff at the water treatment plant. Up here, its not a big river, says treatment plant operator Dan Haman. Local events can have a large impact on it. A rain event can often wash interesting water into the river, especially if the weather has been dry for a while. Years ago, that led to complaints from customers about odor and bad taste in the water coming from the tap. That no longer happens. In 1995, Moorhead Public Service added ozonation to its treatment process, and it proved to be a reliable cure. In fact, for the past two years, Moorheads water has been voted the best tasting in the state in a competition held by the Minnesota section of the American Water Works Association. Troy Hall, Water Division manager, credits the treatment technology, along with a talented operations team, with keeping the process on track. When we look at the SCADA and see our water-quality trends, we want to see atlines everything just humming along, says Hall. Through teamwork, thats what weve accomplished.
THE MPS TEAM

Staff members at the Moorhead Public Service water treatment plant are: Troy Hall, Water Division manager, 19 years of service, Class A license Kris Knutson, water plant supervisor, six years, Class A Nate Halbakken, lead water treatment plant operator, nine years, Class A Jason Yonke, Y Yonke, lead water treatment p reatment lant o reatment p lant perator, 14 years, 14 y 14 years, Class A Jason Yonke, lead water treatment plant operator, 14 years, Class A Gena Dahl, water plant c lant hemist, four y lant c our years our y years Gena Dahl, water plant chemist, four years Dan Haman, water plant o lant perator, six y lant o ix years, ix y years, Class C Dan Haman, water plant operator, six years, Class C Daryl Brahos, water plant o lant perator, four y lant o our years, our y years, Class C Daryl Brahos, water plant operator, four years, Class C Christopher C Christopher apecchi, water plant o lant perator, one year lant o y year Christopher Capecchi, water plant operator, one year Christopher Christopher K nutson, water Christopher Knutson, water plant operator, one year, Class D Alan Neer, water plant o lant peralant o Alan Neer, water plant opera tor, four years, Class A Leslee Storlie, part-time water Leslee Storlie, part-time water plant operator, one year Kevin Young, Y Young, part-time water Kevin Young, part-time water plant operator, one year
Hall cites SCADA work as an example of the teams cooperation. For the past decade, we have done all our SCADA work internally, he says. Its not a perfect SCADA, but it has been built by people who really care about the end result. When we want to make a change in how a process works, we all work together. Ive done some SCADA work in the ofce. Kris and Dan have done screen development for various purposes. It has evolved almost entirely inhouse. We also select and install our own instrumentation.
Problem solvers
Teamwork has helped the Moorhead staff resolve a variety of process issues. Several years ago, pH variability was a constant challenge. Work Working together, staff members made the correction by installing pH probes, making plumbing changes, and doing SCADA programming. In another instance, rising non-carbonate hardness in the Red River was taking a toll on the soda ash feed pumps. A former operator located a peristaltic pump model (Watson-Marlow) that appeared better suited to the task. Operators, an instrument technician and electricians from the utilitys electrical side worked together to test and install the new pumps. In a few months, we went from having to service the pumps every week to having almost no problems, says Haman. Another improvement involved installing a meter in the intake line to hardsample Red River water for conductivity as a way to predict total hard analyness in the river in real time. The team did the job, including data analy sis and SCADA programming, entirely in-house, installing a used instrument purchased on the Internet for a few hundred dollars. Future plans include installing instrumentation at the river pumping station, about three miles (two hours of in-pipe travel time) from the plant. Im excited about that, says Haman. Well be able to see changes in the water before it gets to the plant and so deal with them more effectively. Hall calls it a privilege to lead a staff with many and diverse talents. The strengths of our people make it all work, he says. We try our best every day to use the strengths of the people we have. The results show up daily in the water glasses of Moorhead residents. wso
Variable source
What the Moorhead team calls the North Treatment Plant (10 mgd capacity) was built in 1995. The old 6 mgd treatment plant is now rarely used: The staff operates it periodically just to make sure it remains functional and available for emergencies. When the plant operates, it treats well water only. The new plant, with 10 full-time and two part-time staff members, Water treatment plant operator Dan Haman adjusts gas ow on ozone generator from was designed specically to deal with variable source water in the Red WEDECO, division of Xylem. River. The utility also draws well water froma the Buffalo Aquifer, but the river provides about 85 percent of the source water on an annual basis. Theres a reason its called the Red River, says Nate Halbakken, lead treatment plant operator. Which is to say its not what one would call
LASER REPRINTS
Starting At
Water Division manager Troy Hall
Moorhead (Minn.) Public Service

FOUNDED: | 1896 POPULATION SERVED: | 42,000 TERRITORY: | Cities CAPACITY: | 16
Members of the MPS Water Division team are, back, from left, water plant staff members Dan Haman, Kris Knutson, Nate Halbakken, Troy Hall, Jason Yonke, Chris Knutson, Alan Neer, Chris Capecchi and Daryl Brahos; front row, distribution crew members Jared Heller, Chris Perlichek, Matt Andvik, Phil Shequen and Matt Mehl.

We dont like to keep secrets between positions. We expect all our operators to be very familiar with the SCADA. As a supervisor, I try to involve the operators so they can help me out with data analysis, maintenance tasks, or whatever happens to come up.
Water from Moorhead, Minn., won the rst two Best in Glass taste competitions held by the state section of the American Water Works Association at its annual conference in September in Duluth. The event includes a vendor show where water samples from communities that enter the competition are subjected to a taste test and a popular vote among the attendees. The eld is narrowed to the top three vote-getters, which go to a second round of tasting by a
The strengths of our people make it all work. We try our best every day to use the strengths of the people we have.
TROY HALL
of Moorhead and Dilworth, Oakport Township mgd million gallons River (85%), Buffalo Aquifer (15%) Lime/soda ash softening, ozonation, dual media ltration 190 miles of water mains, three water towers, two ground storage tanks, two reservoirs on plant sites water variability ANNUAL BUDGET: | $4.5 million (operations) WEBSITE: | www.mpsutility.com
SYSTEM STORAGE: | 7.9 SOURCE WATER: | Red TREATMENT PROCESS: INFRASTRUCTURE:
activated carbon were fed at the river pumping station, but at times that wasnt enough. When taste and odor problems arose, complaint calls came in bunches.
Reliable process
The MWH engineering rm (then known as Montgomery Watson) designed the new treatment plant. The Moorhead team has steadily improved on the design with instrumentation and updates to the SCADA system, originally supplied by Instrument Control Systems (ICS). One river pump station and two well pump stations deliver raw water Part-time water treatment plant directly into the plant. The waters mix in an inuent chamber, and the operator Leslee Storlie uses a Thermix stirrer from Thermo Scientic ow then enters two 5.5 mgd softening basins (Inlco Degremont). Typi Water Analysis in a lab testing cally, only one basin operates at a time, and when both operate, they work protocol. in parallel. Water in the basins is fed with lime and soda ash, along with ferric plants four dual-media lter cells sulfate as a coagulant and polymer for occulation. Ammonia is also each hold two feet of anthracite ozoadded in the softening stage for bromate control in the downstream ozo coal atop 12 inches of sand. The nation process. ltered water goes to the clear well, The WEDECO ozonation/recarbonation chamber (Xylem) has six where chlorine is fed to combine cells fed with variable amounts of ozone and carbon dioxide, depending with ammonia and form chloraon raw water conditions. Residual ozone is sampled at various points in mines for disinfectant residual. The the chamber. water is then delivered to the reshexametaBefore nal ltration, uoride is added, along with sodium hexameta ervoirs and water towers (7.9 milphosphate for heavy metal sequestration and corrosion control. The lion gallons total system storage).
The SCADA is programmed with the U.S. EPA ozone contact time (CT) requirements for disinfection. The ozone analyzers feed data directly into the SCADA, which calculates the actual CT value in real time. In operations, we adjust the ozone, pH or whatever parameter is necessary to make sure the actual plant CT value is above the EPA requirements, says Haman. Once we meet the disinfection requirement, 99 percent of the time the odor and taste issues are taken care of.
MORE INFO:
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KEY CHALLENGE: | Source
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Kohler donates generator to Seaside Park
clean. The Red is subject to wide variations in organic matter and hardness, related to weather and the nature of the watershed, Hall observes. Normal ows range from about 3,000 to 5,500 cubic feet per second. The main feeder streams include the Otter Tail River, with generally high water quality; the Bois de Sioux River, with very poor water quality; and the Wild Rice River. Every river system that feeds the Red is variable, depending on how much rain were getting at the time, says Hall. At the old treatment plant, which used lime and soda ash softening and dual-media ltration, the wide source water variations overwhelmed the process. At the time, the source water included about 60 percent river and 40 percent well water. Potassium permanganate and sometimes
Ozone does it
Kohler Generators donated a commercial-grade, standby generator to Seaside Park, N.J., scene of two disasters. In October 2012, Superstorm Sandy swept away the boroughs boardwalk and nearby amusement park, destroying homes and businesses. In September 2013, the communitys rebuilding efforts were set back by a boardwalk re. The generator will be used to provide power for the administration building at 1701 North Ocean Ave. The building serves as the command center and shelter during a crisis situation. wso
Hall notes that ozonation is KRIS KNUTSON the key to odor and taste control. We ozonate at very high pH [at times 11 or higher] so that we benet from some advanced oxidation, he says. Ozone has been a really big improvement since it came online in 1995. It helps break down the organic material. Sometimes we feed CO2 with the ozone as the pH is dropping down close to that of the product water. That helps with taste and odor, too. But it wasnt technology alone that conquered the variability of Red River water. The plant staffs diligence had a lot to do with it. Since we started this plant, we have probably doubled or tripled the amount of online instrumentation, says Hall. Our SCADA gives us a lot of information about water quality and whats happening in the process, and were constantly trying to improve that. The systems programmable logic controllers and other control hardware are from Allen-Bradley (Rockwell Automation), and the SCADA software is from IntelliSys Inc. Online instrumentation in the treatment plant and water system includes:
The staffs success derives in part from the team atmosphere its leadICS Healy-Ruff ers try to create. Theres a lot of overlap in the way we do things a lot 763/559-0568 Siemens Water Technologies Corp. of cross-training, notes Kris Knutson, water plant supervisor. We dont www.icshealyruff.com 866/926-8420 like to keep secrets between positions. We expect all our operators to be www.water.siemens.com Inlco Degremont, Inc. very familiar with the SCADA. As a supervisor, I try to involve the oper804/756-7600 Thermo Scientific Water Analysis ators so they can help me out with data analysis, maintenance tasks, or panel of three from Minnesota section members and a celebrity judge. www.degremont-technologies.com 800/225-1480 whatever happens to come up. www.thermoscientic.com/water In both 2009 and 2010, we won both the popular and the panel Halbakken adds, We communicate with each other. If one of us sees IntelliSys, Inc. vote, says Troy Hall, Water Division manager for Moorhead Public Service. 800/347-9977 Watson-Marlow Pumps Group a problem, we alert the others. Everybody is always looking to keep the The ofcial winner is the sample selected by the panel of judges. www.intellisyssoftware.com 800/282-8823 best product going out of the plant at all times. If that means someone has www.wmpg.com Another honor awaits: The plant is to be featured during 2012 on to be called at three in the morning to deal with a problem, everybodys Modentic Industrial Corp. an episode of the Discovery Channels Dirty Jobs program, showing www.modentic.com.tw Xylem open to that. Everyones willing to help out. the process of cleaning the softening basins. Says Hall, It has been 704/409-9700 Notes Haman, We try to work to each others strengths and shore up MWH Global www.xyleminc.com a fun year. our weaknesses. For example, Nate is better at plumbing than I am, so Ill 303/533-1900 give him plumbing jobs. In turn, he can give me data to analyze to nd www.mwhglobal.com out when is the best time to order lime. We each have our little projects rom Wallace Wallace & Tiernan (Siemens W (Siemens and our specialties. Three total chlorine analyzers from Reprinted with permission from WSO / January 2012 / 2012, COLE Publishing Inc., P.O. Box 220, Three Lakes, WI 54562 / 800-257-7222 / www.wsomag.com Water Technologies Corp.) nalyzer, five pH monitors, and and eight eight Monochloramine/ammonia analyzer, urbidimeters from Hach Company turbidimeters Two pH controllers (CO2 auto control), four ozone analyzers and two conductivity meters from Rosemount Analytical (Emerson Process Management) Organic online analyzer from s::can Measuring Systems s::can Measuring Systems Benchtop lab equipment includes a turbidimeter and spectrophotometer from Hach Company, total organic carbon analyzer from OI Analytical, an IC chromatograph from Dionex, now sold as Thermo Scientic Water Analysis, and an Orion pH meter from Thermo Scientic Water Analysis. The team tests raw water for hardness and alkalinity every four hours and tests the nished water every eight hours. The ozone analyzers test the water in the ozone contact chamber every 20 seconds. Ozone dosage is adjusted manually based on monitoring for ozone residual. We have to adjust the ozone feed rate as water quality changes on a good day, just a couple of times; on a bad day, once an hour or more, says Haman.
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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
BY ED WODALSKI
NEWS
1|Griswold high-head, self-priming centrifugal pumps 2|Rockwell Automation PowerFlex 523 AC drives 3|Industrial Test Systems hand-held photometer 4|Walchem pre-engineered pump systems
H Series high-head, self-priming pumps from Griswold Pump Co. are available in 3, 5, 7 1/2, 10, 15 and 20 hp models with heads to 260
PRODUCT
Vertical booster pumps save space, conserve energy

VR Series stainless steel vertical multistage booster pumps from Franklin Electric are designed to deliver clean water under pressure
feet and ow rates to 325 gpm. Features include a closed impeller, mechanical shaft seal, stationary seal face and rotating seal face. 800/843-9222; www.griswoldpump.com.
The Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 520 Series of compact AC drives from Rockwell Automation are designed for easy conguration. Files can be uploaded or downloaded to the drive using a standard USB connection. The drive also can be programmed through built-in human interface modules, which display data on the LCD screen with scrolling QuickView text and detailed explanations of parameters and codes. 414/382-2000; www.rockwellautomation.com/industries/water.
The eXact iDip hand-held photometer from Industrial Test Systems uses Bluetooth Smart wireless technology to connect with an
iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, enabling test data to be shared via email, while the built-in GPS provides easy retrieval of water locations. 800/8619712; www.sensafe.com.
with temperatures ranging from -5 degrees to 250 degrees F. The three-pump series is available with 3/4 to 10 hp models in ow ratings from 8 to 60 gpm and TDH to 750 feet. The pumps have a 1 1/2inch NPT suction and discharge on the smaller series and 2-inch NPT on the larger ow series. Other connections are available. The pumps are designed with top access to the mechanical seal for easy replacement without disturbing the plumbing. Applications include water supply and pressure boosting and water treatment (reverse osmosis) in municipal and industrial use. Made of 316 stainless steel, the low ow, high-head pumps have a space-saving footprint (approximately 9 by 9 inches) that can be used in both retrots as well as new construction. Its a standard t for most vertical multistage applications, says Van Johnson, senior portfolio manager surface pumps at Franklin Electric. Its designed to t within the piping and footprint as a replacement for an existing system that is using a different manufacturers pump. And for new construction, its a very clean install. Its an inline design so you can plumb up to it. A unique feature of the pump is the operator does not have to adjust the vertical pump stack. Thats done internally with the pump, Johnson says. All the operator has to do is attach the coupling to the rotor shaft and youre ready to go. No adjustments are necessary. The pumps require little to no maintenance and use standard thrust motors. No matter who the operator is dealing with as far as a motor manufacturer for his other products in the plant, hell be able to obtain that motor from his vendor, he says.
Pre-engineered chemical feed systems from Walchem Pump Systems have a chemical-resistant pump stand made from molded, UV-
stabilized, linear low-density polyethylene. Components include calibration columns, back pressure/anti-siphon valves, pressure relief valves, pulsation dampeners, gauges, ball valves and Y-strainers. Single, dual and redundant pump systems are factory assembled and hydrostatically tested. The auto-ll option enables the metering pump to ll the calibration column for applications when ooded suction is not available. Floor mount is standard with wall mount available. 508/429-1110; www. walchem.com.
5|DeZURIK severe service knife gate valve
The KSV severe service knife gate valve from DeZURIK Water Control is designed for highly abrasive service. Features include ANSI
B16.34 Class 150 and 300 pressure ratings, bidirectional dead end shutoff capability, bidirectional drip tight seal, bonnetless design for ANSI 300 service and hardened seat materials. 320/2592000; www.dezurik.com.
4 2 3 1 5
40
VR Series vertical multistage booster pumps from Franklin Electric
7|Palmer Wahl precision test gauge
The PTG100 precision digital pressure gauge from Palmer Wahl features fully temperature compensated accuracy from 32 degrees to 122 degrees F (0 to 50 degrees C). Available in accuracies of 0.5, 0.1, 0.05 and 0.025 percent of full scale, the 3.9-inch diameter dial model displays up to six digits on a backlit LCD screen, enabling the user to select up to nine engineering units, including models measuring over 36,000 psi. 800/4212853; www.palmerwahl.com.
8|Endress+Hauser multiparameter transmitter

The energy- and space-saving pumps work well with variablespeed drives because the curves are shaped so that you can hook one, two or three of these up together, Johnson says. Take an apartment building, for example, where everybody showers at 7 a.m., goes to work and comes back in the evening to wash dishes or whatever. You need the larger ow in the morning, so you probably have all your pumps kick on with the variable-speed drives, and the rest of the day you could only offer whats required a very small amount of water. So youre saving energy and not running all the pumps all the time when you dont need them. 260/824-2900; www.franklin-electric.com.
The Liquiline CM44x multichannel transmitter from Endress+ Hauser features EtherNet/IP connectivity for seamless integration with
the Rockwell Automation PlantPax process automation system. The integrated Web server enables the operator to remotely view diagnostic data, perform conguration or access device parameters. The modular fourwire transmitter is available in one- to eight-channel expandable versions. 888/363-7377; www.us.endress.com.
9|YSI multiparameter instruments
6|Thomas & Betts interconnection systems

6
Russellstoll interconnection systems by Thomas & Betts Corp., a member of the ABB Group, range from 20 to 600 amps. Maintenance
The MultiLab IDS line of laboratory instruments and smart sensors from YSI, a xylem brand, are designed to simultaneously measure three parameters of pH, ORP, BOD, ISEs, conductivity or three of the same parameters. The instrument line includes the MultiLab 4010 (one channel), MultiLab 4010-2 (dual channel) and the MultiLab 4010-3 (three channel), as well as smart digital probes for optical-based BODs, pH, ORP and conductivity measurement. Using an adapter, ISE measurements and non-IDS pH or ORP sensors can be used with the 4010-2 and 4010-3. 800/765-4974; www.ysi.com. wso
free, they are fully polarized for exact voltage, frequency and phases. Solderless, pressure screw terminals and rear access, combined with take-apart housings, provide quick wiring access. 901/252-5000; www. tnb.com.
7 9
41
Worth Noting
PEOPLE/AWARDS
The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District received the District Transparency Certicate of Excellence from the Special District Leadership Foundation for transparency in operations and governance. The district provides drinking water, wastewater treatment, recycled water and biosolids composting services to Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Westlake Village and neighboring unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Christina Galliher was promoted to water treatment plant operator at the Penn Yan Village (N.Y.) Water Treatment plant. WSO welcomes your contribution to this listing. To recognize members of your team, please send notices of new hires, promotions, service milestones, certications or achievements to editor@wsomag.com.
WSO invites your national, state or local association to post notices and news items in the Worth Noting column. Send contributions to editor@wsomag.com.
EVENTS
March 17-20
WATERCON 2014, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Springeld, Ill. Visit www. isawwa.org.
March 23-26
Alabama Rural Water Association 36th Annual Technical Training Conference, Montgomery. Visit www.alruralwater.com.
March 24-27
2014 California-Nevada Section AWWA Spring Conference, Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim, Calif. Visit www.ca-nv-awwa.org.
March 25-27
EnergySMART 2014 Conference, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia. Visit www.energysmartconference.com.
EDUCATION
AWWA
The American Water Works Association is offering these courses: March 10-14 2014 Membrane Technology Conference, Las Vegas, Nev. March 19 Part 1: Communicating with Customers about Lead and Lead Service Lines, webinar April 7-9 Financial Management Cost of Service Rate-Making Seminar, North Charleston, S.C. April 9 Watershed, Forest, and Source Water Protection, webinar April 11 Water Harvesting Systems and Application, Milwaukee, Wis. April 30 The Impacts of Nutrient Pollution on Drinking Water Quality, webinar Visit www.awwa.org.
March 25-28
Wisconsin Rural Water Association 2014 Annual Technical Conference, Hyatt/KI Convention Center, Green Bay. Visit www.wrwa.org.
March 26-28
GLOBE 2014 Conference, Vancouver (British Columbia) Convention Centre. Visit www.2014.globeseries.com.
March 30-April 2
Sustainable Water Management Conference, Curtis Hotel, Denver, Colo. Visit www.awwa.org/Sustainable14.
March 30-April 2
Missouri Section 2014 AWWA Annual Conference, Osage Beach. Visit www.awwa-mo.org.
April 6-8
North Carolina AWWA-WEA Spring Conference, Wilmington (N.C.) Convention Center. Visit www.ncsafewater.org.
Alabama
The Alabama Rural Water Association is offering an HDPR Pipe Fusion class April 23 in Calera. Visit www.alruralwater.com.
April 9
The Intermountain Section of AWWA is offering its 2014 Education Extravaganza Midyear Conference at the Karen Gail Miller Conference Center in Sandy, Utah. Visit www.ims-awwa.org.
Arkansas
The Arkansas Environmental Training Academy is offering these courses: March 12-14 Basic Water Distribution, Paragould March 16-31 Advanced Water Distribution, Internet March 17-20 Applied Water Math (Night Class), Fort Smith March 25 Basic Water Math, North Little Rock March 26 Applied Water Math, North Little Rock March 27 PWS Compliance, North Little Rock April 1-15 Basic Water Math, online April 1-3 Advanced Water Distribution, North Little Rock April 10-11 ADH Plumbing Inspector School, Camden April 16-30 Applied Water Math, online Visit www.sautech.edu/aeta/. The Arkansas Rural Water Association is offering these courses: March 12-13 Water Specialized Training, Clarksville March 25-27 Basic Treatment, Lonoke April 15-17 Advanced Distribution, Lonoke April 22-24 Intermediate Treatment, Lonoke April 29-May 1 Basic Distribution, Clarksville Visit www.arkansasruralwater.org.
April 21-24
Alaska Section 2014 AWWA Annual Conference, Anchorage. Visit www.awwma.org.
April 24
Seventh Annual Water Distribution Conference, Addison, Ill. Visit www. isawwa.org.
California
The California-Nevada Section of AWWA is offering these courses: April 9 Water Use Efciency Grade I Workshop, Rancho Cucamonga April 24-25 Two-Day Backow Refresher, West Sacramento Visit www.ca-nv-awwa.org.
Colorado
The Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association is offering a Water/Wastewater Workshop on April 3. Visit www.rmwea.org.
Florida
The Florida Section of AWWA is offering these courses:
42
March 31 Florida AWWA eLearning April 9 Disinfection of Distribution Water Mains, Orlando April 30 Florida AWWA eLearning Visit www.fsawwa.org.
Oklahoma
The Oklahoma Environmental Training Center is offering these courses: March 14 Open Exam Session, Stillwater March 18-20 D Water and Wastewater Operator, Tulsa March 31-April 1 D Water and Wastewater Operator, Midwest City March 28 Renewal Training, Oklahoma City April 1-3 D Water and Wastewater Operator, Stillwater April 4 Open Exam Session, Tulsa April 9 General Refresher for Water Operators, Tulsa April 9-10 C Water Operator, Tulsa April 11 Open Exam Session, Stillwater April 14-17 B Water Operator, Tulsa April 21 General Refresher for Water Lab Operators, Stillwater April 21-24 C Water Laboratory, Stillwater April 22-24 D Water and Wastewater Operator, Tulsa April 28-May 1 A/B Water Laboratory, Stillwater Visit www.accuratelabs.com.
Illinois
The Illinois Section of AWWA is offering these courses: March 27 Chemical Properties, Safety and Security, Channahon April 1 How to Use Hydraulic Tools to Make Your Job Easier, Batavia April 10 Meters A to Z, Rockford April 14 GE Procy iFix Offers More Than Pretty Pictures and Alarms, webinar April 15 Safety Audit in the Plant, Elgin April 22 Effective Backow Programs, Downers Grove April 24 ISAWWA Strategic Planning Implementation Workship, Utica April 24-May 29 Utility Management 6-week Night Class, Westmont April 25 Virtual Water Accounting: Framework for Water Management in the Great Lakes, webinar April 29 Illinois Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network Seminar and Tabletop Exercise, Elgin Visit www.isawwa.org. The Environmental Resources Training Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is offering these courses: March 28-May 2 Water Operations Short School, ERTC - Edwardsville March 31 Class B Water Operations 1, Geneva April 1 Class B Water Operations 2, Geneva April 2 Class A Water Operations 1, Geneva April 3 Class A Water Operations 2, Geneva April 15-18 Cross Connection Control, Lake Bluff Visit www.siue.edu/ertc/.
Wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin Madision Department of Engineering Professional Development is offering a Cross-Connection Control and Backow Prevention course March 24-28 in Madison. Visit www.epdweb. engr.wisc.edu. The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee School of Continuing Education is offering a Water Harvesting Systems and Application course April 11. Visit www4.uwm.edu. The Wisconsin Rural Water Association is offering these courses: March 19 Small Water System Operator Certication Exam Review, Cottage Grove March 19 Regulations Update, Cottage Grove April 9 Wells, Mount Horeb April 9 Distribution System O&M, Mount Horeb April 17 Wells, Green Bay April 17 Distribution System O&M, Green Bay Visit www.wrwa.org. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is offering these courses: April 1 Groundwater Supply and Distribution, Chippewa Falls April 15 Groundwater Supply and Distribution, Fond du Lac Visit http://dnr.wi.gov. wso
Michigan
The Michigan Section of AWWA is offering its Limited Treatment Short Course I & II March 25-27 at Higgins Lake. Visit www.mi-water.org.
New Jersey
The New Jersey Agricultural Research Station is offering these courses at New Brunswick: March 25-26 Management Skills for Supervisors March 28 Effective Emergency Commiunications April 8-10 Motor Control Circuits: Wiring to Troubleshooting April 11 Customer Service Skills for Utilities April 23 Microbiology for the Non-Biologist April 29 Water and Wastewater Chemistry: Back to the Basics Visit www.cpe.rutgers.edu.
New York
The New York Section of AWWA is offering these courses: March 19 Water Storage Tank O&M, Melville March 24 Basic Laboratory Skills, Poughkeepsie March 26 Basic Laboratory Skills, Troy April 2 Process Verication and Calibration, Kingston April 4 Process Verication and Calibration, Wayne County April 8 Concrete Water Tank Construction, Owego April 9 Hands-On Chlorination, Woodbury April 9 Water Storage Tank O&M, Troy April 30 Maintaining Water Quality in the Distribution System, Peekskill April 30 Operator Ethics and Applications, Troy Visit www.nysawwa.org.
Its your magazine. Tell your story.

WSO welcomes news about your water system for future articles.
Send your ideas to editor @wsomag.com
43
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WATER SYSTEM OPERATOR

Managing Our Most Valuable Resource

New twist on UV-T measurement

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Robert Tagert Production Supervisor East Vincent Township, Pa.

Filter efficiency in Freehold, N.J.

Go ahead, take a closer look.

A New Twist in Buttery Valve Technology

Plant: Fifteen and Counting

Plant: A New Direction

Plant: Commitment by Collaboration

TECHNOLOGY DEEP DIVE Page 24

Try It. Buy It.

A New Twist on UV-T Measurement

WORTH NOTING Page 42 People/Awards; Education; Events

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Tricks of the Trade

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