Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine | April 2021

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CONTENTS

April 2021 • Vol. 34 No. 2 • ISSN-0835-605X

Editor and Publisher STEVE DAVEY steve@esemag.com

Managing Editor PETER DAVEY peter@esemag.com

Sales Director PENNY DAVEY penny@esemag.com ales Representative DENISE SIMPSON S denise@esemag.com

Accounting SANDRA DAVEY sandra@esemag.com Design & Production MIGUEL AGAWIN miguel@esemag.com

Circulation BRIAN GILLETT ese@mysubscription.ca

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TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD

Archis Ambulkar OCT Water Quality Academy

Gary Burrows City of London

Patrick Coleman Stantec

Bill De Angelis Metrolinx Mohammed Elenany Urban Systems William Fernandes City of Toronto

Marie Meunier John Meunier Inc., Québec

Tony Petrucci TMIG The Municipal Infrastructure Group Environmental Science & Engineering is a bi‑monthly business publication of Environmental Science & Engineering Publications Inc. An all Canadian publication, ES&E provides authoritative editorial coverage of Canada’s municipal and industrial environmental control systems and drinking water treatment and distribution.

Readers include consulting engineers, industrial plant managers and engineers, key municipal, provincial and federal environmental officials, water and wastewater plant operators and contractors.

Information contained in ES&E has been compiled from sources believed to be correct.

ES&E cannot be responsible for the accuracy of articles or other editorial matter. Articles in this magazine are intended to provide information rather than give legal or other professional advice.

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FEATURES 6 8 10 14 19 20 24 25 26 30 32 34 38 39 40 42 44 46

Dinner with Prince Philip’s private detective in 1967 changed my career ECO Canada releases report on the financial compensation of environmental workers Stormwater funding gap increasingly in the spotlight Advanced biological filtration provides a multi-barrier approach to complex contaminant removal Selkirk’s new WWTP equipped to serve double current population Florida cyberattack raises public awareness of threats to water plants Saskatchewan city links recent sewer clogs to flushed masks Filtration milestone reached for Northwest Territories water treatment plants Pipeline design provides stormwater runoff control to protect West Vancouver neighbourhood Testing an oxygenation system at a sewage lift station for odour control Automated wastewater treatment systems help with compliance and reduce costs Cambridge’s Hespeler WWTP adopts membrane aerated biofilm reactor technology B.C. cities get funding for wastewater heat recovery systems Optimizing Kelowna’s water system improves coverage and multi-use Understanding the testing requirements under Ontario’s new excess soil regulation Accelerating digital transformation in the water industry to improve efficiency $90M in funding could jumpstart water work for 37 Ontario First Nation communities Digital twins equip utilities to proactively manage and improve water systems

DEPARTMENTS

48 Product Showcase 51 Environmental News 51 Professional Cards 54 Ad Index Cover photo by De Nora

www.esemag.com @ESEMAG 4 | April 2021

Environmental Science and Engineering Magazine

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REFLECTIONS

Dinner with Prince Philip’s private detective in 1967 changed my career

By Tom Davey

Editor’s note: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh passed away on April 9th just two months shy of his 100th birthday. A dynamic figure, he touched the lives of thousands of individuals during 70 plus years as Royal Consort to Queen Elizabeth. ES&E Magazine’s late co-founder Tom Davey was one of these individuals. The article below, was first written when Tom was a newspaper reporter for The Scarborough Mirror. Shortly afterwards, he was offered the position of editor of Canada’s oldest environmental journal, Water & Pollution Control. Later, he became Science Editor at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Environmental Studies. I can only wonder if my father had not met Prince Philip all those years ago, would he and I ever have launched ES&E Magazine?

I was asked if I would exchange seats with another man. I hesitated. My vantage point was ideal for reporting the event.

He persisted: “It’s for the Duke’s personal detective, Inspector Thorning of Scotland Yard.” I moved!

Inspector Thorning sat down beside me. He had been the Duke of Edinburgh’s detective for five years and parried the obvious questions from other guests skillfully. Yes, he travelled all over the world with the Prince. Yes, he had been to Australia, and the Middle East. And the Far East. And South America. And yes, the Duke really was deeply interested in conservation.

A guest asked him about the chances of meeting with the Prince in London, to discuss conservation. The inspector Steve Davey replied with the speculative steve@esemag.com detachment of a scientist considering an equation. “It hotographers trod warily; is not entirely impossible,” he Prince Philip was in town. conceded, “but extremely difHis Royal Highness was ficult. You’ll have to write to in Toronto to address his personal secretary.” a 1967 Canadian Audubon Suddenly, the guests rose Society banquet. His topic? as the Prince wound his way Conservation. Prince Philip In 2010, Tom Davey was presented with the first annual Geoffrey to the head table, standing is deeply interested in the T.G. Scott Memorial Award, by Gail Scott, on behalf of the Water as ‘The Queen’ was played. preservation of all species Environment Association of Ontario, in recognition of “his outstanding A brief grace, a toast to Her except photographers. Only leadership and inspiration in the water environment industry.”

Majesty, then dinner. recently he had cleansed the With dinner concluded, the sins of the English paparazzi by drenching them with a garden Duke was welcomed by Dr. William Swinton, University of hose. Cameramen fingered their equipment nervously as they Toronto’s Centennial Professor. Dr. Swinton warmed up the waited in the plush corridors. audience with a witty address. He said Prince Philip belonged The Prince arrived almost unobtrusively and I knocked on to the fraternity of the sea. “He is a sailor prince, a sailor adthe door to ask when photographs could be taken. An English venturer, a sailor naturalist. He is also the best after-dinner aide opened it a bare inch and peered at me as if it were the speaker in London.” The crowd loved his repartee, but surely, prohibition era. I felt like saying “Lou sent me.” Primly he this was a hard act for the Prince to follow. announced: “The press are not allowed here.” But the Royal Smiling, the Prince rose. “Flattery, as Disraeli once noted,” Canadian Mounted Police had the job in hand. From nowhere, he said, “is always effective. But with Royalty, you lay it on with an RCMP sergeant appeared. He explained when photographs a trowel.” The crowd roared. Then with a sly quip at the menu, could be taken and threw in a few tips on the best locations. he observed that the Rock Cornish Hen might soon need proGreat cop. Super PR. tection, if the Audubon Society held any more dinners.

Then it was dinnertime. The huge doors of the ballroom This was regal entertainment. The audience was now his. opened and a thousand guests flowed in. The Audubon Society Like an artist, he began to manipulate the collective psyche had given me a place at table number one, just below the like so much sculpting of clay. First he wooed his audience, head table. A tremendous sense of anticipation pervaded the then he lectured them. There was none of the platitudinous ballroom. continued on page 8

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Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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WORKFORCE

ECO Canada releases report on financial compensation of environmental workers

A

ccording to ECO Canada’s latest labour market outlook, employers will need to hire approximately 172,700 new environmental workers by 2025 due to sector growth and retirement. This represents nearly 25% of 2020 environmental employment levels (about 620,100). Around 74,400 of these will be new green jobs resulting from sector growth.

Employers across Canada are competing to find the most qualified candidates with appropriate skills, knowledge, and qualities to support sustainable growth for their business. The ECO Canada report, "From Recession to Recovery: Environmental Workforce Needs, Trends and Challenges", shows that environmental workers have a range of transferrable skills that would lead to job success in several industries.

With increased opportunities for employees, compensation becomes a key motivator for whether to stay with an organization or choose one position over another. For employers, this means competitive compensation can be key to attracting employees.

A key insight found in the Compensation Guide is that five environmental professions had median annual salaries higher than the national average of $60,000.

PLANNING FOR GROWTH The ECO Canada 2020 Compensation Guide is a comprehensive report on the compensation of environmental workers, with data and responses

Dinner with Prince Philip’s private detective in 1967 changed my career Continued from page 6

“our two great countries” stuff nor shying away from controversial issues.

“If we could comprehend the problems of birth control,” he said, “more of the starving millions might be fed " - a warning that the total farming of all lands would not feed the under-developed nations. “We can, if we wish, convert the jungles of the world into productive land. We have the capability to cover the landscape with concrete for our automobiles. But I would like to see a stabilized world population so there would be no further demands on world resources.”

“I would also like to see all land users show a reasonable concern for unnecessary disturbance of wildlife. We cannot do this until people become aware of the problems. The Audubon Society has a splendid record in this,” he said. “The long-term 8 | April 2021

from over 3,200 employers and workers, insight into over 8,000 environmental roles, and is available to assist employers in determining staffing and hiring compensation packages based on current

effect might be pointed out to planners and engineers. After all, they are not unintelligent people. Conservation is a special case.

It is now or never.”

Now deadly serious, the Prince concluded thoughtfully: “If we don’t get the answers right now, there won’t be a second chance. We will go down in history for our neglect. I, for one, do not relish the idea of my grandchildren asking me, ‘what went wrong?’”

As the Prince sat down, the crowd rose to a standing ovation.

In classic tradition, he had left his audience more thoughtful, better informed, and wanting a little more. Truly a regal environmental performance from an erudite, articulate performer a Prince of a Man, in fact.

On reflection, the Prince’s comments on birth control were especially courageous for a royal visitor in 1967. Not too long before his visit, Canadians had been prosecuted and fined for promulgating birth control techniques. His views on conservation too were years ahead of their time, being expressed long before the environmental movements emerged. Greenpeace, for example, was formed in British Columbia some three years after the Prince’s speech in Toronto.

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

market rates.

The guide makes the types of robust compensation strategies required to support the acquisition of qualified workers clearer. It also offers an insight into the types of HR solutions such as training, and certification offered by others, that can help employers reduce skills gaps arising from the high levels of retirement expected. Workforce attraction, retention and development strategies could help sustain an adequate supply of green talent to meet forecast job growth in the years to come.

Among the most common professional development opportunities for environmental workers are technical skills upgrading, occupational health and safety training, project management training, and up-to-date training on new technologies in the sector and how to apply those technologies to the job.

The guide identified more than 400 unique job titles. One of the key insights found in the Compensation Guide is that five professions in the environmental workforce had median annual salaries higher than the national average ($60,000): • Engineers ($76,000) • Business and Operations Occupations ($65,000) • Planning and Design Occupations ($65,000) • Parks, Enforcement and Wildlife Conservation Occupations ($65,000)

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• Environmental Generalists ($63,000) In combination with current hiring trends and predicted employment needs over the next decade, this benchmarking data can help employers evaluate their compensation plans and address how to meet current and forecasted recruitment and retention challenges.

rity, while also creating economic value (and more jobs as a result). There is also a need to increase the quality of data used for decision making, and to properly educate the sector on sustainability guidelines, setting targets and action plans for meeting them.

As a leader in labour market research, ECO Canada offers a clearer picture of A POST-PANDEMIC FUTURE the work carried out in the environAs Canada begins to plan for a mental sector through detailed career post-pandemic future, and governments profiles and labour market research. In identify the environmental sector as an identifying gaps and opportunities in area of economic growth, companies environmental industries, their research must prepare for the upcoming increase helps to promote economic growth of environmental-related jobs across the overall as every economic sector can country. ECO Canada’s compensation benefit from the contributions of envidata helps employers prepare for this ronmental workers. growth and plan for the human capital The environmental sector is the fastest investment required in both the short growing employment sector in Canada. and long term.

Its workers help to support the goals In dealing with both a global pandemic of environmental protection, resource and climate change, Canada’s economy management, sustainability and Canais undergoing major threats. There has da’s post-pandemic economic recovery. been an increase in sectors making sus- It is now more important than ever to tainable shifts towards renewable ener- develop proper training and resources gies which requires a robust and skilled to support this market and Canada’s workforce. This presents a unique chal- post-pandemic recovery. lenge and opportunity for Canada, its Visit www.eco.ca to learn more about workers, climate and economy. the 2020 Compensation Guide.

Businesses increasing their sustainability efforts will require some additional considerations, however. Key decision makers within a business need to be open to strategic advice on matters that protect environmental integ-

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April 2021 | 9

STORMWATER

Stormwater Funding Gap Increasingly in the Spotlight

By David Nesseth

A

n $8.5-billion annual funding gap was recently identified for stormwater infrastructure in U.S. cities, but challenges in Canada also persist, as well as an array of green funding opportunities and innovative municipal projects that are keeping stormwater at bay in Canada.

The U.S. data raising the volume on the Canadian stormwater conversation is based on the Water Environment Federation’s (WEF) latest survey of some 800 water systems in 47 states. WEF President Lynn Broaddus described stormwater infrastructure as in “desperate need of increased and sustained investment.”

Jurisdictions across Canada, too, are experiencing longer and more intense precipitation events as a result of climate change. This has highlighted capacity issues in stormwater infrastructure that go above and beyond the need to rehabilitate existing assets. Stormwater, or urban runoff, has become one of the most significant pollution threats in the eyes of some environmental experts. In the Lake Simcoe watershed in Ontario, for instance, more than 30% of phosphorus loadings to the lake are now identified as coming from urban stormwater sources.

Now, the Canadian government is getting work underway for its firstever national infrastructure assessment.

In March, it launched an engagement paper called “Building the Canada We Want in 2050” that will pave the way to establishing a long-term vision for Canada’s infrastructure, improving coordination among infrastructure owners and funders, and determining the best ways to fund and finance infrastructure.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the greatest recession since the Great Depression and we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build the Canada we want as we invest in our recovery,” announced Catherine McKenna, Minis10 | April 2021

Spring flooding in Quebec in 2019. The Canadian government is getting work underway for its first-ever national infrastructure assessment. In March, it launched an engagement paper called “Building the Canada We Want in 2050” that will pave the way forward for establishing a long-term vision for Canada’s infrastructure. Credit: Genevieve/AdobeStock

ter of Infrastructure and Communities.

“But we will not achieve our ambition by accident. Working with Canadians, using the best available data and guided by global best practices, we can guide our infrastructure spending to chart a strong path to 2050, creating good jobs, tackling climate change, and building cleaner, more inclusive communities.

Working together, this project can be nation-building.”

In the meantime, while the new national data is collected, more and more Canadian cities are empowering and protecting themselves through new municipal stormwater programs. In the nation’s capital, for instance, high-risk Ottawa neighbourhoods may soon have access to $5,000 per household for work like redirecting downspouts, establishing rain gardens and soak-away pits, as well as installing permeable driveways.

But it may be in the U.S. where the

word “stormwater” and its critical purpose are becoming more familiar to the ears of the general public. Bringing stormwater into even greater focus may be because the American Society of Civil Engineers recently added it as a category for the first time on its widely-read infrastructure report card, where it earned the unenviable grade of “D”.

The Canadian equivalent of that U.S. report is published bi-annually under the banner of the Canadian Infrastructure Report Card. It’s a joint project under the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and includes partners such as the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.

While the newest version of the Canadian report card may be available later in 2021, the 2019 report found that about 20% of linear and non-linear stormwater assets are showing signs of deterioration continued overleaf…

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

STORMWATER and deficiencies across Canada. Some 40% – 60% of Canadian stormwater infrastructure is in “good” or “very good” condition, but the status of a large portion of stormwater assets is unknown because, historically, collecting data about their condition was considered a low priority.

While U.S. water agencies are now using this new survey data to step up calls on Congress to address shortfalls in stormwater funding, in Canada, the funding picture has been primarily painted through the Gas Tax Fund and the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, in particular, the Green Infrastructure Stream and the Rural and Northern Communities Infrastructure Stream.

Larger projects have also been eligible for funding through the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund. Budget 2016 included dedicated funding for water infrastructure over two years through the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund.

Under the Green Municipal Fund (GMF), FCM has been actively supporting Canadian municipalities’ ability to upgrade stormwater infrastructure. As a $1.65-billion program, it offers a unique mix of training, resources and funding that supports local innovation that can be replicated and scaled up across the country to tackle Canada’s climate challenges.

“For the past 20 years, GMF has funded plans, studies, pilots and capital projects in the energy, land use, transportation, waste and water sectors,” an FCM

A snapshot of Green Municipal Fund stormwater projects under the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Pilot project: City of Kitchener: Using permeable paving and bioswales to protect wetlands in the Huron natural areas Pilot project: City of Brampton: Two low impact development pilot projects to manage stormwater runoff in Brampton Pilot project: Town of Collingwood: Collingwood stormwater technology pilot Pilot project: Regional County Municipality of Brome-Missisquoi: Ecological parking in the MRC of Brome-Missisquoi Capital project: City of Granby: Stormwater management – Saint-André East Capital project: Town of Wainwright: Wainwright siphon-assisted and green power stormwater management project

spokesperson told Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine in a statement.

Early into 2021, a number of notable stormwater projects are already underway in Canada. Significant funding was recently announced for the rehabilitation of the Weigel Stormwater Management Drain in Woolwich, Ontario. The project includes replacing 11 culverts and a degrading headwall and wingwalls, installing erosion protection, and removing sediment from a stormwater pond.

Also, in Saint John, New Brunswick, officials have secured funding to upgrade and separate a portion of the city’s aging combined sewer system, part of which

dates back to 1872. Alberta, too, continues work on the next stage of its massive Malloy Drain implementation project, aimed at combating overland flooding and stormwater capacity that has damaged the area over the last two decades.

David Nesseth is a writer for ES&E Magazine. Email: editor@esemag.com

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Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

OGS - THE “O” IS NOT SILENT THE SOLUTION One of the biggest threats to Canada’s water supply is surface runoff contamination with free oils.

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WATER Studies have shown that the contaminants present in water, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can impair development, fertility, and reproductive function in non-human mammals, humans and aquatic wildlife.

Another chemical of particular concern, 1,4-dioxane was popular as a reagent, a stabilizer for chlorinated solvents for metal degreasing, to purify pharmaceutical ingredients and to make the small pores in membranes. While 1,4-dioxane doesn’t easily biodegrade in the environment, it dissolves completely in water, even at high concentrations, making it very difficult to remove once it has entered the water system.

Micropollutants, including pharmaceuticals, EDCs and 1,4-dioxane are not easily treated by traditional methods.

Treatment options for these contaminants include advanced oxidation process (AOP) used in conjunction with ultraviolet disinfection, ozonation, or peroxide.

Other options, such as granular active carbon (GAC) filtration and membranes, can be less effective or require heavy maintenance, and membranes and other technologies concentrate micropollutants but do not actually destroy or oxidize them. These processes are conducted downstream during a wastewater polishing step.

Many municipalities are searching for new ways to effectively meet the challenge of treating contaminants of emerging concern, including DE NORA TETRA ABF bioactive filters.

Advanced biological filtration provides multi-barrier approach to complex contaminant removal

By Alex Bettinardi and Stanley Shmia

E

merging contaminants, or contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), include a variety of chemicals, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care and household cleaning products.

They enter the environment constantly, a result of the tens of thousands of chemical-based products people use every day.

While the traditional mindset was “dilution is the solution to pollution,” we now know that this is not true. As CECs have made their way into rivers and streams, tests show there are measurable quantities of these contaminants in the water and in the aquatic ecosystem.

These contaminants can impact aquatic life and, as they accumulate in the food web, they put non-aquatic species at risk when they eat contaminated fish.

There are serious concerns about the health risks to terrestrial organisms, including humans. The risk to human health is still uncertain, but includes 14 | April 2021

endocrine-disrupting activity and other toxic mechanisms, some of which are recognized as carcinogens by environmental agencies.

Traditional treatment plants were not designed to remove these modern organic and synthetic contaminants. Recognizing this, many municipalities are searching for new ways to effectively meet the challenge. The first step is understanding the nature of these contaminants.

MICROPOLLUTANTS AND ENDOCRINE-DISRUPTING COMPOUNDS Pharmaceuticals mainly reach the water supply through the discharge of effluent from urban wastewater treatment plants. Traditional wastewater treatment plants collect the wastewater and remove pollutants. However, persistent micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals remain in the effluent.

CYANOBACTERIA AND TASTE‑ANDODOUR COMPOUNDS Cyanobacteria, commonly called “blue-green algae,” occur naturally in aquatic ecosystems. They are an important part of the food web and are eaten by simple organisms and some fish. Some types of cyanobacteria can produce toxins called cyanotoxins, which can be harmful to humans and animals.

More typically, they produce an unpleasant earthy or musty taste-andodour compound, such as geosmin and methyl-isoborneol (MIB), in surface water.

While these are not toxic, they can cause aesthetic issues in finished drinking water.

Treatment options include chlorine disinfection, especially chlorine dioxide.

In wastewater, a flocculation/flotation dissolved air flotation (DAF) unit combined with chlorine for DAF can be used downstream. continued overleaf…

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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WATER TOTAL ORGANIC COMPOUNDS AND DISINFECTION BYPRODUCTS While chlorine disinfection to treat water for drinking was one of the most meaningful public health successes of the 1900s, the reaction between chlorine elements and organic or inorganic matter in source water can form compounds called disinfection byproducts (DBPs). The organic matter in source water that can react with chlorine is measured as total organic compounds (TOC). DBPs are a serious human health concern because of the associated increased risk of cancer development and adverse reproductive effects. For this reason, some DBPs are regulated, including trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), chlorite and bromate.

DBPs are the result of traditional treatment methods. To decrease the chance of public exposure to dangerous DBPs, water utilities may change upstream treatment methods and focus on identifying and reducing organic carbon prior to disinfection.

Conventional treatments include coagulation and sedimentation or variations, such as dissolved aerated filtration; adsorption clarification; ozonation used in conjunction with GAC in the adsorption phase, where suitable; and membrane filtration in the ultrafiltration and nanofiltration range. Using other oxidants, such as peroxide, either before chlorine disinfection or as an alternative, is another way utilities address DBP concerns.

tity of biodiesel, primarily from used frying oils sourced from Italy, France, Spain and Holland. They also make distilled fatty acids, glycerin and vegetable olein as byproducts of the biodiesel process.

Their original wastewater treatment system included physical-chemical processes, activated sludge (oxygen based), and GAC, but their growing business was placing stress on their wastewater treatment facilities. They were faced with a higher recalcitrant COD (chemiOZONE FOR TACKLING cal oxygen demand) after the biological MICROPOLLUTANTS stage, with a significant increase in GAC Ozone has long been used to oxidize consumption. The discharge COD target a wide variety of pollutants in water, was 250 ppm. wastewater and industrial applications.

The company investigated multiple A powerful oxidant with a fast reaction technologies to reduce their GAC contime, no added chemicals, and reduced sumption, including ultrafiltration, but formation of DBPs, it is an appealing the high level of membrane mainteoption for water and wastewater treat- nance required to reduce fouling made ment and is used as part of an advanced it an expensive and labour-intensive oxidation process to address emerging option. They needed a more economical contaminants. option to reduce GAC consumption.

For example, an Italian company De Nora was selected to pilot a 30 g/h based near Rome produces a large quan- ozone generator fed with liquid oxygen. Experiments were performed with ozone alone and with ozone/peroxide.

Results showed that ozone/peroxide was a faster treatment option than ozone alone. This was not surprising since molecular ozone is a slower-reacting agent than the hydroxyl radical formed in the ozone/peroxide reaction.

Final design of the system required a 17 kg/h ozone generator as a containerized package, and ozone water mixing is achieved with a double-stage, sidestream pump injection system. A small amount of the ozone, about 0.5 kg/h, is used for sludge reduction.

The system has been running successfully, ensuring COD levels below the discharge limit and improving biological process performance through the partial sludge oxidation process.

Due to the short water cycle, the population density in specific areas, and heavy presence of pharmaceutical industries, Switzerland has a micropollutant issue.

At a 98 LPM water treatment plant in St. Blaise, Switzerland, where diclofenac, estrogens, antibiotics and other compounds were found in the water supply, the TOC averaged 8 ppm. De Nora continued overleaf…

16 | April 2021

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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WATER installed a pilot ozone generator unit with a capacity of 2.7 kilograms per day and an ozone concentration of 10% wt.

The contact time was up to 10 minutes (5 + 5 @ 6 m3/h). Ozone was very effective against all the micropollutants analyzed, including atenolol, atenololsaure, benzotriazol, carbamazepine, clarithomycin, diclophenac, gebapentin, hydrochlorothiazid, levetriazepam, mefenamisnaure, methyl-benzotriazo, trimetoprim, sulfamethoxazol, valsartan, and venlafaxin. Doubling the contact time made minimal difference in effectiveness.

of ozone to partially oxidize and break down the long-chain recalcitrant carbon into smaller biodegradable organic compounds.

Smaller-chain organic compounds are then removed in the downstream BAF. This process allows for lower ozone doses, and lower capacity ozone equipment versus conventional ozone-only treatment. This, in turn, may reduce capital costs and energy consumption.

In addition, the ABF process does not require upstream reverse osmosis or ultrafiltration membranes.

The synergy created by combining A MORE EFFECTIVE, MULTI-BARRIER ozone and BAF treatment has proven TREATMENT APPROACH TO CECS effective in removing common DBPs When ozone is combined with a bio- and provides a biologically stable efflulogically active filter (BAF), the result is ent by oxidizing assimilable organic a multi-barrier advanced bioactive filter carbon (AOC) generated by ozonation process that provides several additional alone. This may reduce the risk of downbenefits. stream biofilm growth in the filter.

Instead of the complete oxidation of the targeted organic compounds with ABF USED EFFECTIVELY FOR TOC ozone alone, the DE NORA TETRA REMOVAL AND DBP REDUCTION ABF bioactive filter uses a lower dose In the summer of 2019, owners of a

®

34 MLD water treatment plant commissioned a De Nora pilot to evaluate the use of ozone and biologically active filtration to treat settled surface water.

They were hoping to improve their TOC removal and achieve significant DBP reduction without adversely impacting current water quality performance.

The existing plant had six filters, which had a media depth of 122 cm of anthracite, on top of 30 cm of sand. A containerized ABF pilot was deployed, with ozone generation equipment having a capacity of 76 litres per hour, and two 200-mm diameter biologically active filters with capacity to handle a total flow of 22.8 litres per hour. The system is operated automatically, with remote control and monitoring capability through cellular communication.

Specific objectives for the pilot were to achieve close to a 50% reduction in raw water TOC that could be reliably and consistently achieved with the full combined treatment train throughout the year. In 2017, raw water TOC reached 10 mg/L. With respect to DBP reduction, the pilot goal was to achieve a 25% reduction of the mean total trihalomethanes (TTHM) value and a 25% reduction of haloacetic acid levels.

Additionally, all other regulated parameters would show no significant increase as compared to the plant values of the pilot testing period.

The pilot ran for six months and the ABF effluent averaged 47% greater TTHM removal than current plant performance, exceeding the pilot objective of 25%. Pilot control anthracite had 2.2 times higher effluent TTHM than ABF. The percentage of TOC removal in the ABF pilot relative to raw water decreased by 45%.

Alex Bettinardi and Stanley Shmia are with De Nora. Email: alex.bettinardi@denora.com, stanley.shmia@denora.com, or visit: www.denora.com

18 | April 2021

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

WASTEWATER

Selkirk’s new WWTP equipped to serve double current population

T

he two-year construction of a new $39.5-million wastewater treatment plant will be completed for the Manitoba City of Selkirk this summer, offering the capacity to serve more than double the current population of about 11,000.

The city’s old plant was built in 1976 and does not meet current provincial regulations that require effluent to contain no more than 1 mg/L of phosphorus and 15 mg/L of nitrogen. The new plant, local officials said, will produce “an exceptionally high quality of effluent.”

Selkirk officials announced recently that the new plant’s membrane-bioreactor treatment process will provide environmental protection for Red River and Lake Winnipeg. The plant makes use of two sets of membrane filtration cartridge units, each capable of handling 6 million litres per day for a total of 12 million litres per day.

Local officials said in a statement that they hope the new plant will help to avoid the costly wastewater treatment upgrade woes faced by cities such as Winnipeg and St. Andrews. The City of Winnipeg’s upgrades have a price tag of $1.8 billion and a completion deadline of 2028.

However, the new Selkirk plant will be the most expensive infrastructure project in the city’s 138-year history.

The plant is designed so it can easily be expanded at a very low relative cost, officials said. They have created space for a third set of membrane filtration cartridges that would cost about $1 million and increase capacity by 50%.

“I can speak for my utility team and myself that the new Selkirk wastewater plant is using innovative technology that will open the doors to be able to accept wastewater from other communities to come,” announced Selkirk’s utilities manager, Raven Sharma, in a statement.

Sharma added that her team will be www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

Selkirk’s new wastewater treatment plant will make use of two sets of membrane filtration cartridge units, each capable of handling 6 million litres per day for a total of 12 million litres per day.

Credit: Anugrah Patel

“busy in the next few months commis- shared by the city and the provincial and sioning and fine-tuning the new waste- federal governments. water plant.”

The new plant, which began construction in August 2018, is equally cost-

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INFRASTRUCTURE

Florida cyberattack raises public awareness of threats to water plants An ES&E Special Report

A

cyberattack that nearly poisoned a Florida water plant in February has utility security professionals reassessing their readiness for digital threats. Threats from virtual intruders that go beyond typical IT targets such as compromised customer accounts, and enter the more dangerous realm of sabotaging a plant’s core operations.

Computerized control systems, known as OT (operational technology), are the critical systems for utilities that look after tasks such as monitoring/controlling pro-

As utilities increasingly take advantage of the automation available through modern SCADA technology, they will also need to upgrade their cybersecurity measures to protect their more technologically-advanced systems. Credit: gen_A / AdobeStock

cess equipment, logging key regulatory data, and providing interface screens for operators to make system adjustments.

Most OT systems, unlike IT infrastructure, can never be turned off because they control process equipment and safeguard critical control points.

While considered to be a near miss by many industry professionals, the recent Florida plant attack served as a potent reminder of what can happen when an OT system is compromised.

On February 5, 2021 in Oldmsar, Florida, a hacker compromised a remote

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I N S T R U M E N TAT I O N F O R W AT E R I N D U S T RY

access interface, taking advantage of the plant's OT system to spike sodium hydroxide levels to over 100 times the normal dosing rate. Sodium hydroxide, commonly known as caustic soda (NaOH), in small quantities is an effective pH correction chemical, but in large quantities can be fatal.

Fortunately, it was a near miss. The Florida attack was unsophisticated in nature. A plant operator happened to be in the right place at the right time to notice the process change and was able to shut down the process before the water reached any customers.

CYBERSECURITY RISKS AND PUBLIC PERCEPTION For the public on the outside looking into our utilities, the increasing volume of cyberthreats is worrying. Furthermore, it can be difficult to differentiate between protecting against hacks of a facility’s information focused IT systems versus its operationally focused OT systems.

Many people have read about hacks in the news, such as the recent breach that compromised nearly a million Canada Revenue Agency accounts. These are considered cyberattacks on information technology, or IT, which can affect elements such as websites, data records and email systems.

"The stakes involving cyberattacks on OT, however, are generally much higher than those surrounding IT," says Graham Nasby, a water SCADA and security specialist with the Environmental Services Department of the City of Guelph, Ontario.

This is because OT systems, such as SCADA (the plant’s supervisory control and data acquisition) system, need to function continuously in order to keep process systems working properly. Regardless of the utility type, whether it be water, wastewater, electricity or gas, each will have SCADA systems as part of the OT they depend on.

“The way you deal with cybersecurity for an OT system is completely different than for IT,” says Nasby. “An OT system—you can’t turn it off. OT systems are pumping your water, treating your sewage, producing electricity, delivering gas and controlling infrastructure-critical processes. If a hacker gets into an OT system, critical services the public depends on can be compromised.”

Some parts of OT systems are more vulnerable than others. Many OT experts considered the Florida attack to be relatively unsophisticated because only the user interface was targeted. A more insidious type of attack could have targeted the underlying control system hardware of the SCADA system, which could have done considerably more damage and likely not have been noticed by an operator until it was too late.

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April 2021 | 21

INFRASTRUCTURE However, brushing up on the current best cybersecurity practices can help utilities prepare for what could be more covert attacks in the future.

“The threats and the knowledge of how to best protect systems against them are always evolving,” says Nasby, who sits on several international technical committees that write cybersecurity best practices for control systems.

Of the ongoing debates within the cybersecurity sector, one that continues to challenge utility systems, is how to best secure remote access to systems. Notably, in relation to the Florida hacking incident, a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that just three months earlier, the utility had passed and completed a U.S.-based federally required security assessment. However, it had yet to implement the findings and recommendations from that assessment. Since the attack, the Florida plant’s owners have removed the remote access connection that was the entry point for the intruder.

“Deciding whether to implement remote access to OT systems is a challenging issue to manage,” says Nasby.

While it can be operationally very convenient for the utility (as it avoids operators having to travel to locations with SCADA terminals to make process adjustments), it also exposes the utility to risks, such as those recently demonstrated in the Oldsmar attack. If the decision is made to implement remote access, it is something that has be designed, implemented and monitored very carefully.

"Smaller utilities also face additional challenges. Due to their smaller revenue base, they typically have less resources available to secure remote access. Yet, with their smaller operational teams and often spread-out geographic areas, there can be real operational benefits to having remote access. However, before remote access to OT systems can be considered, how to mitigate security risks has to be very carefully reviewed," says Nasby.

“You need to look at an entire system and ask, ‘how am I only going to allow access to authorized users?’ If they’re able to get in, do we give users keys to the entire castle, or do we restrict them to a certain area? And how do we decide how many layers of security will be

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needed?” asks Nasby.

What this means is that if remote access is being considered, it is something that must be designed into the system.

Current OT cybersecurity best practices require that multiple layers of security be used for protecting these critical systems.

These often include multiple layers of authentication, encryption, multi-factor login accounts, and segmenting the control system network into zones.

Depending on the type of process, this may also include using additional backup controllers (not accessible via the control system network) to provide backup control for critical processes.

Additionally, automated monitoring, change control and backup systems are also needed to continually monitor the system. In a well-designed system, an authorized user would need to pass through numerous gates to gain access, and any access granted would be continually monitored, logged and reviewed.

“Within each layer, you progressively gain more access. There may also be parts of the system that you don’t allow remote access to at all because the risk is too high,” says Nasby.

For any utility, protecting OT systems from cyberattacks is a challenging undertaking. Furthermore, effectively designing and implementing cybersecurity countermeasures is a specialty skillset. It is an area where utilities should not hesitate to bring in specialty service providers to help them secure their systems.

Cybersecurity is also something that must be designed into each system, as each system is unique, based on the particular processes being controlled and the individual utility’s needs. It is not just a case of installing “cybersecurity software” or adding in a “remote access package.”

"In terms of cybersecurity software and monitoring services, it is, unfortunately, still very much the Wild West when it comes to the marketplace," says Nasby.

Many available products and services may appear to be suitable, but fall short when subjected to a close technical evaluation and/or compared against actual operational scenarios.

There is also an important distinction to be made between proactive products and services (to help prevent an attack) versus reactive ones (that would

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

only notify you of a suspected attack but do nothing to prevent it). Many of the products that claim to be a comprehensive solution fall into the latter category.

There are also a lot of false promises out there, so it is important to do your homework when looking at these products and services.

“With that said, there are a number of proven products that can be used to help secure OT systems, but in every case, they have to be deployed with a larger and carefully planned multi-faceted approach. There is no magic bullet,” Nasby cautions.

Every utility situation is different when it comes to cybersecurity, and a lot of it depends on the individual utilities’ needs, size, funding and operational resources.

Some utilities have decided to not offer remote access to their OT systems, as they feel it is not worth the risk. For others, they have invested in building their own private radio, cellular or fibre networks so they don’t have to expose their systems to remote access via the Internet.

Other utilities have chosen to offer remote access via the Internet but they have invested heavily in sophisticated multi-layered protection schemes to ensure that only those authorized to do so can gain access.

For utilities out there that have not yet reviewed their cybersecurity stance, there are fortunately several resources available. There are also a number of spe-

www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

cialty OT-focused cybersecurity service providers that can provide advice and services to help guide utilities as they continually adapt to the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape.

Interestingly, as SCADA systems are added and upgraded—with evermore features and capabilities—sometimes the new functionalities offered by modern SCADA systems can create new cybersecurity risks that must be managed. As more and more smaller utilities take advantage of the automation available through SCADA technology, they will correspondingly also need to upgrade their cybersecurity measures to protect their more technologically-advanced systems.

For example, if a utility were to move from a monitor-only SCADA system to one that does active control, additional cybersecurity protections would be needed. Likewise, if a utility moves from a closed-access SCADA system to one that offers remote access, the corresponding cybersecurity countermeasures to safeguard the remote access vector must also be upgraded.

All of these considerations, and the continually evolving cybersecurity landscape, underscores the need for utilities to ensure they make use of a wellversed OT-focused cybersecurity expert, whether it be via a specialty service provider or in-house SCADA staff, to help guide them when it comes to managing cybersecurity risks. The risks and indus-

try best practices are always changing, so it is important that the most up-todate knowledge, skills and experience are always being used.

Ultimately, there is a direct tie between a utility’s funding model and how well it can manage cybersecurity risks. Managing cybersecurity risks effectively is something that requires ongoing resources, including staff time, funding and technology. Just as the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve, utilities must continually invest in and evolve their cybersecurity countermeasures to keep their OT system online and protected.

Cybersecurity can be challenging as it can be hard to “see” versus physical infrastructure, but it is just as important.

Education and awareness are also part of the puzzle. Fortunately, says Nasby, “there is an ever-growing body of cybersecurity knowledge that can be leveraged by both technical folks and utility managers alike towards the common goal of keeping our critical utilities safe and secure.”

ES&E would like to thank Graham Nasby for his assistance and expertise in writing this article.

For a list of references and links to the mentioned cybersecurity resources and best practices, visit: www.esemag.com/ april-2021-cybersecurity, or email editor@esemag.com.

April 2021 | 23

WASTEWATER

Saskatchewan city links recent sewer clogs to flushed masks

A

s water workers discover more blockages in sewer lines, the Saskatchewan City of Prince Albert has issued an advisory to its 36,000 residents to stop flushing face masks down the toilet.

Geoff Soderberg, Prince Albert’s water and sewer manager, said at least two recent clogs were linked to masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Repairs cost approximately $1,000 this time, but could lead to more extensive damage in the future, he warned.

The illegal flushing of non-biodegradable items, reminded Soderberg, is in contravention of City Bylaw No. 48 of 2015. “Masks cannot be recycled and should only be disposed of in household garbage bins,” the City of Prince Albert stated in a recent advisory.

In some communities, crews are cleaning sewage pumping stations a couple of times a week that previously needed it once a month. Others have either installed, or considered installing, debris grinding pumps to combat the clogs.

Most residents are hesitant to pick up used masks due to risks of virus transmission, so many of the littered items are blown or swept away into storm drains.

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clogs from items such as disposable wet wipes, gloves and other personal protective equipment (PPE).

The PPE litter issue has plagued countries all over the world since the pandemic began. The 2020 Great British Beach Clean in September, for instance, found face masks and gloves on 30% of beaches cleaned by volunteers.

A recent study by the University of Guelph noted that PPE is accumulating in significant levels at grocery store In some communities, crews are cleaning sewage parking lots and in residential neighpumping stations a couple of times a week that bourhoods. previously needed it once a month. Others have “This is a unique item that’s been either installed or considered installing debris introduced into our daily lives and we grinding pumps to combat the clogs. just don’t know how to handle it,” stated City of Prince Albert Dr. Shoshanah Jacobs, a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology, who In Alberta, a group of frustrated Leth- helped conduct the study. bridge residents collected more than As wipes, masks and gloves continue 1,250 littered masks from city streets to clog sewerage systems around the in just a single afternoon earlier this world during the COVID-19 pandemic, month. They delivered the dirty masks researchers at the University of British to the doorsteps of city hall in plastic Columbia’s BioProducts Institute probags as a plea for officials to take more duced one of the first biodegradable N95 direct action on cleanup measures. masks.

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WATER

WTP Filtration milestone reached for Northwest Territories

A

fter decades of simple truck-fill water stations with chlorine disinfection, communities in the Northwest Territories (NWT) reached the milestone achievement of having filtration in all of their water treatment plants.

NWT truck-fill stations did not have the capability to filter drinking water for dirt, metals and other health-impacting substances. But, there are no longer any communities using these trucks.

Since 2001, partnerships between the federal level, NWT and community governments have resulted in 23 upgraded water treatment systems. Sixteen communities have constructed new, modern

water treatment plants, and an additional seven have gone through mid-life retrofits or upgrades to meet current standards.

Communities within NWT have made other strides, too. Now, all 30 NWT water plants are operated by local residents employed by the community.

Twenty-three of the plants now have certified local operators.

Reaching the milestone of eliminating truck-fill stations came following approvals for Wekweètì’s new water plant. “Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) is actively working with the remaining communities to upgrade the certification of their operators and provide additional oversight while these operators are training,” federal officials announced in a statement.

But, the timing of NWT’s milestone announcement coincided with a new report from NWT’s Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, recommending that the Town of Hay River build a new water treatment plant within five years. The plant would cost an esti-

mated $15 million to replace one that is wearing down and not meeting modern standards. Residents of Hay River and nearby communities had spent more than 100 days under boil water advisories last year, often due to turbidity.

The current plant was built to adhere to health regulations from 1986, the report states, at which time Hay River added two filters and chemical coagulants to the facility. A third filter was added in 2004. A modern water plant that uses this type of conventional system would include coagulation and flocculation vessels, the report notes, allowing chemicals to properly mix with raw water prior to filtration.

Additionally, the report notes that the Hay River facility has only one certified operator, with no designated backup. It recommends hiring one to three Class II certified operators to assist with process optimizations. The report further suggests it could cost more to restore the Hay River facility than to replace it.

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STORMWATER

The new pipe system will enable storm level flows to be managed within the Five Creeks area of West Vancouver and will reduce the impact of intense storms in Westmount and West Bay. Credit: ADS

pipeline design provides stormwater runoff control for West Vancouver neighbourhood

By Steve Cooper

T

he first consideration for preventing flooding and erosion from stormwater runoff in an upscale and sustainability-minded community of West Vancouver, British Columbia, was how to protect the environment, especially the five creeks in the area.

InterCAD Services Ltd. found a way to maintain low level flows in the creeks.

This would ensure the environmental benefits of the creeks, while diverting only the excess flows that would occur during heavy rain storms.

“As the downstream neighbourhoods have developed, various pinch points were created,” explained Iain Lowe, 26 | April 2021

InterCAD’s project manager. “So, there was a realization that there was a need to divert water away from the creeks to protect the downstream lands. We devised a system to take about 30,000 litres of water per second out of the creeks and divert it directly to the ocean.”

Once completed, the new system will serve the Pipe, Westmount, Cave, Godman and Turner watersheds by directing creek flow, which would potentially overflow the banks of the creeks and flood the area, into the new pipe. The Five Creeks Stormwater Flood Projection Project was initiated and substantially funded by developer British Pacific Properties

(BPP) in a partnership with West Vancouver as a way to protect the area.

In 2013, the District of West Vancouver prepared an Integrated Stormwater Management Plan (ISMP) to address concerns of overland flooding within the Five Creeks watershed area. The plan would benefit both existing and future neighbourhoods below and above the Upper Levels Highway.

It called for a stormwater pipe to run through the Westmount and West Bay neighbourhoods from the Upper Levels Highway down to the Burrard Inlet at the foot of 31st Street. Intake structures installed within the creeks would divert

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

stormwater from larger, infrequent rain events into the pipe, while retaining base flows within the creeks.

Now, some 2,000 metres of the buried stormwater pipe runs under the roads through the Westmount and West Bay neighbourhoods from north of the Upper Levels Highway down to the Burrard Inlet at the foot of 31st Street. The Main Leg of the storm sewer used 800 metres of 1,500 mm diameter ADS SaniTite HP pipe with fabricated bends, tees and manholes, and 400 metres of 1,800 mm diameter concrete pipe.

Being implemented in stages, the second phase – the East Leg – is scheduled to be completed by early 2022 and will use 1,200 metres of 900 mm to 1,500 mm diameter SaniTite HP pipe. The final phase, the West Leg, will extend the pipe to the northwest to pick up flows from Turner and Godman Creeks.

“While BPP is developing the lands north of the highway, the ISMP recognizes that the construction of the developments will result in negligible increases

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SaniTite HP pipe made it possible to have five-degree bends prefabricated at the ADS plant to accommodate the terrain and to follow the road. Credit: ADS

in runoff in the post-development con- split off, so we essentially end up with dition,” Lowe said. “The way it works is a 50/50 split between the creek and the that all the flows up to a two-year event diversion pipe. The pipeline is designed remain in the creeks, so we don’t touch to function up to a 200-year storm.” any of that water. Any water flowing “We obviously didn’t want to dry out above that two-year level is progressively continued overleaf…

April 2021 | 27

STORMWATER these creeks, and it was important to maintain the environmental benefits of those creeks. Essentially, we removed the large rain events from the creek, which provides protection to the downstream properties and an area of around 500 acres containing numerous homes,” added Lowe.

Maximizing the hydraulic efficiency of the pipe conveying the diverted water was a key in selecting the type of pipe that would be used. Lowe’s plan called for pipe in diameters from 1,500 mm to 1,800 mm to accommodate the volume of runoff. He first considered using all reinforced concrete pipe (RCP). In order to meet the hydraulic design consideration, however, there was a desire for it to be lined, in order to provide protection against abrasion which would add to the cost.

“As we designed the alignment and calculated the hydraulic need for conveying gravity flow runoff down the steep grade from the base of Cypress Mountain all the way to the Pacific, that

It was possible for the contractor to slip the large diameter stormwater pipe under existing utilities.

Credit: InterCAD

led us to thinking about thermoplastic types of pipe,” Lowe explained. “SaniTite only goes up to 1,500 mm diameter. At some points we needed 1,800 mm diameter pipe. So, we couldn’t use it for all the run, but we reached a compromise.”

He added that “the reason we went

with it was because the pipe provides excellent hydraulics, being so smooth on the inside, plus it’s also very durable as well, so it is resistant to operational damage from any sediment that enters the pipe. Our materials selection was acceptable to the District of West Vancouver.”

®

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Design with community in mind

28 | April 2021

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Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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2021-01-21

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Previous to the Five Creeks project, ADS submitted its SaniTite HP polypropylene pipe to the Master Municipal Construction Documents Association, Civil Committee, which unanimously approved it and material, and added the pipe to the Master Municipal Construction Documents (MMCD) list of approved products for use in highway, culvert and other infrastructure projects in British Columbia.

Installation of the new pipeline was done by Complete Utility Contractors Ltd. (Pitt Meadows, B.C.) with a crew of four to seven. “To get through the bedrock, we had two excavators with large hoe ram attachments, but we did have to blast in some areas,” said Adam Matheos, project manager for Complete Utility Contractors. “We laid in the pipe sections concurrently. We excavated and didn’t get too far ahead so the pipe would line up. And because the ADS pipe is lighter than the concrete and comes in longer sections, it definitely made for a quicker installation.”

Matheos added: “There were fewer joints and it was easier to put into the ground and push together. This made it much easier going through residential areas at a pretty significant grade and we were anywhere from three to four metres deep.

Naturally, the bedrock was more challenging but even though this was our first time using the ADS pipe in such large diameters, it was easy to work with and very durable.”

The pipe came from the ADS plant with special five-degree mitres for some sections. “Those five-degree bends were needed for constructing the pipe around and within the existing roads, and for running between existing underground utilities and services,” stated Lowe. “We tried to create smooth circular radius curves or bends, which we achieved using the SaniTite.”

Specific sections of the pipe were fabricated at the ADS plant to include a riser with a ladder inside to act as a manhole.

In addition to the new stormwater management system, the project will also include the relocation of watermains, complete reconstruction of roads and resurfacing, and the addition of sidewalks.

When completed, the project will increase the level of flood protection for homes below the Upper Levels Highway.

Rerouting the excess stormwater will also reduce erosion, help to safeguard residents and property while accomplishing its original goal of protecting the watershed health of the Five Creeks drainage areas.

C

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CM

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Steve Cooper works with Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. For more information, visit: www.adspipe.com

www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

April 2021 | 29

WASTEWATER

Testing an oxygenation system at a sewage lift station for odour control

By Greg Bock

A

nue Water Technologies completed testing of its FORSe2 oxygenation system at a lift station in Alberta. The demonstration was designed to test the effectiveness of the technology for wastewater odour control at the forcemain discharge and to determine the capacity required to provide effective control of corrosion and odour.

SULFIDE CHEMISTRY AND MECHANICS/METHOD OF ACTION Anue Water Technologies’ (AWT) FORSe2 system is designed for the control of corrosion and odour within municipal wastewater treatment systems, by oxidizing sulfur containing organic compounds so that they exist in a form that is no longer malodorous, corrosive or otherwise detrimental to system and environmental health.

These sulfur containing compounds, particularly hydrogen sulfide (H2S), are typically associated with the anaerobic bacteria “slime layer” found in the parts of the system that have low to zero oxygen present at any given time, such as the inner walls of piping.

Oxygen infusion into municipal sewer water will increase dissolved oxygen (DO) levels. Increased DO levels will convert the slime layer into an aerobic layer and eliminate its sulfur production. By impeding and reversing the creation of H2S through oxidation with oxygen (O2), the FORSe2 technology is able to significantly decrease these negative effects.

The test was done at a sewage lift station in Alberta, which serves a 2,155 metre long 200 mm diameter forcemain that has an average flow of 6.9 L/s at ~30 psi. Sewage detention time within the forcemain is about 6.3 hours.

TREATMENT EQUIPMENT USED Anue’s Mobile Demonstration Unit #1 was used for this trial. The unit consists 30 | April 2021

The purpose of testing was to demonstrate that 55 LPM of oxygen could treat or improve wastewater odour control 2,155 metres downstream of the infusing point.

of an air compressor, pressure swing absorption oxygen concentrator, compressed air receiver tank, control valves for oxygen metering, and a forcemain infuser, which was installed into the discharge forcemain.

Supporting instrumentation included a flowmeter, oxygen concentration monitor, solenoid valves and an integral control system.

temperature and dissolved sulfide concentration. In addition to grab samples, an OdaLog was placed in the manhole for the entirety of the demonstration.

There was dissolved oxygen detected even in the samples prior to wastewater treatment. This is a common occurrence at locations with a “waterfall” effect at the forcemain discharge sampling point, as there is at the forcemain discharge manhole.

TREATMENT AND TESTING However, after treatment with the METHODOLOGY FORSe2, a very high residual DO is Treatment of the forcemain occurred maintained through to the end of pipe. at varying rates of oxygen output. Vari- This occurs even with the reduced treatation to output was made to observe the ment level of 40 L/min. Dissolved sulcollection system’s response to various fide was no longer detected with the wastewater treatment levels. The sys- FORSe2 system operating. tem was stopped for two days to observe whether H2S levels would remain low H2S LEVEL without treatment.

The average H2S level at the manhole Samples were taken twice per day downstream before oxygen treatment from a discharge point manhole, was 59 ppm and reached a maximum approximately 2 km downstream. Sam- of 483 ppm. During the first two days ples were analyzed for dissolved oxygen, of treatment (70 LPM), the H2S level Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

dropped to an average of 2.4 ppm, with a peak level at 23 ppm. When treatment was stopped, the H2S average increased slowly during the stoppage period up to 34 ppm (average values).

The system was then restarted, with oxygen addition at 40 LPM. The average H2S level was slowly reduced from 28.7 ppm to 1.17 ppm. This delay effect is very typical when introducing oxygen into a forcemain.

SULFIDE LEVEL Similar to gas phase H2S levels measured in a manhole, sulfide has the same effect when there is a high level of oxygen in the water. In general, if the DO level is above 2 mg/L, the sulfide level will be close to 0 mg/L. The purpose of this wastewater treatment testing was to demonstrate that 55 LPM of oxygen could treat or improve wastewater odour control 2,155 metres downstream of the infusing point. The goal was also to increase the DO level to 2 mg/L at the downstream location.

As is clear from the data gathered, H2S and sulfide levels in the manhole during the treatment are almost eliminated if there is a high level of DO. The initial dose was 70 LPM which was proven to be too much for the flow during the demonstration. The second dosage set at 40 LPM was almost adequate to treat the system, with an average water temperature of 16.7°C.

An Anue oxygen ozone injection system installed at a wastewater treatment facility.

RECOMMENDATION A FORSe2 system with an oxygen output of up to 55 LPM would provide effective wastewater treatment and the desired results at the discharge manhole during all phases of the year. In all but the hottest months, the system will most likely operate at a level well below the maximum output.

The Anue system that best achieves this is a FFM-0-60-M1. This not only ensures additional treatment capacity

for future, unforeseen demands, but also keeps the system from working at full load all the time, limiting both operational and lift station maintenance costs.

Greg Bock is with Anue Water Technologies. Email: gbock@anuewater.com

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April 2021 | 31

WASTEWATER

Automated wastewater treatment systems help with compliance and reduce costs

By Del Williams

I

ndustrial facilities must meet wastewater requirements for effluent, or risk severe fines.

Although the type of industry and specific operational practices determine the type of wastewater generated, most involve suspended solids, heavy metals, organic compounds or a variety of other pollutants.

For many facilities, this means installing a wastewater treatment system that effectively separates the contaminants from the water so it can be legally discharged into sewer systems or even reused.

However, traditional wastewater treatment systems can be complex, often requiring multiple steps, a variety of chemicals and a considerable amount of labour. Even when the process is supposedly automated, too often technicians must still monitor the equipment in person. This usually requires oversight of mixing and separation, adding of chemicals, and other tasks required to keep the process moving. Even then, the water produced can still fall below mandated requirements.

Although paying to have industrial wastewater hauled away is also an option, it is extraordinarily expensive. In contrast, it is much more cost-effective to treat the industrial wastewater at its source, so treated effluent can go into a sewer and treated sludge passes a TCLP (toxicity characteristics leaching procedure) test and can be disposed of as non-hazardous waste at a local landfill.

Fortunately, complying with wastewater regulations has become much easier with more fully automated, wastewater treatment systems. Such systems not only reliably meet regulatory wastewater requirements, but also significantly reduce the cost of treatment, labour and disposal when the proper separating agents are used.

In contrast to labour-intensive multiple step processes, automated wastewa32 | April 2021

An automated wastewater treatment system can eliminate the need to monitor equipment in person while complying with mandated requirements.

ter treatment can help to streamline production, usually with a one-step process, while lowering costs at industrial facilities.

An automated wastewater treatment system can eliminate the need to monitor equipment in person while complying with mandated requirements. Such automated systems separate suspended solids, emulsified oil and heavy metals, and encapsulate the contaminants, producing an easily dewaterable sludge in minutes.

The water is typically then separated using a dewatering table or bag filters before it is discharged into sewer systems or further filtered for reuse as process water.

Other options for dewatering include using a filter press or rotary drum vacuum.

The resulting solids are non-leachable and are considered non-hazardous, so will pass all required testing.

These systems are available as manual batch processors, semi-automatic and automatic, and can be designed as a closed loop system for water reuse or provide a legally dischargeable effluent suitable for the sewer system. A new, fully customized system is not always required.

In many cases, it can be faster and more cost-effective to add to or modify an industrial facility’s current wastewater treatment system when this is feasible.

However, because every wastewater stream is unique to its industry and application, each wastewater treatment

solution must be suited to or specifically tailored to the application.

The first step in evaluating the potential cost savings and effectiveness of a new system is to sample the wastewater to determine its chemical makeup, followed by a full review of local water authority requirements. The volume of wastewater that will be treated is also analyzed, to determine if a batch unit or flow-through system is required. Other considerations include the size restrictions, so the system fits within the facility’s available footprint.

An example of successful automated wastewater treatment involved a large corrugated manufacturer, which processes some 743,000 m2 of corrugated packaging and displays per day. The corrugated manufacturer required more efficient treatment of wastewater that is generated from the washdown of its flexographic printing presses that use various inks in the manufacturing process.

For this, the manufacturer turned to an EconoFlow fully automated wastewater system as well as ClearTreat separating agent from Sabo Industrial Corp.

The system included a high-volume flow-through mix unit, large capacity feed hopper, bag housing for solids removal, self-indexing dewatering table and final polishing vessels. Sensors ensure proper material flow and oper-

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

ation, and onscreen audio-visual alerts indicate if anything requires attention.

However, instead of typical labour-intensive in-person monitoring of equipment to correct a problem, the mix chambers’ motors are controlled electronically by human machine interface (HMI) and can be remotely adjusted, along with the mix motor speed and powder feed by Sabo Industrial.

The industrial wastewater equipment provider can utilize the equipment’s integrated webcams as needed, to view the mixing chambers for flocculant formation, floc structure, colour and water clarity. Remote access also enables viewing alert conditions on the touchscreen and provides the ability to reset the machine, if needed.

be safely and effectively separated out.

Because of the importance of separating agents for wastewater treatment, Sabo Industrial uses a special type of bentonite clay in a line of wastewater treatment chemicals called ClearTreat.

This is formulated to break oil and water emulsion, provide heavy metals removal, and promote flocculation, agglomeration and suspended solids removal.

Bentonite has a large specific surface area with a net negative charge that makes it a particularly effective adsorbent and ion exchange for wastewater treatment applications to remove heavy metals, organic pollutants, nutrients, etc. As such, it is essential to effectively encapsulate the materials. This can usually be achieved in one-step treatment, which lowers process and disposal costs.

SEPARATING AGENTS In the case of a heavy equipment Despite all the advances in automat- dealer, an EconoFlow wastewater treating wastewater treatment equipment, ment system using a bentonite-based any such system requires effective sep- ClearTreat formulation was required to arating agents that agglomerate with the treat wastewater created by equipment solids in the wastewater so the solids can washdowns. The wastewater contained

www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

oil, grease, suspended solids, heavy metals and cleaning agents.

For this application, Sabo Industrial supplied an EconoFlow 38 L/min unit, which included a 24-bag filter tank, a single-stage bag filter housing, final polishing vessels, and a 3,230 litre storage tank for water reuse. The system also has HMI capabilities that allow remote monitoring and adjustment of the equipment as needed. It provides reliable, one-step wastewater treatment, and legally dischargeable or reusable effluent.

Today’s automated systems, along with cost-effective separating agents, can provide manufacturers with an easy, cost-effective alternative so they remain compliant. Although there is a cost to these systems, they do not require much attention and can easily be more economical than paying fines or hauling.

Del Williams is a technical writer.

For more information, email: info@saboindustrial.com, or visit: www.saboindustrial.com

April 2021 | 33

WASTEWATER

Cambridge’s Hespeler WWTP adopts membrane aerated biofilm reactor technology

By Jeff Peeters and Olav Natvik

T

he Hespeler Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Cambridge, Ontario, is one of 13 plants serving the more than 600,000 residents of the Region of Waterloo, one of the fastest growing communities in Canada. To help meet its projected growth, the Region needed to upgrade the Hespeler WWTP. Rated for 9.32 MLD, the major components of the Hespeler WWTP include a raw sewage pumping station, grit channels, extended aeration (EA), chlorination and de-chlorination, as well as sludge storage with trucking for off-site stabilization and disposal.

The first stage of treatment upgrades includes new screening/grit removal, a new secondary clarifier, and converting the plant’s existing sludge storage to enable on-site aerobic digestion. As partner to the Region of Waterloo, engineering consultant Stantec is leading the Hespeler process upgrades.

While the first phase of improvements was underway, the Region of Waterloo became interested in the prospect of a newer technology used for secondary treatment upgrade. With an eye to the future, the Region conducted a parallel study to evaluate the merits of installing membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) technology to “future-proof ” their site and meet imminent ammonia effluent limits.

The study concluded that MABR technology would improve nutrient removal and deliver significant capital cost and process aeration savings. With smaller tanks and a modular design, it would also preserve on-site space and allow future treatment capacity in a compact footprint to be added.

MABR cassette installation.

an activated sludge reactor. A biofilm grows on the MABR media surface, which increases the total biomass inventory in the system, while maintaining the same suspended growth mixed liquor concentration. This enables a treatment plant to do more work in a given bioreactor volume.

The innovation behind MABR is that it employs a gas permeable media to deliver oxygen to the biofilm that is attached to the media surface. Oxygen is delivered through the media by molecular diffusion—without the use of bubbles.

Conventional wastewater treatment is an energy intensive process, with 60% of the energy consumed by blowers to deliver bubbles that provide the oxygen necessary for the biological process. The use of bubbles for oxygen transfer can be MABR OVERVIEW inefficient, with 80% – 90% of the oxyMABR technology can upgrade con- gen delivered by the blowers sometimes ventional activated sludge plants for leaving the system unused. nutrient removal and capacity expanMABR technology delivers oxygen sion by installing MABR cassettes into without bubbles and reduces the energy 34 | April 2021

required for oxygen transfer by up to four times. This feature allows plants that employ MABR to significantly reduce their energy footprint.

The ZeeLung product from SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions is a supported hollow fibre configuration with multiple gas transfer membrane filaments oriented around a structural support that forms a robust cord construction.

Multiple cords are potted into a top and bottom header to create a module and a series of modules are installed in a stainless-steel cassette. This forms the modular building block for an MABR system.

Low-pressure air is delivered to the cassette using typical process aeration blowers. It is distributed down the length of the ZeeLung filament lumens, where oxygen is transferred through the media to satisfy oxygen demand in the biofilm.

The remaining “exhaust” air is collected and used to mix the cassette via a coarse bubble aeration grid that is integral to the cassette. This mixing provides sufficient energy to renew substrate at the biofilm surface and slough off excess biomass to control biofilm thickness.

An additional feature of the MABR process is the ability to do simultaneous nitrification and denitrification. By installing ZeeLung cassettes in the anoxic zone of an activated sludge system, ammonia can be nitrified under aerobic conditions in the biofilm and nitrate can be reduced to nitrogen gas in the anoxic conditions of the suspended biomass around the cassettes. The advantage of this is intensifying nitrogen removal and reducing or eliminating the need for recycle pumping.

MABR STUDY AND FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT During 2017 and 2018, the Region of Waterloo investigated the design considerations, long-term performance, and economic viability of installing MABR technology.

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

A pilot study was carried out to confirm wastewater characteristics, estimate MABR media area requirements for meeting effluent ammonia targets, and calculate oxygen use and electrical efficiency. The study provided data to two major vendors for preparing bid preselection tenders.

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN A conceptual design for the MABR system was developed to ensure that adequate design flexibility was available to enable future MABR integration. The two-phase MABR expansion concept included: • Selecting “finer” 2-mm screens (the plant does not have primary clarifiers).

• Reserving sufficient space for MABR-related tanks and equipment.

MABR fibre construction shows the highly efficient oxygen transfer by • Providing sufficient hydraulic head and interconnections to diffusion of O2 into a biofilm. allow gravity flow.

MABR PROCESS MODELLING The MABR process was modelled to estimate aeration savings against the current configuration (traditional EA operation). As part of the work, a biofilm model representation of MABR was developed to estimate the biological oxygen reductions and basis for electrical savings.

According to the model, process aeration savings greater than 30% are anticipated, compared to EA. Modelling and aeration estimates are shown in Table 1.

Parameter

Units

EA

Plant Loads Average Plant Flow Average cBOD5 Average TKN

m3/d mg/L mg/L

9320 206 42

MABR

Biological Oxygen Demands MABR AOR Aeration Tank AOR Total AOR

kgO2/d 505 CONSTRUCTION COST EVALUATION kgO2/d 2710 1910 To compare the anticipated construction costs of MABR kgO2/d 2710 2415 versus EA, conceptual designs and construction cost estimates were completed for both EA and MABR processes under a Blower Airflows 9.32 MLD continuous nitrification scenario.

Airflow for MABR tanks Nm3/hr 305 The results showed that an MABR design would cost signifiAirflow for aeration tanks cantly less than upgrading with EA, with the estimated capital (AT) Nm3/hr 4510 2935 expenditures for MABR and EA at $6 million and $11 million, Total AT+MABR Airflow Nm3/hr 4510 3240 respectively.

Similar MABR construction cost savings are expected when Blower Power the plant is expanded beyond its current rated 9.32 MLD AT Blower Power kW 74 48 capacity. The majority of the savings under a future expansion MABR Blower Power kW 5 come from the system’s smaller process footprint compared to Total AT+MABR Power kW 74 53 that for an EA expansion.

The results of the MABR study and feasibility assessment Yearly Power use & cost revealed two key cost-saving benefits: Annual power use kWh/yr 648,300 464,300 • An electrical savings of greater than 30% for process aerAnnual power cost ation. The savings are due to the high efficiency bubble-less @$0.14/kWhr $/yrs.

91,000 65,000 oxygen transfer of MABR technology.

• Capital cost savings of approximately 50% compared to a traditional EA design due to the ability to retrofit into smaller Table 1. Comparisons of process aeration and electrical use for EA and MABR. tanks.

DEVELOPING AN MABR DESIGN completed. SUEZ was commissioned to supply all associated Toward the latter part of 2019, the Region of Waterloo MABR equipment, including ZeeLung cassettes, process aersecured funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipal- ation equipment, and instrumentation and controls. The genities’ Green Municipal Fund to support the implementation of eral contractor would construct four concrete MABR tanks MABR technology at the Hespeler WWTP. and install the vendor-associated equipment as part of the In June 2020, a detailed design for the MABR system was continued overleaf… www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

April 2021 | 35

WASTEWATER

Figure 1. MABR process flow diagram.

ongoing construction contract.

For engineering considerations, it was decided to construct new purpose-built tanks, rather than retrofit into existing

tankage. The decision was based on simpler construction staging and commissioning, poor existing tank retrofit characteristics, as well as the opportunity to

“isolate” the MABR from mixed liquor influence and assist its performance testing metrics. A process flow diagram of the MABR system is shown in Figure 1.

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Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

MABR performance requirements drove a design basis for flows and loads as well as final effluent limits. A highlevel nitrogen balance was performed to estimate tank process effluent NH3-N reduction that would be necessary to ensure final effluent limits were maintained. The nitrogen mass balance considered raw sewage loading, biomass assimilation, and final effluent NH3-N limits, and assumed a worst-case scenario with non-nitrifying activated sludge process during winter operation.

Calculations suggest MABR tank process effluent NH3-N must be less than 12 mg/L as monthly average to ensure final effluent NH3-N limits are maintained.

Therefore, MABR tank effluent NH3-N < 12 mg/L as monthly average was specified for all operating conditions.

Design elements of the final MABR system include: • An inlet valve chamber to allow flow control of MABR bypass of raw sewage and/or return activated sludge.

• Influent flow splitter box with jet mixing and nozzles extending into blank cassette spaces.

• Four parallel MABR tanks, each containing nine ZeeLung cassettes and two blank spaces to allow future cassette integration.

• Hydraulic provision to raise cassettes 600 mm should internal cassette MLSS mixing prove inadequate.

• On-line instrumentation (flowmeters & analyzers) to facilitate commissioning, research, testing and confirm MABR performance.

EMBRACING A NEW APPROACH Through their willingness to break with conventional methods and investigate an alternative technology for secondary treatment, the Region of Waterloo was able to fully understand the unique value proposition of incorporating MABR technology at the Hespeler WWTP. The findings of the MABR study and feasibility assessment demonstrated that the upgrade would significantly improve effluent quality while reducing the plant’s energy consumption.

Importantly, the Region of Waterloo’s conceptual design also established that the MABR system could be built and www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

installed at a lower capital cost, both now and when the plant is expanded in the future. Additionally, the compact footprint of the MABR design preserves space at the plant and the modularity of the technology allows the Region to pace its investment at the Hespeler WWTP in terms of meeting future capacity needs.

The MABR system is currently under

construction and will be operational by the end of 2021.

Jeff Peeters is with SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions. Email: jeff.peeters@suez.com Olav Natvik is with Stantec Consulting Ltd. Email: olav.natvik@stantec.com

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April 2021 | 37

WASTEWATER

Vancouver's False Creek inlet. Credit: divampo/AdobeStock

Vancouver and Richmond receive funding for wastewater heat recovery systems

V

ancouver’s successful wastewater heat recovery project in False Creek received a $14-million boost to add more heat recovery capacity to its system.

The Vancouver False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility began operations in 2010 as the first district energy system in North America to draw heat from untreated municipal wastewater.

Once the expansion area is fully built out, the facility could increase its residential, commercial, and institutional space service from the current 5,750,000 ft2 to as much as 22,600,000 ft2, and save 14,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year in the process.

“This is an important investment when it comes to addressing the climate emergency our city is facing,” said Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart. “Nearly 60% of carbon pollution created in Vancouver comes from burning natural gas to heat our buildings and provide hot water,” he added.

According to Brian Crowe, director of water, sewers and district energy for the City of Vancouver, most of the water that comes to the $30-million facility from sources such as laundry, dishwashers, showers and taps, is already warm. Once it reaches the facility it goes through a heat pump that extracts heat from the wastewater. The heat can then 38 | April 2021

be sent to a hot water distribution network for space heating and hot water use in local neighbourhood buildings.

This recycled energy from the facility eliminates more than 60% of the greenhouse gas pollution associated with heating buildings. Vancouver has a goal of generating all of its energy from renewable sources before 2050.

The facility was fully operational in time to provide heating for the Athlete’s Village, as part of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Notably, Pechet & Robb, a Vancouver design studio, and local architect Walter Francl, designed a series of stacks at the heat recovery facility to appease initial controversy over the project. The stacks utilize an LED panel that changes colour visible at night to display the amount of green energy produced.

Crowe refers to the stacks as “local art”.

The City of Vancouver selected Ausenco as the prime consultant on the project. The facility consists of a self-cleaning municipal sewage pump station, raw wastewater screening, sewage/refrigerant heat pump, gas-fired peaking boilers, water pumping, HVAC, electrical, instrumentation and control systems, and an emergency generator.

Additionally, $6.2 million in funding was announced for the City of Richmond’s Oval Village District Energy Utility Sewer Heat Recovery Energy Sys-

tem, on behalf of the Lulu Island Energy Company.

The project involves the design and installation of a sewer heat recovery system for use as the main energy source for the Oval Village District Energy Utility (OVDEU), which is currently operating within Richmond. The project will replace the current system's natural gas boilers with a sewer heat recovery system.

The OVDEU currently services 2.2 million ft2 of space across nine buildings, with a capacity of 15 MW. When complete, around 80% of the area’s energy demand will be met by this system, resulting in an estimated reduction of more than 265,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions over the first 30 years of the project’s life span.

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

WATER

Optimizing Kelowna’s water system improves coverage and multi-use

I

n 2017, the City of Kelowna, British Columbia began the process of separating agricultural and domestic water systems as part of its integrated water supply plan. It calls for an integrated water system that provides the lowest cost, city-wide solution for drinking water, that also maintains agricultural interests.

The first phase of the work involved the design and construction of a new potable water system for water users in southeast Kelowna. The Southeast Kelowna irrigation system would continue to provide water from Hydraulic Creek, but now only to agricultural users and for fire flow in the area.

This would be a major change to the way the system operates, and the city realized that they needed to be able to predict the operation of this new system to prevent any potential issues before the system was fully transitioned.

Associated Engineering Water Engineer, Robyn Casement and Process Mechanical Engineer, Matt Lozie worked with the city to build a new distribution model for the irrigation system, using the Innovyze InfoWater software. The city’s existing geographic information system (GIS) was used to complete infrastructure mapping.

Water demands were created based on allocation data for agricultural users in the area and actual usage data from previous years.

According to Casement, “we verified the model against actual field data to confirm its accuracy with respect to real conditions.”

As the future system usage would differ significantly from historical usage, due to the removal of domestic users from the system, historical data alone was not sufficient for demand projection. Instead, Associated Engineering used the irrigation allotments, based on property size and soil type, to estimate a total instantaneous allocated demand.

Historical data from the system was then used to estimate a maximum day demand for the overall system, from which the established domestic demand was subtracted. As scenarios when every customer is using their irrigation allotment simultaneously do not typically occur, the demands were then scaled and applied to the model nodes.

The scaling factor used to complete this exercise was depen-

dent not only on the historical data versus the water allotments, but also an evaluation of the location of the nodes in the system. Lozie says: “Model nodes at or near system dead ends were assumed to use their full irrigation allotments during maximum day scenarios. The remainder of the demand was distributed across the rest of the system at a reduced scale.”

As the city continues to move forward with its integrated water supply plan, the completed model gives its staff the ability to predict future needs for the system and evaluate options for supplying potential new agricultural users.

The city is also able to evaluate fire capacity and redundancy in the system and identify any areas of the system that may see potential water quality issues due to reduced demands. The model is now being used to complete conceptual design of planned upgrades to improve system performance and provide additional reliability. Casement says: “This work results in a valuable tool that the city can continue to use for years to come.”

For more information, contact Robyn Casement. Email: casementr@ae.ca

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Kelowna’s existing geographic information system was used to complete infrastructure mapping. www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

April 2021 | 39

EXCESS SOIL

Understanding the testing requirements under Ontario’s new excess soil regulation

By Sylvia Rennie

T

he premise of Ontario’s Regulation 406/19 is that soil is a precious and limited resource and, as with any limited resource, excess soil generated from construction and earthmoving projects needs to be properly managed.

PHASED-IN APPROACH The new regulation is being phased in over time, with provisions for grandfathering existing projects.

• January 1, 2021: Reuse rules, including risk-based standards, waste designation and approvals.

• January 1, 2022: Testing, tracking and registration.

• January 1, 2025: Restrictions on landfilling soils.

WHAT IS EXCESS SOIL? Generally, it is all that good material that was sitting nicely on a site, fostering the nutrient cycle and housing lots of healthy organisms, before it had to be removed to make way for something like a condo development. The regulation provides clarity and direction to ensure clean soil does not simply end up in landfills, while at the same time ensuring reuse sites are not receiving waste soil.

This involves risk-based rules related to sampling and testing excess soil to determine the levels of contaminants which may be present, and direction on how that soil can be reused. Not all excess soil is the same, Therefore, the risks associated with reusing it depend a lot on what contaminants are present, as well as the context in which it will be reused.

To accomplish this, O. Reg. 406/19 introduces a new series of soil and leachate quality standards to help determine if excess soil can be used at a reuse site (i.e., is not deemed a waste). Like the brownfield regulation O. Reg. 153/04, the standards are presented in a series of tables 40 | April 2021

and reflect risk factors such as the type of property for the reuse site, as well as the site characteristics such as proximity to a water body, depth of soil, etc.

When dealing with excess soil, the objective is to figure out what is in it, by attempting to sample in a representative fashion and having an accredited lab perform the testing.

LEACHATE ANALYSIS Testing under O. Reg. 406/19 may

require asking the lab to perform leachate analysis. This is a test conducted to simulate the effect of acid rain on the soil. The lab will tumble bulk soil in this fluid and then test it for certain contaminants of interest and report the results.

Those in the waste disposal business will likely be familiar with the concept of leachate analysis. It is used in O. Reg. 558/00 to help profile waste for the purpose of hazardous waste classification.

O. Reg. 406/19 utilizes a slightly difEnvironmental Science & Engineering Magazine

The regulation provides clarity and direction to ensure clean soil does not simply end up in landfills, while at the same time ensuring reuse sites are not receiving waste soil.”

ferent leachate methodology called SPLP (EPA Method 1312). Synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP) methodology is like the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) used under soil destination assessment report and Sylvia Rennie is with Testmark O. Reg. 558/00. However, it utilizes a dif- develop and implement a tracking sys- Laboratories Ltd. Email: ferent leachate fluid meant to simulate tem for the soil (QP is not required). sylvia.rennie@testmark.ca the effect of acid rain leach. It cannot be used to profile waste for the purpose of hazardous waste classification. The regulation grants labs the ability to utilize either TCLP or SPLP leachate for samples submitted prior to January 1, 2022.

Thereafter, the leachate extraction must follow SPLP protocols.

Leachate analysis is not required for small volume projects (i.e., <350 m3), or if the bulk results are less than background standards.

Leachate analysis is required under the following conditions: • If the chemical is identified as a chemical of potential concern (COPC) and has a superscript “a” in the applicable excess soil quality standards table.

• For stormwater management pond samples for any metal or hydride-forming metal that has a superscript “a” in the applicable excess soil quality standards table.

• Sampling frequency is three samples, plus 10% of bulk samples taken.

Prior to removing excess soil from a project area, the project leader, with the involvement of a qualified professional (QP), must prepare an assessment of past uses, prepare and implement a sampling inquiry@wcwc.ca www.wcwc.ca 1-866-515-0550 and analysis plan, prepare a soil characterization report, prepare an excess

Visit our website to view our training schedule and browse the Drinking Water Resource Library.

www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

April 2021 | 41

ASSET MANAGEMENT

Accelerating digital transformation in the water industry to improve efficiency

By Sean King

M

anagement teams at water utilities are finding that a reliance on manual processes driven by paper forms, spreadsheets and legacy systems are hindering operations, while utility managers and IT professionals are also increasingly being asked to do more with less.

Tightening budgets mean smart, effective investments are needed to reduce costs and achieve long-term efficiencies. Meanwhile, aging infrastructure, increasing demand, and new regulatory requirements are pressing utilities into facing the difficult tasks of modernizing infrastructure and digitizing operations at the same time.

Tech-savvy managers understand that centralizing operational data into one unified system can help achieve both goals, while boosting efficiency and improving long-term asset performance.

New technologies have emerged that enable you to lead digital transformation efforts by easily creating, automating, and integrating custom applications to manage your operations without the complex programming that has traditionally been required.

Based on successful real-world digitalization projects, there are considerations every utility manager should make when contemplating the digitization of data collection and reporting.

A custom data management solution allows managers to connect asset management workflows to maintenance and other workflows easily, breaking down information silos.

often lack the flexibility to meet unique requirements and are difficult to integrate with core systems.

As a result, forward-thinking water utility professionals are now creating their own custom data collection apps, using no-code tools.

Advances in no-code development platforms empower administrators to create data collection forms quickly, using pre-configured field types. Once created, these digital forms can be instantly amended with a few clicks DIGITIZE DATA COLLECTION when business processes or regulatory AND VALIDATION WITH requirements change. Digitizing data CUSTOM APPLICATIONS collection with no-code apps eliminates Whether in the lab, field or facil- the reporting delays associated with ity, accurate data collection is essential. outdated processes, while avoiding the Digitizing data capture is the first cru- expense of custom code or the inflexicial step in transforming operations bility of off-the-shelf software. and offers immediate efficiency gains.

Essential features in a data collecMost organizations now understand the tion application include: custom validaneed to replace paper forms and spread- tion rules; formulas and on-device calsheets, as manual data entry can cause culations; photo, audio, and document errors and bottlenecks, which result in upload; offline capabilities; and high-preexpensive delays. Off-the-shelf solutions cision GPS. 42 | April 2021

In addition to streamlining data capture, effective process management applications allow the building of business logic into forms that drive workflows. If an asset is identified as requiring maintenance, additional information needs to be gathered, and this logic is built into the form. Digital data collection provides a better user experience for technicians, while ensuring data is accurate at the source by reducing the opportunity for entry errors or omissions.

MANAGE ACCESS WITH A CENTRALIZED DATABASE Digitizing data collection is a huge step in becoming a more efficient organization. The next step is to ensure you have effective data management in place.

A central relational database offers two key benefits.

Firstly, data is available in real time to anyone who needs it from any connected device. This reduces delays, allowing you and your staff to analyze a situation and make an informed decision quickly.

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

Secondly, the ability to view or enter data is two-way, whether on-site or in the office. Field users can send records to the database and access existing submitted records in real time. SQL database-driven applications also ensure data integrity by reducing the opportunity for data to become lost or duplicated. This is something that frequently occurs when data is siloed or trapped in spreadsheets.

INTEGRATE YOUR WAY TO A UNIFIED DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Significant productivity gains can be achieved by integrating data collection and management applications with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software or SCADA systems. This gives utilities unprecedented insight into their operations, with both real-time and historical data available in one unified system.

For example, many utilities use GIS software to perform data analysis. However, without reliable integrations, data must be manually transitioned between systems, risking valuable information becoming duplicated or corrupted…not to mention the cost in human time and effort.

Integrations allow two-way synchronization between a central database and specialist software used by technicians, operators, and field staff. However, they have traditionally been technically challenging to create and maintain. By using simplified no-code tools to connect core applications into a unified system, delays and errors associated with manual data entry are reduced, while opportunities are created for data visualizations and process automations.

Utility managers can use dashboards to oversee their operations, such as field maintenance and equipment performance, and to visualize supervisory systems.

to oversee their operations, such as field maintenance and equipment performance, and to visualize supervisory systems. Dashboards can also act as a central hub and application interface to assign work orders and review the progress of projects and tasks.

Advanced interactive dashboards feature built-in mapping capabilities and high precision GPS capability to greatly improve the efficiency of maintenance and inspection crews. It is important to ensure any dashboarding solution can also host basemaps from popular GIS providers to allow rendering and viewing of custom map styles tied to structured data from a central database.

REIMAGINE AND AUTOMATE WORKFLOWS Often utilities can settle into workflows that are no longer ideal, or worse, they are unable to re-engineer core IMPROVE REPORTING operational processes due to the rigidity AND ANALYTICS WITH of legacy systems and outdated software.

INTERACTIVE DASHBOARDS This can be overcome by adopting a Once core software is integrated, dash- flexible core business system that allows boards can be configured to improve the managers to update and reconfigure quality of both historical and real-time workflow functionality at will. No-code data analysis. Interactive dashboards app development platforms allow anyprovide intuitive data visualization in one to easily update workflows as needs charts, tables and maps and go further evolve, and allow for the automation of to allow users to act on that operational routine data processing tasks and record data in real time. Any key performance escalations using software robots. indicators that need to be tracked can Ultimately, the most efficient way to be graphically displayed and, if some- run water utility operations is to embrace thing requires action, an operation can a core system that can manage large volbe launched with a click. umes of data and automate routine workUtility managers can use dashboards flows, so that staff is empowered to make

www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

better decisions.

Common workflow automation uses include: • Field crew and facility management.

• Sampling management.

• Proactive and reactive maintenance.

• Compliance and safety management and reporting.

• SCADA management and alarm procedures.

• Industrial internet of things integration.

DESIGN AN ASSET MANAGEMENT HUB The rehabilitation and renewal of equipment and infrastructure represent a major challenge to utilities. It is essential to develop an effective asset management plan, as spiraling maintenance costs can quickly consume available operating budgets.

Effective asset management plans transition organizations from reactive to proactive and facilitate predictive maintenance for efficient capital planning.

However, to do this requires organizations to effectively manage and analyze both real-time and historical data for accurate predictions.

A custom data management solution allows managers to connect asset management workflows to maintenance and other workflows easily, breaking down information silos. By combining digital data collection, custom workflow automations, centralized databases, and integrations with GIS solutions and specialist software, it is possible to use no-code continued overleaf April 2021 | 43

ASSET MANAGEMENT

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

tools and app templates to configure a custom asset management system that meets the specific needs of any utility.

BE STRATEGIC WITH SENSORS The industrial internet of things (IoT) is about connecting the physical and digital worlds to increase efficiencies and reduce costs. With the continuing evolution of SCADA systems and the need to monitor disparate assets, water and wastewater organizations are well placed to benefit from upcoming advances in monitoring automation.

Emerging IoT and edge computing advances present an opportunity to future-proof aging SCADA systems and expand these principles to business processes that were previously not cost-effective (e.g., applying IoT sensors in laboratory settings to monitor the temperature of samples).

The rise of smart water initiatives and automated sensors is helping water utilities to develop better ways of monitoring the status and safety of their water resources. Now, anyone can maximize the return of these investments by integrating sensors into the heart of digital workflows. A combination of sophisticated process automation and other new technologies provides unprecedented real-time insights, offering new opportunities to unify data management systems and deliver more actionable intelligence to data-driven professionals.

In 2015, S. Burnett & Associates Limited was retained by Naicatchewenin First Nation to provide professional engineering services for the detailed design of a new water treatment plant (pictured).

Construction began in April 2020. Credit: S. Burnett and Associates

$90M in funding could jumpstart water work for 37 Ontario First Nation communities

C

anada is investing $69.5 million for clean drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure improvements in 37 First Nation communities across Ontario.

The new funding will also address drinking water pipes, communal drinking water systems, sewage system rehabilitations, wastewater treatment plan CONCLUSION upgrades and replacements, well upgrades, Choosing the right no-code applica- subsurface septic system rehabilitation, tion development tools allows you to stormwater management, and water storeasily combine flexible data collection, age and distribution system upgrades. custom workflow capabilities, centralOntario is also providing more than ized databases, and IoT solutions with $16.9 million for the upgrades, while the specialist software. It is now possible 37 communities are contributing a comto quickly create a custom digital water bined total of $5.8 million toward their data management system and reduce respective projects. reliance on processes driven by paper In response to some $2.6 million forms, spreadsheets, and legacy systems in new funding, Zhiibaahaasing First that hinder operational efficiency and Nation Chief Irene Sagon Kells said that cause costly errors. water distribution and fire protection have “been a dream” for her community Sean King is with Flowfinity Wireless Inc. for some 30 years. Located on an island Email: wastewater@flowfinity.com, or just south of Elliot Lake, residents have visit: www.flowfinity.com been under a boil water advisory since 1991. The new distribution system will help the community eliminate the use of concrete cisterns for water storage.

44 | April 2021

Chief Kells added that the community had to decommission its water treatment plant in 2020 due to high water and structural issues. She said it will hopefully be able to be moved to higher ground with the new funding.

Chief Warren Tabobondung of Wasauksing First Nation, just southwest of Huntsville, said his community is thankful to be able to upgrade its wastewater treatment system under some $2.2 million in new funding. The community is planning to design and build a peatland wastewater system to service all buildings in its core area.

“These existing waste treatment systems, while functional, are extremely outdated and currently occupying much needed space required for community development,” Chief Tabobondung said in a statement.

Other notable upgrades under the new funding include over $2.5 million towards a water and wastewater critical health and safety project for Naicatchewenin First Nation in northwest Ontario.

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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WATER

Digital twins equip utilities to proactively manage and improve water systems

By Jean-Luc Daviau

W

ater systems are perhaps the most essential building block of cities and communities. Yet, in urban environments, much of the water infrastructure is aging rapidly, with leaner operations teams supporting an increasingly dense urban population.

Our water systems need proactive management, preventative maintenance and a future-ready approach to mitigate the trends and challenges that we are facing everywhere.

On a global scale, we’ve arrived at a critical juncture: the world’s water supply is under great pressure from over-exploitation of groundwater, rising demand from industries and growing populations, polluted sources and climate change. Extreme weather events like flooding, fires, storms and earthquakes are just one scenario that we’re seeing more often. However, there are numerous other unprecedented challenges that can put acute strain on water security.

That’s why a key challenge when planning new or refurbished water infrastructure is that of building in resilience. Recent experience with COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of infrastructure’s adaptive capability. Future unanticipated events will surely retest operational resilience to short-term shocks and long-term uncertainties. Shifts in remote-work patterns are also affecting water use and disposal patterns in urban and rural settings.

via the digital twin, which communicates updates in real time.

Figure 1 shows an example of how high-speed sensors and a digital twin model were used to document public reports of short-lived low water pressure and then find specific operational changes to improve the situation for the entire pressure district at a manageable cost over the short and medium term.

Having access to this data right away helps operators and engineers make more timely and better-informed decisions when it comes to maintenance, optimizing operations, conducting repairs and responding to issues. It also helps the experts consider the entire water supply system when they plan upgrades, assess the best way to repair or improve the system and respond to unusual situations.

Using a digital twin over a water supply network also offers the opportunity to train people to work with the system in the most effective way, testing measures and solutions in the model before committing them to reality. Digital twins help water utility operators: • Test new equipment or control sequences virtually, without risk to realworld operations.

• Quickly determine possible solutions before going to the site physically.

IMPROVED DECISION MAKING • Collaborate across engineering, planWhen citizens report watermain ning and operations for better and faster breaks, local flooding or sewage over- decisions (leveraged by outside consultflows and/or odours, gathering the facts ing, contracting and test services).

DIGITAL SOLUTIONS and local specifics cannot take too long. • Train to work with the system in the Fortunately, as technology has advanced, Follow-up monitoring or computer most effective and safe way possible: comso have digital solutions that can help us modelling is likewise a best practice to pile and display the valuable data they build more sustainable water systems and document the effectiveness of the inter- collect for optimal system performance; water management. Smaller, affordable vention. This illustrates the fact that max- and visualize and animate time-depenand web-enabled sensors are enabling a imizing a digital twin’s potential means dent operations, such as reservoir cycling greater amount of data to be collected and much more than just an asset snapshot or transient pressure travel. connected to computer archives and even that is frozen in time. Digital twins are • Predict the future using data analytmodels, such as digital twins. a smart solution that receive timely data ics and computer model simulations for Digital technologies are advancing from the assets, so operators aren’t just planning (what-if scenarios), to respond the development of sustainable water looking at a static model image. They are intelligently to pipe breaks and to hansystems, and data-driven solutions facil- actually gathering data from the assets dle crises (resilience).

46 | April 2021

itate efficient management of operations, prevention of problems and quick response to issues. This includes the ability to quickly simulate a response to most events prior to committing staff and resources in the real world.

One of the most leading-edge digital solutions today is the use of digital twinning for water systems. A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical asset that incorporates real-time data while it operates. It provides an integrated visualization of previously siloed information, and enables the use of modern digital analysis techniques, such as condition-based monitoring and predictive analysis. This can help plan for the continued functioning of infrastructure. Such tools are accessible to all, in the field and the office.

By supporting effective data management and utilizing real-time data to create a shared holistic perspective of water assets, digital twins help optimize processes through informed and timely decision making. Many water utilities are making use of them to help manage their water-supply operations and improve system performance. They are a crucial tool in helping to run water systems more efficiently, minimizing waste and maximizing water supplies for communities.

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

Figure 1. Short-lived low water pressure and specific operational changes to improve the situation for the entire pressure district.

The nuclear power and mining sectors have used “simulators” to train staff for decades and this approach is increasingly being used in transportation and infrastructure. Because the digital twin can display real-world measurements with corresponding simulation results, utility staff can develop a high degree of confidence in the tool.

generate a list of customers whose water supply will be affected.

If a transient model capability is available to the “faster” digital twin, the closure speed or sequence for these same valves can minimize water hammer risk and avoid more breaks. This is also a consideration for hydrant operations by firefighters. Each hydrant could be assigned a “fastest safe closure speed” FASTER DATA category before any fire, akin to the curThe technology used in digital twins rent NFPA colour code that indicates its is advancing rapidly, and newer ones flow rate category. can provide even faster data than before.

Water networks are a heterogeneous Some digital twins are designed to pre- fabric of pipes that have “folds” due to dict changes gradually over time, whether land topography, “cuts” due to rail or monthly or yearly. Faster digital twins highway corridors, and “strings” that link can predict changes in the network nearly distant parts via tunnels or transmission instantaneously. This capability becomes mains. Disturbing any point of the netcritically important when it comes to work’s topography affects the entire systime-sensitive or emergent issues that tem in ways that are hard to predict. That require responses in hours or minutes. is why digital twins are needed to coorMany emergency scenarios, such as dinate the many sensors and analytical power failures, can be predicted ahead capabilities for diverse staff. of time. But the same is not true of the best way to respond to a pipe break, or A BIG-PICTURE APPROACH fire, that can occur anywhere in the netFar from being just a momentary snapwork. When that scenario occurs, hav- shot of the water system, digital twins ing “fast data” from the digital twin is enable a big-picture approach to planinvaluable to help operators isolate the ning and making decisions, both in the break by closing specific isolation valves long and short term. Ultimately, we will to enable the repair to start. It can also be able to predict long-term, cumulative www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

wear-and-tear, using water systems’ digital twins, and plan preventative maintenance and upgrades well ahead of time.

We can also use digital twins’ increasingly rapid data collection to optimize day-to-day water network operations, and respond more effectively to emergency events or unforeseen issues.

A digital twin can help optimize pump schedules and material and energy use related to pipe repair or upgrades. In turn, these enhanced choices reduce costs as well as the utility’s carbon footprint, creating a greener and more sustainable operation. This approach is compatible with building reuse methods that use digital scans and 3D design tools such as BIM (building information modelling) to maximize performance within the same footprint, increasing efficiency while reducing the overall carbon footprint.

Jean-Luc Daviau is with WSP Canada.

Email: daviau.jean-luc@wsp.com To read more about digital twins in water management, read WSP’s recentlypublished whitepaper: www.wsp.com/ en-CA/insights/digital-twin-youressential-partner-in-water-management

April 2021 | 47

PRODUCT & SERVICE SHOWCASE

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

The new Ecobloc SMARTseries of stormwater infiltration modules replaces Maxx & Inspect Flex with superior performance (96% efficiency). It offers ultradeep installation, up to 7.5m burial; vehicle loading up to 60t (HS-25 loading); enhanced access for cleanout/inspection – every row is inspectable; and, improved logistics (up to 10 – 15% more blocks per container). Can handle heavy loads, such as crane operation areas and special applications, such as container terminals, heavy machine operating yards, etc.

BARR Plastics T: 800-665-4499 E: info@barrplastics.com W: www.barrplastics.com

DIAPHRAGM METERING PUMPS

Chem-Pro® MC-2 and MC-3 Diaphragm Metering Pumps are built to meet the demands of municipal water and wastewater treatment. Chem-Pro® M is fitted with Blue-White’s® Dia-Flex® single layer PVDF diaphragm, which exhibits zero breakdown and has a lifetime guarantee. Units have a 200:1 turndown ratio, can display flow rate, handle pressures to 175 PSI (12 bar), and handle feed demands to 40 GPH/153 LPH. Blue-White Industries T: 714-893-8529 F: 714-894-9492 E: info@blue-white.com W: www.blue-white.com

48 | April 2021

RIGOROUS TESTING OF BLUE-WHITE® PRODUCTS

Blue-White® pumps, including the Proseries-M® MD-3 Multi-Diaphragm Chemical Pump, are tested thoroughly to ensure delivery of a high performance, trouble free product. A 4-20mA signal generator is used to speed up and slow down the pump for 24 hours to test components and electronics. This is why Blue-White® feels confident offering excellent product warranties.

Blue-White Industries T: 714-893-8529 F: 714-894-9492 E: sales@blue-white.com W: www.blue-white.com

MULTI-DIAPHRAGM METERING PUMP

The new CHEM-FEED® MD1 Multi-Diaphragm Chemical Metering Pump is engineered to deliver smooth, quiet, and consistent chemical feed in municipal water and wastewater treatment applications. The Dual Diaphragm MD1 with full stroke technology will not lose prime, making it ideal for pumping chemicals that off-gas (peracetic acid, sodium hypochlorite). MD1 is engineered for zero maintenance. Even the patented DiaFlex® diaphragm is built to last the life of the pump.

Blue-White Industries T: 714-893-8529 F: 714-894-9492 E: sales@blue-white.com W: www.blue-white.com

HYPOVALVE BALL VALVE FOR SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE

Chemline’s Type 21 HypoValve Ball Valve is packed with useful features for sodium hypochlorite service. It has all the same superior Type 21 features plus a vented ball, stainless steel valve tag, yellow handle, and either our ChemFlare™ end connectors and PFA fittings or ECTFE (Halar) butt fusion ends as a standard package to provide long-term, leak-free service in your WWTP. Chemline Plastics T: 800-930-CHEM (2436) E: request@chemline.com W: www.chemline.com/type-21-hypovalve

ROAD MAINTENANCE

Consider a proactive approach to road maintenance this year. Many municipalities and private companies are utilizing Denso’s polymer modified–bitumen asphalt joint tapes to prevent water infiltration at joints. DensoBand and Denso Reinstatement Tape provide a permanent, flexible barrier between hot asphalt and steel, concrete and existing asphalt.

Great for bridges, railway crossings and utility cuts. Contact Denso for more information.

Denso North America T: 416-291-3435 E: sales@densona-ca.com W: www.densona.com

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

PRODUCT & SERVICE SHOWCASE TABLET FOR OUTDOOR DATA COLLECTION

GENEQ is pleased to announce the SXtab RTK, the latest tablet model in the SXtab series. This rugged and versatile tablet will be the perfect match for outdoor data collection.

The product is made and equipped with the goal of facilitating the use and mobility of professional field workers. The new SXtab RTK is designed with the idea of reducing the equipment used to achieve high accuracy during data collection.

Geneq Inc. T: 800-463-4363 E: info@geneq.com W: www.geneq.com

CATCH BASIN INSERT

The LittaTrap Catch Basin Insert is a low-cost, innovative technology that prevents plastic and trash from reaching our waterways. Designed to be easily retrofitted into new and existing stormwater drains, the LittaTrap is installed inside storm drains and when it rains, catches plastic and trash before it can reach our streams, rivers and oceans.

Imbrium Systems T: 800-565-4801 E: info@imbriumsystems.com W: www.imbriumsystems.com

OGS/HYDRODYNAMIC SEPARATOR

The new Stormceptor® EF is an oil grit separator (OGS)/hydrodynamic separator that effectively targets sediment (TSS), free oils, gross pollutants and other pollutants that attach to particles, such as nutrients and metals. The Stormceptor EF has been verified through the ISO 14034 Environmental Management – Environmental Technology Verification (ETV).

Imbrium Systems T: 800-565-4801 E: info@imbriumsystems.com W: www.imbriumsystems.com www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

DETECTION

PERFECTION!

SINGLE POINT SLUDGE LEVEL DETECTOR

The Sludge Sleuth™ monitors and controls liquid-solids interface levels in clarifiers, gravity settlers, decanting tanks, DAF units, SBRs, sumps, and more. Its optical sensor provides accurate readings, even in obstructed/ constricted applications. Simple damping and concentration controls accommodate thin or thick sludge, slurries and light flocs.

Markland Specialty Engineering T: 905-873-7791 or TF (NA): 1-855-873-7791 E: markland@sludgecontrols.com W: www.sludgecontrols.com

TWIN SHAFT GRINDER

The N.Mac® Twin Shaft Grinder is capable of fragmenting large and solid particles. Channel and inline housing versions allow installation into effluent channels or with flanges to prevent pipe clogging and protect downstream equipment, such as pumps. The mechanical seal cartridge design – a leak free combination of mechanical seal and bearing cartridges – enables quick and simple replacement and servicing.

NETZSCH Canada T: 705-797-8426 F: 705-797-8427 E: ntc@netzsch.com W: www.netzsch.com

WATERTIGHT DOORS

Huber, a proven German manufacturer, now provides watertight doors that allow safe access to tanks for construction and/ or maintenance. Doors can be provided as round or rectangular for installation onto existing concrete surfaces or cast-inplace in new concrete. They can handle heads up to 30 m and hold pressure in seating and unseating directions. Huber’s watertight doors can greatly reduce construction and maintenance costs and dramatically improve safety/access.

Pro Aqua T: 647-923-8244 E: aron@proaquasales.com W: www.proaquasales.com

HYPERBOLOID MIXERS

Invent Environment is the manufacturer of hyperboloid mixers which have revolutionized anoxic and swing zone mixing. Invent provides low-shear, efficient mixers with no submerged motors or gear boxes for easy access for maintenance. They have now released the Hyperclassic Mixer Evo 7 which has increased the number of motion fins and adjusted the geometry of the mixer to maximize mixer efficiency, reducing operation costs even further.

Pro Aqua T: 647-923-8244 E: aron@proaquasales.com W: www.proaquasales.com

April 2021 | 49

IWA Digital World Water Congress 24 MAY – 4 JUNE 2021 digital.worldwatercongress.org #WorldWaterCongress

Register now!

Get inspired by plenary sessions with keynote speakers; author presentations and posters; networking opportunities; and much more to be announced!

Water utility management

Wastewater treatment Drinking water & & resource recovery potable reuse

City-scale planning & operations

Communities, communication & partnerships

Water resources & large-scale water management

ES&E NEWS that is necessary for conducting dredg- geted dredging remediation workplan. ing works in a natural regulated water- Currently, it is recommending a hydrauway, which includes a list of nine agen- lic dredging process. Dredge slurry from cies that have involvement in the proj- a hydraulic dredge can be easily routed Canada is investing more than $1.1 ect, such as the Hamilton Conservation to the wastewater system for dewatermillion in 25 new Alberta infrastruc- Authority, the Royal Botanical Gardens, ing and ultimate treatment and disposal, ture projects and $1.3 million in 30 new and the Ministry of Transportation. thus avoiding potential issues related to Saskatchewan infrastructure projects for Wood Environment & Infrastructure dredged material storage, dewatering, small to mid-sized communities in both Solutions has been preparing the tarcontinued overleaf… provinces.

Several of the projects in Alberta involve water infrastructure, including a Delivering clean water solutions for 60 years survey of the existing watermain network for geographic information system (GIS) compatibility in the Town of Pincher Creek; an inventory and assessment of water, sewer and sanitary infrastructure in the Town of Valleyview; a service and B a rri e • B e l l e v i l l e • B ra m pt o n • C o l l i n gw o o d • K i n gs t o n • O t t awa AINLEYGROUP.COM risk assessment for water and sanitary services in Flagstaff County; and a pump­ Celebrating 75 Years of Engineering Excellence house study in the Village of Acme.

In Saskatchewan, water infrastructure will be the focus for a sanitary sewer condition assessment in the Town of Elrose, and for water and sewer testing analysis in the Village of Stockholm.

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HAMILTON CREEK CLEANUP TIMELINE PROVING TO BE A CHALLENGE

City of Hamilton officials say it could take nearly a year beyond Ontario’s fall deadline before it’s able to complete the dredging of a creek where 24 billion litres of sewage and stormwater entered over four years.

Provincial charges against Hamilton were announced in December for the long-term discharge into Chedoke Creek, which occurred due to the incorrect operation of a combined sewage overflow (CSO) tank valve and the malfunction of a second gate valve without detection. The two charges for the contamination come under the authority of the Environmental Protection Act and the Ontario Water Resources Act. Ontario ordered a remediation strategy due by February 22, and that the dredging work be completed by October 31. But, Andrew Grice, director of Hamilton Water, has concerns about the province’s deadline. In a new report to the city’s General Issues Committee, he said that the primary timeline challenge will be the permit and approvals process www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

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ES&E NEWS and handling operations. Once it starts, the remediation project is expected to take four to six months to complete.

VERNON FORCED TO DISCHARGE WASTEWATER TO LAKE AS IRRIGATION USE DERAILED The Vernon Water Reclamation Centre (VWRC) is being forced to discharge reclaimed water through a deep outfall to British Columbia’s Okanagan Lake after several factors continue to prevent it from being using for irrigation.

The population of just over 40,000 in B.C.’s Okanagan region generates some 13 million litres of influent every day for treatment at the centre. The last four years have been marked by challenges around using the treated water for irrigation, such as wet weather in spring and summer; cooler temperatures; increased cloud cover; smoke from wildfires; atypical rainfall; and now, higher than average snowpacks.

The reclaimed water is piped 10 km to the MacKay Reservoir, which is typically

used to irrigate local golf courses, baseball diamonds, soccer pitches, agricultural land used for grazing and hay production, seed orchards, nurseries and plantations.

Unable to use the water from the MacKay Reservoir, Vernon officials say they have been forced to discharge treated water from it as it neared its maximum storage capacity elevation of 1,939 feet above sea level for the second time in as many years.

The treated water is mostly residential and commercial, but also includes some industrial wastewater, officials explained.

Some local environmental advocacy groups have raised concerns that pesticides, pharmaceuticals and other minute quantities of chemicals could be involved that affect aquatic life and human health.

Under the city’s Operating Certificate issued by the Ministry of Environment, Vernon officials are permitted to redirect the flow of treated reclaimed water from the VWRC directly to Okanagan Lake through a deep lake outfall located 60 metres below the water’s surface “when

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there are unforeseen circumstances that do not allow the city to draw down the water in MacKay Reservoir,” officials said.

SAINT JOHN UPGRADES COMBINED SEWER SYSTEM THAT HAS ELEMENTS FROM 1872

Credit: Danita Delimont / AdobeStock

Upgrades worth $38.7 million will soon be in the works for part of the combined sewer system in uptown Saint John, where the New Brunswick city has some of the oldest wastewater infrastructure in Canada, including combined terra cotta sewers dating back to 1872 in the central peninsula.

The project, which last week secured federal funding, involves upgrading and separating a portion of the city’s aging combined sewer system, which includes storm and sanitary sewers. In addition to excavating and rehabilitating water and sewer pipe systems, the project will also see the design and construction of additional wastewater infrastructure.

“This substantial investment in our water and wastewater infrastructure positions Saint John for sustainability, and future growth and investment,” said Saint John Mayor Don Darling in a statement to media. “Resilient cities, ready for what’s next, make investments just like this one, so they can meet the needs of future generations,” he added.

The city’s system includes 325 km of storm sewers, 2,172 combined sewers, 9,417 catch basins, 4,934 storm manholes, and 2,172 combined manholes. The combined sewer upgrades project will also restore 7.5 kilometres of roadway impacted by the upgrades.

The federal government is investing more than $15.5 million through the Green Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada program to support the project.

The provincial government is investing

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ES&E NEWS over $12.9 million, and the City of Saint John is contributing over $10.3 million.

DFO FUNDS NINE PROJECTS TO ANALYZE CONTAMINANT DAMAGE TO ECOSYSTEMS

The four-year program funding from Fisheries and Oceans Canada will support contaminant research. Credit: Richard Carey / AdobeStock

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has announced nearly $2.9 million to support nine research projects that will analyze the effects of contaminants like microplastics, oil, pesticides and pharmaceuticals on aquatic species.

The four-year program funding will support contaminant research at schools such as L’Université du Québec à Rimouski, University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, McGill University, and Simon Fraser University.

In one of the projects, researchers at the University of Waterloo will examine how antidepressants accumulate in fish and cause changes in key biological processes. They will assess the effects from upgraded municipal wastewater effluents that meet current regulations.

In a similar vein, researchers at the IISD-Experimental Lakes Area in Balmertown, Ontario, will use ecosystem-based enclosures to investigate the ecological effects of the psychoactive drug venlafaxine in freshwater ecosystems.

At the University of Toronto, a new project seeks to test the ecological impacts of microplastics on fish and their associated food web in a series of experiments using ecosystem-based enclosures.

Not-for-profit Ocean Wise, as well as McGill University, will also study microplastics and examine the thresholds for negative impacts of microplastic textile fibres in the food web.

Simon Fraser University researchers intend to study several factors that affect www.esemag.com @ESEMAG

how contaminants related to oil spills impact Pacific marine species, including oysters, sea urchins and herring. www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

ENERGY COMPANIES FINED $1.5M FOR CHLORINATED WATER LEAK

An Alberta energy partnership faces a $1.5-million fine some seven years after chlorinated water leaked for three days from one of its fire suppression systems and eventually made its way into the North Saskatchewan River.

Gibson Energy ULC and GEP ULC (operating in partnership as Gibson Energy Partnership) were found guilty

of two Fisheries Act violations during a two-week trial in July of 2019.

The sentencing, however, only recently took place.

In 2014, investigators determined that between March 4 and 6 a chlorinated water leak occurred at the companies’ Gibson Edmonton Terminal and flowed into an unnamed creek. While it was later discovered by employees, the leak had time to flow out to the North Saskatchewan River, which contains 23 different fish species, including Walleye, Northern Pike, and Lake Sturgeon.

Water analysis at the point where the creek met the river showed that chlorine levels were still high enough to be harmcontinued overleaf…

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ful to fish.

The companies were found to not have taken all reasonable measures, consistent with public safety and the protection of fish, to prevent the leak or counteract it, in violation of 38(6) of the Fisheries Act. In addition to the $1.5-million fine, which will be directed to Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund, the companies will be ordered to make a presentation to industry within Strathcona County about the danger of chlorinated water. Also, the company names will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry.

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OTTAWA EYES INCENTIVES PROGRAM TO MANAGE STORMWATER RUNOFF

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54 | April 2021

and installation capacity for stormwater management within landscape designs, as well as build a list of certified local landscapers for homeowners to draw upon to complete projects.

For residential home assessments, trained assessors will promote best management practices with benefits to homeowners and the city. Residents will be provided with information and guidance supporting them to take action on their property.

Rain Ready Ottawa will partially cover the cost of the following practices: downspout redirection; rain gardens; soakaway pits; permeable paving; and certified landscape design.

Simple actions like capturing rainwater in a rain barrel can make a real difference.

Credit: Schulzie / AdobeStock

To fight stormwater runoff that can cause erosion and flooding in waterways while degrading water quality and aquatic habitats, the City of Ottawa is considering a pilot project to encourage homeowners to manage stormwater on their properties.

The $750,000 three-year program has been greenlighted at the committee level and offers a multi-faceted approach for residents to build landscape industry capacity to design, install and maintain stormwater management features on their property. This could include up to $5,000 per household for work like redirecting downspouts, establishing rain gardens and soak-away pits, as well as installing permeable driveways.

Industry training will focus on a Fusion Landscape Professional program offered by Landscape Ontario in conjunction with Credit Valley Conservation in Peel and York regions. Officials believe that bringing the program to Ottawa will build industry knowledge

Invasive species have cost the global economy an annual mean amount of US$26.8 billion per year since 1970, with a threefold increase every decade, a new study has found.

Insects comprise some 90% of damage costs found by researchers, with vertebrates and plants rounding out the rest of the $1.62 trillion impact over the last 50 years on ecosystems, crops and fisheries. Specifically, the costliest invasive species were the tiger mosquito, followed by crop-eating rats, the Asian gypsy moth, and even domestic cats.

The worldwide implementation of efficient, coordinated control and mitigation strategies remains limited, according to researchers based in France, the Czech Republic and Australia. Their joint research paper is titled “High and rising economic costs of biological invasions worldwide”.

Canada has been impacted significantly by the emerald ash borer, the brown rat, the gypsy moth and the Asian long-horned beetle. In the Great Lakes along the Canada-U.S. border, another $408.6 million in costs have been accrued from zebra and quagga mussels.

The researchers say that biological invasions should become a major factor when deciding transnational projects.

They take place when species of animals, plants and pathogens are deliberately or accidentally introduced in regions not previously occupied by these species.

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