Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine | December 2022

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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, Black & Veatch

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 Back to the future - turning municipal sludge into fuel 8 Nature-wide thinking must replace climate tunnel vision 24 Canada’s Competition Bureau won’t determine whether wet wipes “flushable” claims are misleading 25 Engineers want to create model for optimal wastewater lagoon performance 26 Lake Huron Water Treatment Plant’s high lift pump station upgrade completed 30 More utilities are taking an active role in addressing water scarcity by reducing NRW loss 32 Sludge decanters help cut ship emission control costs 44 New flood map provides engineers with a view of future flood risks 45 New report suggests that the water and wastewater sectors could decarbonize fast 46 Greater Cincinnati completes major CSO improvement project 48 Can thermal hydrolysis of sludge solve problems caused by micro/ nanoplastics? 50 Converting sewage sludge into biofuels via a hydrothermal liquefaction process 53 Increasing FOG recovery rates from a meat processing plant’s wastewater stream 59 Using municipal wastewater ponds for heating and cooling buildings 60 Regina’s new water meters will provide near real-time data

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61 Manitoba investing millions in wastewater upgrades

Canadian scientists engineer water’s structure to remove industrial contaminants

OPERATORS’ FORUM

12 Conserving valuable fuel and water resources during sewer cleaning

Mentoring meaningful for all winners of National First Nations Water Leadership Award 20 Ontario’s Thames Centre cites importance of transparency over HAA levels in drinking water

Lime dosing solutions for water treatment plants

Optimal systems for oil terminal wastewater treatment

CONSULTANTS’ FORUM

How COVID-19 has changed the consulting engineering business forever

Optimizing the future of engineering – ACEC charts a path forward

Engineering competency must extend beyond purely technical skills 41 Ontario’s changing landscape –how does land use planning affect municipal infrastructure?

DEPARTMENTS

Cleaning, DO Control, AlphaMeter Mixers – Anoxic & Swing Zones, Sludge Holding, Digester; Mechanical, Hydraulic and Gas Bubble

Tank Components – Covers, Fabric Ba es, Troughs, Weirs, Scum Ba es, Skimmers, Decanters, Swivel Joints, Telescoping Valves, Density Current Ba es, Launder Covers, Watertight Doors

Primar y & Secondar y, Circur, Chain & Flight, Inclined Plate Settlers, Weir Washing Biological – SBR, MBR, RBC, MBBR, MABR, Oxidation Ditch, BioMag, CoMag Polymer – Liquid and Dr y Systems

•

Rotary Lobe Pumps & Grinders

• Disinfection – UV, Ozone

• Tertiary Filters – Travelling Bridge, Disk, Membrane

• Sludge Thickening & Dewatering –Disk Thickener, Gravity Thickener, Filter Press, Screw Press, Centrifuge

• Anaerobic Digesters – Sludge Conditioning, In-line Screening, Degritting, Membrane Gas Holders, Liquid Mixing, Nutrient Recover y

• Sludge Drying – Belt, Fluid Bed and Solar

• Septage Receiving – Screens, Dump Stations, Truck Access & ID, data gathering & equipment control

• Sludge Treatment, Transport & Storage – Cake Pumps, Silos, Sliding Frames, Live Bottom Hoppers, Push Floors, Truck Loading, Alkaline Stabilization

• Odour Control – Tank Covers, Chemical & Biological Treatment, Activated Carbon

• – Stations Pump & Stormwater CSO, Tipping Buckets, Bending Weirs, Flushing Gates, Flow Regulating, Vor tex Valves, Storm Screens

• Digester Gas – Gas Holders, Gas Conditioning: chilling; compressing; and removal of moisture, sulphur, carbon dioxide and siloxane, complete Co-Generation facilities

t e wat e r, Biosolids & Bi o g a s o mple te ra n g e o f ma rke t p ro du c t s. Le t u s sh ow yo u

Back to the future – turning municipal sludge into fuel

According to Statistics Canada, gasoline prices in parts of Canada rose to a record average monthly price of $2.25 per litre in June this year, up from $1.55 the year before. Diesel fuel reached over $2.50 a litre this year, up from $1.46 in 2021.

The main reason for this price jump was the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, which in addition to the untold misery, death and destruction unleashed, also created a major energy supply situation.

In 1979, another energy crisis known as the 1979 Oil Shock or Second Oil Crisis, was caused by a drop in oil production in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Although the global oil supply only decreased by approximately four percent, the oil market’s reaction raised the price of crude oil drastically over the next 12 months, more than doubling it.

In 1980, following the onset of the Iran-Iraq War, oil production in Iran fell drastically. Iraq’s oil production also dropped significantly, triggering economic recessions worldwide. Oil prices did not return to pre-crisis levels until the mid-1980s.

In 1984, while working for Water & Pollution Control Magazine, I wrote an article entitled “Revolutionary experiments turn sludge into fuel”. It had just been announced that researchers from Tubingen University in West Germany had developed a pyrolytic process that converted sewage sludge into oil with an energy value comparable to diesel fuel, char (a substance resembling lignite coal), and non-condensable gases.

If economically and technically viable at full scale, the researchers felt that this process could have important ramifications for areas throughout the world where sludge disposal is a serious problem.

In Canada alone at that time, scientists at the Wastewater Technology Centre estimated that the 350,000 tonnes of sewage sludge generated annually could be converted to 700,000 barrels of oil and 175,000 tonnes of char.

“Revolutionary experiments turn sludge into fuel” was the cover story for the November/ December 1984 edition of Water & Pollution Control Magazine. Credit: Tom and Steve Davey

Additionally, $20 million annually could be saved in incineration costs.

They had evaluated this process using primary and waste activated sludges from Ontario sewage treatment plants in Toronto, Hamilton and Burlington.

Notwithstanding its contributions to rising CO₂ levels and climate change, oil, that one-time geological gift to mankind, is one of the cornerstones of modern civilization. However, what took nature millions of years to create, will be consumed by humanity in a few hundred years as it is a finite resource.

One of the most significant aspects of this fuel-from-sludge technology is that oil could be manufactured in a matter of hours. In the article, I postulated that this process could transform what was formerly a finite fuel situation into a nearly infinite resource.

However, while biofuel is produced from agricultural crops, like corn, vegetable oils or animal fats, and there is growing production of renewable natural gas from WWTPs, it did not seem to me that much progress had been made in creating oil-like fuel from sludge since the early 1980s.

With the energy crunch the world is currently facing, I was pleasantly surprised to read an article by Ibrahim Alper Basar, Huan Liu and Cigdem Eskicioglu from the University of British

Columbia that appears in this issue (See page 50). They describe recent research into using hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), a biomass processing technology that has recently become prominent in the wastewater treatment field.

This method can convert sludge into biocrude, a free-flowing, viscous, dark brown, hydrocarbon-rich liquid. Biocrude can be processed in oil refineries, like petroleum, to produce diesel and jet fuel.

The authors say that the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been the pioneering research institute in the HTL field. It has investigated HTL feedstocks of lignocellulosic biomass, micro-algae, macro-algae, grape pomace, and recently, municipal sludge.

Metro Vancouver is planning a 10 wet tonne per day demonstration HTL facility at its Annacis Island WWTP, using the technology developed by PNNL. It is hoped that findings from this demonstration system will reveal crucial information for the design, operation and incorporation of HTL into existing and future wastewater treatment processes.

The authors say that HTL technology has come a long way in the last decade, but there are critical questions about using municipal sludge as feedstock and integrating HTL into WWTPs, prior to its widespread adoption.

I was 23 years old when I wrote the article “Revolutionary experiments turn sludge into fuel”.

Being almost 62 now, I sincerely hope that it doesn’t take another 39 years before producing municipal sludgebased biofuel becomes viable.

Steve Davey is the editor and publisher of ES&E Magazine. Please email any comments you may have to steve@esemag.com

sequent impacts on biodiversity. Manure also contains antibiotics and heavy metals, which further disturb soil and water biodiversity.

POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITY

Fertilizer prices have increased drastically in 2022, due to shortages caused by natural gas costs. This has drawn political attention to the fact that manure can in theory satisfy 35 – 40% of global needs, much more than it currently fulfils.

In the real world though, manure is so impractical to transport that it becomes practically worthless and rarely travels more than around 5 km, unless directly subsidized by producers or authorities that are more sensitized to pollution management.

For example, manure is worth between $12.50 and $20.00 per 1,000 litres in the U.S., hardly covering the driver’s salary, let alone the investment in storage facilities. If agrochemical companies could capture and commercialize just a fraction of that profitably, the raised circularity of manure nutrients and reduced reliance on chemical and mined products would reduce the industry’s impacts on nature, climate and community health.

With the global fertilizer market estimated to amount to $200 billion annually excluding manure prior to 2022, this segment could see raised interest from investors.

SALMON FEED AND AQUACULTURE

Salmon are carnivorous fish requiring a high-protein diet, which is commonly delivered through fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO) and soy. These ingredients are associated with high biodiversity and climate risks, which FAIRR’s Oceans and Biodiversity Impact report discusses.

Soy is associated with deforestation in some of the most biodiverse areas on the planet. FMFO sourcing is associated with vast quantities of wild fish catch, including overexploited stocks and trawled catch. Fishing has an unparalleled effect on the biodiversity of oceans, with a third of stocks now considered overfished.

The WWF has reported that only 13% of the Earth’s vast network of oceans is still wilderness. The impacts cascade throughout the food chain through marine predators, such as whales and sharks, but also divert key sources of nutrition away from human consumption.

Salmon farming also drives biodiversity loss from the farms’ interface with the environment. For example, the escape of farmed fish poses a threat to native species via competition, predation, mating, and the transmission of parasites and disease.

The waters surrounding salmon farms are also vulnerable to waste from farmed fish and nutrients from uneaten feed. One study has estimated 62% of the nitrogen and 70% of the phosphorus from the feed is released to water. This

can lead to eutrophication events and algal blooms. One such event in Chile resulted in the loss of 3,700 tonnes of salmon, with a financial impact amounting to $15 million.

POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES

Potential opportunities may arise from shifting the product mix toward relatively un-innovative solutions, such as vegetarian species. There are also novel ingredients and fully contained, on-land production facilities known as recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS).

Algal oil and insects are seen as possible replacements for the omega-3 and protein contents of fish feed, and benefit from heavy venture capital investment despite slow adoption by large aquaculture companies. Some studies have shown that insect meal is suitable for up to 30% inclusion in feed baskets for aquafeed without compromising on performance.

More waste from the fishing industry could also be reused within feed ingredients, which also has the potential to reduce costs. Some estimate that the annual quantity of these waste co-products used to produce fishmeal and oil amounts to more than 5.7 million tonnes, which is 28.9% of the total. These co-products could produce an additional 10.5 million tonnes if existing resources were fully utilized.

continued overleaf…

Join a Diverse and Inclusive Team

Associated Engineering is looking for talented people across Canada. We currently have open positions in Ecology and Hydrogeology, as well as Environmental Professionals and Wildlife Biology. To join a diverse and supportive team, visit ae.ca/careers to apply.

Manure is in theory a good fertilizer, containing nutrients needed for plant health. But many regions currently produce too much of it to be applied on local croplands and it is costly and impractical to transport long distances. Credit: wolfgang jargstorff, stock.adobe.com

In theory, a RAS creates a perfect environment to grow fish to maturity without infection, predation, escape or environmental damage from lost nutrients. However, being capital intensive, it requires high density production to deliver a satisfactory return on invested capital.

Controlling temperature, oxygen and light can reduce fish stress and improve growth. There is also an opportunity for these systems to lower the sector’s carbon footprint by cutting the transportation emissions associated with a product with such a decentralized supply base. Crucially, RAS technology does not need to be near the sea, unlike traditional open-net-pen farming, which requires a coastal environment.

REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

Poor practices have already pushed 52% of global agricultural land into a state that is considered as degraded. Fertile soil continues to be lost at a rate of 24 billion tonnes per year. The sector is leading the degradation of lands globally, which is estimated to be between 20% and 40% of the total. The degradation of soils, a key component of healthy ecosystems, happens through the following processes: 1) Erosion at a rate faster than it is reformed by plants. 2) Nutrient and

soil organic matter removal from grazing or harvests being greater than can be replaced. 3) Surface sealing or compaction. 4) Increased salinity, acidity, or pollution, both organic and inorganic.

These issues can all lead to desertification.

Degraded soils are less supportive of plant, insect and animal density and diversity. Less biodiversity means a reduced capacity to capture and store carbon and water. A prolonged period of degradation of dry land can lead to abandonment or desertification. To replace this lost land often means deforestation and thus increased carbon emissions.

Yet, FAIRR identified at least 26 of the largest stock market-listed food-sector companies that mention regenerative agriculture in publicly available filings. Regenerative agriculture is a novel term within corporate language, but it recycles much of the sustainable agriculture practices and principles with a focus on soil health.

The objectives of regenerative agriculture commitments revolve around carbon sequestration by soils, water quality and infiltration improvements, reduced agricultural inputs, improved biodiversity, and improved soil health.

FAIRR extracted the cost of goods sold for 100 of the largest food-sector

companies within our universe, which is mainly capital going into food systems (plus a few things like packaging and some labour).

This figure amounted to nearly $2 trillion in 2021, an amount that is overwhelmingly directed towards practices that are harmful to nature. A redirection of this capital, even partial, could open opportunities for companies within those value chains. It would also create an entirely new ecosystem of products and services to implement, measure and track these practices.

While we are a long way from a full transition from agriculture as we know it to regenerative practices, especially when it comes to meat and dairy production, some companies are raising their ambition. Nestle, notably, targeted 1.2 billion Swiss francs toward this transition in three areas: paying a premium for regenerative agricultural materials, assisting farmer transition, and investing in sustainable crops R&D.

CONCLUSION

For the first time ever, a biodiversity COP will receive considerable attention from business, finance, and hopefully political delegates, showing nature is firmly on the global agenda.

The finance sector for one, is displaying strong support for nature-positive action, as shown by the $23 trillion in support FAIRR gathered for its collaborative engagement on waste and pollution, seeking to put circular fertilizers forward as a serious alternative.

Yet, much remains to be done, with livestock emissions alone representing around 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions and driving most deforestation. So, more ambition will be needed from governments, food companies, investors and consumers to direct considerably more capital toward science-based, nature-positive practices, and transition toward sustainable food systems.

Max Boucher is with the FAIRR investor network. For more information, visit: www.fairr.org

Conserving valuable fuel and water resources during sewer cleaning

By Del Williams

For municipalities responsible for keeping sewer lines free from debris and blockages, there is the additional challenge of maintaining these lines during a time of rising fuel prices, as well as water scarcity resulting from increasing population and the drought conditions that many areas face.

To reduce costs and conserve these valuable resources, cleaning crews are being compelled to use more efficient cleaning equipment, tools and techniques to implement water-intensive cleaning that can involve 380 litres per minute. Fuel is also consumed to operate the sewer truck, vacuum system, water pump, operating platform, and pressure/ flow compensation hydraulic system.

Inefficient sewer cleaning tools, as well as poor cleaning techniques can cause crews to make many passes to clear a line. This is a tremendous waste of fuel and water. When crews utilize water inefficiently, additional fuel, time, and labour are required to drive to the nearest fire hydrant to refill the tank.

“For years, sewer crews didn’t pay much attention to water conservation. Today, they must pay attention, or they can’t do their jobs. With sky-high fuel prices and a scarce water supply, municipalities are looking to stretch their resources, including labour, with better tools and training,” says Dan Story of KEG Technologies, a manufacturer of sewer and storm line products.

INCREASING FUEL AND WATER EFFICIENCY

To clean sewer lines more efficiently in the face of these challenges, municipalities should consider using more effective tools and methods. Normally, sewer crews utilize jetting and/or vacuuming systems to remove debris and blockages.

With jetting, a high-pressure water hose with a high-performance nozzle is placed

With the proper tools and techniques, it should be possible 95% of the time to go from manhole to manhole and clean in a single pass.

into the line. Operators release high-pressure water from the sewer jet truck to dislodge debris such as grease, grime, sludge, stones, and other items lodged in the pipe, and flush it into a manhole. As debris is removed, the hose is pushed deeper into the sewer. Jetting typically involves using between 200 – 325 litres of water per minute with a 20 mm – 25 mm hose from the truck. A vacuum may also be used to remove dislodged debris and transfer it to disposal bins.

HIGH EFFICIENCY TOOLS

One of the most effective ways to decrease water and fuel use, while improving cleaning efficiency of sewer vacuum trucks, is by utilizing a high-performance, Tier 3 nozzle. With improved fluid dynamics, these optimize the cleaning process while utilizing less water, revolutions per minute (RPMs) and pressure (PSI). The high-performance nozzles cost more, but reduce fuel and water costs dramatically, and enable faster job completion.

Although nozzles with many configurations are used in the industry, nozzles are classified in three tiers, based on efficiency: Tier 1 (approximately 30% efficient), Tier 2 (50% – 60% efficient), and Tier 3 (75% – 98% efficient).

According to Story, however, a surprising number of municipalities and third-party contractors still do not use Tier 3 nozzles for sewer cleaning, despite the benefits.

What sets the most efficient Tier 3 nozzles apart is the fluid mechanics engineering, which is on par with the aerodynamics of race cars. After exiting the jetter hose, water travels into the body of the nozzle before moving through smooth, curved channels. This design enables the water to maintain its power and speed before entering the nozzle’s replaceable titanium ceramic inserts, which help to straighten the water stream. Next, the water is further funneled to enable an even tighter water pattern to emerge.

The internal workings of the nozzle

(including the way the water gets turned) redirect the energy of the high-pressure water entering the nozzle so it performs as efficiently as possible. This results in what is needed for the task: more thrust and power, using less water.

“If there is turbulence in the water as it exits the nozzle, it dramatically reduces the overall cleaning power,” says Story. “The most effective Tier 3 nozzles create tight water patterns that efficiently clean the pipe wall and produce a powerful water stream to move debris long distances while propelling the nozzle through the lines.”

In the case of KEG’s Tier 3 nozzles, such as the Torpedo and OMG models, the high-performance design of the fluid mechanics leaves little room for power losses and excessive turbulence and so can achieve 98% efficiency. A properly designed Tier 3 nozzle can also be used at lower PSI and RPMs.

“With less efficient Tier 1 or 2 nozzles, operators may run at 2,000 PSI to pro-

vide more power. Because of the superior fluid mechanics of a Tier 3 nozzle, ample power is generated at 1,200 PSI, which saves water and fuel,” says Story.

Story explains that when water hits the nozzle wall of Tier 1 and 2 nozzles, they stop the flow of water and change its direction, which creates considerable turbulence. In contrast, Tier 3 nozzles are designed not to impede or stop the water flow.

“The most efficient Tier 3 nozzles are designed to move water like it is on a curved race track or roller coaster. The water never stops moving so it retains more power,” says Story.

According to Story, a Tier 1, 30-degree drilled nozzle running 275 litres per minute at 2,200 PSI will only exert 13 pounds of force to move debris nine feet away from the nozzle. In contrast, a high-efficiency Tier 3 nozzle running 230 litres per minute at 2,000 PSI will exert 98 pounds of force nine feet away. He adds that efficient Tier 3 nozzles also

allow a lower water pressure to be used from the truck, which saves water.

BETTER CLEANING TECHNIQUES

In addition to water savings, superior cleaning techniques can also dramatically reduce fuel, time and labour. According to Story, the main mistake most operators make is when they do not understand how their cleaning speed affects their performance.

With poor techniques, operators often are forced to make several passes to remove the material, which wastes a tremendous amount of water. “Even after that, I have been in situations where, after a cleaning, the CCTV camera operator radios back to ask if the line was even cleaned,” Story says.

“Most operators want to run up the line in a hurry and clean as they come back because it is how they were taught, but it is impossible to 'dig a hole from the bottom up'. When they shoot past continued overleaf…

all the debris going in, they are trying to bring it all out at once, which is more difficult,” he adds.

Instead, Story advises operators to go slow when cleaning lines. They should pull the nozzle down as they go into a line, observe how dirty it is, and then adjust their cleaning speed accordingly.

“The first 15 metres of a line will tell you how dirty it is and how you should adjust your speed. If you are not getting a lot of debris back, then you can increase your cleaning speed,” says Story.

When the operator reaches a manhole in the line, Story advises dialing down the water pressure to 900 – 1,000 PSI as they return.

“You clean the line, remove all the organic materials going in, and some of the rocks in it will fall out of the flow. By cleaning as you go in, however, you’re able to get the dirt and debris out of the line, so on the return the rocks will move much easier inside the pipe,” he says.

Story points out that operators often

The fluid mechanics of Tier 3 nozzles, such as these 25 mm ones by KEG, minimize power losses and excessive turbulence.

compensate for a lack of power cleaning with Tier 1 or Tier 2 nozzles by increasing the pressure to 2,000 PSI, and the water flow to 190 – 230 litres per minute, or higher, on the way back through the line. With a Tier 3 nozzle, however, a lower

pressure is possible because it provides more cleaning power due to its efficiency in directing water flow without turbulence.

“A Tier 3 nozzle can generate the same amount of cleaning power as a Tier 1 or 2 using 150 litres and 1,200 PSI, saving time, water and fuel. But the trick to that is cleaning as you go in. Chop the debris up and let the flow work like a conveyor belt, carrying the debris out,” says Story. “If you clean correctly, the water is going to carry the debris off and out of the way, so slow the nozzle down and let it do its job. You are not in a race.”

“When you get to the end of the line, just dial your pressure back down and rinse the pipe as you come out. When you come back, the job is done,” says Story. “You don’t have to send it back in a second time.”

“With 150 mm – 375 mm diameter sewer lines, it should be possible 95% of the time to go from manhole to manhole and clean in a single pass,” says Story. “This takes a fraction of the time and resources to make one pass versus making several passes to remove the same material.”

It also eliminates extra trips to a nearby fire hydrant to refill the water tank, which can cost crews an hour or more to put all the equipment back on the truck and set it up again when they return. With a combination of the right tools and techniques, Story estimates that sewer crews can save approximately 9% – 17% in vehicle fuel costs, including travel to refill water tanks.

As municipalities and contractors seek to reduce the use of costly fuel and scarce water, using the most efficient Tier 3 nozzles and cleaning methods will go a long way to stretch their funds and conserve valuable resources. Just as important, adopting industry-proven cleaning techniques will help to protect against future increases in the cost of fuel and water.

Del Williams works with KEG Technologies. For more information, visit: www.kegtechnologies.net

MENTORING MEANINGFUL FOR ALL WINNERS OF NATIONAL FIRST NATIONS WATER LEADERSHIP AWARD

By David Nesseth

Five years in, the National First Nations Water Leadership Award is helping to tell some of the hidden tales of mentorship ongoing in the lives of water operators on Canada’s reserves, and the joy they’re finding in teaching others to carry on the mission towards creating finely-tuned water systems.

Many are passing on their knowledge to those who may soon replace them, as the sun sets on their own careers. Often faced with limited funding and outdated equipment they run alone, the award also illustrates the struggles faced by operators to keep things running smoothly, despite other longstanding water challenges in their communities, such as the many water advisories they have often helped to lift.

For Brian Indian, winner of the 2022 award, mentorship is one of the perks of the job. Indian is one of the only certified Level 3 water treatment operators in his community of about 700 residents near Kenora and the Manitoba border, in Ontario’s Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation. He is using his 17 years of experience to train two successors, who may someday allow him a day off. As it stands now, there’s nobody to fill in.

Despite challenges with Parkinson’s disease, and working with a 16-year-old ozone system with parts he says “no longer exist,” Indian even organizes “Water Awareness” days to educate reserve youth through tours of the local water plant. He hopes they may eventually share the same bright spot of relief and pride that exists in his own work schedule as an operator.

“My favourite part of the day is in the morning, looking at the data and seeing that everything ran the way it is supposed to,” Indian told an award committee operating on behalf of Indigenous Services Canada.

Lorraine Crane, Chief of Slate Falls Nation, was the inaugural winner of the

award in 2018 for her successful lobbying to fund a new water treatment plant for her community. Prior to her accomplishment, the community had an active boil water advisory for 14 years. “We are very excited to finally be able to drink water right from the tap,” Crane said when she accepted the award.

Another former winner of the water operator award, in 2019, is Deon Hassler of the Carry-The-Kettle Nakoda Nation, just east of Regina. He is a decorated military veteran and Circuit Rider technician, who has been enjoying training future operators for years. He is also currently President of the Saskatchewan First Nations Water Association, that works to: “build capacity at the community level for the care and control of water on reserve.”

“I am fortunate to be in a position where I can now share my years of experience and knowledge, to help train, mentor, guide and assist new and future operators and leaders in the ongoing care, maintenance and operation of this critical piece of community infrastructure,” said Hassler, while receiving the award.

As a homage to the water operator award winners, and in the spirit of mentoring, each one has $10,000 in bursaries made available in their name to those

looking to follow in their footsteps.

Earlier this year, the federal government announced up to $500,000 for new projects that target the recruitment and retention of trained and certified wastewater operators for First Nations reserves. While the money cannot go directly towards training costs, it is intended to support operators who work on highrisk systems, or those that require preventative maintenance or enhanced wastewater treatment practices.

A report from the formerly named Indian and Northern Affairs Canada notes that retaining qualified First Nations water operators has been a longstanding issue, as some 25% of them in First Nations communities have left their job over the years, for either the municipal sector or private industry, often for higher pay.

“Increased funding will enable First Nations to better retain qualified water operators in their communities, including through improved salaries, according to First Nations priorities,” Indigenous Services Canada announced during a round of new funding in 2021.

According to Indigenous Services Canada, federal spending on water and wastewater-related operations and maincontinued overleaf…

Some National First Nations Water Leadership Award winners are trying to pass down their knowledge on reserves as part of a mentoring process. Jonathan Riberdy of Zhiibaahaasing First Nation, left, and Deon Hassler of the Carry-The-Kettle Nakoda Nation, are former winners who enjoy teaching. Credit: Indigenous Services Canada

RADAR ULTRASONIC IS THE BETTER

tenance averaged $146 million per year between 2015 and 2018. Last year, the government upped its contribution with an extra $616 million over six years.

Until the shortage of water operators is resolved, those who are still working day in and out on reserves are trying to help the best they can to pass on knowledge.

Winner of the 2020 award, Éric Sioui, a Huron-Wendat chemical engineering technician and water treatment systems technician, has been busy sharing his expertise with other First Nations water operators across Quebec as a coordinator with the Circuit Rider Training Program.

After receiving the award, Sioui spoke about his feeling of connection to other First Nations water operators in Quebec. “From the start, we have worked hard and made tremendous progress on many aspects of our work. As a result, a beautiful relationship of trust has developed over the years. Together, we have shared our knowledge and cultures, passionately and respectfully,” he said.

Sioui even worked to create a Circuit Rider web page to help operators of water supply and wastewater treatment systems.

Yukon University (formerly Yukon College) received university status in the spring of 2020, and recently formed a partnership with the Circuit Rider Training Program to streamline the process. While this program provides on-site training on reserves, as well as troubleshooting and mentorship, it does not deliver the classroom instruction required for all operators in the region to gain and maintain the certifications necessary to operate community water systems.

“Bringing the two programs together at YukonU will allow for greater synergy. We believe this will lead to increased opportunities for collaboration between operators and communities, for promotion of the water and wastewater operator career path, and retention of existing operators,” said Michael Vernon, senior communications coordinator for the university.

Also in 2022, some 14 interns were

recruited from seven northern Ontario First Nations to pursue entry level water operator training or water quality analyst certifications. The hope is that this will kick off their careers in the water field under the new North Shore Tribal Council Water First Internship. It is the fourth iteration of the program.

While significant progress has been made in lifting long-term water quality advisories on First Nations reserves across Canada, Ontario still has 22 ongoing advisories in 19 communities.

Jonathan Riberdy, of Zhiibaahaasing First Nation, has worked hard to reduce those advisories. As the 2021 award winner, he has also trained many young Indigenous water operators across Ontario. He currently serves as his community’s water supervisor, a project manager for Swim Drink Fish Canada, and as a director for the Aboriginal Water and Wastewater Association of Ontario.

“Teaching my knowledge to other operators is most rewarding, knowing that I can share my knowledge,” Riberdy said following his win. “Helping my community is the most important thing, as I didn’t accomplish what I did alone.” Riberdy said that four times a year, Zhiibaahaasing elders and women take the lead in water ceremonies for clean drinking water.

“We take this time to say Miigwech (thank you) to the water for letting us have clean, drinkable, fishable and swimmable water,” he noted. “Having leadership at these ceremonies shows the commitment towards water and gives them an understanding of the water processes.”

All nominees for the 2022 award received a pin designed by an Indigenous company. This year’s nominees were reviewed by an advisory committee formed of First Nations partners and the previous year’s winner.

The nomination process is outlined at the National First Nations Water Leadership Award site.

The nomination period for the 2023 National First Nations Water Leadership Award will run from January 2 to March 31.

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

ONTARIO’S THAMES CENTRE CITES IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPARENCY OVER HAA LEVELS IN DRINKING WATER

By ES&E Staff

Officials with the Municipality of Thames Centre say they are adjusting their day-to-day operations in order to reduce excess levels of haloacetic acids (HAA) found in the drinking water.

Since January 2020, Ontario municipalities have been required to notify local public health units when the HAA concentration exceeds 80 micrograms per litre, or 80 parts per billion. Based on testing done four times a year, the most recent rolling annual average HAA concentration for Thames Centre’s drinking water was 82.6 micrograms per litre.

“We are actively seeking alternatives to reduce the disinfection byproduct precursors in the treatment process at the Water Treatment Facility,” announced Jarrod Craven, director of public works with the Municipality of Thames Centre, in a statement.

Haloacetic acids can form when the chlorine compounds used in the disinfection process react with naturally occurring organic material present in the water. The health benefits associated

with the chlorination of drinking water, officials added, far outweigh the potential risks associated with slightly elevated levels of HAA within the drinking water system.

Dr. Alex Summers, Medical Officer of Health with the Middlesex-London Health Unit, said the slightly elevated HAA levels “do not constitute an immediate health risk,” and alerting the public about the findings is about maintaining transparency.

“Given the many risk factors we are exposed to every day, this situation would not lead to an increase in an individual’s overall risk of developing cancer,” stated Summers.

The threshold levels are set through Ontario’s Drinking Water Quality Standards. When the new reporting level came into effect, the province also suggested the following remedies in addition to reducing disinfection byproduct precursors. These include:

• Reducing the chlorine dose or changing the disinfectant (e.g., to ozone, chlorine dioxide, UV).

• Optimizing the amount of time chlorine is in contact with water to reduce

reaction time but still maintain primary disinfection (CT).

• Reducing water age in the distribution system (e.g., by managing storage levels or using auto-flushers).

According to Health Canada, the haloacetic acids most commonly found in drinking water are monochloroacetic acid (MCA), dichloroacetic acid (DCA), trichloroacetic acid (TCA), monobromoacetic acid (MBA) and dibromoacetic acid (DBA).

The Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Drinking Water also recommends that every effort be made not only to meet the guideline, but to maintain concentrations of HAA as low as reasonably achievable.

In 2019, the Attawapiskat First Nation, in the Kenora district of northwestern Ontario, declared a state of emergency over elevated levels of trihalomethanes and HAA.

For more information, email: editor@esemag.com

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LIME DOSING SOLUTIONS FOR WATER TREATMENT PLANTS

Operators at one water purification plant had always relied on gravity to feed slaked lime slurry to its softening basins. They decided to give gravity a helping hand by testing a pump to move the slurry more effectively.

Lime slurry is a dense product to transfer, with a high solids content of up to 35%. Due to its abrasive nature, which causes wear on progressive cavity pumps with consequent downtime and operating costs, plant operators opted to use a peristaltic pump for the transfer process. These pumps use alternating compression and relaxation of a reinforced hose to push liquid out of the hose. The resulting vacuum, caused by the repeated cycle, draws more product into the hose.

Peristaltic pumps are accurate and repeatable. The pumped product is totally contained within the hose, eliminating the possibility that any moving parts can clog or corrode. This makes a peristaltic pump a good choice for pumping high solids content slurries such as lime.

For this plant, the largest obstacle when deciding on a suitable pump was the amount of available space. Operators wanted to continually pump approximately 2,350 l/hr, which would normally mean a sizeable pump with a large motor and gearbox. The solution was a Verderflex Dura 35 peristaltic pump, which features a vertical motor and gearbox, dramatically reducing the pump footprint and saving space. The Verderflex Dura 35 is capable of pumping up to 5.5 m3/hr at pressures up to 12 bar. This was more than enough for this installation, which called for pumping at just over 4 bar, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

The pump has been running continuously with the same hose for over 8,000 hours. When operators finally need to change the hose, they will find the simple taper fit flange design makes hose changes easy, keeping downtime to a minimum.

Introducing a Verderflex peristaltic pump at this plant has proved to be such a great success that additional Dura 35 pumps have already been installed.

For more information, email: sales@yorkfluid.com

Verderflex peristaltic pumps feature a vertical motor and gearbox, dramatically reducing the pump footprint.

OPTIMAL SYSTEMS FOR OIL TERMINAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT

Aeration systems manufactured by INVENT have been in service reliably and maintenance-free since 2016 in a large industrial park located on an island. An important industrial port is located in the immediate vicinity, and an oil refinery operated there until 1997. An oil port with oil terminal, however, is still in operation, as are the many large storage tanks.

Wastewater treatment and purification are particularly important in this environment. That is why there was no question about building a dedicated wastewater treatment plant at the time the industrial park was being planned. Operators needed high-quality plant and mechanical engineering technology.

The 10 HYPERDIVE® mixing and aeration systems operate in two round sludge basins to keep the contents in motion. They consist of a robust hyperboloid mixer-body with a cage design, an aeration ring, a submersible drive and a process air hose, specifically designed for heavy-duty use in industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants. It is a combination of efficient oxygen supply and optimized mixing of the basin content, that ensures that as little sediment as possible is formed on the bottom.

The hyperboloid mixer-body is made of high-quality fibre-reinforced plastic, making it both lightweight and non-corrosive. The cage, with its specially molded stainless steel base construction, provides the required weight, allowing the construction to be placed on stable footing. The base is also coated with epoxy resin.

Only energy-saving and robust motors, gears with reinforced bearings, and seals from reputable manufacturers are used for the moving parts. The supply air hose is connected to a blower station located outside the basin, ensuring the supply of air or oxygen to the mixing and aeration system.

The two rectangular E-FLEX® membrane aeration modules are placed in a smaller, round aeration tank. These maintenance-free systems are made of stainless steel and other wastewater resistant, environmentally friendly, resource-efficient and recyclable materials. They supply fresh air so that the purification bacteria that are “active” in the wastewater receive sufficient oxygen.

The E-FLEX aeration system is designed to inject large volumes of oxygen into the wastewater with the least amount of energy possible. Air bubbles with optimum bubble sizes are generated on the flexible membranes to achieve this task. This technology incorporates fluid mechanical knowledge from INVENT’s research laboratories, as well as know-how in computational fluid dynamics.

The fact that the systems have performed so reliably and

Two of the mixer/aerators placed in the tank.

maintenance-free since 2016 was to be expected, given that even the most heavily stressed components were designed for a service life of at least 100,000 hours.

INVENT is represented in Ontario by Pro Aqua Sales. For more information, email scott@proaquasales.com

CANADA’S COMPETITION BUREAU WON’T DETERMINE WHETHER WET WIPES ‘FLUSHABLE’ CLAIMS ARE MISLEADING

By ES&E Staff

On the heels of a 2019 study on wet wipe flushability by Ryerson University (now called Toronto Metropolitan University), Friends of the Earth Canada (FOE), an eco-action group, along with the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) and the environmental law group Ecojustice, successfully petitioned an inquiry by the Competition Bureau into a problem they alleged was costing some $250 million per year in repairs for Canada’s municipal wastewater systems.

With no decision reached, Canada’s Competition Bureau has closed its investigation into whether wet wipes labeled “flushable” can be safely flushed down the toilet without clogs, Friends of the Earth Canada has revealed.

FOE told The Canadian Press that the Competition Bureau found “a number of competing guidelines” that signaled the end of the inquiry, which came in February, despite no public announcement.

“At this time, enforcement action under the deceptive marketing practices provisions of the Competition Act does not appear to be the most effective way of addressing the issue of what products can be safely disposed of in sewer systems in Canada,” the Competition Bureau wrote to ES&E Magazine in a statement.

“The Bureau’s investigation revealed that there are a number of competing guidelines in Canada and around the world about when a product can be considered to be flushable in municipal sewer systems. Although the Bureau has discontinued its inquiry, it does not endorse the representations made about ‘flushability’, or the tests used to evaluate this feature.

“While the Bureau has discontinued its inquiry at this time, this will not prevent it from investigating other flushability claims should additional information

come to light,” continued the Competition Bureau.

In an article in ES&E Magazine's August 2022 issue, CWWA Executive Director Robert Haller, and Barry Orr, who is with the City of London’s Municipal Enforcement Sewer Use Group, and a flushability researcher with Toronto Municipal University (TMU), said that there were only two guidelines.

One was developed by the International Water Services Flushability Group, an association of wastewater professionals, and the other by INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, whose members are wipes’ producers.

Neither FOE, nor Ecojustice, has yet to issue a public statement on the end of the Competition Bureau’s wet wipes inquiry. However, FOE CEO Beatrice Olivastri told The Canadian Press that the decision was “totally unacceptable.” She indicated to ES&E Magazine that an official statement on the issue will likely be available.

TMU researchers found that toilet paper loses on average 90% of its strength

when wet, allowing it to disperse in toilets, plumbing systems and sewers. In contrast, flushable wipes only lose an average of 29% of their strength in wet conditions.

Canada is currently initiating a flushability standard through the Standards Council of Canada, which is being led by former CWWA Executive Director Duncan Ellison.

Last year, wipes manufacturer Kimberly-Clark Corp. settled a lawsuit with Charleston, South Carolina’s public works commissioners, vowing to improve the “flushability” of its Cottonelle brand flushable wipes, and improve its package labelling.

Early in 2022, the Competition Bureau had a more definitive finding over product label claims, when it fined coffee pod manufacturer Keurig $3 million for exaggerating the recyclability of the pods for Canadian consumers.

For more information, email: editor@esemag.com

Environmental action groups believe that wipes are costing some $250 million per year in repairs for Canada’s municipal wastewater systems. Credit: siam, stock.adobe.com

ENGINEERS WANT TO CREATE MODEL FOR OPTIMAL WASTEWATER LAGOON PERFORMANCE

By ES&E staff

Ateam of environmental engineers is using new funding to learn more about how rural, low-tech wastewater lagoons impact nutrients remaining after treatment.

Wastewater lagoons have a large footprint and typically serve smaller communities where land is abundant, but municipal funding is scarce, making them an economical option. Researchers at West Virginia University’s Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, hope to create a model for optimal lagoon performance under different conditions and with different technologies.

“What’s the sweet spot of removing nutrients while limiting environmental impacts at a reasonable cost?” asks assistant professor Kevin Orner in a media statement.

Orner’s team notes that when treated wastewater containing nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus enter waterways, it increases algal growth, which in turn uses oxygen when it decomposes. Additionally, said Orner, excess nutrients

Researchers plan to create an interactive map with search filters enabling users to find wastewater lagoons matching certain parameters and pull data demonstrating how well those lagoons remove nutrients in various conditions. Credit: lostinthemidwest, stock.adobe.com

can cause other issues, such as too much nitrate in well water, which could cause infant methemoglobinemia, more commonly known as Blue Baby Syndrome.

“Wastewater enters the lagoon,” Orner explained, “stays for a while and is discharged, typically into a river. Hopefully, over time, solids have settled, maybe the sun has killed pathogens, or some nitrogen leaves the liquid as nitrogen gas. Also, contaminant levels in the wastewa-

ter leaving the lagoon should be less than they were in the wastewater coming in.”

One of the first orders of business, Orner said, will be to determine the number of wastewater lagoons and seek out relevant performance data.

In Canada, there are more than 1,200 lagoon systems, according to Statistics Canada. They are typically more prevalent in Alberta and northern communities. In 2004, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) created a best practices guide for wastewater lagoon operation. “A poorly operated lagoon can create objectionable odours and result in the discharge of poorly treated effluent that can adversely affect the aquatic life in the receiving stream,” the FCM guide warns.

Once initial data is organized, Orner’s team plans to create an interactive map with search filters enabling users to find lagoons matching certain parameters and pull data demonstrating how well those lagoons remove nutrients in various conditions.

For more information, email: editor@esemag.com

LAKE HURON WATER TREATMENT PLANT’S HIGH LIFT PUMP STATION UPGRADE COMPLETED

By Bryan Orchard

For half a century residents and commerce across eight municipalities of the greater London area of southwestern Ontario have received their potable water supply from the Lake Huron Water Treatment Plant (WTP) near Grand Bend and the community has been well served over this period. However, in 2017 the Lake Huron Primary Water Supply System (LHPWSS) conducted an audit of pump operations for the pumping station.

The outcome of this study has been the modification of the original five-pump configuration in the pump station and its replacement with a six-pump configuration. This has involved removing three of the original 50-year-old 3,000 hp (2,237 kW) pumps and replacing them with four high lift pumps from KSB.

With the new pumps running on their operational curve, substantial energy savings can be made. As an electrical transmission-connected entity, the LHPWSS was eligible under the Independent Electricity Systems Operator’s (IESO) Industrial Accelerator Program for financial incentives for eligible energy efficiency projects.

The contract was awarded to KSB Canada, who commenced design and consultation work in 2019. Pump manufacturing began in 2020 and the updated pumping station became fully operational in August 2022.

LAKE HURON PRIMARY WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM

Located in southwestern Ontario, London is an interesting city as it gets its water source from both Lake Huron and Lake Erie. The Regional Water Supply Division (RWS) is seconded to the regional water boards and is responsible for two major water supply systems. These are the LHPWSS and the Elgin Area Primary Water Supply System (EAPWSS).

The LHPWSS services the municipal-

ities of London, Lambton Shores, North Middlesex, South Huron, Bluewater, Middlesex Centre, Lucan-Biddulph and Strathroy-Caradoc, from a water treatment plant located north of the village of Grand Bend in South Huron. The plant has a current treatment capacity of 340 million litres per day and serves approximately 420,000 people in the

eight municipalities, including 80% of the City of London.

The pumping station was originally designed for a single pipeline, but later in 1996 and 2014 the RWS partially twinned the 47 km main transmission pipeline to a terminal reservoir. This resulted in the pumps no longer running on their curve.

The high lift pump gallery located on the north side of the station.

“After almost 50 years, the existing pumps were becoming inefficient, with the impellers showing signs of pitting. Keeping them operational required a lot of ongoing maintenance because they were running off curve,” reports Billy Haklander, capital program manager for LH&EAPWSS.

PUMP SELECTION

The overriding issues which the suppliers faced were delivering energy savings, ensuring that the pumps could be accommodated in the limited amount of space in the pump hall, and that the floor could withstand the weight of the pumps. In addition, the supplier needed to guarantee a wide operating range with low available NPSH (net positive suction head), covering multiple duty conditions with pumps operating at full speed.

To give the LHPWSS the most flexibility in selecting pumps, four pump suppliers were invited to submit separate bids for the small and large pumps and to identify a credit should the LH&EAP-

WSS decide to source both the small and large pumps from the same supplier.

KSB’s bid offered a creative solution using just a single type for all four pumps, with only the impellers and motors being different in accordance with the size of the pump. The base plates for each pump were the same size. This flexibility enabled the capital cost of its bid to be adjusted to account for fewer spares and

thereby create savings for the customer.

A significant benefit of the proposal made by KSB was that, with the smaller pumps using the same size casings and base plates as the two larger pumps, it is possible to increase the pump size by fitting larger impellers and motors at a future date if necessary. This can be done on-site without any civil works needing to be carried out. Thus, if demand grows for the water supply to be increased, it can be accommodated with the minimum of cost and disruption to the plant.

INSTALLATION CHALLENGES

“One of the constraints that we had to take into consideration when evaluating the bidders’ project was ability to conform to the available space in the existing pump hall,” explains Marcus Henderson, KSB national operations manager. “With this being an existing installation, there was only so much real estate to work with. A key constraint was that the existing pumps were of a

The Lake Huron Water Treatment Plant has a current treatment capacity of 340 million litres per day and serves a population of approximately 420,000 people.

bottom suction configuration. Usually, the installation configuration for horizontal split case pumps is in-line, with the suction and discharge in the same direction. This meant that we had to find a solution to incorporate bottom suction. Some pattern work was needed to incorporate the existing pipework, which enabled us to solve the problem.”

“The eventual scope of the project involved the supply of four bottom suction horizontal split case pumps, vibration monitoring system and flow straighteners (suction conditioning spools) for potable water distribution,” says Henderson. "We were also responsible for torsional and lateral analysis for the pump sets, on-site start-up and commissioning field services.”

The plant’s pumps are rated for 1,158 L/s, and each of the pumps’ discharge piping is equipped with a 500-mm diameter tilting disk check valve, along with a 500-mm diameter metal seated ball valve equipped with a motorized electric actuator. The WTP has two hydro pneumatic tanks, each with a capacity of 580 m3, for transient protection of the 47 km partially twinned 1,200-mm diameter water main distribution system.

RDLO PUMPS

KSB’s RDLO axially split, single stage volute pumps have been developed specifically for handling raw water, clean water, service water and transport fluids with a minimum of flow resistance. The combination of solid bearing brackets, a short and rigid shaft, and pre-loaded bearings, lowers vibra-

pumps are rated for 1,300 L/s or 900 L/sec and each one's discharge piping is equipped with a tilting disk check and throttling valve and isolation ball valve.

tion and extends operating life for the bearings, seals and coupling. Being axially split case pumps simplifies maintenance procedures, enabling ready access to all parts for thorough inspection.

“Two of the pumps are connected up to 3,500 hp motors and the other two to 2,500 hp motors. These are the main pumps

•

•

•

•

RDLO

supplying drinking water to the entire LHPWSS. With many customers located over 50 km away, they consume a great amount of energy. Therefore, improving efficiency by one or two percent results in substantial energy cost savings,” comments Henderson.

INSTALLATION

“Because the pumps were being retrofitted into the original premises, it was necessary to run the plant at half capacity on one transmission side during installation,” explains Haklander. “As there was a spare bay already in the plant, it was possible to utilize this for the installation of the first pump. The procedure involved running pumps one, two and three, while pumps four, five and six were being installed. Once these pumps were tested and we were comfortable with their performance, the procedure switched to running pumps four, five and six, while pumps one, two and three were being installed.”

Historically, the lack of the isolation

valves on the existing pumps required the complete isolation of half of the discharge header board (three pumps) in order to facilitate the repair to one pump. This effectively limited the pump capacity of the plant to half of its rated capacity.

The selection of a combined control/ check valve to replace two valves on each pump discharge meant that each pump would have a dedicated isolation valve for each pump discharge. Isolation valves on each pump discharge would enable the complete isolation of the combination valve and the high lift pump for maintenance and repair purposes.

PUMP EFFICIENCY

A significant element of the project was the issue of the pumps delivering energy savings, which involved factory acceptance testing at KSB’s Halle facility in Germany. Factory testing involved shipping one motor of each size to the factory and coupling them up to the pumps for string testing and recording the overall pump performance. The

motors also underwent type testing under full load in accordance with the IEEE Standard so that they could determine motor efficiency.

“We took the factory overall power and the data from the motor factory to determine pump efficiency. There were strict penalties on performance guarantees on this project, so if we failed to meet the efficiency guarantees given, KSB would be required to pay LHPWSS the difference in energy costs delivered and those which were guaranteed over the performance lifetime,” says Henderson.

It is worth noting that when the pump tests were carried out, they had to be on bare internals. The coatings were only applied after testing, so it was a true test of the raw efficiency of the pumps. The coating can improve efficiency by one to two percent.

Bryan Orchard works with KSB. For more information, email: anna.vezina@ksb.com, or visit: www.ksb.ca

MORE UTILITIES TAKE ACTIVE ROLE IN ADDRESSING WATER SCARCITY BY REDUCING NRW LOSS

By Yolanda Coleman Kokayi

Water scarcity is not something that most North American water professionals spend a lot of time planning for. However, as we experience more extreme weather, it is becoming common for more parts of Canada to experience water shortages at some point during the year.

Addressing aging infrastructure is an ongoing priority for most water utilities, as they look at ways of reducing non-revenue water (NRW) losses. These can be as high as 30% in some water systems. With more jurisdictions paying attention to water loss, utilities are rising to the challenge of reducing NRW loss.

According to the Global Footprint Network, globally, we are consuming the resources of 1.8 Earths to sustain our current population and demand for resources. If we continue on the same trajectory and factor in population growth, the situation could rapidly become worse. Over half of the world’s major aquifers are being depleted faster than they are being replenished.

REDUCING NRW LOSS BY DOUBLING DOWN ON PRESSURE MANAGEMENT

A lot can be learned from other countries that have already had close calls. Cape Town, South Africa, came very close to “day zero” of water supply in mid-January 2018. While the public faced tremendous restrictions during this time, the city had been working hard to reduce NRW. When a water crisis is imminent, the best chance of avoiding a “day zero” situation is to double down on pressure management.

Cape Town used this strategy by establishing district metered areas (DMAs), installing pressure reducing valves (PRVs), and using Mueller’s advanced pressure management solution. Having the ability to precisely control critical point pressure at the PRVs gave the city the ability to manage water flow more effectively through intelligent, self-learning technology. The end-result was a significant reduction in pipe bursts and leakage, and ultimately decreasing real water loss.

USING AMI TO CONTROL WATER AND REDUCE CONSUMPTION

In many areas, drought extremes have been intensifying. To help cope with this, a lot of utilities have made an impressive investment in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), which provides up-to-the-minute insight on water usage. If there is a sudden surge, indicating a pipe burst, the utility can shut off the supply and dispatch a repair team, reducing water loss and further damage.

Some municipalities with AMI systems are also sharing data with their customers through mobile apps. By giving residents detailed information about their water usage, custom-

ers can better manage their own consumption and even shut off water if a leak or pipe burst occurs. If a resident is heading away for the weekend and forgot to turn off their sprinklers, they can even shut off their water via the app until they return.

SMART ASSETS HELP UTILITIES MONITOR AND PREPARE FOR SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS

Sensors can be added throughout water distribution networks to collect operational data 24 hours a day. Having this data on a single, centralized water intelligence platform allows utilities to monitor, control, and monetize their water distribution networks.

Smart assets like hydrants, meters and remote pressure monitors provide utilities with the ability to capture pressure, flow, leak and temperature data through state-of-the art sensors installed at virtually any access point along the pipeline.

AUTOMATED FLUSHING REDUCES NRW

Smart assets allow for automation and remote control. This ensures assets are being used under the conditions they were designed for, and also allows utilities to address multiple objectives. For example, recent advancements in automated flushing enable utilities to flush water lines based on temperature and pH rather than a set schedule.

Not only is it a safer approach when water quality is an issue, flushing does not occur when it is not needed. A smart automated flushing unit only flows until the water quality has been restored. This is as opposed to traditional units that run water for a set time period. By only flushing when it’s needed and for the amount of time necessary, utilities can significantly reduce NRW loss.

Digital solutions are being used in the field, giving operators the ability to make efficient repairs with apps that scan QR codes.

MOBILE APPS OFFER EFFICIENCIES

IN REPAIR

IoT is helping utilities leapfrog the challenges posed with aging water infrastructure. Digital solutions are being used in the field, giving operators the ability to make efficient repairs with apps that scan quick response codes. This gives crews access to valuable installation information and required resources while in the field. Getting to repairs quicker means utilities can stay on top of repairs and avoid potentially bigger issues. With smart asset management tools, utilities can better plan projects and track outcomes.

SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS LAST LONGER AND PROVIDE ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS

Using quality materials is a key factor in sustainability for many reasons. Longer-lasting products result in less breakage and, subsequently, less NRW loss. It also translates into less production time, which takes its own toll on water consumption and use of source material.

New materials, such as lead-free silicon-based copper alloys, are being sourced for their sustainability benefits. Silicon is the second most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, while bismuth (used in copper alloys) is only about twice as abundant as gold and is a byproduct of lead mining. Silicon-based copper alloys not only have a longer-lasting life, but also consistently exhibit zero dezincification.

North American manufacturers are going to great lengths to meet rigorous standards, like those laid out by AWWA and NSF. A simple change in choice of material can impact design life, function and performance.

North American water utilities are fortunate to have many quality manufacturers that are also recognized as leaders in technology with many solutions to choose from, including support services. This means utilities of all sizes have access to experts who are willing to listen, share local knowledge, and help find the right solutions to address individual needs. THE

FUTURE OF WATER IS NOW

All stakeholders need to come

Smart assets like hydrants, meters and remote pressure monitors provide utilities with the ability to capture pressure, flow, leak and temperature data.

together and manage water challenges. Whether you are in a water-scarce part of the world or not, using any of these strategies can help reduce non-revenue water loss and overconsumption.

Yolanda Coleman Kokayi is with Mueller Water Products. For more information,visit: www.muellerwp.com

Sludge decanters help cut ship emission control costs

By Nils Engelke and Peter Polifka

The shipping industry has historically been allowed many environmental offenses. However, recent regulations require ship operators to clean their exhaust gases in order to sustainably protect the oceans.

Based in Sweden, Stena Line Freight is one of the world’s largest ferry operators. With more than 25,000 annual departures throughout Northern and Western Europe, it boasts more than 37 operating vessels and is one of the largest fleets in the business. It operates, among other water transportation, eight ferries that run daily from Hoek van Holland in the Netherlands to Harwich and Killingholme in England.

According to the German Federal Environmental Agency, approximately 40,000 merchant ships are traversing the world’s oceans, in addition to scores of ferries and giant cruise ships. In international trade alone, shipping holds an undisputed top position at 90%. In terms of environmental protection, however, it is far from the top position with its high emissions.

With stricter guidelines from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the oceans will be better protected in the future from the stresses of high particulate and sulphur emissions. Beginning in 2020, the sulphur content of the fuel that ships burned on the high seas was required to be reduced to 0.5% from 3.5%, in order to meet those emissions limits. Restrictions for the North and Baltic Seas for sulphur have been limited to 0.1% since 2015.

SCRUBBER SYSTEMS HELP TO CLEAN EMISSIONS

In order to comply with the stricter limits, shipping companies would have to use high-grade marine diesel fuel oil instead of lower-cost heavy fuel oil. However, marine diesel fuel is significantly more expensive. That is why many

ship operators are relying on a more cost-effective and already tried-andtested alternative. Installing wet washers for exhaust gas cleaning in their exhaust systems makes it possible to comply with the required emissions limits.

These scrubbers achieve the required emissions reduction, but they also generate wastewater that must be cleaned before discharge, using a closed loop scrubber. Stena Line also uses scrubber systems to clean their sources of emissions.

During the scrubbers cleaning process, gases in the exhaust system are cleaned using treated seawater, thereby binding exhaust gas particles such as heavy metals, soot and hydrocarbon emissions. Depending on the amount of contamination, the wash water from the gas scrubbing will be removed and sent on to the cleaning stage of a froth flotation system.

Scrubber systems from Wärtsilä, a

company based in Finland, are used on the large ferries of Stena Line. In this system, the contaminated gas scrubbing water is cleaned in a specially developed froth flotation device called a bleed off treatment unit (BOTU). This purified water meets emissions requirements and can be discharged directly into the ocean.

However, this process has a distinct disadvantage. The large-volume, still-liquid froth flotation sludge must be temporarily stored in a tank before it can be disposed of at a port. The amount of sludge remaining to be disposed of is large, and the solids in the tank tend to form deposits. The handling of this material is correspondingly complex and expensive.

OPTIMAL SEPARATION OF SOLIDS AND LIQUIDS WITH A DECANTER CENTRIFUGE

The goal of Stena Line was to signifi-

Approximately 40,000 merchant ships are traversing the world’s oceans, in addition to scores of ferries and giant cruise ships.

cantly reduce the amount of residual sludge. In order to do this, the solids and liquid in the sludge needed to be further separated. Stena Line independently examined a variety of procedures in the technical development stage.

The solution was to use a decanter. Unlike other separation processes, decanters only require a small amount of space, avoid emissions, and require only minimal operating effort with their continuous, automatic operation.

Stena Line decided to use high-quality decanter centrifuges manufactured in Germany for its larger ships. The company uses Flottweg decanters to treat the resulting sludge from froth flotation and to significantly reduce the volume of the sludge. By dehydrating the solids, this hazardous waste can be temporarily stored in containers on the ship so that it can be disposed of at the nearest port in an environmentally-safe manner.

During the development and optimization phase, a used model, type Z1L decanter built in 1985, was initially installed on Stena Transit vessels.

With the model Z2E-4/4X1, a completely new machine is now available for this application. This optimized design,with slightly larger drum volume, contains all of the improvements of the new Z2 series.

Fed through a centrally-located inlet pipe, sludge passes through to the inlet space of the screw. After gentle pre-acceleration, it goes through the distribution openings in the drum. The drum has a cylindrical/conical shape and rotates at a carefully calibrated speed.

When the full rotational speed is reached, the sludge becomes attached to the drum shell as a cylindrical ring. Therefore, under the influence of centrifugal force, the solids settle on the inner wall of the drum. At the same time, a screw rotates in the interior at a lower differential speed and moves the settled solids toward the conically-narrowed end of the drum, where they are discharged downward.

This relatively dry sludge is collected and disposed of in a port. The clarified liquid flows to the cylindrical end of the drum, where it runs out through openings in the drum cover, clean and depressurized. The drum casting is made from high strength duplex steel and the screw/scroll is made from a stainless-steel casting. This provides optimal protection against corrosion, which is incredibly important for the highly-aggressive residues generated from the exhaust gas scrubbing.

The success of the process is also fast and efficient on the high seas. If the sludge layer after the BOTU process with 2% total solids (TS) by weight percentage still contains a large amount of aqueous material, the decanter drains about 20% – 22% TS by weight percentage. The cleaned aqueous phase is released with the cleaned water from the froth flotation, so that only a very small residual amount of sludge remains. Thanks to the process, it is possible to achieve a reduction from 500 kg/h to 45 kg/h of froth flotation sludge, with a corresponding minimizing of the volume.

The small amount of remaining sludge fits into a small container, which can easily be taken off board. It is usually disposed of in the port of Rotterdam. The decanter is a huge success, not only from an environmental point of view, but also

With the model Z2E-4/4X1, a completely new machine is now available for this application. The decanter is at the end of the cleaning process.

economically. And, the disposal process is significantly optimized since there is no more weekly disposal by truck. The cost savings are therefore significant.

Nils Engelke and Peter Polifka are with Flottweg SE. For more information, visit: www.flottweg.com

HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE CONSULTING ENGINEERING BUSINESS FOREVER

THE CHALLENGES WE FACED

By Tewfik Atia

When COVID-19 hit Canada in March 2020, it sent our industry scrambling. In the first few days and weeks, as everything began to shut down, we struggled to figure out what environmental work would be classified as essential. Also, what could we do to ensure that “business as usual” could be safely conducted without exposing our teams to a potentially

Like everyone else, we also had to wrap our heads around ensuring we had the right technology at home, and a good setup, to be able to connect with clients and co-workers. Adjusting to online work wasn’t easy for many of us, but we realized that it was going to be the reality for some time. So, we worked to ensure everyone had the tools necessary to succeed at home.

It wasn’t just working from home that was the challenge. It was also collaborating from home and learning from home that made it a difficult transition. This was hard, both for consultants and those who manage them. Managers had to develop a new system for business

here to stay. They allow for greater project collaboration, regardless of where an individual employee is located on any given day.

It has also sped up the adoption of many technologies and innovations already present in our work, but maybe not part of our everyday work lives. These include BIM, digital twins, drones/remote vehicles, and monitoring systems. Not only have these been valuable from a data sharing perspective, but have also, in some cases, improved worker safety.

For a company like ours, where expertise in certain areas of environment work is located in other global jurisdictions, the pandemic made coordination even easier, as our reliance on -

We will also continue to see less travel, as the hybrid work model is embraced by companies in our industry. The days of full-time office work are gone, as we embrace the value of working part of the

This has removed some of the burden from family life, made aspects of our work more efficient, removed some of our stress caused by the daily commute, and provided an overall stronger work-

life balance for our team members.

These changes aren’t necessarily being driven by business either. They are the new demands and expectations of a post-pandemic society. Communities, clients, families and even our team members are pushing for changes to become permanent. Our role in a competitive business landscape is forcing us to adopt them. But the changes are for the better. They are driving technology adoption, creating new efficiencies, and reducing our carbon footprint.

The hybrid work model has also positively impacted diversity and inclusion in the workforce. Studies have shown that people from visible minorities prefer hybrid work. It doesn’t expose them to the micro-aggressions that they can face in the office environment.

At WSP, our efforts to lead inclusively everyday have involved providing training for our leaders and our team members on micro-aggressions. This is an important step in understanding and owning bias, so it can be removed from the workplace.

Also, hybrid work can have a positive impact on opportunities for promotion in the workforce, as it causes employers to focus on a person’s results, rather than their connections.

The hybrid model isn’t without its challenges though. There is value to connecting in person, and we need to make sure we continue to do so. Face-to-face meetings can eliminate potential distractions, open pathways to better brainstorming, and provide opportunities for team building. They also help to nurture young professionals, giving them the chance to work alongside mentors, feed off their enthusiasm for the work, and allow them to ask questions in more comfortable settings.

This is something we have seen ourselves with the opening of our new office in downtown Toronto. It has renewed the energy of our teams and given them a chance to collaborate in person, while meeting colleagues from other areas of the business.

A NEW, BETTER WAY TO DO BUSINESS

What the pandemic taught us was that there was no one way to do business. Indeed, the sky is the limit as far as re-imagining how we work effectively, and efficiently, regardless of the circumstances we are faced with. We have now proven to ourselves that we have the ability to adapt quickly to new circumstances. This is an invaluable lesson that can help us in our daily work, especially for our young professionals, who have yet to encounter such a significant challenge in their professional lives.

The pandemic also made us more resilient. Some of us

gained that resilience by having to perform our essential environmental duties in the face of the fear and doubt the pandemic caused. For others, it was finding a way to still perform their jobs at the highest level despite not seeing friends and colleagues for months, or years. We accomplished this while still meeting the needs of our clients, providing them with innovative and sustainable solutions for their project needs.

Our sector did an excellent job adjusting to the sudden demands of restrictive work conditions. As a result, we learned how to work together in a more efficient and productive way that will benefit our entire industry.

Tewfik Atia is the Senior Vice President, National Operations, Earth & Environment for WSP in Canada. Email: tewfik.atia@wsp.com

Managers had to develop a new system for business continuity, setting up secure computer drives for remote access to project documentation and installing new methods for team-wide collaboration.

OPTIMIZING THE FUTURE OF ENGINEERING

By David Nesseth

As John Gamble reflects on 2022, he is struck by how many conference chats still contemplate what an office actually is, or should aspire to be. Firms are slowly emerging from the pandemic with new tools and new ways of working, and many are still trying to understand how to best serve their employees in a changing world, while keeping clients front of mind.

Inherently, there is a penchant for optimization in the world of engineering. So says Gamble, president and CEO of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – Canada (ACEC). Firms are still finding their footing in a landscape altered by technology and a rapidly shifting culture, and Gamble knows that flexibility and agility for one person could be impediments to teamwork for others.

Wake-up calls have been plentiful over the last two years, says Gamble, who feels that the pandemic has given the sector, and society, a real opportunity for forward thinking. “It’s given us a chance to take a fresh look at things and see if we can do them better,” he told ES&E Magazine.

Many larger firms are already reducing their footprint, and ACEC itself opted not to renew a lease for its own building. Instead, it is booking office space on an as-needed basis.

“People of a certain generation will keep having a well-earned office with their family photos, and a window, versus a hot desk with project teams booking rooms. There’s no definitive playbook as to how this should be done,” says Gamble. “It’s a challenge, but also an enormous opportunity.”

Regardless of whether employees work remotely or not, what it means to be an employer is changing too, says Gamble. It is no longer just about recruiting and combing through CVs. Now, firms are actively listening more than ever to the needs of their employees, looking to match them with clients.

Also, they are working harder to determine what motivates employees to be their best, he says.

Engineering firms are looking to not only acquire the best talent, but transform their own values to meet the modern definition of what makes an attractive workplace for employees, all while maintaining one that can keep delivering great projects for clients, says Gamble.

Optimization comes somewhat naturally to firms trying to deliver on the environmental, social and governance front, often called ESG. Gamble believes firms are also finding new ways to attract the best and the brightest. They are aiming to become an “employer of choice” that stands out from the pack, and leading the way on gender and racial inclusivity, in a sector that has struggled to do so.

“A lot of light bulbs have gone off, and there is now a genuine and sincere interest to tackle these issues,” says Gamble, who is now working with the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students to run focus groups on inclusivity, which he hopes will yield some actionable data for ACEC members. With all of these changes, Gamble hopes that it may be time for other elements of the industry to find new solutions as well.

PROCUREMENT REFORM

Like engineers, Canada’s government can be aspirational, with eyes for optimization, says Gamble, but may need a roadmap designed by insiders. Government, he says, wants to improve climate change resilience, reduce carbon, and create benefits for communities. However, there are some distinct challenges with the government’s approach, that he says often considers only cost reduction, not the entire life cycles of assets.

The past year was a good sign, adds Gamble, particularly for proving the merits of a qualification-based selection system (QBS) that matches the project to the most qualified firm, not simply the lowest bidder. Gamble doesn’t want firms to be forced into minimally interpreting the scope of a project just to keep bids low.

“It’s an opportunity to demonstrate that our services are not a cost to be minimized, but rather an investment to be leveraged,” he says.

During 2022, at least three new studies were released on the effectiveness of QBS, and Procurement Services Canada undertook five trial QBS procurements. In one of the studies, the University of Alberta found that the average design

John Gamble (left) at ACEC-Canada’s National Leadership Conference. Credit ACEC-Canada

cost index of non-QBS projects was 27.2% higher than QBS projects. At the very least, Gamble says he hopes it will be the start of some new discussions for a procurement model that could reduce delays and cost overruns.

“The door is opening,” says Gamble. “It’s not just an investment in the asset. It has benefits that cascade through society. I think we’re ultimately going to be making better decisions at the front-end that have better outcomes.”

The problem, as Gamble points out, is that “it’s hard to get an appetite to save money 20 years from now, particularly in the political arena where people want to show clear accomplishments during their term of office.”

But, he also believes it is becoming more and more common for some politicians to believe in legacy, not just a moment in time, when it comes to vision for infrastructure.

NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE ASSESSMENT

It wasn’t very long ago that Gamble was writing documents with titles such as “Making the Case for Infrastructure Investment,” as if federal officials needed to be convinced about it. Nowadays, he says, one would be hard-pressed to find a politician in 2023 who doesn’t believe infrastructure investment is a key priority. In the most recent federal budget, he was relieved to see infrastructure referenced some 90 times.

When it comes to the early workings of what would be Canada’s first National Infrastructure Assessment project, Gamble is cautiously optimistic. Since public engagement got underway in 2021, former Infrastructure and Communities Minister Catherine McKenna’s creation has been laying the framework for identifying Canada’s infrastructure priorities.

The assessment also aims to improve coordination among infrastructure owners and funders.“We will not achieve our

ambition by accident,” McKenna originally said of the undertaking.

Just recently, Gamble was part of consultations on developing the assessment. He says the government is asking a lot of the right questions as it develops a clearer vision for preparing for a world decades from now. He hopes it’s one that intertwines an economic vision with an environmental one that can inform public policy.

“Things are rumbling in the background,” he says. “It’s one of those things that if done well could be extremely powerful and extremely constructive. If done poorly, it could shackle us into bad policy for decades. We’re going to continue to keep an oar in the water.”

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

ENGINEERING COMPETENCY MUST EXTEND BEYOND PURELY TECHNICAL SKILLS

By Pat Coleman

After a few days of rain, I stood at the edge of a clarifier, puzzled that the sludge flow rate was significantly lower than the other three clarifiers. We drained the tank, inspected the pipe and found a bag of bolts pushed it up out of sight.

Then it happened. A pie-shaped piece of the clarifier floor broke and floated upward. I felt the words leap up my throat, “fill it!”. I then called the company’s managing director, unsure if I would have a job by the end of the day.

We found out later that the groundwater was perched on a layer of chalk. From this incident, I learned that I need to pay attention to the ground conditions we build on, I should have asked if we had monitoring wells at the site and that I should have checked the groundwater level given the intensity of rainfall.

While writing this article, I thought I was glad I did not have to learn everything this way.

LICENSING AND LEARNING

Professional engineers are responsible for maintaining their competence level to match their role. Although this requirement did not change over my career, the scrutiny my learning is subject to by licensing entities has increased.

After ten years in the U.K. building wastewater treatment plants, I returned to Canada. I reclaimed my British Columbia (B.C.) license and obtained an Ontario license a year later. By this point, B.C. required me to report my learning. Last year, I also submitted a learning plan. Ontario will follow B.C. in 2023 with its Practice Evaluation and Knowledge (PEAK) program.

Credit: www.retrievalpractice.org

I always believed that my level of knowledge depended primarily on my own efforts. My school measured my IQ because I had a gifted older brother. I asked my mother, a high school teacher, what my IQ was. She told me she would never tell me. She said my success depends on my attitude and effort rather than my IQ. Educators now call this a “growth mindset.” A term that causes most teachers to cringe because it has become a meaningless administration buzzword.

When I drafted my learning plan for Engineers BC, I thought I knew little about how I learned or even how to access learning.

Engineers BC has four learning categories: leadership/communication, ethical, regulatory, and technical. My plan was an eclectic mix of courses on Indigenous and technical issues, participation in committee work and technical reading.

My first task in the plan was to learn how I and others learned. I found a blog

on Medium that recommended the book “Make it Stick” by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel. The blogger was correct, this was the one book on learning I needed to read.

MYTHS AND ATTITUDES

One reviewer argued the book “turns fashionable ideas on its head by challenging common myths we have come to accept as true about learning.” The section on myths certainly did that.

Our ability is not fixed. Our ability to learn depends on our attitude. If we think we can or can’t, we’re right. The psychologist Carol Dweck observed that students respond to failure by either giving up or persisting. The group that gave up believed their level of intellectual ability was fixed. The group that persisted believed they could push the boundaries of their ability with hard work. The former set performance goals, while the latter set learning goals.

The difference between the two types of

goals is performance goals validate ability while learning goals assess progress.

Learning is hard work. Learning is deeper and more durable when it requires effort. Easy learning does not “stick”. It washes away like writing in the sand on a beach.

We are poor judges of whether we are learning well or poorly. The person we are best at deceiving is ourselves. We tend to adopt methods that feel more fruitful, unaware that the gains made are quickly lost. The notion of our preferred learning style can become an excuse for us not to work at learning. Learning is hard because it changes the brain. Effort makes these changes endure.

TWO BRAINS AND RETENTION

Our brains use two analytical systems: automatic and controlled. The automatic system is unconscious, intuitive and immediate. This system uses memories and our senses to size up a situation quickly. For example, you run if you are walking across a field and sense a predator nearby.

The controlled system uses conscious analysis and reasoning. The system considers choices and makes decisions, which requires more energy. After escaping the predator, you plot the predator’s demise in the safety of your village using the controlled system.

We use the controlled system to train the automatic system so that when an immediate response is required, it is the correct one. The automatic system is susceptible to illusions. We rely on the controlled system to overrule an inappropriate response. For example, a person entering a confined space may panic but then dampen the alarm by focusing the brain on the task at hand and checking their harness.

Engineers learn with experience to discern when to trust their intuition and when to question it. We need to minimize the number of mistakes we make and the impact of these mistakes.

Professor Raymond R. Panko, in his seminal paper on spreadsheet errors entitled “What we don’t know about spreadsheet errors today: the facts, why we don’t believe them, and what we need to do,” states that BERs (base error rates)

obviously depend on complexity. For simple but nontrivial cognitive actions such as writing, calculating, and writing program statements, BERs are usually in the range of 1% to 5%. This is found in both experiments and data collection in real organizations.

When we tire, we rely on the automatic system more because it takes less energy. The error rate increases because the automatic system is not suited to certain cognitive activities.

ILLUSIONS AND MENTORING

We must be mindful that we can deceive ourselves. Illusions impact how we manage people, how we assess our own performance, and how we structure our learning plans.

The automatic system relies on memories, which are often distorted. Even the process of recalling them and storing them again can change a memory. They can vary depending on the questions we are asked about them.

Two illusions (of the many illusions discussed in the book) engineering managers need to be especially aware of are:

Curse of knowledge – We underestimate how long a young engineer will take to learn a task because we evaluate the learning process using hindsight.

Fluency illusion – We mistake fluency with the text with mastery of the idea. For example, a person may be able to talk about a model, but be unable to apply it on a project.

Both illusions can set a young engineer up for failure. A mentor should step in, point out the illusion, offer to assist the mentee to deliver the product, use the task to teach the skill, and advocate that the mentee be assigned similar work again.

The third illusion mentors must manage is the Dunning-Kruger effect. Many young engineers pass through a phase when they overestimate their ability and fail to see the mismatch between their performance and the outcome.

The illusion tricks them into thinking there is nothing more for them to learn. At this point in their career, a mentor must tactfully teach them how to assess their performance accurately. We do not want to undermine their confidence, but we do not want them to drive themselves over a cliff.

When we see illusions at work in our colleagues’ lives, we need to ask ourselves if we have fallen into similar traps.

ADVICE FOR A LIFELONG LEARNER

We learn by training the automatic system using the controlled system, dodging the multitude of ways we can deceive ourselves. The following steps describe this process:

Access – Psychologist Robert Sternberg states, “one cannot apply what one knows in a practical manner if one does not know anything to apply.” Accessing the learning we need can be on a trial-and-error basis. Often one approach will not provide what we need, so we try another source.

Retrieve – Store the learning while retrieving parts over time to ensure the learning “sticks”. The “stuck” learning is a memory available to our automatic system.

Generate – Develop an answer to a problem we do not have an answer for, by using what we learned. Often, the effort expended solving a problem by trial-and-error imprints what we learned on our memory.

Reflect – Retrieve knowledge from memory, connect with current experience and decide what we would do differently.

Elaborate – Build on what we learned

Book cover of “Make it Stick” by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel.

by digging deeper or explaining what we learned to someone else. Elaboration means giving the knowledge new meaning.

Learning is more robust when it matters, as the abstract becomes concrete and personal. The following two sections illustrate this learning process.

EXAMPLE ONE

I worked through two textbook chapters that stepped through the design of a granular activated sludge (GAS) process. Afterwards, I attended an internal workshop that discussed lessons learned from GAS plants my colleagues built and commissioned abroad. Reflecting on what I knew and heard at the workshop, I knew I had a gap in my learning.

In the Fall term of 2021, I took an online course on the design of granular activated sludge processes from TU Delft (online-learning.tudelft.nl). The coursework assignments included retrieval questions and design assignments. Once completed, I attended several calls on projects where we are, or have implemented the technology. I developed several questions based on the course materials, comparing what I thought the answer would be to my colleagues’ replies. I dug deeper when there was a discrepancy, ensuring my understanding of the material was correct.

Later, I reviewed an established technology that was considered an alternative to a GAS solution. I put the two designs side by side and asked how the design basis impacted each. Using the criteria I learned in my course, I asked myself if the

“aggressiveness” of the designs were comparable.

I logged the course with Engineers BC as part of my learning report, knowing most of the learning occurred after my TU Delft classes finished.

EXAMPLE TWO

Like many Canadians, I read the recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and attended education events. In 2020, Engineers BC asked professionals to include Indigenous education in their learning goals. I opted to take an online course from the University of Alberta via Coursera. The introductory course helped me assess my understanding and opened doors to other sources.

I followed up by reading Bob Joseph’s books and taking his online course on the Indian Act (www.ictinc.ca). Even after this, I was still not confident enough with the issue for it to influence my work and my discussions with my colleagues. Therefore, I followed up with a second course from the University of Alberta on Indigenous Stereotypes.

The Indigenous Stereotype course required me to adjust my learning style preferences because of the language and methodology used by social scientists. I followed the advice in “Make it Stick” in that I forced myself to summarize each paragraph I read in my own words, go over these summaries and extract keywords and ideas. Later, I went over the materials and notes again. The effort required exceeded what I would have put into a technical course.

ENGINEERS AND LEARNING

During the construction of the Konkan Railway from Mumbai to Bangalore on the west coast of India, a poem was found pinned to a site hut. The last stanza of the poem reads

And, when we have completed our task, All can see that dreams have materialized For the comfort and usefulness of all I am an engineer, I serve mankind I make dreams come true Engineers BC recognizes training in four areas, while Ontario’s PEAK program only recognizes technical training. Both bodies require mandatory ethics training. Holding engineers accountable is a means of encouraging engineers to be responsible – using learning to make a difference.

An engineer must be able to do the work, manage the work, manage the people doing the work, and manage the relationship with the client paying for the work. An engineer must be competent enough to know when a decision brings a dream or a nightmare to fruition. The Konkan Railway poet expressed the aspiration that engineering competency must extend beyond purely technical skills. So then, must our learning.

Pat Coleman, P.Eng. is with Stantec. Email: pat.coleman@stantec.com

ONTARIO’S CHANGING LANDSCAPE – HOW DOES LAND USE PLANNING AFFECT MUNICIPAL

INFRASTRUCTURE?

By Dania Chehab

Ontario has seen several changes to land use planning in the last couple of years. These include increased use of minister’s zoning orders (MZOs) to the latest hot topics, Bill 23 and the Greenbelt Plan.

These can lead to politically charged discussions. However, politics aside, our municipalities are now faced with a constantly moving target when it comes to land use planning and, in turn, infrastructure planning.

WHAT IS LAND USE PLANNING?

Land use planning is the process by which governing bodies identify how land resources will be managed and shared between different applications, such as residential, ecological protection, and industrial/commercial/institutional (ICI). It is regulated by the Planning Act and associated policies, including the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) which guides growth and resource management, as well as environmental protection and public health and safety.

Provincially, land use planning is primarily administered by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH).

The Planning Act designates specific planning duties for municipalities as well, such as completing municipal comprehensive review (MCR) processes, official plan preparation, and zoning bylaw management.

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT TO PUBLIC WORKS?

Land use planning affects water and wastewater servicing capacity, location and timing.

Many municipalities, particularly upper-tier, are responsible for water supply and distribution as well as wastewa-

ter collection and treatment.

They operate their systems to meet current demands, with consideration of near and long-term future needs. Future needs can be met through available installed capacity, simple upgrades (e.g., replacing small pumps with larger pumps), and more complex expansions (e.g., a new intake).

To reasonably project future infrastructure needs, we must understand future land use plans, including where, when, and how much growth will occur. The

As public entities, municipalities are accountable to the public and taxpayers, and must prepare financial plans and budgets. Financial plans are also a requirement for municipal drinking water systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act, with the intent to make sure that municipalities can afford to safely maintain and operate their systems.

Without reasonable and reliable planning projections, we cannot forecast future infrastructure needs or identify funding requirements.

WHAT ARE THE RECENT AND PROPOSED REGULATORY CHANGES?

Three primary areas have seen recent or proposed changes in regulation or application. These are MZOs, Bill 23, and the Greenbelt Plan. (Please note that this article was written while Greenbelt Plan changes were pending and not yet approved.)

MINISTER’S ZONING ORDERS

next step is to identify future servicing needs, in terms of where, when, and how much. Then comes development of an implementation and phasing plan, along with cost impacts. This can be in the form of an infrastructure master plan. In turn, these influence financial planning.

Municipalities that offer water and wastewater servicing must pay for operation, maintenance and growth-related works. Funding sources vary but include water and wastewater user rates, development charges, and provincial or federal funding programs.

MZOs are regulations under the Planning Act, and therefore they are awarded higher priority than local planning policies, such as official plans. Developers and landowners submit proposals to apply for MZOs from the province. If granted, they are not subject to consultation that would otherwise be required under Part II of the Environmental Bill of Rights Act (1993).

The applicant can then proceed with their proposed development, subject to conditions specified on the order, such as stipulations regarding provision of water and wastewater servicing.

MZOs have been part of the Planning Act for decades. From 1998 to 2019, 14 MZOs were issued. Eight of these were in 1998. In 2020, 2021, and 2022 alone, continued overleaf…

To reasonably project future infrastructure needs, we must understand future land use plans, including where, when, and how much growth will occur.

In 2020, 2021, and 2022 alone, 26, 28, and 38 (so far) minister’s zoning orders were issued, respectively. This is a total of 92 in just three years.

26, 28, and 38 (so far) MZOs were issued, respectively. This is a total of 92 in just three years.

While the regulatory framework has not changed, they are being used in much greater frequency in the 2020s, illustrating a steep upward trend in issuance.

In decades past, MZOs had not presented a significant challenge for municipalities to manage, due to their infrequent, specialized use. However, they are now being used to expedite and accelerate certain development applications by having them “ordered” to be added to local municipality’s plans.

This means that plans and processes that had previously progressed to completion, such as MCR or official plans, may need to step back to incorporate MZO mandates. This could trigger changes to geographic distribution of population or employment growth, as well as changes to phasing over time.

BILL 23

On October 25, 2022, the Ontario government proposed Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act. This has since become law and received royal assent on November 28, 2022. The intent of Bill 23 is to remove potential roadblocks and in turn accelerate development in Ontario, with a focus on already urbanized areas, such as lands within the Greater Golden Horseshoe Area (GGHA).

Bill 23 includes 10 schedules; the first nine outline changes to existing Acts

and the tenth outlines a new Act specific to growth in York and Durham, after the decision to abandon the Upper York Water Reclamation Centre.

• Schedule 1: City of Toronto Act, 2006

• Schedule 2: Conservation Authorities Act

• Schedule 3: Development Charges Act, 1997

• Schedule 4: Municipal Act, 2001

• Schedule 5: New Home Construction Licensing Act, 2017

• Schedule 6: Ontario Heritage Act

• Schedule 7: Ontario Land Tribunal Act, 2021

• Schedule 8: Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012

• Schedule 9: Planning Act

• Schedule 10: Supporting Growth and Housing in York and Durham Regions Act, 2022

Some of the more notable changes that affect municipal public works interests are highlighted simply below. For more in-depth information about the amendments, Bill 23 documents should be referenced.

SCHEDULE 3: DEVELOPMENT CHARGES ACT

The Development Charges (DC) Act supports a revenue stream for municipalities to pay for capital costs associated with extending servicing of new developments and upgrades to infrastructure triggered by intensification. With the amendments

to this Act, municipalities can no longer impose DCs for affordable and attainable residential units (rented or owned). DC background studies can no longer be funded by DC funds, leaving the municipality responsible for these costs.

The Act also amends how municipalities must spend or allocate monies in reserve funds. There are also new mandates to spend or allocate at least 60% of DC reserve funds toward water and wastewater infrastructure, and services related to highways as defined in the Municipal Act.

In addition to changes in policies directly related to infrastructure, Schedule 3 further limits DC funding by mandating “discounts” to DCs for rental housing based on the number of bedrooms.

Overall, changes to the Development Charges Act reduce funds that municipalities can collect to support prescribed growth. This has triggered statements by municipalities across Ontario and a collective one from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) citing significant concern. These statements also highlight that loss of DC revenue means increases to property taxes or user rates to fund the difference.

SCHEDULE 9: THE PLANNING ACT

The Planning Act, as described earlier, regulates growth across the province, and specifies the planning duties of upper, lower, and single-tier municipalities. Currently, both upper and lower-tier municipalities are required to prepare planning documents, such as official plans.

However, the planned amendments remove the responsibility from uppertier municipalities and make plans reliant solely on lower-tier governments. Schedule 9 explicitly removes planning authority from upper-tier municipalities in and around the GGHA, including the County of Simcoe and Regional Municipalities of Durham, Halton, Niagara, Peel, Waterloo and York.

Interestingly, regional governments are generally responsible for water treatment and distribution, as well as wastewater collection and treatment. This disconnect of regional governments from the planning process could in turn negatively affect or slow processes related to

infrastructure planning since they are directly congruent.

THE GREENBELT

Bill 23 was followed almost immediately by proposed changes to the Greenbelt Plan, Greenbelt Area Boundary Regulation (O.Reg. 59/05) and Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (O.Reg. 140/02) that were posted on the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO). These changes will see removal of lands from protected areas, opening them to development.

The largest area affected is in what is currently called the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve (DRAP) located in Durham Region. Bound by YorkDurham Line to the west and Duffins Creek to the east, these lands were protected by the Greenbelt Plan since its inception in 2005.

In exchange for the 3,000 hectares of land removed from the greenbelt, the provincial government committed to

adding 3,800 hectares. This land swap process was begun in April 2022 under a separate amendment, adding nearly 2,800 hectares of land in the Town of Erin to the greenbelt, including some lands that were already identified for development. These amendments to the greenbelt are not limited to ecological effects, but further increase and open lands for development.

AGO ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2022

Interestingly, Ontario’s Auditor General released her annual report on November 30, 2022. This included publication of the Value-For-Money Audit: Climate Change Adaptation: Reducing Urban Flood Risk Report.

This document identifies and explains the transect of infrastructure management, land use planning, and ecological protection, and the provincial government’s role through its ministries. It also says that the risk of urban flooding

results in the loss of green spaces and other pervious surfaces, inadequate or aging stormwater infrastructure and climate change. resulting in more frequent high-intensity rain events.”

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR PUBLIC WORKS INFRASTRUCTURE?

As described above, extending development means extending servicing, which in turn means capital costs expenditures. Some of the greatest challenges associated with MZOs, Bill 23, and the greenbelt amendments will be evident when municipalities are not able to fund servicing for newly mandated growth due to the changes to the Development Charges Act, or if plans for regional infrastructure do not align with land use plans prescribed by lower-tier municipalities. Now we wait with guarded optimism.

Dania Chehab is with R.V. Anderson Associates Ltd. Email: dchehab@rvanderson.com

NEW MAP PROVIDES ENGINEERS WITH A VIEW OF FUTURE FLOOD RISKS

Flood experts Fathom are shedding new light on the impact of climate change-related flood risk, with the launch of Fathom-Global 3.0, which offers the first complete global view of all flood perils.

Unlike most maps that are limited to inland fluvial and pluvial flood data, Fathom-Global 3.0 also models coastal flood risk. In addition, engineers can access flood maps that draw on scientific data representing the size, width, depth and flow of every river channel in the world. This provides unprecedented levels of detail.

The map enables users to quantify and mitigate flood risk, and understand changes in risk under future climate scenarios. The map is at ~30-metre resolution globally and is based on terrain data from Fathom’s latest complete “bare earth” map of the Earth’s terrain, enriched with LiDAR data where it is available.

“We launched Fathom in 2013 with an aim to deliver science-driven and fully transparent flood modelling and to

accelerate the world’s understanding of flooding on a global scale. Fathom-Global 3.0 is our biggest step yet to making high quality flood hazard data accessible worldwide,” says Dr. Andrew Smith with Fathom.

“Having reliable and sound flood hazard data is fundamental to understanding the exposure and resultant vulnerability of any potential site, project or asset. This is especially important to engineers working on feasibility, scoping and risk assessment for projects in data scarce regions that need to meet specific requirements over the lifetime of the asset,”

Fathom’s Climate Dynamics framework allows users to customize their data to meet their project requirements. Users can examine any inland or coastal flood peril for any projected combination of future year and emission scenario or temperature change. This means a new ability to understand the impact of climate change on flood risk. This will prove vital to engineers, governments and international development organizations who are compelled to conduct more detailed, precise

By using Fathom’s “relative risk” and “risk category” products within Fathom-Global 3.0, engineers can quickly and easily determine the level of risk associated with new project sites and existing assets, and specify resilience measures

Unlike other flood maps which rely primarily on historic data, Fathom-Global 3.0 draws on extensive peer-reviewed academic research and scientific data sources to simulate the

Dr. Matthew Free, director of natural hazard and risk management at Arup, says “recent flooding across the U.K. and in Pakistan reminds us that it is essential to plan and better manage the risks associated with extreme weather and the impacts

Arup is working with Fathom on projects worldwide to bet-

Fathom-Global 3.0 simulates the behaviour of water across all flood perils, as shown on this map of an area in Pakistan.

NEW REPORT SUGGESTS THAT THE WATER AND WASTEWATER SECTORS COULD DECARBONIZE FAST

By ES&E Staff

With some 80 water and wastewater utilities worldwide setting net-zero and climate-neutrality targets, a new report suggests that the water sector could become one of the fastest to decarbonize, using existing technologies at low cost.

In its report, “Net zero: the race we all win”, global water technology company Xylem highlights success stories about water managers worldwide reducing emissions and making infrastructure more resilient to climate change, while also providing a roadmap for utilities that may still need a pragmatic plan for action.

“This paper and action show how leading water utility managers are delivering real progress toward net-zero goals,” announced Patrick Decker, president and CEO of Xylem, in a statement. “And these examples show how quickly and affordably they are doing it, while optimizing their overall operations. The technology exists to address these challenges, and the time to make a difference is now,” he added.

Water infrastructure accounts for approximately 2% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This is nearly the same as the global shipping industry. A medium-size water utility offering both clean water and wastewater services can produce the equivalent of 38,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually from energy usage alone.

To reduce this impact, Xylem has found that more and more water utilities are taking steps such as realistic, measurable GHG reduction targets; optimizing energy and resources across networks; embedding net-zero goals in capital planning; and moving from treatment to resource recovery.

Among the success stories highlighted in the new report is that of South Bend, Indiana, where the sewage system had struggled in the face of major weather events. The city installed a real-

time monitoring system of more than 120 sensors located throughout its urban watershed, and then expanded the sensor network to be part of a system that controlled the pumping system and valve actuators to react in real time.

Using Xylem’s wastewater network optimization, the city reduced combined sewer overflow volume by more than 80%. It was able to avoid building new grey infrastructure and eliminated the embedded carbon, delivering system performance, capacity utilization, and environmental gains, more than a decade ahead of schedule.

Now, South Bend’s network adapts to sudden wet-weather events by shifting excess flows to underutilized parts of the network.

“While the headline figure of our work was that the city has saved approximately $500 million in capital work savings, the impact on our carbon footprint should not be overlooked,” South Bend Public Works Representative Kieran Fahey explained in the report. “By avoiding a large construction project and prolonging the life of our infrastructure through

smart technology, we have made a major impact in reducing our carbon footprint.”

The report also highlights the work of one of Germany’s largest wastewater companies, EWE WASSER GmbH, which serves some 400,000 customers.

The company learned that aeration accounts for more than 50% of its annual energy use. So, it developed virtual sensors to estimate incoming carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus loads, optimizing aeration and chemical inputs at each point of the process. Xylem provided a real-time digital twin of the entire plant so that each process receives optimal aeration and chemical inputs to match the needed chemical and biological oxygen demand.

The treatment plant has since shown a 30% reduction in aeration energy usage, corresponding to 1.1 million kWh annually, or enough energy to power some 275 homes for a year.

For more information, email: editor@esemag.com

The aeration process in a wastewater treatment plant can account for more than 50% of its total annual energy use. Credit: viewfotostudio, stock.adobe.com

GREATER CINCINNATI COMPLETES MAJOR CSO IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

By Andrew M. Jenkins

Both combined sewer overflow (CSO) and sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) discharged during heavy rain events are known to cause serious water pollution problems in many communities. Pollutants include bacteria and other pathogens, toxins, chemicals and debris that are hazardous to the public, environment and commercial health and well-being.

The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSD) provides wastewater collection and treatment for residents and corporations in Hamilton

County, Ohio. The MSD proposed a new CSO containment system to be installed in the area to handle the increased population in one problematic area and allow for the restoration project of the associated water bodies in it.

A CSO containment system collects water runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater into one pipe. It transports all of the wastewater it collects to a sewage treatment plant for treatment, then discharges to a waterbody.

Originally, a concrete vault was included in the early phases of design

and scoping. Working diligently to identify the most optimal solution, the project engineer, AECOM, evaluated several other options and ultimately worked with Contech Engineered Solutions to identify an alternative solution that was more cost-effective, yet allowed for the deep installation and flexible configuration that was required within the site design. Upon assessment of various options, a watertight DuroMaxx® steel reinforced polyethylene containment tank was selected.

The CSO improvement project began in 2017 and was completed in 2019. The goals were to reduce combined sewer overflows that would discharge into two water bodies, restore Kings Run as a tributary to Mill Creek, and improve water quality in both streams. It was estimated that the overall project would eliminate 380 million litres of overflow in Mill Creek each year. This is an essen-

The tank was designed with multiple runs of 265-cm diameter chambers in parallel for storage and a 158-cm diameter inlet pipe from the water control gates.

tial part to address any future potential impacts to the nearby waterways.

The Kings Run Improvement Project was divided into five phases of constructing new stormwater detention basins, new storm and sanitary sewers, relocation of combined sewers, and a 2.55 million litre underground storage system.

Working with Power Engineers in the final system design, Contech manufactured a watertight CSO system using DuroMaxx steel reinforced polyethylene (SRPE) pipe with welded coupler joints.

The tank was designed with multiple runs of 265-cm diameter chambers in parallel for storage and a 158-cm diameter inlet pipe from the water control gates. This totaled about 500 metres of SRPE pipe, which provides a smooth waterway wall and an exterior profile that is reinforced with high-strength galvanized steel ribs. The continuous reinforcing ribs are completely encased within an HDB rated polyethylene resin, ensuring a design life of over 75 years.

Selecting SRPE pipe technology was driven by two main challenges: structural needs and corrosion resistance. As is typical in many CSO containment projects, the invert of the system would be nearly 10 metres deep in wet conditions.

The structural stability that SRPE provides in ultra-large diameter sets allows for deep cover without concern. All of the structural loading within the design is handled by the steel, which, in comparison to polyethylene, has a long-term elastic modulus of 29,000,000 psi versus 21,000 psi.

This is a significant improvement to the structurally stable profile of the material. The polyethylene (PE) portion of SRPE does complete the unique and effective overall pipe design.

The PE component of SRPE is widely accepted in the industry as having excellent corrosion and abrasion resistance in this type of environment, where the combination of hydrogen sulfide gas and higher abrasion rates could be encountered over the design life of the system.

PE forms the pipe’s waterway wall and fully encapsulates and protects the steel reinforcement members. The waterway wall is considered hydraulically smooth and equal to flow performance of typical reinforced concrete pipes.

Another benefit that PE brings to the design is its versatility in manufacturing and construction. Welding PE materials into various configurations and under in-situ site conditions is much easier, cost-effective and durable than many other types of materials. CSO systems require as much water tightness as possible, to avoid excess infiltration from groundwater. PE systems meet these challenges and are easily repaired if any future needs are warranted.

During heavy storm events, approximately 1.041 million litres per day of overflow discharges at the Kings Run Stream CSO project. Overflows from Kings Run were recaptured into the combined sewer system and contribute to the overflows at the Mill Creek CSO project.

This improvement to the area would restore the historic connection between the two bodies of water. The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati was able to complete the enhancements to the watershed area, and overflow now discharges into the large, combined sewer that collects san-

itary sewage and stormwater from the watershed while any additional overflow is captured in the DuroMaxx CSO storage tank.

Andrew M. Jenkins is with Contech Engineered Solutions. Email: andrew.jenkins@conteches.com

The SRPE system is accessible via manway risers located on both ends.

CAN THERMAL HYDROLYSIS OF SLUDGE SOLVE PROBLEMS CAUSED BY MICRO/NANOPLASTICS?

By Seyed Mohammad Mirsoleimani Azizi, Nervana Haffiez, Basem S. Zakaria and Bipro Ranjan Dhar

Plastics play an indispensable role in our daily life. However, their extensive production, use, and uncontrolled disposal lead to numerous environmental and public health concerns. These discarded plastics contribute to the formation of microplastics (<5 mm) and nanoplastics (1000 nm) via multiple natural fragmentation processes, such as mechanical wear, weathering, ultraviolet radiation, and microbial degradation.

Moreover, intentionally manufactured micro/nanoplastics for specific applications, such as facial cleansers and cosmetics, electronics, paints, etc., further intensify the discharge of micro/nanoplastics into the environment. They have been widely found in the aquatic and soil environment. Their presence in aquatic environments, including rivers, lakes, oceans, and deep-sea sediments, has been widely investigated and raised broad environmental and public health concerns.

MICRO/NANOPLASTICS IN DOMESTIC

SEWAGE: WHERE DO THEY GO?

Micro/nanoplastics can enter the aquatic and terrestrial environment from different sources. However, wastewater treatment plants have been identified as one of the main discharge routes for their release. Conventional wastewater treatment processes are not designed to remove micro/nanoplastics.

In fact, such emerging contaminants are not monitored as a part of regular operation practice in wastewater treatment plants. Therefore, micro/nanoplastics in wastewater can be directly released to the surface water bodies, via the discharge of treated wastewater. Moreover, micro/nanoplastics from sewage can be transferred to the soil by different sources such as soil amendment or land application of sewage sludge (biosolids) and recycled wastewater for irrigation.

Interestingly, studies suggested that liquid treatment trains in conventional wastewater treatment plants can eliminate most micro/nanoplastics in domestic wastewater and retain them in the sewage sludge.

Sewage sludge contains other contaminants, including various persistent chemicals, pathogens, heavy metals, antibiotics, and antibiotic resistance genes. Due to high mobility, and surface area, micro/nanoplastics can adsorb and desorb various pollutants and toxic chemicals, including dissolved metals, persistent chemicals, and biological contaminants.

For instance, micro/nanoplastics have been reported to act as carriers for antibiotic resistance genes. The spread of antibiotic resistance genes has also emerged as a global public health concern.

Anaerobic digestion is a common practice for managing sewage sludge in wastewater treatment plants, particularly

Thermal hydrolysis of sludge before anaerobic digestion could alleviate oxidative stress on the digester microbiome and maintain smooth operation, even under high levels of polystyrene nanoplastics.

in large-scale facilities. In this process, microbes break down sludge organics into biogas in an oxygen-free environment maintained in bioreactors. The methane-rich biogas produced from the process can be utilized for heat and power generation or upgraded to renewable natural gas (RNG).

In recent years, academic researchers started investigating the impact of various micro/nanoplastic model compounds, such as polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polystyrene, on anaerobic digestion. A handful of studies demonstrated that the presence of most micro/nanoplastics could suppress biogas generation in anaerobic digestion.

The toxic additives released from micro/nanoplastics could directly inhibit microbial activity by inactivating key enzymes and functional genes associated with microbial metabolism. Moreover, nanoplastic particles could directly damage microbial cell membranes, via penetration, or by generating reactive oxygen species.

CAN THERMAL HYDROLYSIS PROVIDE A SOLUTION?

A new study by researchers from the University of Alberta identified that thermal hydrolysis of sludge before anaerobic digestion could alleviate oxidative stress on the digester microbiome and maintain smooth operation under high levels of polystyrene nanoplastics in sludge. Polystyrene, which primarily comes from personal care products, cosmetics, and synthetic clothing, is one of the most abundantly found micro/ nanoscale plastics in domestic wastewater.

The study also found that thermal hydrolysis could also mitigate the spreading potential of antibiotic resistance genes in

digested sludge, or biosolids, which can be encouraged by the high levels of polystyrene nanoplastics. An article based on findings from their study, entitled “Thermal hydrolysis of sludge counteracts polystyrene nanoplastics-induced stress during anaerobic digestion” was recently published in ACS ES&T Engineering.

Thermal hydrolysis is a “pressure cooking” process that breaks complex organic biopolymers in sludge and transforms macromolecules such as proteins and carbohydrates into soluble monomers. It is operated at high temperatures and pressure. The use of thermal hydrolysis of sludge before feeding into anaerobic digesters has escalated over recent years.

Many centralized wastewater treatment plants have already adopted thermal hydrolysis to enhance anaerobic sludge digestion and boost biogas production. The first full-scale application of sludge thermal hydrolysis for anaerobic digestion in North America was in DC Water's Blue Plains advanced wastewater treatment plant in Washington, DC.

Calgary's Bonnybrook wastewater treatment plant will also implement thermal hydrolysis to expand its solids handling capacity. While the drivers behind thermal hydrolysis installation primarily include increased biogas production, sludge reduction, and high-quality biosolids generation, the evidence of such added benefits of minimizing the negative impacts of micro/nanoplastics is encouraging.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The research team at the University of Alberta, led by Dr. Bipro Dhar, associate professor of environmental engineering and one of the authors of this article, believes that thermal hydrolysis is highly promising for further development as a remediation method for micro/nanoplastics in wastewater treatment plants. Based on his opinion, the most fundamental challenge in this research is the lack of a handy analytical method for tracking different micro/ nanoplastics in sludge.

Therefore, most of the published studies in this area have been done by spiking certain model micro/nanoplastics in digesters and looking at their effects.

Organic polymers are usually sensitive to high temperatures. Thus, thermal hydrolysis can break polymeric structures.

However, the thermal stability of micro/ nanoplastics depends on their physicochemical characteristics and the composition of polymer blends used during their manufacturing. Dhar noted that his team is “still scratching the surface”.

Still, the results do not necessarily

prove that the typical operating conditions used for thermal hydrolysis in an anaerobic digestion facility will work for a wide variety of micro/nanoplastics found in sewage sludge, and extensive further investigation would be necessary.

“Many questions remain regarding further process optimization and the trade-off between digester performance and micro/nanoplastics remediation. Higher than typical thermal hydrolysis operating temperature may be required for some micro/nanoplastics, which may lead to another concern by producing some refractory compounds at higher temperatures and disturb digester operation”, said Seyed Mohammad Mirsoleimani Azizi, a PhD candidate and the first author of this article, who is doing his doctoral research on this topic.

Seyed Mohammad Mirsoleimani Azizi, Nervana Haffiez, Basem S. Zakaria and Bipro Ranjan Dhar are with the University of Alberta. For more information, email: bipro@ualberta.ca

The study also found that thermal hydrolysis could also mitigate the spreading potential of antibiotic resistance genes in digested sludge, or biosolids.

CONVERTING SEWAGE SLUDGE INTO BIOFUELS VIA HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION PROCESS

By Ibrahim Alper Basar, Huan Liu and Cigdem Eskicioglu

Municipal sewage sludge is a semisolid waste stream of municipal wastewater treatment processes. It consists of organic solids that can be settled (primary sludge) and excess microorganism biomass (secondary sludge) from the biological treatment of dissolved organics.

To date, anaerobic digestion and composting have been the most effective and widespread ways to treat this waste stream in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). However, there are major drawbacks to using these processes for sludge treatment. Composting is a very inefficient way of utilizing organics, as it requires a high level of dewatering and oxygen, and generates greenhouse gases.

Anaerobic digestion can only treat 50% of the available carbon in sludge. The remaining 50% of carbon in the form of biosolids is either beneficially land-applied, incinerated, composted or landfilled, depending on the jurisdiction.

Of growing concern is that in many areas, the number of land application sites, landfill sites and composting facilities that accept biosolids or sewage sludge are decreasing due to the concerns associated with pollutants and tightening regulations.This makes solids management more challenging for WWTPs.

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a biomass processing technology that has recently become prominent in the wastewater treatment field. It could address a number of the issues regarding sludge management in WWTPs. HTL is a thermochemical biomass conversion method that mimics the natural formation of petroleum converted from dead biomass under high temperature and high pressure, which takes millions of years.

But, by artifically creating a proper reaction environment, HTL can take place in a sealed, heated reactor, typically

performed at a temperature between 250°C – 374°C and pressure between 52 – 220 bars, and thus completed in a matter of minutes. This method can convert sludge into biocrude, a free-flowing, viscous, dark brown, hydrocarbon-rich liquid. Biocrude can be processed in oil refineries, like petroleum, to produce diesel and jet fuel.

Along with biocrude, there are three more effluent streams of the HTL reaction: aqueous phase (process water), hydrochar (solids), and gaseous phase.

Application of the HTL process also allows for resource recovery, which is crucial in the circular economy concept. In the HTL reactor effluent, carbon gathers in the biocrude and gaseous phase (CO2), inorganics and phosphorus concentrate in hydrochar, and nitrogen collects in the aqueous phase in the form of ammonia. These accumulated nutrients in different streams facilitate advanced resource recovery from wastewater.

A simple continuous-flow HTL reactor system consists of a main heater, an insulated plug-flow reactor, a heat exchanger, a pressure regulator, and a centrifuge.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been the pioneering research institute in the HTL field. It has investigated HTL feedstocks of lig-

nocellulosic biomass, micro-algae, macro-algae, grape pomace, and, recently, municipal sludge.

Metro Vancouver is planning a 10 wet tonne per day demonstration HTL facility at its Annacis Island WWTP, using the technology developed by PNNL and licensed to Genifuel Corporation. Bench-scale process development for the demonstration plant is performed in collaboration with the Bioreactor Technology Group (BTG) at The University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus. Findings from this demonstration system will reveal crucial information for the design, operation and incorporation of HTL into existing and future wastewater treatment processes.

BIOCRUDE

Biocrude generated from sludge has a similar appearance to petroleum crude oil. Its yield varies at 40 – 48% on a dryash-free basis or 70 – 90 kg biocrude per wet ton of sludge (20 wt.% solids content). It mainly consists of carbon (72 – 77 wt.%), hydrogen (9 – 10 wt.%), oxygen (7 – 13 wt.%), nitrogen (4 – 5 wt.%), sulphur (0.5 – 1 wt.%), and some metals (0.1 – 0.4 wt.%), with a calorific value of 34 – 37 MJ/kg. It can concentrate up to 69% of the carbon in sludge, representing 71% energy recovery.

However, impurities in biocrude, such as oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, metals and acids, could impair the refining process and harm the environment, thus requiring upgrading before use. Studies have shown that biocrude could be upgraded to a quality comparable to crude oil after hydrotreating.

HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION – AQUEOUS

HTL aqueous composes 80 – 95% of the HTL products in volume, depending on the total solids content of feedstock sludge. In the HTL process, water is the solvent where all reactions occur. Under high temperatures and pressures (subcritical), water becomes a better solvent than acetone, methanol and ethanol. The enhanced solvency of polar and non-polar compounds allows hydrolyzation of biomass in short durations (5 – 30 min).

However, when water becomes a good solvent of non-polar compounds, it also dissolves a portion of the biocrude. The dissolved fraction of the oil causes HTL aqueous, to contain long-chain hydrocarbons and cyclic hydrocarbons, such as N-heterocyclics and phenolics. Due to these compounds, HTL aqueous has high non-biodegradable organic pollution (approximately 50% of the chemical oxygen demand).

Along with some long-chain and cyclic compounds, HTL aqueous also contains alcohols, ketones, amines, amides, and high concentrations of volatile fatty acids. These organic compounds form approximately 100 g/L of chemical oxygen demand (organic pollution) in HTL aqueous. Also, due to the deamination of

proteins under subcritical hydrothermal conditions, HTL aqueous contains up to 6 g/L ammonia.

HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION – HYDROCHAR

One of the advantages of HTL over anaerobic digestion is minimizing the remaining solids. As the solid product, hydrochar yields 13 – 18 wt.% solids on a dry basis. Such a small amount would substantially reduce sludge disposal costs. Hydrochar is a pathogen-free residue, due to high-temperature sterilization, which can be landfilled as non-hazardous waste.

Up to 98% of phosphorus is concentrated into hydrochar, with a phosphorus content comparable to phosphate rock and creating a great opportunity for use as a soil fertilizer. However, due to the accumulation of heavy metals, such as cadmium and zinc, the direct land application of hydrochar is restricted in Canada. Therefore, recovering P from hydrochar could be a solution. Hydrochar also has a good potential for carbon sequestration and graphitization.

HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION – GAS

HTL gaseous phase has a relatively small yield, typically <10 wt.% of dry sludge, consisting of 85 – 97% CO2, 0 –5% H2, 0 – 3% CO, 0.5 – 2% CH4, and trace levels of other gaseous C2  – C5 hydrocarbons. The gas phase also contains significant levels of malodorous volatile sulphur compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and mercaptan (CH3SH).

The CO2 ratio in the HTL gas can go

as high as 97% due to the hydrothermal decarboxylation reactions. There are studies in the literature to valorize this CO2 by using it to grow algae and decrease the overall process’s carbon footprint.

CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

HTL technology has come a long way in the last decade, largely due to the efforts of the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and PNNL. However, there remain critical questions about using municipal sludge as feedstock and integrating HTL into WWTPs, prior to its widespread adoption. In this context, Metro Vancouver’s demonstration-scale HTL unit is a crucial step for risk reduction associated with the unknowns about incorporating this technology into WWTPs.

The biggest challenge in developing this technology is the treatment or valorization of the liquid waste, HTL aqueous. On-site treatment of HTL aqueous with existing WWTP systems would be the ideal option. However, due to the inhibitory nature of unknown compounds found in the HTL aqueous phase, its biological treatment is not straightforward. Furthermore, even if the inhibition problem is solved, only 50% of the organic load can be treated with biological methods.

The remaining 50% consists of nonbiodegradable, complex molecules. As it is liquid waste, HTL aqueous could be diluted into incoming wastewater and treated within the WWTP.

However, there still is not sufficient scientific evidence that shows the effect

of this blending on wastewater treatment unit processes. Also, the increased organic loading would cause wastewater treatment to be more costly.

Another on-site treatment option for HTL aqueous is anaerobic digestion. Due to the highly concentrated organics in HTL aqueous and the diversity of metabolic pathways in the anaerobic digestion microbial consortium, anaerobic digestion can be a more cost-effective way of treating it.

The biggest issue about the anaerobic digestion of HTL aqueous is the inhibitory compounds. Although it is rich in volatile fatty acids that can be converted into methane, HTL aqueous has been shown to inhibit digesters over time. More long-term reactor stability studies are required to confirm this as a viable treatment option.

The second biggest challenge is obtaining a desirable composition of the biocrude. Biocrude contains nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur atoms trapped in cyclic molecule structures formed during HTL

reactions (N-, O- and S-heterocyclic molecules). This impurity can be treated by upgrading processes such as hydrodeoxygenation in oil refineries, similar to sour crude in conventional refining.

However, the requirement of an upgrading process makes biocrude less attractive for the refineries compared to alternative feedstocks like crude oil and canola oil. This problem can be overcome by co-processing biocrude with petroleum. Also, since biocrude primarily contains heavy fractions of oil, it is likely only economically viable to be distilled into diesel, aviation and marine fuel.

Studies from various research groups and institutions worldwide continue to be performed to overcome these challenges. With the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Metro Vancouver, the Bioreactor Technology Group continues to conduct important studies that will bring the hydrothermal liquefaction process one step closer to fullscale application in WWTPs.

Similar to Germany’s pioneering the spread of anaerobic digestion in the last two decades, Canada and the U.S. may be poised to export HTL technology, equipment and solutions when it is fully developed in the near future.

Ibrahim Alper Basar, Huan Liu and Cigdem Eskicioglu are with the UBC Bioreactor Technology Group, School of Engineering, the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus. For more information email: alper.basar@ubc.ca, or visit: www.bioreactortechgroup.ok.ubc.ca

INCREASING FOG RECOVERY RATES FROM A MEAT PROCESSING PLANT’S WASTEWATER STREAM

By Atsushi Yano, Brett Robinson and Ian Schnur

Alarge beef processing facility, operated by a leading global meat producer, implemented Kurita America’s feed-forward approach using S.sensing CS technology that significantly increased incremental revenue and production capacity.

The client’s state-of-the-art, dissolved air flotation (DAF) system in their flagship beef processing plant could not consistently recover the level of fat, oil and grease (FOG) possible from the wastewater stream. Up to one kilogram of oil and grease harvested per animal was escaping the plant uncaptured. Unused oil and grease are viewed by the industry as lagoon contaminants. However, at the same time, incremental revenue can be captured, because recovered oil and grease can be sold as inedible tallow for profit.

Prior to working with Kurita America, the client injected coagulant and flocculant into their wastewater stream in hopes of achieving better FOG recovery by the DAF system. However, without an effective method to fluctuate chemical injection volume based on variable wastewater flow and loading, or having the ability to accurately inject the exact volume of chemical necessary to recover all of the oil and grease available in the wastewater, their efforts were unsuccessful. They continued to record higher than desirable levels of FOG contaminants and Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN) in their lagoons, which reduced operating capacity.

Recovering FOG contaminants from wastewater for resale and achieving better lagoon health is a common challenge for most meat processing plants. Therefore, it is critical to find the right partner to provide the most effective solutions to optimize capacity and profitability. In this case, it became clear that without more sophisticated automation and control, capturing more lost product would not be achievable.

SOLUTION

Kurita America recommended applying its S.sensing CS technology to address these challenges. The state-of-the-art approach included injecting chemistry through an intelligent system that continually records wastewater loading and flow. It also adjusts chemical injection volume instantaneously on the front end of the DAF system based on these changing variables.

Kurita America demonstrated that the turbidity probe used in conjunction with S.sensing CS technology does not foul. It showed plant engineers an S.sensing CS probe completely covered in FOG buildup, but still operating effectively. They were interested to see if S.sensing CS technology could help them recover the oil and grease that was not being captured.

S.sensing CS automation technology controls fluctuating chemical injection rates based on influent wastewater

loading and flow. This is a feed-forward approach to control and does not rely on simple turbidity measurement. Lost product capture gains offset the investment in the system. Coupled with cloudbased technology for easy access to analytics, the S.sensing CS platform allows for fully automated operation with highvalue data to support operational and investment decisions.

The Kurita America team determined the exact proportion of coagulant, flocculant and pH control to achieve the highest recovery of oil and grease possible. Then, they programmed the S.sensing CS unit to automatically adjust coagulant and flocculant injection, which allowed the plant to consistently achieve the optimal proportion of chemistry based on data from the S.sensing CS technology.

These steps allowed the plant to achieve optimal results, make instantaneous chemical feed changes, stop continued overleaf…

Up to one kilogram of oil and grease harvested per animal was escaping the plant, uncaptured by the existing wastewater treatment process. Photo credit: orestligetka, stock.adobe.com

chemical wastage, and recover more oil and grease than the client had ever accomplished on a consistent basis.

When operational upsets occurred or when influent plant water changed dramatically, the S.sensing CS system automatically adjusted in a way that no manual or turbidity-only based operation can accomplish.

RESULTS

Through this innovative approach, Kurita America was able to increase the client’s lost product recovery by more than 30%, providing more kilograms of marketable oil and grease per animal. This also resulted in a cleaner and healthier wastewater lagoon.

The results were achieved in both normal operating conditions and upset scenarios. Interestingly, while gains of 0.45 kg of FOG per head were noticed during normal operations, the gains during upset conditions proved to be most valuable, with 0.9 to 1.36 kg of FOG per head captured.

As a result, the client increased their revenue in oil and grease sales and improved the overall health of their wastewater operation. Operational savings and increased recovery resulted in an estimated annual gain of $532,000 for inedible tallow.

Atsushi Yano, Brett Robinson and Ian Schnur are with Kurita America. For more information, visit www.kuritaamerica.com

S.sensing CS automation technology allowed for optimal treatment results, by making instantaneous chemical feed changes. More oil and grease was recovered, which also resulted in a cleaner and healthier wastewater lagoon. Photo credit: Zblaster, stock.adobe.com

THERMOPLASTIC BUTTERFLY VALVES

Asahi/America’s Type-57LIS butterfly valves are quarter turn valves that provide moderate flow control and conform to ISO 5752 short pattern face-to-face dimensions. This allows the Type-57LIS to directly replace metal valves conforming to the same standard. Available as ANSI B16.5 wafer or ANSI B16.5 lug models with 316SS drop-in inserts. Type-57LIS butterfly valves can be pneumatically or electrically actuated.

Asahi/America

T: 800-343-3618

F: 800-787-6861

E: asahi@asahi-america.com

W: www.asahi-america.com

PLASTIC DUPLEX SKID SYSTEMS

CHEM-FEED® Engineered Skid Systems are simple to operate, easy to order, and include everything needed for precise chemical feed. Say goodbye to leaky plumbing causing hazardous work environments with leak free threadless connections. Pipe material options include PVC, CPVC, PVDF, and Chem Proline® (PE). Lightweight, chemical and UV resistant, polyethylene, duplex skids ship fully assembled to save installation time, and include a built-in drip container, wall/floor mounting brackets, and a visual flow indicator.

Blue-White Industries

T: 714-893-8529

F: 714-894-9492

E: sales@blue-white.com W: www.blue-white.com

ROTARY LOBE PUMPS

Boerger’s BLUEline Rotary Lobe Pumps are engineered for low maintenance and high performance. These pumps feature pulsation-free operation and dry-run capabilities, which is the key to avoiding downtime. Finally, the best part? These pumps were designed with Maintenance in Place (MIP), which means you can service them without having to take them offline.

Boerger T: 612-435-7300

E: america@boerger.com W: www.boerger.com

DRAINSTAR STORMWATER

FILTERS

The Drainstar filter external XL features over 95% water yield and is suitable for pedestrian, vehicle, or truck loading. This filter is externally accessible and is ideally suited for large infiltration or retention systems. This filter also features DN 200 and DN 250 connections and stepless installation depth from 780 – 1330 mm, thanks to the telescopic dome shaft.

BARR Plastics

T: 800-665-4499

E: info@barrplastics.com

W: www.barrplastics.com

MULTI PARAMETER

INLINE ANALYZER

Blue-White’s® APH20 Multi Parameter Inline Analyzer is the turn-key monitoring solution for clean water applications, and installation is quick and easy. The APH20 measures ultra-low turbidity, free chlorine, pH, and temperature, eliminating the need for supplemental sensors. The unit is not only highly accurate, it features an easy to operate touch screen display that includes data logging terminal, and real-time measurement.

Blue-White Industries

T: 714-893-8529

F: 714-894-9492

E: info@blue-white.com W: www.blue-white.com

ELECTRIC ACTUATORS

Chemline’s V Series actuators are CSA approved. They have all the important features for municipal applications such as handwheel manual override, mechanical travel stops, position feedback and available local control station. V Series actuators are lightweight, compact and corrosion resistant, ideal for Chemline plastic valves, ball to 6" and butterfly up to 20". WTP/WWTP applications include bulk transfer/isolation, sub-metering/distribution points, and chemical injection.

Chemline Plastics

T: 800-930-CHEM (2436)

E: request@chemline.com W: www.chemline.com

BLOCK WATER FROM ACCESSING ASSETS

Road erosion, premature concrete failure or water ingress into wastewater systems? Denso’s 12" LT tape has been proven for nearly a century to block water from accessing assets. It won’t harden or crack and is the perfect solution to protect concrete and prevent I&I. Applied in minutes, requiring minimal surface preparation, no mixing or curing, it can be buried immediately.

Denso North America

T: 416-291-3435

E: sales@densona-ca.com

W: www.densona.com

CHLORINE SCALE

The Chlor-Scale 150™ from Force Flow provides a simple and reliable way to monitor the amount of chlorine or ammonia used, and the amount remaining in the cylinder. The solid PVC scale platform, with a 5-year warranty, provides the strongest defense against the corrosive environments associated with gas feed applications. Electronic and hydraulic options.

Force Flow

T: 800-893-6723

W: www.forceflowscales.com

CHLORINE EMERGENCY SHUTOFF

The Gemini™ Emergency Shutoff System adds a new level of safety to your gas chlorine feed system. Designed specifically for dual 150 lb chlorine cylinder applications, the Gemini System, with its two Terminator™ actuators, stops a chlorine leak within seconds of detection by automatically closing the cylinder valves. The actuators are simply placed on top of the valves and protection begins.

Halogen Valve Systems

T: 949-261-5030

W: www.halogenvalve.com

CLOUD CONNECTED RADAR LEVEL SENSOR

Endress+Hauser’s Micropilot FWR30 revolutionizes level measurement of liquids and solids. It is the world’s first wireless 80GHz IIoT sensor, that unites high-end measurement technology and user-friendly digital services in one economical device. Its continuously recorded measurement data can be accessed at any time, from anywhere, via the sensor’s cloud connection, providing users with facts where previously only assumptions were possible.

Endress+Hauser Canada

T: 800-668-3199

F: 905-681-9444

E: anam.akbani@endress.com

W: www.ca.endress.com

SOLAR-POWERED MIXERS

SolarBee® mixers leverage solar power to provide effective circulation from all areas of a lake, reservoir or pond. They are designed to operate 24/7/365, using digital logic for onboard battery management and have an auto-reverse/anti-jam feature. Active mixing a reservoir controls odour, eliminates cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) and improves biological processes. A single unit treats up to 35 acres.

Greatario

T: 866-299-3009

E: info@greatario.com

W: www.greatario.com/greatwater

PFOS/PFAS REMOVAL SYSTEM

Harmsco’s WaterGuard™ Water Filtration System provides a “Whole House” water purification device that combines multiple filtration technologies in one filtration unit. First level is a 5 micron sediment filter followed by an activated carbon filter which will remove chlorine and PFOS/ PFAS. Then, the water enters a UV sterilization chamber that inactivates viruses, bacteria, cryptosporidium and giardia. Harmsco Filtration Products

T: 800-327-3248

E: sales@harmsco.com

W: www.harmsco.com

ANTI-CORROSION TAPE

The Interprovincial Corrosion Control Company has re-introduced the superior Petrolatum Based PetroWrap Anti-Corrosion Tapes and Primer. PetroWrap Anti-Corrosion Tape consists of a non-woven, stitch bonded, synthetic fabric which has been fully impregnated with neutral petrolatum-based compounds and inert fillers, is moisture resistant, and requires no maintenance.

Interprovincial Corrosion Control Company

W: www.rustrol.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

SERVICE-IN-PLACE PUMP

NETZSCH’s maintenance-friendly Full Service-in-Place (FSIP®) NEMO® progressive cavity pump has a large inspection cover. Open the pump cavity on-site, dismantle all rotating parts and replace them without removing the pump from the pipe assembly. Capacities and pressures are equal to the same size classic NEMO progressing cavity pump – known for continuous, pressure-stable, gentle and low-pulsation conveyance of almost any substance.

NETZSCH Canada

T: 705-797-8426

F: 705-797-8427

E: ntc@netzsch.com W: www.netzsch.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

REMEDIATION SERVICES

KGS Environmental Group offers environmental site remediation, groundwater treatment, decommissioning and tank removal. They offer competitive pricing and professional services throughout Ontario. Their talented and trained staff will provide courteous and conscientious services for any of your remediation needs. They have offered expert and reliable services to the environmental sector since 2005. Please contact a team member for your site-specific remediation detailed proposal today.

KGS Environmental Group

T: 855-378-3015

F: 888-245-5220

E: info@kgsenvironmentalgroup.ca

W: www.kgsenvironmentalgroup.ca

FILTRATION PRODUCTS

Experience – that is what sets ORIVAL Water Filters apart from competitors. Thirty years under one ownership, with long-term application engineers on staff, make ORIVAL, Inc. your reliable provider of filtration products. Orival, Inc. has hundreds of automatic self-cleaning screen filter models, with a filter for nearly every application.

Orival

E: filters@orival.com W: www.orival.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

PATENTED ACOUSTIC TECHNOLOGY

With Rapid Assessment Technology Services (RATS Inc.), municipalities focus their high-cost resources on the small percentage of their network that represents a potential service disruption or hazard to the community. With patented acoustic technology, we inspect approximately 3,000 metres of 150-450 mm gravity sewer lines per day – all at a fraction of the cost of the old CCTV methods.

Rapid Assessment Technology Services (RATS Inc.)

T: 647-245-8800

E: sales@ratsinc.ca

W: www.ratsinc.ca

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

COST-EFFECTIVE RADAR SENSOR

For a cost-effective radar sensor that can handle the needs of water and wastewater applications, consider VEGAPULS C 21 for non-contact measurements. This sensor was created with the needs of water operations in mind, reliably measuring in water treatment facilities, pumping stations, rain overflow basins, and more. With VEGAPULS C 21, you get the reliability of 80 GHz radar technology for a low price.

VEGA Instruments, Canada

T: 833-538-8342, 416-849-6196

F: 647-349-8340

E: canadaquotes@vega.com

W: www.vega.com

CONTROL CONTAMINATED GROUNDWATER OR SOIL GASES

Waterloo Barrier® is a containment wall for the control of contaminated groundwater or soil gases. Formed of steel sheet piling with interlocking joints that are sealed in-place in the ground, the Barrier offers a long service life, exceptionally low hydraulic conductivity, and documentable construction QA/QC. Installation is clean and rapid with minimal site disturbance.

Waterloo Barrier Inc.

T: 519-856-1352

E: info@waterloo-barrier.com W: www.waterloo-barrier.com

PERISTALTIC DOSING/ METERING PUMP

The principle behind the technology of the Verderflex Ds500 – Peristaltic Dosing/Metering Pump is to improve accuracy and lower costs in terms of chemical usage, with minimal tool free service. With a simple tube cartridge and touch screen panel, the Ds500 handles viscose and abrasive liquids, is self-priming and extremely reliable. It is available in manual or remote control.

York Fluid Controls

T: 877-454-6066

E: sales@yorkfluid.com

W: www.yorkfluid.com

USING MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER PONDS FOR HEATING AND COOLING BUILDINGS

By ES&E Staff

Quebec civil engineering firm

Équipe Laurence is utilizing wastewater from the Town of Ste-Adèle to heat and cool its new corporate headquarters. Company officials say they’ve seen large savings after drawing energy from the aeration and retention ponds at the town’s wastewater treatment plant.

Inspired by the principles of geothermal energy, Équipe Laurence describes using 12 coil-type heat exchangers that allow heat from the ponds to be taken in during the winter for heating the headquarters, then using the same principle in reverse to cool the buildings in the summer.

The process uses two directly drilled 150-mm diameter pipes installed in a directional borehole. The ponds do not need to be modified for the process to work effectively.

The company has been monitoring the effectiveness of the process in real time, thanks to a weather station installed on the roof of the headquarters’ main building. After only a few months, the energy efficiency and dynamics of the hydrothermal exchange process has exceeded expectations.

“We are proud to be making a difference with this innovation, which has the merit of being highly ecological, and which can be applied elsewhere, where conditions permit. It can help reduce the carbon footprint of municipalities,” said Équipe Laurence president and CEO Alexandre Latour, in a translated statement.

The 1,5000 m2 campus where the headquarters are housed uses permeable and honeycombed paving stones throughout the site to accommodate rainwater. It also utilizes roof water recovery for both toilet management and irrigation purposes.

Canada has been at the forefront of wastewater energy recovery in North

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

For more information, email: editor@esemag.com

Heat exchangers allow heat from nearby wastewater retention ponds to be taken in the winter for heating Équipe Laurence’s new headquarters. Credit: Équipe Laurence, www.equipelaurence.ca

REGINA’S NEW $42.5 MILLON WATER METER PROGRAM

The City of Regina has begun a three-year, $42.5-million program to install new water meters from Neptune Technology Group. As they will be able to transmit residential and commercial water consumption automatically, the new meters will result in a reduction of approximately 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year. City vehicles will no longer have to conduct drive-by reads for

some 76,000 meters.

“Most of the city’s current water meters are reaching the end of their life

cycle,” explained Kurtis Doney, Regina’s director of water, waste and environment, in a statement. “This presents an opportunity to upgrade to more efficient infrastructure that will enhance the service customers receive,” adds Doney, who notes that there is no charge for the new water meter installations.

Regina officials planned the upgrade project since the first system was originally installed and built into the city’s 25-year utility plan.

When Neptune progresses into a new ward, customers will receive a booklet in the mail to let them know that it is time to book a meter upgrade appointment. The technician will then upgrade the water meter inside the property and install a radio transmitter on the outside of the home or business. Only encrypted meter readings and meter identification will be transmitted, not personal information, Regina officials noted.

After a significant number of properties have had their water meters upgraded, the city will introduce a new online service for water utility customers to access account information, replacing the current utility eBill.

This will result in enhanced near realtime water consumption information, electronic notifications about planned water outages, as well as leak detection that could help customers save water and money. The new water meters align with the city's goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

For more information, email: editor@esemag.com

The City of Regina has started to install new water meters that will no longer require a municipal fleet to record consumption data manually. Credit: City of Regina

Manitoba invests millions in wastewater upgrades

By ES&E Staff

Manitoba has announced more than $34.4 million in funding, primarily for a series of wastewater management projects. The largest of the upgrades consists of $9.1 million in federal and provincial funding to expand the City of Dauphin’s lagoon reactor system for ammonia reduction and disinfection in the west of the province. Dauphin officials, who are contributing $3.3 million to the upgrades, also plan to add a new sewage treatment facility and new pipes.

“We identified the need to expand our lagoon over a decade ago, so we are excited to see this investment through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program for the project. Completion of the lagoon expansion will allow Dauphin to grow our population and industry,” announced Dauphin Mayor Christian Laughland.

Dauphin’s lagoon system is designed for a population of 11,000 and has a production capacity of 8.8 megalitres per day. Water is treated through floccula tion, ozonation, disinfection and sedi mentation. The total capacity of the sys tem is approximately 891 megalitres, and it is currently operating close to capacity.

Another project made possible with the new funding will be upgrades to the wastewater treatment system in Neep awa, just two hours west of Winnipeg.

The system will be expanded and upgraded to increase capacity for wastewater and stormwater. The total federal and provincial investment of $4.2 million involves implementing a moving bed biofilm reactor system, upgrading the treatment building, adding a lab, as well as decommissioning the primary and secondary lagoon cells. Neepawa officials are contributing $1.5 million to the upgrades.

Other major lagoon projects will take place in Russell-Binscarth, where municipal officials will invest more than

$8 million to update the lagoon site and undertake a partial demolition and reconstruction of storage cells.

The community of Glenboro – South Cypress will invest some $5.5 million to upgrade its current facultative lagoon, which consists of a primary treatment cell and secondary exfiltration cell that discharges into the Assiniboine Delta Aquifer. It will become an aerated primary cell, with two submerged attached growth reactors.

Upgrades will also be made to water

and wastewater pipes in Killarney-Turtle Mountain, as well as sewer lines in Prairie View.

Lastly, the District of Pinawa landfill will undergo an expansion to include an area for electronic waste, scrap metal, paint products, as well as used oil and tires. Phase 3 will include an area for composting.

For more information, email: editor@esemag.com

Dauphin’s lagoon system is designed for a population of 11,000 and has a production capacity of 8.8 megalitres per day. Credit: City of Dauphin

CANADIAN SCIENTISTS ENGINEER WATER’S STRUCTURE TO REMOVE INDUSTRIAL CONTAMINANTS

By ES&E Staff

Canadian researchers are separating solvents in polluted water with hydroxystearic acid (HSA), essentially reengineering the water’s structure for purity, according to a new study that suggests the work may have important implications for water treatment and preservation.

The University of Guelph (U of G) and scientists from the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan used Mid-IR and Brockhouse beamlines to investigate the efficacy of their technique and visualize the ways molecules interact when removing industrial runoff often found in wastewater. The beamlines allow for a wide range of complementary diffraction and scattering techniques to characterize the structure of materials.

Erica Pensini, associate professor in the School of Engineering at U of G, said she hopes that the separation, or isolation process, for industrial wastewater contaminants may eventually help to minimize water withdrawals, while addressing water scarcity, particularly when coupled with other treatment techniques. Pensini described the process her team used as essentially creating a membrane around the solvents within the water.

The new study looked at industrial runoff acetonitrile (AN), tetrahydrofuran (THF), and hexavalent chromium, or Cr (VI). AN is commonly used as a solvent, for spinning fibres and in lithium batteries, while THF can be used as a solvent for PVC and varnishes. It is also used to clean clogged 3D printer parts. Cr (VI) can be used as pigments in dyes, paints, inks and plastics, for leather tanning, and is also used as an anticorrosive agent added to paints, primers and other surface coatings.

Researchers discovered that the fatty

acid hydroxystearic acid can separate THF, via hydrogen, from water. They previously established this separation mechanism using sugars and surfactants and other water miscible solvents. The bond increases the proportion of single hydrogen-bond donors relative to double hydrogen-bond donors.

“We’ve been looking at the purification of surface water, groundwater and wastewater,” explained Pensini, in a statement from the Canadian Light Source. “We found that it was possible to use molecules that are both water-loving and oil-loving to separate solvents from water.”

Pensini said they could see droplets separating from the water and understand how those molecules can “self-assemble” and “interact with each other.” She added that the beamlines allowed the researchers to see the purity of the droplets without the need for dye.

For more information, email: editor@esemag.com

Mid-IR and Brockhouse beamlines were used to visualize the ways molecules interact when removing industrial runoff often found in wastewater. Credit: Canadian Light Source