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Moving? The Post Office will not forward your magazine. Do not count on getting the Journal unless you notify us directly of address changes by the 15th of the month preceding the month of issue. Please do not telephone address changes. Email changes to changes@fwrj.com, fax to 352-241-6007, or mail to Florida Water Resources Journal, 1402 Emerald Lakes Drive, Clermont, FL 34711
Membership Questions FSAWWA: Casey Cumiskey – 407-979-4806 or fsawwa.casey@gmail.com FWEA: Karen Wallace, Executive Manager – 407-574-3318 FWPCOA: Darin Bishop – 561-840-0340
News and Features 4 WWEMA Member Market Survey Reflects Industry Sales and Employment Increases 6 Modern Techniques for Prioritizing Asset Rehabilitation and Capital Plans—Matthew Grewe and Tim Medearis
32 Maintaining System Knowledge With Asset Management—Tom Tibbitts and Mark Nelson 38 News Beat 46 AMWA Announces 2019 Management Recognition Awards
Technical Articles 16 Hillsborough County Maintenance Shop Submersible Pump Motor Testing Improvements—Richard D. Taylor and Daniel Hammon 40 Sunburned: West Palm Beach Water Treatment Plant Digs Deep to Make Room for Ultraviolet Disinfection Process—Heath Wintz and Dr. Poonam Kalkat
Education and Training 13 19 24 25 26 47 39 43
Columns 12 FWEA Committee Corner: Air Quality Committee Holds Odor Control Seminar—
Training Questions FSAWWA: Donna Metherall – 407-979-4805 or fsawwa.donna@gmail.com FWPCOA: Shirley Reaves – 321-383-9690
For Other Information DEP Operator Certification: Ron McCulley – 850-245-7500 FSAWWA: Peggy Guingona – 407-979-4820 Florida Water Resources Conference: 407-363-7751 FWPCOA Operators Helping Operators: John Lang – 772-559-0722, e-mail – oho@fwpcoa.org FWEA: Karen Wallace, Executive Manager – 407-574-3318
Websites Florida Water Resources Journal: www.fwrj.com FWPCOA: www.fwpcoa.org FSAWWA: www.fsawwa.org FWEA: www.fwea.org and www.fweauc.org Florida Water Resources Conference: www.fwrc.org Throughout this issue trademark names are used. Rather than place a trademark symbol in every occurrence of a trademarked name, we state we are using the names only in an editorial fashion, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. None of the material in this publication necessarily reflects the opinions of the sponsoring organizations. All correspondence received is the property of the Florida Water Resources Journal and is subject to editing. Names are withheld in published letters only for extraordinary reasons. Authors agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Florida Water Resources Journal Inc. (FWRJ), its officers, affiliates, directors, advisors, members, representatives, and agents from any and all losses, expenses, third-party claims, liability, damages and costs (including, but not limited to, attorneys’ fees) arising from authors’ infringement of any intellectual property, copyright or trademark, or other right of any person, as applicable under the laws of the State of Florida.
CEU Challenge FWPCOA Region IV Short School FSAWWA Fall Conference Call for Papers FSAWWA Fall Conference Overview FSAWWA Fall Conference Exhibits FSAWWA ACE19 Luncheon TREEO Center Training FWPCOA Training Calendar
Robert Jeyaseelan and Larry Hickey
14 C Factor—Mike Darrow 23 Test Yourself—Donna Kaluzniak 28 Contractors Roundup: Safety in the Selection Process—Oscar Bello 30 FSAWWA Speaking Out—Michael F. Bailey 35 FWRJ Reader Profile—Jeff Elder 36 Let’s Talk Safety: Understanding Safety Data Sheets 37 FWEA Focus—Kristiana S. Dragash
Departments 48 51 53 54
Service Directories Classifieds New Products Display Advertiser Index
Volume 70
ON THE COVER: Jennifer Maxwell, an operator III at City of West Palm Beach, demonstrates ultraviolet bulb replacement from a reactor for Gabe Maul, an engineer at Stantec. For more information see page 40. (photo: Stantec)
May 2019
Number 5
Florida Water Resources Journal, USPS 069-770, ISSN 0896-1794, is published monthly by Florida Water Resources Journal, Inc., 1402 Emerald Lakes Drive, Clermont, FL 34711, on behalf of the Florida Water & Pollution Control Operator’s Association, Inc.; Florida Section, American Water Works Association; and the Florida Water Environment Association. Members of all three associations receive the publication as a service of their association; $6 of membership dues support the Journal. Subscriptions are otherwise available within the U.S. for $24 per year. Periodicals postage paid at Clermont, Fla., and additional offices.
POSTMASTER: send address changes to Florida Water Resources Journal, 1402 Emerald Lakes Drive, Clermont, FL 34711
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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WWEMA Member Market Survey Reflects Industry Sales and Employment Increases The Water and Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association (WWEMA) has released the results of its 2018 WWEMA Member Market Indicators Survey. Each year WWEMA surveys its members to gauge the state of the water and wastewater equipment manufacturing market. The survey results are widely reported and serve as critical data within the industry for measuring current performance and tracking market trends from year to year. The survey tracks the business activity or anticipated activity of manufacturers and their representatives within the water and wastewater market, for two annual periods, in the following eight business areas: S Design Work S Quotations S Bookings/Orders S Domestic Sales S International Sales S Company Employment S Materials Costs S Industry Market Growth
Domestic and International Sales The results of the survey generally showed increasing domestic sales for the initial period of September 2017–August 2018, with approximately 70 percent of responding companies reporting positive growth over that period; only a few companies reporting negative growth. The reported growth is fairly robust, with over half of companies reporting sales in the 5 percent or greater range. International sales for companies participating in the survey were positive for approximately a quarter of companies for the initial period; for the same period, the majority of companies reported flat international sales.
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Employment
Looking ahead to the subsequent annual period, companies generally anticipate continued strong sales, with some further growth in both domestic and international sales. As the individual components of the market indicator survey show, the outlook for the water and wastewater industry is positive and is expected to remain so through August of 2019. Current and future domestic sales—often the most direct indicator of economic health of the industry—are strong. Specifically, nearly three of four companies in the September 2017–August 2018 period had positive sales growth. The following year’s predictions continue to exceed even these healthy levels. Over half of sales for September 2018–August 2019 are expected to be at levels of 2.5 to 5 percent, with another approximately one-third in the 7.5 to10 percent range.
Orders and Design Work Indicators other than sales also help characterize the overall market strength of an industry. Bookings/orders and design work are also good barometers. All of these indicators are strong and improving from the prior survey and are expected to have continued improvement in the September 2018–August 2019 period. Over half of respondents had bookings/orders of 5 to 10 percent in September 2017–August 2018. Regarding design work, no company anticipates negative growth for the upcoming September 2018–August 2019 period.
Not surprisingly, company employment grew during the initial period and is expected to continue to do so as companies expand hiring to meet production associated with the strong sales figures. The industry’s success itself might be one factor that explains the increase in company employment and current and future price increases for materials, as companies compete for a limited pool of skilled workers, driving up wages. Additionally, broader market forces, including tariffs, trade policy, and interest rate uncertainty, may be other factors affecting material prices. Company employment growth is expected to continue into the September 2018–August 2019 period, with an additional nearly 10 percent of companies expected to have positive growth. During the September 2017–August 2018 period, one-quarter of companies had employment growth of 5 to 10 percent. In general, material costs rose from the prior year and are expected to continue that trend with a significant increase in the number of companies anticipating cost increases in the 5 to 10 percent range. The full, detailed report by each segment, with analysis for current and future evaluation timeframes, is available exclusively for WWEMA members.
About WWEMA Since 1908, WWEMA has informed, educated, and provided leadership on the issues that shape the future of the water and wastewater industry. Its member companies supply the most sophisticated leading-edge products and technologies, offering solutions to every water-related environmental problem and need facing today’s society. For more information, visit www.wwema.org. S
Modern Techniques for Prioritizing Asset Rehabilitation and Capital Plans Matthew Grewe and Tim Medearis Ten years ago, there was very little data to prioritize asset rehabilitation properly; today, there is too much data. Utilities are now typically data rich, but information poor, and utilities need to ensure that their data have intent. Finding causal relationships, utilizing real-time data, and completing data-driven decision making—and moving away from “gut-feel” methodology—is key to maximizing public funds and reducing risk. Many capital improvement programs spend millions of dollars annually; however, that may do little to lower total system risk if they are focused on infrastructure that is not hydraulically significant to system operations. Inspection, closed circuit television (CCTV), computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) asset management tools collect valuable condition, work order, and asset inventory data, and this information, coupled with analytical tools for developing risk scenarios and logical rehabilitation, will combat these challenges. Plans may be created, and when performed in the geographic information system (GIS) environment, they may be easily bundled, packaged, estimated, and reported on. InfoAsset Planner software, an ArcGIS Desktop tool, is used to perform batch riskbased modeling and analysis for multiple asset types in water systems to assess the impact of being taken out of service or because
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May 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal
of failure. Up to six complex statistical regression models may be employed to quantify the causal relationships and reliability for a utility’s network. These statistical models are based on a utility’s data—not on normal industry standards. The statistical models are available to be utilized in risk-based modeling completed by the software. The likelihood of failure can be based, not only physical characteristics such as age and material, but on other hydraulic, environmental, and inspection data factors, such as velocity, depth/diameter, sea rise, salt water corrosion, soil type, work history, and sewer CCTV data. Additionally, the consequence of failures can be based on locational and environmental characteristics, such as crossings (railroad, highway, waterways), location to critical facilities (hospitals, schools, military bases, etc.), and demand or flow, to determine the real impact of failure and ensure adequate service to customers. The software allows for a more detailed, granular approach in which each asset has a risk score calculated as a combination of probability and consequence of failure calculations. Multiple risk scenarios can be modeled with results that can be observed visually in ArcGIS to review high-risk areas, as well as which areas can provide the most risk reduction. Lastly, utilities need to maximize public funds to meet growing needs for the rehabilitation of their existing networks. As systems near the end of their useful life, utilities run
the risk of making costly emergency repairs on pipes that may fail or exceed capacity. By utilizing not only risk scoring, but all available data (CCTV, CMMS work order and inspections, hydraulic modeling results, etc.) to determine a rehabilitation action, as well as prioritize the order of asset rehabilitation, the software’s prioritized rehabilitation plan will ensure that utilities "get the most bang for their buck" and lower their total system risk, as opposed to simply replacing older pipes first.
Asset Management Methodology With multiple asset management methodologies and frameworks available, such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 55000 and Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 55, utilities have multiple options available to understand the needs of their water systems (potable water, wastewater, and reclaimed water) individually. Additionally, the riskbased methodologies that use consequence of failure (COF) and likelihood of failure (LOF) directly correspond to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) standards for asset management. The software was specifically developed for utilities to configure their asset management plan by using any of the previously mentioned methodologies and frameworks, either individually or in a combination of apContinued on page 8
Continued from page 6 proachs that works best for them. These same methodologies and frameworks can be applied to many of the different GIS-based asset types. Asset management evaluations are typically based on physical characteristics of an asset; however, there are many other factors (hydraulic, environmental, and inspection) that impact the proper rehabilitation action required for an individual asset. Many times utilities may have CMMS information stored on one server and CCTV survey inspections on another, but hydraulic models and GIS groups working independently of one another. Understanding how these multiple data sources can be utilized in risk-based evaluation is critical in understanding how each asset performs in its ability to ensure a level-of-service standard. The software is a key tool that allows all of these separate data streams to be integrated into one software and be evaluated. With all of this information tied to the root asset in one database and software, decision makers can make more-informed rehabilitation or capital improvement project (CIP) decisions. By storing the software’s database in the powerful and flexible Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) environment, this data integration is simplified and easy for current ArcGIS users to understand. This also opens the project database and software analysis results for easy access and publishing on ArcGIS Online.
Causal Relationships Finding the causal (good and bad) relationships for each asset type is key to identifying the proper rehabilitation method and
maximizing the budgets required to proactively maintain level-of-service standards. The software enables a user to evaluate pipe material, age, number of CCTV defects, type and number of associated work orders, and hydraulic capacity side by side. Its ability to integrate with multiple data sources helps to uncover these causal relationships and the multitude of different factors that lead to more easily predicting asset failure. Two examples experienced by existing users include: 1. Correlating a specific contractor that installed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) water mains between 1995 and 2002 to longitudinal cracking due to overhoning the bell of the PVC pipe segments. 2. Correlating a specific contractor that installed multimaterial pipe segments between 1978 and 1988 to overdeflection of pipe segments during installation of the mains. These examples of causal relationships can be utilized as a multicriteria likelihood of failure in a risk-based evaluation to prioritize similar assets for faster replacement. With all of this information in one place, it becomes much easier for organizations to create reports, charts, and graphs showing the relationships among the many factors that might lead to asset failure. Figure 1 shows a graph displaying how the overall risk for the network may increase, as a factor of pipe age for example. A more statistical way to identify trends and causal relationships may be accomplished through the statistical deterioration. Standard deviation evaluations can be utilized in the software to define pipe failure criteria based on historical failure records, past work orders, and/or CCTV inspections. Once
Figure 1. Network Risk
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a set number of failures has been identified and joined to an asset, users can select several variables, such as material, diameter, slope, CCTV scores, or risk results, and use a linear regression analysis to determine if the variables are correlated to pipe failure or not. Linear regression analyses are calibrated with a coefficient to either make it more or less lenient in terms of finding variables, which might correlate to overall asset failure. In Figure 2, material, diameter, and peak score (from CCTV), and the created LOF 2 were determined to be significant factors in a particular model, while slope, risk score 1, and length were not significant factors. In this simple but powerful example, software users can get a statistical sense of what variables might be most important to them as they decide how to prioritize and plan rehabilitation projects. These basic sensitivity analyses results can, in turn, provide more dynamic reports, such as cohort and regression analyses. These graphical results use the actual failure data from a utility, combined with the sensitivity analysis to produce survival probability, failure rate, and cumulative failure rate curves for linear assets. If utilities do not have the failure data necessary to generate these curves, software users also have the option of manually setting their asset curves based on industry-standard data, such as the American Water Works Association (AWWA) report, “Buried No Longer,” or local observations. Both cohort and regression analyses come with a variety of deterioration equations, which users can choose depending on their preferences. Cohort model analyses can be used to predict the service life of groups of facilities. This method will group pipes with similar
Figure 2. Client Example of Material, Diameter, and Peak Score, and Likelihood of Failure
likeness (e.g., material types, pipe diameter, or soil types) and then create a deterioration model for each group. An example is shown in Figure 3. Regression model analysis can be used to predict the service life or failure probability density of assets based on individual variable values, which are much more data-intensive than cohort models. With this additional data, however, users can generate curves that are independently dependent on any of the variables found to be significant in the sensitivity analysis. An example of failure probability density is show in Figure 4. Software users can compare a 70-year-old survival curve and ductile iron pipe (with a peak CCTV score of 2) against a 20-year-old cast iron pipe (with a peak CCTV score of 4). This level of granularity is only accessible with large amounts of data from multiple data sources (i.e., GIS pipe feature class and CMMS failure records).
Risk-Based Modeling Risk-based modeling (Figure 5) is critical to understanding how to prioritize assets for rehabilitation, as well as being able to quantify the amount of risk that can be reContinued on page 10
Figure 3. Deterioration Model
Figure 4. Failure Probability Density Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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Figure 5. Risk-Based Modeling
Continued from page 9 duced for each asset type. The software’s ability to allow users to complete multiple risk-based modeling evaluations is critical to maximizing public funds. Flexible in nature, but still based on the industry standard and ASCE methodology of COF combined with LOF equaling overall risk (COF x LOF = risk), the software allows users to complete a risk analysis in minutes. Quickly evaluating risk-based evaluations allows users to spend their time modeling how to reduce risk. When utilities having the ability to weight their criteria, combine different components into a single criteria, and compare risk analyses in ArcGIS, they can better understand their asset prioritization and reduce risk. Risk analyses are especially useful when inspection data do not exist and are not possible due to asset accessibility.
Rehabilitation Plans For utilities to move away from “gutfeel” rehabilitation planning and move toward planning that is data-driven, it’s important to provide transparent communication throughout an organization, as well as to its customer base. Data-driven rehabilitation planning is only possible by evaluating multiple data sources in one location, allowing different data streams (CCTV, CMMS,
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Figure 6. Rehabilitation Decision Tree
GIS, hydraulic models, etc.) and pre-analysis (deterioration modeling, risk analysis, CCTV analysis) to develop a recommended rehabilitation action. Existing users of the software utilize their rehabilitation plans to not only evaluate risk-based scoring for different asset types, but to also process the real field data observations that are collected. Real field data, such as CCTV data defect codes, can be utilized to determine if a gravity main should have one of the following rehabilitation actions completed: 1) no action, 2) CCTV again, 3) point repair, 4) cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) lining, or 5) full replacement. Additionally, just because a risk-based scoring evaluation identifies an asset as “extreme risk” doesn’t mean that it must be replaced. Sometimes the proper rehabilitation action is additional investigated field work to understand and establish a better failure probability. Examples of additional investigative field work completed by existing users is associated with understanding pipe wall deterioration, including completing coupon tests or ultrasonic testing to further understand the rate at which failure may occur. The rehabilitation decision trees (one example is shown in Figure 6) that can be developed in the software allow asset management to come full circle. From data collection, to analysis, to rehabilitation rec-
May 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal
ommendations, to work order generation for recommended field work, the results from the new data can be brought in and evaluated during the next asset management cycle.
Conclusion With the software as an extension within ArcMap, it allows advanced locational and environmental factors to be included when performing risk-based modeling for each individual asset in utility water system networks. Additionally, the software brings multiple data sources together from multiple departments (planning, engineering, operations, information technology, etc.) to statistically evaluate failure determination and/or survival probabilities, and also identify the rehabilitation action. These important features and functions allow utilities to replace the right asset, for the right reason, at the right time—at minimal cost and minimal risk—while at the same time achieve an agreed-upon level of service to all stakeholders. Matthew Grewe, P.E., is southeast regional sales manager with Innovyze Inc. in Orlando, and Tim Medearis, E.I., is a sales engineer with Innovyze Inc. in Denver. S
FWEA COMMITTEE CORNER Welcome to the FWEA Committee Corner! The Member Relations Committee of the Florida Water Environment Association hosts this article to celebrate the success of recent association chapter activities and inform members of upcoming events. To have information included from your chapter, send details to Megan Nelson at megan.nelson@ocfl.net.
Megan Nelson
Air Quality Committee Holds Odor Control Seminar Robert Jeyaseelan and Larry Hickey ach year the Florida Water Environment Association (FWEA) Air Quality Committee holds an annual continued education seminar with the purpose of advancing the understanding and knowledge of the complexities of odor control assessment, design, and operation. On February 21, the City of Tavares hosted this year’s event, where eight nationally recognized consultants specializing in odor control presented detailed information on various odor control issues. The gathering provided operators, engineers, and field personnel the opportunity to learn about many aspects of odor control—from problem assessment to design, and ultimately, operation. There were formal question and answer sessions, and networking breaks provided attendees with one-on-one access to the presenters to discuss odor issues and methodologies. The committee has traditionally held
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these annual seminars regionally in Florida in pursuit of its mission to develop and conduct educational programs related to air quality control within Florida’s wastewater field. The ability to hold these odor control seminars year after year is evidence of the industry’s desire to learn about the intricacies of air quality issues for municipalities and utilities. This year’s speakers included: S Richard Pope and Ryan McKenna, Hazen & Sawyer S Chris Easter, HDR S David McEwen, Brown & Caldwell S Robert Bowker, Bowker & Associates S Bruce Singleton, CDM Smith S Tim Matheis, Evoqua Water Technologies They presented on topics ranging from “Foul Air Collection and Treatment Overview” to “Testing the DMS Capacity of Specialized Adsorptive Media.”
In municipal wastewater applications, odor control is a major contributor to air quality as utilities focus on being good neighbors within their communities. It’s also important to note that odor control addresses health and safety issues for workers in wastewater environments, as well as utility capital costs, by reducing infrastructure corrosion and degradation. Be sure to check the FWEA website and the calendar of events for information on next year’s seminar date and location. When registration opens be sure to register early as these seminars sell out every year! Robert Jeyaseelan is president of VAPEX Environmental Technologies in Cocoa and Larry Hickey is president of Equipment Plus Solutions Inc. in Ocala. Both are members of the FWEA Air Quality Committee. S
A question and answer session conducted by (left to right) Dick Pope, P.E.; Tim Matheis; David McEwen, P.E.; and Chris Hunniford, P.E.
Speakers appreciation dinner attended by committee members and guest speakers.
Attendees at the seminar.
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Incoming committee chair Phillip Clark and outgoing committee chair Joe Paterniti, P.E. (holding plaque).
Operators: Take the CEU Challenge! Members of the Florida Water and Pollution Control Operators Association (FWPCOA) may earn continuing education units through the CEU Challenge! Answer the questions published on this page, based on the technical articles in this month’s issue. Circle the letter of each correct answer. There is only one correct answer to each question! Answer 80 percent of the questions on any article correctly to earn 0.1 CEU for your license. Retests are available. This month’s editorial theme is Operations and Utility Management. Look above each set of questions to see if it is for water operators (DW), distribution system operators (DS), or wastewater operators (WW). Mail the completed page (or a photocopy) to: Florida Environmental Professionals Training, P.O. Box 33119, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. 33420-3119. Enclose $15 for each set of questions you choose to answer (make checks payable to FWPCOA). You MUST be an FWPCOA member before you can submit your answers!
___________________________________ SUBSCRIBER NAME (please print)
Article 1 _________________________________ LICENSE NUMBER for Which CEUs Should Be Awarded
If paying by credit card, fax to (561) 625-4858 providing the following information:
___________________________________ (Credit Card Number)
____________________________________ (Expiration Date)
Sunburned: West Palm Beach Water Treatment Plant Digs Deep to Make Room for Ultraviolet Disinfection Process Heath Wintz and Poonam Kalkat
(Article 1: CEU = 0.1 DS/DW02015343)
1. Engineers _______________________ for characterization and estimation of ultraviolet system operation and maintenance costs. a. monitored ultraviolet transmittance b. analyzed influent and effluent bacteriological water quality c. monitored ultraviolet system power utilization d. collected and analyzed ultraviolet bulb sleeve foulant samples 2. The existing high-service pumps were equipped with an energy-wasting __________ a. variable frequency drive. b. variable speed drive. c. hydraulic braking system. d. electrical transformer. 3. New _________________ high-service pumps replaced four suction lift pumps in the west station. a. vertical turbine b. suction lift c. split case horizontal centrifugal d. positive displacement 4. Which of the following was not included in the new transfer building/wet well structure? a. Sodium hypochlorite storage and pumping b. Overflow spillway c. Emergency generators d. Ultraviolet disinfection equipment 5. The number of approved providers for ultraviolet treatment equipment was a. two. b. three. c. four. d. five.
Earn CEUs by answering questions from previous Journal issues! Contact FWPCOA at membership@fwpcoa.org or at 561-840-0340. Articles from past issues can be viewed on the Journal website, www.fwrj.com.
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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C FACTOR
Keeping it Fresh! S pH stability S Cross connections
Mike Darrow President, FWPCOA
n March 2019, FWPCOA had another excellent and well-attended state short school in Fort Pierce. Our organization is helping to train for the future, and our membership in our profession, and I’m lucky to be a part of that. My thanks go to all who helped in this mission by giving up their free time to teach and be involved. I also thank those who attended as students to increase their knowledge base and learn from experienced folks; may you get wiser every day. Continued education in what you do as a profession never gets old, so keep your knowledge “fresh.” Speaking of fresh, sparkling clean and safe water is the goal for all of us in the water profession. We must all work together at every phase of treatment to ensure that our customers get the water they need. “Keeping it fresh” is a common theme amongst our crew in Plant City, were I work.
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The Distribution System and Water Quality As water distribution system operators, cross connection control technicians, and water treatment plant operators do their daily tasks, they must remember to think about water quality and how their actions can affect and improve the characteristics of the water in the distribution system. After treatment, the water entering a distribution system may meet drinking water standards, but the quality of the water may degrade within the system or be affected by other conditions, so we must all work together as a team to keep it fresh. Water quality can be changed by aging pipes and cross connections within the system with the intrusion of dangerous pathogens. Proper distribution system management is essential to protect the community from both aesthetic and public-health threats due to deteriorating water quality in the water system. Some problems in the distribution system that can affect water quality are: S Color S Taste and odor S Biofilm formation
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Color Color issues (white/milky, red/orange, bluish/green, black/brownish) are caused by very low flows, aging water, and the plumbing materials used. When these occur in the field, be sure to check the system conditions. Color problems are mainly isolated issues, so you need to get out there and start checking. White or milky water is usually found to be air in the system, which could be in a single home or in a certain area. A quick way to check is to fill a clear glass with water and let it stand; the glass will clear from the bottom. Air relief and pumps should also be checked. I’ve also seen white particles in water, which turned out to be a bad dip tube out of a water heater; the internal tube deteriorates over time, causing the white particles. Red or orange water is usually caused by piping material containing iron or steel. A corrosive water, or water sitting in a pipe over time, can corrode the pipe material, causing the color. A good flushing and corrosion control program will help in this area. Good distribution maintenance will keep systems looped, and you have to replace bad piping when it’s needed. Bluish/green water is usually caused by piping material containing copper or brass in a verylow-flow line or where there is low-pH water. This is usually found in a customer’s home where a fixture isn’t used much. Customers should be educated about fixture usage in the home and how critical it is to water quality. The use of phosphates for control of corrosion is very common, which can also be used to control copper, as well as lead. Speaking of lead, if any lead services or goosenecks are found in a system they should be removed immediately. A replacement program for that particular neighborhood may need to be a priority. Water that’s black or brownish in color is from a number of issues, including sediment or manganese. A flushing program should be developed by your utility to flush dead ends in your system quarterly, as well as determining system flushing points to improve quality. Unidirectional flushing can be done by closing valves with increased flow and scouring to remove sediments. These sediments can also harbor taste and odor imbedded in them; by addressing this you’re taking care of two problems at once, so flush my friend! Manganese can cause dark colors as well,
May 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal
which is caused in very-low-flow areas where it settles out. Remember, manganese is a naturally occurring element and has no health effects. Here too, flushing is the key to removing manganese deposits. Piping changes may also be needed to increase flow in an area. High manganese in the treatment plant effluent would need further treatment for removal above the secondary maximum contaminant level (SMCL) of 0.05 mg/l. Taste and Odor Taste and odor in water, in most cases, are usually no sign of a public health risk, but they do indicate an issue inside of a home or in a distribution system. These problems related to the system are usually due to aging water, poor source water, inadequate treatment, loss of chlorine residual, low alkalinity, or changing water quality in the distribution system. All of these can be tricky to troubleshoot if found in the system. Customer expectations are for clear water with no taste or odor issues, so complaints should be investigated by the system or treatment operator. Most of these cases are sulfurous in nature. Check to make sure that water heaters are not set at too low or too high of a temperature, and that they are being serviced as needed. Water heaters should be flushed a least once a year in a home that has these issues. Also check any unmaintained home treatment units, low-flow areas, or no-use bathrooms. In some homes with earthly/musty/moldy odors, the cause is bacteria growing in sinks and other fixtures. The customer thinks it’s the water, but the infested areas just need to be cleaned with bleach. If taste is an issue, remember that the colder the water the better is tastes. Recommend to your customers that they keep drinking water in the refrigerator, which will help. A cross connection backflow can also have taste and odor issues, so investigate this as well. Remember you are required to flush dead ends in your water distribution system quarterly, which will really improve the freshness. Better yet, install auto flushers in problem areas for increased flow, and then freshness will be achieved. The types of tastes and odors that are found in water include chemical, solvent, sulfurous, earthy/musty, medicinal, metallic, and many more. Common troubleshooting for any chemical tastes and odors looks at chlorine feed rates at the treatment plant to make sure that they are consistent and not excessive. For solvent taste and odor issues, look for a cross connection or source water relating to hydrocarbons that may need to be removed. Earthly and musty issues are com-
monly found with surface water sources that have algae blooms or organic material with chlorine disinfection; ozone or advanced oxidation will help to remove these. Sulfurous problems may indicate low or no chlorine residual, low flow, or stagnant water. Biofilm Formation Biofilms are slimy microorganisms that live on the interior of pipe walls. Typically, these films are benign and are heterotrophic or nitrifying in nature. The problem is, when growth gets out of hand, they can really cause issues with taste, odor, and color, and could possibly hold pathogens or bad bacteria. This growth is triggered by the availability of elements such nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus. If you have too much of these in problem areas, biofilms will grow faster. With a stagnant pipe or low velocity flow, low disinfectant residual, or corrosion of piping material, poor water quality conditions are ripe for excessive growth. A key factor in biofilms is the availability of carbon sources, like total organic carbon (TOC), and in this case, the lower the better. Controlling TOC can be done through treatment-effective processes like advanced coagulation, biologic filters, granular activated carbon, or active source water protection, which will go a long way in prevention of these biofilms. Other operational techniques for the distribution system are a good corrosion control program, optimization of your disinfectant, water storage tank turnover practices, good maintenance practices for repairs and pipe work, and water main rehabilitation and replacement projects. Flushing at velocities above 2 feet per second will really keep it fresh!
pH It’s very important to have stability in your water distribution system for pH and alkalinity. A pH range of 7.3 to 8.2 is optimal for water distribution systems, while a pH lower than 7 is corrosive in nature and will cause leaching of lead and copper in the drinking water, as well as imparting a metallic taste in the water. Lead and copper are never a good thing, so be sure you are testing your system regularly according to your plan. Effective pH control and corrosion control can go a long way to prevent this issue. With a pH of greater than 9, excessive scaling will form on the piping in low-velocity pipe runs, which can cause scaling and pipe volume capacity loss. A lack of alkalinity can be corrosive to the water in the distribution system and cause many of these same issues. Having a stable alkalinity will allow the water a buffer itself when needed. Cross Connections An active cross connection control program really does help in water quality protection. Having trained and certified personnel who can check a water system to protect against contamination is critical. The requiring of backflow prevention devices for possible hazards can provide great protection for the water system. Contamination for hazardous connections would be hard to trace if there was no device in place for the prevention of backsiphonage. Regular testing of these units ensures they are working correctly.
Working as a Team Having a good team around you goes a long way in trying to correct and preserve water quality. Here are some things to remember: S Evaluate the areas affected, look at the piping
map, and be sure it’s looped. S Dead ends must be flushed regularly to keep the water fresh. S Work with your distribution system operators to get their take on the issue. Many times, things may not be on a map, but are relative to finding on issue. S Test and look at valves in the system to be sure they are open; closed values will only act to increase low flow and stagnation. S Test disinfectant residuals, as the lack of them will cause you grief. S Check water storage tanks in the system to be sure they are routinely turned over and cleaned regularly. S Use auto flushers in low-flow areas. Routine flushing goes a long way to improving circulation and water quality. Manual flushing at high velocity is some of the best ways to keep it fresh. Water quality is not the only thing you need to keep fresh. As we try to become better water professionals, your character and professionalism are other things to work on. As operators, coordinators, mechanics, and technicians, we must strive to be excellent in our craft and carry ourselves with good conduct. We must look professional in what we wear and how we act. We must be dedicated ourselves when we’re at work to our work. We must stand together for the good of us all going forward. Together we can move our skilled craft to a place where it needs to be for our advancement and for that of the industry. By keeping it fresh with your training, skills, personality, character, work ethic, and accountability, I see our profession getting stronger. So, keep it fresh! S
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Hillsborough County Maintenance Shop Submersible Pump Motor Testing Improvements Richard D. Taylor and Daniel Hammon illsborough County’s Brandon Support Operations Complex (BSOC) pump shop is responsible for maintenance and testing of all the county’s submersible pumps utilized within its vast wastewater collection system of almost 800 sites (totaling over 1600 individual submersible pump motors) distributed throughout the area. All submersible pump motors are electrically tested in the BSOC prior to field installation or upon return to the shop after refurbishment or repair by the pump manufacturer. Pump shop motor testing consists of an array of 14 (unpowered motor) electrical tests using conventional handheld electrical test meters, and an additional electrical motor test that requires physically powering each pump motor at its particular operating voltage of alternating current (VAC). All of the pump motor information (including pump shop testing results) is
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logged and the pump history is tracked in the county’s computer automated maintenance system (CAMS) database and reporting system. The county’s motor shop, in testing platform electrical motor equipment, had reached its end of life and the county desired to make equipment improvements to the motor testing platform, along with improvements in testing procedure efficiency and data collection. The large quantity (over 1000) of pump motors maintained by the county’s shop and the wide varieties of pump motors (motor horsepower [hp] varying from 3 to 200 hp, and motor three-phase operation ranging from 230 to 460 VAC) processed through it on a daily basis required a flexible testing platform that could readily be reconfigured for the specific requirements of each pump motor test. The criteria for pump motor test platform improvements included:
Figure 2. Motor Starter
Richard D. Taylor, P.E., is a senior electrical/instrumentation and control engineer at Black & Veatch in Tampa. Daniel Hammon, CMRP, is section manager–pump station maintenance at Hillsborough County Public Utilities Department in Bradenton.
1. Simplification of the electrical equipment required for powered motor testing. 2. Simplification and improvements to testing procedures where possible. 3. Implementation of as much automation within the testing platform that could be reasonably accomplished to improve testing efficiency, while providing consistent and repeatable testing results. 4. Optimization of the user interface(s) to the CAMS database to improve testing workflow, eliminating duplicative and unnecessary data entry procedures. 5. Utilize as many of the electrical equipment and automation products the county already used within its wastewater collection system to minimize additional maintenance and support requirements for the test platform. This article details the chronology of the design, construction, and commissioning efforts, culminating with the successful implementation of the county’s and the design engineer’s vision of a modern, flexible, user-friendly, automated motor testing platform. The article also highlights the collaborative thought processes and solutions to problems, combining the efforts of engineering, equipment vendors, and county maintenance and management, resulting in a practical design that meets the criteria established for the project by the county and the design engineer.
Background
Figure 1. Pump Motor Test Panel
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Figure 3. Power Cable Receptacles
All county pumps are physical assets listed and tracked within the CAMS database and reporting system. Each maintenance shop work order for a particular pump motor requires the
Table 1. Pump Motor Parameters and Attributes
equipment item to have been previously entered as an asset in the CAMS system. Work orders are created within the system to log each maintenance activity performed on the assets and are logged into the database used for tracking them from first to final use. The 17 database parameters and attributes of a particular pump motor and any CAMS work order are listed in Table 1. Specific electrical information as to motor hp, motor operating VAC, and motor full-load amps (FLAs) determines the configuration of the test stand required to safely energize the motor for an operational test, whether the motor is run “under load” or testing is performed under “no load.” A list of the 14 maintenance technicians’ individual static nonenergized motor tests associated with a pump motor work order is shown in Table 2. The remaining “unloaded motor run” tests require a maintenance technician to energize the pump motor at the operating voltage and take amperage measurements on each motor phase lead. They are shown in Table 3. The majority of the data (18 of 21 data points) are manually collected, and data entry into the CAMS database is done by the maintenance technician performing the work order tests. The remaining three test data points (motor running amps on each phase of a three-phase pump motor) require the pump motor test panel.
Table 2. Pump Motor Work Orders
“Necessity is the Mother of Invention” The county’s existing pump motor test panel (Figure 1) consisted of a three-phase 480 VAC supply, 480/240 VAC three-phase stepdown transformer, reduced voltage solid-state (RVSS) motor starter, control panel containing a size-2 full-voltage nonreversing (FVNR) motor starter (Figure 2), and two power cable receptacles (Figure 3), all wall-mounted in the shop. Greg Currington, the county’s maintenance manager, indicated that the motor shop test unit was initially assembled from miscellaneous parts by county technicians. The pump motor test stand was relocated and re-assembled during a previous maintenance facility move prior to the relocation to the county’s North Falkenburg Road complex in Tampa.
Table 3. Unloaded Motor Run Tests
Testing Procedure The motor no-load amps testing procedure consisted of the following steps: 1. Control panel selection of voltage (230 and 460 VAC) to match motor to be tested Continued on page 18 Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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Continued from page 17 2. Technician connects the umbilical cable alligator clip leads to the motor leads 3. Technician plugs the umbilical cable into the appropriate receptacle (230 and 460 VAC) 4. Technician “start” of the motor amps test using the control panel pushbuttons 5. Manual use of a clamp-on ammeter to read motor amperes in each motor lead 5. Log the motor amperes data onto motor test worksheet 6. Technician “stop” of the motor amps test using the control panel pushbuttons Several deficiencies and potential safety issues within the existing motor test system included the following:
1. There was human error in the incorrect selection of voltage in test panels matching the connected motor. 2. There was no automatic test “start,” “run,” or “stop” period (limiting maximum time motor was operated). 3. No automatic collection or averaging of motor amp data was done. Manual collection of motor amps for each motor lead was required in all tests. 4. There was limited overload protection in the test panel, given the wide range of motor sizes tested. 5. The motor test panel was not designed for use with motors “under load.” 6. The soft-starting RVSS was used only on larger motors; FVNR motor starting was used for smaller motors.
Figure 4. Preliminary Design, New Motor Test Stand Drawing, Panel Arrangement
The Same Game With Different Players The county requested that Black & Veatch design a replacement pump motor test panel to be located in the BSOC. Black & Veatch’s review of the motor hp ranges (3 to 200), coupled with the need for two different three-phase operating voltages (230 and 460 VAC), indicated that five different sizes of RVSS motor starters would be required to provide the proper electrical protection for any motor operating at full voltage and motor FLAs. The RVSS manufacturer (Solcon), used by the county in the existing pump motor test panel and within larger hp fixed-speed pump station applications, is represented by ICON Technologies, a local Tampa area firm. Black & Veatch contacted ICON and was provided with technical data for the different models of RVSS starters required for the application. The RVSS starters were capable of operation at either 230 or 460 VAC (three-phase, 60 hertz [Hz]) and are rated by maximum ampere capacity. The unit selections covered the county’s range of motor hp and amperes at 230 and 460 VAC operation: S Unit 1 - 8.5 to 17 amps S Unit 2 - 15.5 to 31 amps S Unit 3 - 36 to 72 amps S Unit 4 - 52 to 105 amps S Unit 5 - 105 to 210 amps Motor operation at two voltages (230 and 460 VAC) also required the continued use of a three-phase step-down transformer (480 or 240 VAC), commercially available and adequately sized, for the 210 amps at 240 VAC (112.5 kilovolt-amp [KVA]) capacity, and a voltage transfer switch to select either the 480 VAC or the 240 VAC three-phase supply. One additional criterion, which is the potential for future use of the pump motor test stand in “under load” tests (operating a pump in a flow test stand, confirming motor efficiencies, etc.), provided the basis for the preliminary design of the pump motor test stand. Black & Veatch developed preliminary design drawings using a free-standing two-door panel, essentially duplicating the original manually operated test panel design (Figures 4 and 5).
A New Way for a New Day
Figure 5. Preliminary Design, New Motor Test Stand, Panel Wiring Schematics
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A radical idea was presented by ICON to Black & Veatch during discussions regarding the test panel design using the RVSS starters: Why not consider an adjustable frequency drive (AFD) is lieu of an RVSS? Use of an AFD could potentially simplify the Continued on page 20
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Continued from page 18 pump motor test panel design, given the ability of an AFD to “recreate” either the 460 VAC at 60 Hz, or 230 VAC at 60 Hz, voltages required for a particular motor test, even though the AFD was constantly powered from a 480 VAC three-phase source. Both Solcon’s RVSS and Yaskawa Electric
Corporation’s AFDs were supported by ICON, which has had a long-term relationship with the county, and it selected the Yaskawa product line for the AFD-based pumping applications. Black & Veatch presented ICON’s proposed alternative to the county during a design review meeting, outlining both the benefits and issues
Figure 6. Final Design, New Motor Test Stand Drawing (Panel Arrangement)
to be addressed if this alternative were to be considered. Benefits 1. Simplification of electrical equipment required for powered motor testing a. Elimination of the manual transfer switch and 480 VAC/240 VAC transformer b. Fewer components (i.e., motor starters) within test panel 2. Implementation of testing automation a. Software-controlled test procedures automatically collects motor test data i. Minimizing human error ii. Automation would create consistent test procedures and repeatable results 3. Potential to interface to CAMS database a. Improvements to pump motor test workflow and procedures b. Elimination of duplicative and unnecessary data entry procedures 4. Utilization of electrical equipment and automation products the county already used within its wastewater collection system a. Yaskawa AFD b. Schneider Electric (Modicon) programmable logic controller (PLC) for AFDbased configuration and test Issues 1. More-involved technical design a. Additional software and hardware specifications development b. Development of new operator interface 2. Software design of testing logic a. Higher technical complexity i. PLC to AFD communications required for AFD “test to test” reconfiguration ii. PLC to power metering for amperage data collection 3. Defining interface between test panel and CAMS a. Defining data interface between pump motor test system and CAMS computer b. County information technology group “buy-in” to “foreign system” interface
Figure 7. Updated Motor Test Stand Drawing, Field Wiring Connections and Layout
Figure 8. New Motor Shop Test Panel, Operator Interface Displays
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4. Rigorous system factory acceptance testing (FAT) prior to deployment 5. Complexity of integration of test panel with CAMS 6. More-expensive design and construction The county personnel and management were very receptive to the concept of providing the replacement test panel with the automation required for both physical pump motor testing and the potential to improve efficiency through system integration of the pump motor panel with the CAMS system. Black & Veatch developed an updated test panel design and concept for the system integration with connections to CAMS. An evaluation of the pump motor ampere ranges indicated that only two AFDs would be required for control of all variants of the threephase pump motors tested at the BSOC. The AFD-rated 3.1 to 31 amps would be used for the lower hp range of pump motors, while the AFDrated 21 to 208 amps would be selected for testing the larger hp range of the county’s pump motors. The panel was designed using a “belt and suspenders” philosophy. Normal testing would be performed using PLC and an operator interface terminal (OIT), with complete automation of the testing setup. A failure of the PLC (or PLC and OIT) did not render the test panel inoperative, as an operator could select the appropriate AFD, configure it from the AFD keypad, and start/stop motor testing from the panel frontmounted selector switches and pushbuttons. Collection and local display of pump motor amperes utilized physical current transformers (CTs) connected to the Shark multifunction meters. In a semi-automatic test scenario, the testing operator could take readings from the panel front-mounted meters, eliminating any use requirements for a clampon ammeter. Three different-sized industrial welding receptacles (30, 100, and 200 amp), each connected to an equivalent amp-rated flexible “umbilical” for connection to the pump motor leads, covered the wide range of motor amp loads. The 30-amp-rated receptacle was dedicated to the small (amp-rated at 3.1 to 31) AFD. The remaining higher-ampere capacity welding receptacles (100 and 200 amp) were connected to the larger AFD. The PLC would select which AFD was suitable for the particular motor test, configure it for the motor operating voltage and motor full load amp values, and operator feedback (OIT confirmation of motor parameters coupled with operator physical selection of the correct AFD Continued on page 22
Figure 9. Preliminary Design, Motor Test Panel, CAMS, Panel Network Block Diagram
Figure 10. Preliminary Design, CAMS, Testing Operator Workflow Diagram Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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Continued from page 21 test range using the panel front-mounted selector switch) would be required to confirm that the AFD and load receptacle/umbilical selection was correct for the particular pump motor test. The PLC calculated several internal AFD parameters based on motor data required for proper operation of the AFD for each motor. In the absence of the PLC, an operator would have to manually configure multiple AFD parameters for the proper operation-matching of each motor to be tested. A PLC connected to an OIT would communicate via Ethernet to two Yaskawa AFDs and to the panel-mounted Electro-Industries Shark multifunction energy/power meters. Safety was the highest priority in the design of all aspects of the panel hardware and software control strategy. The goal was to minimize the likelihood of AFD misconfiguration that could damage a motor and eliminate the possibility of an operator mistakenly using the lower amprated umbilical cable connected to the higher amp-rated AFD through use of different-sized receptacles, with only one possible “live” electrical umbilical connection possible at any time. A priority in the design of the operator interface was to minimize the number of steps required to perform a given test, while requiring the operator to confirm each variable (motor voltage, motor full-load amps, and motor hp) before each test would proceed, given that the PLC was responsible for dynamically configuring the selected AFD for a given motor test. Significant effort was made to fine-tune
and optimize the operator interface for both safety and testing efficiency. Black & Veatch worked closely with the county’s maintenance personnel and ICON to develop a bid specification that clearly defined the requirements for the PLC software control strategy and the layout of the OIT to focus on safety, simplicity, and efficiency. In particular, the PLC performed several checks against misconfiguration, including: 1. Calculating the reasonable values for motor parameters (voltage, hp, and FLA). 2. Pushbuttons that require confirmation of each parameter (against the motor nameplate). 3. Pushbuttons to enable PLC transfer of calculated AFD configuration data to the AFD. With visual feedback (red to green), the AFD data matched the PLC. 4. Confirm that the panel selection switch matched the PLC-selected AFD and high/low range. Once confirmed, the operator started the test and awaited the results. A real-time trend of motor amp data during each test provided feedback for tracking any observed anomalies. A test could be repeated multiple times by the operator following the identical configuration steps.
Simplify, Simplify: Application of the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) Principle The initial design concept was for the new pump motor test panel to seamlessly integrate
Figure 11. New Pump Motor Test Stand, Final Installation
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with the CAMS system (essentially eliminating paper and providing a one-operator interface for the testing of pump motors); however, the logistics of transferring transactional records data back and forth between two systems (a real-time control system optimized for operations and an accounting-type relational database system designed for recordkeeping transactions) imposed enormous additional software procedures, testing, and ultimately, costs, to reliably replicate the CAMS interface on the pump motor test panel. During a design review meeting between the county and Black & Veatch, it become apparent that replicating the CAMS system on an independent real-time system was not going to be cost-effective. It was estimated that the cost of integrating the pump motor test panel directly into CAMS (including with the required certification testing) would potentially be double the projected cost of the test panel hardware, including associated PLC and OIT software integration required for the actual motor testing. On closer inspection, it was determined that the three data points generated from the test panel system could easily be imputed manually by a technician into a mobile laptop connected to the county’s internal data network via the BSOC WiFi network. The entire test procedure would become paperless, eliminate duplication of data entry, and offer the efficiency improvements the county desired, as well as the safety improvements provided with the new automated testing system. After the design was contracted and approved for construction, the goal was to work closely with the panel shop/systems integrator to verify that the design was followed and to rigorously test the system before installation at the BSOC. The test panel was assembled and integrated by Economy Control Systems in its Jacksonville facility. Black & Veatch conducted a factory acceptance test prior to approving shipment of the test panel to Tampa for installation by an electrical contractor. The installed pump motor test panel installation provides the county with a safe and efficient motor testing platform that met its initial criteria and has the capabilities to be utilized for (future) full-load motor tests. The test panel project provided the county with the opportunity to re-evaluate its existing shop test procedures and optimize the system for both improving the workflow and the time required to enter, log, and track pump motor tests within the CAMS database. This project illustrates the success that flows from continuous cooperation among the designer, owner, and system integrators during the planning, design, testing, and implementation stages. S
Test Yourself
What Do You Know About Water and Wastewater Security? Donna Kaluzniak
1. Per the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website, after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, a law was passed requiring water utilities serving more than 3,300 people to conduct vulnerability assessments and prepare emergency response plans. This law is known as the a. Bioterrorism Act of 2002. b. Contamination Prevention Act of 2002. c. Drinking Water Protection Act of 2002. d. Water and Wastewater Security Act of 2002. 2. Per EPA’s A Water Security Handbook, a suggestion or indication that drinking water has been or will be contaminated is a a. contamination incident. b. contamination threat. c. declared emergency. d. water pollution event. 3. Per Florida Administrative Code (FAC) 62555, Permitting, Construction, Operation, and Maintenance of Public Water Systems, suppliers of water shall telephone the State Warning Point how soon after discovery of any actual or suspected sabotage or security breach, or any suspicious incident, involving a public water system? a. After the situation is resolved b. By the end of the business day c. Immediately (i.e., within two hours) d. Within 24 hours 4. Per EPA’s A Water Security Handbook, doing everything suitable, sensible, and responsible to evaluate a contamination threat or incident and responding appropriately is defined as a. a requirement of the utility’s permit. b. common sense. c. due diligence. d. a legal responsibility. 5. Per EPA’s A Water Security Handbook, the first step in responding to a contamination threat is to determine if the threat is a. confirmed. b. credible. c. hazardous. d. possible.
6. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Water and Wastewater Systems Sector-Specific Plan is part of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan. Per this plan, water and wastewater sector partners collaborate to be better prepared to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from physical and cyber terrorist attacks, other intentional acts, and natural disasters. This is known as the a. “all hazards” approach. b. “collaborative” approach. c. “comprehensive” approach. d. “emergency preparedness” approach. 7. Per EPA’s website, America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA) requires certification of new or updated risk assessments and emergency response plans for community water systems serving more than 3,300 persons between March 31, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2021, depending on system size. In addition, AWIA requires review, revision, and certification of the risk and resilience assessment how often? a. Annually b. Every five years c. Every 10 years d. Whenever facilities are expanded or upgraded 8. Per EPA’s AWIA website, what does EPA plan to do with the vulnerability assessments submitted per the Bioterrorism Act of 2002? a. Compare them to the new submitted risk and resilience assessments. b. Retain them in archived documents. c. Retire them. d. Return all of them to the respective utilities. 9. Per EPA’s AWIA website, what agency must water systems coordinate with when preparing their assessments and emergency response plans? a. Florida Department of Environmental Protection b. Florida Department of Health c. Local Emergency Planning Committee d. State Emergency Response Commission
10. The WaterISAC (Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center) is the designated information sharing and operations arm of the a. Florida Department of Environmental Protection. b. U.S. Department of Health. c. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. d. Water Sector Coordinating Council (DHS). Answers on page 54
References used for this quiz: • A Water Security Handbook - Planning for and Responding to Drinking Water Contamination Threats and Incidents, U.S. EPA https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/201506/documents/watersecurity_water_security_ha ndbook_rptb_1.pdf. • U.S.EPA’s Website - Water System Security and Resilience in Homeland Security Research - https://www.epa.gov/homelandsecurity-research/water-system-security-andresilience-homeland-security-research. .• U.S. EPA’s Website - America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018: Risk Assessments and Emergency Response Plans https://www.epa.gov/waterresilience/americas -water-infrastructure-act-2018-riskassessments-and-emergency-response-plans. • FAC 62-555 - Permitting, Construction, Operation and Maintenance of Public Water Systems. • Water and Wastewater Systems SectorSpecific Plan 2015, Department of Homeland Security https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publicat ions/nipp-ssp-water-2015-508.pdf. • WaterISAC website https://www.waterisac.org/.
SEND US YOUR QUESTIONS Readers are welcome to submit questions or exercises on water or wastewater treatment plant operations for publication in Test Yourself. Send your question (with the answer) or your exercise (with the solution) by email to: donna@h2owriting.com.
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CONTRACTORS ROUNDUP
Safety in the Selection Process ontractors are mostly selected based on price, technical competency, and the ability to complete the project. It’s often the case that a contractor’s previous safety performance is not Oscar Bello part of the selection process. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the national average of fatalities in construction is thirteen per day. Most of the deaths in construction are from the OSHA “fatal four” hazards: S Electrical hazards S Fall hazards S Struck-by hazards S Caught in or between hazards
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In general, some owners have a “hands-off” approach to addressing health and safety in a project. Since the project occurs on the owner’s
site, the owner is potentially exposed to additional liability that must be evaluated. Liability is a complex topic. Some case law gives an incentive to owners to keep contractors “at arm’s length,” while other case law appears to require owner involvement that gives rise to additional liability. Preventing an injury, however, is ultimately the best way to prevent a lawsuit. A project’s safety performance can be improved by integrating minimum requirements into the selection process. In the private sector, it’s very common for owners to prequalify contractors. There are a variety of elements to consider as part of this selection process, but safety and health requirements are normally at the top of the list. Evaluating a contractor’s safety performance may include a review of safety statistics, such as experience modification rate (EMR), total recordable incident rate (TRIR), days away from work (DART), and other OSHA recordables. Clients require contractors to submit these statistics for a given period, typically for
the last three years. Here is a brief explanation: S EMR - A numeric representation of a business’s claims history and safety record as compared to other businesses in the same industry. An EMR of 1 is considered the industry average. S TRIR and DART - A high score equals poor safety performance. A quick glance at a company’s TRIR and DART scores tell the good or bad about a company and its safety culture. These safety criteria should also apply to subcontractors. The general contractor oversees hiring subcontractors and manages their safety. In these situations, subcontractors should be held to the same standards as general contractors, but it’s the general contractor’s responsibility to apply the standards. There are industries that give health and safety a very high priority. They will review in detail a contractor’s TRIR, worker compensation claims, injury logs, environmental reports, and regulatory citations. These owners will not accept bids from contractors that do not meet their strict minimum safety requirements. Understandably, not every owner has the resources to go to this level of review, but some criteria should be the basis for selection. For example, it’s not uncommon practice for owners to require contractors to have an EMR of 1 or less. Our industry should expect a higher level of importance placed on the health and safety of our projects. Safety performance should be a serious consideration when choosing contractors. Using the criteria outlined will not only result in requiring a higher level of contractor safety, it will also have a direct relationship on the quality and professionalism in the execution of the project. Oscar Bello, P.E., DBIA, CGC, is vice president for business development with Reynolds Construction in Pompano Beach. S
A caught in or between hazard.
Checking for electrical hazards.
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Result of a struck-by hazard.
The right equipment can prevent a fall.
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FSAWWA SPEAKING OUT
FSAWWA Makes a Difference In Washington, D.C., and Oxford, Miss. Michael F. Bailey, P.E. Chair, FSAWWA
he FSAWWA has been actively engaging our elected officials over the past several months, both in Tallahassee and Washington D.C., to discuss legislative issues related to the water industry and to promote AWWA as the authoritative resource for all things water.
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Washington, D.C. Fly-In The Washington, D.C. Fly-In was held on March 26-28 and, by all accounts, it was very successful. A total of 150 attendees from 48 states and Puerto Rico converged on Capitol Hill to voice our concerns about water issues on a national level. Florida was well represented with seven delegates from several different utilities. Specific recommendations to our elected officials included: S Provide fully authorized funding in fiscal year (FY) 2020 for the drinking water State Revolving Fund (SRF) program at $1.3 billion, and the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program at $50 million.
S Begin discussions for reauthorization of the drinking water and wastewater SRF programs and of WIFIA. S Maintain fully authorized funding for conservation programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, particularly the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) at $300 million in FY 2020. S Give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the tools it needs to make accurate, health-based decisions on how to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) accurately and effectively. The Florida delegation was led by seasoned Capitol Hill veterans Lisa Wilson-Davis (Water Utility Council chair), Kevin Carter (Water Utility Council vice chair), and Chris Pettit (Water Utility Council Legislative Committee chair), who all did a great job framing the conversations. I was with them, along with Monica Autrey (Water Utility Council secretary-treasurer) and Bill Young (FSAWWA past chair). And, of course, a big thank you to Peggy Guingona, FSAWWA’s executive director, for keeping us organized and on time for our appointments! We visited the following members of Congress: U.S. Senate S Sen. Marco Rubio S Sen. Rick Scott
At the U.S. Capitol office of Rep. Donna Shalala are (left to right) Bill Young, Peggy Guingona, Mike Bailey, Rep. Shalala, Monica Autrey, Lisa Wilson-Davis, Kevin Carter, and Chris Pettit.
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U.S. House of Representatives S Rep. Matt Gaetz S Rep. Ted S. Yoho S Rep. John H. Rutherford S Rep. Darren Soto S Rep. Charlie Crist S Rep. Kathy Castor S Rep. Greg Steube S Rep. Brian Mast S Rep. Lois Frankel S Rep. Ted Deutch S Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz S Rep. Frederica Wilson S Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart S Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell S Rep. Donna Shalala
Regional Meeting of Section Officers On March 3 and 4, FSAWWA leadership attended the Regional Meeting of Section Officers (RMSO) for AWWA Region II in Oxford, Miss. This event brings together the twelve sister sections located within the region: S Alabama/Mississippi S Florida S Georgia S Kentucky/Tennessee S North Carolina S South Carolina S Virginia S West Virginia
In front of the U.S. Supreme Court building are (left to right) Kevin Carter, Monica Autrey, and Bill Young.
U.S. Capitol
The Lincoln Memorial
S Kansas S Missouri S Southwest (Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma) S Puerto Rico
the association and its vision for the future with the sections. The section leaders also share the different methods and procedures that they have developed to meet their goals to provide value to their members.
The RMSO is a great opportunity for leaders of these sections to meet with each other and AWWA staff to learn about new initiatives from
I personally learned that the Florida Section and its regions provide a wide variety of benefits to the members. There are also some very interesting ideas coming from our neigh-
boring sections and we can learn a lot from each other. I also learned that northern Mississippi can be darn cold in early March! By the time most of you read this, the 2019 Florida Water Resources Conference in Tampa will have ended, so I hope you all enjoyed that event and I encourage you to make your plans now to attend ACE19 in Denver. See you there! S
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Maintaining System Knowledge With Asset Management Tom Tibbitts and Mark Nelson Institutional knowledge is the glue that holds many water and wastewater utilities together. With a wave of retirements and the occasional restructuring facing many utility departments, the challenge becomes documenting that institutional knowledge so that normal functions don’t skip a beat. It’s critical that trouble spots and applicable maintenance practices are documented electronically in an accessible system to prevent some of the headaches of passing along knowledge when someone leaves or when a reorganization results in workers having new job duties.
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Software Systems Aid Asset Management More and more utilities are turning to software systems that integrate spatial geographic information system (GIS) data with a robust electronic asset management system (AMS) to help document conditions, workflows, tasks, and required frequencies, as well as plan for prioritized rehabilitation. St. Johns County Utilities built its asset management system to capture institutional knowledge within spatial GIS information and Cityworks AMS software to document operational functions to keep the utility running smoothly through employee retirements and changes in organizational structure. The utility is a rapidly growing medium-
May 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal
sized water and sewer utility serving 45,000 accounts and 110,000 customers, with 21 treatment plants in a wide range of sizes and capacities in coastal northeast Florida. The recent surge of technology development at the utility has helped meet its goals of strong customer service, fiscal strength, and environmental stewardship. The utility uses Cityworks AMS to capture institutional knowledge, electronically document standard procedures, reinforce best practices workflows, and track the condition of GIS-enabled datasets so that staff members are never wondering what the status of a specific infrastructure asset may be or what the next task is. The utility has transitioned from tracking and displaying assets with GIS to managing operations and rehabilitation planning through mobile and
live GIS and asset management data. This has allowed it to maintain its water and sewer systems with a high level of service to the rapidly growing population. The GIS-centric asset management system also supports documenting, maintaining, and sharing institutional knowledge of asset history, which helps in planning for future maintenance needs as the county’s organizational structure continues to change and grow. Tools that are used within the county’s asset management system, such as Cityworks Operational Insights and Insights for ArcGIS, have given it the ability to identify, assess, and visualize high-risk assets and their supporting maintenance strategies. These tools provide for continuous updates to assess the “risk of failure” and “consequence of failure” scores and a means to immediately implement new maintenance strategies on high-risk assets. The maintenance strategies derived from Cityworks Operational Insights help county staff members capture processes for increasing an asset’s life and communicating important data among the staff regarding the asset’s history and future needs. Insights for ArcGIS integrated with Cityworks Analytics have also opened doors for the utility to expand the use of asset management data to support business-related decisions. Data-driven decision making for asset repairs and replacements provides the greatest opportunity for stretching funds and making the highest impacts to the overall condition of utility assets. Insights for ArcGIS has been used successfully by the county to allocate funds for prioritized manhole rehabilitation based on inspection findings, rehabilitation costs, and at-risk characteristics. This helps operations, engineering, and finance staff prioritize projects and budget expenditures. The ArcGIS provides a mobile and collaborative platform that engages analysis and encourages data exploration, allowing users to walk through questions such as “What maintenance and repairs are done at treatment plants?” and “What warehouse materials are used in the repair?” The county is using Insights for ArcGIS workbooks to explore and discover trends and details within its asset management and GIS databases. The workbooks are templates imported from Cityworks Analytics models built within ArcGIS. The workbooks save county staff considerable time and provide the end users with more in-depth analysis and the ability for deeper investigation into the data, which encourages better data-driven management decisions. The county has created four focused workbooks: 1. Rehabilitation projects for manholes and sewer mains, including material, age, and dates to analyze progress. Reviewing at-risk manholes and mains helps identify where the needs are for further rehabilitation projects and helps priorContinued on page 34 Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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Continued from page 33 itize funding for where it is needed. 2. Treatment plant maintenance and repair activities to determine cost projections, productivity, and inventory. The maintenance division will be able to track and manage its workload at each facility with current staff levels. 3. Material stock quantities, frequency of use, quantity of use, and other elements of a material velocity report. Reviewing the various
storerooms and frequency of issues, transfers, and returns helps new warehouse staff get up to speed on the utility warehouse materials and purchasing. 4. Capital improvement projects for reviewing current, future, and projected capital projects to create an open process and establish clear objectives, prioritize projects, and provide an awareness of progress and results.
The data from the workbooks provide county staff with a powerful tool that promotes knowledge sharing and facilitates the transfer of institutional knowledge to new employees and staff taking on new roles within the organization.
Retaining Institutional Knowledge Capturing and maintaining institutional knowledge within an electronic asset management system makes for smarter utility operations and maintenance and program management. A well-planned and configured asset management system builds better data to use for analysis and decision making. Ongoing training workshops with staff ensure that the utility leverages insightful records to make costeffective decisions. Having an asset management system and plan in place centralizes institutional knowledge and supports utility staff with analysis and reporting, better inventory management, and more-efficient and cost-effective utility planning, operations, and maintenance. Tom Tibbitts, GISP, PSM, is information systems manager with St. Johns County Utilities in St. Augustine, and Mark Nelson, P.E., is a senior consultant with Jones Edmunds in Gainesville. S
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FWRJ READER PROFILE
Jeff Elder City of Deltona, Deltona Water Work title and years of service. I’ve been a utility system manager for 29 years and have worked for Deltona Water for 13 years. My previous experience includes six years with Utilities Inc. and 10 years with Land Mark Construction.
What do you like best about your job? Every day is different. You come to work today and you’re working on utility plans for a future project; tomorrow you’re trying to figure out how to fix a 16-inch water main break that destroyed a four-lane highway. The one thing that I like the most about my job is teaching for Region 9 and the state. During my career I have been fortunate to work with some great directors who have allowed me to teach. It gives me great enjoyment to hear from a student who has passed a course that I have taught, especially the ones who’ve passed their state exams. Over the years I have talked many employees who have worked for me into becoming operators, and in doing so, it has bettered their careers. I would like to especially say “thank you” to Glenn Whitcomb, Jim Smith, and Scott Ruland; without them, I would never have gotten into teaching. Without there guidance and assistance I would not be the teacher that I am today!
What does your job entail? My job as a utility manager in the utilities department includes running every aspect of field operations in water distribution and wastewater collections. I oversee planning, design, and construction of all underground utilities. I work with contractors to make sure that they’re building everything to our standards and details. I’m fortunate to have 25 of the best-trained employees working for me, which makes my job easier! What education and training have you had? I graduated from Seminole Community College. I have my license and certification through FWPCOA and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. I have my water distribution 1, wastewater collection A, stormwater A, reclaim field site inspector, reclaim C, and backflow tester backflow repair licenses; completed the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program; and have a Maintenance of Traffic (MOT) certification. I have been an instructor for FWPCOA Region 9 and the state for 12 years.
Jeff and his wife, Buffy, with grandchildren (left to right) Brogan and Brooklyn.
Jeff with his wife.
Jeff with friend Jarret and a deer they bagged.
What professional organizations do you belong to? I’ve been a member of FWPCOA for 18 years and a member of AWWA for 10 years. How have the organizations helped your career? By going to the classes that FWPCOA provides I have been able to better my career. The highly qualified instructors I had during my training taught me the things that I needed to help me move forward in the water and wastewater industry, and the training has made me a better instructor. With the passion that they have shown me over the years, it makes me proud to say I work for the water and wastewater industry What do you like best about the industry? You’re always learning! Our industry is steadily changing, and because of that, there is always someone in the water and wastewater field with knowledge that they’re willing to share with you. With that knowledge, we can protect are most precious asset—water! When teaching students I always tell them that the job opportunities in our field are unlimited. I encourage them to learn, and then take that information and grow with it to make our industry the best in the world. What do you do when you’re not working? Hunting, hunting, hunting! If I had my way, hunting would come first, but my wife makes me say different: the grandkids (Brogan and Brooklyn) come first. I have to agree they are the greatest kids in the world. When we have time we like to go to the mountains of Tennessee to ride our Honda SxS. During Christmas last year we rode 77 miles in two days. We’re going back there in May and I hope to ride 200 miles in five days . When I really do not have anything to do, I like to call Shirley Reaves at FWPCOA and drive her crazy! P.S.—Instructors, remember: Our knowledge is our youths’ future, so teach, teach, teach! S
Jeff with deer heads. Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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LET’S TALK SAFETY This column addresses safety issues of interest to water and wastewater personnel, and will appear monthly in the magazine. The Journal is also interested in receiving any articles on the subject of safety that it can share with readers in the “Spotlight on Safety” column.
Know Your Hazardous Materials: Understanding Safety Data Sheets henever you work with hazardous materials, you need to know their exact ingredients, as well as their properties and the hazards they pose. You also need guidelines for procedures and protective equipment, handling and storage, and preventing or mitigating spills, fires, or injuries. Unfortunately, container labels don’t always tell you everything you need to know about hazardous materials. Employers must ensure that employees have access to safety data sheets (SDS), which were formerly known as material safety data sheets, for all of the hazardous chemicals they handle. Employers may fulfill this requirement in a variety of ways. For example, SDS binders are quite common, as are computer-based SDS databases. What’s important is that employees have access to the SDS for all of the chemicals that they’re using. If the employer does not have an SDS for one of these chemicals, he or she should contact the manufacturer to obtain the current version of the SDS for that chemical. In this sense, the online SDS databases have a clear advantage over binderbased systems since the database vendor usually takes care of indexing and updating the SDS.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) requires chemical manufacturers, distributors, and importers to inform users about chemical product hazards. As of June 1, 2015, new SDS are required to be in a uniform format, called Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). The GHS is a set of international guidelines that were developed by the United Nations. These guidelines were created to ensure the safe manufacturing, handling, use, disposal, and transport of hazardous materials. The GHS system is used to: 1. Classify chemical data and hazard criteria.
2. Identify a chemical's health, physical, and environmental hazards. 3. Provide chemical manufacturers and distributors with a well-defined system to communicate a chemical's hazard information and protective measures. The new GHS format requires section numbers, headings, and specifics, which includes the following: 1. Identification - Product identifier; manufacturer or distributor name, address, phone number; emergency phone number; recommended use; restrictions on use. 2. Hazard(s) Identification - All hazards regarding the chemical; required label elements. 3. Composition/Information on Ingredients - Information on chemical ingredients; trade secret claims. 4. First-Aid Measures - Important symptoms/ effects, both acute and delayed; required treatment. 5. Firefighting Measures - Suitable extinguishing techniques, equipment; chemical hazards from fire. 6. Accidental Release Measures - Emergency procedures; protective equipment; proper methods of containment and cleanup.
The 2018 Let's Talk Safety is available from AWWA; visit www.awwa.org or call 800.926.7337. Get 40 percent off the list price or 10 percent off the member price by using promo code SAFETY17. The code is good for the 2018 Let's Talk Safety book, dual disc set, and book + CD set.
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FWEA FOCUS 7. Handling and Storage - Precautions for safe handling and storage, including incompatibilities. 8. Exposure Controls/Personal Protection OSHA’s permissible exposure limits (PELs), threshold limit values (TLVs), appropriate engineering controls, and personal protective equipment (PPE). 9. Physical and Chemical Properties - The chemical’s characteristics. 10. Stability and Reactivity - Chemical stability and possibility of hazardous reactions. 11. Toxicological Information - Routes of exposure; related symptoms, acute and chronic effects; numerical measures of toxicity. 12. Ecological Information - Information provided helps environmental professionals in the event of a release. 13. Disposal Considerations - Information about the chemical classification for wastedisposal laws. 14. Transport Information - Containers of dangerous goods will have pictograms that address acute toxicity, physical hazards, and environmental hazards. 15. Regulatory Information - Information about the regulatory status of the material for OSHA and other federal agencies. 16. Other information - Date of preparation or last revision. Sections 1 through 8 contain general information about the chemical, identification, hazards, composition, safe handling practices, and emergency control measures (e.g., firefighting). This information should be helpful to those that need to get the information quickly. Sections 9 through 11 and 16 contain other technical and scientific information, such as physical and chemical properties, stability and reactivity information, toxicological information, exposure control information, and other information, including the date of preparation or last revision. The SDS must also state that no applicable information was found when the preparer does not find relevant information for any required element. The SDS must also contain Sections 12 through 15, to be consistent with GHS, but OSHA will not enforce the content of these sections because they concern matters handled by other agencies. Other (nonOSHA) agencies regulate sections 12–15. For more information go to the OSHA QuickCard at https://www.osha.gov/Publications/ HazComm_QuickCard_SafetyData.html. S
Committee and Chapter Events add Value to FWEA Kristiana S. Dragash, P.E. President, FWEA ooking back on this past year I cannot help but be overwhelmed with gratitude, and overwhelmed in general! The number of events going on throughout the state in the local chapters is absolutely mind-boggling— I’m sure our treasurer and bookkeeper will agree. In spite of the epidemic of “busy-ness” that everyone seems to be struggling with these days, the volunteer leaders stepped up and planned an impressive number of successful, well-attended events to serve our membership. I had the pleasure of attending several of them at the end of the last fiscal year and could not have been more impressed with how everything turned out. To all of our volunteer leaders out there reading this, I am grateful to all of you for the leadership you’ve displayed. This association would not be what it is if not for each of you. Thank you for all the many
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things that you do. I see you and I appreciate you! There are a few leaders on the FWEA board that put in some serious extra work this year, above and beyond the call of duty. S Sondra Lee, our secretary-treasurer, has had the extremely difficult job of trying to keep up with the numerous chapter and committee events and financial transactions. I don’t know how she does it but I am so grateful for all of her organization and hard work. Thank you for all you continue to do, Sondra. FWEA would truly be lost without you! S Mike Sweeney stepped into the president’s role without hesitation during my maternity leave. I was able to enjoy the first few months of my new son’s life that much more knowing that the association was in such great hands. Getting to work with Mike this year has been an absolute pleasure. Not only is he brilliant, but his demeanor is so calm, pleasant, and positive. I can’t wait to see him shine as the new FWEA president. Thank you to each of our members for making this association what it is and for allowing me to lead you this year. It has been an honor and a privilege. S
FWEA staff and volunteer leaders “yuk it up” at the recent Leadership Development Workshop. Mike Sweeney is in the second row, second from left, and Sondra Lee is in the same row, fourth from left.
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News Beat Johnny Edwards, P.E., has joined Neel-Schaffer Inc. to serve as a senior project engineer to assist in the firm’s solid waste engineering practice. Edwards has more than 20 years of experience in solid waste Edwards engineering design and management. He worked for Seminole County for 11 years, where he rose to be the manager of the solid waste management division, and most recently served for two years as engineer manager for the utility engineering division of the environmental services department. Prior to joining the county, Edwards gained solid waste facility design and permitting experience with another local consulting firm. He began his engineering career working for three years as a solid waste facility permitting and compliance officer with Florida Department of Environmental Protection. His responsibilities will include daily oversight of the solid waste management operations and staff, negotiations with municipalities and haulers, setting annual budgets, and managing the capital improvement program. Edwards will be based in the Maitland office and provide services for clients across central Florida. “Johnny has outstanding career experience in solid waste facility engineering design and permitting, as well as landfill operations,”
said Ron Beladi, P.E., a Neel-Schaffer vice president who leads the firm’s solid waste engineering efforts. “He is a great addition to the team of senior engineers and will be dedicated to our solid waste engineering practice.” Edwards is a licensed professional engineer in Florida. He holds a master of engineering degree and a bachelor of science in environmental engineering, both from the University of Florida.
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According to a new study of violations, more Floridians are exposed to unsafe drinking water than just about anywhere in the country, says the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The state ranked second in the number of people impacted by violations under the Safe Drinking Water Act based on the most recent data available from 2016. Across the United States, 77 million people were exposed to unsafe water, with violations including high levels or toxic arsenic, lead, and other chemicals, as well as failure to test or report contamination. The study is a follow-up to an examination of the lead crisis in Flint, Mich. “The problem is two-fold: there’s no cop on the beat enforcing our drinking water laws, and we’re living on borrowed time with our ancient, deteriorating water infrastructure,” said Erik Olson, health program director for NRDC. “We take it for granted that when we turn on our kitchen tap, the water will be safe
and healthy, but we have a long way to go before that is reality across our country.” To compile the data, the nonprofit looked at the most recent, comprehensive data and ranked states based on the number of people exposed to unsafe water. That could skew findings to heavily populated states, but even as a percentage, Florida ranked in the top 10, NRDC spokesperson Alex Frank said. Altogether, 7.5 million Floridians received water from utilities that violated standards. Among the state’s top violations was failing to provide its citizens with a required annual water quality report. Other major problems violated rules on cancer-causing disinfectants, high levels of coliform from human waste, and lead and copper that exceeded safe limits. Nationwide, the study found that small and rural communities racked up the highest number of violations and that for nine out of 10 violations no formal action was taken to correct the problems. The study turned up 80,000 violations in 2015 in 18,000 water treatment systems across the country. Of these, 12,000 violations created potential health hazards. In Florida, more than 250 violations were tied to health hazards. The NRDC also reported that the U.S. EPA has not added any new drinking water standards since the law was amended in 1996 to require regular five-year updates on potential new contaminants to be monitored, including algae-related toxins that have recently fouled water around Florida.
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Grundfos has expanded its U.S. footprint in Florida to serve the water and wastewater industry with its new facility in Deerfield Beach that serves as a distribution hub for its water and wastewater pumps, controls, and related accessories, and offers service and testing to the area. “By placing a location in the heart of Florida, we will now provide inventory, personnel, and local expertise to assist customers with all of their water and wastewater pumping, treatment, and control and monitoring challenges,” says Robert Montenegro, executive vice president of sales for Grundfos. “We look forward to supporting businesses and municipalities with our world-class solutions.” The company also hosts a series of continuing education courses through its Grundfos Technical Institute. The Florida Rural Water Association approved one of the courses to include continuing education units (CEUs) and professional development hours (PDHs) for participants. S
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Sunburned: West Palm Beach Water Treatment Plant Digs Deep to Make Room for Ultraviolet Disinfection Process Heath Wintz and Dr. Poonam Kalkat he West Palm Beach Water Treatment Plant (plant) site is a living time capsule, with improvements that have progressed through the ages of steam, electrification, and telecommunication. For the team constructing an ultraviolet (UV) treatment process building on the site, the project has been more than just an excavation; it’s been an archeological dig through water treatment history and a race against the clock to meet a regulatory deadline.
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Objective and Challenges When the City of West Palm Beach (city) embarked on a capital improvement program for its historic water treatment plant nearly nine years ago, the plant staff looked for cost-effective processes to meet regulatory requirements. Working closely with the local health department, the city selected UV disinfection treatment to provide a 100 percent redundant disinfection process for inactivation of pathogens and viruses. City staff subsequently selected Stantec to provide design and engineering services for a new UV treatment process building. Unfortunately, the most feasible portion of the site for this addition happened to be in the most congested area of the 100-year-old water plant, requiring removal of a historic in-ground 1 mil-gal (MG) clearwell constructed in 1926.
The connections to this clearwell, which have evolved iteratively over the years, presented a number of technical challenges for the design team and the contractor. The city’s fast-track approach to meet this regulatory requirement required important questions to be addressed early in the process, including: S What are the required power and cleaning requirements for the UV system? S How would finished water be rerouted to the high-service pumps? S How will water be bypassed from the filters to the existing transfer pump station during construction?
Alternatives These questions would be addressed by conducting pilot-scale testing, in parallel with the review of over 90 years of record drawings. While the questions of water quality would be directly answered by pilot testing, the latter issues related to bypassing and repiping would require handson workshops and thoughtful collaboration with operators and city staff. Ultraviolet Technologies The first technical memorandum (TM) outlined the UV piloting process using reactors from
Heath Wintz, P.E., is lead environmental engineer with Stantec in West Palm Beach, and Dr. Poonam Kalkat is director of public utilities for the City of West Palm Beach.
two manufacturers that were available during the window of the study. The pilot study was conducted over a 30-day period during which filtered water would be pumped to a low-pressure highoutput reactor (Trojan) and a medium-pressure reactor (Calgon). Engineers monitored ultraviolet transmittance (UVT) of process water over this period of time to establish design criteria and collect samples of foulants from quartz UV bulb sleeves for characterization and estimation of operation and maintenance costs. After evaluation, the city chose to proceed with a low-pressure high-output UV reactor design. This technology will provide a second barrier to pathogens and viruses prior to chlorine disinfection, essentially giving microbes the worst “sunburn” of their lives. Clearwell Removal As the plant was expanded over the years, aboveground storage tanks were added. Finished water from these tanks was directed to two high-
Figure 1. 1926 Pump Station Panoramic (photo: City of West Palm Beach)
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service pump stations (designated east and west). The east station (built in 1985) was fed via direct suction from these tanks; however, finished water feeding the west station (established in 1926) continued to flow through an underground clearwell. Removing the aging underground clearwell, which supplied four vertical suctionlift high-service pumps, would be necessary to make room for the UV building. Therefore, a second TM was designed to evaluate alternatives for bypassing and removing the underground clearwell by directly connecting the high-service pumps to the ground storage tanks. After evaluation, the city opted to proceed with new directsuction split case horizontal centrifugal pumps, which it chose over the reuse of the existing suction-lift pumps.
would also include sodium hypochlorite day storage and pumping facilities. Due to the city’s ambitious schedule, a conventional equipment preselection process for UV disinfection equipment was not feasible; therefore, to provide for flexibility and a competitive procurement process, the transfer/UV building layout was de-
signed to fit either of the named UV vendors specified. High-Service Pumping A direct-suction line with new 500-horsepower (hp) and 700-hp pumps would allow for Continued on page 42
Flume Bypass A third TM was established to determine how water could be bypassed from the filters to the existing transfer pump station during construction. The project team would need to remove the filter effluent flume, which is an underground concrete channel built in 1926 and then added onto in 1947 to create a 5-ft-by-5-ft box culvert. Functionally, this structure combined water from the 16 north filters and the 16 south filters, directing filtered water to the existing transfer pump station. A bypass pipe would be needed to redirect a maximum flow of 40 mil gal per day (mgd) to maintain operation of the facility and demolish the filtered water flume. Working closely with maintenance staff, a sequencing approach was developed to divert flow and maintain operation of critical disinfection systems adjacent to this structure, while minimizing downtime.
Design and Sequencing As answers to design questions and alternatives began to crystalize, it became clear to city staff and Stantec engineers that carefully considered sequencing constraints were going to be critical in order for a contractor to bid and build the design. Transfer/Ultraviolet Building The cornerstone of the design was a new transfer/UV building. The wet well of the existing transfer pump station was undersized, and in the event of a power failure, could flood in under seven minutes. Therefore, a new transfer pump station based on Hydraulic Institute (HI) standards with four new variable frequency drive (VFD) pumps would be colocated with the UV reactors. The transfer/UV building wet well would include an emergency overflow spillway to protect electrical gears on the operating floor level and
Figure 2. Flexible Building Design for Competing Ultraviolet Manufacturers (graphics: Stantec) Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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Continued from page 41 the elimination of an energy-wasting hydraulicbraking valve assembly, which previously protected the clearwell from overfilling or surcharging as it was fed from aboveground storage tanks. This direct-suction line and associated horizontal centrifugal pumps would eliminate repumping and could save the city nearly $100,000 a year in energy costs. Due to the deep excavation for the transfer/UV building next to the historic high-service pump station, a temporary direct suction header had to be constructed inside the pump station. Because of tight space constraints, a temporary suction header had to be constructed very close to the pump intakes, which did not meet HI standards. Stantec staff communicated the design constraints to the named pump manufacturers during the design phase in order to ensure that
there would be no impact on warranty for the owner until the permanent suction header could be constructed outside the building in accordance with HI recommendations. Flume Bypass To remove the concrete filtered-water flume structure, a temporary 54-in. high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bypass pipe was designed to divert water to the existing transfer pump station. Integrally fabricated injection points would provide the city with the ability to maintain a free chlorine and corrosion inhibitor as currently operated. With a valving change, flow would need to be redirected from the bypass to the new UV pump station wet well as part of the permanent piping arrangement. To meet these needs, a custom fabricated double-tee assembly was designed by Smith-Blair.
Figure 3. Revit 3D Model of Flooded Suction to High-Service Pumps (graphic: Stantec)
Figure 5. Push-Sheeting Installation Around 3-MG Tank (photo: Stantec)
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This assembly would intercept two 36-in. pipes with only 11 in. of separation. The assembly was designed with telescoping fittings and a series of restrained dresser couplings that provided vertical and horizontal adjustment to meet field conditions. Additional sleeve fittings would eventually be cast into concrete walls as part of a new end wall for the filter piping gallery. On either end of the assembly, 54-in. butterfly valves would redirect water to the transfer/UV building during start-up. Construction Making room for a new 50-mgd transfer pumping and UV process (transfer/UV) building onsite required delicate exploration, assessment of undocumented utilities, and rerouting of the control infrastructure to allow for sheeting Continued on page 44
Figure 4. 3D Model of Double-Tee Assembly (graphic: Smith-Blair)
Figure 6. Custom 48-in.-by-36-in. Reducing Tee Fitting Installation
FWPCOA TRAINING CALENDAR SCHEDULE YOUR CLASS TODAY! May 6-10 ....Water Distribution Level 2 ................Osteen ..............$225/255 6-10 ....Reclaimed Water Distribution B ......Osteen ..............$225/255 31 ....Backflow Tester Recerts***................Osteen ..............$85/115
June 3-6 ....Water Distribution Level 3 ................Osteen ..............$225/255 17-20 ....Backflow Tester ..................................Osteen ..............$375/405 24-27 ....Backflow Tester* ................................St. Petersburg ....$375/405 28 ....Backflow Tester Recerts***................Osteen ..............$85/115
July 8-12 ....Reclaimed Water Field Site Inspector ....Osteen ..............$350/380 15-17 ....Backflow Repair..................................St. Petersburg ....$275/305 15-19 ....Wastewater Collection B ..................Osteen ..............$225/255 26 ....Backflow Tester Recerts***................Osteen ..............$85/115
Course registration forms are available at http://www.fwpcoa.org/forms.asp. For additional information on these courses or other training programs offered by the FWPCOA, please contact the FW&PCOA Training Office at (321) 383-9690 or training@fwpcoa.org. * Backflow recertification is also available the last day of Backflow Tester or Backflow Repair Classes with the exception of Deltona ** Evening classes
You are required to have your own calculator at state short schools and most other courses.
*** any retest given also Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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Figure 8. Clearwell Roof Demolition (photo: Stantec)
Figure 7. Bottle From the Palm Beach Bottling Works (photo: Stantec)
Continued from page 42 and deep excavation to make critical tie-ins during limited shutdown windows. A “potential” sequence was provided with a construction constraints technical specification, which provided the contractor with a road map to plan and execute work in the following stages: 1. High-service pumps and 3-MG tank tie-in 2. Flume bypass 3. Clearwell demolition and UV building construction 4. Civil paving, grading, and drainage improvements
restrained joint (RJ) fittings to flanged fittings (involving a custom-fabricated 48-in-by-36-in. reducing tee) to minimize lay length. In February 2017, during the first critical shut-down and tie-in of the project, slight centerline elevation differences prevented a proper fit of this custom-reducing tee and closure of the 36-in. and 48-in. piping. Fast-track procurement of a tapered filler flange to correct this geometry issue enabled the city to resume use of the west high-service pump station with a mere one-week impact.
High-Service Pumping and 3-MG Tank Tie-In Early submittals were prioritized for the 500- and 700-hp split case pumps to meet an aggressive project delivery schedule. In order to connect these high-service pumps to a 3-MG storage tank, a new flooded suction header needed to be constructed and an inoperable 48in. valve replaced; however, this valve was nearly 20 ft deep and only 3 ft away from the tank wall. To access this valve without subjecting the tank to excessive vibration, a specialized push-sheeting method was used. After driving sheets and excavating, the valve was found to be situated beyond the sheeting line under the tank itself. Due to constraining underground utilities, however, the inside distance between sheets was less than anticipated. For these reasons, the assembly design was changed from
Artifacts As exploratory excavation continued in the vicinity of the pump station and unforeseen underground utilities were uncovered, interesting artifacts were also brought to the attention of the city and the engineers. Mosaic tiles from the historic pump station and spikes from the Flagler railroad spur were discovered. Most surprisingly to team members, however, were historic bottles from the Palm Beach Bottling Works. With delays encountered early in the project from unforeseen underground conditions, the schedule for meeting a regulatory deadline was immediately put at risk. For this reason, the project team proceeded with clearwell demolition and UV building foundation work prior to the completion of flume bypass piping. This decision carried risk because the filtered-water flume was an old structure, with cold joints adjacent to a
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May 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal
deep excavation. With equal senses of urgency and caution, the contractor and the city decided to proceed with stages 2 and 3 of the project in parallel. Clearwell Demolition In March 2017, critical rerouting of finished-water piping, chemical piping, and power and fiberoptic supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) network cabling was completed in the vicinity of the clearwell. As the clearwell was pumped out, safe entry was made into this structure for the last time to inspect and prepare for demolition work. With an eye towards salvaging select key architectural features, a specialty demolition contractor began removing soil from the top of the clearwell with plans to daylight the structure. Section by section, the roof was hammered and steel reinforcing cut. Following removal of the clearwell structure, excavation for the UV building foundation proceeded. Transfer/Ultraviolet Building In April 2017, foundation work began for the transfer pump station. The concrete subcontractor worked diligently to make up schedule time by working weekends where possible. By November 2017, the operating floor slab of the transfer/UV building was constructed in two halves (north/south), each requiring a 26-truck continuous pour. As masonry, structural, and
electrical work proceeded, the UV process room of the building began to take shape. By January 2018, four 300-hp vertical turbine transfer pumps were installed, allowing process piping to be flown into the location and the roof enclosed. In May 2018, the UV reactors arrived and were fit to allow process piping to be completed while the building envelope was constructed. Start-Up and Commissioning In August 2018, following completion of most owner training requirements, a start-up and commissioning plan for the UV process and new sodium hypochlorite metering pumps was put forward by the contractor. Through a series of review workshops, the plan was refined and developed to set clear expectations for system operation. An eight-day UV system test in an isolated “sandbox” configuration was conducted by recirculating water from transfer pumps, through the UV reactors, and back down into the wet well. During this shakedown of the UV system, the contractor, operators, and engineers had the opportunity to push the equipment and controls to the point of failure or shutdown to ensure that the safety systems and protective programming functioned as intended. When opportunities to simplify programming or controls of the equipment arose, the team remained ready to listen to ideas to ensure that this first, large-scale UV drinking water facility installation in the state was a success for the city. Once the testing reached conclusion, a date was set to make the final process water connections to the ground storage tanks and begin send-
ing finished water out the door to customers. In February 2019, residents of West Palm Beach began enjoying their first taste of water from the city’s new UV treatment process.
Final Details Following the commissioning of the new process, the city was able to proceed with the final stage of construction, which involved the demolition of an antiquated chemical building to allow for a driveway access around the new transfer/UV
Figure 10. Ultraviolet Bulb Replacement Training (photo: Stantec)
building. This driveway would enable the operators and delivery drivers the ability to navigate a complete looped road around the facility. In concert with these civil and landscaping final touches, the city’s contractor is finishing construction of a new pretreatment powdered activated carbon (PAC) contact basin. By June 2019, utility customers in West Palm Beach will not only be protected by a dual barrier to pathogens and viruses, they will also be assured that its award-winning surface water is free of taste and odor-causing compounds. S
Figure 9. Transfer/Ultraviolet Building Construction (photo: Stantec)
Figure 11. Transfer/Ultraviolet Building Nearing Completion (photo: Stantec)
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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AMWA Announces 2019 Management Recognition Awards The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) utility recognition program honors extraordinary management and stellar workforce performance through a progressive series of awards: S Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance S Platinum Award for Utility Excellence S Sustainable Water Utility Management Award Any number of AMWA member utilities may win the gold, platinum, or sustainability award each year. Distinguished panels of peer judges evaluate award applicants, and the awards are presented each October at AMWA's annual Executive Management Conference. In January, each AMWA member utility eligible for one of the management awards is sent the appropriate application form.
2019 Award Application Deadlines S Gold Awards S Platinum Awards S Sustainability Awards
June 7, 2019 June 7, 2019 June 14, 2019
In addition to the utility-based performance awards, AMWA recognizes individual achievement through its President’s Award and Donald R. Boyd Award.
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Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance The AMWA Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance recognizes the large public drinking water systems that exhibit high levels of performance in the areas of product quality, customer satisfaction, employee and leadership development, operational optimization, financial viability, community sustainability, enterprise resiliency, infrastructure strategy and performance, stakeholder understanding and support, and water resource sustainability. These are the ten “Attributes of Effective Utility Management” identified in 2007 by a blue-ribbon panel of water and wastewater utility executives commissioned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), AMWA, and other water-sector associations. The document was updated in 2016. Gold Award winners also show achievement in the areas of leadership, strategic business planning, knowledge management, measurement, and continual improvement management. All AMWA member utilities that have never won a Gold Award are eligible to apply for it. Platinum Award for Utility Excellence Like the Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance, the criteria for the Platinum Award for Utility Excellence are also based on
May 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal
the ten “Attributes of Effective Utility Management” and the “Keys to Management Success.” Applicants are expected to show progress in implementing the attributes and keys, as well as a distinctive level of management expertise and expanded utility achievement. Three years after winning a Gold Award, member utilities are eligible to apply for the Platinum Award for Utility Excellence. Past winners of AMWA’s Platinum Award for Sustained Competitiveness Achievement are also eligible to apply. Sustainable Water Utility Management Award AMWA’s Sustainable Water Utility Management Award, introduced in 2014, recognizes member utilities that have made a commitment to sustainable management. While there are many opportunities available to water utilities to be managed more sustainably, there is no perfect path to get there. Each water system has its own water resource needs, infrastructure is-
sues, financial position, political issues, energy costs, and other challenges. This award views sustainability through a triple-bottom-line lens. This means winners will have achieved a balance of innovative and successful efforts in areas of economic, social, and environmental endeavors, such as responsible management of resources, protection of public health, meeting responsibilities to the community, and providing cost-effective services to ratepayers. President’s Award The AMWA President's Award is presented to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the improvement of water supply management. Eligibility for this award is limited to individuals currently or formerly representing AMWA member agencies, and it recognizes their efforts and dedication in the field of drinking water supply. Individuals nominated for this award must hold, or have held, a major position with a water supply agency, while actively participating as a member of AMWA. The recipient of this award is determined by the Nominations Committee, and the award is presented at the fall Executive Management Conference. Nominations are solicited in the summer by a bulletin from AMWA’s national office.
Donald R. Boyd Award This award acknowledges extraordinary personal service in the drinking water field. General criteria may include valuable service that advances public understanding and awareness, water quality research, or more general contributions deserving of recognition. This award confers recognition to individuals who have made important contributions to the water industry, including as water system employees (regardless of AMWA membership), government officials, or private consultants. The award commemorates Donald R. Boyd, one of AMWA’s founding members and its first president. The Nominations Committee determines the recipient of the award, which is presented at the fall Executive Management Conference. Nominations are solicited in the summer by a bulletin from AMWA’s national office.
About the Association An organization of the largest publicly owned drinking water systems in the United States, AMWA's membership provides more than 156 million people–from Alaska to Puerto Rico–with safe drinking water. It’s the nation's only policy-making organiza-
tion solely for metropolitan drinking water suppliers. The association was formed in 1981 by a group of general managers of metropolitan water systems who wanted to ensure that the issues of large publicly owned water suppliers would be represented in Washington, D.C. Member representatives to AMWA are the general managers and chief operating officers of these large water systems. The association represents the interests of these water systems by working with Congress and federal agencies to ensure that federal laws and regulations protect public health and are cost-effective. In the realm of utility management, AMWA provides programs, publications, and services to help water suppliers be more effective, efficient, and successful. Governed by a 22-member board of directors, AMWA represents all regions of the U.S. Committees on utility management, regulation, legislation, sustainability, and security provide the expertise to achieve water suppliers' goals, including sustainable operations, regulations based on sound science, and cost-effective laws that support the safety and security of drinking water. A full-time professional staff is located in Washington, D.C. For questions on award eligibility or to request an application form, contact Carolyn Peterson at 202-331-2820 or peterson@amwa.net. S
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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ENGINEERING DIRECTORY
Tank Engineering And Management
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Engineering • Inspection Aboveground Storage Tank Specialists Mulberry, Florida • Since 1983
863-354-9010
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ENGINEERING DIRECTORY
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Motor & Utility Services, LLC
Showcase Your Company in the Engineering or Equipment & Services Directory Contact Mike Delaney at
352-241-6006 ads@fwrj.com
CEC Motor & Utility Services, LLC 1751 12th Street East Palmetto, FL. 34221 Phone - 941-845-1030 Fax – 941-845-1049 prademaker@cecmotoru.com • Motor & Pump Services Test Loaded up to 4000HP, 4160-Volts • Premier Distributor for Worldwide Hyundai Motors up to 35,000HP • Specialists in rebuilding motors, pumps, blowers, & drives • UL 508A Panel Shop, engineer/design/build/install/commission • Lift Station Rehabilitation Services, GC License # CGC1520078 • Predictive Maintenance Services, vibration, IR, oil sampling • Authorized Sales & Service for Aurora Vertical Hollow Shaft Motors
CLASSIFIEDS CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING RATES - Classified ads are $20 per line for a 60 character line (including spaces and punctuation), $60 minimum. The price includes publication in both the magazine and our Web site. Short positions wanted ads are run one time for no charge and are subject to editing. ads@fwrj.com
POSITIONS AVAILABLE CITY OF WINTER GARDEN – POSITIONS AVAILABLE The City of Winter Garden is currently accepting applications for the following positions: EXPERIENCED & TRAINEES/LABORERS - Solid Waste Worker I, II & III - Collection Field Tech – I, II, & III - Distribution Field Tech – I, II, & III - Public Service Worker II - Stormwater Please visit our website at www.cwgdn.com for complete job descriptions and to apply. Applications may be submitted online, in person or faxed to 407-877-2795.
WATER AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATORS U.S. Water Services Corporation is now accepting applications for state certified water and wastewater treatment plant operators. All applicants must hold at least minimum “C” operator’s certificate. Background check and drug screen required. –Apply at http://www.uswatercorp.com/careers or to obtain further information call (866) 753-8292. EOE/m/f/v/d
Utilities Storm Water Foreman $49,348 - $69,436/yr.
Utilities Treatment Plant Operator II $49,348 - $69,436/yr.
Utilities Treatment Plant Operator I/Trainee $42,628 - $66,130/yr.
Utilities System Operator II & III $40,598 - $57,127 / $42,628 - $66,130/yr. Apply Online At: http://pompanobeachfl.gov Open until filled.
KEY WEST Public Utility Wastewater C Operator Salary Range $60K-$90K Live in paradise. KWRU operates a multi-train AWT treatment plant at a single location. Immediate opening must be professional and maintain DEP compliance. health/dental/pension/vacation/holiday/ golf membership. hiring@kwru.com www.kwru.com
City of Coral Springs Licensed Water Plant Operator MAINTENANCE TECHNICIANS U.S. Water Services Corporation is now accepting applications for maintenance technicians in the water and wastewater industry. All applicants must have 1+ years experience in performing mechanical, electrical, and/or pluming abilities and a valid DL. Background check and drug screen required. -Apply at http://www.uswatercorp.com/careers or to obtain further information call (866) 753-8292. EOE/m/f/v/d
City of Cocoa Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator C, B or A http://www.cityofcocoabeach.com/619/Employment-Opportunities
Performs skilled operational and regulatory work in the testing and treatment of City water in compliance with all applicable City, State and Federal regulations and guidelines. Typical Qualifications High school diploma or GED; Florida Class "A, B or C" Water Operator's License; One (1) to two (2) years responsible experience in utilities operations; Or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience. Must possess and maintain a valid Florida Driver's License. ($45,000.00 $70,000.00 Annually) To submit an application go to https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/coralspringsfl?page=1 Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator “C” Salary Range: $47,675. - $73,000. The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority will be hiring a WWTP Operator. Minimum Requirements: Must have a Florida Class “C” WWTPO license or higher. Responsibilities include performing skilled/technical work involving the operation and maintenance of a wastewater treatment plant according to local, state and federal regulations and laws. An employee in this classification must have the technical knowledge and independent judgment to make treatment process adjustments and perform maintenance to plant equipment, machinery and related control apparatus in accordance with established standards and procedures. Benefit package is extremely competitive! Must complete on-line application at http://www.fkaa.com/employment.htm EEO, VPE, ADA
City of Holly Hill, Florida Water Treatment Plant Operator, C, B, or A https://www.hollyhillfl.org/employment 386/248-9440 EOE/DFWP
City of Gulf Breeze Service Worker II $13.51 to 18.41 DOQ Permanent, full-time position with full benefits, including health care, dental & vision, retirement matching up to 8%. City pays for employee development and training to attain licensing and certifications. Required Application Form All completed applications and resumes be submitted to my email: vgura@gulfbreezefl.gov
The City of Fort Lauderdale Public Works Department is hiring dynamic and goal-driven employees to join our team. · Utilities Serviceworker $38,971.67 - $60,410.33 Annually · Senior Utilities Serviceworker $43,259.40 - $67,054.20 Annually · Utilities Crew Leader $48,014.12- $74,440.98 Annually · Utilities Service Representative-Locators $38,971.20 - $60,410.33 Annually · Wastewater Plant Operator $43,259.70 - $56,054.20 · Lead Wastewater Operator $48,014.12 - $74,440.98 · Water Treatment Plant Operator $43,259.40- $67,054.20 · Lead Water Plant Operator $48,014.12 - $74,440.98 · Industrial Electrician $48,014.12 - $74,440.98 · Project Manager II- Water and Wastewater Infrastructure $72,912.68 - $113,009.35 Annually · Project Manager II- Transportation Infrastructure $72,912.68 - $113,009.35 Annually · Construction Worker-Concrete Experience $38,971.67 - $60,410.33 Annually · Water Facilities Manager $72,912.68 - $113,009.35 Annually Visit the City website at www.fortlauderdale.gov/jobs to apply today. For more information, send an email to Cynthia Lamar at CLamar@fortlauderdale.gov.
CITY OF EUSTIS WASTEWATER OPERATOR The City of Eustis is seeking a Wastewater Operator. Please visit jobs.eustis.org for full job description, salary, and online application. Background check/drug screen required. Open until filled. EOE,V/P,DFWP
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May 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Water Plant Operator III IRC47606 City of St. Petersburg - Water Plant Operator III (IRC47606) This is technical, supervisory and participatory work in the operation of a potable water treatment plant or pumping station on a permanent or rotating shift at the Cosme Water Treatment Plant in Northwest Hillsborough County. The person in this position fills the role as the shift leader. Work involves responsibility for the safe and efficient operation of a water treatment facility, routine adjustments to equipment and machinery operating controls, and inspection of equipment inside and outside the plant site. Requirements: Valid High School Diploma/GED; valid Driver License; FDBPR Class B Certificate in Drinking Water Treatment Plant Operation. Close Date: Until Filled; $22.34$32.00 hourly; See details at www.stpete.org/jobs EEO-AA-Employer-Vet-Disabled-DFWP-Vets' Pref
New Products The Water Eater® wastewater evaporator from Equipment Manufacturing Corp. has been engineered to efficiently evaporate the water content from many noncombustible wastewater sources. A power exhaust system releases the moisture into the air, leaving only a small residue requiring disposal. This massive reduction in the volume of liquids requiring disposal not only slashes disposal costs, but also economizes by reducing storage area requirements, labor and time for handling, and frequency of disposals. Evaporation rates range from 5 to 40 gal per hour. An optional auto-fill system automates the process and allows for 24-hour operation. The evaporator, available in gas or electric-heated models, has been designed to operate simply and efficiently, is installed easily, and is constructed of quality materials and equipment to assure trouble-free operation and long-life service. (www.equipmentmanufacturing.com)
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Career Opportunity for Chief Engineer Toho Water Authority is the largest provider of water, wastewater and reclaimed water services in Osceola County. The purpose of this position is to provide engineering and project management services from initial planning through budgeting, design, and construction. Minimum qualifications required include a Bachelor’s Degree from an ABET accredited university in the field of Chemical, Civil or Environmental Engineering and a State of Florida Professional Engineer License. TWA offers a competitive benefit and compensation package. Applicants must submit a complete online application for employment consideration. To learn more about TWA and to apply, please visit www.tohowater.com. This position is eligible for relocation assistance!
POSITIONS WANTED CEDRIC BRIGHT – Seeking a Trainee position and holds Florida Water and Wastewater certificates and needs time in plant to obtain his license. Prefers Miami to the Keys or West Palm Beach to Boca Raton areas. Contact at 305-785-6353.
LOOKING FOR A JOB? The FWPCOA Job Placement Committee Can Help! Contact Joan E. Stokes at 407-293-9465 or fax 407-293-9943 for more information.
Grundfos is expanding its pump offerings to service the Florida market. The new patent-pending Grundfos SE/SL submersible wastewater pumps feature enhanced durability for dry pit and submerged applications, and the new Grundfos SD range of pumps offers the water quality industry a durable solution to solids handling for wastewater and stormwater collection and treatment that can be customized for a wide range of applications. The SL and SE pumps are available with the S-tube impeller. The simple and robust design of the impeller meets the requirements of today’s wastewater with varying solids content, offering world-class hydraulic efficiency without compromising free passage. The features and benefits of the pumps include: S NEMA Premium (IE3) motor components for substantial energy and cost savings S Intelligent adaptive controls to ensure reliable operation with low energy consumption S Integrated analogue sensors offer complete monitoring of pump condition S Lifting handle designed for optimum point of balance and correct lifting S Smooth, easy-to-clean surface that’s robust and impact-resistant. S Only one cable to the pump, simplifying pump installation, commissioning, and maintenance S Moisture-proof cable entry ensures that liquid cannot penetrate into motor S Patented SmartSeal auto-coupling gasket provides a completely leak-proof connection S Double mechanical shaft seal ensures longer operation time with less downtime S Short rotor shaft reduces vibrations to protect shaft seals and bearings S Closed cooling system ensures dry installation S A choice of SuperVortex or S-tube impeller S SmartTrim allows for easy adjustment of impeller clearance for maximum pump efficiency (www.grundfos.com) S
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2019
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Test Yourself Answer Key From page 23 January 2016
1. A) Bioterrorism Act of 2002. Per Water System Security and Resilience in Homeland Security Research on EPA’s website, “The Bioterrorism Act of 2002 requires that drinking water utilities serving more than 3,300 people conduct vulnerability assessments and develop emergency response plans.”
Editorial Calendar January..........Wastewater Treatment February ........Water Supply; Alternative Sources March ............Energy Efficiency; Environmental Stewardship April ..............Conservation and Reuse; Florida Water Resources Conference May ................Operations and Utilities Management June ..............Biosolids Management and Bioenergy Production July ..................Stormwater Management; Emerging Technologies; FWRC Review August ..........Disinfection; Water Quality September......Emerging Issues; Water Resources Management October..........New Facilities, Expansions, and Upgrades November ......Water Treatment December ......Distribution and Collection
Technical articles are usually scheduled several months in advance and are due 60 days before the issue month (for example, January 1 for the March issue). The closing date for display ad and directory card reservations, notices, announcements, upcoming events, and everything else including classified ads, is 30 days before the issue month (for example, September 1 for the October issue). For further information on submittal requirements, guidelines for writers, advertising rates and conditions, and ad dimensions, as well as the most recent notices, announcements, and classified advertisements, go to www.fwrj.com or call 352-241-6006.
2. B) contamination threat. Per EPA’s Water Security Handbook, Section 1, “A contamination threat is a suggested contamination threat or an indication that water has been or will be contaminated, but no conclusive proof has been collected yet to confirm that contamination has actually occurred. A threat may be written, verbal, or based on observations or other evidence.”
3. C) Immediately (i.e., within two hours) Per FAC 62-555.350(10)(a), “Suppliers of water shall telephone the SWP at 1(800)3200519 immediately (i.e., within two hours) after discovery of any actual or suspected sabotage or security breach, or any suspicious incident, involving a public water system.”
4. B) due diligence. Per EPA’s Water Security Handbook, Section 1, “Due diligence means that you have done everything suitable, sensible, and responsible to evaluate a contamination threat or incident and respond appropriately.”
5. D) possible. Per EPA’s Water Security Handbook, Section 2, “After receiving a threat, the first step is to decide if the threat is ‘possible.’ This is the first decision point and the lowest threat level. A water contamination threat is ‘possible’ if the circumstances suggest that contamination could have occurred. If the threat is found to be impossible, then the investigation is closed, the incident is documented, and operations are returned to normal; however, if the contamination threat is ‘possible,’ then further investigation is needed. It is likely that most contamination threats will be classified as ‘possible.’
6. A) “all hazards” approach. Per the DHS Water and Wastewater Systems Sector-Specific Plan, “In partnership, public and private drinking water and wastewater utilities; national and state associations; state, local, tribal, and territorial governments; research foundations; and federal agencies have been ensuring the protection and resilience of water services for decades. Water and wastewater sector partners collaborate to be better prepared to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from physical and cyber terrorist attacks, other intentional acts, and natural disasters, otherwise known as the “all hazards” approach.”
Display Advertiser Index Blue Planet ..........................................................................55 CEU Challenge ....................................................................13 Data Flow Systems..............................................................31 Ferguson ..............................................................................34 FSAWWA ACE19 Luncheon..................................................47 FSAWWA Call for Papers ....................................................24 FSAWWA Exhibits ..........................................................26-27 FSAWWA Overview ..............................................................25 FWPCOA Region IV Short School ........................................19 FWPCOA Training Calendar ................................................43 Grundfos ..............................................................................11 Heyward ..............................................................................38 Hudson Pump & Equipment ................................................29 Hydro International................................................................5 Infosense ............................................................................52 Lakeside Construction ..........................................................7 Stacon....................................................................................2 UF Treeo ..............................................................................39 Xylem ..................................................................................56
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May 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal
7. B) Every five years Per EPA’s AWIA website, “Each community water system serving more than 3,300 persons must review its risk and resilience assessment at least once every five years to determine if it should be revised. Upon completion of such a review, the system must submit to EPA a certification that shows it has reviewed its assessment and revised it, if applicable. Further, each community water system serving more than 3,300 persons must review and, if necessary, revise its emergency response plan at least once every five years after the system completes the required review of its risk and resilience assessment.” 8.
C) Retire them. Per EPA’s AWIA website, “The EPA intends to retire the vulnerability assessments. Utilities may request EPA to return their vulnerability assessments in lieu of destruction. If utilities wish their documents returned, they may submit a letter to the EPA by email.”
9. C) Local Emergency Planning Committee Per EPA’s AWIA website, “Community water systems shall to the extent possible coordinate with local emergency planning committees established under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 when preparing or revising an assessment or emergency response plan under the AWIA.”
10. D) Water Sector Coordinating Council (DHS). Per the WaterISAC website, “The U.S. water and wastewater sector’s leading national associations and research foundations established the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (WaterISAC) in 2002, in coordination with EPA. That same year, it was authorized by Congress in the Bioterrorism Act. WaterISAC is the designated information sharing and operations arm of the Water Sector Coordinating Council.”