Florida Water Resources Journal - September 2019

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Michael Delaney Rick Harmon Patrick Delaney Buena Vista Publishing

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News and Features 4 Water Utilities Recognized for Transformational Initiatives 26 Wipe Out the Wipes Crisis—Kevin Bates and Joe Clark 32 Optimal Use for Reclaimed Water— David B. Hoover 34 Water Management District Elects New Officers 38 Crisis Communications Plans for the Water Industry: Getting and Keeping Customer Confidence—Mike McGill 44 News Beat 48 WEF HQ Newsletter: WEF Releases Thickening and Dewatering Factsheets—Patrick Dube

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.

Columns 6 FWEA Focus—Michael W. Sweeney 30 Reader Profile—Cristina OrtegaCastineiras 36 Test Yourself—Donna Kaluzniak 40 Let’s Talk Safety: Handling the Load for Forklift Safety 42 C Factor—Mike Darrow 46 FSAWWA Speaking Out—Michael F. Bailey

Departments

Technical Articles 8 Caught in the Balance: Capital Improvement Planning to Integrate Traditional and Alternative Water Supply Sources—Brian Megic, Oscar Vera, Ed Talton, Chad Meisel, and Brandon Bryant 14 Purified Water Technology Evaluation Project: Results, Findings, Next Steps— Tom Bartol, Ryan Popko, and Katie Bizub

47 New Products 51 Classifieds 54 Display Advertiser Index

Education and Training 13 16 17 18 19 20 21

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

25 FSAWWA Water Conservation Awards of Excellence 49 FWPCOA Training Calendar 50 TREEO Center Training

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CEU Challenge Florida Water Resources Conference FWPCOA Region 7 Maintenance Course FSAWWA Fall Conference Prelimianry Calendar FSAWWA Fall Conference Registration Form FSAWWA Fall Conference Overview FSAWWA Fall Conference Students and Young Professionals FSAWWA Fall Conference Poker Night, Happy Hour and Golf Tournament FSAWWA Fall Conference Competitions FSAWWA Water Distribution Systems Awards

Volume 70

September 2019

Number 9

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, FL and additional offices.

POSTMASTER: send address changes to Florida Water Resources Journal, 1402 Emerald Lakes Drive, Clermont, FL 34711

Florida Water Resources Journal • September 2019

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Water Utilities Recognized for Transformational Initiatives The Utility of the Future (UOTF) Today Recognition Program returns for a fourth year to honor water resource recovery facilities for their community engagement, watershed stewardship, and recovery of resources, such as water, energy, and nutrients, and to celebrate the achievements of forward-thinking, innovative water utilities that are providing resilient valueadded service to communities.

The initiatives of 43 water and wastewater utilities that have transformed themselves from a traditional wastewater treatment system to a resource recovery center, and lead in the overall sustainability and resilience of the communities they serve, are being recognized.

The program was launched in 2016 by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), Water Environment Federation (WEF), Water Research Foundation (WRF) and WateReuse Association, with input from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

A total of 118 utilities have been recognized since the program started. The program concept is being promoted as water systems around the world are transforming operations through innovation and technology.

“Our organization is proud to support this program with the other partners,” said Peter Grevatt, chief executive officer of the Water Research Foundation. “It’s great to honor utilities growing their innovation and technology practices into other areas of operation to better their communities.”

These utilities are being recognized for the first time: S Broward County Water and Wastewater Operations – North Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (Pompano Beach, Fla.) S Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (Martinez, Calif.)

S City of Dallas Water Utilities (Dallas, Texas) S City of El Dorado Wetlands and Water Reclamation Facility (El Dorado, Kan.) S City of Pompano Beach Utilities Department (Pompano Beach, Fla.)

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S City of Rio Rancho Utilities (Rio Rancho, N.M.) S City of Wichita Falls (Wichita Falls, Texas) S Flagstaff Water Services (Flagstaff, Ariz.)

S Genesee County District #3 Linden Water Resource Recovery Facility (Linden, Mich.)

S Greensboro Water Resources Department (Greensboro, N.C.) S Orange County Water District (Fountain Valley, Calif.)

S Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (Pittsburgh, Pa.) S Watercare Services Limited (Auckland, New Zealand) These utilities are being recognized for a second year, but for a new area of performance: S Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (Albuquerque, N.M.) S Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority (Camden, N.J.) S City of San Diego Public Utilities Department (San Diego, Calif.)

S City of Tallahassee Underground Utilities (Tallahassee, Fla.) S Delta Diablo, (Antioch, Calif.)

S Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District (Fairfield, Calif.)

S Fort Wayne City Utilities (Fort Wayne, Ind.) S Great Lakes Water Authority (Detroit, Mich.)

S Houston Water (Houston, Texas)

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S Knoxville Utilities Board (Knoxville, Tenn.)

S LOTT Clean Water Alliance (Olympia, Wash.)

S NEW Water, the brand of the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District (Green Bay, Wisc.)

S Orange County Sanitation District (Fountain Valley, Calif.)

S Queensland Urban Utilities (Brisbane, QLD) S Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (Sacramento, Calif.)

S Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County (Los Angeles, Calif.)

S Spokane County Environmental Services Department (Spokane, Wash.)

S Toho Water Authority (Kissimmee, Fla.) S Trinity River Authority of Texas (Arlington, Texas) S Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (Laurel, Md.) S Western Virginia Water Authority (Roanoke, Va.) These utilities are being recognized for a third year and in a new area of performance: S Charlotte Water (Charlotte, N.C.) S City of Grand Rapids (Grand Rapids, Mich.)

S City of St. Cloud Public Utilities (St. Cloud, Minn.)

S Clean Water Services (Hillsboro, Ore.) S Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources (Lawrenceville, Ga.) S King County Wastewater Treatment Division (Seattle, Wash.)

S Tucson Water (Tucson, Ariz.)

These utilities are being recognized for a fourth year and in a new area of performance: S City of Fayetteville Water Resource Recovery Facilities (Fayetteville, Ark.) S DC Water (Washington, D.C.) Honorees will be recognized during an awards ceremony at WEFTEC 2019 this September in Chicago. To learn more about the program, visit www.wef.org/utility-of-the-future or UtilityRecognition@wef.org.

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FWEA FOCUS

Innovate, or Else?

Michael W. Sweeney, Ph.D. President, FWEA

e live in an age of dramatic change brought about by rapid innovation, and it’s disrupting virtually everything.

Think Lyft or Uber vs. taxis, Airbnb vs. Hilton (equally big in a fraction of the time), Amazon vs. big-box retail. Each innovation affects the basics of travel, lodging, and shopping. The “awesomeness” of innovation is readily apparent, yet the disruption is also present. Consumers are enthusiastically feeding the fire and feeling the changes, too.

Let’s add the accelerated applications of artificial intelligence and robotics to this changing mix.

Discussion about machine autonomy is reserved for another day, but for now let’s consider: What’s next? Who’s next?

On the home front, the innovation revolution includes WEF, which has created change opportunities, such as its Water Technology Clusters, and recognition programs, such as the Innovative Technology Awards. The Federation’s WEFTEC is just around the corner and features its highly regarded Innovation Pavilion and Innovation Showcase.

Here is a question: Is innovation only resulting from significant technology changes or invention?

It may seem so, but I think that’s a casual conclusion. What about organizational innovation and its importance?

Utilities are mostly public businesses that tend to be risk-averse. This tendency could run counter to organizational innovation. For better or for worse, customers regard utilities as bureaucracies that (for better) strive for fairness, equity, and adherence to procedures in how we deal with an array of customer types and challenges. The goal is predictable (hopefully good) outcomes. The “bad rap” can be a perceived overall inflexibility. One main driver above all is the reality that we as utilities are held to a high standard of public accountability.

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ance, as depicted by the familiar Ten Attributes of Effective Utility Management (EUM). More information about this is at www.WaterEUM.org.

Utilities can learn from and benchmark programs and performance against these attributes, but the reality is that they represent expectations of stakeholders and customers and are worthy of pursuit. How we strive for these is part of the essence of what comprises organizational innovation.

Allow me to introduce some new attributes to illustrate a view of innovation required for fundamental change.

My Five Attributes of Organizational Innovation 1. Organizational Culture Open to Change. Those shared set of principles, behaviors, commitments, and values that collectively motivate us to partner and perform well.

2. Situational Awareness. Having the propensity to recognize early that something is not right. Not assuming everything is going to be “peachy” all the time.

3. Resiliency of People and Work Processes. The ability of adjusting and pivoting quickly when faced with significant adversity, or even the unusual day-to-day problems, while succeeding to sustain and improve the overall effort and mission.

4. Organizational Mental Capacity. Also known as the “learning organization,” the aptitude to meet or exceed the needs of customers before those needs become critical. (Note: Knowledge and skill may be regarded as high already, but the ability to keep up and weave in evolving best practices on an enterprise level is apparent.)

5. Organizational Collaboration. How easily and quickly various functional areas can break from the “safety” of silos, team together, own an initiative or a problem, agree to a solution, execute it, and assess the results.

Admittedly, these attributes are interrelated

What is Organizational Innovation?

Let’s first try to define it, and do it simply. To me, organizational innovation is “game-changer” advances in productivity, customer service, cost savings, and ensured compliance by people working within a system that encourages finding better ways of doing everything. This differs from the approach to an achievement of excellent perform-

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September 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal

and I’m sure I have omitted a few good ones as part of my thinking. Please consider this list as a beginning, maybe a conversation starter. By the way, I would be thrilled if these attributes help start impactful conversations.

Is Real Organizational Innovation Generally Out of Reach?

No, in my humble opinion. I think it’s advantageous to approach all five attributes in a balanced way, but with culture (Attribute 1 from my list) at the center. Leaders at all levels should consider starting with promoting the right environment described by the remaining four attributes. Toward that end, the following is some advice: S Identify and remove barriers to thinking aloud and acting on continuous improvement pursuits.

S Chart a course that includes recognizing even small achievements along the way. Doing so always builds organizational buy-in.

S The failure to recognize positive or negative trends connects back to an organization’s culture—or worse—be systematic complacency.

S Organizational innovation usually does not happen in a spectacular way, like the kinds mentioned earlier. Be patient and persistent.

S Building bridges that are near, but not too far or “to nowhere,” encourages innovation.

Author Chris Cancialosi wrote an article, “Why Culture Is the Heart of Organizational Innovation,” published in the Feb. 7, 2017, issue of Forbes, that backs up my concept of innovation and is worthy of your attention.

Remember, organizational cultures naturally strive to preserve themselves and need to be compelled to change or innovate. While your organization’s culture may feel constrained, try starting a conversation about these innovation attributes.

That itself may begin to remove barriers and lead to a genuine movement toward innovation.

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F W R J

Caught in the Balance: Capital Improvement Planning to Integrate Traditional and Alternative Water Supply Sources Brian Megic, Oscar Vera, Ed Talton, Chad Meisel, and Brandon Bryant n 2011, the City of St. Cloud, Toho Water Authority (TWA), Orange County Utilities (OCU), Polk County Utilities (PCU), and Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) worked together to complete an individual water use permit (WUP) through the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) for the Cypress Lake Wellfield Project (project), a regional brackish groundwater alternative water supply (AWS) project located in central Osceola County.

The WUP for the project authorizes the withdrawal of 37.5 mil gal per day (mgd) annual average daily flow (AADF) of brackish groundwater from the Lower Floridan aquifer. The City of St. Cloud, Toho Water Authority, Orange County, Polk County, and Reedy Creek Improvement District (STOPR) Group members are currently implementing the project as the Water Cooperative of Central Florida (WCCF), consisting of the five organizations.

By the beginning of 2013, WCCF and RCID initiated two reports to further the development of the project: S Cypress Lake Potable Water Transmission, Optimization, and Interconnect Analysis and Conceptual Design – Conceptual Design Report (CDR): Reiss, 2014 S Cypress Lake Water Treatment Plant, Wellfield, and Raw Water Main – Preliminary Design Report (PDR): Tetra Tech, 2014

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The CDR project provided a conceptual design for how treated water would be delivered

from the Cypress Lake Water Treatment Plant (WTP) to WCCF and RCID. The PDR developed preliminary designs for the raw water facilities and treatment process that would be required for the brackish groundwater supply source.

As part of the CDR, the project was divided into two primary phases. Phase 1 involved developing a plan to interconnect the five project partners to facilitate the ability of the utilities to wholesale existing fresh groundwater supplies to one another on an interim basis, referred to in the CDR as “water wheeling.” Phase 1 would allow the utilities to maximize the use of existing permitted water supply sources and delay the higher capital expenditures associated with alternative water supplies, such as the project. Phase 2 involved developing a plan for treated water from the project to be conveyed to the project partners, including water supply transfers among the project partners to reduce the transmission needs of the project.

The CDR identified a series of conveyance infrastructure projects (e.g., pipelines, pump stations, interconnects, etc.) that each utility, groups of utilities, or all of the participating utilities would need to develop to successfully implement the project.

The project was initiated by OCU in 2017 to develop an implementation plan to identify the infrastructure required to accept water from the project into its water distribution system. The plan also considered the implementation of the Taylor Creek Reservoir/St. Johns River (TCR/SJR) water supply project, which is an additional regional AWS project that OCU is implementing

Table 1. Potable Water Demand Conditions

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September 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal

Brian Megic, P.E., D.WRE, is supervising engineer, and Oscar Vera, P.E., Ph.D., D.WRE, is water resources engineer with Liquid Solutions Group LLC in Geneva. Ed Talton, P.E., is project manager, and Chad Meisel is project engineer with Reiss Engineering Inc. in Winter Springs. Brandon Bryant, P.E., is chief engineer with Orange County Utilities in Orlando.

with several regional partners. This project leveraged the use of water supply modeling and hydraulic modeling to identify capital improvement program (CIP) projects to balance the use of OCU’s existing permitted fresh groundwater supply and planned AWS supplies, while incorporating system flexibility that will provide for OCU to meet demands under a wide array of conditions, including varying AWS project implementation timing and phasing and the ability to implement service area transfers as needed to meet demands.

Alternative Water Supply Project Timing The analyses performed and plans developed as part of this study were based on demand conditions, which are presented in Table 1.

The evaluations and modeling performed in support of this plan were based on demand conditions, in lieu of standard five-year planning increments. This was done to allow OCU to implement projects based on system demands in lieu of years, which often change as plans are updated based on variations in system growth due to economic conditions, changes in a demand system profile, and changes in per capita demand resulting from conservation, reclaimed water, and AWS project implementation, among other factors. The demand conditions are: S Full Phase 1: OCU’s total combined fresh groundwater allocation (91.1 mgd AADF). This demand condition represents the time by which Continued on page 10

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Continued from page 8 OCU needs to have an AWS source online to meet demands beyond those met by existing fresh groundwater supplies.

S Half Phase 2: OCU’s capacity share of the project is 9 mgd AADF (finished water capacity).

The half phase 2 demand condition represents a demand equal to OCU’s total combined fresh groundwater allocation and half of OCU’s capacity share of the project.

S Full Phase 2: The full phase 2 demand condition represents the demand associated with OCU’s total combined fresh groundwater allocation and OCU’s capacity share of the project.

S Full AWS: OCU’s capacity share of the TCR/SJR water supply project is projected to be between 10 and 15 mgd AADF, depending on the available yield of the supply source. The full AWS demand condition represents the demand associated with OCU’s total combined fresh groundwater allocation, its capacity share of the project, and its approximate capacity share of the TCR/SJR water supply project.

The half phase 2 demand condition was initially performed as a sensitivity analysis and to assess water quality within OCU’s distribution with regard to water age and associated water quality constraints; however, it was later determined that this demand condition was not constraining with regards to the identification of infrastructure required to integrate AWS sources into OCU’s distribution system.

Water Supply Model History As part of the project CDR, the Coop-RCID water supply (CRWS) model was developed. The CRWS model is a times-series or continuous-simulation model that allows for the statistical evaluation of the water balance between a utility’s demands and water supplies throughout the planning period. This model was developed to simulate the following: 1. Daily customer demands for each utility.

2. Fresh groundwater supplies for each utility.

3. Service area transfers of water conveyed through interconnects between the utilities.

4. Peak daily flows from the Cypress Lake WTP. 5. Peak daily flows delivered to the utilities through transmission piping or interconnects.

6. Peak daily fresh groundwater use required to meet the conjunctive use needs of the project, which were associated with the project being planned to provide a base-loaded supply due to the membrane treatment processes being proposed.

The CRWS model was developed to simu-

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late OCU’s service area and water supply facilities within SFWMD. For this project, the portion of the CRWS model dedicated to simulating OCU was extracted and expanded to simulate all of OCU’s service area and water supply facilities. This version of the model is referred to as the OCU water supply model (OCUWS model).

Conceptual Model The OCUWS model is a spreadsheet-based, continuous-simulation, water-balance model.

The basis for the model is the continuity of mass, which is represented by the following equation:

⌬Storage = Inputs – Outputs = ⌺Supplies - ⌺Demands where: ⌬Storage = Volume of water conveyed to or extracted from storage; ⌺Supplies = The sum of the volume of water available from all existing and future OCU potable water supply sources; and ⌺Demands = The sum of OCU’s projected potable water demands.

The OCUWS model evaluates OCU’s supply and demand on a daily basis. Storage in the continuity of mass equation is defined as seasonal storage. Diurnal (or other short-term) storage needs for OCU’s facilities are not incorporated into the daily model.

Based on the information, the mass balance equation previously presented can be expanded as follows: S = GW + AWS + CU – D where: S = Storage as previously defined; GW = Fresh groundwater use within OCU’s historical practices; AWS = The sum of water available from AWS sources (project and the TCR/SJR water supply project); CU = Conjunctive use requirement met by fresh groundwater; and D = Projected potable water demand.

The OCUWS model was developed using daily timesteps for OCU’s east service area (ESA), south service area (SSA), and the combined west service area/southwest service area (WSA/SWSA).

Incorporating the daily timestep and analysis of multiple service areas, the mass balance equation further expands as follows: SSA,n = GWSA,n + AWSSA,n + CUSA,n ± SATSA,n -DSA,n

September 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal

where: SA = Service area; n = Day n; CU, GW, AWS, D, and S = as previously defined; and SAT = Service area transfers.

The service area transfers term was added because some future AWS sources will be used to meet projected potable water demands in multiple OCU service areas, but the source will enter OCU’s system via one or two service areas. This is due to geographic proximity.

The OCUWS model was developed to simulate the following: 1. OCU’s daily customer demands by service area.

2. OCU’s fresh groundwater supplies by service area.

3. Service area transfers of water conveyed between OCU’s service areas.

4. OCU’s capacity share of planned AWS sources, including transfers through planned interconnects.

5. Peak daily fresh groundwater use required to meet OCU’s conjunctive use needs associated with planned AWS supplies.

Model Modules The OCUWS model was set up as a series of modules that contain input parameters and calculate the individual components of the mass balance equation previously presented. The OCUWS model modules are: S Annual Demand: Based on long-term average climatic conditions.

S Rainfall: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) rainfall data for Orlando from 1892 through 2016.

S Daily Demand: Developed for ESA, SSA, and combined WSA/SWSA based on a multiple-linear regression analysis that considered deterministic (water use trends, seasonal variation by day of year, and cross-correlation with rainfall) and statistical (auto-correlation and statistical noise) components and was calibrated to observed daily potable water demand data from 1998 through 2016.

S Fresh Groundwater: Based on current consumptive use permit (CUP)/WUP allocations.

S Cypress Lake Wellfield Project: Allows the user to vary the following: • Project phasing • The distribution of OCU’s 9-mgd AADF project capacity received through interconnects with TWA (SSA near International Drive and the SWSA near County Road 545) • Supply source variability (base-loaded or ondemand) • Supply source priority

S TCR/SJR Water Supply Project: Allows the user to vary the following: • Project phasing • Supply source variability (base-loaded, ondemand, or supply-based) • Supply source priority S Service Area Transfers: Calculates the magnitude, frequency, and timing of potential service area transfers based on a water balance of available supplies and demands within each of OCU’s service areas.

For the simulations performed in support of this plan, water received from the project was assumed to be base-loaded, water received from the TCR/SJR project was assumed to have a supplybased variability based on an external hydrologic yield model, and the use of AWS sources was assumed to be maximized to the extent feasible before the use of fresh groundwater supplies.

Water Supply Model Linkage to Hydraulic Model The results of the OCUWS model were used as follows: S To identify water supply simulations warranting simulation with the hydraulic model. Performing simulations with no predicted water supply deficits or significant water supply transfers with the hydraulic model was unnecessary.

S The OCUWS model defined potential ranges for the distribution of water from the project into OCU’s potable water distribution system through the two planned interconnects with TWA. S The OCUWS model developed anticipated ranges of water supply transfers between OCU’s service areas considering predicted conjunctive use needs. These ranges were used in the set-up and corroboration of results from simulations performed with the hydraulic model.

S The OCUWS model set developed anticipated ranges of peak groundwater use considering predicted conjunctive use needs.

ect. As such, only those portions of OCU’s distribution system within SFWMD were active as part of the analyses performed with the project’s regional hydraulic model. The regional (combined) hydraulic model was then modified through the course of the project to integrate new infrastructure required to implement the project. As OCU has decided to maintain an individual hydraulic model as its master hydraulic model (and not the combined utilities hydraulic model) it was necessary to update OCU’s master individual hydraulic model with components/inputs from the project’s combined hydraulic model.

Model Updates The master individual hydraulic model of OCU was structurally updated with the addition of new geographic information system (GIS) piping components and future facilities needed to integrate water from the project. This included the addition of new storage and repump facilities (SRFs), new booster pump stations (BPSs), new piping, additional pumping capacity, new valves and pressure-reducing valves, updated configurations at facilities based on as-built drawings, and new or proposed interconnects with adjacent utilities, including the two planned interconnects with TWA for the project. The hydraulic model was also updated at a parcel or node level, with the demand conditions developed in support of this project.

Partial Calibration Update A partial hydraulic model calibration was performed by comparing the field pressure data

with the hydraulic model-simulated output under similar system demand and operating conditions. The purpose of model calibration is to improve the accuracy of model results and outputs. The goal for the partial calibration performed in support of this study was to simulate the distribution system’s performance within 90 percent (or greater) accuracy when compared to available operational data.

The county’s hydraulic model was calibrated using a two-day period from March 19, 2016, to March 21, 2016, which included both irrigation and nonirrigation days. The diurnal pattern was developed and simulated at 10minute intervals. In addition to this diurnal demand pattern, the hydraulic model extended-period simulation (EPS) scenario includes initial settings and high-service pump operating patterns at all facilities. The supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data point of entry pressures and flows was compared to initial hydraulic model results. Input adjustments were made to improve field correlations, with the hydraulic model results correlating with field measurements within 90 percent accuracy.

The calibration efforts listed verify the point-of-entry flow, pressure, and ground storage tank-level comparisons, with an example presented in Figure 1.

Phase 1 Alternatives Analysis Based on water supply and preliminary hydraulic modeling, simulations were selected for Continued on page 12

The initial step of performing water supply simulations facilitated the simulation of more-focused hydraulic model simulations within a broad range of future operational conditions.

Hydraulic Model History As part of the Cypress Lake Transmission CDR project, OCU’s hydraulic model was linked with the hydraulic models of the other four project partners to create a regional hydraulic model; however, only the portions of OCU’s service areas that are within the SFWMD are planned to be provided water from the proj-

Figure 1. Orangewood Water Supply Facility Pressure Calibration Florida Water Resources Journal • September 2019

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Continued from page 11 evaluation as part of an alternative analysis. The intent of the modeling performed in support of the alternatives analysis was to identify infrastructure projects and operational adjustments needed to meet OCU’s service standards and balance CUP/WUP allocation limitations.

The phase 1 simulation alternatives hydraulically modeled are as follows: S Simulation 1: Current demand (baseline condition) • Alternative 1: Existing operational conditions S Simulation 2: Half phase 1 demand (demand condition approximately halfway between current demand and the full phase 1 demand condition) • Alternative 2.1: Existing operational conditions • Alternative 2.2: Modified operational conditions S Simulation 3: Full phase 1 demand • Alternative 3.1: Existing operational conditions, SSA/ESA interconnect operational, and TCR/SJR project not implemented by phase 2 • Alternative 3.2: Modified operational con-

ditions, SSA/ESA interconnect operational, and TCR/SJR project not implemented by phase 2 • Alternative 4.1: Existing operational conditions, SSA/ESA interconnect not operational, and TCR/SJR project not implemented by phase 2 • Alternative 6: Modified operational conditions, SSA/ESA interconnect not operational, and TCR/SJR project implemented by phase 2

water transfers required to meet demands with the project and make the TCR/SJR water supply project operational. After performing dozens of simulations with the water supply and hydraulic models, water supply simulations 16, 21, and 22 were selected. Different variations (alternatives) of simulations 16, 21, and 22 were then developed and hydraulically evaluated. A summary of the pertinent Phase 2 hydraulic alternatives is presented in Table 2.

Implementation Plan A Simulation 5 was deemed infeasible based on water supply modeling and was not evaluated with the hydraulic model. Alternatives 2.1, 3.1, and 4.1 were determined to not be feasible from an operational perspective based on hydraulic modeling.

Phase 2 and Full Alternative Water Supply Alternatives Analysis The purpose of the hydraulic modeling performed in support of the phase 2 and full AWS alternatives analysis was to determine internal OCU infrastructure and service area

Table 2. Hydraulic Model Simulation Summary

As part of the 2014 CDR, a series of infrastructure projects that OCU would need to implement in support of the project were identified. As a result of the modeling and evaluations performed, changes to the previous infrastructure plan and new infrastructure projects that OCU would need to implement in support of the implementation of the project and the TCR/SJR water supply project were identified.

The results of this study indicate that OCU can implement the project and the TCR/SJR water supply project successfully with minor to modest infrastructure and operational improvements above what is already planned by OCU. The recommended additional CIP projects required in order for OCU to implement planned AWS sources have an estimated capital cost of $20,400,000. These expenditures are distributed over a 20-year planning horizon. The recommended improvements generally include the following types of projects: S Installation of variable frequency drives (VFDs) and pumping expansions at some water supply facilities S Interconnects with project partners S New and expanded BPSs S New distribution system flow control valves S Pipeline modifications It was estimated by OCU that the share of the capital cost of the TCR/SJR water supply project and the project will be approximately $165,000,000 and $100,000,000, respectively.

This implementation plan initiates the various phases of these projects, and OCU has required the infrastructure to implement these projects as needed to meet OCU’s demands.

The plan that was developed also incorporates system flexibility that will help OCU meet demands under a wide array of conditions, including varying AWS project implementation timing and phasing, and the ability to implement service area transfers as needed to meet demands. As demand projections are refined in the future, the need for the infrastructure recommended in this plan could be required sooner or later than projected.

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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 Emerging Issues and Water Resources 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!

Earn CEUs by answering questions from previous Journal issues!

Kevin Bates and Joe Clark (Article 1: CEU = 0.1 WW02015351)

SUBSCRIBER NAME (please print)

Article 1 _________________________________ LICENSE NUMBER for Which CEUs Should Be Awarded

Article 2 _________________________________ 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)

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.

Wipe Out the Wipes Crisis

___________________________________

____________________________________ (Expiration Date)

Purified Water Technology Evaluation Project: Results, Findings, Next Steps Tom Bartol, Ryan Popko, and Katie Bizub (Article 2: CEU = 0.1 WW/DW/DS02015350)

1. A recent Jacksonville study revealed that ____ of flushed material is not designed for flushing. a. 1 percent b. 8 percent c. 40 percent d. 92 percent 2. In the study cited, which of the following was shown to have the highest “capture” of test materials? a. Vertical bar b. Perforated drum c. Fine mesh screen d. Horizontal bar 3. The cutter configuration that resulted in the desired smaller wipe material particle size featured a. a total of 11 teeth. b. polished titanium teeth. c. higher rotation speed. d. mating spacer knurling.

4. The experimentation described revealed that ______ is the key catalyst for promoting the “reweaving” of long strips of shredded wipes. a. hair b. grease c. temperature d. pH 5. A 2014 marketing research study confirmed which of the following media sources to be the most effective in changing consumers’ wipe disposal practices? a. Television b. Radio c. Utility mailers d. Social media

1. Ultimately, the project team’s concern for membrane concentrate disposal was resolved when the team concluded that a. concentrate volume would be less than originally anticipated. b. surface water discharge of concentrate would be harmless. c. wastewater/reclaimed water capacity was sufficient to handle concentrate. d. a neighboring utility agreed to accept concentrate flow.

2. Of the source waters tested, which had the highest concentration of total organic carbon? a. Raw surface water b. Raw ground water c. Higher industrial concentration wastewater d. Higher domestic concentration wastewater 3. The initial use of purified water is anticipated to be for a. aquifer recharge. b. direct potable reuse. c. irrigation. d. water-cooled air conditioning systems.

4. The finished water goal for N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) concentration was ____ ng/l. a. 1.6 b. 2.6 c. 3 d. 10 5. Which of the following is listed as an advantage of biological over membrane treatment processes? a. Less expensive b. Smaller footprint c. Less energy-intensive d. Provides better total organic carbon (TOC) removal

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Purified Water Technology Evaluation Project: Results, Findings, Next Steps Tom Bartol, Ryan Popko, and Katie Bizub Background and Project Need As the eighth largest municipal utility in the United States, JEA provides electric, water, wastewater, and reclaimed water systems. It offers water services to a four-county area in northeast Florida with approximately 350,000 customers.

Currently, the source of water is 100 percent groundwater. Regional groundwater resources

will eventually reach their sustainable limit and JEA is planning for the future by evaluating a range of sustainable alternative water supplies.

Since 1999, JEA has diversified its water portfolio by investing heavily in development and expansion of a large reclaimed water system. It has ten reclaimed water production facilities with over 13,000 customers and a 33-mil-gal-per-day (mgd) production capacity.

Figure 1. Ozone/Biologically Active Flitration Process

Figure 2. Ultrafiltration/Reverse Osmosis Process

Tom Bartol, P.E., is manager of water policy, permitting, and compliance; Ryan Popko, P.E., is consulting engineer for water/wastewater/reuse treatment; and Katie Bizub, P.E., is an environmental engineer with JEA Environmental Services in Jacksonville.

Long-term plans are to continue to expand the reclaimed water system in areas of greatest growth, generally in southern Duval and northern St. Johns counties.

In addition to the development of a reclaimed water program, consumptive use permitting constraints reduced the allowable groundwater allocations in these same areas.

One strategy to address these constraints was construction of two river crossings from the north side of the St. Johns River (where permit allocations were available) to the south grid area.

These river crossings have the potential to transfer approximately 40 mgd of raw potable water.

While conservation, reclaimed water, and river crossings will address potable demands for the near future, meeting all long-term demands (greater than 20 years) will likely require additional alternative water supplies. In order to prepare for this potential situation, a purified water program was initiated that would treat reclaimed water to drinking water standards. The initial use of the purified water is anticipated to be for aquifer recharge, with an expectation of an offset to the consumptive use permit.

Figures 3 and 4. Purified Water Project Portable Trailers

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Figure 5. Coagulation/ Flocculation/Sedimentation

Figure 6. Biologically Active Filters

Figure 7. Ultrafiltration

Figure 8. Reverse Osmosis

Purified Water Technology Evaluation A purified water program was developed that narrowed the potential sites using multiple screening criteria. Availability of reclaimed water and a range of potential feed water quality were two important factors in the selection of the Phase I project. Early in the project development, it was obvious that two of the leading technologies for potable reuse were membrane and biological processes. Both have been successful in particular situations, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.

There is confidence in the treatment capability of membrane processes, as their widespread usage has been proven and could likely meet treatment goals with a variety of different feed waters. Biological processes are generally less energy-intensive and do not have the concentrate disposal issues of membranes. The three-phase program was developed to first evaluate the different technologies before moving toward a demonstration study and a potential full-scale purified water plant.

A consultant was chosen to evaluate the two technologies at two different water reclamation facilities (WRFs). One of the facilities (Southwest WRF) serves generally residential and light commercial customers, while the second (Buckman WRF) includes industrial customers, landfill leachate, and biosolids from JEA’s other WRFs. The project team decided on two side-byside portable treatment facilities for the Phase I technology evaluation project (Figures 3 and 4).

The two treatment trains would have to be able to relocate from the first facility to the second.

An important part of the project was a

Figure 9.

Advanced Oxidation Process and Disinfection

source water characterization task in which sampling and analysis were performed on the source water at each WRF and the Trail Ridge Landfill (leachate) that is processed at the Buckman WRF. Laboratory analyses were conducted for regulated and unregulated constituents, including pharmaceuticals and personal care products, pesticides and herbicides, disinfection byproducts, terpenes and fragrances, and other miscellaneous trace organic compounds.

It was important to know what constituents were in the treatment feed system to measure the effectiveness of both technologies.

Not surprisingly, a significant difference in the two source waters was total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations. The more-domestic source water contained approximately 8 mg/L of TOC, while the more-industrial source water contained approximately 15 mg/L of TOC. The two treatment systems operated for approximately five months at each WRF. The biological system contained flocculation and sed-

imentation, ozone, biologically active filtration (BAF), and advanced oxidation. The equipment is shown in Figures 5, 6, and 9 and the process flow diagram is shown in Figure 1.

The second treatment system used ultrafiltration (UF), followed by reverse osmosis (RO) and advanced oxidation. The equipment is shown in Figures 7-9 and the process flow diagram is shown in Figure 2.

Along with a comparison of the two technologies, a testing plan was developed that included varying and stressing key treatment parameters/systems, while monitoring system performance. One of the key project treatment goals was Florida’s groundwater injection requirements for TOC. Conditions that varied in the tests included coagulants and doses, clarification rates, ozone-to-TOC ratios, BAF column media and filtration rates, UF membrane manufacturers, UF and RO flux rates, and advanced oxidation chemicals.

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Continued from page 15

Treatment Process Results In general, the results of both treatment processes met the project’s water quality treatment goals. Significant investment was made in laboratory analytical tests for a large number of constituents (over 300 compounds). A key indicator of treatment effectiveness was TOC. The UF/RO treatment generally reduced TOC to

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nondetect, while the ozone/BAF was under, but close to, the goal of 3 mg/L at both facilities (2.6 and 1.6 mg/L).

Another important treatment parameter was disinfection and oxidation byproducts. Both treatment processes met the goals, with some NNitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) being detected in the UF/RO results, but well below the 10 ng/L goal (2.6 ng/L). Sucralose was evident from the ozone/BAF results at the facility with the moredomestic wastewater source water.

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As mentioned, a large number of unregulated compounds were analyzed for, and the results indicated that many were below detection limits.

Next Steps: Demonstration and Public Engagement The first-phase (technology evaluation) testing has concluded. After looking at performance and estimated costs, the JEA team chose membrane technology for the demonstration/optimization testing. A key factor was performance of the membrane system to remove unregulated constituents. Additionally, the project team felt confident that there was enough capacity in the reclaimed/wastewater system to address RO concentrate disposal.

The current demonstration project is for a 1-mgd UF/low-pressure reverse osmosis (LPRO)/advanced oxidation process (AOP) system. Estimated capital costs are approximately $20 million, with annual operations and maintenance of approximately $1 million. The demonstration facility will include an effort for the optimization of treatment efficiency and will be fully expandable to 10 mgd.

The location of the demonstration and full-scale facilities is still being determined.

Some of the key factors in determining the location are water availability, areas of greatest demand, and potential aquifer recharge benefits.

The plan for the next phase includes a learning center at the pilot facility to facilitate public outreach and education. An innovative 200-acre wetland restoration and reclaimed water storage component is also being planned

by JEA in the near future. Siting studies are currently underway.

A communications plan was developed by JEA and its consultants because advancing public outreach is one the most important parts of the project. The goal of the plan is to guide future communications efforts in order to enhance the public’s understanding of the need for purified water. An initial community survey was completed to determine customer perceptions of the purified water concept. The continued update and implementation of the communications is critical to the eventual success of the project.

The JEA purified water project is a logical step to secure the region’s future water supply.

Water conservation and reclaimed water will extend the time where more-costly alternative water supplies are required, but are not expected to meet all future needs, and JEA is planning for northeast Florida’s water future now.

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Wipe Out the Wipes Crisis Kevin Bates and Joe Clark he composition of modern sewage is vastly different than influent from just a few decades ago, and pump stations, headworks facilities, and other equipment within water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) were never designed to handle it. One of the biggest culprits is the increased use of “flushable” consumer wipes and other nondispersible fabrics that end up in the waste stream, which eventually clog pumps, pipelines, and sensitive treatment equipment. With the current funding constraints of the North American wastewater system, municipalities require cost-effective, reliable solutions to deal with tough debris and protect downstream equipment — without the luxury of a total system retrofit.

The aging wastewater infrastructure in the United States alone is sorely in need of maintenance and improvements. The recently released Clean Water Needs Survey (CWNS) report to the U.S. Congress from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) details the $271 billion needed to meet the water quality goals of the country’s Clean Water Act. Additionally, a 2013 study done by the American Society of Civil Engineers states that the U.S. has approximately 700,000 to 800,000 miles of public sewer mains in need of upgrade or refurbishment due to age or declining functionality. With all of these challenges, the consumer adoption of disposable wipes is not helping the situation.

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Widespread Use of Wipes Wipes manufacturers are experiencing

resounding success in the sale of household, industrial, and healthcare cleaning wipes because they offer a convenient, hygienic, and inexpensive cleaning option. The product is so successful that wipes usage is expected to grow 16 percent a year, according to a 2013 report by the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA), the trade group for disposable wipes producers. This has led to sewage composition that continues to evolve and wreak havoc on wastewater systems.

The momentous growth of disposable wipes finding their way into sewage systems has led to multiple studies into the problem. The state of Maine did a well-documented study looking at what items were being flushed. It found that only 8 percent of the items were labeled “flushable,” while the other 92 percent were items not designed for flushing, such as baby wipes, cleaning wipes, feminine products, and paper towels.

A recent study in Jacksonville found less than 1 percent of flushed material to be flushable wipes and close to 40 percent of the material to be baby wipes. The reality is that consumers, for various reasons, are utilizing toilets as a disposable option for soiled disposable products.

Wastewater treatment operators have several pathways to a solution when fighting the wipes epidemic. Public education campaigns have been proven to have some level of success. Studies, such as the marketing research study on best public outreach campaigns conducted in early 2014 by INDA and the Maine Water Environment Association, concluded that month-long television

Figure 1. Tested Materials

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campaigns work, but ongoing follow-up is required to ensure that the messaging stays with consumers. The study found that television was the most effective media when compared to the use of mailers or radio advertising, but it was also the most expensive.

Redesigning the Wipes Altering the design of flushable wipes is another pathway to resolve some of the problems. Wipes manufacturers have focused on improving the “dispersability” of their flushable wipes. In 2015 Kimberly-Clark introduced reformulated flushable wipes with Safe Flush Technology™ designed to start breaking up in as little as 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, this type of technology would only apply to the approximately 8 to 10 percent of the problematic wipes and debris flushed that are specifically labeled “flushable.” The nonflushable wipes that are flushed would not benefit from these advances.

Technical equipment solutions are a third potential pathway for solving the problems that disposable wipes are causing. One technology, the two-shafted grinder, has been used in wastewater systems (particularly in collections systems) to prevent pump clogging for over 40 years. The more recent changes in sewage composition have made some traditional wastewater grinding systems less effective than they need to be to prevent pump clogging.

In 2014 JWC Environmental embarked on a testing and development program to understand the differences in grinding technologies and how they deal with wipes.

Figure 2. Reweave Testing Pond

Figure 3. Blue Shop Towels (on a 1-inch grid)

Figure 4. Adult Diapers (on a 1-inch grid)

Additionally, the company wanted to better understand the different types of disposable wipes and how they react to grinders, as well as how they react and reweave in sewer systems.

Methodology The approach to the disposable wipes issue was to develop technology solutions that can eliminate or significantly decrease the problems seen in collections systems and reduce the associated costs. The focus was on preconditioning of nondispersibles and other waste through grinding before they reach the pumps. The goal was finding the most-effective solution for preventing pump damage, eliminating safety risks, and reducing the time and energy costs associated with pump clogging.

The technical team at JWC first took the approach of performing benchmark testing on multiple types of disposable wipes products that could commonly be found in sewage systems. This included baby wipes, adult disposable diapers, cleaning wipes, highstrength paper towels, and wipes labeled as flushable, as shown in Figure 1. These products were shredded through two grinders with various existing cutter configurations, as well as grinders from other manufacturers.

Next, alternate designs for the grinder systems were investigated and tested. The focus of the design changes were in three areas: 1. Capture – Making sure that all materials making it to the grinders were directed into the cutting chamber. This eliminated opportunities for wipes to “bypass” the grinder through other openings.

2. Cutting – Developing a cutting system that would shred wipes to a size that would not reweave after cutting.

3. Reweaving – A study was performed on the output materials of the grinders to test the likelihood of reweaving after processing. This

Figure 5. Perforated Drum in Test Tank

Figure 6. Horizontal Bar Drum

was investigated with the cut wipes being mixed with fats, oils, and grease (FOG) and hair in a bench-level test environment, as shown in Figure 2.

Through various trials of equipment designs, an optimum grinder configuration was developed. This best-case solution was tested at a bench scale and later put into real-world lift station applications.

Results Benchmark Testing The initial testing of various types of disposable materials revealed that there are some differences to the end products once shredded. Figure 3 (blue shop towels) and Figure 4 (adult diapers) are representative of the types of output products that came from the grinders.

All items tested were significantly altered from their original form, but there was a range of particle sizes. As can be seen in Figures 3 and 4, there were some smaller particles, but also longer strips were produced during the

benchmark testing. The width of the output materials was similar to the width of the cutters or the spacing between the individual cutters.

The length of the strips produced varied, but some strips were 6 inches or longer.

Capture During the capture investigation, grinders of various types were placed within a wet testing tank and evaluated for the amount of wipes materials that would bypass them in a pumped flow.

The two primary types of grinders tested that exhibited significant differences in capture were ones with perforated capture drums (Figure 5) and those with horizontal bar-type capture drums (Figure 6).

The perforated drum-style of grinders was shown to capture the majority of debris placed into the test channel and divert the debris into the grinder’s cutters. It was shown that the horizontal bar-type of drums had a higher likelihood of allowing disposable wipes products to flow through the drums without being ground up. When comparing the amount Continued on page 28

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Continued from page 27 of bypassed materials, the perforated drums showed a 59 percent better “capture” of test materials, meaning a higher likelihood of diverting the materials into the cutters.

Cutting With the stated goal of cutting wipes materials to a size that would not lead to reweaving, multiple cutter configurations were researched. The alternate cutter and spacer tooth profiles, such as the ones shown in Figures 7 and 8, did not produce the desired results.

The final cutter configuration that did exhibit the desired smaller particle size on the

Figure 7. Grooved Spacer

wipe materials utilized serrations on the cutter teeth and knurling on the mating spacer. It also had a higher number of individual teeth on the cutters at 17, compared to the seven, 11, or 13 teeth on the typical wastewater grinders. This cutter is shown in Figure 9.

The output of the final cutter configuration showed a repeatable production of smaller particle sizes. Compared to testing with traditional cutters, the new cutter configuration demonstrated at least a 51 percent reduction of longer strips that would be prone to reweaving after passing through the grinder. A sample of the results is shown in Figure 10.

Reweaving The reweaving test protocol called for presoaking wipes items for 15 minutes, grinding them, allowing them to circulate through the pumps in the flow test tank for seven minutes, and then capturing the material to transfer to the reweave pond.

Inside the pond, the team added the ground material and a preset amount of hair to recreate what’s typically found in sewage. In later tests grease was also added, but the team discovered that hair is the key catalyst for promoting long strips to knit together and create stronger debris balls. The team also discovered that any long strips would congregate in corners of the swirling pond, and once a catch point was added, they would start to knit together with hair to form a rag ball, similar to the one shown in Figure 11.

A similar sort of reweaving could not be duplicated with the wipes that were cut with the 17-tooth serrated cutter configuration.

Conclusions Grinding was shown to be a viable solution to reduce the size of disposable wipes and keep them in suspension, and therefore, able to be pumped.

It was also shown through the benchmark testing that some traditional grinders on the market will produce longer strips of cut wipes. These longer strips are subject to reweaving when combined with hair.

Cutters especially designed for dealing with disposable wipes materials can consistently produce smaller particles that remain in suspension, even in the presence of hair.

Horizontal bar-type screening devices do not do an adequate job in preventing the bypass of wipes through the systems.

Perforated plate materials offer superior capture and prevention of bypass of whole wipes.

The use of disposable wipes is anticipated to keep growing and history has shown a high probability that these items will continue to be flushed into wastewater systems. The results are often clogged pumps and other damage within wastewater conveyance and treatment systems.

As the expansion of disposable wipes use continues, it’s important for municipalities to consider the value of a comprehensive public outreach program to complement technology-based solutions.

Kevin Bates and Joe Clark are with JWC Environmental in Santa Ana, Calif.

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Figure 8. Long Land Cutter

Figure 9. 17-Tooth Serrated Cutter for Wipes

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Figure 10. Wipes After 17-Tooth Serrated Cutter

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Figure 11. Wipes Strips and Hair Reweave

FWRJ READER PROFILE focus on water, wastewater, and stormwater treatment, from the University of Florida.

Cristina OrtegaCastineiras, P.E. Jacobs, Miami Work title and years of service.

I’m a project manager and process engineer with over 10 years of experience working in the water/wastewater engineering industry.

What does your job entail?

As a project manager, I lead our consulting teams in solving the greatest water-related challenges for our clients. These may include designing a water or wastewater treatment plant expansion or upgrade, investigating a process failure, or optimizing a treatment system. I also take on the lead process engineering role for drinking water treatment projects.

During the past 10 months, I’ve assumed a new role with the Jacobs Operations Group for our NMB Water program, where I’m responsible for the operations of the Norwood Water Treatment Plant and regulatory compliance for the utility.

What do you like best about your job?

Having a positive impact in my community and with my clients is by far the single most rewarding part of my job. When a utility faces a challenge and hires my team to investigate and provide a solution, coming up with that optimal solution and realizing that our efforts made a difference is a truly great feeling. Whether it’s finding a better, more-efficient way to treat the water or improving a regulatory reporting process, a job well done is always gratifying.

The diversity in my day-to-day tasks always keeps things interesting and makes it a journey of constant learning. I also enjoy mentoring and getting mentored by my colleagues.

I’ve been fortunate to work closely with and learn from leading industry experts at Jacobs.

What professional organizations do you belong to?

I currently serve as the FSAWWA Region VII chair (Miami-Dade and Monroe counties) and I’m also an active member of the CubanAmerican Association of Civil Engineers.

How have the organizations helped your career?

I remember attending the FSAWWA Region VII events during my college years, learning about the importance of safe drinking water and being inspired to become a part of this great water profession. Today, over a decade later, I am honored to represent the section as the Region VII chair.

During these years, FSAWWA has played a key role in my professional development through training, networking, mentorship, and shaping my professional interests. Volunteering with the section has made a big positive impact in my career and my personal life; I highly recommend that all young and young-at-heart professionals get involved.

As Region VII chair, one of my key goals is to encourage participation from local university students in our regional events and state conference competitions. Just as I was inspired as a student, I hope Region VII continues to inspire the new generation of young water professionals to strive to deliver on this mission of providing solutions to effectively manage water, the world’s most important resource.

What do you like best about the industry?

My favorite thing about our industry is that it deals with our most precious resource, and thus, I believe that we have the most essential role to play in our communities. Delivering safe drinking water for all in a sustainable fashion and providing sanitation services, while protecting the environment, are the most critical tasks. I enjoy being part of something so vital.

What education and training have you had?

I graduated from the University of Miami with bachelor degrees in civil and environmental engineering. I also obtained a master’s of engineering in environmental engineering, with a

Cristina enjoying family time with husband, Marco Osorio, and daughter, Carla Elise Osorio, this past Easter.

What do you do when you’re not working?

I love spending time with my family and friends. I love the ocean, so scuba diving, snorkeling, and going to the beach are my favorite activities. My 1-year-old daughter, Carla, also likes the ocean a lot; so my husband and I enjoy taking her to the beach. We’ll get back to scuba diving soon enough.

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Presenting awards at the 2018 FSAWWA Region VII Water For People Golf Tournament with (left to right) Austin P’Pool, Region VII secretary; Cristina and daughter, an honorary FSAWWA member; and Tyler Tedcastle, Region VII Manufacturers/Associates Council (MAC) liaison.

At the FSAWWA Region VII Best of the Best Drinking Water Taste Test are (left to right) Melissa Velez, Region VII Water Conservation Committee chair; Cristina; Marisela Aranguiz, region past chair; Marco Osorio; Tyler Tedcastle, MAC liaison; and Josenrique Cueto, region vice chair.

At the 2019 FSAWWA Region VII Model Water Tower Competition are (left to right) Catalina Lopez, Young Professionals (YP) Committee cochair; Veronica Llaneza, YP Committee cochair; Cristina and daughter; and Heidy Amigot, Region VII Communications Committee cochair.

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Optimal Use for Reclaimed Water David B. Hoover As the beautiful “Sunshine State” of Florida has continued to become more populous (presently third in the United States with more than 21 million residents), stricter environmental controls have been enacted to preserve the health of our environment. This is particularly true for potable water, as well as treated domestic wastewater. Through the educational material we have studied regarding the hydrologic cycle, we realize that there are no separate and distinct entities of "clean water" and "dirty water" in the environment itself.

All water cycles through natural processes and ultimately "comes together" in some fashion, in the end. For instance, rain clouds turn into precipitation, which later either evaporates back into the atmosphere to feed more clouds or percolates into the ground to feed green plants and replenish lakes and rivers. Some of this rainfall enters the surficial aquifer, and a very important portion makes its way deeper to recharge the Upper Floridan aquifer, from which most of the drinking water is currently drawn in the state. Abundant rainfall (largely due to the state being bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and having the St. Johns River in the center of the state) feeds these rain clouds on a daily basis. We can almost set our clocks by the summer afternoon thunderstorms.

With these environment drivers as a backdrop, it's easy to see why those in the water profession are committed to the sustainability of drinking water supplies, as well as keeping treated wastewater as clean as possible. By treating domestic water to the highest standards possible, we won't be recycling and concentrating pollutants into this hydrologic cycle, which could adversely affect the quality of drinking water supplies, as well as the quality of lakes, rivers, and oceans (and our quality of life, too). Furthermore, many municipal water and wastewater utilities have been guided by regulations into recycling highly treated wastewater to become reclaimed water irrigation supply.

A positive result of using reclaimed water for irrigation is that it takes some demand off of the Upper Floridan aquifer source water for drinking supplies. This helps conserve this precious water supply source. The stricter nutrient levels that were set for discharge of unused reclaimed water also helps maintain the quality of receiving waters, which in the

past had received all of that municipal treatment facility's discharge, hence the term “wastewater treatment plant.”

This article documents the journey made by the Utilities Commission (commission) in the City of New Smyrna Beach. It details how we ultimately succeeded in achieving and sustaining the goals of recycling all of our reclaimed water, as well as meeting stricter nutrient removals for wet weather discharge and reducing average potable water consumption per account over the same period.

Background In September 2010, the Florida Water Resource Journal published an article from the commission titled “Conserving Water and Power Costs in the 21st Century” that reviewed reclaimed water control strategies and performance in the commission's water resources department and how we were achieving successes in reducing energy costs for supplying public access reuse while obtaining 100 percent beneficial utilization of the resource for the previous year with zero river discharge. At the time of the article’s publication, we were roughly at the 20-year point since the promulgation of the Indian River Lagoon and Basin Act of 1990. The act established three broad objectives for domestic wastewater facilities in this area: S Elimination of surface water discharges S Investigation of feasibility of reuse S Centralization of wastewater collection and treatment facilities The commission embraced all of the elements of the act, and has a very good story to tell, one that truly embodies the vision of those who could foresee the positive outcomes that would be delivered through the combination of advanced treatment technology and an optimally managed reclaimed water utilization strategy.

A significant part of the commission's implementation of the act pivoted on the planned capital investment of a new, larger (7-million-gallon-per-day [mgd]) tertiary/advanced treatment plant so that reclaimed water standards were consistently met for reliable supply to the reclaimed water customers. This new Class A water reclamation plant would also

Figure 1. 13-acre reclaimed water storage and recovery pond.

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provide nutrient removal efficiencies that would consistently meet the new river standards (5-5-3-1 rule) for wet weather discharge.

New Facility Constructed That new water reclamation facility went on line in 1998 after a "whole lotta work" was done to obtain the property, and then to design, permit, bid, and construct the facility, for just under $20 million. Flow was incrementally diverted to the new plant, and within six months the former 4-mgd, Class B wastewater treatment plant on the North Causeway was decommissioned. By 2010, the commission had: S Developed a sufficient number for its reclaimed water customer base, along with eight local golf course storage ponds.

S Modified an existing 13-acre pond for use as a reclaimed water storage and recovery facility, with 27 million gallons (MG) of storage in the upper 6 feet of the pond (Figure 1).

S Developed a plan to use several reuse irrigation systems on commission property so that all reclaimed water would be used every day.

The control plan was drafted and implemented for all three operating shifts to be on the same page in managing all water supply and demand scenarios. Through the daily, diligent management and balancing of customer irrigation demand and the storage pond assets (and proactive responses to the weather patterns and predicted seasonal variations in rainfall available), the commission has successfully been able to consistently avoid loss of this precious freshwater (i.e., low salinity) resource to the river for many years now.

Two key facets of this strategy are the water level in this 13-acre reclaimed water pond and the operating pressure for the reclaimed water distribution system. The pond was already adjacent to the commission’s water treatment facility left over from the I-95 overpass constructed many decades ago, so the costs to convert this were quite affordable.

The commission sought assistance from Forever Florida, the state’s premier conservation and recreation lands acquisition program, which approved 50/50 matching funds for the $650,000 cost to install piping to and from the pond’s construct berms and add influent and effluent flow control facilities. The pond water is piped to a connection directly in front of the filters (for filtration and high-level chlorination only) so that the extra water was not pumped into the headworks where it would have upset the foodto-microorganism ratio and detrimentally affected plant performance In the past, the pond was operated in the "nearly full" status, regardless of the season; however, we learned that when heavy rains came, we had no extra storage and had to quickly find a way to distribute surplus water or be prepared to discharge treated effluent into the river. Conversely, in the new strategy we ran at the midlevel point of our operating range. Then, when we were heading toward a high-demand period, we would build the pond volume to be ready for extra supply to the customers (both residential and commercial), with the goal being to avoid rationing. If rainy periods were on the two-week horizon, we'd try and drop the pond level lower than midpoint so that we could accommodate storage of this extra water coming into the pond/demand equation and thereby decrease the chances we’d have to use river discharge.

This strategy then incorporated a strategically decreased reclaimed water system operating pressure when demand was high (dry conditions), and increased operating pressure when demand was low during wetter conditions to better manage the resource. This was another dramatic operational change from simply running 75 pounds per square inch (psi) all the time, regardless of the weather. Not only did the more-proactive use of the variable-speed, 250-horsepower reuse pump motors conserve the resource, but it also dropped energy costs by 20 percent ($140,000 in just the first year), which, as outlined in the 2010 article, was the first full year of zero river outfall.

With a reliably controlled performance in 2014, we were able to reContinued on page 34

Figure 2. Reclaimed Water Utilization Data

Figure 3. Proclamation from Volusia County

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Continued from page 33 quest reclassification as a minor discharge facility during the five-year operating permit renewal process. This reclassification was strongly endorsed by the Florida Department of Environment Protection (FDEP), and was one more significant milestone in our overall program for domestic wastewater treatment at the commission.

Fast forward to June 11, 2019, which is when the commission reached the 10-year point of the Indian River having zero discharge of treated effluent (Figure 2). One final note of environmental and conservation achievement resulting from this strategy is that the average consumption per potable water had reduced from 113 gallons per day (gpd) in 1999, and is now down to 86 gpd in 2019. That 24 percent reduction results from a combination of shifting irrigation water supply for many customers from potable to reclaimed water. Also, with the more-efficient building design requirements and conservation efforts that have also occurred during this time, reclaimed water was made available to many more customers for their irrigation needs over the past 20 years.

This success was the culmination of a well-designed and effective implementation plan that was the commission's response to the 1990 Indian River Lagoon Basin Act. It required management commitment, talented plant staff, and a significant investment in plant and distribution infrastructure, and also relied on new local developments to install residential reclaimed water irrigation as a standard part of the building review and approval process.

To some this zero discharge achievement may not seem like a difficult task, but during a couple of recent hurricanes (or months-long excessively rainy months) the commission came very close to exceeding its ability to avoid river discharge, when no one was really using much of the

product and all of the ponds were full. This is precisely why a wet weather discharge capability must be maintained; sometimes even the best plans have periods of extreme weather events that cause them to exceed their routine limits of control. For this 10-year period though, somehow we managed, and to the operational team here, and the commission itself, formal recognition for that accomplishment would only be "icing on the cake."

Commission Recognition Ellen Fisher, the commission’s communications coordinator, shared our accomplishment with a colleague of hers on the county council. In a rather quick turnaround, at the June 2019 commission monthly meeting, county councilwoman Deb Denys presented the commission with a Volusia County proclamation, naming June 5, 2019, as "Utilities Commission of New Smyrna Beach Day" (Figure 3), signed by every county official who agreed this matter was indeed newsworthy and commendable.

The 10-year mark of zero river discharge impressed the council members because this performance directly supports the local dedication and focus on maintaining Indian River Lagoon water quality, and the health of that vital ecosystem. The bottom line is, we're now at the 30year point of the dedicated work necessary for reaching and maintaining the goals the state envisioned in 1990, and we have a simple but powerful story from which we hope other water reclamation facility operators may glean a few ideas to use in their systems.

David B. Hoover is water resources director with the Utilities Commission in City of New Smyrna Beach.

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Water Management District Elects New Officers

Mark Taylor

Joel Schleicher

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Michelle Williamson

Kelly S. Rice

September 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal

The Southwest Florida Water Management District governing board has voted to elect a new slate of officers for the 2019-2020 term.

S Mark Taylor was elected chair of the governing board. Taylor represents Hernando and Marion counties and is president of TTG Properties Inc., a real estate management, investment, and development firm. Taylor was originally appointed to the board in August 2016.

S Michelle Williamson was elected vice chair of the board. Williamson represents Hillsborough County and is manager of G&F Farms in Dover.

Williamson was appointed to the board in August 2016.

S Joel Schleicher was elected secretary of the board. Schleicher represents Charlotte and Sarasota counties and has used his vast knowledge as a successful entrepreneur to challenge the status quo, while giving back to the community via various organizations. Schleicher was appointed to the board in May 2017.

S Kelly S. Rice was elected as treasurer of the board. Rice represents Citrus, Lake, Levy, and Sumter counties and is a small business owner involved in real estate, agriculture, and healthcare. Rice was appointed to the board in September 2015.

The new officers will serve a one-year term beginning 24 hours before the next governing board meeting. Board members are unpaid, citizen volunteers who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Florida Senate. The board sets policy for the district, with the mission to protect water resources, minimize flood risks, and ensure that the public’s water needs are met.

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Test Yourself What Do You Know About Disinfection Byproducts?

Donna Kaluzniak

1. Per the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Comprehensive Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rules (Stage 1 and Stage 2): DBPR Quick Reference Guide, the Disinfectant and Disinfection Byproduct Rules (DBPRs) apply to transient noncommunity water systems (TNCWSs) that add chlorine dioxide, and which other water systems that add a disinfectant other than ultraviolet light (UV)? a. All public water systems b. Community water systems (CWSs) only c. Community water systems (CWSs) and nontransient, noncommunity water systems (NTNCWSs) d. Nontransient community water systems (NTCWSs) only 2. Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, maximum contaminant level (MCL) compliance is calculated differently for the Stage 1 and Stage 2 DBPRs. Stage 1 compliance is calculated using the running annual average (RAA) of all samples from all monitoring locations across the system.

Stage 2 compliance is calculated using the a. locational RAA (LRAA) for each monitoring location in the distribution system. b. maximum annual value (MAV) of all samples from all monitoring locations across the system. c. maximum locational value (MLV) for each monitoring location in the distribution system. d. sum of locational values (SLV) for the monitoring locations in the distribution system.

3. Both Stage 1 and Stage 2 DBPRs regulate a contaminant’s total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and the five Haloacetic Acids (HAA5). Which additional contaminants are regulated under the Stage 1 DBPR? a. Bromate and chlorite b. Chlorine and chloramines

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c. Chlorite and chlorine dioxide d. Total organic carbon (TOC) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) 4. The DBPRs also have requirements for maximum residual disinfectant levels (MRDLs), which are also incorporated into Florida Administrative Code (FAC) 62-550 Drinking Water Standards, Monitoring and Reporting. Per this rule, chlorine dioxide has an MRDL of 0.8 mg/L. What is the MRDL for both chlorine and chloramines? a. 0.2 c. 2.5

b. 1.0 d. 4.0

5. Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, the MCLs for TTHMs and HAA5s for both Stage 1 and Stage 2 DBPRs are a. TTHM = 0.080 mg/L, HAA5 = 0.060 mg/L b. TTHM = 0.060 mg/L, HAA5 = 0.080 c. TTHM = 0.60 mg/L, HAA5 = 0.80 mg/L d. TTHM = 0.80 mg/L, HAA5 = 0.60 mg/L 6. Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, which systems are required to monitor chlorite? a. All systems covered by the DBPR. b. Only systems that use chloramines for disinfection. c. Only systems that use chlorine dioxide for disinfection. d. Only systems that use chlorine for disinfection.

7. Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, which systems are required to monitor for DBP precursors with a TOC sample set? a. Community water systems b. Systems using orthophosphate treatment c. Systems that use conventional filtration d. Systems using chloramines as a disinfectant 8. Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, all systems subject to Stage 2 DBPR monitoring requirements that conduct compliance monitoring and collect samples quarterly must establish a. maximum operational levels (MOLs). b. operational evaluation levels (OELs). c. treatment techniques (TTs). d. DBP peak monitoring (DPM).

September 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal

9. Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, when are OELs exceeded? a. During any quarter in which the OEL is greater than the TTHM or the HAA5 MCL. b. During any year in which the OEL is greater than the TTHM or the HAA5 MCL. c. During any quarter in which the OEL is greater than the TTHM MCL and the HAA5 MCL. d. During any quarter in which the OEL is lower than the TTHM or the HAA5 MCL. 10. Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, subpart H systems (water systems that use surface water or groundwater under the direct influence [GWUDI] of surface water for conventional filtration treatment) must remove specific percentages of organic materials that may react with disinfectants to form DBPs. The organic materials are measured as a. BOD. b. Carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD). c. TOC. d. Volatile organic compounds (VOC).

Answers on page 54 References used for this quiz: • Florida Administrative Code (FAC) 62-550, Drinking Water Standards, Monitoring and Reporting.

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Comprehensive Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rules (Stage 1 and Stage 2): Quick Reference Guide (On EPA’s Stage 1 and Stage 2 Disinfection Byproducts web page https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/stage-1-andstage-2-disinfectants-and-disinfectionbyproducts-rules#compliance.

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.

Crisis Communications Plans for the Water Industry: Getting and Keeping Customer Confidence Mike McGill Over the next couple of years, the 2018 America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) will require community water systems all over the United States that serve more than 3,300 people to complete risk and resilience assessments and create, or revise, their emergency response plans.

Compliance with AWIA provides an excellent opportunity for systems in Florida to craft a crisis communications plan if they don’t yet have one (or update the one they already have) so that they seamlessly integrate with the new or revised emergency response efforts.

The need for emergency management and crisis communications plans to work together is more important than ever before.

Why? Well, the answer is as obvious as your smartphone.

We live in the Instant Information Age. We’re all receiving information we need to know—and a lot we don’t—without having to ask for it.

Customers can be especially demanding of providers of essential services; if there’s a problem with something they’re paying for, they better be told about it—and fast. If not, they’ll pull out their phone and find the information (or misinformation) themselves in less than a minute.

That is why your utility must become and stay the go-to source for information about your water and wastewater services.

Getting Ahead of the Next Emergency Increase Your Customer Communications J.D. Power, the highly respected experts on customer satisfaction,

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polled 40,000 consumers served by 87 utilities all over the U.S. in 2017 and 2018. Customers were asked a series of questions about their services, including how well their utilities communicated with them.

What did the surveys reveal?

The more a utility communicated with its customers, the more the customers trusted the utility. Consumers who recalled proactive communications from their utilities rewarded them with up to 25 percent higher satisfaction scores. Those scores translate into added trust, and that higher level of trust is helpful to call upon when a crisis occurs.

Strengthen Your Community Ties If you proactively communicate with your community’s institutions, you can create a higher level of trust that extends beyond their walls. If your schools, hospitals, major businesses, and houses of worship (just to name a few key societal leaders) believe in you, that confidence spreads out to their constituencies.

Building strong community relationships isn’t limited to institutions anymore. Social media groups are particularly useful during an emergency.

After a transmission main failure knocked out millions of gallons of water supply to the Cape Fear region in 2016, I served four utilities as their official, unified public information officer throughout the crisis. A Facebook group about the break was immediately started by only one woman in her spare time.

During the next 72 hours, more than 10,000 people joined the page.

The page quickly became a focal point for customers and, yes, angry comments were made. Because of previous relationshipbuilding, however, I knew the person who started the page and she agreed to let me post content whenever I wanted. Thanks to this arrangement,

September 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal

I was able to instantly address the anger as it happened with helpful information, and the page greatly benefitted the communications effort.

Create a Comprehensive Crisis Communications Plan Getting clear information to your customers, key stakeholders, and the media is possible, but only if you plan your communications process well in advance.

A properly crafted crisis communications plan covers every major water- and sewer-related incident.

While the plan should be based on industry best practices, it must also incorporate local knowledge from your staff. Your team knows where your “hotspots” are—the locations that could provide added challenges during specific emergencies.

Appropriate roles and shifts are assigned throughout the 5 a.m. to 12 a.m. “News Day,” when public communications must regularly occur. All required statements and customer information should be mapped out with prewritten materials and scripts that can be quickly adjusted. The plan should include a preset approval process, which provides both speed and quality control at the same time the public’s desire for the latest information is at its greatest.

The mass media component needs to connect with how newsrooms cover crises. Meet with them and find out how they want information from you when the pressure is on. They will gain a greater appreciation for what your utility must do during an emergency, and that’s likely to translate into better coverage.

Yes, I know that most of you view social media with trepidation, but if you plan in advance, your utility can successfully handle a variety of social media platforms during a crisis. Just like with the press, you can strengthen relationships with social media influencers by

asking them how they want their content before a crisis happens.

Your social media plan should spell out the guidelines for proactive posting and reactive response by your employees, providing guardrails that will protect your staff when exchanges start going off the rails.

Test Your Plan Just like your emergency operations and response plans, if you don’t practice your crisis communications effort in advance, gaps will be exposed when it’s put under pressure. At the very least, work public communications into your operational tabletops, drills, and full-scale exercises to test your plan and find room for improvement—and there’s always room for improvement!

When the Emergency Happens Critical Customers Must Be a Top Priority Critical customers need essential information in an instant because public health and safety, or their entire business, could be at risk. If they’re not getting important details from you, they will contact the media to get their answers, placing your entire response instantly on the defensive.

When I speak to water industry leaders, I offer the following with a great deal of passion to get the point across: If you fail to communicate with your critical customers, your entire response will be called into question. It won’t matter if you’ve handled the emergency perfectly out in the field; if your critical customers are left feeling uninformed or confused, that fact alone will harm your utility’s reputation—long after the crisis is over.

An up-to-date critical customer list is an essential part of your crisis communications plan. It must be regularly updated with primary and secondary contacts who are always available. The list should also include how your utility will handle calls during every single shift.

Get Out There Early One of the benefits of having an emergency communications plan ready in advance is that you will be able to get out front fast and start communicating quickly with a confidence-boosting level of certainty.

In the case of an emergency that you can see coming (like a hurricane), you should proactively communicate with your customers before it hits, telling everyone how you’re getting ready for the storm and assure them about your services.

Most emergencies don’t allow the luxury of advance notice. If you’re on your own, quickly put your plan in motion. If your local government is taking the lead, make sure they have your information as soon as possible.

Get Out There Often After the emergency hits, you’ll want to establish a regular communications schedule as soon as possible. Using the “News Day” timeframe, start the morning off with an update that covers what happened overnight and what you’ll be doing during the day.

If you can do so safely, capture shots and video and send the content out through YouTube, social media platforms, and traditional communication streams. Before the evening news hours, produce another update detailing what happened during the day and what the utility’s response will be moving forward.

I know social media causes many utilities heartburn, especially during incidents. Using the “News Day” approach, however, you can map out your content to effectively inform your customers using social media. Pushing out regular updates via various platforms, and through influencers with whom you’ve built relationships, will cover a lot of ground, boosting public confidence.

Will people attack you on social media during an emergency?

Yes, but understand that the people making those attacks are actually a small percentage of the people reading online posts. If you tackle their anger head-on with calm answers that clear up confusion, you’ll win the respect of the much larger audience that is reading the posts and simply wants information.

Your employees can provide dozens of eyes and ears during a crisis. They must be empowered to alert you at any hour of the day or night when they see problems arise on the social media platforms they follow.

When flare-ups occur, pre-assigned—and trained—staff should handle the responses, shielding untrained employees from making mistakes that could harm their careers.

want to know. Don’t make the mistake of just giving them what you think they need to know—that’s where mistakes are often made.

Make Sure Your Messages Are Clear During a crisis, your customers are dealing with its impacts on their daily lives and they don’t have time to be bombarded with all sorts of cute statistics. What they want is the latest information they need to get them through the emergency.

Always lead with the essential information first, even if there haven’t been any changes since your last update. Next, provide the secondary details and reinforcing messages that support your utility’s response. Test your messages on your colleagues; if they feel long, rambling, or confusing to them, they are. Try again.

The information should be clear and concise. Emergencies are not the time for the public to be thrown tons of information; just transparently give them what they

but the rest of your communications plan should continue to be implemented. You don’t want to fill one gap and create a new one.

Your messaging approach doesn’t change. Essential information is given first, followed by positive, reinforcing statements about your response. That’s what your customers are looking for from you.

Anticipate Curveballs Odds are your utility’s response will not happen without some mistakes. The key is not to panic, and above all, be honest.

The more transparent and informative you are during a crisis, the more your actions will be trusted. When curveballs occur, use the structure provided by your communications plan and then make key adjustments.

You may have to add an extra update, additional content, or provide another round of interviews,

After The Emergency Keep Communicating, Highlight Post-Emergency Actions, Use Anniversaries Most of us have been through “hotwashes,” where utilities review their emergency response and seek to make improvements. Letting the public know that you are taking a hard look at yourself after a crisis will leave a positive impression

coming out of the event and add to public confidence in your utility heading into the next one.

If an emergency is particularly significant, you can even use its anniversary to add to a positive narrative or change a negative one.

In 2008, the utility I was working for outside of Washington, D.C., suffered a 66-inch transmission main break next to a major road during the height of the morning rush hour. Helicopter and swift boat rescues of commuters were broadcast live around the world, and I did interviews with French and Australian press that day.

We anticipated that the oneyear anniversary would get significant coverage, so we created our own event to mark the date. We brought the media back out to the break site and hand-delivered experts who detailed the utility’s efforts over the past year. We also provided preproduced video of our acoustic monitoring program and several other photogenic “show-and-tell” items.

The result? Local and national outlets showcased the utility’s yearlong response to the break, and the public script flipped. A failure that nearly killed people and was shown on live TV was never mentioned again as a negative. In fact, the utility still showcases the response to the break as an example of its leadership within the water industry.

With AWIA compliance on the horizon, now is the time to being to create or update your emergency communications plan.

Communicating successfully during a crisis combines the basic principles we use in our everyday relationships, with the treatment of public information as another essential operation within a utility.

If you prepare, plan, and effectively communicate before an emergency, then engage early and often during the crisis, you will increase the likelihood that your utility’s entire response will be viewed as successful. Your customers will not only believe in you during the next emergency, but their confidence in your utility will carry over into the services you provide to them every day.

Mike McGill is president of WaterPIO in Wilmington, N.C. S

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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.

Handling the Load for Forklift Safety

Here are some common safety rules to follow before, during, and after forklift operation.

hats, and gloves). Wear fitted clothing that can’t get caught in gears or controls.

Always inspect the vehicle at least once per shift. This includes checking the battery, brakes, controller, fuel system, horn, lights, lift system, steering mechanism, and tires. Don’t operate any vehicle found to be in need of repairs.

Fluids from a forklift can leak out overnight on the area where you park it and make the surface slick. Check for fluids when you get on and off a forklift to prevent a slip and fall.

Never operate a forklift with wet or greasy hands or shoes. You could easily slide or slip and cause an accident.

A forklift is considered to be "unattended" if the operator is more than 25 feet away or if the forklift is out of the direct vision of the operator.

Before Driving S Study the manual of the forklift before operating. You want to understand it inside and out. Hitting the wrong switch at the wrong moment could lead to disaster.

S A parked forklift should have the forks flat on the floor with the controls set to neutral and with the parking brake set.

S Use forklift marking signs and forklift marking tape to designate pedestrian and forklift lanes and areas, if appropriate. Put up warning signs such as "Forklift Crossing" to alert pedestrians and other vehicles that a forklift may cross there.

S Use mandatory safety gear (highvisibility jacket, sturdy footgear, hard

Loading S Do not use the tip of the forks as a lever to raise a heavy load.

S Do not push a load with the tip of the forks.

S Know the loading capacity of the forklift and any attachments being used and never exceed it.

S An overload can cause the rear tires to be raised off the ground and may cause the forklift to tip over.

S When stacking or tiering, tilt a load backward only as much as necessary to stabilize the load.

S Ensure that the load is evenly distributed.

S Do not lift or move a load unless both forks are fully under the load.

orklifts are excellent labor-saving devices. They save time and reduce the likelihood of injury associated with manual material-handling activities.

They can, however, become very dangerous if operated by a reckless or untrained operator.

Forklift accidents tend to be very serious, involving both personal injury and damage to property. These accidents can be avoided if operators use some common sense and follow safe operating rules and procedures. Do not operate a forklift until you have been properly trained and authorized to do so.

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Forklift Driver Training

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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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September 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal

S Use pallets and skids that can withstand the weight of the load. Do not use damaged, deformed, or decayed pallets for holding loads.

S Don’t move a loaded vehicle until the load is secure.

While Driving S Use the seat belt. It will keep you secured in the seat in the unplanned event of a tip-over.

S Look in the direction of travel and don’t move the vehicle until you see that your path is clear.

S Don’t exceed the authorized safe speed.

S When operating the forklift on inclines, the load should always be on the uphill side of the incline. Drive forward going up the incline; drive backward going down the incline.

S When traveling without a load on the forks, keep the forks approximately four to six inches off the floor or ground.

S Never allow anyone to walk underneath a raised load.

S Stop at all blind corners to check for other traffic in the area, including other forklifts and pedestrians. Honk your horn and look before you proceed.

S Maintain at least a three-truck-length distance between you and vehicles in front of you.

S Never attempt to pass another forklift.

S Slow down and sound the horn at cross aisles and other locations where your vision is obstructed.

S Cross over railroad tracks diagonally whenever possible.

S If carrying a tall load that blocks your forward vision, drive in reverse and turn your head so you can see where you are going.

S Never drive a forklift up to the back of a person who is unaware that the forklift is behind them.

After Driving S Setting the emergency brake is critical whenever stopping. If you fail to do this, thousands of pounds could start rolling unexpectedly, causing many dangers.

S If you leave the vehicle and will be 25 feet or more away, leave the load-engaging means down, bring the mast to the vertical position, shut the power off, curb the vehicle if necessary, and set the brakes.

S If you leave the vehicle and are within 25 feet of it, lower the load-engaging means fully, neutralize the controls, and set the brakes.

S Ensure that the forklift is parked in a designated or authorized area.

S Fully lower the forks to the floor and apply the park brake.

Forklifts and Drugs or Alcohol Don't Mix Running a forklift is dangerous, so extreme alertness is necessary. It can be difficult enough to operate a forklift when sober, so any use of alcohol or drugs should be avoided before operating one. This includes alcohol and illegal drugs, but also any opioid pain killers including Oxycontin, antihistamines that cause drowsiness, sedatives, Adderall, Ritalin, or any other legal drug that alters your judgment.

Even muscle relaxants that affect you physically and not mentally should be avoided as they can affect your reflex time.

All employees can benefit from learning about forklifts. Developing and enforcing an effective safety training program can take a lot of time and effort, but it’s an investment that will result in a much safer work environment.

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C FACTOR

PFAS: Not Your BFF! Mike Darrow President, FWPCOA

ecently, drinking water quality across the United States has drawn attention from the media. The issue of the day is localized contamination at the minute levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, better known as (PFAS). This PFAS group has over 4000 manmade chemicals and is used by industries around the world. These chemicals are in nonstick coatings, fast-food wrappers, firefighting compounds, polishes, stain repellants, waxes, and many other products. Some other recently uncovered PFAS chemicals we hear of now include perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perflurooctane sulfonate (PFOS), and GenX chemicals, like perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS).

The problem with all of these substances is that the chemical bonds are so strong they do not break down over time. This means that

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we absorb them through our food and other products. The human body can then hold on to these compounds, which don’t change. At some point, with prolonged exposure, high levels of PFAS may adversely affect human health, according to researchers. Another problem is they are measured down to parts per trillion (ppt). Wow—per trillion! That is minute, for sure.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established nonbinding drinking water health advisories for PFOA and PFOS at 70 ppt in 2016. Research from EPA shows that PFAS compounds can cause reproductive, developmental, liver and kidney, and immunological effects in laboratory animals.

In studies, both chemicals have caused tumors in animals. The most consistent findings from human epidemiology studies are increased cholesterol levels among exposed populations.

From this, EPA has now regulated that manufacturers need to remove PFAS compounds from further usage. There are so many PFAS compounds that the risks have not been fully identified by researchers. An action plan is being developed for limiting and identifying the risks.

September 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal

EPA Action Plan The EPA’s February 2019 action plan describes approaches to identifying and understanding PFAS contamination, preventing future contamination, and effectively communicating with the public about PFAS. This action plan describes four steps for PFAS management: S Evaluate the need for a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for PFAS, PFOA, and PFOS. S Begin the necessary steps to propose designating PFOA and PFOS as “hazardous substances.”

S Develop groundwater cleanup recommendations for PFOA and PFOS at contaminated sites.

S Develop toxicity values for GenX chemicals and PFBS. The action plan also identifies more short- and long-term actions to address PFAS issues. Short-term actions include: S Developing new analytical methods and tools for understanding and managing PFAS risk.

S Promulgating Significant New Use Rules (SNURs) that require EPA notification before chemicals are used in new ways that may create human health and ecological concerns.

S Using enforcement actions to help manage PFAS risk.

Water Treatment Methods for PFAS As operators, we must understand the impacts of this action plan to our water systems.

Also, we must understand the health risks and water treatment methods used to remove PFAS. Public outreach may be necessary if there are local concerns, so we must be ready for our customers to ask questions relating to these PFAS compounds. Being familiar with the treatment may help you plan for a response, if needed. Operators should plan for future impacts to address this in budgeting and capital improvement planning.

These advanced treatment methods are the most effective removal technologies today: S Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) – Chemicals like PFAS are absorbed in the small pieces of carbon as the water passes through.

S Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) – The carbon is powdered and is added to the water. The chemicals are then absorbed into the powdered carbon as the water passes through and the carbon is filtered out in the process for removal.

S Ion Exchange Resins – Small beads (called resins) are made of hydrocarbons that work like magnets. The PFAS chemicals are exchanged with beads compounds and are removed as the water passes through.

S Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis – A filtration process where water is pushed through a membrane with small pores. The membrane acts like a wall that can stop chemicals and particles from passing into drinking water by removing them.

multiple chemicals. This would be too large of a group to effectively regulate and manage for compliance.

Liability is also an issue here for PFAS cleanup and any financial responsibility, which should belong to the PFAS producers. It would not be fair to hold community and drinking water systems and wastewater treatment facilities liable for PFAS contamination caused by a company’s products.

This could, however, have unintended consequences for utilities. The PFAS in source water may be retained in solids removed through treatment and will be found in media used to remove PFAS, thus complicating disposal. A hazardous substance designation could also result in water and wastewater treatment systems substantially increasing the cost of disposing of these materials, which would also increase the cost of the water supply to our communities. Wastewater effluent could also be an issue with minute trace amounts and the implications for removal.

The third EPA Unregulated Contaminate Monitoring Rule (UCMR 3) introduced us to these perfluoronated compounds. Six compounds were in the sampling plan for UCMR 3 for many communities, which may be the starting point for your actions now. Resampling may be necessary, if there is a localized concern. From what I’ve read, there are only a handful of contaminated sites in Florida, mostly around airbases, airports, or older industrial sites.

More monitoring is coming, with UCMR 5 on the horizon, and it’s in development right now by federal government agencies. They will be drilling down on information on PFAS chemicals for their databases, rulemaking, and public notifications. This looks to happen in 2023—or maybe sooner.

Clearly, now is the time for you to further your education and your tool box! For water operators, the knowledge of advanced treatment methods is critical. Networking with fellow operators on these PFAS issues for clarification on this can only help. Attending your FWPCOA regional meetings is a good place to do that.

So, being “best friends forever” with someone is great, but having these chemicals in your source water is not. Please contact your local congressional representatives to make them aware of this issue.

Remember to keep on learning—our profession and your community are depending on you!

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Don’t overlook the byproducts of these processes; they should also be understood for concentrated levels of PFAS for proper disposal on spent carbons, resins, and reject water. A renewable carbon or resin source should be used.

Some Other Concerns The PFAS action plan needs to be monitored. The first goal in this process is the EPA rulemaking that sets drinking water standard MCLs. The concern here is having the MCL as one group for PFAS, instead of each of the Florida Water Resources Journal • September 2019

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News Beat The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) has joined with Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and several local governments to form a working group to address a crucial component of restoring America's Everglades. The SFWMD has also initiated a water quality study, which will evaluate the most technically feasible and cost-effective methods to reduce the discharge of harmful nutrients from the Caloosahatchee (C-43) West Basin Storage Reservoir, which is currently under construction. Reducing the dis-

charge of nutrients will improve the quality of water released from that reservoir when it’s completed.

The water quality study is one of two dozen Everglades restoration projects that Gov. Ron DeSantis has made a key priority for SFWMD. The study will evaluate alternatives to reduce discharge of nutrients from the C-43 reservoir, which will be evaluated using a costbenefit and trade-off analysis. The study will examine how cost-effective, available, and technically feasible chemical and physical treatment

technologies for water quality improvement may be when applied to inflow, outflow, and/or in-reservoir water to reduce nutrient discharge.

In addition to FDEP, local partners in the working group include the city of Sanibel and Lee County.

"Any water that is discharged to the Caloosahatchee River should be clean and not add to the pollution that fuels harmful algae blooms," said Brian Hamman, Lee County commissioner. "The C-43 reservoir is key to solving our water issues during the dry winter months and storing some excess flows from Lake Okeechobee during the wet summer months. We're grateful that the district is taking steps to protect our water quality as this new water management tool is constructed."

Said James Evans, director of natural resources for the city of Sanibel, "Water quality is fundamentally linked to the health and vitality of our local communities, and this project is a critical step towards restoring the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary. We thank Gov. DeSantis for his leadership and commitment to restoring America's Everglades and our coastal estuaries."

To learn more about the water quality study and all the key priority environmental restoration projects SFWMD is advancing, go to www.sfwmd.gov.

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Raftelis, a water and wastewater rates consultancy, announced that it has acquired Public Resources Management Group Inc. (PRMG), located in Maitland. It’s a similar firm, with a particularly strong presence in Florida and throughout the Southeast. The group brings to Raftelis’ portfolio in the water and wastewater sectors additional expertise in the electric, natural gas, and solid waste markets. It also has expertise in providing services for general government functions, such as recreation, police, fire, building, planning and zoning, and other governmental activities.

“Over the past 25 years, our two firms have followed similar paths, and we have always had great respect for PRMG’s work and the reputation it has built in the Florida market,” said Peiffer Brandt, president and chief executive officer of Raftelis. “I’m excited to combine the staff expertise of both firms to provide added value and additional capabilities for our clients.”

The acquisition adds 12 consultants to the Raftelis team, to be located in Maitland, and brings the Raftelis staff count to more than 100 consultants across the United States, with financial, management, and strategic communications expertise in the water and wastewater fields.

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Businesses recently left without water in a daylong outage in Fort Lauderdale are suing Florida Power & Light (FPL) for “gross negligence.” The utility was overseeing construction work that led to the rupture of a pipe that cut off water to thousands of customers.

The water break happened July 17 when a subcontractor for FPL, Florida Communications Concepts, which is also a subject of the lawsuit, struck a 42-inch pipe at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport while drilling underground to repair electric lines.

While the utility repaired the damaged pipe, businesses across the area were closing down, unable to operate without water for preparing and serving food, keeping their spaces air conditioned, and maintaining adequate fire sprinkler system water pressure. In all, three restaurants, a restaurant group, and two law firms are demanding in excess of $15,000 in damages for lost business. Attorney Adam Moskowitz says he has been contacted by others who want compensation for their losses, and he noted that the $15,000 lawsuit could climb much higher if others join in a class action suit.

The suit, filed in Broward Circuit Court, calls the subcontractor “small” and “insufficiently staffed,” and alleges that it failed to adequately prepare or investigate the work site. The complaint also alleges that Florida Communications Concepts provided the state a different location than the one it actually worked on when reporting the work site.

About 220,000 customers were left without water from morning to midafternoon on the day of the break. The damaged pipe was connected to the Fiveash water treatment plant, which serves Fort Lauderdale and the neighboring municipalities of Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Sea Ranch Lakes, and Port Everglades, and parts of Davie and Tamarac.

By the afternoon, workers temporarily fixed the pipe to get the water flowing again. A boil water notice required restaurants and residents to boil water before drinking, washing dishes, or brushing teeth for days after the break.

driven the lake into the water shortage band, which requires the South Florida Water Management District to implement water shortage policies, during the rainy season,” said U.S. Sugar spokeswoman Judy Sanchez in a press release.

The Corps manages Lake Okeechobee levels and has in recent years kept the surface of the lake between 12.5 and 15.5 feet above sea level in order to protect lives, businesses, and properties around the lake, and to provide

water for farming, drinking, and natural habitats. In its press release, U.S. Sugar suggests that it's aligned with environmental interests that filed a similar lawsuit against the Corps earlier this year. Those environmental groups, though, were asking the Corps to deviate from what's called the Lake Okeechobee Regulations Schedule (LORS), which sets the 12.5- to 15.5-foot requirement. The company, on the other hand, filed its lawsuit because the Army Corps did deviate from LORS. S

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U.S. Sugar, a Florida farming powerhouse, has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, saying that the Corps is violating its own regulations and the National Environmental Policy Act. “Since November of 2018, the Corps has released unprecedented volumes of water from Lake Okeechobee, and as a result, it has recently Florida Water Resources Journal • September 2019

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FSAWWA SPEAKING OUT

FSAWWA Supports the Water Equation Michael F. Bailey, P.E. Chair, FSAWWA

details, so I thought I would dedicate this month’s article to providing some clarity. To that end, I enlisted the assistance of Michelle Hektor, AWWA’s senior manager of development and donor relations for the Water Equation, and she offers the following discussion.

Water Equation f you’ve even been to an FSAWWA networking event (which I highly recommend!), there was probably a philanthropic component to it. Whether it’s Water For People, the Roy Likins Scholarship, or some other charity, FSAWWA members are extremely generous with their donations and support.

In much the same way that AWWA recognized the need to help people around the world have access to safe water and adequate sanitation and founded Water For People, AWWA has more recently created a program called the Water Equation to help with water-related needs more domestically.

Many of you may have heard about the Water Equation, but might not be clear on the

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It’s been nearly five years since AWWA’s Water Equation took its first individual pledges from AWWA section directors to begin funding workforce advancement, young Michelle Hektor professionals programming, and the Community Engineering Corps. An aging workforce, lack of trained water operators, the need for an energized next generation to propel water industry innovations, and the desire to solve water infrastructure issues in the United States were all reasons for this new initiative.

Attendees at the FSAWWA Region III Wine for Water event held at the Orlando Science Center on July 25.

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The association’s legacy of philanthropy played a role in developing the Water Equation.

In 1961, AWWA founded what is now called the Water Research Foundation to advance the science of all water to meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. Water For People was founded by AWWA in 1991 as it shared the vision of a world where all people have access to safe water and adequate sanitation, with a focus on international support.

With that same vision in mind, the AWWA board of directors approved Water Equation to focus on the water workforce, as well as access to safe water and adequate sanitation needs in the U.S. In this way, both philanthropies contribute to serving all communities—internationally and locally.

Scholarships Fund Water Workforce The One AWWA Operator Scholarship is a partnership between the Water Equation and AWWA sections to provide educational funding and opportunities to water and wastewater operators across the U.S. Since its inception, 105 scholarships have been awarded, for a total of $112,456 to fund courses, books, training, and continuing education units. These water professionals tell us that they wouldn’t be able to pursue their dreams of certification or of becoming a manager if not for the financial assistance from this program.

A $200,000 portfolio of academic scholarships is being managed through AWWA’s philanthropy, with corporate partners providing 25 undergraduate and graduate scholarships of $5,000 to $10,000 each. Scholarship applications open every year in mid-August and will close in mid-December this year for awards in March 2020. Presentation of the awards is an annual celebration at the Annual Conference and Exhibition (ACE) Water Industry Luncheon, which all scholarship recipients attend to learn more about AWWA’s resources and membership.

Leadership Day The AWWA Young Professionals (YP) Committee has designed a Leadership Day that takes place each year before the YP Summit at the Utility Management Conference. The Water Equation funds the preconference community service, the AWWA YP Leadership Day of pro-

gramming from AWWA’s leadership, and an evening networking social so that the 125 young professionals can attend the event free of charge.

The Florida Keys Aquaduct Authority sent three YPs to the event this year!

The Water Equation will continue to look for ways to support leadership programming for young professionals, while broadening its scope to include funding of youth programming as well.

ship’s vision of providing workforce advancement through scholarships and leadership programming. Community Engineering Corps is focusing on access to safe water and adequate sanitation in our own neighborhoods.

The AWWA Florida Section has been supporting the Water Equation through golf tournaments, Texas Hold‘em events, and the Wine for Water event that was held at the Orlando Science Center in July.

The AWWA Water Equation couldn’t have the positive impact it has without your support!

I really appreciate Michelle’s help with this month’s column. So, the next time you’re at an FSAWWA event or conference and you see a Water Equation raffle, please consider the good work that it supports and buy a ticket or two!

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Community Engineering Corps Founded in 2014 by AWWA’s Engineers Without Borders and the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Community Engineering Corps has opportunities for volunteers to assist in safe water projects in the U.S. Water Equation funds this program to assist volunteers in their tasks of community outreach and includes federal and state funding to support the projects.

Successful projects in Ohio, Washington, Tennessee, Montana, and Texas in the last year are a testament to AWWA’s volunteer spirit. Please visit www.awwa.org to learn more.

Celebrating five years in January 2020, this AWWA philanthropy is achieving the member-

The Water Equation booth at ACE19 in Denver.

New Products Crane Pumps & Systems now offers its SITHE submersible chopper pump line, a solution to highly demanding wastewater applications in the collection systems market. The pumps are available in standard and explosion-proof models in various discharge sizes, ranging from 3 to 150 hp with flows up to 5,000 gpm. The pumps have a unique, patentpending chopping technology that slices even the most troublesome solids in waste streams.

They provide immense value to customers, like ease of servicing, ability to upgrade, high reliability, and low life cycle cost. There’s value to customers in the form of market-distinguishing features like open center cutter design, field replaceable heat-treated blades, plug-and-play cord, liquid cooled motor, and large lifting bail. (www.cranepumps.com)

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The ST51A Biogas Flow Meter from Fluid Components International combines superior measurement accuracy with high reliability and dependability. Biogas from sewage treatment plants is often digested under anaerobic conditions in reactor tanks.

This potent mixture of combustible methane, carbon dioxide, water, and trace levels of corrosive hydrogen sulfide is problematic for

many flow-measuring technologies, as the sticky nature of hydrogen sulfide particles can affect the performance and can clog many flow sensors, leading to frequent, labor-intensive cleanings.

The genesis of the product design came from customers seeking a highly accurate, reliable, rugged, low-maintenance, flow-measurement solution. It has been on the market for several years and is now building momentum as sustainable, green energy is becoming a greater focus in municipal wastewater treatment operations seeking to protect the environment and reduce operational costs simultaneously.

To survive in biogas processes, the ST51 comes standard with 316 stainless steel body construction and Hastelloy-C22 thermal sensors. It features a no-moving-parts, nonclogging design that eliminates the need for constant cleaning under wet, dirty biogas conditions. It comes with full global safety approvals. The meter’s electronics are housed in a durable NEMA 4X, IP67 dust/water ingress protected and rugged, all-metal (aluminum or 316L stainless steel) enclosure with dual conduit ports in either NPT or M20 threading.

The transmitter can be integrally mounted with the flow element (probe) or can be re-

mote-mounted for installation flexibility. The instrument comes standard with dual 420mA, NAMUR NE43 compliant outputs and a 500 Hz pulse output.

In biogas cogeneration systems, the meter is helping provide green energy that reduces dependence on more-expensive, conventional electric utility power generation systems. The meter is also helping municipal plants reduce their carbon footprints and meet increasingly stringent mandated pollution reporting and reduction regulations, while also saving money. (www.fluidcomponents.com)

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The BLUEline Rotary Lobe Pump from Boerger is a self-priming, valveless, positive displacement pump used to convey viscous and abrasive materials. There are 21 pump models in six series with pulsation-free operation, fully reversible rotation, dry-run capabilities and flow rates up to 7,500 gpm, so there is always a pump that’s perfectly suited to every single application. The pumps are stable and wear-resistant with a maintenance-inplace design that allows for all wetted parts to be easily replaced through the front cover without the removal of pipe or drive systems. (www.boerger.com) S

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Thickening and Dewatering 101 Patrick Dube he Solids Separation Subcommittee of the Water Environment Federation (WEF) Residuals and Biosolids Committee recently began development of 10 factsheets focusing on biosolids thickening and dewatering. This article examines the first set that has been released, titled “Thickening and Dewatering, Polymer/Flocculants 101, and Solids Capture in Dewatering Processes.”

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Thickening and Dewatering In the wastewater treatment process, solids get separated via settling in primary and secondary clarifiers and need to be further processed before moving down the treatment train. Thickening and dewatering of solids helps reduce the volume of the material in the system.

Less volume benefits utilities by enabling smaller downstream facilities, which reduce energy and operating costs.

Thickening typically occurs after solids have been discharged from clarifiers, but before digestion or storage. Depending on the facility and characteristics of the solids, various types of equipment can be used to thicken the solids, including (but not limited to) gravity thickeners, centrifuge thickeners, and rotary drum/screw thickeners. After thickening, the solids can range from 2 to 8 percent solids concentration and can still be pumped throughout the facility.

Dewatering typically occurs after biological and digestion processes and further removes water from the solids slurry. This process pro-

duces a material that can be transported for disposal or beneficial use. The solids cake that is produced from dewatering is typically 15 to 40 percent solids and acts as a solid—that is, it no longer can be pumped.

The benefits to dewatering are similar to those of thickening: Reducing the total volume of material reduces transportation costs and the size of equipment (incinerators, digesters, drying beds) needed downstream. Dewatering typically is done using belt filter presses, screw presses, centrifuges, and other dewatering specific equipment.

Polymer/Flocculants To maximize thickening and dewatering efficiencies, polymers and flocculants often are used. These chemicals help clump (or flocculate) solids together and make water easier to remove.

Polymer comes in three forms: dry, solution, and emulsion. Dry polymer consists of 90 percent active polymer and requires a more-extensive process to dissolve and activate it before use. Solution polymer (also called Mannich) is a viscous polymer with only a 4 to 8 percent active ingredient. Its low activity and difficulty in pumping has caused it to be less used in today’s water resource recovery facilities. Both polymers must be activated and diluted onsite to between 0.1 and 1 percent active solution before using.

The dilution process must be followed meticulously to prevent damaging the polymer and reducing its efficiency, thus leading to a greater polymer demand, which increases costs.

Emulsion polymer is a pumpable polymer of gel emulsified in hydrocarbon oil with 2 to 55 percent activity. Due to its pumpability, it often is delivered to the system in-line, although its ease of use and higher activity come with a higher cost when compared to dry polymer.

Low solids capture means a significant portion of solids are being returned to the head of the facility with the extracted water. By increasing solids capture, the costs associated with retreatment are reduced, excess wear and tear on equipment is prevented, and overall facility performance is improved.

Solids capture percentage can be determined using an equation (outlined in the factsheet “Solids Capture in Dewatering Processes”) that incorporates sludge flow, washwater and polymer water flow, discharge cake, feeds solids and filtrate, or centrate solids. Establishing a baseline enables improvement to be measured.

To improve solids capture, a step-by-step approach is advised. First, identify all settings and parameters used in the dewatering process (feed solids, flow rate, cake solids, polymer flow, etc.) and then change one setting at a time, let it reach steady-state, and evaluate the effect on solids capture.

More Information Available Thickening and dewatering biosolids is an intricate topic. This article only touches on a few of the important considerations with polymer/flocculants and solids capture. For a more in-depth discussion of these topics and more, visit www.wef.org/factsheets to see all of the thickening and dewatering factsheets, as well as factsheets on many other topics, which can all be downloaded.

This article solely reflects the personal opinions of the author, not necessarily WEF and its members.

It is provided for educational purposes only, and is not intended to substitute for the retainer and advice of an appropriate professional. No warranties or endorsement of any kind are granted or implied.

Solids Capture Integral to optimizing biosolids efficiency and costs is paying attention to solids capture. This parameter is the amount of solids that are discharged, based on the percentage of solids in the feed. While the industry standard is 95 percent, onsite performance can get as low as 60 percent.

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September 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal

Patrick Dube, Ph.D., is a technical program manager in the Water Science & Engineering Center at the Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, Va.). He manages the Residuals and Biosolids Committee and the Air Quality & Odor Control Committee. He can be contacted at PDube@wef.org.

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FWPCOA TRAINING CALENDAR SCHEDULE YOUR CLASS TODAY! September 9-13 ......Wastewater Collection C ............................Osteen..................$225/255 16-20 ......Reclaimed Water Field Site Inspector ......Winter Garden......$350/380 16-18 ......Backflow Repair ..........................................Osteen..................$275/305 16-19 ......Backflow Tester* ..........................................St. Petersburg ........$375/405 27 ......Backflow Tester Recerts*** ........................Osteen..................$85/115

October 7-11 ......Reclaimed Water Field Site Inspector........Osteen..................$350/380 14-18 ......Utility Maintenance Level III ......................Pompano Beach ....$325 14-18 ......Wastewater Collection B, C ........................Orlando................$225/255 21-23 ......Backflow Repair*..........................................St. Petersburg ........$275/305 21-24 ......Backflow Tester ............................................Osteen..................$375/405 25 ......Backflow Tester Recerts***..........................Osteen..................$85/115

November 18-22 ......Water Distribution Level 3 ........................Osteen..................$225/255 18-22 ......Reclaimed Water Distribution C ................Osteen..................$225/255

December 9-11 ......Backflow Repair ..........................................Osteen..................$275/305 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 • September 2019

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September 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal

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 - 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 Distribution Lead Operator City of Clearwater Government is hiring now for a Water Distribution Lead Operator!

Salary: $ 37,027 - $57,716 Annually Qualified candidates must have a Water Distribution Level II Operator’s license.

APPLICATIONS SHOULD BE FILED ONLINE AT: http://www.myclearwater.com MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Possession of a state of Florida Water Distribution level II license and CDL Class “A” driver’s license is required.

APPLICATIONS SHOULD http://www.myclearwater.com

BE

FILED

ONLINE

AT:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Possession of a state of Florida Water Distribution level II license and CDL Class “A” driver’s license is required.

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

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 plumbing 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

Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator Salary Range: $47,675. - $90,281.

The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority is hiring 2 WWTP Operators.

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. Salary is commensurate with experience and license classification. Benefit package is extremely competitive! Must complete on-line application at http://www.fkaa.com/employment.htm EEO, VPE, ADA

City of Wildwood

Water Operator A, B or C Potential Trainee opportunity Seeking an experienced Water Operator for a Reverse Osmosis Ground water treatment plant. Membrane exp a plus, but not required.

Job is in Hialeah, Fl. Contact David Rodriguez at 305-764-2908

Water Treatment Operator: Looking for a licensed water operator to join our team at one of the fastest growing cities in Central Florida.

Must hold at least a Class “C” license. Valid Driver’s license a must.

Great boss and even greater benefits. Pay Range: $34,000 - $37,000yr.

Applications online www.wildwood-fl.gov or City Hall, 100 N. Main St, Wildwood, FL 34785 Attn: Melissa Tuck.

EEO/AA/V/H/MF/DFWP. Florida Water Resources Journal • September 2019

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Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator City of Clearwater - Public Utilities Department City of Clearwater Government is hiring now for an Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator!

Target Entry Salary: $54,693.10 APPLICATIONS SHOULD BE FILED ONLINE AT: http://www.myclearwater.com MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: See website

Deputy Director, Public Utilities – Finance $85,928.48 - $137,485.56/annually Public Utilities Manager - Underground Utilities $76,660.82 - $122,657.31/annually For More Info and to Apply go to: http://agency.governmentjobs.com/hollywoodfl/default.cfm

City of Clermont Environmental Services Manager - Distribution This position assists the Director in the supervision, administration, and technical work involved in managing the assets, staff, maintenance, problem-resolution, regulatory/reporting requirements, and projects of the area assigned. Please apply at ClermontFL.gov.

Orange County, Florida is an employer of choice and is perennially recognized on the Orlando Sentinel’s list of the Top 100 Companies for Working Families. Orange County shines as a place to both live and work, with an abundance of world class golf courses, lakes, miles of trails and year-round sunshine - all with the sparkling backdrop of nightly fireworks from world-famous tourist attractions. Make Orange County Your Home for Life.

Orange County Utilities is one of the largest utility providers in Florida and has been recognized nationally and locally for outstanding operations, efficiencies, innovations, education programs and customer focus. As one of the largest departments in Orange County Government, we provide water and wastewater services to a population of over 500,000 citizens and 72 million annual guests; operate the largest publicly owned landfill in the state; and manage in excess of a billion dollars of infrastructure assets. Our focus is on excellent quality, customer service, sustainability, and a commitment to employee development. Join us to find more than a job – find a career.

We are currently looking for knowledgeable and motivated individuals to join our team, who take great pride in public service, aspire to create a lasting value within their community, and appreciate being immersed in meaningful work. This position will be responsible managing the operations and maintenance of a Water Reclamation Treatment Plant.

Section Manager, Water Reclamation Annual Salary $70,200 Min, $90,480 Mid, $110,760 Max Starting salary of external candidates is customarily below the midpoint based on qualifications.

Apply online at: http://www.ocfl.net/careers Positions are open until filled.

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September 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal

Manager, Municipal Engineering As a Manager of RK&K’s Municipal W/WW division you will have the opportunity to build and manage a team of W/WW Engineers and support staff specializing in water reclamation, water treatment engineering, wastewater/potable water systems engineering and much more.

Qualifications: *Ten (10)+ years of experience in eng. services in W/WW engineering with progressive responsibilities including business development and project delivery, particularly in the study, design, and construction of water, wastewater, reclaimed and/or storm water facilities and W/WW/reclaimed conveyance infrastructure (pipelines, water mains, force mains, and pump stations, lift stations, etc.) *Be engaged in Prof. Eng. societies, regularly attending local meetings *Ability to think creatively, resolve abstract problems, motivate others, work collaboratively, and be self-directed * Ability to lead while participating as a Sr. Level Engineer Required Education and Certs: B.S in Civil Engineering or related P.E. License in the State of Florida Sound like you? Let’s connect for additional detail.

Contact: Scott Majoros smajoros@rkk.com 410-462-9410 www.rkk.com

Seminole County Multiple Positions Available Join the team here at Seminole County AKA “Florida’s Natural Choice”! Our Environmental Services department is hiring for several positions.

Vacant Positions: Deputy Director of Environmental Services Water Treatment Plant Operator (C, B, and A License) Wastewater Operations Manager Chief Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator Apply online at: www.seminolecountyfl.gov/jobs

City of Tarpon Springs The City of Tarpon Springs Public Services Department is accepting applications for the following positions: Water Treatment Operator Trainee Wastewater Treatment Operator C Wastewater Division Manager Water Distribution Technician II Apply online at: http://www.ctsfl.us/jobs.htm Open until filled.

Career Opportunity for Wastewater Operator Toho Water Authority is the largest provider of water, wastewater and reclaimed water services in Osceola County. As a Wastewater Operator you will be expected, among other specific job duties, to have the ability to do the following; Maintain compliance and operations of Wastewater Treatment Plants, conduct facility inspections, perform maintenance on equipment, and ensure normal operations. As well, you will need to have the ability to evaluate water systems, fulfill recordkeeping, documentation and reporting requirements.

We know that the strength of our organization depends upon a high performing, diverse workforce. That is why we offer a total rewards package with competitive pay and benefits that allows us to attract the talent we need to succeed. Our Total Rewards Package includes 100% of the premium cost for the employee’s individual health insurance plan and the employee’s individual dental insurance plan.

In addition, vision and group life insurance; a 401a retirement and employer matched contributions; an on-site wellness center; generous paid leave; employee assistance program, recognition awards, safety incentives, tuition reimbursement, shift differential, and more. Visit www.tohowater.com to review the full job description and submit an employment application for consideration.

Career Opportunity for Water Chief Operator

Compliance Coordinator $49,348 - $69,437/yr.

Utilities Maintenance Supervisor $60,594 - $82,261/yr.

Lift Station Operator I $42,628 - $59,982/yr.

Heavy Equipment Operator $44,760 - $62,981/yr.

Utilities Electrician $54,406 - $76,555/yr.

Utilities Foreman (Water & Storm Water) $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.

Toho Water Authority is the largest provider of water, wastewater and reclaimed water services in Osceola County. As Water Chief Operator you will be expected, among other specific job duties, to have the ability to do the following; Complete and submit the Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR’s) to the Florida Department of Environmental Projection (FDEP) per regulations, ensure accuracy of all reports, utilize the Hach Wims system to create plant specific DMR’s for submission as needed, maintain records, and utilize the work management system. As well you will be responsible for preparing gain sharing reports; participating in the budget review process, overseeing payroll, and ensuring proper facility coverage.

We know that the strength of our organization depends upon a high performing, diverse workforce. That is why we offer a total rewards package with competitive pay and benefits that allows us to attract the talent we need to succeed. Our Total Rewards Package includes 100% of the premium cost for the employee’s individual health insurance plan and the employee’s individual dental insurance plan.

In addition, vision and group life insurance; a 401a retirement and employer matched contributions; an on-site wellness center; generous paid leave; employee assistance program, recognition awards, safety incentives, tuition reimbursement, shift differential, and more. Visit www.tohowater.com to review the full job description and submit an employment application for consideration.

Continued on page 54 Florida Water Resources Journal • September 2019

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CLASSIFIEDS

Test Yourself Answer Key

Continued from page 53

Government Services Group - Utility Manager Government Services Group is seeking a full-time Utility Manager for the Florida Governmental Utility Authority (FGUA) at MacDill AFB with office location at the FGUA WWTP, 9119 Bayshore Blvd, MacDill AFB, Tampa, FL. Preliminary salary range is $80k to $95k, depending on qualifications. FGUA seeks an individual with excellent communication skills and 20 years' experience in utility management of water and wastewater utilities. Bachelor's Degree in civil engineering or equivalent is required, PE preferred. Salary, education, and experience requirements are adjustable for the right person. Applicant must hold a current, valid Florida Driver's License and be able to pass a Federal Government Background Security check. Interested candidates please email resume to gforrest@govmserv.com or call 407803-3478. Excellent benefits package including 401-k, dental and healthcare insurance.

AA/EOE

From page 36

1. C) Community water systems (CWSs) and nontransient, noncommunity water systems (NTNCWSs) Per the U.S. EPA Comprehensive Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rules (Stage 1 and Stage 2): DBPR Quick Reference Guide, “The DBPRs apply to all sizes of community water systems (CWSs) and nontransient, noncommunity water systems (NTNCWSs) that add a disinfectant other than UV light or deliver disinfected water, and transient noncommunity water systems (TNCWSs) that add chlorine dioxide.”

2. A) locational RAA (LRAA) for each monitoring location in the distribution system.

Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, for the Stage 2 DBPR, “MCL compliance is calculated using the locational RAA (LRAA) for each monitoring location in the distribution system.”

3. A) Bromate and chlorite Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, “Regulated Contaminants and Disinfectants,” in the table under Stage 1: “Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs), five Haloacetic Acids (HAA5), Bromate, Chlorite.” Under Stage 2: “Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs), five Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)”

4. D) 4.0

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.

Per FAC 62-550.310(2)(a) Primary Drinking Water Standards: Maximum Contaminant Levels and Maximum Residual Disinfectant Levels, “Maximum disinfectant levels are as follows (in table): Chlorine – 4.0 mg/L (as Cl2) Chloramines – 4.0 mg/L (as Cl2) Chlorine Dioxide – 0.8 mg/L (as ClO2).”

5. A) TTHM = 0.080 mg/L, HAA5 = 0.060 mg/L

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September 2019 • Florida Water Resources Journal

Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, Table 2. Regulated Contaminants and Disinfectants, “TTHM = 0.080 mg/L; HAA5 = 0.060 mg/L.”

6. C) Only systems that use chlorine dioxide for disinfection.

Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, Table 4. Compliance with MCLs and MRDLs (Routine Monitoring), “Contaminant/Disinfectant – Chlorite, Coverage: Systems that use chlorine dioxide as a disinfectant, monitoring frequency daily (at entrance to the distribution system), monthly (in distribution system), and at total distribution system monitoring locations (one at entry point to the distribution system, three in the distribution system).”

7. C) Systems that use conventional filtration Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, Table 4. Compliance with MCLs and MRDLs (Routine Monitoring), “Contaminant/Disinfectant – DBP Precursors (TOC sample set), Coverage: Systems that use conventional filtration and monitoring frequency at the same location and frequency as the Total Coliform Rule.”

8. B) operational evaluation levels (OELs).

Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, Table 5. Operational Evaluation Levels (OELs), “Applies to all systems subject to Stage 2 DBPR monitoring requirements that conduct compliance monitoring and collect samples quarterly.”

9. A) During any quarter in which the OEL is greater than the TTHM or the HAA5 MCL. Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, Table 5. Operational Evaluation Levels (OELs), “OELs are exceeded during any quarter in which the OEL is greater than the TTHM or HAA5 MCL.”

10. C) TOC. Per the DBPR Quick Reference Guide, Table 7. TOC Removal, “Subpart H systems that use conventional filtration treatment are required to remove specific percentages of organic materials, measured as TOC, that may react with disinfectants to form DBPs. Removal must be achieved through a treatment technique (enhanced coagulation or enhanced softening) unless a system meets alternative criteria. Systems practicing softening must meet TOC removal requirements for source water alkalinity greater than 120 mg/L CaC03.”