Wastewater Agencies Research Articles

Operationalizing a routine wastewater monitoring laboratory for SARS-CoV-2

Wastewater-based testing for SARS-CoV-2 is a novel tool for public health monitoring, but additional laboratory capacity is needed to provide routine monitoring at all locations where it has the potential to be useful. Few standardization practices for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater analysis currently exist, and quality assurance/quality control procedures may vary across laboratories. Alongside counterparts at many academic institutions, we built out a laboratory for routine monitoring of wastewater at the University of California, Berkeley. Here, we detail our group’s establishment of a wastewater testing laboratory including standard operating procedures, laboratory buildout and workflow, and a quality assurance plan. We present a complete data analysis pipeline and quality scoring framework and discuss the data reporting process. We hope that this information will aid others at research institutions, public health departments, and wastewater agencies in developing programs to support wastewater monitoring for public health decision-making.

EFFICIENCY ASSESSMENT OF WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT: A CASE STUDY OF PATTOKI, DISTRICT KASUR, PAKISTAN

Pakistan being an agricultural country greatly depends on the water. Intense agriculture and ever-increasing population growth have created stress on the limited water resources of the country. Therefore, use of industrial discharge effluent and sewage water for irrigation is a common practice. Realizing the situation of safe disposal of wastewater in Pattoki to minimize the public risks of indiscriminate disposal of wastewater, Punjab government and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) constructed a wastewater treatment plant at Pattoki district Kasur. The purpose of this study is to check the efficiency of wastewater being treated by the treatment plant in compliance with the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) and to check the efficiency of functional components of treatment plant. Water samples were collected from various points of the treatment plant in order to perform various onsite and laboratory test (DO, BOD5, COD, Chloride, TSS, and PH) to check the efficiency of the wastewater treatment plant. The results obtained for each water quality parameters (physical, chemical, and biological) were compared with National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS). The recommended value of DO was greater than 2 mg/liter, BOD5, COD, Chlorides, TSS and PH by PEQS were less than 80 mg/liter, 150 mg/liter, 1000 mg/liter, 150 mg/liter and 6.5-9 respectively. The measured values of DO, BOD5, COD, Chlorides, TSS and PH were 0.3 mg/liter, 310 mg/liter, 48 mg/liter, 1760 mg/liter, 204 mg/liter and 8.3 respectively. The values of DO, BOD5 and TSS are not within PEQS recommended range. More facultative and anaerobic ponds should be constructed in order to treat total wastewater generated in Pattoki, as present plant is treating almost one fourth of total wastewater generated in Pattoki. Aerators should be provided at the aerobic ponds for improving the efficiency of wastewater treatment plant. Effluent from the treatment plant can be used for floriculture conjunctively with fresh water. Moreover, the concentration of physio-chemical parameters in the effluent also decreases after mixing the water available in drain. To some extent it also reduces the infiltration of dangerous components (as drain is not lined with concrete) present in wastewater that may contaminate the ground water or may have hazardous effects on quality of soil present in field. However, further studies are required to evaluate chemical parameters or heavy metals like arsenic, fluorides, chromium, zinc etc.

Workplace spirituality in the public sector: a study of US water and wastewater agencies

Purpose This paper aims to understand water and wastewater industry leaders’ perceptions of the current and future role of workplace spirituality, including the challenges and benefits of incorporating workplace spirituality in government utilities. Design/methodology/approach The Delphi technique was used to gather input and gain consensus from an expert panel of executive level managers. Findings The panel achieved consensus that workplace spirituality is evident in a higher sense of purpose for those working in the water and wastewater industry which is likely to be the greatest future benefit of workplace spirituality in the industry. Other central themes included making a positive environmental impact, going beyond compliance, collaborating with the community, creating a connection to peers and encouraging organizational belonging. Consensus was also achieved regarding obstacles to workplace spirituality’s future role in the industry, including concerns about terminology and the need for supportive leadership. Practical implications The water and wastewater industry face challenges including climate change, rising costs, aging infrastructure, increased regulatory requirements and a rapidly changing workforce. Workplace spirituality seems likely to support the industry in facing these challenges and can be promoted through encouraging a sense of purpose and meaning, collaborating with the community and recruiting individuals with resonant values and sense of calling. Originality/value Workplace spirituality has received growing attention in the private sector. However, workplace spirituality research in the public sector is minimal. This expert panel of top leaders from US water and wastewater agencies provide insight into the role of workplace spirituality in the public sector.

Risk assessment model to prioritize sewer pipes inspection in wastewater collection networks

In wastewater systems as one of the most important urban infrastructures, the adverse consequences and effects of unsuitable performance and failure event can sometimes lead to disrupt part of a city functioning. By identifying high failure risk areas, inspections can be implemented based on the system status and thus can significantly increase the sewer network performance. In this study, a new risk assessment model is developed to prioritize sewer pipes inspection using Bayesian Networks (BNs) as a probabilistic approach for computing probability of failure and weighted average method to calculate the consequences of failure values. Finally to consider uncertainties, risk of a sewer pipe is obtained from integration of probability and consequences of failure values using a fuzzy inference system (FIS). As a case study, sewer pipes of a local wastewater collection network in Iran are prioritized to inspect based on their criticality. Results show that majority of sewers (about 62%) has moderate risk, but 12%of sewers are in a critical situation. Regarding the budgetary constraints, the proposed model and resultant risk values are expected to assist wastewater agencies to repair or replace risky sewer pipelines especially in dealing with incomplete and uncertain datasets.

An Economic Framework for Evaluating the Benefits and Costs of Biosolids Management Options

Agencies responsible for wastewater treatment have choices regarding how they manage their treatment process residuals. They can consider them waste products requiring suitable disposal (e.g., liquids managed as wastewater effluent, and sludges directed to traditional landfills), or as potential resources with significant “beneficial use” potential. For example, effluent can be rendered into reclaimed water, and solids can be used beneficially as a soil amendment in land applications and mine site reclamation, tapped as a renewable bio-fuel for energy production, or applied in other beneficial manners. Beneficial use options for biosolids management can generate important benefits to the utility and the community it serves. However, in some instances these beneficial use options also may have the potential to impose additional costs and/or risks. These benefits, costs, and potential risks generally accrue not only to the wastewater agency alone, but also to society as a whole (including the environment). As stewards of the environment and public trust, wastewater agencies need to consider the full range of benefits and costs associated with their activities. This means that they need to take into account all the impacts - good, bad, and uncertain - that their activities may impose on the broader community. Likewise, utilities cannot in good faith focus exclusively on the direct financial impacts on their agency alone. Instead, utilities also need to take account of the “externalities” their activities bestow (or impose) on the broader community: they need to think beyond the fence. This report describes the approaches, methods, and tools available to help utilities take a broad perspective and develop benefit-cost comparisons of their biosolids management options. This is designed to help agencies understand why it is important to conduct such analyses and why it is important to adopt a broad social accounting perspective when doing so. This report also provides tools and guidance to help utilities conduct such BCAs or related forms of Business Case Evaluation (BCE), including the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach. This title belongs to WERF Research Report Series ISBN: 9781843397830 (Print) ISBN: 9781780403762 (eBook)

Water, wastewater, and stormwater agencies respond to extreme weather events

Water, wastewater, and stormwater agencies respond to extreme weather events

A Case for Pragmatic Point-Source Nutrient Removal Requirements: Illinois Association of Wastewater Agencies' Evaluation of Practical Technology-Based Effluent Standards

A Case for Pragmatic Point-Source Nutrient Removal Requirements: Illinois Association of Wastewater Agencies' Evaluation of Practical Technology-Based Effluent StandardsA major stakeholder in the pre-rulemaking nutrient standards workgroups in Illinois, the Illinois Association of Wastewater Agencies (IAWA) commissioned a nutrient removal evaluation study. The objective of the study was to assess the technologies likely to be applicable for phosphorus and/or nitrogen removal upgrades, emphasizing those technologies that promote reliability, cost effectiveness,...Author(s)Pavel HajdaNicholas J. MenningaSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Oct, 2013ISSN1938-6478DOI10.2175/193864713813673442Volume / Issue2013 / 17Content sourceWEFTECCopyright2013Word count167

Risk Assessment of Wastewater Collection Lines Using Failure Models and Criticality Ratings

Because of deteriorating condition levels of wastewater networks and financial constraints, sewer agencies are seeking methods to prioritize inspection of sewer pipes on the basis of risk of failure. Risk assessment of sewer pipes requires integration of the probability and consequences-of-failure values in a way that reflects the decision maker’s perception of risk. This paper presents the use of a weighted scoring method to determine criticality of sewer pipelines. The procedure involves identifying important factors, determining the relative importance of the selected factors, and summarizing the overall performance of sewer pipes in terms of these factors. Determination of risk of failure by combining the resultant consequence-of-failure values with the probability-of-failure values using simple multiplication, risk matrices, and fuzzy inference systems is presented. Application of these methods is illustrated by using the sewer network information obtained from a local wastewater agency. The resultant risk maps are expected to assist agency officials in identifying sewer-pipe sections that require immediate attention or close monitoring, along with sewer-pipe sections with lower risk of failure.

Lessons Learned from WARN Tabletop Exercises

This article discusses Water and Wastewater Agency Response Networks (WARNs), which allow utilities to share resources with one another during an incident response through the use of mutual aid and assistance agreements. The article focuses on the need to exercise how these agreements are used, which can be done by tabletop exercises in the absence of an actual incident. Tabletop exercises (TTXs) allow WARNs to practice and exercise the operational plan or other procedures so that requesting and responding utilities have a better understanding of how to implement their WARN agreement during an actual incident. The advantages are discussed, along with the objectives of TTXs, documenting and identifying the follow‐up actions from an exercise, and WARN resources that are offered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Key lessons from the exercises are summarized.

The New Worst‐Case Scenario

In his column, AWWA Executive Director David LaFrance describes the March 2011 combined earthquake/tsunami/nuclear power plant radiation leak disaster in Japan as the new worst‐case scenario, which demonstrates the importance of utilities planning emergency response programs. LaFrance had recently returned from meeting with the Japan Water Works Association (JWWA) in Japan in February, and heard via email the day of the disaster that his JWWA colleagues were trying to communicate with and support the Japanese water supply utilities that suffered damages. He describes two AWWA‐sponsored programs created to unite the water industry in protecting public health: the Water/ Wastewater Agency Response Network (WARN), a voluntary mutual aid and assistance network of utilities that respond to emergencies in which other water/wastewater utilities have sustained damages; and, the ANSI/ ASME‐ITI/AWWA J100‐10 Risk Analysis and Management for Critical Asset Protection (RAMCAP#174) Standard for Risk and Resilience Management of Water and Wastewater Systems.

Preventing Sewer Blowouts during High-Velocity Jet Cleaning Operations

The flow capacity of municipal sewer lines often diminishes over time due to root intrusion and debris accumulation. As a consequence, many wastewater agencies use high-velocity jets to scour sewer pipes and restore the discharge capacity of the collection lines. Occasionally, jetting operations expel fluid from the sewer through connecting laterals to plumbing fixtures in adjacent homes and businesses. While rare, these hydraulic blowouts pose health problems, damage private property, and strain public relations. This paper investigates the conditions under which sewer line blowouts occur in order to predict and reduce their occurrence. Statistical analyses of field data gathered over a 10-year period by the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati revealed that, among many competing factors, the incidence of sewer blowouts was highest in pipes with the smallest flow capacity. Based on this finding, a simple formula was developed to identify service zones with high blowout risks. Two computational flow models, FLUENT and SWMM, were used to simulate and corroborate the sewer blowout phenomenon.

Implications of Climate Change for Adaptation by Wastewater and Stormwater Agencies

Implications of Climate Change for Adaptation by Wastewater and Stormwater Agencies

Co-Digestion Issues That Wastewater Agencies are Facing

Co-Digestion Issues That Wastewater Agencies are Facing

Reusing Water as a Resource in Las Vegas

Reusing Water as a Resource in Las VegasThe 1,200 square miles that make up the Las Vegas Valley watershed are a unique study in water reuse. As the only metropolitan area that draws upon Nevada's Colorado River allocation, the water and wastewater agencies in the region must be diligent in monitoring and protecting water quality, as nearly all of the region's water comes from this source (Lake Mead). In addition to the 300,000...Author(s)Lynn H. OrphanGary K. GrinnellSean M. GoldwasserEric HawkinsSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 111: Water Reuse Case Studies IIDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2008ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20080101)2008:7L.8174;1-DOI10.2175/193864708790893828Volume / Issue2008 / 7Content sourceWEFTECFirst / last page(s)8174 - 8180Copyright2008Word count163

Resource Typing: What is it and why is it Important to the Water Sector?

This article discusses water and wastewater agency response networks (WARNs), and the importance of mutual aid and assistance in all phases of a disaster, particularly during the initial response and recovery phase, before resources from other levels of government and the private sector can be mobilized. However, water and wastewater system personnel often find it difficult to clearly communicate their resource needs during or following an incident. The article discusses the importance of developing standard, or common, resource terminology, definitions, and resource types in order to optimize the opportunities for resource sharing in the event of a disaster. The benefits of resource typing are discussed, along with a current resource typing manual project being developed by AWWA and the consulting firm URS, supported by the Horsley Witten Group, for the benefit of the water sector mutual aid and assistance.

AIMS: Asset Management Application for a Large Municipal Wastewater Agency

AIMS: Asset Management Application for a Large Municipal Wastewater AgencyThe Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) realizes that a Capacity assurance, Management, Operation and Maintenance (CMOM) Program is good business practice for decisions on all of itsassets. MMSD further recognizes that any gains from a comprehensive CMOM program require a solid Asset Management (AM) Program to sustain the CMOM program. In 2002, the MMSD formally initiated aCMOM...Author(s)Debra JensenAndy LukasKen HarlowSam PaskeSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 11: Planning for Tomorrow – Managing Your Infrastructure to Optimize Life Cycle CostsDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2006ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20060101)2006:4L.723;1-DOI10.2175/193864706783796240Volume / Issue2006 / 4Content sourceCollection Systems ConferenceFirst / last page(s)723 - 739Copyright2006Word count573

The Virginia Chesapeake Bay Watershed Nutrient Credit Exchange Program

The Virginia Chesapeake Bay Watershed Nutrient Credit Exchange ProgramIn 2003, the Chesapeake Bay Program adopted new annual mass load goals for nitrogen and phosphorus entering the Chesapeake Bay and allocated these loads by river basin and state. To help implement and achieve the point source allocations, and at the urging of the Virginia Association of Municipal Wastewater Agencies and the Virginia Manufacturers Association, the Virginia General Assembly passed...Author(s)Cy JonesM. HaleyG. HarveyE. BaconSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 72: Surface Water Quality and Ecology: Water Quality Based PermittingDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2006ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20060101)2006:6L.5673;1-DOI10.2175/193864706783775450Volume / Issue2006 / 6Content sourceWEFTECFirst / last page(s)5673 - 5683Copyright2006Word count379

ARE YOU READY FOR CM-AT-RISK PROJECT DELIVERY?

ARE YOU READY FOR CM-AT-RISK PROJECT DELIVERY?For decades wastewater agencies have used the traditional Design-Bid-Build project delivery method to deliver most conveyance and treatment plant improvement projects. This was mainly due to a general belief that competitive bidding was the only way to assure the lowest project delivery costs. However, legal battles that often result from conflicts between parties have tainted this delivery method...Author(s)Lawrence HentzRichard ParksSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 104: Utility Management: Build it RightDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2005ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20050101)2005:6L.8452;1-DOI10.2175/193864705783813016Volume / Issue2005 / 6Content sourceWEFTECFirst / last page(s)8452 - 8462Copyright2005Word count242

Technology 2005: 2nd Joint Specialty Conference for Sustainable Management of Water Quality Systems for the 21st Century: Big Bear Area Regional Wastewater Agency (BBARWA) Water Purification Project

Technology 2005: 2nd Joint Specialty Conference for Sustainable Management of Water Quality Systems for the 21st Century: Big Bear Area Regional Wastewater Agency (BBARWA) Water Purification Project

STORED AND AIR DRIED BIOSOLIDS PRODUCTS ARE SIGNIFICANT IN CALIFORNIA

STORED AND AIR DRIED BIOSOLIDS PRODUCTS ARE SIGNIFICANT IN CALIFORNIACalifornia wastewater agencies use a wide variety of biosolids processing options. This includes significant use of low-technology processing options including storage and air drying systems. This paper quantifies use of these technologies in California and provides estimates that show between 15 and 25 percent of the state's biosolids production occurs with the use of these lowtechnology...Author(s)Perry L. SchaferSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 8: California Regional IssuesDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2001ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20010101)2001:1L.650;1-DOI10.2175/193864701784993696Volume / Issue2001 / 1Content sourceResiduals and Biosolids ConferenceFirst / last page(s)650 - 659Copyright2001Word count89