Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine – May 2007

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May 2007

Toronto to host ACE 2007 Halton Region’s new $22 million water intake project Peat filtration of sewage Operator training more vital than ever Waterproofing wastewater tanks

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FEATURES 7

What have we done with our environmental legacy?

Editorial comment by Tom Davey

10 Capturing stormwater pollutants in Southern Alberta 12 Engineering a new drinking water management system 16 $22 million water intake project protected the ecosystem during construction, while its highly innovative design saved money 22 Environment to benefit from advocacy by Town of Ajax 24 Looking back on a vision for the future of stormwater management in Mississauga 26 Metals in groundwater immobilized using multiple-mechanism in situ approach

ISSN-0835-605X May 2007 Vol. 20 No. 2 Issued May 2007 ES&E invites articles (approx. 2,000 words) on water, wastewater, hazardous waste treatment and other environmental protection topics. If you are interested in submitting an article for consideration in our print and digital editions, please contact Steve Davey at steve@esemag.com. Please note that Environmental Science & Engineering Publications Inc. reserves the right to edit all text and graphic submissions without notice.

28 Report finds ministries of Environment and Natural Resources starved of funding for core functions

DEPARTMENTS

30 Peat filtration of sewage meets municipal treatment objectives

Environmental News . . 98-104 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . 98, 99 Product Showcase . . . . . 92-96 Professional Cards . . . 100-104 Ad Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

32 Joint BC committee takes an “integrated” approach to universal metering 34 Stormwater retention pond filtration project saves County millions of dollars 36 Manitoba town’s taste and odour problems cured by the use of chlorine dioxide 40 Recycling fluorescent lamps can be affordable and easy 42 Optimizing aerobic digester performance 46 Understanding theoretical gypsum requirements for soil remediation 48 Engineered wetlands provide community benefits and treatment for industrial wastewater 51 Operation and regeneration of ion exchange water softeners 54 Using nuclear energy to turn Canadian oil sands to black gold 58 Toronto to host ACE 2007 – Special preview section

68 Permastore tanks used in energy from household waste pilot project

76 Effective mixing of stored potable water deters harmful disinfection byproducts

69 Water tank construction in adverse site conditions

78 Ontario’s Reg 153/04 provides protection from environmental liability 82 Operator training more vital than ever

70 Glass-fused-to-steel tanks used for anaerobic digestion process

84 On-site hypochlorite system provides consistently high concentrations

72 Elevated water tanks – always looking ahead

87 A new regulation to protect workers from hearing loss 88 Water For People wins prestigious award for arsenic removal innovation 90 Improving water quality nets professor the 2007 StockholmWater Prize

74 Waterproofing system for wastewater tanks

97 Filter offers reliable cooling water for pump seals with fast payback 106 Ontario’s decision to ban incandescent light bulbs will have unseen effects on the environment

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We understand our customers would rather focus on their business, not their wastewater. Environmental regulations for wastewater are getting tougher and more businesses need treatment systems to remove oil, grease and solids from their wastewater. Without proper treatment, a business puts its time, money and reputation at risk.

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Comment by Tom Davey

What have we done with our environmental legacy? e live in an age where environmental issues have dominated our media like no other.

There cannot be a child born during the last 20 years who has not been bombarded with environmental information; indeed the very word green has mutated from an adjective, defining a primary colour, into a powerful adjective denoting activism, politics, products, companies or even nations which have been perceived to have achieved environmental responsibility.

Walk close by any Canadian university and you will see numerous billboards calling for action on behalf of the environment. Inside our schools, colleges and universities, notice boards are covered with diverse green messages along with strident calls for environmental awareness. The number of lectures, protest meetings, university courses, faculties, books, newspaper and magazine articles on environmental topics has grown exponentially over the last two decades.

But, increasingly, it is clear that for all the stress on environmental education, for all the political speeches and media coverage, the actions of much of today’s young people often fail to match their stridently emotional environmentalism.

There remains an appalling ignorance of environmental history and the realities of both remediation and stewardship. I recall a recent and

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on the solid base of the Ontario Water Resources Commission which had been created by Premier Leslie Frost and run by Dr. Albert Edward Berry for years. The OWRC developed an international reputation for both research and implementation of huge water and wastewater projects and ecological stewardship. If my luncheon companion was not aware of Dr. Berry, the American water professionals certainly are.

Dr. Berry is the only person, American or Canadian, to serve as President of both the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation.

For eons, the environment was totally ignored until a few decades ago. Canada, along with Britain, France, and the United States brought forth some formidable environmental pioneers such as Willis Chipman, Lt. Colonel Naismith and Albert E. Berry during the last two centuries.

That their history is unknown to the societies they served so well can only be a blight on some Canadian historians. Too many think that history is merely the unraveling of the tenures of Kings, Queens, Popes, Generals and Prime Ministers, the battles they presided over, and in some cases, the economies they restored and - on too many occasions - ruined.

The absolute epitome of historical neglect is Dr. John Snow, whose

Dr. Berry is the only person, American or Canadian, to serve as President of both the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation. very pleasant luncheon with a senior cabinet advisor. He cut an impressive figure as he eloquently outlined political initiatives Ontario.

Amazingly, he did not know that the Ontario Ministry of the Environment was, in historical terms, a fairly recent creation, being founded www.esemag.com

findings that cholera was a water borne disease in London were both ignored and tragically neglected.

Having published and financed his findings, he is reputed to have sold only 12 copies of his work which used the Broad Street water pump as an experimental model.

Dr. Albert Edward Berry in his garden.

Photo by Tom Davey.

Now the environment is no longer neglected but it is, rather ironically, over-represented by people who would not, by federal or provincial laws, be allowed to analyze or treat drinking water, wastewater or biosolids.

This serious and costly problem is most palpably demonstrated by the 150 truckloads of Toronto area garbage being trucked almost daily to a Michigan landfill site - this from a province which might rival the European Common Market in actual landmass.

Contact: tom@esemag.com

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Environmental Science & Engineering Editor TOM DAVEY E-mail: tom@esemag.com (No attachments please) Managing Editor SANDRA DAVEY E-mail: sandra@esemag.com Sales Director PENNY DAVEY E-mail: penny@esemag.com Sales Representative DENISE SIMPSON E-mail: denise@esemag.com Circulation Manager VIRGINIA MEYER E-mail: virginia@esemag.com Production Manager CHRIS MAC DONALD E-mail: chris@esemag.com Publisher STEVE DAVEY E-mail: steve@esemag.com

Technical Advisory Board Jim Bishop Stantec Consulting Ltd., Ontario Bill Borlase, P.Eng. City of Winnipeg, Manitoba George V. Crawford, P.Eng., M.A.Sc. CH2M HILL, Ontario Bill DeAngelis, P.Eng. Associated Engineering, Ontario Dr. Robert C. Landine ADI Systems Inc., New Brunswick Stanley Mason, P.Eng. British Columbia Marie Meunier John Meunier Inc., Québec Environmental Science & Engineering is a bi-monthly business publication of Environmental Science & Engineering Publications Inc. An all Canadian publication, ES&E provides authoritative editorial coverage of Canada's municipal and industrial environmental control systems and drinking water treatment and distribution.

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

Information contained in ES&E has been compiled from sources believed to be correct. ES&E cannot be responsible for the accuracy of articles or other editorial matter.

Although the information contained in this magazine is believed to be correct, no responsibility is assumed. Articles in this magazine are intended to provide information rather than give legal or other professional advice.

Articles being submitted for review should be e-mailed to chris@esemag.com.

Canadian Publications Mail Sales Second Class Mail Product Agreement No. 40065446 Registration No. 7750 Undeliverable copies, advertising space orders, copy, artwork, film, proofs, etc., should be sent to: Environmental Science & Engineering, 220 Industrial Pkwy. S., Unit 30, Aurora, Ontario, Canada, L4G 3V6, Tel: (905)727-4666, Fax: (905) 841-7271, Web site: www.esemag.com Printed in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without written permission of the publisher. Yearly subscription rates: Canada $75.00 (plus $4.50 GST).

8 | May 2007

Foreign-trained and Canadian engineering graduates to benefit from new licensing program rofessional Engineers Ontario (PEO), the licensing body for engineers in the province, has introduced a new program to encourage engineering graduates and newcomers to Canada to apply for licensure as a professional engineer by removing any potential economic hurdles.

Under the Engineering Intern Training Financial Credit Program (FCP), graduates of bachelor of engineering programs accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) and international engineering graduates with a bachelor of engineering or a bachelor of applied science degree may be eligible to apply for the professional engineer (P.Eng.) licence at no cost. They may also be registered in the Engineering Intern Training program for the first year at no cost, provided they meet eligibility criteria established by PEO. The program was introduced on May 1, 2007.

“This program further demonstrates our commitment to ensure that all qualified applicants in Ontario are given a fair and equal opportunity to obtain their P.Eng. licence,” said PEO 2006-2007 President Patrick J. Quinn, P.Eng., who championed the program’s introduction.

Graduates of programs accredited by the CEAB are eligible for the FCP if they apply at www.peo.on.ca/FCP/FCP1 within six months of the date their degree was conferred. Within this six-month application window, PEO must also receive: • acceptable academic documents; • an acceptable proof of age document; • acceptable documents proving their status in Canada; • a valid email address for all PEO communications with them; • and a signed declaration of application as per the online Engineering Intern Training Financial Credit Program form.

Those who graduated between November 1, 2006 and April 30, 2007 will have until October 31, 2007 to apply, so as not to disqualify graduates whose degrees were conferred in the six months immediately prior to the launch of the program.

International engineering graduates are eligible for the program if they have a bachelor of engineering degree or a bachelor of applied science degree acceptable to PEO, and apply online for the program at www.peo.on.ca/FCP/FCP1.html within six months of their landing in Canada. Within this six-month application window, PEO must also receive: • acceptable academic documents; • an acceptable proof of age document; • acceptable documents proving their status in Canada; • a valid email address for all PEO communications with the applicant; • a signed declaration of application as per the online Engineering Intern Training Financial Credit Program form; • a work experience summary, if the applicant has obtained at least five years of engineering experience since graduation.

Those who arrived in Canada between November 1, 2006 and April 30, 2007 will have until October 31, 2007 to apply, so as not to disqualify those who arrived in the six months immediately prior to the launch of the program.

PEO’s Registrar reserves the right to determine at his sole discretion if an applicant for the Engineering Intern Training Financial Credit Program meets the program requirements.

For additional information, contact David Smith, Email: dsmith@peo.on.ca

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Stormwater Management

Capturing stormwater pollutants in Southern Alberta ollutant loading from urban runoff occurs from various sources following rainstorms and snow melt. A listing of the contaminates are about as diverse as the weather conditions in Southern Alberta.

However, some of the most commonly recognized pollutants are hydrocarbons, compounded with a good dose of sediment. As a result, this is the most significant source of pollutants to the rivers and streams.

The greatest contributor to contaminate loading into waterways has historically been runoff from urban parking lots, streets and industrial sites flowing into storm sewer catch basins. A select few municipalities who recognize this form of waterway pollution as a key contamination contributor have made attempts to resolve the issue; however, the majority of the time, the systems utilized fail in performance due to improper installation and ongoing maintenance.

The costs of the project may also simply be too prohibitive to get off the ground. Unfortunately, these attempts compromise any chance of resolving waterway contamination concerns and as the stormwater runoff flow volume increases, the greater the pollution load to the natural water bodies.

As a matter of interest, it is estimated that non-point source pollution within stormwater flows, now accounts for 80% of the total pollution in North America. It has become clear that urban stormwater volume and quality have a major impact on the streams, rivers, and lakes into which it flows, necessitating new approaches to urban stormwater management.

Bow River Basin Region Upon reviewing various regions in Alberta, it has become apparent that one of the most sensitive areas to focus on water quality issues is within the Bow River Basin. The Bow River Basin has a unique combination of a cold, arid to semi-arid climate, frequent Chinooks, which bring forth immediate and adverse weather changes, quite often, all in the same day.

During light and heavy rainfall, stormwater runs directly into the Bow River from the towns of Banff, Canmore, Cochrane, and especially the City of Calgary - runoff from the latter exceeds the total runoff from all other communities.

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Installation of Abtech Ultra Urban Filter within Banff Townsite.

As well, stormwater from the towns of High River, Okotoks, Black Diamond, and Turner Valley drains into the Highwood and Sheep Rivers, which flow into the Bow River.

In early 2003, the Interra Water Quality Group organized an educative, interactive conference, focusing directly on water quality improvements for the Bow River Basin Region. It was this conference that assembled individuals from various disciplines in the Parks Canada region to attempt to address some of the key water quality issues within the Bow River Basin Region. A number of potential options were discussed with the focus on non-point source pollution control measures.

One of the chief options uncovered, was the Abtech Ultra Urban Filter Technology. The rationale behind pursuing this distinctive BMP system was the ability of removing contaminates at the polishing level, with limited compromising of flow through rates, coupled with low installation and maintenance costs. During storm sewer flow through periods, the trash and sediment accumulates in the upper chamber while the hydrocarbon-based pollutants are absorbed within the sponge media in the lower chamber.

The structure is primarily made of high strength corrugated recycled content plastic, to offer protection against corrosion with structural integrity.

Servicing the unit is also quick and convenient.

Quick, convenient maintenance is an important feature.

Future commitments By monitoring and assessing the practices that are developed within more sensitive communities such as the upper Bow River Basin area, similar efforts can be implemented within larger cities and municipalities such as the City of Calgary. Municipalities and cities must apply stormwater management standards or guidelines, to more clearly identify specific practices that are either required or recommended by regulating authorities in the planning, design, and construction of stormwater management and drainage works.

The Province of Alberta (Alberta Environmental Protection) is already moving towards a Loading Limit approach to controlling urban pollution in the City of Calgary. This approach may be the template in applying this method at all levels within the Province in the future.

For more information, email: Interra@telus.net

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Drinking Water

Engineering a new drinking water management system

By Hershel Guttman and Brett McDermott Hershel Guttman

ecent debates about drinking water management have emphasized the need to have appropriate standards and monitoring of not only drinking water itself, but also those who manage and operate the systems we rely upon. In the context of this debate, the Ontario government passed the Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002 (SDWA). The SDWA addresses drinking water management systems, training and oversight headon.

One of the highlights of the SDWA will be the introduction of a new municipal drinking water licensing regime. Part of this new regime will be a requirement for municipalities to designate an accredited operating authority (a person(s) or entity(ies) named by the owner and given overall responsibility for the oper-

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ation, maintenance, and management of the drinking water system).

The Ontario government plans to accredit operating authorities based on an audit process. This process will involve comparing operational plans for a drinking water system, which will include a quality management system, with the requirements of a new Drinking Water Quality Management Standard (DWQMS).

In the Part Two Report of The Walkerton Inquiry, Justice O’Connor recommended the adoption of quality management for drinking water systems, as a means of assuring: • The adoption of best practices and continual improvement; • “Real time” process control such as the continuous monitoring of turbidity, chlorine residual, and

Brett McDermott

disinfectant contact time, wherever feasible; • Effective operation of robust multiple barriers to protect public health; • Preventive rather than strictly reactive strategies to identify and manage risks to public health; and, • Effective leadership.

The proposed DWQMS, which is still under review with the Ministry of the Environment, represents a progressive approach to the standard of care for drinking water systems and the water that is delivered from them. Operating authorities who demonstrate compliance with the new DWQMS can expect to receive a Certificate of Accreditation.

Current government proposals supporting implementation of the DWQMS continued overleaf...

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Drinking Water include the creation of several new positions and tasks. With over 680 water treatment plants in Ontario, the new positions represent tremendous opportunities for water industry professionals, particularly professional engineers, to take a leading role in protecting and enhancing public health.

Professional Engineers who work in the design, maintenance, and management of drinking water systems have the expertise that makes them ideal to assume the following new roles and responsibilities:

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Implementation Lead – This role is the key to successful delivery of the DWQMS. The individual designated as “Implementation Lead” will have oversight responsibility for ensuring compliance with all aspects of the quality management system. To do that, the Implementation Lead will have to be acutely familiar with, among others: • The drinking water system itself; • Best practices for drinking water systems; • The Drinking Water Quality Management Standard (DWQMS);

• How to properly document and maintain records; • Audit principles and what demonstrates that the DWQMS is being properly implemented; • Standard operating procedures and any regulatory requirements; and, • Risk assessment and management principles.

By training and experience, and through their obligations under the Professional Engineers Act to protect the public welfare, professional engineers are an obvious choice for the role of Implementation Lead.

Quality Management System Representative – This individual will be responsible for assuring that processes and procedures stipulated in the quality management system for the drinking water facility are properly implemented. This person is also expected to ensure that all facility staff are aware of legislative and regulatory requirements associated with their duties.

Preparation of a Gap Analysis – The new DWQMS is expected to require an assessment of the differences between current system management and management enhancements that will be needed to demonstrate that water treatment and distribution facilities are being managed in compliance with the DWQMS. The gap analysis will result in an action plan, including tasks and timelines, for implementing the enhancements.

Risk Assessment – A fundamental underlying principle of any quality management system is prevention. The task will entail identifying potential threats to the drinking water system and the measures necessary to remedy those threats.

This report and the risk assessment are intended to determine the possibility for microbiological contamination and to place checks in the system to ensure no contamination takes place. In many ways, the risk assessment represents a follow-up to the first Engineer’s Report, which was completed for all Ontario drinking water systems after passage of the Ontario Drinking Water Protection Regulation in August 2000. And it’s expected that the Ontario government will continue to require Engineer’s Reports as part of the new licensing regime. Engineers would be especially suitable to oversee the risk assessment, given their role in the preparation of the first Engineer’s Reports.

Drinking Water System Description – Before undertaking any risk as-

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Drinking Water sessment, there will be a need to establish baseline information about the drinking water system. This is expected to include not only details about the physical assets – the processes and ancillary system components, such as reservoirs and booster pumping stations – but also information about the raw water source.

Annual Infrastructure Review – Owners and Operating Authorities will be mandated to conduct an annual review of their drinking water system infrastructure. The purpose of the review is to ensure that the infrastructure in place is the infrastructure necessary for the system to operate properly.

The significant responsibilities invested in these positions and activities demand individuals who are not only accountable to management of the facility and the provincial government, but will perform those duties to the highest of standards. For professional engineers, the Professional Engineers Act provides for this high standard. Specifically, O. Reg. 941 made under the Act describes the engineer’s clearly defined duty to society, and that is to regard duty to the public welfare as paramount. Moreover, professional engineers are obligated to only undertake work for which they are qualified by

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virtue of training and experience. To do otherwise or to err in any of these positions is to risk disciplinary action by the regulator, Professional Engineers Ontario.

The involvement of professional engineers in the delivery and implementation of the DWQMS and the new drinking water system licensing regime

O. Reg. 941 made under the Act describes the engineer’s clearly defined duty to society, and that is to regard duty to the public welfare as paramount. would serve to build on the significant and effective role that engineers have played, and continue to play, in the planning, design, delivery and oversight of Ontario’s drinking water systems.

Starting with Dr. Albert Berry, who was a strong proponent of chlorinating drinking water in the early part of the 20th century, through the efforts of engineers at the Ontario Water Resources Commission who oversaw the financing,

building and operation of drinking water systems in the 1960s and 1970s, to development of Ontario Provincial Standards by the Municipal Engineers Association, engineers have had a significant and positive impact on Ontario’s drinking water works and services.

Implementation of the new drinking water licensing regime with its emphasis on quality management will provide a continuing opportunity for engineers to provide expert advice and assistance on matters related to drinking water supply.

Municipalities can be assured that, when the DWQMS comes into effect later this year, professional engineers will be ready to take on the key roles to assure drinking water systems are designed, operated, and managed in the best interests of the people of Ontario.

Hershel Guttman, M.Eng., P.Eng., is a principal at R.V. Anderson Associates Limited and chair of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers’ Safe Water Task Force.

Brett McDermott, M.A., is a policy analyst at the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers.

Contact: bmcdermott@ospe.on.ca

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$ 22 Million contract for raw water intake incorporates innovation and new technology

By Tom Richardson and Jim Tully

Pumping unit designed in bulkhead to give the desired pressure differential between the pipeline interior and surrounding marine environment to pull pipe together.

Photo provided by Dean Construction Company Limited.

hen designers speak of raw water intakes for water purification plants, the Burloak intake tunnel may come to mind as a project characterized by innovative engineering and product applications that advanced the knowledge of marine pipeline construction.

Halton Regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s $22 million designbuild contract to draw water from Lake Ontario to the new 240 ML/d Burloak Water Purification Plant in Oakville, Ontario, differed from the conventional design and tender approach. The project was awarded to the design/build team of C&M McNally Engineering Corporation, marine contractor Dean Construction Company Limited, and consulting engineer R.V. Anderson Associates Limited for its innovative alternative that differed significantly from the initial design concept. Halton Region hired Associated Engineering (Ont.) Ltd. for the design review, but the design for the project was developed by the contractors and R.V. Anderson. The new plant will provide drinking water from Lake Ontario for the municipalities of Oakville, Burlington, and some areas of Milton.

The environmental assessment for the project determined that there was no acceptable location for a pumping station

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at the shoreline. The initial design concept envisioned a tunnel starting at the site of the treatment plant and ending at the intake. This concept required a very deep shaft at the plant, a second deep shaft at the lake, and construction of a riser shaft at the intake location that had to be bored under 17 metres of water.

The tunnel would run for more than three kilometres from the plant to the intake and had to use gravity flow and allow for frictional losses. The depths of both the initial design concept and the final design eliminated the possibility of construction by open cut method on shore.

Redesign A design change proposed by the C&M McNally team suggested constructing most of the intakeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lakeside section as a trenched pipeline. This design would allow a shallower tunnel, reduced depth of the shafts at the plant and lakeshore sites, and a connecting vertical shaft to be drilled in much shallower water, thereby eliminating drilling a shaft in deep water at the inlet. This change resulted in significant construction cost savings and a shortened construction schedule. Despite the advantages of the pipeline option, proximity to Petro Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shipping pier required any marine pipeline to be buried

below the lakebed so that it would not be damaged by ship anchors. Since the lakebed is exposed bedrock, blasting was required to prepare the trench.

Dean Construction was concerned about constructing and protecting the pipeline where it crossed the shoreline, and Conservation Halton had concerns about near shore spawning beds and the risk of erosion where the trench would cross the breaking wave zone. The contractors decided to tunnel the first 320 metres of the lake pipeline to avoid disturbing the shoreline or near shore lakebed. This decision also allowed construction of a riser shaft that connected the pipeline to the tunnel in five metres of water rather than the 17 metres proposed to connect the tunnel to an intake shaft in the preliminary concept.

The gravity flow-based intake is a combination of tunnel and concrete pressure pipe designed to last a hundred years. The tunnel extends for 1.7 kilometres from the lakeshore shaft to the plant, and the concrete pressure pipeline extends for 1.4 kilometres into the lake.

The concept for the riser shaft was developed by Dean Construction, and R.V. Anderson worked with them to prepare its detailed design. The concrete cylinder pressure pipe used for the marine pipeline was produced by Munro Con-

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Water Supply crete Products Ltd. to American Water Works Association specification C301 Prestressed Concrete Pressure Pipe, Steel Cylinder Type, for Water and Other Liquids.

To produce concrete pressure pipe, a watertight steel cylinder with steel bell and spigot rings is fabricated, then concrete is cast on the inside and outside of the steel cylinder. Once cured, the concrete pipe surface is wrapped with prestressing wire and then coated with mortar. The marine pipe units were drawn together and joints tested using a technology application new to Canada called the H&R Hydro-Pull. Munro Concrete. supplied 1100 metres of six metre-long, 1800 mm diameter C301 concrete pressure pipe and fittings. They custom-designed the precast chamber at the top of the riser shaft with bell and spigot joints, in collaboration with R.V. Anderson.

Tunnel Construction of the intake began with a 12-metre diameter by 15-metre deep entry shaft sited 30 metres north of the lakeshore in the Town of Oakvilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s South Shell Park. The shaft was sunk by breaking the Queenston shale with a hoe ram. The wall of the shaft was stabilized with 200 millimetres of pneumatically applied concrete, after each successive five-metre lift. The shaft was used to launch the tunnel-boring machine (TBM) for both the north and lakeside tunnel headings.

The first tunnel heading set off in a northward direction toward the site of the new plant. The diameter of the tunnel bore was 3 metres, and C & M Mc-

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Nally used their patented roof support system to ensure stability. Six temporary alignment holes (400 mm diameter) were drilled along the tunnel route to exhaust air, and to supply concrete for the tunnel lining. A Model 104121A Robbins main beam TBM was used to bore the northern tunnel in just over nine months. The tunnel reached depths of 23 metres along the route of the alignment.

A second shaft was excavated at the treatment plant site while tunneling was underway. The shaft was 23 metres in diameter for the first 6 metres of excavation and 20 metres in diameter for the next 19 metres. The shaft served as an exit shaft for the TBM, and will be used for the plantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s low lift pumping station, awarded under separate contract.

When construction of the riser shaft was completed, the same tunnel boring machine was moved back to the South Shell Park shaft to bore a three-metre tunnel, 320 metres under the lakebed to the intermediate riser shaft. At the completion of boring, the TBM was backed out of the tunnel into the access shaft and removed from the site.

Intermediate riser shaft While C & M McNally was boring the tunnel to the north, Dean Construction began work on the riser shaft and marine pipeline. The first task was to drill a 3.5-metre diameter vertical shaft, 10 metres into the lakebed from the deck of the jack-up barge. Known as the Intermediate Riser Shaft, this structure would form the connection between the marine pipeline and the tunnel. Dean fabricated a custom core bit, complete with airlift and rock breakers to snap off

sections of core, as the shaft was being drilled. The core bit was also used to excavate the first ten metres of the pipeline trench with overlapping bores to create a secant trench to avoid blasting directly beside the riser shaft.

The riser shaft consists of a section of 1800 mm diameter concrete pressure pipe installed vertically into the bored shaft. The bottom of the vertical pipe stopped above the elevation of the obvert of the tunnel that would be bored later. The annular space between the pipe and the drilled shaft was filled with tremie concrete. A custom precast chamber was required to house temporary shaft plugs and chamber cover, and connect the shaft to the marine pipeline. The precast chamber was connected to the vertical unit of concrete pressure pipe.

This custom chamber piece uses concrete pressure pipe joints for sealing the plugs and cap and making the connection between the vertical shaft and marine pipeline.

Two levels of protection were provided in the design of the chamber piece to prevent the tunnel operation from being flooded. Two separate plugs were incorporated into the bottom of the precast chamber using two nested plugs of differing diameters that used the sealing bell and spigot rings of the concrete pressure pipe. Once the plugs were in place, the seals were tested for leakage with a temporary standpipe connection.

Within two metres of the riser shaft, the tunnel boring machine was halted and two small holes were drilled from the tunnel into the shaft to allow the continued overleaf...

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Water Supply

TBM removal after breakthrough at Burloak Shaft.

Photo by Tom Richardson, R.V. Anderson Associates Limited.

water to drain from the plugged shaft in a controlled manner and to check that the seals were holding. When the water had drained from the shaft, the TBM was advanced through the bottom of the shaft to connect it to the tunnel.

The precast chamber was finished slightly above the level of the lake bottom with a second, specially-designed cap that accommodated an access hole to the riser shaft. In addition, the design included duckbill checkvalves (one-way rubber valves) that allow trapped air in the riser to escape into the lake to avoid build up of an air pocket. Once the riser shaft was in place, installation of the pressure pipe began.

Marine pipeline Dean Construction fabricated and installed a traveling twin tower drill platform on the jack-up barge to drill the holes for the explosive charges needed 18 | May 2007

for excavating the trench for the pipeline. The position of each explosive hole was set using a GPS receiver mounted on top of each tower. Using a GPS, each drill hole was located within a 20 cm level of accuracy. The holes were drilled along each side of the trench at two-metre intervals over a length of 16 metres. Generally, one day of favourable weather conditions was required to drill, load and blast each 16metre length.

Two barges are being used through 2007 for most of the installation of the pipeline. The drill barge precedes the excavation and pipe-laying barge by approximately 300 metres. Crushed stone is placed in the bed of the trench and the pipe lowered by cable. A diver guides the pipe home and completes the connection of the bell and spigot using a patented technology called Hydro-Pull.

Once in place, the pipe is covered by crushed stone to the elevation of the lakebed.

The Hydro-Pull Munro Concrete worked with Dane Hancock, of H&R Hydro-Pull in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to introduce the technology to Canada for homing units of concrete pressure pipe in a marine environment. Hydro-Pull technology takes advantage of the incompressibility of water where an extremely small change in volume can create large pressure changes.

The pipe to be added to the pipeline has a sealed bulkhead attached on the opposite end of the joint to be made.

Contained within this bulkhead is a pumping unit designed to give the desired pressure differential between the pipeline interior and surrounding marine environment. When the pipe is lowered into position and close to the existing pipe to which it would be connected, the special pumping unit is activated. This creates a hydrodynamic flow through the open end of the pipe and the attached bulkhead pumping unit, which reduces the pressure inside the pipe. As the pipe moves closer to the pipeline, the differential pressure continues to rise. The hydrodynamic flow through the open joint also helps to flush the bell and spigot and remove any debris from the fittings and gasket.

When 100 percent gasket contact is reached, the pressure differential between the inside of the pipe and the outside of the pipe rises to around 20 to 24 in/hg. To complete the insertion of the spigot into the bell, the only amount of water that needs to be removed is the cross sectional area times the depth of the joint. With the amount of water being pumped, jointing times are 4 to 6 seconds. Since jointing takes only a few seconds, considerable time can be saved over traditional methods of homing pipe in a marine environment. The diver needs only to direct the placement of the joint with the equipment supporting the pipe. Since the pressure differential can be monitored on deck, the joint integrity of the pipe added â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and all previous joints installed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; is known as soon as the joint is made.

Because the pressure outside of the pipe is greater than that inside, the gasket experiences a net force in the opposite direction of the frictional force during gasket compression. These opposing forces help to stabilize the gascontinued overleaf...

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Water Supply

Photo provided by Dean Construction Company Limited.

Photo by Tom Richardson, R.V. Anderson Associates Limited.

Riser shaft chamber piece being prepared on deck for placement in lake.

Dean fabricated a custom core bit to snap off sections of core, as the shaft was being drilled.

ket and reduce the possibility of a gasket being displaced from its seat. Once the pipe is properly supported on the bedding, the pumping unit is turned off which equalizes the pressure inside the pipe with the outside pressure. The bulkhead is then removed and placed on the next pipe to be installed.

Nothing needs to be added to any pipe before it arrives and any standard concrete pressure pipe joint can be used.

Before the pipe is to be submerged, a chain binder is installed around the pipe.

This chain has two chain tails at spring line on either side of the pipe to which the Hydro-Pull bulkhead is attached.

The chain binders and bulkhead are removed by the diver, then used on the next pipes to be installed.

Raw water inlet At the end of the pipeline, a precast concrete elbow will be attached to the last unit bending toward the surface. The 6.8 metre diameter x 3.5 metre tall pre20 | May 2007

cast concrete intake structure is being constructed in Hamilton Harbour by Dean Construction and will be transported to the end of the pipe where it will be lowered into position and joined at the elbow. The connection will be buried so that all that can be seen is the upright intake that looks somewhat like a mushroom cap. Water will be drawn into the pipe through stainless steel trash screens. Following the length of the pipeline will be four 75 mm diameter PVC pipes that will be used for chlorinating the intake to discourage zebra mussels and also enabling sampling of the quality of the raw water.

Environmental considerations and measures taken Securing the necessary permits and approvals from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Conservation Halton to accommodate the need for blasting was a formidable task. Con-

cerns of these agencies were settled with the application of a combination of technology, design of the project itself, and timing of construction of the pipeline and riser shaft.

The greatest concern was the extent of fish kill during blasting operations.

Mitigating measures included placing a concrete vibrator inside a steel pipe to frighten fish from the blast area. Onboard scanners were used to time the blasts when no fish were detectable in the blast zone.

A unique air curtain was devised to enclose the blast zone in a wall of bubbles that reduced the overpressure shock waves from the blast, and at the same time reduced the amount of turbidity by up to 50 percent outside of the curtain, depending upon wind and wave conditions. The air curtain is expensive to operate and difficult to place. The contractor may attempt to lower its frequency of use, if it becomes apparent that very low numbers of fish are being killed by the blasts.

Construction of the raw water intake began in September 2005 and will end in December 2007 to coincide with completion of construction of the water purification plant that began in April 2006.

Tom Richardson, P.Eng. is with R.V. Anderson Associates Limited.

Contact: trichardson@rvanderson.com Jim Tully, P.Eng. is with Munro Concrete Products Ltd., Contact: jim.tully@munroconcrete.com

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Wastewater

Environment to benefit from advocacy

by Town of Ajax s a direct result of due diligence by the Town of Ajax along with concerned environmental groups, the Duffins Creek Water Pollution Control Plant Expansion (also known as the Big Pipe project) will be subject to additional emission controls, project design and operational requirements.

In making her decision, Laurel Broten, Ontario Minister of the Environment, agreed with the Town that there remained outstanding concerns not addressed in the original Environmental Study Report (ESR) filed by the Regions of York and Durham. These covered potential odour impacts and the feasibility of extending the end of the Big Pipe further into Lake Ontario; it is currently one km in length.

Despite not ordering an Individual Environmental Assessment (EA), the list of conditions is very comprehensive. The new conditions that the Minister is imposing, including the immediate commencement of an EA to address the

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limitations of the existing outfall/diffuser, clearly signal that further studies and assessment are needed to address key environmental concerns and the impacts of such a large-scale project. The Town will work with the Regions to ensure the project is implemented in accordance with the Minister's order.

The Town has been working with the Regions since November 2005. The Regions requested that the Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) operate at a rated capacity of 630 million litres per day (MLD). The Minister's order says that the Regions must not operate the WPCP at a rated capacity above 520 MLD. No approval to operate above 540 MLD will be granted until the outfall EA is complete.

The Regions requested continued use of an effluent compliance limit for phosphorus of 1 milligram per litre (mg/L) but the Minister's Order was revised to achieve an objective of 0.6 mg/L within a compliance limit of 0.8 mg/L for phosphorus.

The Regions previously had no com-

mitment to conduct an EA to expand the WPCP outfall/diffuser further into Lake Ontario to avoid nearshore contamination. The Minister's response was that the Regions must initiate a new EA within six weeks of obtaining all approvals for the WPCP expansion and provide a comprehensive timeline for this EA process.

Construction of the preferred outcome of the EA must begin within one year of necessary approvals.

In response to the Regions requesting continued use of the existing limit of 420 kilograms of phosphorus per day, the Minister's Order revised the limit on phosphorus loading during the interim period, prior to outfall extension, to a maximum average of 311 kg/day on an annual basis, although the phosphorus loading compliance limit will remain 420 kg/day.

The Regions have committed to take part in a number of initiatives to help manage phosphorus and algae.

Other Minister's Orders were that, within six months of the decision, the Regions should design and implement a revised approach regarding monitoring, evaluating and controlling emissions from the WPCP, including a revised odour management plan and an odour complaint log.

The WPCP is located on the border of Pickering and Ajax and is expected to handle sewage from up to 1.3 million people in both York and Durham Regions.

In addition to addressing environmental issues associated with the WPCP, the Town is developing a five year plan to implement measures that will effectively treat storm runoff from Ajax lands before it enters Lake Ontario and curb potential local sources of contaminants. The first step is to complete detailed monitoring and analyses of Duffins Creek, Carruthers Creek and the Lake Ontario shoreline; this is currently being conducted by the Town, the Region of Durham, and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). The objective of the program is to conduct and assess appropriate samples, identify sources of contaminants, and determine effective treatment measures.

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Looking back on a vision for the future of stormwater management in Mississauga

By David J. Penny

1700 mm diameter CSP stormwater detention tank below One Park Tower.

hen I was a young lad I lived in a new subdivision not far from the Etobicoke Creek. Today the creek forms the border between two of Canada’s largest cities, Toronto and Mississauga. My friends and I would spend hours playing in Silverthorne’s Bush and would often drink from a natural creek side spring. One year we were lucky enough to see the creek at spring breakup. This was before the flood control structures were built upstream and we could stand on the old bridge and watch blocks of ice, the size of trucks, race past just inches below our feet.

In 1972 I moved to Cooksville, my first home as a married man. Nearby Streetsville, with its young Mayor Hazel McCallion, helped us maintain our competitive spirit in Cooksville as the amalgamated City of Mississauga was being contemplated.

Amalgamation and record growth did happen. The deserted farms of my youth were becoming new subdivisions. I joined a local group known as “Save Our Trees and Streams” to lobby for sustainable growth. The group included consulting engineers, drainage specialists, environmentalists, politicians and citi-

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One Park Tower under construction, and the Clock Tower Mississauga City Hall.

zens both new and old to the area. I remember taking photographs of Cooksville Creek for a group presentation. The valley was forested and deserted farms were littered with old farm implements and overgrown with grass and scrub.

I left Cooksville in 1973.When I came back thirty-four years later I saw a different Mississauga. At first glance it is a city of sprawling growth with vast areas of development. Cooksville Creek is now at the City Centre. The once deserted farms are now residential subdivisions, shopping centres and industrial complexes. There is an amazing downtown core of modern skyscrapers.

A closer look reveals that this growth is not random. It has been carefully planned and executed to preserve the aspects of community that have always been valued here. Cooksville Creek is

still forested and flows much as it did in the past. I find myself standing in a children’s playground just west of the City Centre, overlooking a natural wetland area. In the near distance the city’s tallest residential landmark tower is under construction at One Park Tower. A short walk beyond is the clock tower of City Hall and all of the amenities of a modern and vibrant community.

Since 1978, Mississauga has had the same Mayor. Hazel McCallion’s longterm vision has allowed the city to grow without some of the pains seen in other cities of this size. There is an urban legend amongst sewer contractors that claims Hazel instructed her designers to estimate the diameter needed for sewers and then double it to satisfy future growth. Just as the 1954 storm Hurricane Hazel changed the way stormwater is managed in Canada, Mississauga’s “Hur-

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Stormwater Management ricane Hazel” took it to the next level.

Mississauga continues to have some of the most stringent stormwater management requirements in Canada. All new construction must detain runoff in order to maintain predevelopment flow levels and thus minimize flooding, erosion, pollution and other issues. This has called for creative designs involving on site temporary storage of stormwater.

One Park Tower is a superb example of creative design in stormwater management from top to bottom. As is the case with many of the world’s most spectacular landmark structures, Gargoyles stand on guard near the top of this 38 storey architectural masterpiece. Traditionally these waterspouts direct water away from the building they are designed to protect but here the water is caught in rooftop gardens where it is detained for periods of its descent. Eventually the water reaches ground level where it is directed with surface runoff into underground stormwater detention tanks, made of large diameter corrugated steel pipe. Water control devices on these tanks slowly release the stormwater into the city’s storm sewer system at the predevelopment rate.

By managing stormwater at all levels a relatively small footprint for development can be maintained while maintaining the stringent drainage requirements of the city. A smaller development footprint allows the residents of the tower to enjoy the closeness to the amenities of the community and the controlled drainage system helps to protect the trees and streams that bring nature to an urban environment.

The Stormwater Management Plan for One Park Tower was developed by Earth Tech Canada Inc. for the project’s developer, Daniels Corporation. The challenge was to create a high-density residential development on 1.57 hectares of land within the Cooksville Creek watershed. In accordance with a City Council resolution, stormwater management was required for the site and proposed development to the northeast of the site to limit post-development stormwater discharge for the two-year event to predevelopment levels with storage up to, and including, the five-year storm event.

Stormwater quantity control was provided for the development through the implementation of on-site storage on rooftops and in underground corrugated steel storage pipes. The two-year pre-development peak flow from the entire 1.57 ha drainage area is approximately 65 L/s. The uncontrolled five-year postwww.esemag.com

development peak flow is approximately 264 L/s. The rooftops and elevated gardens of the Tower and other buildings on the site represent .32 ha of the total site area. All are designed to provide rooftop storage. Oversized pipe will be used to provide peak flow storage for the remaining 1.25 ha.

The pipes were installed at two locations on the site. The first is a 1700 mm diameter CSP tank 24 metres in length. It discharges through a control device and a 300 mm pipe to the storm drain system at less than the pre-development rate.

The second is a 1200 mm diameter CSP tank, 84 metres in length that discharges to the storm sewer system by gravity through an inlet control device.

If I were to return in another 34 years’ time, perhaps I would once again marvel at the foresight of those who determined that the future of Mississauga should be firmly linked to the past.

David Penny is with the Corrugated Steel Pipe Institute.

Contact: djpenny@cspi.ca

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Groundwater Treatment

Metals in groundwater immobilized using multiple-mechanism in situ approach

By David Hill, Alan Seech, and James Mueller, The Adventus Group ntil someone invents a way to destroy elemental metals in groundwater, environmental practitioners only have a couple of ways of dealing with them. Water can be extracted from the ground to be treated, or the metals can be immobilized in the ground. The problem with pumping the water from the ground is that such pump-and-treat systems can be operated for many years, if not decades, with minimal improvement in groundwater quality unless the source of the metals is removed. This can lead to very high operation and maintenance costs as machinery must be maintained over a long period of time. Generally, the more cost-effective solution is to prevent the metals from moving past a given area in the subsurface.

An innovative material for the immobilization of metals in groundwater, called EHC-M, is a combination of three main components: controlled-release food-grade solid organic carbon, zero valent iron (ZVI) and sulphate. The combination of these reactive materials results in multiple mechanisms through which metals are removed from the water phase.

Native microorganisms that are already present in the water will, over time, consume the organic carbon, creating re-

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Figure 1. Concentrations of copper, cobalt, and nickel in groundwater as influenced by EHC-M and reactive gas application over time.

ducing conditions (an excess of free electrons) that are helpful for the precipitation of metals such as chromium. The presence of sulphate, combined with the strong reducing conditions, will lead to the formation of a significant amount of metal sulphides, such as arsenic, zinc, and lead sulphides. Iron, in its elemental state, will slowly corrode which reinforces the reducing conditions and fur-

Drill rig, auger, and packer system used to inject EHC-M slurry.

ther promotes the formation of metal sulphides. The iron corrosion by-products, in particular iron oxides and iron oxyhydroxides, provide surfaces to which metals such as mercury will strongly adsorb.

A key aspect to the effectiveness of an in situ treatment method such as this one is the emplacement of the materials in the ground. There are many ways of accomplishing this task, such as the con-

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Groundwater Treatment struction of a trench that is filled with reactive media, direct soil mixing using augers, and, most commonly, through the injection of a slurry of the material using any of a number of different injection approaches.

The most common approach to this type of injection is called direct injection, where a borehole is driven via a direct push or drill rig and a slurry of the product in water is injected into the ground at various depths. Several factors can be adjusted to provide many variations on this theme such as injection tip design, injection pressure, and delivery agent type (water or gas), for example.

The innovations that have come from the drilling industry over the past decade have provided significant improvements in quality and costs to perform in situ remediation of this type.

Forward-thinking environmental consultants, contractors, and site owners are able to take advantage of the cost savings offered by in situ remediation. Dealing with these issues proactively allows site owners to decrease their liabilities. For example, a groundwater plume containing metals that could potentially flow to a neighbouring property can be eliminated quickly with such an approach.

Case Study One such forward-thinking site owner in southern Ontario was faced with a challenge. Groundwater was contaminated with metals from what was believed to be an off-site source. Copper, cobalt, and nickel exceeded the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) groundwater criteria and a solution was needed quickly.

Vertex Environmental Solutions Inc., based in Cambridge, recommended the novel approach of injecting a slurry of EHC-M along with a reactive gas to promote immobilization of the metals near the site boundary. Bruce Tunnicliffe, company founder and environmental engineer, decided on this approach because of the multiple removal mechanisms that would be in effect and because of the five-year life expectancy of the treatment product.

A total of 600 kg of material was injected over twelve locations using a borehole and packer injection approach. The volume treated was approximately 9 m long by 7 m wide by 7 m deep. This results in an application rate of approximately 0.08% mass of treatment compound by estimated dry mass of soil.

The oxidation reduction potential (ORP), which measures the degree to www.esemag.com

which the groundwater is oxidized or reduced, changed by -355 mV over the course of the treatment, which indicates that the treatment resulted in significantly strong reducing conditions as expected.

The concentrations of copper, cobalt, and nickel are shown in Figure 1 for the most highly impacted well in the treatment zone. This chart shows that the concentrations of all the metals decreased over time. All of the metals met the required MOE remedial criteria one hundred and thirty-nine days after treatment

was initiated.

The success of the remedial approach allowed a Record of Site Condition to be obtained from the MOE. Alan Seech is Director of Technology Contact: Alan.Seech@AdventusGroup.com James Mueller is Director of Remedial Solutions & Strategies. Contact: James.Mueller@AdventusGroup.com David Hill is Director of Operations. Contact: David.Hill@AdventusGroup.com

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Government Affairs

Ministries of Environment and Natural Resources starved of funding for core environmental functions nder successive governments since the early 1990s, the two Ontario ministries that bear the main burdens for environmental protection have suffered a gradual but steady erosion of funding, staffing and expertise. As a result, the ministries of Environment and Natural Resources are faltering in a number of core functions such as inspection, compliance, enforcement and monitoring.

These are the findings of a Special Report submitted to the Legislature in April

by Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner, Gord Miller.

“At a time of unprecedented public concern for the health of the planet, Ontarians may find it hard to believe that these two ministries are today struggling with fewer resources than in the early 1990s, but that is unfortunately the case,” commented Miller. “These declines have occurred under governments formed by all three major political parties in Ontario.”

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The Special Report notes that operational budgets of MOE and MNR have declined significantly since 1992, in real inflation-adjusted terms. Over the same time period, the mandates of the ministries have steadily expanded, with many new environmental laws requiring enforcement and with environmental issues becoming much more complex. The regulated communities have also grown in number, with many more facilities needing approvals and inspections. As Miller noted, “the ministries have tried to cope through repeated restructuring and reprioritizing exercises to stretch resources ever more thinly, to download and offload some activities, and to discontinue others.”

The implications for the environment – as illustrated by numerous examples and case studies in the Report - are real and wide-ranging. They include far too few regular inspections of facilities that discharge pollutants to air and water,

chronic compliance problems at sand and gravel operations, neglected provincial parks, inadequate monitoring of wildlife and sport fisheries and weak oversight of municipal sewage infrastructure.

Since the early 1990s, MNR and MOE together have received less and less of the overall operating budget of the Ontario government.

“Most large-scale spending decisions are set by the Finance Minister during the budget process, and ministries like MOE and MNR simply have to manage somehow within their assigned budget envelopes,” commented Miller. “I think such a top-down directive needs to be better informed by an analysis of the funding and support the ministries need to be effective stewards of our environment and natural heritage.”

Currently, the operating budgets of MNR and MOE together amount to just barely one per cent of the provincial operating budget. Miller also pointed out that Alberta and British Columbia both allocate a bigger share of their overall budgets towards their environmental ministries.

The operating budgets of MOE and MNR have also not kept pace with Ontario’s growth, the Commissioner’s report noted. Development brings with it everincreasing pressures on the province’s natural resources, through increasing water use, increasing air emissions and a multitude of other development pressures on natural ecosystems.

Although pressure on ecosystems has been growing, Ontario’s spending on environmental protection has declined on a per person basis; for example, MOE spent $39 per person in 1992/1993 and in 2006/2007 spent about $22 per person. MNR spent $72 per person in 1992/1993 and in 2006/2007 spent about $49 per person.

The Commissioner is urging the Ontario Government to undertake a stepwise, strategic rebuilding of capacity at MOE and MNR, to ensure that the ministries can fulfill their mandates.

For further information, contact: media@eco.on.ca

28 | May 2007

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Wastewater Systems

Peat filtration of sewage meets municipal treatment objectives

By Doug Thompson and Stephen Simmering mall communities in rural municipalities often face serious challenges in providing affordable sewage treatment that protects both health and the natural environment.

Increasingly, more stringent treatment standards and decreasing financial assistance have made it very difficult for many communities to grow or to address serious health concerns facing residents.

These communities often rely on basic treatment systems (i.e., lagoons, leaching beds) that need large watercourses or groundwater to dilute partially-treated wastewater to meet provincial requirements since complex wastewater systems are too expensive to construct and operate. This is not practical for communities without these water bodies or with water bodies that cannot tolerate the added contaminant loads.

These were the issues facing Greely, a rural village now part of the newly-expanded City of Ottawa, where a new residential subdivision of 567 homes was

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Artificial wetlands such as this are proving to be a valuable part of the sewagetreatment "toolbox". An artificial wetland may include an impervious barrier to protect groundwater.

planned, called Shadow Ridge Estates.

Greely’s leaders wanted to provide costeffective housing for young families, but were stymied by the fact that there were no water or sewage services available, and

the message was clear from City Hall that none would be forthcoming. Without a suitable water body available for dilution, investing millions of dollars on a wastewater treatment system when the com-

AQUA GUARD® Self-Cleaning Bar/Filter Screen The Aqua Guard screen is a self-cleaning, in-channel screening device that uses a unique filter element system designed to automatically remove a wide range of floating and suspended solids from wastewater. The unit provides both fine and coarse screening to protect pumps and downstream processes.

The Aqua Guard screen’s self-cleaning feature allows efficient operation for extended unsupervised periods of time with minimal maintenance.

Over 1,500 units are operational in both industrial and municipal applications as references of performance and quality.

www.parkson.com • Canada@parkson.com Tel 514-636-8712 • Fax 514-636-9718 205-1000 St-Jean • Pointe-Claire, QC H9R 5P1 An Axel Johnson Company

30 | May 2007

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Wastewater Systems munity will start with a single home and grow slowly was not financially viable.

This meant that every residence, other than those in two mobile-home parks where there are communal services, must use on-site wells, septic tanks and leaching beds. Any planned house lots must be on large lots with at least 100 foot frontages, to provide enough area for wells and septic systems to operate safely. This kept costs too high for young families to afford, and also was counter to the need to preserve farmland through providing more dense development, including townhouses.

This is a common problem in many rural communities, where the need to keep lot sizes large for wells and septic tanks for each house, has prevented proper growth and planning.

The solution to these issues would need to be low-cost, simple to operate and provide a high quality effluent that does not require dilution to meet provincial standards for factors including reliability, effluent quality and other environmental impacts.

The staff from the Ottawa office of Golder Associates Ltd. proposed a biological treatment method that would meet the community’s needs. This involves primary sewage treatment at each building, small diameter gravity sewers that transport the settled sewage to a central site that includes treatment modules consisting of sphagnum peat filters followed by subsurface (dry) constructed wetlands, with selected plantings. The two-stage process works partly because the product of the sphagnum peat process is an excellent input for the subsurface wetland process. The treated effluent drains into a low wet area, and from there into the ground. Treatment area requirements are approximately 0.3 hectares for each 45 homes.

Golder staff has successfully used these processes for almost two decades at many locations across Canada including harsh climates near permafrost locations.

This process met Greely’s needs for several reasons, including very high levels of treatment without the need for dilution and very low cost as a result of the system’s simple construction, operation, modularity and long life. The system provides treatment for typical parameters (biochemical oxygen demand and suspended solids) to the most stringent standards as well as very high treatment for other parameters including phosphorus, nitrates, ammonia, bacteria, etc.

The more unique and remarkable aswww.esemag.com

pects are the very high reductions of challenging parameters such as nitrates and bacteria in a passive system that requires no chemicals. Both parameters often meet drinking water standards and, at least, meet conditions that are safe for swimming.

The peat and wetland require essentially no operation and maintenance; septic tanks need to be pumped every three to five years and, in many cases, a simple effluent pump is needed.

Also important for Greely, the Shadow Ridge system can be built in a modular way, with modules installed as houses are built, to match the capital requirements to the growth of development. This alone is estimated to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest charges.

Other advantages of the system are: • There is no water, odour or noise involved, which means that treatment modules can be installed right next to houses.

• There is no need for chemical treatment, which reduces the risk of environmental problems.

• The system has a long life – similar systems have operated without maintenance for 20 years so far, and

there is no indication that their functionality has a time limit.

• Since this is a passive treatment system, maintenance needs are minimal over conventional treatment plants, so that centralized control is easier.

The Shadow Ridge development has created employment for many of the small, locally-owned construction companies and trades in the area, as well as brought much-needed population growth with other economic spin-offs. One result of this growth has been interest from a developer of retail properties, who is planning to provide retail options that go beyond the single general store now in the village.

This passive sewage treatment system can be considered a proven example of the effectiveness of this technology in helping meet municipal needs, particularly in areas that do not have easy access to conventional municipal services.

Doug Thompson is a City of Ottawa councillor.

Contact: doug.thompson@ottawa.ca.

Stephen Simmering is a Principal with the Ottawa office of Golder Associates.

Contact: ssimmering@golder.com.

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Water Metering

Joint committee takes an â&#x20AC;&#x153;integratedâ&#x20AC;? approach to universal metering

Neptune Project Manager Matt Stoltz, with Carol Zanon, Westbank Irrigation District Chairperson.

ocated in the Okanagan Valley in the Province of British Columbia, the five major water utilities serving the Westside, near Kelowna, are working together to ensure a sustainable, affordable and high quality water resource for future generations. In

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2005, the Westbank Irrigation District, Lakeview Irrigation District, District of Peachland, Westbank First Nation and Regional District of Central Okanagan came together to form the Westside Joint Water Committee (WJWC).

The Westside Joint Water Committee

is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public education partnership dedicated to informing Okanagan Westside residents about their water needs and resources. The idea of forming a water management leadership group came out of the Trepanier Landscape Unit Water Management Plan (TLUWMP), which looked at the five main watersheds serving the Westside and made recommendations in light of climate change and population growth, for sustaining water resources over the next two decades.

The WJWC serves approximately 40,000 people and was modeled after the Kelowna Joint Water Committee (KJWC) which has functioned well for many years.

Water challenges in the Okanagan Valley Water purveyors in the Okanagan Valley are faced with rapid growth and water demand is expected to grow at the same rate as development. To complicate matters, the Okanagan Valley is one of the hottest areas in Canada, with semi-

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Water Metering arid conditions. In terms of water use this translates into high water consumption and poses difficulties managing peak demand. Furthermore, on the Westside, agricultural customers represent approximately 30% of water demand.

Customers use up to 900% more water on a monthly basis during the highest demand month (typically July) when compared to the lowest demand month (typically February). Prolonged high demand use can compromise the purveyors’ ability to provide water for basic needs like drinking, washing, and fire fighting.

A concerted plan for change Like its fellow WJWC members, the Westbank Irrigation District (WID) is committed to water conservation. The District has developed a Capital Works Plan to ensure the sustainability of their water resources and has implemented strategies to overcome the water challenges in its service area representing 13,000 people. Their Plan includes the construction of the Powers Creek Water Treatment Plant (commissioned in March 2007) and implementation of universal water metering for all 4,300 service connections.

In conjunction with other WJWC

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members, the WID performed a comprehensive assessment of water meter reading technologies and their final decision was to implement a radio frequency automatic meter reading (RF AMR) system. Neptune Technology Group was selected as the preferred supplier for several reasons.

In addition to the WID, other members of the WJWC committed to universal water metering projects are the District of Peachland (2,000 services), scheduled to start in the spring, followed by the Regional District of Central Okanagan (1,800 services), and Westbank First Nation (2,500 services). These projects are currently ongoing and are scheduled for completion by October 2007.

The RF AMR system is comprised of Neptune’s residential and commercial water meters equipped with Neptune’s ECoder)R900i technology, Neptune’s MRX920 mobile data collector, and Equinox meter reading software. The WJWC project is the first of its kind in Canada using 100% E-Coder)R900i technology.

Benefits to the District will be immediate: • Reading efficiencies: Meter readings

are transmitted via radio frequency from the E-Coder)R900i and received by the MRX920 located in the utility vehicle. A District employee will be able to read all of the meters in the service area in just a few hours.

• Wireless: Neptune’s E-Coder)R900i integrates the E-Coder meter register and the R900 radio transmitter into a single package, eliminating the need for wire between the meter and the RF transmitter. Difficult wire runs are a thing of the past. Future system operation and maintenance costs are reduced because of the ease of installation, elimination of damaged wires and accidental wire disconnects.

• Value-added features: The WJWC utility members’ decision to move forward with E-Coder)R900i was based on Neptune’s leak detection and backflow detection features. The District can proactively notify a customer in the event of a leak, backflow, or tamper condition.

The goal of WID is to present the ECoder value-added data directly on the customer’s water bill.

For more information, contact: dmcnichol@neptunetg.com

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Stormwater Management

Stormwater retention pond filtration project saves County millions of dollars

Outlet Water Piping from Miller-Leaman’s 1,400 GPM Turbo-Disc Filtration System.

ocated off Highway 64 in Bradenton, Florida, the Lena Landfill in Manatee County has faced many obstacles in an effort to control their hazardous waste.

Manatee County has a population of over 310,000 residents and collects over 350,000 tons of trash per year. Occupying over 330 acres of land, the landfill must bury the trash while preserving and protecting the environment in the surrounding area.

One way of protecting the environment is to keep leachate from entering groundwater or surrounding rivers and ponds. To accomplish this, the landfill has a system to direct all run-off water and stormwater to a 120 acre settling pond. However, in 2005, Manatee County’s Lena Landfill was facing fines and penalties which had to be addressed.

The Florida EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) requires that all water discharged to stormwater ditches and drains meets a quality standard of 29 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units) or less. The Lena Landfill was operating with a turbidity of 35-40 NTU. There were limited options on how to remedy the problem. One option was to build an additional settling pond, which

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would occupy 60 acres of the landfill’s valuable land. Since the landfill is considered a Class 3 hazardous landfill, the land is considered to be extremely valuable on a square foot basis. Another option was to filter the water in the existing settling pond, preserving the unused acreage for future use to bury trash from the rapidly growing county.

To avoid millions of dollars of lost revenues, Manatee County contracted with the engineering firm Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan to develop a solution.

They specified the installation of an automatic disc filter system capable of handling two million gallons of water per day (2 MGD). The automatic Turbo-Disc Filter system was designed and manufactured by Miller-Leaman, Inc. of Daytona Beach, Florida.

The system consists of two 24-pod systems, complete with booster pumps.

As the water in the leachate, or settling pond, rises to a particular level, submersible pumps activated by a float switch will engage. The water is then directed through the Turbo-Disc Filter systems and discharged into neighboring waterways, meeting the Florida EPA requirements. The filters can accommodate 1,400 gallons per minute (GPM) of con-

taminated particles and sediment.

Each filter pod is made up of a stack of polypropylene discs offering three-dimensional filtration capability. As the dirty water passes through the disc media, contaminated particles are trapped in the disc grooves, allowing clean water to flow from the system’s outlet.

When the filter pods require cleaning, an automatic backwash cycle is initiated due to a pre-set differential-pressure measurement across the filter. During the backwash, the filtration system’s booster pumps engage, producing the optimal pressure to thoroughly clean the disc media using a minimal amount of backwash water. Only two filter pods are sequentially backwashed at a time; therefore, the downstream flow is uninterrupted during the duration of the backwash cycle.

Filtering existing stormwater retention ponds is a very cost-effective solution for other high value real estate developments, such as shopping centers and commercial properties, where the availability of land is scarce or non-existent.

For more information, visit www.millerleaman.com

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Disinfection

Taste and odour problems cured by the use of chlorine dioxide

ProMinent® chlorine dioxide generation equipment.

ocated 130 kilometres west of Winnipeg, the Community of Holland (Holland) in the Rural Municipality of Victoria (R.M.) has a population of 450 people. For many years, Holland was impacted by unpalatable water quality. Residents were tired of the unpleasant taste and odour, as well as the continuous staining of fixtures and laundered clothes. The poor taste was attributed to by-products produced when natural ammonia combined with chlorine, while staining was primarily due to elevated manganese levels in the water.

Residents wanted better. They took to purchasing bottled water and many visitors, including sports teams, brought water with them, as they would not drink the Holland tap water.

The R.M. wanted these problems addressed. J. R. Cousin Consultants Ltd. (JRCC) took an innovative approach and suggested a Demonstration Project in-

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corporating an alternative disinfection oxidant, chlorine dioxide (ClO2).

Research material and chemical information states that ClO2 can be an effective disinfectant. However, it had not been previously approved for use in Manitoba water plants, nor had it been used in any Canadian water treatment plants. The R.M. and Manitoba Water Stewardship approved the ClO2 Demonstration Project, which paved the way for a Canadian technological advancement in water treatment.

Protocol for a ClO2 Demonstration Project was established through JRCC and various government agencies. The Project Team consisted of the R.M., Manitoba Water Stewardship, Manitoba Water Services Board (MWSB), Osorno (the supplier of the equipment and chemical), and JRCC. The goals of the Demonstration Project were:

By Jeff Dyck

• To improve the taste and odour of Holland’s drinking water supply; • To provide effective oxidation of the raw water, thereby improving effectiveness of filtration to eliminate the staining problems of the water; • To determine the ability to retain a ClO2 residual in the water distribution system; • To work with MWSB and Manitoba Water Stewardship to establish protocol, operational criteria and testing procedures on the potential use of ClO2 in the water plant, as the use of ClO2 could be beneficial to many water plants in Manitoba; • To evaluate operational characteristics of ClO2 generator equipment from different manufacturers; • To determine the economics, practicality and safety of the use of ClO2.

Although not an issue at Holland, ClO2 has the added benefit of not forming trihalomethanes (THMs), which are known carcinogens.

Chlorine dioxide generation ClO2, in gas form, is extremely toxic, corrosive and cannot be compressed or stored commercially, therefore it must be generated onsite. “Traditional” methods involved the generation of ClO2 gas, whereas current technology creates a dilute liquid solution of ClO2. Much of the available literature extols the dangers associated with ClO2 formation because of the dangers of ClO2 gas.

To address safety concerns, onsite generation of a dilute, aqueous ClO2 solution was used in Holland. ClO2 is generated on-demand by automated equipment through the reaction of sodium chlorite (NaClO2) solution and hydrochloric acid (HCl), based upon the following equation: 5 NaClO2 + 4 HCl → 4 ClO2 + 5 NaCl + 2 H2O This differs from “traditional” ClO2 generation systems, which use toxic chlorine gas.

Although NaClO2 and HCl are hazardous at higher concentrations, the process used in Holland involves dilute concentrations. Furthermore, the chemical containers remain sealed at all times, and the operator does not handle the

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Disinfection chemical itself, just the sealed containers. Thus, ClO2 generation, once considered a hazardous procedure, has been implemented in a safe manner at the Holland water treatment plant.

Demonstration project The initial phase of the Demonstration Project commenced in April 2003, utilizing a ProMinent® ClO2 generator on the raw water ahead of the existing filtration system. The chlorine feed was maintained after filtration at a reduced feedrate. The rationale was to determine the initial effectiveness of the ClO2 on improving filtration and on reducing the chlorine demand, thereby improving the taste of the water. Three different target concentrations of ClO2 were used: 0.7 mg/L, 0.5 mg/L and 0.3 mg/L. The demonstration was completed without major changes to the plant process and, for the initial phase, without eliminating the chlorine residual in the distribution system.

The results of the initial phase demonstrated an improvement in the taste of the treated water. The iron (Fe) in the water was reduced below requirements. Although the manganese (Mn) levels were not sufficiently reduced to meet the aesthetic objective of the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality (GCDWQ), residents did not report staining concerns.

Further chemical assessments were completed to determine why the usual staining concerns were not being raised.

The testing indicated that the Mn formed a colloidal particle when oxidized, and was not impacting residents. Results of the initial phase were analyzed and project testing parameters were determined for the second phase of the demonstration.

Second phase The second phase of the Demonstration Project, which commenced in November 2003, utilized an Alldos® ClO2 generator on the raw water ahead of the existing filtration system and again, chlorine was maintained after the filtration. Changes in the scope for the second phase involved addition of a coagulant; chlorate, chlorite and hypochlorite testing; and testing of alternative filtration with paper filters and sand/anthracite filters.

The results of the second phase demonstrated an undeniable improvement in the taste and odour of the treated water. The taste concern when only chlorine disinfection was used was caused by the combination of chlorine feed and natural ammonia in the water. The Fe in the www.esemag.com

water was reduced below GCDWQ requirements. The Mn levels remained above GCDWQ, although results from the second phase were lower than those of the first phase. Again with ClO2 feed, residents did not report staining concerns as ClO2 oxidized the Mn (analogous to the Mn being “inactivated” to a colloidal form).

A re-assessment of chlorine as the only disinfectant was performed once the second phase of demonstration testing was completed. With more knowledge of the Holland water chemistry, and to ensure that “no stone was left unturned” with the use of chlorine, the plant was once again operated with chlorine only.

In a final attempt to improve the water taste, Manitoba Water Stewardship permitted Holland, on a trial basis, to operate the chlorine in the monochloramine range, without any ClO2.

With success, a variance on the operation would have been solicited, however residents immediately realized that the undesirable taste and odour were back, and voiced their concerns to the R.M. Implementation project Based upon the successful demonstration project, approval was attained from Manitoba Water Stewardship to use

ClO2 as the sole disinfectant. JRCC prepared plans and specification for the R.M. to upgrade the water plant, a component of which was ClO2. Besides ClO2, the Implementation Project included installation of a sand filter, electrical upgrades, an electrical fire pump and genset, laboratory facilities and upgraded lighting.

The complete transition to ClO2 occurred gradually. Initially, the chlorine dosage was lowered to a level that still met regulatory requirements, while at the same time the dosage of ClO2 was slowly increased. ClO2 levels were monitored to verify the settings on the automatic generation system against actual measured concentrations. Eventually, the R.M. completely terminated the use of chlorine, becoming the first community in Canada to use ClO2 as their sole disinfectant. Chlorine feed equipment was only maintained as a stand-by disinfectant.

With ClO2, residents overwhelmingly indicated that the taste and odour of the water dramatically improved, and were pleased with the outcome. Regular onsite testing has shown that a chlorine dioxide residual is maintainable throughcontinued overleaf...

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Disinfection Figure 1

Water quality was improved with the new water treatment process.

The chlorine smell of the water disappeared during the testing phase.

Water colour improved during the testing period.

The taste of the water improved with the use of Chlorine Dioxide. out the distribution system, and the system consistently passes the required bacteriological tests.

Economic benefit The overall cost of the ClO2 system was much less than that of other proposed water treatment processes. Another system, membrane filtration, could have potentially provided an even higher water quality, but at a significantly higher cost. The ClO2 system provided a methodology to address the concerns of the residents, without the economic hardship that is often associated with water treatment system improvements.

Water quality and resident satisfaction The initial goal of decreasing staining from the effects of manganese has largely been accomplished. The end result of the new chlorine dioxide disinfection system also resulted in more palatable, less odorous water for the Community of Holland. In fact, community residents have overwhelmingly indicated that the taste and odour of the water have improved significantly, and are pleased with the results.

During the testing phase of the project, the R.M. conducted a survey where residents were asked to rate their response to four comments regarding the quality of their water supply on a scale 38 | May 2007

of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The comments and the results of the survey are shown in Figure 1. The number of high ratings of 5 at the right of the graph clearly indicates the residents felt that their need for better water treatment was met.

The Winnipeg Free Press sums up the project success as follows: “The water in this town was so bad people wouldn't even use it to boil coffee. It left a scum on the top. … The improvement was dramatic. People actually started drinking Holland water. Staining was eliminated, or at least dramatically reduced, depending on who you talk to.”

Due to the project’s success, both the client (the Rural Municipality of Victoria) and the design engineers (J.R. Cousin Consultants Ltd.) have received awards for this project. The R.M. received the 2006 Municipal Innovation Award from the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, while J. R. Cousin Consultants Ltd. received the Award of Excellence in Resource Development from the 2007 Manitoba Awards of Excellence in Consulting Engineering.

Jeff Dyck, P.Eng., is a Municipal Engineer with J.R. Cousin Consultants Ltd. Contact: jdyck@jrcc.ca

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Hazardous Waste

Recycling fluorescent lamps can be affordable and easy

By Bruce Boyers, freelance writer pent fluorescent lamps increasingly cannot be trashed in dumpsters as a solid waste, because they contain mercury. This is a major challenge for facilities across North America since nearly every facility uses them and over 650 million lamps are disposed of each year.

Mercury is linked to severe health issues such as blurred vision, numbness in limbs, speech impairment, severe convulsions, developmental problems, loss of consciousness, insanity, birth defects, possibly autism, and more. Some single four-foot fluorescent tubes contain from 5 to 50 milligrams of mercury. When conventional disposal methods are used, mercury vapors can travel over 200 miles. So the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates fluorescent lamps and stipulates strict guidelines for their disposal.

Facilities that do not comply with these regulations not only harm the environment, they risk costly restitution. In fact, if fluorescent lamps are found in US landfill sites and traced back to the offending parties, they can be penalized with the cost of the landfill clean-up, in addition to any other fines levied. Hence, it greatly benefits companies and institutions to adhere to EPA guidelines and dispose of fluorescent lamps appropriately.

Many companies have found such disposal to be both labor-and cost-intensive, but have endured the burden in an effort to remain compliant. These hurdles have caused the marketplace to develop new methodologies. As a result, fluorescent

S

lamp disposal is far easier and less costly than ever before.

Prior to coming across these new methods, Sheela Backen, Integrated Solid Waste Program Manager at Colorado State University, had to supervise a complex and costly method of fluores-

Backen adds. “That was another cost-effective factor that we were looking at when we bought this machine.”

Mark Funkhouser, Custodial Services Manager with The Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez Valley, California, was having similar problems disposing of flu-

If fluorescent lamps are found in US landfill sites and traced back to the offending parties, they can be penalized with the cost of the landfill clean-up, in addition to any other fines levied. cent lamp disposal - packing used lamps back into original cartons and loading them onto a truck. The truck would then transport the lamps to a recycling facility.

“That method presented a lot of problems,” Backen says. “We couldn’t get people to make sure the cartons were full, taped and marked with the date.

When the truck was coming to pick them up, we would have anywhere from six to eight people filling boxes, taping them back up, and then loading this truck. It was not cost-effective at all.”

Not long ago, Backen happened across the Bulb Eater®, from Air Cycle Corporation, of Broadview, Illinois. “The bulbs are brought to a specific location.

I send one person over there for a couple of hours a week to crush the tubes. It’s very quick and efficient, and I don’t have to waste so much time trying to load a truck.”

This OSHA and EPA-compliant machine crushes over 1,000 fluorescent lamps (amount depends on size of lamps) and packs them into a 55-gallon drum. The process is fully enclosed and filtered, so that the glass, aluminum, and harmful vapors are contained. When full, the drums are picked up and transported to an EPA permitted lamp recycling facility where the contents are separated, treated, and ultimately reused.

“The cost of shipping a truckload of boxed tubes is a whole lot more than shipping a drum of crushed tubes,”

orescent lamps. His method was through a local waste hauler, who would remove the lamps in bins.

“It required a lot of attention,” Funkhouser says. “It required labor because we had to pack the bulbs in different kinds of bins and place them wherever the truck pickup was going to be. We also were never sure of the outside contractor’s schedule, so we really didn’t know when he was going to come.”

Funkhouser then found a removal method online that greatly reduced the attention and labor - a pre-paid recycling program, called EasyPak. “EasyPak is a great system because we can just put the box in a corner of the warehouse, and then, as the engineers bring the bulbs back, they put the bulbs in the box and it’s ready for shipping. When it gets full, we just close up the top, stick a label on the box and ship it off and our part is done. It’s definitely reduced our labor.”

This prepaid service allows lamps to be shipped in custom-made secure containers, via FedEx Ground, to licensed recycling facilities.

The program also provides online access to recycling certificates, shipment tracking, and ordering replacement containers. Orders can even be set up for new containers to ship automatically as full containers are received at the recycling centers.

Sheela Backen is especially conscious of which recycling

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Hazardous Waste company is being used. This company has allowed her to specify destination recycling companies based on her own research of current EPA ratings and licensing.

Recycling Certificates can be automatically sent to Mark Funkhouser so he knows the bulbs were indeed recycled.

He also has the periodic need for recycling batteries and ballast, which he is able to handle through the same EasyPak program.

The decision on which type of service to use is dependent on the facilityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s size and the quantity of lamps needing disposal. A facility totaling over 200,000 square feet in size is a great candidate for the Bulb Eater, especially when they have limited storage space. Smaller facilities are typically more attracted to a pre-paid program like EasyPak. They want the same convenience, but usually donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t generate enough lamps to justify a Bulb Eater.

Finally, the expensive necessity of proper fluorescent lamp disposal has been made less tedious and far more cost-effective.

The Bulb Eater can crush 1,000 fluorescent lamps and pack them into a 55-gallon drum.

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Biosolids Management

Optimizing aerobic digester performance

By Steve Harris perators struggling to meet the requirements for Class B sludge using aerobic digesters will welcome the news that volatile solids destruction of up to 85% in aerobic digesters is possible. There are several practical strategies operators can employ to increase volatile solids destruction in their aerobic digesters. The benefits to optimizing an aerobic digester include: • More room to waste solids.

• Greater volumes of cleaner decant.

• More sludge storage during the winter when sludge cannot be land-applied.

• Sludge will settle better.

• More sludge can be applied to less land area for land application or land-fill savings.

• Digester capacity can double.

• Odors are controlled.

Endogenous respiration To optimize an aerobic digester, operators must first understand one important term and some basic process chemistry. Let’s first cover the term endogenous respiration.

Endogenous respiration occurs when the food supply runs out and a microbe begins to consume its own body mass to survive, reducing mass, and destroying itself in the process. Faster, more complete, endogenous respiration will result in fewer solids to dispose of, and greater digester capacity.

Because new food is not “typically” added to aerobic digesters, the destruction of bacteria in waste activated sludge (WAS) prevails over growing new bacteria because the food supply is exhausted.

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We will see, however, that by adding primary solids to an aerobic digester an operator grows new bacteria with the result of producing new volatile solids in the digester.

Aerobic digestion chemistry Understanding the process chemistry of aerobic digestion is helpful in controlling aerobic digesters. With a good understanding of these reactions, an operator understands why and where to make operational changes to leverage the digester’s own chemistry to get the results they want. See Table 1for a few of the important biological reactions to understand.

Every nitrate converted to nitrogen gas results in the production of one bicarbonate. For every 1-ppm of nitrate converted, alkalinity increases by 3.57 ppm. If the aeration in a digester runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week, much of the alkalinity in the digester is consumed.

This condition will stop nitrification because alkalinity is in short supply. This leaves large amounts of ammonia and nitrate and little alkalinity, causing very Table 1

low pH. Many aerobic digesters allowed to run continuously with the air on, test around 5 pH. In an environment of 5 pH, not much is alive except for acid tolerant microbes. The bacteria added to this acidic environment are killed before they get a chance to eat themselves alive to reduce their mass. Digesters operated at low pH will not reduce volatile solids very well.

Aerobic digester alkalinity and therefore ammonia and nitrate concentrations can be managed by adding lime, magnesium hydroxide or simply turning the aeration off and then on again. This allows the digester to nitrify and denitrify in a sequential manner.

When the air is off, and before the settling and decant cycle, the digester contents mix without air. This allows for maximum nitrate/denitrifier contact in an anoxic environment and optimizes nitrate conversion to nitrogen gas.

Recovering alkalinity by turning the air off Turning the aeration off creates an anoxic (low oxygen) condition where nitrates are consumed and alkalinity is generated as the system denitrifies. Look at the chemical reactions under denitrification. Imagine the denitrification reaction shifting to the right as the air is turned off and the digester is mixed. As the reaction shifts to the right, more alkalinity (HCO3) is generated along with nitrogen gas (N2), CO2 and H2O. When nitrates reduce to about 8-12 mg/l the air is turned back on. Nitrate concentrations can be correlated using an ORP meter to develop air on and off timer set points after some testing. Correlating nitrate levels with ORP, and then operating the digester air on/off cycles continued overleaf...

42 | May 2007

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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Series MPC Jr. Pump Controller

The Mercoid MPC Junior is a low cost alternating pump control perfect for applications where all of the features of the MPC are not needed. Pump control is easy with the MPCJR, just connect your process transmitter and program the pump on/off points in the scale range desired. The Junior features local indication, integral power supply for process transmitter, two SPDT pump control contacts, two alarm contacts, optional process retransmission, and optional Modbus® communications.

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Series 626/628 Industrial Pressure Transmitter

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Series UV Ultra-ViewTM Polysulfone Flowmeter

The UV is a robust industrial flow meter with laboratory grade accuracy and wetted parts. The +/2% full scale accuracy UV contains no metal wetted parts, making it ideal for usage with chemicals compatible with Polysulfone, Fluoroelastomer and PTFE. Dual scales in a variety of ranges with high temperature and pressure ratings makes the UV the perfect flowmeter for ultra-pure water or chemical applications in water treatment plants.

Series V4 FLOTECT® Vane Operated Flow Switch

The W. E. Anderson V4 flow switch is ideal for flow proving in large size pipes. Never worry about leaks since the V4 features a solid bar stock body with no linkage or wearing parts that will create flow points. The switch mechanism can even be replaced without taking the body out of the process so that you don’t have to shut down and drain the line. A five vane paddle allows selectability of switching point in 1-1/2” pipe size and up. The V4 is weatherproof, explosion-proof, and rated to 5000 psig.

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Biosolids Management using ORP is a faster and cheaper way to track nitrate levels than constantly measuring nitrate itself.

Monitoring alkalinity is another way to keep the system from going too anoxic. Alkalinity should be kept above 100mg/l.

When the air is on When the air is on and the pH drops, an operator knows he has generated enough nitrates and then turns the air off.

When alternating the aeration on/off, the pH must be maintained in the 6.8 to 8 range with air being turned off when pH drops below 6.8 and on when the pH raises above 8. Air off for a day will typically recover alkalinity.

Lime or Mg (OH) can be added to insure alkalinity does not drop below 100 mg/l. Keep alkalinity above 150 mg/l.

Dissolved oxygen concentrations Dissolved oxygen concentrations are critically important during the aeration cycle. A minimum of 2 lbs O2 / lb VSS removed should be allowed and sufficient air should be provided to ensure that 2 mg/l of oxygen is maintained during aeration. Be careful when using clean-water oxygen transfer values from the aeration manufacturer when aerating thickened aerobic sludge. These values are often understated and more air will be required than the calculations suggest.

Fine bubble aeration will probably not provide sufficient mixing under conditions of thickened sludge and may cause diffuser clogging.

When ammonia concentrations start to rise, septic conditions are setting in.

This is a signal to turn the air back on.

Importance of aeration and mixing in aerobic digesters • At 3 to 3.5 % solids concentration oxygen transfer in the digester suffers.

The maximum solids concentration sent to a digester should be 3.5%.

• 20 to 30 scfm per 1000 ft3 is required for normal operations.

• With primary sludge added, 40 to 45 scfm/1000 ft3 is required.

• Mixing should occur throughout the digester not just in the middle.

• For solids concentrations above 2% use coarse aeration.

• Undigested sludge is thicker than digested sludge by four times.

• Newly added sludge is thicker and requires more oxygen.

• Intense mixing is essential to ensure good oxygen transfer.

• Newer aerobic digesters are deeper (20 ft). This reduces temperature loss, and improves oxygen transfer and mixing. Newer digester systems use 44 | May 2007

Percent Volatile Solids in the city of Wentzville, Missouri, Aerobic Digesters after using BIO ENERGIZER

staged digestion where primary or freshly thickened sludge is treated separately.

Aerobic digestion of primary and thickened sludge Primary sludge contains fresh new organic matter that will feed and rejuvenate the dying biomass in an aerobic digester.

If possible, primary sludge should be handled in a separate digester or holding tank and aerated vigorously to convert the new food to bacteria to begin the endogenous respiration process.

• Staged digestion is where freshly thickened sludge is added to a separate compartment and hit with lots of oxygen. This first digester is where most of the volatile solids are destroyed.

• Subsequent digesters aid in volatile solids destruction but serve primarily as pathogen reduction digesters and assist in nitrogen removal.

• Primary sludge changes the characteristics of the processes occurring in the digester.

Primary sludge undergoes aerobic conversion into simpler soluble organic compounds which is converted to new biomass causing an increase in VSS. • Primary sludge requires more energy for O2 transfer and mixing. It takes about 30 days to process primary sludge at 20oC and only 10 days to process WAS. If possible, thicken sludge before it goes into the digester. This conserves digester heat during the winter and increases sludge retention time.

• Prethickening sludge to 3.5 to 4% reduces flow rate and provides for greater sludge retention time.

Be aware that it also reduces the oxygen transfer efficiency. Fine bubble diffused air may make it

difficult to transfer oxygen with thicker sludges.

• Thickening also conserves heat because there is less water added to the digester cooling it off.

(Important in winter).

Accelerating endogenous respiration New bio-chemical compounds are now available that affect the cell walls and metabolism of microbes to accelerate endogenous respiration. One of these chemicals, called Bio Energizer, can improve respiration rates by 900 times for volatile solids destruction up to 89%.

For many operators this means more sludge applied to less acreage or less sludge hauled to the landfill. It also means more storage in the winter and better settleability.

Conclusion Operators can cut costs and increase digester capacity by: • Pre-thickening: for longer sludge retention times and heat conservation.

• Staging operations: for more efficient O2 transfer, pathogen kill, nitrogen removal and volume reduction up to 50%.

• Controlling air on and air off for alkalinity control.

• Ensuring adequate dissolved oxygen is present.

• Making sure there is enough mixing energy to transfer oxygen, alkalinity, digestion products, and nitrates evenly throughout the digester.

• Adding Bio Energizer to enhance cellwall permeability, speed up metabolism, and accelerate the rate of endogenous respiration to cut sludge removal and processing costs.

Steve Harris is Director of Wastewater Operations for Probiotic Solutions.

Email steve@biohumanetics.com

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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Soil Remediation

Understanding theoretical gypsum requirements for soil remediation

By John Ashworth ypsum is frequently applied to sodic or saline-sodic soils as an amendment to displace or counteract sodium, thereby improving soil structure or preventing further deterioration. Over time, high levels of sodium in the soil will lead to a plastic-like structure when soils are wet and a cement-like structure when dry.

This poor structure inhibits movement of water and air in and out of the soil profile, and prevents normal growth of plant roots. Plant growth on sodium impacted soils is generally very poor.

The two situations commonly encountered in the Canadian Prairies where gypsum (CaSO4) amendments would be recommended are: • Natural salt contamination – Most naturally occurring sodic soils found on the Canadian Prairies are solonetzic soils. These soils contain a high level of naturally occurring sodium salts (mostly sodium sulphate and bicarbonate) and high clay content in the B or C horizon.

After centuries of accumulation, the sodium occupies a substantial percentage of the soil’s cation exchange capacity.

• Man-made salt contamination Spills of produced waters or brines (usually high in sodium chloride) from the oil and gas sector and other industries immediately increase the electrical conductivity of a soil solution, damaging seeds and hindering root uptake of water by growing plants. Initially, most of the sodium is in the soil solution and displacement of calcium and magnesium from cation exchange sites by sodium is minor. Over time, the displacement continues, as does the deterioration of the soil structure.

The main differences between these two commonly encountered sodic soil situations is that solonetzic soils have substantial exchangeable sodium, substantial levels of sulphate, and a roundtop columnar structure of the lower horizon, whereas produced water spills have the sodium in the soil solution, substantial levels of chloride, and (initially) little change in the soil structure.

Theoretical gypsum requirement (TGR), as the name implies, is a calculated estimate of the amount of gypsum required to amend a sodic or saline-sodic

G

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soil. Models for the calculation of TGR have evolved over recent decades as more is understood about these soil conditions.

ALS laboratories in the Prairie Provinces now have a new TGR package that includes the traditional TGR calculation that was designed for naturally sodic soils, plus a new TGR calculation more applicable for use with brine spills.

For a detailed description of the TGR calculations, refer to “A Comparison of Methods for Gypsum Requirement of

Brine-Contaminated Soils”, by J. Ashworth et al (Cdn J. of Soil Science, 1999), which may be downloaded from www.alsenviro.com. Method A from this paper is recommended for brine spill situations, and Method B is recommended for naturally sodic soils.

John Ashworth is a Senior Soil Scientist with ALS Laboratory Group, Edmonton. For more information, contact brent.makelki@alsenviro.com

Over time, high levels of sodium in the soil will lead to a plastic-like structure when soils are wet and a cement-like structure when dry.

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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Wastewater Treatment

Engineered wetlands provide community benefits and treatment for industrial wastes

By Mark Liner reating industrial wastewater is a complex and often costly matter. Finding new methods that take a natural approach can enable companies to accomplish environmental clean-ups and provide potential assets to communities. Industrial treatment wetlands, with their simple mechanics, ease of operation, and low maintenance costs, are becoming a leading choice for high quality treatment and remediation in a number of industries.

Waste streams from airport deicing operations, concentrated feed lots, landfills, and other contaminated sites are all candidates for this natural treatment, while complying with strict environmental regulations.

What makes this approach even more enticing is the rate of acceptance by surrounding communities. This is due to the potential to integrate these industrial wetlands with community amenities such as recreational areas, nature centers, trail networks, and natural habitats that the residents can enjoy.

How does it work?

A wetland cell can be rigorously engineered to be a stand-alone treatment process or it can be coupled with other processes (like lagoons) to augment per-

T

formance. Because water levels are controlled in these systems with impermeable liners and specific placement of influent and effluent points, the systemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance can be controlled like an engineered reactor.

Subsurface wetlands are filled with gravel media, which is cleaned and sized to optimize hydraulic treatment. The loading rates of the wetlands are established so as to exploit bacterial growth while minimizing impacts on the subsurface hydraulics. An aeration system is installed at the bottom of the gravel that creates an aerobic zone within the wetland where water is recirculated to optimize treatment. Mulch is used for insulation.

With these various control measures, what may seem to be a passive, uncontrollable technology actually has a process schematic similar to advanced sewage plants. This design flexibility allows for engineered wetlands to treat a wide spectrum of pollutants.

Lowering ammonia to benefit water reuse Farms have long been involved with cradle-to-cradle practices for managing wastes. Feed is produced from the field crops, animals eat the feed and generate

The wetland system provides tertiary treatment for the Christensen Farms.

manure, and manure is returned to the fields for crop production â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a virtuous and sustainable nutrient cycle. Wastewater reuse is also commonly practiced.

Christensen Farms of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, owns and operates a number of farms in the Midwest. Like many livestock production facilities, Christensen Farms reuses water at the facility. To improve the quality of water for reuse, farm managers contracted with Jacques Whitford NAWE to create a wetland-based tertiary treatment system.

In the Christensen Farms wetland treatment system, earthen storage basins at four farms were re-engineered with tertiary treatment designed to reduce nitrogen levels in the reuse stream. Supernatant from the anaerobic lagoons is discharged to a pre-aeration cell for pretreatment. Following this, flow is introduced into a free-water surface wetland designed to polish the water and provide a natural habitat for water fowl. Treated water is pumped from the wetlands and reused for barn washwater.

Engineered wetlands for glycol removal Another innovative use of engineered wetlands for industrial wastewater treatment is the use of subsurface, aerated

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Wastewater Treatment gravel beds to treat stormwater contaminated with glycol from airport deicing operations. These engineered wetlands are currently under design for Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BNIA). The below-grade beds are designed to sustain a resident, attached community of bacteria acclimated for the specific task of glycol removal. The stormwater is distributed uniformly over the beds and flows vertically through the gravel to a system of underdrains. Air is pumped to the beds through a network of aerating tubing. The bed is insulated on top with a layer of peat mulch, which has been proven to be an important means to conserve heat.

Key to executing the design was the successful off-site treatability testing of propylene glycol-spiked stormwater from continued overleaf...

Airport managers are looking at wetlands for treatment of deicing fluid.

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The waterMONITOR is a submersible hydrostatic level transducer with embedded datalogging offering a high level of functionality and accuracy. It meets the requirements of the USGS Office of Surface Water (OSW) accuracy specification for stage monitoring and combines a highly accurate pressure sensor assembly with power conservative microcomputer circuitry.

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Monitor helps ensure complete dechlorination Since even a small sulfite residual indicates complete chlorine removal, continuous measurement and control of excess sulfite results in significant savings in chemical costs while assuring a zero chlorine discharge. ATI's new Series A15/66 Residual Sulfite Monitor measures residual sulfite using a unique vapor phase analytical system.

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The DMH 250 series of pumps is available in PVC, PVDF, polypropylene, stainless steel and Hastelloy C wetted components. Capacity range from (1 to 300 gallons per hour), pressure range up to 3000 PSI. All models are fitted with a PTFE diaphragm with the AMS diaphragm protection system and internal relief valve for pump protection.

Rosemount 8700 Series magnetic flow meters

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These meters utilize standard Belden cable for remote mount transmitter wiring and flow tubes with fully welded construction for maximum protection. Transmitters have optional diagnostic suites to assist process management, maintenance and installation practices. All diagnostics and the new built-in 8714i flow tube and transmitter calibration verification are available through the Local Operator Interface. This eliminates the need to remove the flow tube, or use additional calibration equipment.

Meet some of SPD’s Principals at the AWWA Conference June 24 – 28, 2007 www.esemag.com

May 2007 | 49

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Wastewater Treatment

Subsurface flow constructed wetland near completion at former BP site. The wetland is being covered with a tan mulch layer to ensure cold-weather operation during the winter months.

the airport. Pilot work at wetland test facilities was conducted to evaluate the performance of the system and to determine process kinetics. The results of the pilot-scale testing determined that there was very good treatment (96 - 97% removal of target pollutants) at both the high and low design basis temperatures.

Ultimately, the wetland will consist of eight wetland cells excavated from an existing open area near the airport’s main runway and will encompass roughly 10 acres. At ground level, only a field of wetland grasses will be observable, growing from a “dry” mulch surface. An important factor of the design is the size of the gravel used and the porosity of the bed. Detailed analysis of biomass growth, storage, and decay was undertaken to ensure that the bed could seasonally accommodate the transient nature of the bacterial community.

Wetland use in landfill leachate treatment Due to the variable nature of landfill leachate, a treatment system must be able to receive and properly treat a wide range of parameters over a wide range of concentrations. For this reason, a complete leachate system must include a number of unit processes that target removal of a certain group of parameters.

Wetland treatment systems are used in concert with other processes to completely treat a full range of leachate parameters. In particular, wetlands are used for bacterial-mediated degradation of some of the more difficult to degrade organics. Aerobic and anaerobic zones can be engineered in the wetland to expedite the degradation of xenobiotic compounds. Subsurface wetlands with prop50 | May 2007

erly sized gravel media provide a stable surface for attached growth bacteria, which allows the bacteria to be resident in the wetland and acclimate to the variable load.

For the Anoka County Landfill in Minnesota, a bioremediation system was designed for 288,000 gallons per day of leachate-contaminated groundwater. The design included eight 50,000 square-foot horizontal subsurface flow wetland treatment cells. In order to provide year-round treatment, the wetlands are insulated using energy balance design methods.

Use of mulch as an insulation layer on subsurface wetlands has proven effective in permitting cold weather operations of wetlands. Forced bed aeration is also employed within the wetland cells to create alternating aerobic/anaerobic zones for degradation of complex organic compounds, including tetrahydrofuran.

Detailed pilot work on an engineered wetland has also been conducted at the Jones County Landfill, Anamosa, Iowa.

The pilot is designed for the remediation of up to 500 gallons per day of landfill leachate and is operated as a research facility by the University of Iowa Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Results from the pilot have focused on the ability of the wetland to treat for ammonia during cold weather and have dramatically illustrated the benefits of wetland aeration.

Engineered wetlands used for petroleum remediation Treatment for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BETX) occurs through volatilization and aerobic biodegradation. The microbial communities in wetlands have been proven to

break down many of these and other volatile organic compounds that are associated with petroleum products. The challenge is to engineer a system that provides the right and consistent environment to allow such microbial communities to flourish. In these cases, an aerated, subsurface wetland is an effective, stable means for achieving BETX degradation.

A wetland system implemented by British Petroleum (BP) in Casper, Wyoming, is the largest and most recent remediation wetland in the United States.

This treatment system needed to handle up to 3,000,000 gallons per day of gasoline-contaminated groundwater, blend into the middle of a premier golf course, and operate for over 100 years. The site includes an office park, river front trails, and a whitewater kayak course.

The system includes a cascade aeration system for iron oxidation and air stripping, a soil-matrix biofilter for gasphase benzene removal, surface flow wetland cells for removal of ferric hydroxide precipitates, stormwater retention wetlands, and radial subsurface flow insulated wetland cells for BTEX removal. Support of the design required conducting a pilot, which permitted the derivation of site-specific rate constants.

Also, nonequilibrium gas/liquid benzene phase change calculations were necessary in addition to the heat balance.

Conclusion To most, wetlands are a wet piece of land with plants. To an engineer, a wetland is a complex reactor that facilitates numerous chemical and biological reactions, and these reactions can be exploited to remove pollutants. For remote facilities, engineered wetlands can provide a valuable, low maintenance treatment system that can be easily constructed on-site. Using state of the art techniques, wetland engineers are able to create systems that effectively clean up the dirtiest of wastewaters – from landfill leachate to spent deicing fluid.

Environmental managers and engineers are looking for treatment solutions that work for the long haul. Designing systems to handle future flows with lower life cycle costs is a goal in most cases. Engineered wetlands deliver on this goal and integrate the treatment necessary into the facility, often enhancing the site for plants, animals and people.

Mark O. Liner is a Senior Engineer with Jacques Whitford NAWE, Inc. Email mliner@nawe-pa.com

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Water Treatment

Operation and regeneration of ion exchange water softeners - Part one

By Derek French ater is often referred to as the "universal solvent" as it will dissolve small amounts of everything it touches.

Water collects or dissolves a variety of mineral salts, organic compounds and suspended solids as it flows over the earth's surface and through the ground. These impurities make water undesirable for use in many applications. It is, therefore, important to properly treat or condition the water before using it.

Ion exchange is most often employed to remove mineral salts in solution and in some cases is used for removal of low molecular weight organic contaminants such as tannins or lignins. The most common mineral salts found in solution are bicarbonates (HC03-), sulfates (SO4-), chlorides (Cl-), nitrates (N03-) or silicates (Si2O5-) of calcium (Ca++), magnesium (Mg++), sodium (Na+) or potassium (K+).

Hardness in water Hardness, one of the most common impurities in water, is defined as anything that will react with soap to form a scum or curd. Calcium, magnesium, and iron are common minerals that will form a soap curd and, therefore, are defined as hardness. Conversely, water devoid of these specific minerals is referred to as â&#x20AC;&#x153;softâ&#x20AC;? water.

Calcium and magnesium may be present as part of several salts and when associated with bicarbonate (HC03-) or carbonate (C03-) this is called carbonate hardness. Carbonate hardness can precipitate (become insoluble) and form scale simply by heating it (tea kettle, water heater, etc.). Because of this chemical characteristic, the carbonate hardness is often called temporary hardness.

When calcium and magnesium salts are present as sulfate (SO4-), chloride (Cl-) or nitrate (N03-), the hardness is called non-carbonate. Non-carbonate hardness will not precipitate by simply heating and thus is sometimes called permanent hardness. Both temporary and permanent hardness can exist together in a water supply.

Each different mineral ion has unique characteristics and reacts uniquely. An analysis of a solution containing several different ions cannot be used to predict chemical reactions unless the individual ions are expressed in similar terms.

Equivalence serves as a common de-

W

www.esemag.com

nominator so that several ions, all expressed the same way, can be added together and used collectively. Similarly, in mathematics, we use common denominators to calculate fractions. The use of calcium carbonate equivalence is the method of converting the value of each element to a common denominator.

Total hardness is the sum of calcium

and magnesium. A typical water analysis will show calcium, magnesium, and total hardness in milligrams per litre (mg/l) or grains per US gallon (gpg).

When the term hardness is used, the value is always expressed in terms of calcium carbonate equivalence (as CaC03).

Most water analysis will report calcium continued overleaf...

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Water Treatment ments. In addition they will report either total hardness in grains per gallon expressed as a calcium carbonate equivalent or as Total Hardness which is a total sum of hardness in mg/l as CaC03. To convert Total Hardness to grains per gallon simply divide by 17.1 .

Principles of ion exchange Water softening by ion exchange uses highly efficient sulfonated polystyrene base cation exchange resin. As water passes through a bed, or column, of resin the hardness ions are removed and replaced with sodium ions. Thus, when hardness is removed, the hard water is changed to soft water.

Cation exchange water softening resins are actually insoluble compounds of polystyrenedivinyl benzene sulfonate.

It may be visualized as a plastic sphere having tiny pores or microscopic channels through which water can pass. The bead itself is an anion with negatively charged exchange sites. The exchange sites hold positively charged cations, such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, hydrogen, ammonium, and other metal ions.

Due to the charge characteristics inherent in ion exchange resins, water softening resin does have preferences for ions. This preference is called selectivity, or affinity. In general, cation (softening) resin has the greatest affinity for cations which have the largest number of positive charges. Secondly, within a group of ions having an identical number of positive charges, affinity will increase with increasing atomic numbers.

For example, cation resin will have a greater affinity for aluminum (three positive charges) than for calcium (two positive charges), or for sodium (one positive charge). The sequence below shows the order of affinity of standard cation resin: AI> Ba > Ca > Cu > Zn > Fe > Mg > Mn > NH4 > Na > H In general, any ion in the sequence will displace any ion to its right. This characteristic of ion exchange resins can serve as a useful tool in processes aimed at separating one ion from another. But it also creates a problem, commonly referred to as breakthrough or leakage. It is quite possible that one ion can be released from the resin bed while another is still being taken on. The release of any unwanted ion can limit the extent of the softening application. For example, the most common cation resin holds calcium more tenaciously than it holds magnesium, so magnesium hardness will break through first.

52 | May 2007

So far we have discussed the water softening process in relation to only one resin bead. In reality, a softener tank contains millions of resin beads in a bed, or column, which in industrial applications can be several feet thick.

As water passes downward through the resin, the ion exchange reactions begin at the top of the resin column in a thin reaction zone. As the top layers become full of hardness - as the beads become exhausted - the reactions continue farther down the column where beads are still in the sodium form. As this reaction zone progresses downward it increases in thickness. The actual thickness of the zone is determined by water velocity (flow rate), water hardness, and resin bead size. The reaction zone will vary and may be only a few inches thick under the right operating conditions.

When the leading edge of the reaction zone is close to the bottom of the resin column, hardness leakage will occur and will continue to increase. When leakage increases to a predetermined level, usually dictated by the application, the column is considered exhausted and the resin must be regenerated. Ideally the softening process would go off line to regenerate just moments before hardness leakage could be detected.

Recalling the order of affinity discussed earlier, the first hardness leakage will be primarily magnesium with some

calcium present. Calcium displaces magnesium in the upper exhausted beads, forcing this magnesium to move further down into the resin column to find a new exchange site still holding sodium. This calcium-magnesium exchange continues until water flow is stopped.

If a vertical sample of the resin bed were analyzed in the lab, the top layers would be rich in calcium, the lower layers would be rich in magnesium, and the resin in between would contain both.

This selectivity phenomenon is sometimes called stratification and is similar to chromatographic separation. If water continues flowing through the softener, all magnesium in the bed can eventually be replaced with calcium.

The exchange process The number of exchange sites occupied by a single cation depends upon the number of positive charges on the cation.

For example, calcium and magnesium each have two positive charges so each occupies two ion exchange sites.

Sodium, potassium, ammonium, and hydrogen have only one positive charge so each occupies only one site.

Before the softening process begins, sodium ions occupy all the exchange sites. As hard water passes around the resin beads, the hardness ions displace the sodium ions and occupy the exchange sites previously occupied by sodium. This interchange of ions is

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Water Treatment called ion exchange.

The process works best when the influent water is less than 1,000 mg/l total dissolved solids (TDS) because the resin bead has a greater affinity for hardness than it does for sodium. As the TDS concentration goes above 1,000 mg/l, the water most often contains higher values of naturally occurring sodium. In raw waters with high sodium levels, the chance for hardness leakage increases.

Each resin bead has a fixed number of exchange sites. As water is processed, all the sites will become filled with calcium and magnesium ions. At this point the bead is exhausted and the calcium and magnesium ions have to be replaced with sodium so that the softening process can be repeated. The process of removing hardness ions and replacing them with sodium ions is called regeneration.

As explained, cation resin has a natural preference for hardness ions. While ion exchange resin beads are porous and will allow water transport through the structure, there is little actual water flow through the bead itself. Rather, most of the hardness first attaches to the outside or shell area of the resin and, as the bead surface becomes saturated, hardness migrates towards the core of the resin in a transfer phenomenon that goes from outside to inside.

Once the resin is fully saturated with hardness minerals, we must recondition or “regenerate” the resin back to the sodium form. The resin has a preference for hardness minerals, therefore, to overcome this preference we must use a strong solution of sodium ions forcing the hardness off the resin beads. The most common and economical sodium salt is sodium chloride (NaCl), therefore it is used most often in the regeneration of water softeners.

Remember that hardness removal occurs best when total dissolved solids are less than 1,000 mg/l (ppm). A 10% salt brine solution is 100,000 mg/l and this high concentration of brine is strong enough to overcome the resin's affinity for hardness and will place sodium ions back on the exchange sites.

The exact number of exchange sites that sodium can occupy is called the stoichiometric quantity. Regenerating with this exact number of sodium ions that the resin holds will not place sodium on all the exchange sites. It takes three times the stoichiometric quantity, or 300%, of sodium in a 10% salt brine solution to place sodium on all the sites. Obviously, 100% of the stoichiometric amount is consumed and 200% is wasted. This explains why the softener regeneration waste contains salt.

Capacity Common cation resin has an ultimate (theoretical) capacity of about 43,000 grains per cubic foot. However, only about 75% of this capacity can be used efficiently through normal regeneration procedures when installed in treatment equipment. To use any of the remaining 25% of capacity requires excessive amounts of salt and increased regeneration time to obtain very small capacity increases, making such efforts economically undesirable.

The most common method used to regenerate water softener resin is called “co-current” or down-flow regeneration. Single tank softeners or co-current units use raw (hard) influent water mixed with the brine to regenerate resin in the down-flow direction. This requires the brine to displace all the hardness in the upper parts of the resin bed and “push” that hardness to drain down through the entire bed. Care must be taken to ensure hardness does not get retained in the lower portions of the bed; therefore, a generous amount of brine is used to minimize this possibility.

Conversely, there are newer technologies that use an up-flow www.esemag.com

or “counter-current” brine process. This means that soft water containing brine solution is introduced at the bottom of the softener vessel during regeneration. This up-flow regeneration eliminates the potential for hardness to be trapped at the lower portion of the bed. The counter current regeneration using soft water improves regeneration efficiency, resulting in salt savings as well as improved water quality from the softener system.

Water softening resin is most economical to regenerate when it is not completely exhausted. The most efficient setting for regeneration utilizes 66% of the resin’s total capacity and will regenerate with 60% less salt than if run to exhaustion. In co-current or down flow regeneration systems the resin has a maximum capacity of 30,000 grains of hardness removal (as CaC03) per cubic foot when regenerated with 15 pounds of sodium chloride (salt) per cubic foot. When operated at its most efficient level the resin will give 20,000 grains of hardness removal while regenerating with only 6.0 lbs of salt per cubic foot of resin. Running a system at its most economical settings yields definite savings to the owner of the system.

The use of counter current regeneration further lowers the salt used per cubic foot, thus yielding savings for the operator of the water softener while simultaneously providing better water quality and co-current regenerating units.

Part 2 will explore the different regeneration methods to optimize capacity and reduce brine discharge from ion exchange water softeners.

Derek French is with Hydrus Kinetico Incorporated.

Contact: dfrench@hydrus.com

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Energy

Using nuclear alchemy to turn Canadian oil sands to black gold

By Peter P. Roosen & Tatsuya Nakagawa

ith oil prices over US$50 per barrel, the world’s attention has turned to Fort McMurray, a tiny hamlet in the northern part of the oil-rich Province of Alberta. Oil companies, contractors, investors and speculators, along with many thousands of oil patch and construction workers, are coming to town in droves.

“Fort Mac” is located in the centre of the world’s largest known oil sands region that contains more recoverable oil than Saudi Arabia – approximately 200 billion barrels using current technologies. This is less than 10% of the total amount of energy in the ground, the remaining being unrecoverable using current technology; otherwise it would be enough asphalt to cover most of the moon in pavement. The area includes three deposits, each about the size of Switzerland. But there is no cheap or easy way to get the stuff out of the ground and into a user-friendly form.

Nuclear energy options need to be considered because the current processes of extracting and producing liquid fuels and other oil products from these oil sand deposits are terribly wasteful, polluting and expensive; and it takes almost as

W

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much energy to produce end products as the end products themselves contain. In other words, it is equivalent to burning a third or half of all the recoverable oil contained in the deposits to get the other portion out. These current and expanding practices have global consequences due to extremely high greenhouse gas emissions along with other types of pollution and environmental damage.

The current oil rush is being fueled by world oil prices that initially peaked at US$70 per barrel after crossing the $40 mark in 2004. Prices have not fallen to pre 2004 levels and so long as they remain above the threshold, the interest in developing the oil sands will remain high.

Current production levels are at the equivalent of about 1 million barrels per day and expected to triple or quadruple to 3 or 4 million barrels per day in a few years, around 2015. Currently, there are about $90 billion in projects announced and in various stages of development and construction for the region.

Only about 7% of the oil sands extraction can be carried out by surface mining with the remaining bulk portion being too far underground for it to be practically surface mined. The world’s

largest mine of any type is the Syncrude operation located near Fort McMurray that is sometimes called “Mount Doom”, a name taken from the black, smoky, and flaming mountain in the evil heartland described in the popular J.R. Tolkein Lord of the Rings trilogy of books and movies.

The oil sand is dug using several of the world’s largest dump trucks and excavators and brought to an onsite separating facility where vast quantities of heated water are used to cook usable material out of the black sand. The product skimmed from the top is not crude oil but rather a thick, smelly tar-like substance called bitumen that is upgraded to synthetic crude oil in a series of energy-intense downstream processes.

The upgrading process requires large quantities of hydrogen currently produced from natural gas. Currently, about 5% of all the natural gas produced in western Canada is consumed in oil sands production with that expected to increase to 15% by 2015 as production of synthetic crude oil increases to over 1 billion barrels per year.

The remaining bulk oil sands located continued overleaf...

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Energy deeper underground employ a variety of in place or in situ techniques to force the bitumen out of the sand and to the surface. The most popular in situ technique, called “Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage” or SAGD involves boring two L-shaped wells that go horizontally into the oil sands with one above the other.

Massive quantities of steam are forced into the upper one that causes the bitumen to separate from the sand and flow into the lower chamber from which it is brought to the surface for further processing into synthetic crude oil and other products. Other techniques may evolve to replace SAGD, but this is the best present method for extracting the bulk of the 200 billion recoverable barrels of oil.

For every billion barrels of bitumen extracted using SAGD and upgraded to synthetic crude oil, about 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide is emitted into the biosphere. Canada’s Kyoto commitment limits Canada’s national carbon dioxide emissions to 500 million tonnes per year so it is readily apparent that simply getting usable oil out of northern Alberta represents a major part of Canada’s measured greenhouse gas emissions.

Nuclear energy may be the only viable way of meeting the tremendous and

56 | May 2007

growing energy demands at the scale required to efficiently harvest the resource while producing zero emissions of carbon dioxide. Nuclear plants can also produce the hydrogen needed for the upgrading process without consuming fossil fuels or producing carbon dioxide.

There is no practical alternative. There is no realistic way to develop sufficient hydroelectric or wind powered electrical generation capacity and installing coalfired power plants simply shifts the production of carbon dioxide from the oil sands operations to the coal-fired power plant locations. It takes thousands of windmill generators consuming enormous materials to make up for a single nuclear plant.

Carbon dioxide sequestration is an approach being considered but it is difficult, very energy-intensive and potentially dangerous with possibilities of this heavy gas leaking out of underground storage geological formations and killing large numbers of animals and people. An example of this occurred on August 26, 1986, when 1700 people and several herds of cattle were killed at Cameroon’s Lake Nyos by a carbon dioxide release.

The negative aspects of nuclear power generation are widely known, with the

largest real problem being the fuel management issue, preserving integrity on both the supply side and the output side of the generating process.

The second generation plants built in the 1970s and 1980s, the vast majority of which are still operating today, use less than 5% of the energy available from the fuel that goes into these plants. Many of these old plants require the fuel to be fairly rich and once the fuel becomes contaminated by waste products, the partially spent fuel gets put into a waste storage area. Since the physical amount of fuel that goes through a plant is miniscule relative to energy output, often the contaminated fuel is kept sitting at the plants in storage ponds and never gets taken off site.

The partially spent fuel still contains over 95% of the available energy in it, is usually highly radioactive, and can be stored on site after use, get sent out for recycling or placed into long term storage.

The American and Canadian nuclear agencies prefer the idea of building and operating long term storage bunkers rather than recycling the fuel materials because uranium is abundant and is cheaper to dump and replace than to recycle.

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Energy France produces 80% of its electrical energy using nuclear power plants and recycles its fuels. The French approach is more costly in the short term but yields better long term results. The Americans and Canadians are coming around to the French approach with the Canadian CANDU reactors being well-suited to consuming lower grade recycled fuels as they are now doing this at an increasing rate.

The recycling program is based on the idea of recycling not some but all the fuels used, stripping out the dead waste products and topping up any ingredients needed to make the fuel operational again, then sending it back to a power plant for another pass. After at least 15 such cycles, the original fuel would have been burnt to the ground so there is no major storage issue and little available for criminals looking for radioactive fissionable material.

The dead waste products that are stripped out during the reprocessing operations will have some residual radiation but of a fairly low grade and there would be no significant amount of fissionable energy content left in it. These recycling activities would also result in a substantial reduction of the current amount of waste products being produced.

The fully fissioned or truly â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;spentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; materials would lose their residual radioactivity after no more than a few hundred years â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not the many thousands of years for some higher grade wastes currently sitting in various places. The completely burnt-out waste products could be handled more like the waste from old expired hospital or airport x-ray machines.

There is an inexhaustible supply of nuclear fuels. with Canada currently being the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest exporter of uranium. The Japanese have found a way to obtain it from seawater for about US$150 per kilogram which is not much money considering a kilogram of uranium contains as much energy as several tonnes of a fossil fuel.

Modern third generation and upcoming fourth generation nuclear reactors do not need to use high-grade fuels. This results in the newer nuclear fuels being much more difficult to turn into weapons.

There are new designs that are impossible to have go into a meltdown condition due to different physics and engineering approaches having been taken to eliminate the possibility of them melting down as the older Three Mile Island and Chernobyl reactors did decades ago.

Many leading scientists and engineers have been working on these challenges as www.esemag.com

the nuclear power industry has been developing since the first nuclear power plant called EBR-1 (Electron Breeder Reactor) lit up a string of 4 light bulbs in a small building out on the American Idaho desert on December 20, 1951. The industry has come a long way in a short time.

Employing CANDU reactors in the oil sands region for extracting bitumen from the oil sands and upgrading it to synthetic crude oil and other oil products would provide the means to bring this valuable resource to market without wast-

ing our valuable natural gas resource and without producing any substantial carbon dioxide emissions toward the global warming problem. It would also allow us to put the whole recoverable oil sands resource to better use than doing the equivalent of burning a third or half of it to get the other half to market.

It might be a good time for nuclear alchemists to find their way to Fort McMurray to turn the sand to gold.

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ACE 2007 ACE 2007 - Welcome to Toronto elegates attending ACE 2007 will find Toronto is a vibrant, modern city, well endowed with cultural amenities, restaurants, sporting and theatrical events. The city is also well served by some notable water and wastewater treatment facilities. In 1954, Toronto became the first major city in the world to legislate a metropolitan approach to water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment.

Bold initiatives like this, were thanks to such industry pioneers as Dr. Albert Edward Berry, who was the first person to be elected president of both the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation. Dr Berry was the first Chief Engineer of what is now the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, whose headquarters are located in downtown Toronto.

Over time, 18 small sewage treatment plants were phased out and the City of Toronto is now served by the Ashbridges Bay, North Toronto, Highland Creek and the Humber Wastewater Treatment Plants.

Drinking water facilities include the

D

58 | May 2007

By Steve Davey

R.C. Harris, the R.L. Clark and the F.J. Horgan Water Treatment Plants, plus a treatment facility on the Toronto Islands, just offshore in the downtown area.

Toronto’s Rogers Centre (formerly called SkyDome) was the world’s first major stadium with a mechanical retractable roof. I was present when the Dome officially opened in 1989, during a rain storm. Ironically, it opened to let the rain in on its debut, not keep it out! The organizers could not resist a demonstration of their retractable roof. It is now a focal point of the city, attracting millions of visitors annually. Baseball games routinely draw over 45,000 fans, and crowds in excess of 50,000 regularly attend other diverse entertainment attractions. It is large enough to encompass St. Paul’s Cathedral, yet so flexible it has multi-use capabilities.

And it is within short walking distance of the city’s main convention hotels.

The site was occupied by a 144-yearold water pumping complex. A new, award-winning pumping facility consolidated the old 2.5 hectare network of pipes and sewers into a modern facility taking up less than .25 hectares of prime

downtown real estate, to make room for the Centre. The resulting award-winning John Street pumping station was completed without any loss of water service to users, and its distinctive architecture can be seen at the front of the Rogers Centre.

The Rogers Centre has emerged as a cultural, sporting, and theatrical success.

Frank Sinatra has played there; so has Elton John, and many other popular entertainers. Verdi’s opera Aida was staged in the Dome, comprising a huge cast, a large orchestra, live elephants, and a pyramid so large it had to be barged across Lake Ontario from the United States.

Dominating the Toronto skyline is the slender CN Tower, the world’s tallest freestanding structure soaring 533.33 metres.

From the observation level, it is possible to see across Lake Ontario to the American side, watch the mists rise from Niagara Falls, or have a panoramic view of the city – all while dining at the revolving restaurant and night club. Virtually in the shadow of the CN Tower at Old Fort York, the gravestones of British soldiers can

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ACE 2007

still be viewed by those with a penchant for history.

Not too long ago, Toronto Harbour was a wasteland of abandoned docks and industrial facilities. Today, the downtown waterfront has evolved into a complex of yacht moorings, craft studios, boutiques, high-end condominiums, restaurants, and diverse facilities for the performing arts.

In the last two decades, there has been a surge of theatrical and artistic endeavours taking place in Toronto. World-

renowned actors, such as Peter O’Toole, Glenda Jackson, John Gielgud, and Maggie Smith have trod the boards at its many theatres. Toronto has become a home-away-from-home for numerous well-known Broadway style theatrical productions, such as We Will Rock You! (currently playing at The Canon Theatre), Wicked, Mamma Mia!, The Lion King, Cats, Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, and The Phantom

of the Opera.

Toronto is also home to many filmmaking endeavours, earning its nickname “Hollywood North”. During any given week, at least one or more big-budget Hollywood productions may be seen filming on Toronto’s many streets.

Steve Davey is the Publisher of Environmental Science and Engineering Magazine

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ACE 2007 Justin Trudeau to address the waterworks industry at ACE 2007

T

Preview by Steve Davey

Justin Trudeau Archie Manning

Applying our energy to conserving resources.

he world’s water community will gather in Toronto, June 2428, 2007, to explore the future of safe water, gain knowledge of and insight into research and best practices, and experience the latest products and services available to the water community. The event, to be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, will feature a professional program consisting of approximately 100 sessions, comprised of more than 500 presentations given by more than 1,000 experts in the water industry, plus 14 in-depth workshops. This is the first time the American Water Works Association has held its annual event in Toronto since 1996.

Topics covered will include engineering and construction, water resources management, conservation and reuse, distribution, legislative and regulatory affairs, public communication, and emerging issues. ACE07 attendees will have the opportunity to earn CEUs for the Distribution & Plant Operations, Small Systems & Water Quality tracks, most Sunday workshops and facility tours.

The ACE07 Exposition will feature 500 exhibitors showcasing the latest products and services available to help

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ACE 2007 ensure safe water. These exhibitors will offer expert insight and hands-on understanding for everything from pipes to valves, meters to hydrants, engineering services to tank-related companies, membrane filtration systems to laboratory equipment, and security to wastewater. The New Product Technology Showcase will return to highlight the newest and most innovative products and technology available.

Additionally, ACE07 will feature special opportunities for international attendees and young professionals, sessions on the AWWA “State of the Industry” report, the new Only Tap Water Delivers Campaign, the always entertaining PipeTapping Contest and Top Ops Competition, and the “Best of the Best” ACE07 Water Taste Test.

Justin Trudeau, who has been in the media spotlight recently, following his decision to follow in his father’s political footsteps, is a keynote speaker. The education and empowerment of youth are priorities that have dominated Justin Trudeau’s professional and personal life.

Shortly after completing a degree at McGill University, Trudeau moved to Vancouver to earn a Bachelor’s of Education degree from the University of British Columbia. For the next four years, he devoted himself to teaching children of all ages. He is now completing a Master's degree in Environmental Geography at McGill University.

Mr. Trudeau is actively involved with Katimavik, Canada’s leading national youth volunteer-service program. He works to increase the engagement of Canada’s youth towards their country, their communities and their environment. He is also involved with the Canadian Avalanche Foundation, promoting intelligent risk-taking and safety awareness, and wilderness groups such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

Also addressing the ACE07 keynote session will be Bob McDonald, host of CBC's Quirks & Quarks. Mr. McDonald has been communicating science internationally through television, radio, print and live presentations for more than 30 years. CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks is an award-winning science program heard by a national audience in Canada of nearly 500,000 people. He is constantly in demand to speak for a variety of audiences across Canada, and is best known for making complex issues accessible to the general public.

The ACE07 Water Industry Luncheon will feature an address by former NFL www.esemag.com

Pro Bowl quarterback, Archie Manning.

Mr. Manning is recognized as an ambassador of good will and a molder of people. He was an All-American Quarterback at Ole Miss. before the New Orleans Saints made him their No.1 draft choice. During his 14-year NFL career, Archie set the most Saints passing records, played in two Pro Bowls, and was the league's Most Valuable Player in 1978. He's a member of several Halls of Fame, including the National Football League. As a player, Archie won numerous humanitarian awards and was named

one of 10 outstanding young Americans by the US Jaycees.

Archie currently serves in a public relations and consulting capacity for several local, regional, and national companies.

He shares his time with countless charity and civic boards, primarily in Louisiana and Mississippi and is the proud father of three sons: Cooper (an institutional broker in New Orleans), Peyton (quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts and named MVP in the National Football League in 2003 and 2004) and Eli (quarterback of continued overleaf...

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ACE 2007 the New York Giants and No. 1 selection in the 2004 NFL Draft).

Technical Session Information • Distribution & Plant Operations — Earn CEUs! Efficiently operating and maintaining drinking water treatment plants and distribution systems are the primary activities of a water utility. This track reveals the latest innovations and improvements in distribution and plant operations.

• Engineering & Construction This segment delivers the nuts and bolts on the latest design trends, project delivery management concepts, and traditional engineering for anyone involved in building and maintaining a water-related facility.

• Executive Enhancing the technical topics, the Executive Track brings all the "need-toknow" managerial, leadership and workforce insights critical to the success of every water profession executive.

• International In this track, managers, engineers, and consultants around the world will share what they are doing to make water delivery safe and efficient. Gain a global perspective with these insights into current methods, procedures and practices.

• Legislative & Regulatory With constantly evolving regulation, compliance and policy issues, there is always something new to tackle on the legislative and regulatory front. This track presents all you need to know about current issues while outlining how you can manage federal, state, provincial and local issues to affect change on water issues.

• Management for Water & Wastewater Focusing on excellence in all areas of performance, this track will enable you to look beyond the traditional management approach and explore concepts that will bring maximum benefits to your operations.

• Manufacturers/Associates — Earn CEUs! Application, pilot testing, and ongoing support are inherent to today's technology. These sessions enhance all that's available from manufacturers in the exposition hall with application insights for on-the-ground placement in your utility.

• Public Affairs In today's environment of growing consumer awareness and unprecedented media scrutiny, effective Public Affairs strategies and tactics prove critical for

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ACE 2007 water professionals. General managers, public affairs personnel, and other water workers can hone their media relations skills, explore public outreach strategies, share best practices, and identify emerging water industry trends through this series of sessions.

• Research These sessions focus on the latest results and approaches to meet drinking water industry-related issues and requirements, with consideration given to source, treatment, and distribution system topics.

• Residuals Today's regulatory agenda has provided a structure for reconsidering water treatment residual processing and disposal. Learn cutting-edge concepts that will help you be more fully informed once you're faced with these issues on the job.

• Reuse Water, wastewater, and joint water/wastewater utilities are closely tied when it comes to water resources at the local level. Hear the latest on reuse as an alternative source of water supply and associated advanced wastewater treatment practices.

• Small Systems — Earn CEUs! These sessions address source development, treatment, storage, distribution, operations, engineering, management and HR needs - everything you need to know to build and maintain a successfully integrated system.

• Special Topics This track encompasses the water supply topics that will round out your professional program experience.

• Universities Forum University students are the voice of the next generation of water professionals. Take this opportunity to hear a fresh perspective and learn from published and previously unpublished research from across the country.

• Water Conservation Demand reduction and supply extension are goals of every water conservation program. Hear how you can start a water conservation program and get the facts on the best communication methods to use. Learn which water efficiency techniques can lower demand, how they affect revenue, and how to best manage a program.

• Water Quality — Earn CEUs! Keep up-to-date with the latest technological advances for keeping drinking water safe. The water quality technical program covers all aspects of drinking www.esemag.com

water quality and technology, including drinking water treatment (whether conventional or membrane), water analysis, corrosion issues, UV applications, DBP control, EDCs and pharmaceuticals, and laboratory operations.

• Water Resources This track addresses the technical and institutional practices and public policy for sustainable development, protection, and management of water resources for public water supply.

ACE is also offering a number of facility tours including the John Street

Pumping Station, Toronto Island Water Treatment Plant, High Level Pumping Station, FJ Horgan Water Treatment Plant, RC Harris Water Treatment Plant, Canada Centre for Inland Waters, Hamilton Museum of Steam & Technology, Lakeview Water Treatment Plant and Lakeview Wastewater Treatment Plant.

For further information on ACE 2007, visit www.awwa.org.

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ACE 2007 As of May 01, 2007 Exhibitor Name

Booth #

3D Instance 701 3M Company 509 3N International, Inc. 2803 A.R.I. USA, Inc. 2439 A.Y. McDonald Mfg. Co. 1017 AA Thread Seal Tape, Inc. 309 ADS LLC 2050 APCO Willamette Valve & Primer 1902 ARNCO Corp.

245 AWI 807 Abloy Security Inc. 751 Actaris Metering Systems 2244 Adesta LLC 27 Advance Products & Systems Inc. 2300 Advance Tank Construction Co. 1043 Advanced Valve Technologies 606 Advantica, Inc. 237 Akron Porcelain & Plastics Co. (The) 1451 AllMax Software 723 American AVK Co. 2423 American Cast Iron Pipe Co. 1722 American Concrete Pressure Pipe 923 American Leak Detection 1940 Ameron International 1906 Amiad Filtration Systems 2643 Analytical Technology Inc. 950 Angus Flexible Pipelines 1007 Anthrafilter Inc 1011 Aqua Smart Inc. 906 AquaSensors, LLC 2743 Aquacell Water, Inc. 503 Aquatic Informatics Inc. 517 Aquatic Life Ltd. 323 Aquionics 1845 Arcadis 612 Arch Chemicals, Inc. 2606 Ashcroft Inc. 1747 Asia Water Refining Corp.

43 Asphalt Zipper, Inc. 408 Association of Boards of Certification 2904 AWWA Research Foundation 1203 BASF Corporation 2728 Badger Meter, Inc. 1511 Basin Water Inc. 1443 Bentley Systems, Inc. 707 Bermad Inc. 1123 Best Sulfur Products 8 Bingham & Taylor 1811 Birks Company (The) 849 Birmingham Fastener Mfg. 1432 Bisan Trading & Industrial Services 1649 Black Bear Valve 307 Blacoh Fluid Control Inc 538 Blue-White Industries 315 Brentwood Industries Inc. 911 Bureau Veritas 939 C.I.M. Industries Inc. 2127 CB&I 1231 CEI Carbon Enterprises Inc. 437 CUES 2324 Caldwell Tanks Inc. 450 Calgon Carbon 543 Cambridge Brass 2523 Canada Colors and Chemicals Ltd 953 Canadian Environmental Protection 1648 Canbar Inc. 2345 Cancoppas Limited 742

64 | May 2007

Companies shown in red are advertisers in this issue (see ad index on page 105) Canusa CPS 242 Carbon Activated Corporation 321 Carson Industries LLC & Adapter, Inc. 1 Carus Chemical Company 1815 Cascade Waterworks Mfg. Co. 2322 Caterpillar Inc. 2615 Cellnet 1448 Central Plastics Company 345 Certainteed Corporation 331 Channell 312 Charlatte of America 328 Charter Plastics Inc. 443 ChemScan Process Analyzers div.

337 Chemline Plastics Limited 1953 Chemtrac Systems Inc 801 Chlorinators Incorporated 223 Cla-Val 2031 Cogsdale Corporation 1552 Collector Wells Intl. Inc. 2607 Columbian TecTank 1207 Con-V-Air 519 Conbraco Industries Inc. 2222 Conservatek Industries, Inc. 2416 Contazara SA 221 Control Microsystems 1217 Corrpro Companies, Inc. 2201 Crispin-Multiplex Manufacturing Co. 2131 Crom Corp. (The) 1042 Cummins Power Generation 908 DFW Plastics Inc. 1110 DHI Water & Environment 826 DLM Industries Ltd. 945 DYK Incorporated 2226 Dalian Boto Cast Iron Foundry 2545 Danfoss Flomatic Corporation 743 Data West Corporation 1536 Datamatic, Ltd. 2043 DeZURIK Water Controls 1807 Delta Cooling Towers, Inc. 734 Derceto, Inc. 2811 Diamond Plastics Corporation 2151 Diamond Waterworks 2807 Dow Chemical Co (The) 1908 Dresser Piping Specialties 2301 Droycon Bioconcepts, Inc. 7 Dryco Drying Services 622 Dynasonics 2313 EA Water Pvt. Ltd. 724 EBAA Iron Inc. 1302 EMA Inc. 1437 EMCO Corporation 2349 EMEC Americas, Ltd. 26 ENPAR Technologies Inc. 648 EPA Technical Assistance Centers 518 EPMAR Corporation 2351 ESRI 903 Eagle Microsystems Inc. 2048 Eagle Picher Filtration & Minerals, Inc. 432 Earth Science Laboratories Inc 30 Easily Moved Equipment Inc. 2540 East Jordan Iron Works Inc. 1322 Echologics Engineering Inc 412 Electric Guard Dog (The) 9 Electrolytic Technologies Corp 2243 Elster AMCO Water Inc. 1901 Emerson Process Management 1730 Endeavor Tool Company LLC 2815 Endress & Hauser Inc. 2442 Engineered Storage Products Co. 1314

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ACE 2007 Enviroline Group 28 Environmental Science & Engineering 6 Enviroquip Inc. of Austin TX 1129 Exotec 2450 F.B. Leopold Company 1400 F.S. Brainard & Co. 2203 Fairmount Minerals 434 Fernco Inc. 2350 Fiber Technology Corporation 2611 Fibox Enclosures 2204 Fibrwrap Construction Inc 2809 Filtronics Inc. 243 Filtros, Ltd. 1751 Fisher Research Laboratory 2109 Flomotion Systems, Inc. 409 Floran Technologies Inc. 428 Flow Metrix, Inc. 812 Flowline Inc. 512 Floyd S. Salser Jr. & Assoc.

DBA Mars Co 1529 Fluid Conservation Systems 2115 Fluid Imaging Technologies, Inc. 425 Fluoride Safety Corporation 2646 Fontaine USA, Inc. 1538 Force Flow 1839 Ford Meter Box Co. Inc. (The) 1317 FreeWave Technologies 2817 French Creek Software, Inc. 16 Fuji Electric 2409 Future Pipe Industries, Inc. 413 GE Water & Process Technologies 1637 GFS Chemicals 248 GMI Composites 2911 GP 50 811 GPK Products Inc. 1344 GPM Pumps, Inc. 2242

Galaxy Plastics Ltd. Gallagher Security Management Systems General Chemical Corporation Geodome Geomembrane Technologies, Inc. Global Poly Systems, Inc. Global Water Instrumentation Golder Associates Good Water Warehouse, Inc. Government Engineering Journal Grand Haven Meter Couplings Gray Matter Systems/GE Fanuc Griffin Pipe Products Co. Grundfos Pumps Corporation/ Paco Pumps Gutermann Leak Detection H2O Innovation (2000) Inc. HARCO Fittings HF scientific HOT BOX Hach Company Hach Company Hach Company Halogen Valve Systems Inc. Hanley Wood/Public Works Magazine Hanna Instruments Canada Inc. Hansen Information Technologies Hanson Pipe & Products, Inc. Heath Consultants Inc. Hedwin Corporation Hendrick Screen Co. Hersey Meters Hetek Solutions Inc. Hexagram Inc. Hoffman Agency (The)

2649

Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Hungerford & Terry Inc. Hurco Technologies, Inc. Hydra-Shield Mfg. Inc. Hydranautics Hydro Gate Hydro-Guard Hydromantis, Inc. Hyprescon, Inc. IC Controls ICWT/CALIFT IDEXX Laboratories IEH Laboratories Consulting Group INFICON IPEX ISCO Industries ITRON ITT Advanced Water Treatment ITT Flowtronex ITT Goulds Pumps Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Independent Pipe Products Induron Coatings Inc. Industrial Pipe Fittings, LLC Industrial Test Systems, Inc. Infilco Degremont Inc./Ozonia North America InfoStream, LLC Insituform Technologies, Inc. Int'l/Interprovincial Corrosion Control International Dioxcide Inc Intuitech, Inc. J & S Valve, Inc. J-M Mfg. Co. JCM Industries Inc.

1152 1106 1247 1539 2805 2148 506 600 2051 1645 42 1422 2507 1545 302 1912 1117 1842 1408 1409 1417 818 1047 301 1228 429 2318 209 922 1943 25 2451 1045

420 2900 714 1331 1746 2023 1644 703 2346 2343 1647 1541 508 2633 544 446 1609 837 837 837 31 447 1439 628 2910 1831 2053 123 538 2107 32 732 1001 1223

12 volt submersible pumps

IMPROVED FEATURES Significant improvements have been added to Waterra's 12 Volt Submersible Pumps — designed to make your well purging and sampling even easier.

NEW! WSP-SS-85NC Stainless Steel 12 Volt Submersible • no controller required, runs directly off of 12 volts DC • can pump the most turbid water with no damage to pump • can even be used for low flow sampling • provides lift up to 85 feet

Standard Performance 12 Volt Submersibles • new features added to entire Standard Performance line • more sturdy hose connector • new inlet cover added to help prevent clogging

• easily decontaminated (WSP-12V-2) Groundwater Monitoring Equipment & Supplies (Canada) Waterra Pumps Limited waterra@idirect.com • tel: 905.238.5242 (USA) Waterra USA Inc. waterra@openaccess.org • tel: 360.738.3366

pumps • filters • tubing • www.waterra.com • bailers • water level sensors www.esemag.com

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ACE 2007 JMAR Technologies JUMO Process Control, Inc. John Meunier Inc. Johnson Screens KP Electronics Inc. KPSI Transducers, Pressure Systems Inc. KWH Pipe Karcher Canada Inc. Keller America Inc. Kemiron Companies Inc Kinetico Incorporated Klear Blue Technologies LLC Koch Membrane Systems Koraleen Enterprises Krohne,Inc. Kruger Inc Kubota Corporation Kupferle Foundry Co. LaMotte Company Lab-Bell, Inc. Landmark Municipal Services Landmark Structures Layfield Geosynthetics & Industrial Fabrics Ltd. Layne Christensen Company Leggette, Brashears & Graham Inc. Liquid Analytical Resource, LLC Longwatch, Inc. Lowell Corporation Lutz-Jesco America Corp.

M.E. Simpson Co. Inc. M.T.Deason Company, Inc. MAB Paints MFG Water Treatment Products MIOX Corporation MRO Software Inc. MS Filter Inc. MWH Laboratories MWH Soft, Inc. Mabry Castings LTD Madison Chemical Industries Inc. Magna Filter Media Magna Flow Environmental MainSaver ManSci Inc. MarMac Construction Products Master Meter Inc.

66 | May 2007

1149 304 1239 2145 414 1938 342 407 1551 620 535 1150 2323 2547 416 1239 1151 550 802 319 501 2237 2445 2501 2504 2543 1743 2208 1852 1245 726 536 324 1037 2745 926 624 912 435 250 215 1353 11 1951 2703 1523

Matco-Norca, Inc. Matrix Imaging Solutions Mazzei Injector Corporation McCrometer, Inc. McElroy Mfg. Inc. McGard Inc. McWane, Inc. Measuremax, Inc. Merrick Industries, Inc. Metrotech Corp.

Meurer Research, Inc. Microwave Data Systems Milliken Valve Co. Milton Roy Mission Communications Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc. Mueller Co. Municipal Solutions Munro Concrete Products Ltd. Munters Corporation-Moisture Control Services Myron L Company NAPAC Inc. NEO Valves NRC Research Press NRC/Institute for Research & Construction NSF International Napier-Reid Ltd. Natgun Corporation National Environmental Services Center National Fire Sprinkler Association Inc. National Pump Company, LLC Neptune Technology Group Inc Norit Americas Inc North American Fire Hose North American Pipe Corp.

Northrop Grumman Information Technology Northtown Co. Northwest Pipe Company Nu Flow OCV Control Valves OPTA Minerals, Inc. ORBECO-HELLIGE

229 925 2502 1230 442 2036 1103 725 2610 1430 2415 233 2123 2412 941 1038 2015 218 318 1213 351 2705 316 214 216 817 2632 1216 525 421 1548 1503 2037 424 1051 1848 948 251 2441 1914 947 2344

Occlude 1146 Ontario Clean Water Agency 516 Ontario Ministry of the Environment 1652 Optellios 2253 Oracle-SPL 451 Orica Watercare 1851 PACO Pumps/Grundfos Pumps 2511 PAX Water Technologies, Inc. 2642 PBS&J 2644 PEPSO Advanced Filtration 1453 PVS Technologies Inc 2709 Pacific Ozone Technology 430 Palintest 313 Pall Corporation 2229 Panasonic Computer Solutions Co. 212 Panton McLeod Americas 505 Pathogen Detection Systems, Inc. 850 Pentair Water/Pentair Filtration 1309 Pepcon Systems 236 Performance Meter, Inc. 2207 Performance Pipe 2130 Phoenix Fabricators & Erectors, Inc. 1308 Pioneer Water Tanks-A BlueScope Water Co. 2901 Pipeline Pigging Products Inc. 1112 Pipeline Seal & Insulator Inc. 2213 Pittsburg Tank & Tower Co. 2801 Plas-Tanks Industries, Inc. 2247 Plast-O-Matic Valves, Inc. 2515 Plastic Trends Inc. 1343 Pollardwater.com 549 Pollution Equipment News/Rimbach Publishing Inc. 231 Poly Pipe, Inc. 542 Poly Processing Co. 2238 PowerSeal Pipeline Products Corp.

406 Pratt Company (Henry) 2023 Preload Inc. 2544 Pressure Pipe Inspection Co. (The) 1349 Prince Sultan Int'l. Prize For Water 320 Pristine Water Solutions Inc. 1312 ProMinent Fluid Controls, Inc. 931 Process Solutions, Inc. 733 Proco Products, Inc. 2731 Procorp Enterprises LLC 2637 Promium LLC 36 Public Works Marketing Inc. 2706 Purafil Environmental Systems 2225

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ACE 2007 Pure Air Filtration, LLC 2347 Pure Technologies 1651 PureLine Treatment Systems 1742 Pureflow Filtration Div. 213 Purifics 1643 Purolite Company (The) 2628 Qingdao Everbright Machinery Co. LTD. 35 Qingdao Pipeking Machinery Company Limited 246 QuakeWrap, Inc. 1949 R-Can Environmental Inc. 822 REHAU Industries Inc. 1346 RIVA Online 13 Raco Mfg & Engineering Co Inc. 1436 Radio Satellite Integrators 1142 Real Tech Inc. 1052 Red Flint Sand & Gravel 1209 Reed Manufacturing Co Inc 1803 ResinTech, Inc. 534 Rhino Linings 1143 Robar Industries Ltd. 2446 Roberts Filter Group (The) 2307 Robo-Control 2049 Rockwell Automation 330 Romac Industries Inc 1022 Ross Valve Manufacturing Co. Inc. 2217 Royal Pipe Systems 1343 Rural Community Assistance Partnership 523 S&B Technical Products 2529 SJE-Rhombus Controls, Inc. 1148 SW Services 1215 Saehan Industries Inc 2342 Saf-T-Flo Chemical Injection 2713 Samberken Enterprises, Inc. 2915 Samjin Precision Co., Ltd. 731 Sanexen Environmental Services, Inc. 234 Savant Measurement Corp.

1250 Schlumberger Water Svcs/Waterloo Hydrogeologic Inc 2519 Schneider Electric 2551 Schroeder Industries 1550 Sensicore, Inc. 33 Sensus Metering Systems 2001 Serampore Industries dba SIP Industries 2249 Severn Trent Services 1922 Sewerin USA, LLC 513 Sherwin-Williams 2337 Shimadzu Scientific Instr Inc 1910 Siemens Water Technologies 1615 Sigma Corp.

1911 Singer Valve Inc. 1431 Smart Gadgets, Inc. 2711 Smith Flow Control (USA) 325 Smith-Blair Inc. 2103 SolarBee - Pump Systems, Inc. 217 SonicSolutions, LLC 827 Specified Fittings Inc. 254 Stanley Hydraulic Tools 744 Star Pipe Products 1137 Statiflo Corporation 2739 Stealth Valve & Controls 2636 Strategic Diagnostics Inc 2902 Straub Tadco 740 SubSurface Leak Detection Inc. 252 Sulzer Chemtech 531 Sulzer Pumps (US) Inc. 529 Superior Tank Co. Inc. 924 Swan/Analytical Instruments 1251 Syncroflo Inc. 2747 T.D. Williamson Inc. 831

www.esemag.com

Visit historic CASA LOMA while in Toronto.

TEMCOR TGO Technologies, Inc. TNEMEC Co. Inc. TT Technologies Inc. Taisei Kiko Co. Ltd. Tank Connection Tank Industry Consultants Taylor Kerr Couplings Ltd. Team Industrial Services, Inc. Technical Associates Tecnidro S.R.L. Tek-Rap Inc. Telog Instruments Inc. Tideflex Technologies Tonka Equipment Co. Total Piping Solutions, Inc. TraceDetect, Inc. Transparent Technologies Trenton Corp.

Tric Tools, Inc. Trihedral Engineering Limited Tripac Fasteners Trojan Technologies Trojan Technologies Trojan Technologies Troy Valve Trumbull Industries U S Department of Agriculture, RUS U S EPA Office of Water U S Pipe Valve & Hydrant Division (USPVH) U S Underwater Services Inc. 1 U S Water News U.S. EPA's Water Sense Program U.S. Saws & Blades URS US EPA ETV US EPA NHSRC USABlueBook UV Pure Technologies Ultraflote Corp.

Underground Solutions Underwater Construction Corp.

Underwriters Laboratories Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Assn.

1530 2537 2009 2312 1144 422 1337 748 2111 4 1049 346 5 830 2139 2436 816 1029 2640 951 823 1753 1408 1409 1417 453 2202 521 522 2314 438 520 423 2715 436 419 417 2531 1650 927 2601 727 2317 2403

Unifilt Corp.

United States Pipe & Foundry Co. Urecon Ltd. VAG Armaturen GmbH VITA-D-CHLOR Company Val-Matic Valve & Mfg. Corp.

Vanguard Utility Service, Inc. Vassallo Industries Veritec Consulting Inc Videx Inc. WL Plastics WQA Aquatech USA Wachs Company (E.H.) Wachs Company (E.H.) Walkerton Clean Water Centre Wallingford Software Warminster Fiberglass Co. Wasser Corporation WateReuse Association Water & Wastes Digest Water & Wastewater Products Water Efficiency & Onsite Water Trmt Magazine Water Environment Federation Water Online Water Systems Optimization, Inc. WaterTrax Waterloo Biofilter Systems, Inc. Waterman Industries Waterworld Watson-Marlow Bredel Pumps Watts Water Technologies, Inc. WennSoft WesTech Western Environmental Liner Western Mule Cranes Westfall Manufacturing Company Whitford Corporation Whitlam/Plumb-Pro Wilkins, A Zurn Company Wonderware WorldWater & Power Corp.

Zebron Corporation eWaterTek

401 1700 333 2741 2629 1023 1752 1638 23 2152 343 207 1917 2223 1248 737 1115 2143 717 306 225 1046 720 1252 1153 507 12 713 1449 129 1508 2914 2623 2517 800 2723 1549 1452 1937 29 335 329 618

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A diverse range of case histories and new developments is reviewed in ES&Eâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s semi-annual look at tanks, containment systems and spill management.

Permastore tanks used in energy from household waste pilot project he Plasco Energy Group pilot project in Ottawa, Ontario, will use plasma gasification technology to generate electricity from municipal household waste. Plasma gasification is used in industrial applications, such as the disposal of medical wastes. The challenge for Plasco is to make the technology efficient and costeffective enough to treat the household waste, while providing a return on the investment.

This gasification process breaks down garbage and turns it into a fuel gas that generates electricity. The system is designed with no smokestack and the chambers are sealed. A similar test plant is operating in Spain.

T

160m3 wastewater tank

The process will produce three byproducts: an inert slag that can be used as road aggregate or to make paving

SERVING YOUR INDUSTRY FOR OVER 60 YEARS Protecting you and the environment is our top priority! As an industry leader in fuel storage systems, HASSCO Industries offers a complete line of storage tank systems built to the latest ULC and Transport Canada standards, ensuring your compliance with all the latest regulations.

450L Rectangular Mobile Refuelling Tank Built to CGSB 43.146-2002 Committed to producing quality products.

HASSCO Industries Inc. is an ISO 9001-2002 registered company.

For more information on all of our products visit us on the web at www.hassco.ca TOMORROW'S

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

TODAY!

223 Ashland Ave, London, ON N5W 4E3 Tel. 519-451-3100 1-800-668-0814 Fax 519-451-3102 E-mail: info@hassco.ca

68 | May 2007

stones; some sulphur that can be used to condition soil; and some heavy metals, that will have to be taken to a landfill. A tonne of garbage will produce 150 kilograms of slag, five kilograms of sulphur and 1.3 kilograms of heavy metals.

H2Flow Tanks & Systems supplied the project with a 330m3 raw water tank, a 160m3 wastewater tank, as well as insulation, cladding, heat tracing, a double walled below grade storage tank with interstitial monitoring, a solids and oils filtration system, and a mercury removal and polishing system.

The tankage installation was not without its difficulties. Estimated time line for delivery and construction was from November 1 to December 31, 2006.

However, the tanks did not arrive on-site until mid-December, which meant a winter build. This involved using a shelter and heating, and a number of mechanical and weather delays were experienced.

However, the Permastore bolted steel tanks were erected and leak tested without any leaks, allowing for the whole project to continue on schedule.

When finished this fall, the facility will process up to 75 tonnes per day of unsorted municipal solid waste and generate electricity to power the entire process and approximately 3,600 Ottawa households. It covers a three-acre site and is scheduled to run for at least two years.

For more information, contact Darrin Hopper, H2Flow Tanks & Systems Inc. darrin@h2flow.com

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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Water tank construction in adverse site conditions uilding a new water tank in a difficult location may not be all that uncommon, but building a water tank on a coal mining site is unique and offered some interesting geotechnical and engineering challenges.

That was the situation faced by Greatario Engineered Storage Systems and Dillon Consulting Limited when designing and erecting a new water storage tank to meet the need for added fire protection capability for the Town of Stellerton, Nova Scotia.

The tank, measuring 37.5 m diameter by 4.7 m high, has a capacity of 4,800 cu.m and was supplied by Engineered Storage Products Company; it will be used mainly for fire flows. The structure is situated on a former strip mine site comprised of coal mine tailings. While the site was advantageous from an initial cost standpoint, it presented a challenge when it came to the design for the foundations. Not only was the foundation on tailings an issue, the site elevation, required for head pressure, was exposed to the extreme cold winter winds and there was a need to ensure freezing did not become a problem.

Pioneer Coal commenced the site preparation work in May 2005 and this was completed in three months. Two metres of tailings, acting as a surcharge to consolidate the underlying fills, were left in place for nine months and settlement readings were taken on a monthly basis.

Since the cost of piles was prohibitive, the foundation would need to be closely monitored for settlement to ensure uni-

B

www.esemag.com

form settlement took place.

The answer to being able to correct any differential settlement problem was to use the addition of grout tubes under the foundation. This provided a system by which grout could be added under pressure to adjust the tank for any differ-

ential settlement. Survey bolts were placed on the foundation to accurately record the position of the tank.

The tank was constructed with a ringwall foundation, but equipped with a steel floor, which has the ability to flex 2” to 3”. However, a special concrete raft slab was designed around the interior perimeter underneath the steel floor to prevent any flexing where the tank wall meets the steel floor.

Since the main use for the tank is for fire flows, it meant there would be minimal water movement. In order to avoid freezing, the tank is completely insulated, including the interior of the Temcor aluminum geodesic dome. In addition, the tank is equipped with a Tide Flex mixing system to mitigate any ice build-up and prevent water stagnation.

“The tank has been in service for six months and is performing well” according to the Town of Stellerton Engineer, Tony Addis. “The project was designed, tendered, constructed and commissioned on time and within budget. The fact that the tank components were manufactured in advance simplified the on-site construction process.”

For more information, visit www.greatario.com

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Glass-fused-to-steel tanks used for anaerobic digestion process

By Darrin Hopper

naerobic digestion uses wet wastes to produce energy in the form of a methane-rich biogas.

The process involves the bacterial fermentation of effluent materials at a temperature of around 30-35ºC (mesophilic fermentation) or 55ºC (thermophilic fermentation), during which 60% or more of the organic material may be converted into biogas. Anaerobic digestion (AD) takes place in large, heated, insulated tanks and the rate of fermentation will depend on the nature of the feedstock and the operating temperature.

The methane involved may be consumed locally, partly for the digestion process or used in a generator to produce electricity for export into a grid. The ‘digested’ sludge may then be separated into liquid and solid components with the liquid element being used as a fertilizer and the solids being used as a soil conditioner or, with further processing, as higher value organic compost.

Biogas production is becoming the preferred method of dealing with large quantities of organic wastes to provide a

A

sustainable management system. It has been extensively adopted in the UK, mainland Europe and Scandinavia, with the construction of many large-scale anaerobic digestion plants in the past 10 years. The mainly European technology is now being exported to the Far East and North America where it is increasingly seen as the most environmentally-friendly and cost-effective method of processing high volume effluents, offering substantial benefits to owners, local communities and to society as a whole, including: • Reduction of CO2 emissions.

• Reduction of methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

• Control of odours.

• Prevention of nitrate leaching to groundwater.

• Return of organic matter to the land.

• Reduction of pathogens in raw effluents.

• Saving on landfill capacity.

• Conservation of limited fossil fuel resources.

• Saving on limited resources for production of commercial fertilizers.

Science and technology innovation for emerging issues Emerging issues • Heavy metals and mercury • Particulate matter • VOCs • Personal care products in water • Disinfection by-products • Mould in indoor environments

Call 780 . 632 . 8211 70 | May 2007

E-mail: referral@arc.ab.ca www.arc.ab.ca

• Contribution to national and international measures for the control of ‘greenhouse gases’.

A UK-based glass-fused-to-steel tank manufacturer has been designing, manufacturing and building both aerobic and anaerobic digester tanks for the agricultural, municipal and industrial sectors for some 30 years. With hundreds of tanks supplied to treatment plants over this period, it has a substantial knowledge of digester tank design considerations.

In the UK, anaerobic digestion is now the predominant method for treatment of effluents in the municipal sector. In mainland Europe and Scandinavia, glassfused-to-steel tanks are also used in anaerobic digester processes dealing with effluents from several sources including livestock slurry, domestic sewage, and industrial waste materials from meatpacking and other food processing plants.

Typical sizes for such digester tanks range from 600m3 to over 5,000m3 capacity.

Alternative materials for digester construction The development of glass-fused-tosteel as a leading material for modern anaerobic digestion plants is a result of considerable experience with alternative materials and technologies. The structural integrity of the tank, and especially the interface with the roof, is essential to maintain constant operating pressures and temperatures. Ingress of oxygen into the gaseous zone of the anaerobic digester will change the nature of the process and may result in the excessive production of severely corrosive materials such as hydrogen sulphide and sulphuric acid.

Darrin Hopper is with H2Flow Tanks & Systems Inc. Contact: darrin@h2flow.com

Have us join your team.

Partnership opportunities • Instrumentation and method development • New technologies in waste and water management • Risk assessment and management systems

Looking for help managing a complex environmental issue or new technology?

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

ES&E May:2007

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Page 71

For storage of liquid manure, Cadman carries the complete line of portable storage bladders by Albers Alligator. The bladder has a capacity of up to 53,000 gallons, and is constructed of PVC coated polyester fabric. Each bladder comes with three 6" connection points, three vent tubes, and a 10 ft square piece of patching material. The bladder allows for continuous operation of a drag hose or tanker in the fields that are located far from the pit or lagoon.

Tel: 866-422-3626 Web: www.cadmanpower.com Cadman Power Equipment

Field erected process and storage tanks

Permastore glass-fused-to-steel tanks are manufactured to published quality standards, tested to zero defects and have an accredited 30-year design life. They handle a pH range of 1-14 and are well suited for high strength industrial effluents and flexible tank designs.

Tel: 905-660-0649, Fax: 905-660-9744 E-mail: darrin@h2flow.com Web: www.h2flow.com H2Flow Tanks & Systems

Interlocking cover system

Stan-Deck’s interlocking cover system is designed for tanks of all shapes and sizes.

Featuring the industry's highest load ratings, the all fiberglass FRP, modular construction provides a lightweight, easy to install, low maintenance cover solution to odor control or freeze up challenges.

Tel: 416-444-4484, Fax: 416-444-4485 E-mail: kszasz@protectolite.com Web: www.protectolite.com Protectolite Inc. www.esemag.com

Water Tanks

Flowtite® Water Tanks are the ideal reservoir for potable and non-potable water applications. They are lightweight and non-corrosive and come in sizes ranging from 2,000 –190,000 liters. The Flowtite line of tanks includes septic, fire protection, rainwater harvesting and more.

Tel: 1-877-CSI-TANK, Fax: 936-756-7766 E-mail: sales@csiproducts.com Web: www.containmentsolutions.com Containment Solutions

CGSB approved mobile IBC tanks

By meeting the latest UN/CGSB regulations, we offer the latest products designed for the safe transportation of fuel. These mobile tanks are available from 50 to 2,200 litre capacity and will withstand the rigours of both on and off road conditions. Contact us for further information on these and other HASSCO products.

Tel: 1-800-668-0814 E-mail: info@hassco.ca Web: www.hassco.ca HASSCO Industries

The JetMix Vortex Mixing System can be used in bio-solids storage where solids suspension is important. Benefits of using the JetMix system include: Intermittent operation saves 6090% in power consumption; expensive tank cleanout and scheduled maintenance not required; easily installed in existing tanks; multiple tank mixing using a central pump house. JetMix was a recipient of a 1997 Innovative Technology Award from the Water Environment Federation.

Tel: 519-469-8169, Fax: 519-469-8157 E-mail: sales@greatarioengsys.com Web: www.greatario.com.

Greatario Engineered Storage Systems

Contained pallet models

PRO-TEC Contained Pallet Models are ideal when location and space are minimal. Our CPD35 model is 9’10” W x 37’3” L x 11’9” H, holding 96 drums!

Designed for forklift access, standard models include door placards, chemical resistant paint, sump, large doors with 3 point locking hardware and natural ventilation. ULC/FM listed and approved.

Tel: 403-227-5400, Fax: 403-227-4073 E-mail: lori@protecstorage.ca Web: www.protecstorage.ca LADEN Steel Fabrication

Specialist training

Secondary lining system

Spill Management offers On-Site SiteSpecific, All-risk and All-hazard Response Training for chemical spills using workshops with hands-on training, classroom instruction, Emergency Response Planning and Incident Command. Other services also include Emergency Response Equipment, and Supplies Assessments using video.

Tel: 905-578-9666, Fax: 905-578-6644 E-mail: contact@spillmanagement.ca Web: www.spillmanagement.ca

When underground tanks need to be replaced but site conditions make replacement costly and difficult, then retrofit your tanks with a new corrosion resistant secondary contained lining system. The new system is a unique installed on-site internal fiberglass system that allows you to upgrade in-service steel or fiberglass single wall tanks to a secondary contained lining system.

Tel: 800-661-8265, Fax: 780-466-6126 E-mail: sales@zcl.com Web: www.zcl.com

Spill Management

ZCL Composites May 2007 | 71

Storage/Containment & Spills Product Showcase

Portable storage systems

ES&E May:2007

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2:15 AM

Page 72

Elevated water tanks - always looking ahead

By Mike Elliott s elevated tanks have evolved, from standpipes to multi-leg steel tanks to composite steel tanks, so has our ability to provide a complete service from initial planning studies, hydraulic analysis, design, construction management, testing, commissioning, right through to demolition of old structures.

In the planning stages we work closely with clients to establish the most appropriate location and size of property for a new elevated water tank, usually through the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment process. We often provide a 3D rendering of the proposed elevated tank, superimposed onto a picture of the existing site, to illustrate how the tank will look and what visual and shadow impacts the tank may have on adjacent properties.

During the planning and design stages it is also important to confirm system hydraulics so that water can be moved into and out of the tank with minimal head losses, and without compromising water quality. It has become increasingly more important to ensure that water quality is maintained and this can be accomplished through extended water modeling runs to determine water age, piping and valving arrangements, water recirculation and top-up chlorination or chloramination requirements.

A

72 | May 2007

3D rendering of proposed elevated tank for Baden, superimposed onto picture of existing site.

KMK strives to provide maximum operator flexibility, while minimizing the piping and valving required for each elevated tank to minimize costs and operation and maintenance issues.

Elevated tanks can be designed to include a main valve and control centre, chemical room, washroom, communications room, separate inlet and outlet piping arrangements, control valves on the inlet and outlet piping, bi-directional flow measurement, monitoring equipment, portable generator with a manual transfer switch, exterior lightning protection and tank illumination, and external flushing lines for the elevated tank and distribution system, to name a few.

We work closely with our clients to provide a facility that is fully customized to meet their needs.

Elevated tank sites are also prime locations for bulk water depots that can be used by water haulers, particularly in the more rural agricultural areas, and can provide a small source of additional revenue for municipalities. These depots can be fitted with keyless control systems, much like credit cards, where money can be deposited on the account in advance. The user swipes the card and inserts the amount of water required, which gets dispensed if there are sufficient funds on the card.

KMK has been able to develop a com-

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prehensive set of drawings and specifications that reflect current codes, standards, safety requirements and construction methodologies. The level of detail established on the drawings and in the specifications ensures that our elevated tanks are constructed with few problems or unexpected cost overruns.

It is also important that the construction of an elevated tank is closely monitored, with concrete testing, welding and coating inspections, so that the finished product will stand the test of time.

In our Canadian climate, ice formation is a challenge during the winter months. KMK's designs typically incorporate a separate inlet and outlet riser and recirculation pump, along with recommended operating levels to help maintain good water quality and circulation conditions in the tank to mitigate ice bridging.

It should be noted, however, that ice formation can also depend on water usage, drawdown levels in the tank, water quality, water temperature, outside air temperature and, of course, the location of the tank. If mechanically induced water circulation is over-designed, it is possible that water inside the tank could be “supercooled” which could also cause ice formation when it is not intended.

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Therefore, the above noted items must be taken into consideration for each tank on an individual basis when determining the best way to mitigate ice formation.

We have also assisted clients in upgrading or retrofitting older elevated tanks with improved fall arrest equipment, miscellaneous piping and valve improvements, new interior and exterior coatings systems and circulation systems. The City of Hamilton's Dundas tank was one such project where a TMS (Tideflex® Mixing System) was installed to assist in water circulation and mitigate ice formation.

Municipalities have also asked KMK to complete 25-year present-value lifecycle cost analyses of rehabilitating existing elevated tanks versus constructing brand new elevated tanks. For a lifecycle cost analysis it is prudent to consider capital upgrade costs, property acquisition costs (for a new tank), operating costs including hydro, maintenance costs including regular inspections, engineering fees, an average inflation rate and an average interest rate.

The result of the analysis would identify how much money a municipality would have to invest at an average interest rate, to cover the required capital upgrades costs and operation and maintenance

costs over 25 years, including inflation.

Although elevated water tanks are designed to last a long time, too often we see municipalities that have allowed their elevated tanks to deteriorate over 20 – 30 years without completing routine inspections and/or repairs, resulting in major costly upgrades. Elevated water tanks are becoming increasingly more expensive to rehabilitate.

We would strongly urge municipalities to implement regular inspection programs at least every five years, to help identify intermediate repairs or upgrades and inspect the general condition of their tanks. When caught early, most repairs and/or upgrades can be completed for minimal cost and can extend the operational life of the elevated tank until the next inspection or beyond.

Mike Elliott, P.Eng., is project engineer for KMK Consultants Ltd. Contact: mikee@kmk.ca

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Waterproofing system for wastewater tanks

By Ivan Razl astewater from petrochemical industries and refineries contains high amounts of emulsified aliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbons and their treatment facilities have large reinforced concrete tanks. These tanks deteriorate and develop cracks over time, allowing the contaminated effluent to escape, potentially causing a serious environmental hazard.

The repair and waterproofing of deteriorated tanks is problematic, mainly due to the difficulty of surface cleaning of concrete substrate, which is covered with a thick layer of oil and grease. Even after removing these deposits, the concrete remains saturated with oil, which is impossible to remove.

Gemite Products Inc. has developed an integrated system that has proven to be very successful in the repair and waterproofing of contaminated concrete tanks in petrochemical and oil refining facilities. The waterproofing and repair system, using Fibre-Prime and Nano-Shield OSP (organic solvents protection), is economical and easily applied by qualified waterproofing contractors.

Fibre-Prime is a two-component, polymer-modified, cement-based slurry formulated to bond to oil contaminated concrete and to provide an adhesive bridge between the waterproofing membrane (or repair mortar) and the existing substrate.

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74 | May 2007

Nano-Shield OSP is a one-component inorganic system, which is completely impervious and chemically resistant to inwater emulsified hydrocarbons, including polar or non-polar organic solvents such as benzene, toluene, xylene, ketons, mineral spirits, and any other organic solvent.

The material is a result of Gemite’s development of nano-technology, in this case 100-200 nano-metres, and advanced “particle packing”, over the course of several years. It has been extensively laboratory tested and field evaluated.

Nano-Shield OSP is applied by spraying, brushing or troweling directly to clean concrete in new construction, or with Fibre-Prime as a bonding agent, when repairing and waterproofing existing oil contaminated concrete tanks.

First large application The first large application was the waterproofing and protection of a wastewater treatment facility in the Slovnaft petrochemical plant and refinery in Bratislava, Slovakia. Built in the early sixties, it is one of the largest oil refining and petrochemical facilities in Central Europe. The wastewater contains large amounts of emulsified aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons (oils) of various molecular weights, with solids content varying from 10%-15%. Often, highly polar solvents, e.g. ketons, escape with the wastewater.

The wastewater treatment facility has a large number of reinforced concrete

tanks approximately 140 metres (460 ft) long, 40 metres (131 ft) wide and 6 metres (20 ft deep). The tanks have developed leaks through cracks, construction joints and expansion joints and present a serious ecological problem.

The key challenge presented in the repair and waterproofing of the reinforced concrete tanks was the deep oil contamination of the concrete, with the interior surface of the concrete tanks covered by an approximately 12 – 18 mm (½ - ¾ in) thick layer of black oily residues. A further challenge was to span the existing moving cracks and expansion joints. The solution to the problem was to waterproof the reinforced concrete tanks using FibrePrime Slurry as a bonding agent to the surface prepared, oil contaminated concrete and the application of Nano-Shield OSP to the wet Fibre-Prime.

Crack repairs All cracks exposed by cleaning were cut out to form a groove, approximately 2 cm (¾ in) wide and 12 mm (1/2 in) deep and filled with one component polyurethane. The polyurethane was applied to the entire area. After curing the polyurethane, Fibre-Prime was applied to the polyurethane as a bonding agent, and the grooves were filled with micro-silica enhanced, fibre reinforced mortar (SprayCon WS ST).

Expansion joints treatment The repair of the bottom slab joint started with milling off an approximately

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Sealing of cracks by application of one component polyurethane into the cut out grooves.

20 cm (8 in) wide and 12 mm (1/2 in) deep groove over each expansion joint.

The expansion joints were cleaned using wet sand-blast and repaired with SprayCon WS ST mortar bonded with FibrePrime. The 20 cm (8 in) wide area, including vertical sides, was then coated with one-component polyurethane. This was followed by placement of a 2 mm

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thick layer of oil resistant rubber sheet embedded into the joint. The joint was then covered with a sheet of stainless steel metal mechanically fastened to one side of the joint. The vertical joints were repaired using the same system.

Waterproofing and chemical protection Fibre-Prime was applied to the surface

of the concrete, including the polyurethane treated surface of repaired cracks.

Nano-Shield OSP was then applied in two coats to the wet bonding slurry of Fibre-Prime for a total thickness of 3 mm (1/8 in) and wet cured for three days.

Testing of the repair procedures was carried out in 2004 and 2005, with the final repair and waterproofing of the facility carried out during the 2006 construction season. After filling the repaired tank with water, a thorough inspection identified two small wet spots on the exterior walls, each approximately 5 cm (2 in) diameter. There were no water leaks and the repair was a complete success.

The key problems - bonding to a heavily oil contaminated concrete substrate, waterproofing, providing chemical protection and spanning the moving cracks and joints - had been successfully resolved.

Ivan Razl, Ph.D., P.Eng., is Technical Director for Gemite Products Inc. Contact: ivan@gemite.com

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Disinfection

Effective mixing of stored potable water deters harmful disinfection byproducts n efforts to improve and protect drinking water quality, the US EPA periodically announces new disinfection byproduct (DBP) rules. In the past the emphasis was on the water treatment facility, but more recent attention is being placed on the distribution system. Because about 30 percent of drinking water in the US resides in potable storage tanks for some time period, current rules in effect require that water managers take new steps to maintain good water quality in their potable water storage tanks.

Many systems are now in a “catch up” mode in preserving water quality in such reservoirs. For instance, since a growing number of potable water suppliers have switched from chlorine to chloramines to disinfect water, they need to perform more sampling in the tanks to closely monitor nitrites caused by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). But some chloramines system operators are not yet addressing this problem.

Also, in a recent paper on the Final

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Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule, the EPA refers to the need for effective mixing of stored water to prevent the formation of DBPs (disinfection byproducts), particularly as it applies to chloramines introduced as chlorine and ammonia: “When chlorine and ammonia are added simultaneously, good mixing can reduce the time free chlorine has to react with NOM [natural organic matter] . . .

This eliminates the free chlorine almost immediately and reduces the potential for DBP formation . . . At lower temperatures, the reaction can take longer and mixing becomes more important.”

So, quick and thorough dispersion of both chlorine and ammonia determines the extent of free chlorine exposure, and thereby substantially impacts the formation of DBPs. As DBPs contribute to the deterioration of water quality, the question for many system operators is: How does one address this deterioration in potable water storage tanks when one can’t even

gauge, much less control, how long the water stays in the tank? The answer is to mix the tank continuously so that water age is minimized and actual detention time will be as low as possible. And, if problems occur even though the tank is being thoroughly mixed, the mixing capability gives the operator a good tool for solving the problems – by injecting additional disinfectant or by taking the tank through breakpoint chlorination.

Now solar-powered circulation systems are in wide use for improving water quality in lakes and reservoirs. These circulators are floating units that draw power from PV modules mounted on top of the tanks. They self-adjust for all water levels in the tank and, depending on size, can pump up to 37,854 litres (10,000 US gallons) of water per minute.

The long-distance flow pattern emanating from these solar-powered circulators has been shown to thoroughly mix tanks ranging from 757,082 litres (200,000 US gallons) to 378,541,180 litres (100 million US gallons). These

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Disinfection

mixers work for both chlorinated and chloraminated water. They facilitate thorough breakpoint chlorination, even in very large tanks, whenever necessary, and can also be used for â&#x20AC;&#x153;boostingâ&#x20AC;? by injection of chlorine or chloramine (chlorine and ammonia), or chlorite ions.

SolarBee machines operate 24/7 and can be monitored through the operatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SCADA system. Installations are accomplished through the hatch and without draining the tank or taking it offline.

The problems in treating potable water come from the need to constantly

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and thoroughly replace the disinfectant that is being used up at all the boundary layers of the tank (floor, walls and support members) to keep bacterial growth under control. This is especially critical in warm weather, when bacterial growth rates are the highest and bacteria can quickly deplete the disinfectant at the boundary layers.

Diffusion alone cannot always be counted on to keep fresh disinfectant at these surfaces; it is too slow and is hindered by stratification caused by temperature gradients as low as 0.01C. But

the new style of mixers, which have nearlaminar flow, will reach out up to 244 metres (800 feet) in all directions so that all boundary surfaces are getting a constant flow of replacement disinfectant.

One of the most problematic areas for bacterial growth is at the floor of the tank, where there is usually a layer of sediment, which, in a chloraminated system, is especially troublesome because free ammonia is always present in chloraminated water. AOBs (nitrifying bacteria) thrive when attached to sediment, and also AOBs are more resistant to the chlorine component of chloramines than most other bacteria. The result of no circulation across the sediment is often the formation of nitrite, especially in warm summer months, that exceeds the MCL (maximum contaminant level) of 1.0 mg/l.

The new long-distance mixers have a patented design that allows for constant replacement of the disinfectant at the sediment-water interface (without disturbing or re-suspending the sediment) to keep AOBs in the sediment under control.

For more information, contact H2O Logics Inc. E-mail mp@h2ologics.com

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Site Remediation

O. Reg. 153/04 provides protection from environmental liability ntario Regulation 153/04 (O. Reg. 153/04), the Records of Site Condition legislation, provides protection from environmental liability and details the requirements that property owners must meet in order to file a Record of Site Condition. Contained within the regulation are several approaches to address contamination issues at a site. Risk assessment is one of the options available.

Since its inception in October of 2004, many proponents have found the risk assessment process difficult and slow. Success can be facilitated through a quality and complete assessment, conducted by an experienced team of consultants.

O. Reg 153/04 is particularly relevant to owners of Brownfield sites. Brownfields are generally defined as abandoned or under-used industrial or commercial properties with valuable development potential where redevelopment is complicated by actual or perceived environmental contamination.

Contained within the regulation are several approaches to address contamination issues at a site. A site owner may ‘clean up’ or remediate a contaminated site at any time throughout the Record of Site Condition (RSC) process. The RSC is the administrative process used to document clean-up activities at contaminated sites in Ontario. The Environmental Protection Act requires that an RSC be completed in situations where properties are being converted to a more sensitive land-use. For example, a change in property use from a commercial or industrial use to a residential or parkland use requires the submission of an RSC. Many municipalities have identified other circumstances where submission of an RSC is required.

O

In order to complete the RSC, contaminant levels remaining on the site must fall below soil and groundwater standards established for the site. These standards may be generic, as provided in the Regulation (Tables 1 though 6, Site Condition Standards), or may be risk based and site-specific (Property Specific Standards). The Property Specific Standards (PSS) can be based on the implementation of a Risk Management Plan that may involve site restrictions.

The development of PSS involves the use of a scientific tool known as risk assessment. Risk assessment has been broadly defined as “the process of establishing information regarding acceptable levels of a risk and/or levels of risk for an individual, group, society, or the environment.”

Risk assessment (RA) is one of several options available to site owners with respect to evaluation and clean-up of contaminated sites. It can be more costeffective than a full-scale clean-up, and allow for clean-up to site-specific standards (PSS) and/or the use of risk management measures and land-use restrictions. RA can be useful when clean-up is not technically feasible or may take time, raising concerns regarding adverse impacts during the time of the remedial activity. RA can also be used to evaluate the impact of remediation and to examine the effect of the remedial measure on health and the environment as compared to leaving

By Elliot Sigal

contamination in place. Importantly, the risk assessment must provide the same level of health protection as the generic site condition standards.

O. Reg. 153/04 incorporated risk assessment procedures and standards from its predecessor, the Guideline for Use at Contaminated Sites in Ontario (the Guideline). Risk assessment requirements and guidance are contained in several documents: 1) “Schedule C” of O. Reg. 153/04 Part I - Mandatory Requirements Part II - Alternative Procedures complexity linked to timelines 2) “Procedures for the Use of Risk Assessment for Use Under Part XV.1 of the Environmental Protection Act” 3) Technical Updates provided by the Ministry to assist proponents in the successful completion of their risk assessments. These updates have addressed topics such as: • Laboratory Accreditation Requirements under the Record of Site Condition Regulation (O. Reg. 153/04) • Environmentally Sensitive Areas: pH levels • Equivalent Method Option for Analytical Testing of Brownfield Samples Regulated Under the Record of Site Condition – Part XV.1, Ontario Regulation 153/04 • Environmentally Sensitive Areas: Property within 30 metres of a water body.

O. Reg. 153/04 made some significant improvements in risk assessment guidance as compared to the Guideline.

The Regulation has helped to clarify risk assessment provisions included in the Former industrial site slated for redevelopment into a multi complex for research, development and educational use.

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Site Remediation Guideline; it included the definition of Qualified Person for Risk Assessment (QPRA) and required sign-off by the QPRA; it included a Pre-Submission process and removed need for third party peer review; it developed statutory review timelines; and, offers some limited liability protection to site owners.

O. Reg. 153/04 defines a number of Qualified Persons, including Qualified Persons for Risk Assessment (QPRA). In order to be considered a QPRA, the following requirements must be met: 1) Education requirement: • Minimum 4-year degree in science, engineering or applied technology.

2) Experience requirement: • with a doctoral degree, 5 years of experience; • with a master’s degree, 7 years of experience; • otherwise, 8 years of experience.

3) Within the 5, 7 or 8 year periods of required experience, at least 2 years of experience are required in the field of risk assessment.

4) Professional Liability Insurance Required: • $1M for all types of QP All risk assessments submitted to the

Ministry must be signed by the QPRA. The QPRA must also sign a number of mandatory certifications related to the risk assessment, including the following: • The RA was conducted in accordance with the regulation • Certification of QPRA qualifications • Insurance requirements met • RA team includes expertise in all required disciplines • Opinions are engineering or scientific opinions made in accordance with generally accepted principals and practices • All certification and statements are true • The QP makes no express or implied warranties or guarantees.

The Pre-Submission process involves the completion of a standardized PreSubmission Form (PSF). O. Reg.153/04 requires that risk assessments include the preparation and submission of a PreSubmission Form (PSF) under the supervision of a qualified person. The PSF contains background information related to the site, the risk assessment that will be completed and the risk assessment team undertaking the work. The PSF and accompanying MOE review is

in essence the preconsultation stage of the RA process and provides important insight into the intended RA. Once the PSF has been submitted and reviewed, the proponent can then proceed to the RA. Following completion, the RA is submitted to the Ministry for review. RA review times are mandated by the Regulation: 1) short track review - 8 weeks: • elevated local background concentrations • limited scope risk assessments - ground water flow-through - justify generic assumptions at sensitive sites - modified generic risk assessment 2) standard review - 16 weeks 3) long track review - 22 weeks: • no existing generic standard • proprietary models or probabilistic assessment (new science).

Since its inception in October of 2004, many proponents have found the risk assessment process difficult and slow. Overall time will be longer than the statutory timelines due to the iterative process that includes the PSF recontinued overleaf...

.

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The Water Quality Event

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Site Remediation

Former industrial site slated for commercial redevelopment.

view, the RA review and responses to Ministry comments which can be difficult and time-consuming. Some common problems that need to be avoided have included:

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• Poor quality RA • QPRA has limited experience • Inadequate team (no toxicologist; risk management engineer) • Missing elements (Risk

Management Plan; Conceptual Site Model) • Environmentally sensitive site not properly considered • Ecological Risk Assessment lacking • Insufficient site characterization data • PSF not followed • Human health and ecological standards lacking.

In the end, success is possible and can be facilitated through a quality and complete risk assessment that is scientifically sound, adheres to the regulatory requirements, and is conducted by an experienced team of consultants. That said, there remains a need for more MOE Guidance on many issues (remember to check for new technical updates www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/land /decomm/condition.htm) and proponents must take advantage of the opportunities that you have (regional office; PSF review) to dialogue with the Ministry.

Elliot Sigal, Intrinsik Environmental Inc, is a QPRA, with more than 18 years of experience in toxicology and risk assessment.

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Operations

Operator training more vital than ever

By Doug Cooper n no other industry has the word “training” become so predominant in day-to-day operational dialogue.

From a municipal economic perspective, it often causes the “bean counters” to cry out in despair whereas, from an operation perspective, some might suggest it has become of equal importance to the accumulation of field experience.

Though driven in the water/wastewater industry by increasingly aggressive regulations, no one can argue that it doesn’t make a significant contribution to the developing skill base of operators.

As a result, training will, in fact, help to protect the public which was exactly the intention of Justice Dennis O’Connor as part of his 93 Walkerton Inquiry recommendations.

It is projected that the accumulated years of veteran experience is shrinking the industry resources beyond the scope of any proactive counter recruitment effort, so the collective partners must take immediate action to draw the interest of potential newbies and hammer them with training, training, and more training. This opportunity wasn’t as accessible back in the past!

Private training providers have been responding to the needs of municipal water and wastewater departments for years and, in spite of their generally softcompetitive relationship, the demand for training still exceeds the combined resources of the collective organizations.

With recent regulatory changes introducing mandatory courses such as the renewal course, Preventing Water-borne Illness and the new “Entry-Level Course”, comes a new opportunity for the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE) or Walkerton Clean Water Centre to better utilize the resources of private training providers. They could help fill the holes where training might be less accessible and aid in the delivery of training in new technologies.

When O.Reg 128/04 came into effect, so did the increased standards of accreditation for training providers. They are

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Doug Cooper conducts one of many children’s tours at the hands-on centre.

now required to submit documentation through the Ontario Environmental Training Consortium (OETC) in order to be recognized as “legitimate”. This documentation includes information to verify the credentials of instructors, course developers and management personnel.

Courses submitted for approval are now subject to the review and scrutiny of the OETC and upon being approved, each course is listed on their web-site for operator referral. These are all good steps to ensuring the validity of content for operators.

The degree by which adults retain information is directly related to the total classroom experience and can be maximized through application of three distinct elements: transfer of knowledge, review, and practice. Retention statistics reflect that, while strictly classroombased theoretical “presentations” will achieve a retention level of between 30 and 50%, those programs that include hands-on practice can achieve retention of up to 70%. Simply put, would you

rather achieve 30 cents return on your training dollar or 70 cents?

Education is what you remember… after you have learned something! Ergo, education = retention!

It is for this reason that MacViro Training has invested in its hands-on centres. Having established the original hands-on centre in Windsor in 2002, a second centre was established in 2006 in a private-public partnership venture with the forward-thinking and very proactive Hamilton Public Works Department.

This is just one of many new initiatives Hamilton has undertaken to demonstrate its industry leadership in water and wastewater. To our knowledge, there is no other centre in North America that can provide access to both on-site water and wastewater operations and a fully functional water distribution system model.

The degree by which industry vendors are contributing new technologies and expertise is astounding and a true testament to their support for operator

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Operations training. With the current focus on expanding our “hands-on” capabilities in water treatment and wastewater treatment, we have already been receiving endorsements and commitments from the leading industry vendors. The goal of MacViro Training/Ontario Water Operator Training Centre (OWOTC) has always been to provide as broad exposure as possible to the numerous equipment and technology alternatives.

How many “one-year” experienced operators does it take to replace a 30year veteran? The investment in newer operators through extensive training will have a direct result on the answer to that question, and it is the only way to minimize the ratio. A concerted effort is needed to attract new people into the industry, be it through career presentations at high schools or similar recruitment campaigns, followed by an intensified training program to raise the bar on entry-level practical skills.

The water/wastewater industry faces significant challenges given the state of Ontario’s aging infrastructure, compounded by unbalanced employee turnover.

To proactively respond to this latter

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dilemma, MacViro Training/OWOTC will soon be launching a new “Operator Developmental Certificate” program to improve and fast-track the development of new operators and provide them with heightened entry-level skills. Working collaboratively in partnership with post secondary school institutions, this certificate program aims at adding the equivalent of at least one-year’s experience through the provision of both theoretical and hands-on practical training.

Much deeper and significantly more participative in nature than the MOE mandatory “Entry-Level Course”, this certificate program will include common core courses such as: Safety (Confined Spaces/WHMIS/Book 7), Administration (Log books, Procedures, Reports), and Regulations (Operator Certification, 128/04, 129/04, 170/03, Safe Drinking Water Act). The certificate program will also include very “Process Specific” courses in the field of water treatment, water distribution, wastewater collection and wastewater treatment.

Doug Cooper is General Manager, MacViro Training/OWOTC. Contact doug.cooper@genivar.com

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Providing maximum process reliability, this intelligent field device’s optoDrive® and optoGuard monitors and alerts to potential problems through hydraulic monitoring functions built into the drive (detection of blocked or fractured dosing lines and airlock). The delta is designed for maximum dosing quality with a choice of continuous or pulsating dosing. Featuring programmable suction and discharge strokes (discharge duration of up to 3 minutes) – always with maximum precision.

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Drinking Water

On-site hypochlorite system provides consistently high concentrations Table I.

Table II.

Table III.

84 | May 2007

he Des Moines Water Works (DMWW) is an independently operated public utility serving a population in excess of 300,000 in Des Moines, Iowa, and the surrounding metropolitan area. The utility was originally established as a private company in 1871 and became a customerowned utility in 1919. Today, DMWW is the largest water utility in Iowa and is one of the largest 100 utilities in the US. Des Moines Water Works' Fleur Drive facility is a surface water treatment facility rated for 100 million (US) gallons per day (mgd) and pumps, on average, 43 mgd. It draws water from three sources, the Raccoon River, the Des Moines River and an infiltration gallery.

Powdered activated carbon is first fed into the selected river water for removal of man-made and naturally occurring organic chemicals. The water is then treated to remove dirt and debris and combined with water from the infiltration gallery system. The combined water then flows into softening basins. The pH of the water is then adjusted before the final filtering process. The water is passed through layers of sand and various sizes of gravel to remove any remaining particles.

During periods of possible increases in nitrate levels, Des Moines Water Works activates its nitrate removal facility to remove this contaminant. Next, fluoride is added to aid in the prevention of tooth decay and then chlorine (in the form of solution sodium hypochlorite) is added as a disinfectant to kill bacteria.

Finally, the now clean water is stored in a clear-well until pumped into the pipes of the distribution system.

In order to replace their liquid chlorine system which consisted of multiple one-ton cylinders of compressed elemental chlorine gas, DMWW performed an economic evaluation of the various technology alternatives that were available.

Alternatives evaluated included: • A high strength (12.5%) sodium hypochlorite (“bleach”) storage system dependent on frequent deliveries from third party suppliers using large tank trucks; • On-site electrochemical generation of commercial strength

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Drinking Water

DMWW Fleur Drive Water Plant Treatment Process.

(12.5%) bleach using common salt; • On-site generation of low strength bleach (0.8%) that also used salt.

DMWW made the decision in favour of a Klorigen™ on-site electrochemical system manufactured by Electrolytic Technologies Corporation for the following reasons: a. Production cost was projected and remains to be significantly less than

prevailing market price of commercially supplied bulk hypo; b. On-site generated bleach produced by the Klorigen system was compatible with conventional commercial strength monitoring, measurement, pumping and storage systems; c.The Klorigen on-site sodium hypochlorite system produced hypo that was of equal if not better quality

than that which is commercially available and provides a consistently high concentration (at least 12.5%); d. Compared to the low strength alternative, storage requirements for the high strength solution were less by a factor of 15.

The final selection comprised a Klorigen system rated at 1,500 gpd of continued overleaf...

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Drinking Water Figure 1. DMWW Hypochlorite Mfg cost on quarterly basis.

12.5 trade % sodium hypochlorite and two 5,000 gallon storage tanks. Due to the modular design, DMWW designed their own OSG facility and managed the installation with internal personnel. The system at DMWW was commissioned in the first quarter of 2004.

Data on the performance of the Klorigen system was compiled using DMWWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SCADA system. The data collection began in the third quarter of 2004 and the results in this study have been compiled to the fourth quarter of 2006.

Table I shows the DMWW hypochlorite system production for a period of 30 months. The water plant hypochlorite usage varies according to the time of year, with the highest hypochlorite production requirement during the summer months.

Table II and Figure 1 show the combined chemical and power operating cost of the DMWW Klorigen system per gallon of 12.5 trade% hypochlorite for a 10 calendar quarter (30 month) period. The chemical raw material pricing increased

by about 20% in 2006 (salt, NaOH, HCl, and bisulfite) and is shown in the increase in $/gal (2006) column.

Table III shows the calculated quarterly Klorigen system operating cost and the cost savings over purchased hypochlorite that the DMWW facility has had over 10 calendar quarters of operation. The cost savings have been nearly $360,000.

For more information, contact: instrumentation@johnmeunier.com

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BILLION PEOPLE IN OUR WORLD LACK ACCESS TO ADEQUATE SANITATIONÂ&#x2C6;AND IT S KILLING THEM 7ATER AND SANITATION RELATED ILLNESSES CAUSE MORE THAN DEATHS EVERY SINGLE DAY 7E CAN T GO ON LETTING PEOPLE DIE LIKE THIS WWW WATERFORPEOPLE ORG

86 | May 2007

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Work Safety Legislation

A new regulation to protect workers from hearing loss n July 1, 2007, Ontario Regulation 565/06 will introduce significant changes in the workplace regulatory framework for the prevention of hearing loss.

Among other changes, the new regulation will introduce a time-weighted average exposure limit of 85 dBA for worker exposure to both steady state and fluctuating noise levels over a standard 8-hour working day.

Background The noise provisions of O. Reg. 851 have not been amended since they were first introduced in the early 1970s.

The government has committed to reduce workplace injuries by 20 percent by 2008. To achieve this goal the Ministry of Labour has been reviewing exposure limits to both chemical and physical agents and hired 200 new health and safety inspectors.

Exposure to elevated noise levels may cause hearing loss, reduce productivity, create stress, and impact the quality of life for workers and their families. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Boards estimate that $100 million in compensation costs have been paid out in the last decade.

Eleven other jurisdictions in Canada use the 85 dBA Leq noise limit and include British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Government of Canada. In eight of these jurisdictions a 3dB exchange rate is used.

Who is impacted?

The new regulation applies to every worksite in Ontario that is covered under the following regulations: Industrial Establishments, O. Reg. 851, Oil and Gas Offshore, O. Reg. 855.

All employers will be required to put into practice industrial noise control measures where noise levels exceed 85 dBA. Employers must show that engineering controls are not in existence or not obtainable; or not reasonable or not practical to adapt, install or provide due the nature of the process or duration and/or frequency of exposure before the use of hearing protection.

Changes The new elements introduced with Ontario Regulation 565/06 include: • Introduction of a time-weighted average exposure limit to assess worker exposure to both steady state

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and fluctuating noise levels over a standard 8-hour working day.

Reduction of Ontario’s exposure limit from 90 dBA to 85 dBA. Posting of “clearly visible warning signs” at every entrance to area where the sound level exceeds 85 dBA. Use of 3 dB exchange rate versus the 5 dB exchange rate currently used.

Use of commercially available noise averaging device, e.g. noise dosimeter that gives a single exposure value and integrating sound level meters.

Measurements performed in the workplace to determine protective measures shall be done without regards to any use of personal protective equipment.

Protective measures include engineering controls, work practices and personal protective equipment.

Requirement that employers shall protect workers from exposure to a sound level greater than the limit without requiring the use of personal protective equipment, except under specific conditions, e.g. engineering controls are not obtainable, not reasonable or practical to adopt, ineffective due a temporary breakdown or because of an emergency.

The new regulation can be found at www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/DBLaws/ Source/Regs/English/2006/R06565_htm For further information, contact Steve Hawkins, e-mail shawkins@lehder.com

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Water Treatment

Water For People wins prestigious Grainger Award for arsenic removal innovation ater For People has been awarded a prestigious Grainger Award by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) for its innovative work in arsenic removal from potable water in the West Bengal region of India, where millions of people are at risk from naturally occurring arsenic that is prevalent in the groundwater supplies.

The NAE, with the generous support of The Grainger Foundation, awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards of $1,000,000, $200,000, and $100,000, respectively, to the winning systems. Water For People shared the Silver Award with Lehigh University, which collaborated on the development of the sustainable arsenic removal technology that is being applied by Water For People in India.

Members of the development team included Arup K. SenGupta, John E. Greenleaf, Lee M. Blaney, Owen E. Boyd, and Arun K. Deb. Also, Sudipta Sarkar, a post doctoral associate, and Prasun Chatterjee, a doctoral student, both currently working in Prof. SenGuptaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s laboratory at Lehigh University, made significant contributions during the performance evaluation of the engineered system.

Dr. Arup SenGupta and Lehigh University partnered in the submission of the application for the Grainger Award. Dr. SenGupta and his research assistants built a model of the filters that are used in West Bengal, India, so that NAE could test the filter under laboratory conditions. Dr. SenGupta worked with Bengal Engineering and Science University in India to develop the technology which continues to be improved with an increased operational simplicity and minimal environmental impact.

The system developed by Water For People and its collaborators is being applied at community wellheads. Water is hand-pumped into a fixed-bed column, where it passes through activated alumina or hybrid anion exchanger (HAIX) to remove the arsenic. After passing

W

through a chamber of graded gravel to remove particulates, the water is ready to drink. Each arsenic removal unit serves approximately 300 households. The system is used in more than 160 locations, providing arsenic-safe potable water to nearly 170,000 villagers in West Bengal.

The filters are installed on top of arsenic-tainted wells where villagers have no other source of drinking water besides arsenic-laced groundwater, ensuring that the people in remote villages will continue to have safe drinking water supplies. Arsenic removal units are manufactured using solely indigenous materials in cooperation with Bengal Engineering and Science University. Villagers are responsible for their upkeep and day-to-day operation. The active media are regenerated for reuse, and arsenic-laden sludge is contained in an environmentally safe manner with minimum leaching.

The 2007 NAE Grainger Challenge Prize competition sought innovative solutions for removing arsenic from drinking water that is slowly poisoning tens of millions of people in developing countries. The winning systems had to be affordable, robust, reliable, easy to maintain, socially acceptable, and environmentally friendly. As sustainable technologies, they also had to be within the manufacturing capabilities of the countries in which they are deployed and could not degrade other water quality characteristics.

The first place award went to Abul Hussam, a professor at George Mason University for his household treatment technology. The third place award went to Procter and Gamble for their Children's Safe Water Drinking Program which uses PUR, a coagulation and flocculation agent that removes bacterial and chemical pollutants from the drinking water.

For more information, visit www.waterforpeople.org

An Indian woman gathers arsenic-free water at a tap stand in West Bengal, India.

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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Water Research

Improving water quality nets American professor the 2007 Stockholm Water Prize

rofessor Perry L. McCarty from Stanford University, California, a pioneer in the development of the understanding of biological and chemical processes for the safe supply and treatment of water, has been named the 2007 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate. His work has led to more efficient biological treatment processes, in particular anaerobic treatment systems

P

for municipal and industrial wastewaters, biological nutrient removal, and the development and use of biofilm reactors.

In its Citation, the Nominating Committee wrote: "Professor Perry L. McCarty is awarded the 2007 Stockholm Water Prize for pioneering work in developing the scientific approach for the design and operation of water and wastewater systems."

He has established the role of fundamental microbiology and chemistry in the design of bioreactors. Professor McCarty has defined the field of environmental biotechnology that is the basis for small-scale and large-scale pollution control and safe drinking water systems.

Being an environmental engineer, Professor McCarty has combined deep knowledge in physical, chemical, biological and microbiological processes

and transferred the results into outstanding technical development widely used all over the world as the basis for design and operation of wastewater treatment systems.

Professor McCarty’s other important contribution was the identity of mechanisms for biodegradation and the fate of hazardous and anthropogenic trace chemicals as well as appropriate engineering for water quality improvement of ground- and surface water and soils.

All of his earlier research findings and theoretical developments have been incorporated into these recent studies and culminated in his fundamental theory of water quality improvement in surface and groundwater as well as biological treatment of polluted soils (bioremediation). This is an enormous accomplishment and brings together a unified concept derived from physical, dynaBLEND® polymer makedown units Fluid Dynamics, Inc. introduces the L Series dynaBLEND® polymer blending and activation system. The dynaBLEND® units feature the patented HydroACTION® nonmechanical, high-energy polymer mixing chamber, with a choice of diaphragm metering or progressing cavity pumps. Control options range from simple manual systems to fully instrumented PLC-based units with an unlimited variety of inputs and outputs. Standard units are available to provide activated polymer solution from 30 gph through 21,000 gph. Custom units also available.

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Water Research Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Microbiology.

The Stockholm Water Prize is a global award founded in 1990 and presented annually by the Stockholm Water Foundation to an individual, organization or institution for outstanding waterrelated activities. The activities can be within fields like education and aware-

ness-raising, human and international relations, research, water management and water-related aid. The Stockholm Water Prize Laureate receives USD 150,000 along with a glass sculpture, which will be presented August 16 during the 2007 World Water Week in Stockholm. H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is the Patron of the Stockholm Water Prize.

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chemical and biological phenomena into integrated management for water quality improvement.

Purifying the invisible Professor McCarty has furthermore tackled the important problem of organic compounds and pollutants in wastewater and underground aquifer systems. His work has led to the development and practical implementation of methods to treat toxic chemicals in groundwater, especially chlorinated pollutants from industry.

He has published over 300 papers in water science, environmental engineering, and microbiology science journals, with 50 papers just in the last 10 years.

His two textbooks on the chemistry, biology, and design of treatment systems for municipal and industrial wastewater are used daily by engineers all over the world.

Professor McCarty has been an educator and researcher at Stanford since 1962. His ability to attract and develop outstanding doctoral students at Stanford University is unmatched. Professor McCarty, furthermore, was for 14 years the director of the Environmental Protection Agency-sponsored Western Regional Hazardous Substances Research Center. He is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering and an Honorary member of the American www.esemag.com

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Videographic recorder

Product & Service Showcase

The new SM500F from ABB is the world’s first field mount videographic recorder (pipe, panel, wall), rapidly processing and clearly displaying vital data. From furnaces and cold storage facilities to effluent and HVAC monitoring, the SM500F delivers maximum performance with minimum hassle and high return on investment with low cost of ownership.

Tel: 800-461-0980, Fax: 905-333-7502 E-mail: instrumentation@ca.abb.com Web: www.abb.com/instrumentation ABB

Field validation and verification CalMaster 2 is the world’s first in situ suite of field validation and verification tools for both MagMaster and AquaMaster flowmeters. It is comprised of CalMaster IRIS (Intelligent Recognition Information System), a stand-alone battery powered device that provides in situ verification of both ABB mains and battery powered flow meters.

Tel: 800-461-0980, Fax: 905-333-7502 E-mail: instrumentation@ca.abb.com Web: www.abb.com/instrumentation ABB

Coalescing oil/water separators

The new 4” vac-assist trash pump from ABS can be used for sewer by pass, quarry pumping, flood control and general dewatering of construction sites. Dependable construction combined with heavy duty water cooled diesel power and a compressor that runs only when it’s needed is sure to save you money.

Tel: 905-670-4677, Fax: 905-670-3709 E-mail: abscanada@absgroup.com Web: www.absgroup.com

• Available in carbon steel, stainless steel, FRP and polypropylene construction.

• Standard systems include air operated diaphragm pump, air filter and floating skimmer.

• Adjustable weir and skimmer height for optimal oil removal and minimal disposal volume.

• Standard sizes available for flows from 1 to 75 USGPM. Tel: 905-856-1414, Fax: 905-856-6401 E-mail: sales@acgtechnology.com Web: www.acgtechnology.com ACG Technology

Stormwater solutions

Corrugated metal structures

Armtec provides a wide range of CONTECH stormwater quality management systems throughout Canada. Products include VORTECHS hydrodynamic separation systems and VORTFILTER filtration systems. These systems are among the best for capturing suspended solids, oils, grit and trash from stormwater run off.

Tel: 519-822-0210, Fax: 519-822-1160 E-mail: sales@armtec.com Web: www.armtec.com

Super•Cor is AIL’s smart alternative to conventional bridges.

Super•Cor’s bottomless stream crossings, combined with lower impact installations, will eliminate streambed interference enabling unobstructed stream and fish passage.

The geometry of its corrugations reduces the intrusiveness traditionally associated with man-made structures.

Armtec

92 | May 2007

ABS introduces the revolutionary HST Integral™ Turbocompressor. It is a rugged, money saving compressor designed for reliable, automatic operation at optimal efficiency and is maintenance-free. Because of the energy and maintenance savings from using the HST it can pay for itself in two years.

Tel: 905-670-4677, Fax: 905-670-3709 E-mail: abscanada@absgroup.com Web: www.absgroup.com ABS Canada

Fast sure priming

ABS Canada

HST Turbocompressor

Tel: 1-877-245-7473 Web: www.ail.ca Atlantic Atlantic Industries Industries

Concrete arch bridges

Armtec provides BEBO concrete arch bridges in Quebec, Ontario and Western Canada. Based on technology developed in Switzerland, BEBO arches are an economical alternative to cast-inplace concrete or structural steel bridges. They are available in a range of shapes with spans up to 31m.

Tel: 519-822-0210, Fax: 519-822-1160 E-mail: sales@armtec.com Web: www.armtec.com Armtec

Phoenix Panel System

• Upgrades and optimizes all types of filters • Removal of existing underdrain not required • Eliminates the need for filter gravel • Improves backwash distribution • Longer filter runs and lower turbidity effuent Tel: 403-255-7377, Fax: 403-255-3129 E-mail: info@awifilter.com Web: www.awifilter.com AWI Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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• Optimizes vertical and horizontal pressure filters • Low profile, filtered water pick-up lateral orifice is <25 mm • Manufactured from corrosion resistant stainless steel • Custom hydraulic distribution • Guaranteed uniform air scour distribution.

Tel: 403-255-7377, Fax: 403-255-3129 E-mail: info@awifilter.com Web: www.awifilter.com AWI

Greenhouse gas registry The GHG CleanProjects™ Registry is a fully searchable web site, accessible worldwide. It showcases greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions or removals projects and each listed tonne of Verified Emission Reductions/Removals (VERRs) has a unique serial number. It is based on ISO 14064, the new international standard for quantification, reporting and verification. Please visit, www.ghgregistries.ca/cleanprojects Canadian Standards Association

Reusable, recyclable, remarkable Every year thousands of tonnes of steel are salvaged, recycled and reused in new construction. Steel is the most recycled material in the world. It is easily regenerated, without losing its remarkable qualities. An old car is melted down to produce soup cans, bridge beams and corrugated culverts.

Steel recycling is second nature and almost invisible to the average citizen.

Tel: 866-295-2416, Fax: 519-650-8081 E-mail: djpenny@cspi.ca Web: www.cspi.ca Corrugated Steel Pipe Institute

Ultrasonic flow meter EMCO's SonoTrak™ Transit Time ultrasonic flow meter combines advanced non-invasive flow measurement technology with a versatile transmitter design to provide an accurate, maintenance-free, easy-to-install, and easy-touse measuring system. Using only one set of transducers, it measures liquids in pipe sizes from 2” to 100". CSA Class I Div II Grps A,B,C,D, Class II and Class III Grps. E, F approved.

Tel: 905-829-2000, Fax: 905-829-2630 E-mail: info@daviscontrols.com Web: www.daviscontrols.com Davis Controls www.esemag.com

New web site

Con Cast Pipe announces its new web site with easy-to-use technical reference and product specification tools; in addition there is a host of other improvements. Please visit www.concastpipe.com Con Cast Pipe

Welterweight contender

Ultrasonic level sensor

Weighing in at 25 tonnes this 45 metre length of 3050mm diameter SPCSP completed a challenging northern railway crossing in just 26 hours. “Floating like a butterfly” the long and strong pipe was swung onto the soft foundation. Soil steel design provides engineered strength to carry fill heights to 27 metres. Call for a CD of “The Handbook of Steel Drainage and Highway Construction Products”.

Tel: 866-295-2416 Fax : 519-650-8081 E-mail: info@cspi.ca Web: www.cspi.ca

Flowline introduces EchoPod®, an innovative level sensor that replaces floats, conductance and pressure activated level switches that fail due to dirty, sticking and scaling media in small tanks 49.2” (1.25m) or less. EchoPod, a general purpose sensor, combines non-contact switch, controller and transmitter capabilities in one package. Specifications include – beam width 2” (5 cm), temperature -20 deg C to 60 deg C. CSA approved.

Tel: 905-829-2000, Fax: 905-829-2630 E-mail: info@daviscontrols.com Web: www.daviscontrols.com Davis Controls

Corrugated Steel Pipe Institute

Denso Petrolatum Tapes Proven worldwide for well over 100 years, Denso Petrolatum Tapes offer the best, most economical, long-term corrosion protection for all above and below ground metal surfaces. Requiring only minimum surface preparation and environmentally responsible, Denso Petrolatum Tape is the solution to your corrosion problems in any corrosive environment.

For applications in mines, mills, refineries, steel mills, pulp & paper, oil & gas, and the waterworks industry. The answer is Denso!

Tel: 416-291-3435, Fax: 416-291-0898 E-mail: blair@densona.com Web: www.densona.com Denso

Pump controller The New Mercoid Series MPCJR Pump Controller provides one or two pump control with built-in alternation; process input retransmission; high and low alarm contacts in a standard 1/4 DIN package.

The unit features additional analog outputs that can be used with external pump run-time meters.

Tel: 800-872-9141, Fax: 219-872-9057 E-mail: lit@dwyer-inst.com Web: www.dwyer-inst.com Dwyer Instruments May 2007 | 93

Product & Service Showcase

Phoenix Underdrain System

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Submersible level transmitter The Mercoid Division of Dwyer Instruments is offering the Series PBLT2 Submersible Level Transmitter for wastewater applications. Manufactured for years of trouble free service in the harshest applications it is ideal for wastewater, sludge, and slurries. Incorporated in the PLBT2 is a large diameter 316 SS diaphragm that is non-clogging and damage resistant to floating solids.

Tel: 800-872-9141, Fax: 219-872-9057 E-mail: lit@dwyer-inst.com Web: www.dwyer-inst.com Dwyer Instruments

Product & Service Showcase

Ultrasonic level sensing SonicSens™ is ideal for remote water level monitoring applications. The sensor’s very low power consumption enables its internal battery to achieve a 5-year life. The ultrasonic sensor can be supplied with local or telemetry communications data logger.

Cellular (SMS) communications versions can be configured to provide data and alarms to office PC or cellular phone / pager.

Tel: 519-659-1144, Fax: 519-453-2182 E-mail: hetek.sales@hetek.com Web: www.hetek.com Hetek Solutions

Turbidity & chlorine measurement Hanna’s new HI 93414 provides consistently reliable and precise measurements of turbidity and free/total chlorine in one unit.

It is EPA approved, utilizing a tungsten light source and a state-of-the-art optical system to offer superior accuracy at low ranges (below 0.05 NTU). Turbidity is measured up to 1000 NTU and free or total chlorine measurements can be made in the 0.00 to 5.00 mg/L (ppm) range.

Tel: 905-738-2355, Fax: 905-738-5520 E-mail: metcon@metconeng.com Web: www.metconeng.com Metcon Sales & Engineering 94 | May 2007

2007 Controls & Gages Catalog Dwyer Instruments’ new 2007 catalog is in a convenient and easy-to-use format, featuring a broad range of measuring and control instruments for pressure, temperature, level and flow applications.

Tel: 800-872-9141, Fax: 219-872-9057 E-mail: lit@dwyer-inst.com Web: www.dwyer-inst.com Dwyer Instruments

HOBO water level logger

The HOBO Water Level Logger is a highaccuracy, pressure-based water level recording device that combines researchgrade accuracy and durability with a price tag that is roughly half the cost of most comparable solutions.

Available from Hoskin Scientific Ltd. www.hoskin.ca

Hoskin Scientific

Pieralisi centrifuges

Pieralisi technology is available to solve any problem of clarifying, dewatering and separating with safety and reliability. Pieralisi centrifuges utilize a patented sludge scraper for continuous discharge of dewater sludge from the solids discharge chamber.

Tel: 905-738-2355, Fax: 905-738-5520 E-mail: metcon@metconeng.com Web: www.metconeng.com Metcon Sales & Engineering

Heron water tape

The Heron WATER TAPE is a tough economical water level meter. The low cost and durability of the Kevlar reinforced tape make it an ideal choice for well drillers, pump installers and other severe service users. Call for your LOW COST quote today.

Tel: 800-331-2032 Heron Instruments

Chopper pumps Landia chopper pumps solve the toughest problems when pumping difficult-tohandle liquids with high solid contents. Chop and reduce solids particle size while pumping with our special knife system. Eliminate clogging problems and prevent costly breakdowns.

Landia chopper pumps are operating in: raw unscreened effluents, food industry effluents, paper mills, slurries and sludges, and much more.

Tel: 604-552-7900, Fax: 604-552-7901 E-mail: epsl@telus.net Landia

Stormceptor monitoring Minotaur offers all the Stormceptor servicing you need to be compliant with regulatory authorities, including proactive supervision, site-inspections, field reports, certificates of inspection, small spill removal, large spill pump out, lab analysis of particulate & oils, consultation.

Simplify your responsibility.

Tel: 888-648-6828, Fax: 519-647-3198 E-mail: service@minotaurltd.com Web: www.minotaurltd.com Minotaur Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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New Pipe Pac version 3 now available

North American Green’s BioNet® Series of 100% natural biodegradable erosion control blankets provides effective and all-natural erosion control and vegetation establishment assistance. They can be used for high-performance erosion control on bioengineering projects, wetland mitigation, riparian area protection, shaded areas, streambank restoration.

Tel: 800-772-2040, Fax: 812-867-0247 E-mail: customerservice@nagreen.com Web: www.nagreen.com

Pipe Pac version 3, has arrived. For more information or to obtain a copy of the Pipe Pac version 3, contact the OCPA today.

Tel: 905-631-9696, Fax: 905-631-1905 E-mail: sal.iannello@ocpa.com Web: www.ocpa.com

North American Green

Ontario Concrete Pipe Association

Filtration systems Orival, Inc. fabricates complete manifolds for multiple water filtration systems to ensure protection of heat exchangers, spray nozzles, pump seals, air compressors, I.E. and R.O. units, and other instrumentation, to suit a wide variety of industry and wastewater applications. Each manifold is designed to meet the specific requirements of your project.

Tel: 800-567-9767, Fax: 201-568-1916 E-mail: filters@orival.com Web: www.orival.com

The Ontario Concrete Pipe Association promotes the high standards of business practice and the product quality of its members, and provides technical information to specifiers, regulators, contractors and educators. Please contact us for a presentation including: Protecting Yourself as a Gravity Pipe Designer; Best Practices for New Infrastructure; Concrete Pipe Design; PipePac. Call 905-631-9696 for details and be entered to win an iPod. E-mail: info@ocpa.com Web: www.ocpa.com Ontario Concrete Pipe Association

Water and wastewater operator training

Fine screen

Learning objectives are designed by operators for operators. The surge in course demand is a testament in itself to the popularity and value of our courses. The continuous introduction of new water and wastewater courses and increased accessibility speaks to our unrivaled commitment.

Visit our Hamilton or Windsor hands-on centres or call today to inquire about our on-site capabilities.

Tel: 866-622-6535 Web: www.owotc.com

The Helisieve® Fine Screen combines screening, conveying and dewatering into one reliable, automatic, compact and cost-efficient system. Shaftless spiral technology helps dewater screenings up to 30% dry weight to lower disposal costs, and the spiral is enclosed to minimize odors Tel: 514-636-8712, Fax: 514-636-9718 E-mail: lott@parkson.com Web: www.parkson.com

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Sigma series metering pumps

New progressive cavity pump

New grinder from Netzsch

Double your pump life with the innovative M Champ. Thinking outside the box has created this new Wastewater Market standard pump by incorporating a compact flexishaft design and an integral spare stator.

Tel: 610-363-8010, Fax: 610-363-0971 E-mail: info@netzschusa.com Web: www.netzschusa.com

The NETZSCH MOvas solid grinding machine is used in a wide variety of industries where solids in the product interfere with process safety.

The solids are sufficiently ground by the M-Ovas to prevent clogging of pipelines and of subsequent equipment. The MOvas offers easy and fast disassembly of cutting tips and cutting unit and self adjusting cutters.

Tel: 610-363-8010, Fax: 610-363-0971 E-mail: info@netzschusa.com Web: www.netzschusa.com

Feature-rich and dependable Sigma series metering pumps from ProMinent help keep your chemical feed under control.

Sigma pumps operate in capacities of up to 1000 LPH and pressures up to 174 psi. Easy-to-use microprocessor control with a backlit LCD for rapid and reliable adjustment.

Tel: 888-709-9933, Fax: 519-836-5226 E-mail: sales@prominent.ca Web: www.prominent.ca ProMinent Fluid Controls www.esemag.com

Rudi Kovacko & Associates

Rudi Kovacko & Associates May 2007 | 95

Product & Service Showcase

Erosion control blankets

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Membrane bioreactor Sanitherm Engineering Ltd. has perfected containerizing their SaniBrane® MBR. The containerized SaniBrane® is portable, provides excellent effluent on start-up, is operator friendly and comes pre-wired, pre-plumbed and tested. The system for anywhere needing reliable waste treatment with a small footprint!

Tel: 604-986-9168, Fax: 604-986-5377 E-mail: saneng@sanitherm.com Web: www.sanitherm.com Sanitherm Engineering

Product & Service Showcase

Complete chemical treatment package

SPD Sales Limited can offer you a complete chemical treatment package for remote sites housed in an insulated / heated fiberglass building, including metering pumps, tanks, analyzers and data storage systems ready for field installation.

Tel: 905-678-2882, Fax: 905-293-9774 E-mail: sales@spdsales.com Web: www.spdsales.com SPD Sales

Controlling contaminated groundwater

Groundwater dataloggers

Grit chamber

Schlumberger Water Services has released the Mini-Diver, Micro-Diver, Baro-Diver and Cera-Diver to the line of Diver groundwater dataloggers. Divers are engineered in a compact, durable housing to provide accurate, long-term monitoring and recording of groundwater levels. Groundwater monitoring made easy.

E-mail: sws-diver@slb.com Web: www.water.slb.com

The Smith & Loveless PISTA® Grit Chamber maintains the highest proven grit removal efficiencies over a wide range of daily flows because of its exclusive forced vortex design. It removes grit and other discrete particles, separates organics and inorganics, and reduces grit accumulation in downstream basins, channels, weirs and piping. This results in reduced wear on mechanical equipment. Complete grit pumping, dewatering and washing components are available.

Tel: 913-888-5201, Fax: 913-888-2173 E-mail: answers@smithandloveless.com Web: www.smithandloveless.com

Schlumberger Water Services

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The lightweight Hatch Safety Net is designed to be permanently installed and easily retractable in floor and roof openings where the risk of fall through is present. When closed, the net system allows people to move freely around confined space openings without fear of falling into the opening.

It also allows visibility of inspections and accessibility for limited maintenance and float adjustments. When entry/exit is required, the net can be easily unhooked on all but one side of the opening.

Tel: 604-552-7900, Fax: 604-552-7901 E-mail: epsl@telus.net USF Fabrication

Stormceptor removes more pollutants from stormwater, maintaining continuous positive treatment of total suspended solids (TSS), regardless of flow rate.

Patented scour prevention technology ensures pollutants are captured and contained during all rainfall events, even extreme storms.

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Imbrium Systems

Greater capacity inline filters

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Waterloo Barrier is a low permeability cutoff wall for groundwater containment and control. It is a new design of steel sheet piling, featuring joints that can be sealed after the sheets have been driven into the ground, and was developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo. It has patent/patent pending status in several countries.

Canadian Metal Rolling Mills assisted in developing the product.

Tel: 519-856-1352, Fax: 519-856-0759 E-mail: info@waterloo-barrier.com Web: www. waterloo-barrier.com

Waterloo Biofilters® are efficient, modular trickling filters for residential and communal sewage wastewaters, and landfill leachate. Patented, lightweight, synthetic filter media optimize physical properties for microbial attachment and water retention. The self-contained modular design for communal use is now available in 20,000L/d and 40,000L/d ISO shipping container units - ready to plug in on-site.

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96 | May 2007

Waterra's two Inline Disposable 0.45 Micron Filter options — the high turbidity FHT-45 and the NEW medium turbidity FMT-45 provide an economical alternative for lower turbidity sampling, when the highest possible capacity is not required.

Tel: 905-238-5242, Fax: 905-238-5704 E-mail: waterra@idirect.com Web: www.waterra.com Waterra Pumps

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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Filtration

Filter offers reliable cooling water for pump seals with fast payback

By Brent Baiden and Marcus N. Allhands s a “Green Power Certified” producer of electricity, St. Catharines Hydro Generation is proud of its two generation stations: the Port Weller Digester Gas Cogeneration Facility, and the Heywood Generating Station located at the entranceway to the Port Dalhousie Harbour.

Stan Heywood saw his hard work in promoting the latter power station pay off when the plant became commercially operational in the spring of 1989. Producing 40 million kilowatt-hours per year, this plant provides enough electricity to light up over 2,000 homes in the area. It was built beside an existing control structure formerly owned by Ontario Hydro.

This control structure, along with two new Escher-Wyse water turbines, make up the Heywood Generating Station. The station generates approximately 6.5 MW of electricity, utilizing water flowing from Twelve Mile Creek and Martindale pond.

The turbines generate power from the movement of the water but no mechanical/electrical device is 100% efficient.

Extreme amounts of heat result from this process. The station originally purchased city water to cool the turbine pump seals, costing over $6,000 a year. While “free” water was available, the quality was insufficient for cooling pump seals. Debris in the water, whether sand, grit, algae or clams, had the potential to destroy the seals being cooled or grind away at the turbine shafts.

In 2006, a decision was made to install a filtration system and utilize the “free water” surrounding the Heywood Generating Station. After investigating the options, an Orival ORG-030-LE Automatic Self Cleaning Water Filter was installed with a 25-micron stainless steel weave-wire screen element capable of filtering up to 175 gallons per minute (gpm). To give some understanding of this filtration degree, a normal human hair is about 100 microns in diameter.

Put another way, the smallest black dot on a piece of white paper visible to the unaided eye is between 40 and 50 microns.

The ORG filters use line pressure to power the self-cleaning mechanism for higher efficiency and lower capital cost.

A

www.esemag.com

Figure 1. ORG Cut-A-Way.

ORIVAL filter installed at St. Catharines Hydro Heywood Generating Station.

The filter is running very well and the payback was just over six months. A big plus for the project was the conservation of potable water in the community.

Using Figure 1, one can follow how the ORG-030-LE filter operates: Dirty water enters the filter inlet (1), where it quickly moves to the centre of the fine screen (2). The water then passes through the fine screen from the inside out and exits the filter outlet (3).

All organic and inorganic particles 25 microns and larger are instantly stopped by the screen. As this debris accumulates on the inner surface of the fine screen it forms a “filter cake” that acts as a filter aid, trapping many particles much smaller than 25 microns. This imparts a substantial degree of filtration finer than the weave-wire media alone can provide.

This filter cake creates a pressure differential across the screen, which, upon reaching a preset level of 7 psi, initiates the automatic self-cleaning rinse cycle.

All functions of this rinse cycle are controlled by the factory-supplied control system. The control system begins by opening the rinse valve (4) to an atmospheric drain.

As a result, pressure drops in the hydraulic motor chamber (5) and dirt col-

lector assembly (6). The pressure drop creates a backflush stream of over 50 feet per second at the nozzle openings of the dirt collector assembly. These openings are within a few millimetres of the screen surface and suck the dirt off the screen similar to a vacuum cleaner. The backwash water is carried through the collector and ejected out of the holes in the hydraulic motor (7). All debris is expelled through the rinse valve.

The water being ejected out of the hydraulic motor causes the collector to rotate, similar to some types of lawn sprinklers. In addition, the pressure drop in the hydraulic motor chamber forces the collector assembly to move upward.

This combination of rotational and linear movements ensures that every square inch of the screen area is thoroughly cleaned during each rinse cycle.

St. Catharines Hydro Generation is a wholly owned affiliate of St. Catharines Hydro, Inc. licensed by the Ontario Energy Board.

Brent Baiden is President, Avoca-Tec Environmental Services.

Contact: bbaiden@sympatico.ca Dr. Marcus N. Allhands, PE, is with Orival, Inc. Contact: ma@orival.com May 2007 | 97

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NEWS ington DC while attending a WEFTEC conference.

Alberta first province to legislate greenhouse gas reductions

Appointments The publisher of Environmental Science & Engineering, Steve Davey, has been appointed to the Board of the Ontario Pollution Control Equipment Association.

Steve is a past president of Water Environment Association of Ontario and currently serves as a Director of Canadian Business Press.

His sister, Penny Davey, Sales Director of Environmental Science & Engineering, was appointed to the Board of the Ontario Water Works Equipment Association during the OWWA Annual Conference. She has previously served on the Board of the Ontario Pollution Control Equipment Association.

Steve and Penny are shown in Wash-

Alberta is the first province in Canada to introduce legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emission intensity from large industry. Bill 3, Climate Change and Emissions Management Amendment Act, and its accompanying Specified Gas Emitters Regulation, state that companies that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year must reduce their emissions intensity by 12 per cent, starting July 1, 2007.

The Specified Gas Emitters Regulation details how companies can reduce their emissions intensity. These compliance options include making operating improvements, buying an Alberta-based offset to apply against their emission total, or contributing to a new government fund that will invest in technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the province.

Projects that qualify as offsets must be located in Alberta and spending from the technology fund will occur in the province. The technology fund could be

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98 | May 2007

used to further the development of carbon capture and management - an option which has great potential to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases worldwide.

Alberta was the first province to introduce specific climate change legislation in 2002 and the first to require large industrial facilities to report their greenhouse gas emissions. www.gov.ab.ca

Progress continues to ensure safe drinking water The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador remains committed to work hard to ensure clean, safe and secure drinking water, and has released its 2005-06 annual drinking water report entitled, Drinking Water Safety in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Highlights include: the designation of 11 new protected water supply areas; 359 on-site training sessions provided by mobile training units for municipal water and wastewater system operators; approximately 21,000 bacteriological samples collected and analyzed; over 3,000 samples collected and analyzed for various chemical parameters, including trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids The report is available at www.gov.nl.ca/Env/env/waterres/ Reports/Reports.asp

Public input is essential to protecting local drinking water sources Ontarians must have a say in local decisions about protecting their water. That’s why the Ontario government is asking the public to comment on the rules that will guide the preparation of local drinking water source protection plans, according to Environment Minister Laurel Broten.

“We listened to Ontarians. We took action based on what we heard from them. And today we are taking the next step in implementing the Clean Water Act by asking for public feedback on the regulations that will permit local planning to begin,” said Broten. “It’s important that everybody in a community have their say in determining the best way to protect their own drinking water supplies, their health and their livelihoods.”

Ontario’s new Clean Water Act delivers on 12 of Justice Dennis O’Connor’s recommendations resulting from the juEnvironmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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NEWS dicial inquiry into the Walkerton tainted water tragedy. It ensures communities are able to protect their drinking water supplies through developing collaborative, locally driven, science-based protection plans.

The first step is to set up a committee representing the broad range of interests in a source protection region to lead the planâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s preparation. This committee will begin by preparing terms of reference outlining the work to be done and who will do it. The draft regulations that provide the details needed to get local source protection planning started are available on the Environmental Bill of Rights registry at www.ontario.ca/environmentalregistry.

Drinking water quality results now available online Albertans can now view online reports that outline water quality indicators such as turbidity, microbiological quality and residual disinfectants. Results are posted

by Alberta Environment when testing and analysis are complete. The website gives Albertans access to information they need to feel confident in the systems in place to ensure a safe, secure drinking water supply, as promised under the government's Water for Life strategy.

The Alberta government's drinking water website will provide Albertans with more timely information on regulated drinking water facilities. Alberta Environment regulates municipal systems that serve more than 80 per cent of the province's population, about 2.75 million Albertans. www.environment.gov.ab.ca/water/ dwq/regulated

chillers and large units with more efficient equipment. By partnering these regulatory changes with energy conservation incentive programs such as the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) program, there is an opportunity for more than 50 megawatts (MW) in savings in energy demand across the province.

The BOMA program represents a $75 million investment by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) and is part of a larger initiative being led by the OPA to conserve 330 MW of energy in Toronto by 2010. Funding will be available from the BOMA program for heating and cooling system upgrades, equipment replacement and alternative heating and cooling systems as well as lighting upgrades and conservation measures. www.ene-gov.on.ca

Clean-up completed at Newfoundland military site The environmental clean-up of the former USAF Pinetree site at St. Anthony is now completed. The final phase was awarded to Marine Contractors of Pasadena in the amount of $363,425 and work was completed in November 2006.

The work involved the excavation and

removal of 300 tonnes of PCB-contaminated soil and debris. The total amount of contaminates removed since the start of the remediation efforts in 2004 was approximately 1,500 tonnes of soil and 200 tonnes of debris. Approximately $1 million was spent at the former military site in 2005, bringing the total cost of the environmental remediation to more than $3 million. www.gov.nl.ca

New projects called for to advance wind development strategy Manitoba Hydro has publicly released a request for proposals (RFP) for new wind projects totalling up to 300 megawatts of wind or enough to power 100,000 homes. The deadline for submission of proposals is July 17, 2007.

Manitobaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1,000-megawatt wind strategy is expected to generate $2 billion in investment, $100 million in windrights payments to landowners and $150 million in property taxes to local municipalities. In addition to the request for 300 megawatts, three further allocations of 200 megawatts each are currently targeted for 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2017continued overleaf...

Ontario phasing out use of potent ozone depleting substance The Ministry of the Environment has announced new improvements to Ontarioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Refrigerants Regulation O. Reg 189/94.

The new amendments will phase-out the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in large refrigeration equipment and chillers, and ensure surplus stocks are properly handled.

Ontario has been working with industry to update the regulation since 2003. The new regulatory amendments designate them hazardous waste in 2012.

The new regulatory improvements also promote increased energy conservation as industry replaces old outdated www.esemag.com

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NEWS 18, based on economic viability.

There have been several key developments in Manitoba’s wind strategy over the last several years including beginning work on the first industrial wind farm in Manitoba in St Leon; completing the 99megawatt, $210-million St. Leon project; receiving over 40 expressions of interest in Manitoba wind development from First Nations communities, turbine manufacturers, wind developers and consultants; making available wind monitoring data collected throughout the province in past years by Manitoba Hydro; launching the first urban wind-test site at The Forks to assess the viability of having a wind turbine at one of Winnipeg’s major tourism attractions.

The 63 wind turbines around St. Leon have quickly become a Manitoba tourism hotspot, attracting bus loads of visitors eager to see the giant towers that boast blades longer than the wingspan of a 747 aircraft. www.hydro.mb.ca. or www.gov.mb.ca

Hydro project approved in BC

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100 | May 2007

• UST's, buried metal, debris & fill • Former excavations & structures • Leachate plumes • Voids and fractures • Stratigraphy • Pipes and utilities

Plutonic Power Corporation has received provincial environmental certification for two integrated run-of-river hydroelectric power plant facilities in British Columbia. The project, which will have a combined capacity to produce 196 megawatts of clean, renewable electricity, will be located on two sites upstream of the Toba River in Toba Inlet, north of Powell River.

If completed, the project will help reduce British Columbia’s reliance on imported electricity, without producing greenhouse gas emissions, by generating enough electricity in an average year to meet the needs of 70,000 homes. Plutonic Power was offered an electricity purchase agreement to supply BC Hydro with electricity for 35 years as a result of the 2006 BC Hydro open call for power.

Before the project can proceed, Plutonic Power will still need to obtain the necessary provincial licences and leases, as well as regulatory approval from the responsible federal authorities.

The provincial environmental assessment certificate contains 77 commitments that the proponent must implement throughout the various phases of the project. The project’s capital costs are approximately $450 million and it is expected to create 650 person-years of employment during construction and 20 permanent positions during operations. www.eao.gov.bc.ca Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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NEWS Province invests in cleanup of contaminated sites Manitobaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Conservation Minister Stan Struthers has announced a $39-million plan to clean up contaminated sites and deal with their impacts across the province, starting with an alternative water supply for the community of Grosse Isle.

The minister has signed a memorandum of understanding with the rural municipalities of Rockwood and Rosser which will lead to a new water supply to address groundwater contamination in the community of Grosse Isle. An alternative water supply plan will be developed along with a site remediation agreement to determine financial responsibilities and a long-term management plan for the site.

Leaking underground petroleum storage tanks contaminated the groundwater aquifer in the area. The current landowner did not cause the contamination and no other potentially responsible parties exist. The province is now managing the site under the Contaminated Sites Remediation Act. www.gov.mb.ca

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Ottawa fined for violation of Environmental Protection Act The City of Ottawa has been fined a total of $65,000 after pleading guilty to discharging contaminants into the natural environment that caused adverse odours.

Ottawa owns and operates a sewage pumping station in the village of Richmond which is within the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boundaries. In the spring of 2005, Ottawa upgraded the pumping station and installed an odour control system that uses a biofilter to destroy hydrogen sulfide odours.

Beginning in June 30, 2005, the Ministry of the Environment started receiving complaints from numerous residents surrounding the Richmond pumping station of septic odours. Residents indicated that the odours were extremely unpleasant and made their outdoor properties unusable during that summer. The odours were confirmed by a Ministry inspector on July 11, 2005 and determined to be consistent with odours associated with hydrogen sulfide.

Following an investigation by the Ministryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Investigations and Enforcement Branch, the City of Ottawa was

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NEWS Experts in Water, Wastewater, Environmental Planning, and Simulation Software

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charged under section 14(1) of the Environmental Protection Act with discharging a contaminant into the natural environment. The Court heard that by failing to properly maintain the biofilter at the Richmond pumping station, the City had allowed odours to be discharged. The Court also heard that the City of Ottawa later installed further odour control equipment to address the issue. www.ene.gov.on.ca

67 Watson Rd., Unit #1 Box 1385, Guelph, Ontario, N1H 6N8 Tel: (519) 822-2608 Fax: (519) 822-3076 E-mail: ieinc@istar.ca

The Adventus Group, implementers of remediation technologies for soil, sediment and groundwater, announced recently that its Funnel & Gate Design for the Capping and In Situ Treatment of Impacted Sediments won the coveted "2007 ICU Innovation Award". This award is presented annually at International Clean-Up (ICU) in Birmingham, England, a contaminated land solutions conference and exhibition.

The company also announced that it has rejoined the Association for Environmental Health & Sciences (AEHS) to recognize talented, emerging environmental scientists during the "17th Annual AEHS Meeting and West Coast Conference on Soils, Sediments and Water" held in San Diego. Dr. Jim Mueller, President of Adventus Americas Inc., led the panel of judges to select the winners. www.adventusgroup.com

Environmental companies recognized for outstanding HR practices ECO Canada announced the winners of the 2007 Environmental Employer of the Year Awards. The awards were presented to two outstanding Canadian environmental companies in two categories.

Summerhill Group won in the small-tomedium sized company category, while Water and Earth Science Associates Ltd.(WESA Group) won in the large company category.

Summerhill Group and WESA were both chosen as the winners of this year’s awards primarily because of how satisfied each company’s employees are with their working environment and the way in which their company operates.

The annual Environmental Employer of the Year Awards are key in highlighting companies that are successful in at102 | May 2007

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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NEWS tracting and retaining their employees.

This is critical to the success of an industry that’s growing 60% faster than the Canadian workforce as a whole, while also experiencing a growing shortage of qualified workers. www.eco.ca

Leaders in

Engineering & Environmental Science MacViro Consultants Inc. 600 Cochrane Drive, Suite 500, Markham, ON L3R 5K3 (905) 475-7270 • Fax: (905) 475-5994 reception@macviro.com www.macviro.com

Survey finds environmental anxiety related to size of urban population The Canada West Foundation has released public opinion data on how residents of Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg view environmental issues.

“The data show that urbanites care deeply about the urban environment,” says Robert Roach, the Director of Research at the Canada West Foundation.

“For the residents of Canada’s big cities, addressing environmental issues is not just about things like protecting natural habitat, clean coal technology, or better forest management practices. It is about dealing with quality of life in large urban centres”, he added.

The survey illustrates that many environmental concerns are related to the size of the urban population. The larger the population of a city, the more concerned its residents are about the urban environment. This correlation likely reflects perceptions of lower environmental quality in larger cities.

The report’s author, Dr. Loleen Berdahl, writes: “As cities grow larger, air quality drops and the surrounding countryside is consumed, and what becomes rare, becomes more precious.

The survey findings suggest that Canada may become increasingly environmentally conscious—especially in terms of the urban environment—as the country’s cities continue to grow.”

Key findings: Regina and Saskatoon residents are the most satisfied with environmental protection in their cities; Toronto residents are the least satisfied.

Air quality is a high priority issue in Toronto and Vancouver, but less of an issue in the smaller prairie cities.

Protecting the city’s environment is a high priority in all cities, particularly Toronto and Vancouver.

Calgarians and Vancouverites are the most frequent users of urban green space.

Over 9 in 10 urbanites state city parks and green spaces are “essential to the continued overleaf... www.esemag.com

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RESPONSIBLE CHEMICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT

May 2007 | 103

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NEWS www.trg.ca Experience, Innovation, Diversity, Teamwork & Commitment

Tel: (905) 823-7965 Fax: (905) 823-7932 www.pcbdisposal.com

• MECHANICAL • ELECTRICAL • STRUCTURAL • ARCHITECTURAL • ENVIRONMENTAL • CIVIL

• Hazardous Site Clean-up & Remediation • Decommissioning and Demolition • Asbestos and Mould Abatement • Contaminated Soil Removal • On-site Water Treatment

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Toronto | Kitchener | Kingston | Edmonton | Cincinnati | www.xcg.com

104 | May 2007

quality of life.”

The majority in all cities, and twothirds in Toronto, state maintaining urban green spaces is a high priority.

Calgarians see urban sprawl as a problem; sprawl is also a concern for the majority of Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg residents.

The majority in all seven cities feels that protecting farmland and natural areas adjacent to cities from development is a good idea.

To download the report, visit www.cwf.ca

New report cautions against garbage incineration With renewed calls for garbage incineration in communities such as Hamilton, Durham Region (Clarington) and Ottawa, Ontario needs a comprehensive waste management strategy, according to a new report released by the Canadian Institute for Env Law and Policy (CIELAP).

Ontario's Waste Management Challenge - Is Incineration an Option? emphasizes waste reduction and diversion, while calling on the provincial government to fund an independent assessment of incineration technologies to better understand the true costs and benefits of incineration before their implementation.

In the report CIELAP makes the following key recommendations.

Develop and implement strict packaging regulations to prevent and reduce unnecessary packaging; Introduce strong policies and regulations on extended producer responsibility requiring industryto manage its waste itself, and strengthen the powers of Waste Diversion Ontario through amendments to the Waste Diversion Act to increase the role of industry stewardship in reducing and recycling waste; and Fund an independent, fair and impartial scientific assessment of the risks and benefits of incineration technologies and provide this information to the public.

Maureen Carter-Whitney, CIELAP's Research Director and author of the report, states that, "Without an adequate diversion policy, we are merely turning to a quick fix. Communities have a range of options to reduce and divert waste which ought to be explored and improved before investing in a technology that is controversial and may not even be necessary."

Copies of the report and a Quick Facts sheet are available at www.cielap.org Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

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ABS Pumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Aboriginal Water & Wastewater Association of Ontario . . .59 ACG Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Adventus Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Alberta Research Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70 ALS Laboratory Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 American Concrete Pipe Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 AMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Anthrafilter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 Aquablast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 Armtec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32,33 Associated Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Atlantic Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 AWI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 AWWA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89 Baycor Fibre Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 BOMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Business Information Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 CAEAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 Canada Pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 Canadian Environmental Markets Association . . . . . . . . .99 Canadian Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 Cancoppas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 Career Advancement Employment Services . . . . . . . . . . .41 CH2M HILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Cla-Val . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Con Cast Pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107 Containment Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Corrugated Steel Pipe Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108 Davis Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Delcan Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Denso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Duall Division, Met-Pro Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Dwyer Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 Earth Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Endress + Hauser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 Fluid Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90 Gartner Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Greatario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Green Turtle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Grundfos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 H2Flow Tanks & Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 Halogen Valve Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Hanson Pipe & Precast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Hassco Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 Heron Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79 Hetek Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Hoskin Scientific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 Hoskin Scientific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Hoskin Scientific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90 IPEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 ITT Flygt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 John Meunier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 KMK Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 Metcon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 MS Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 Mueller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Myron L Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Napier Reid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 Neptune Technology Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85 North American Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 OTEK Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 Parkson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 ProMinent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 ProMinent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 Protectolite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Sanitherm Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Schlumberger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Siemens Water Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Smith & Loveless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 SPD Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Stantec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Statiflo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 Syntec Process Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Thern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 Walkerton Clean Water Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 Water for People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86 Waterra Pumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 WEFTEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 XCG Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 XCG Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 ZCL Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

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Page 106

Guest Comment

Tuna, fluorescent bulbs, Minamata, recycling and solutions

By David Clunas he Federal Government has proposed the phase in of compact fluorescent bulbs and the ousting of incandescent bulbs as a component of a plan to reduce Carbon Loading to the Atmosphere.” You may have been eating a tuna sandwich when you heard this news.

This is not news to anyone who has been following any form of communication media in the last couple of weeks in the spring of 2007.

I applaud any move by a government to show leadership in assisting its people to better integrate and balance their lifestyle and needs within the global environment of the planet Earth. However, there is something troubling me about this move forward. The technological wonder of fluorescent lighting and its reduced energy demands may not add up to the potential solution for us creatures on planet Earth.

Light bulbs seem to be on everybody's minds lately. Probably because we are constantly turning them on and off, they are extremely useful to us and they are something the average citizen can see, imagine and deal with using their owns wits and appendages. Estimates have been made that we can reduce Canada's total carbon output every year by 1.5% through the use of these compact fluorescent bulbs. That is great!

Combine the reduction with the decreased use of light bulbs due to the adoption of daylight savings time for a longer period of each year and we have made great progress.

All the political and press coverage of this significant change in energy use has seemed to forget something. Tossing an old incandescent bulb in the garbage presents a short-term risk of cutting one's fingers but the same action with any fluorescent bulb (4 feet long or baseball sized) will result in long-term and difficult issues in the future.

Oh, did you hear on the news that fluorescent bulbs contain mercury. Quite a bit actually - 23 mg of mercury in each 4 foot bulb and 4 mg in each CFL (compact fluorescent bulb). P.S. Every good invention has a cool acronym in this modern age.

We (including politicians, government advisors and energy savers/produc-

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ers) seem to have forgotten a lesson learned 50 years ago. Let's jump in the time machine and go back to Minamata, Japan. The cats, crows, seaweed, and fish, as well as sons and daughters in Minamata, will tell you of "cat dancing disease", convulsions, loss of sensation in their limbs and mortality that was a result of mercury poisoning from waste material from a local industry.

This impact on persons and animals has not only occurred once - but numerous times, including once again in Japan (Niigata) and in three First Nations communities in Ontario,.

The next logical step is recycling.

This option is well known to us all and easily put in place in our society. Look at the success of the Blue and Grey Box programs. It only took 25 years to get people to toss in cans and paper and, recently, selected types of plastic.

There are existing firms with processes to safely recover all the material from fluorescent bulbs including the metal, glass, phosphor (the material that generates the fluorescent glow), and the mercury. The trick is to get the fluorescent bulbs to the sites designed to recycle and reuse the materials and chemicals contained in the bulbs.

No problem. Bring it to a local Hazardous Waste Depot or a Community Environment Day for safe disposal offered by most municipalities and cities.

Question - A person has a 4 foot fluorescent bulb - What will they do? Carefully pack and deliver the bulb to a Hazardous Waste Depot or put it out at the street for garbage disposal?

Answer - It depends but I am willing to bet the garbage at the street is the preferred option.

Something to think about - If you think the 4 foot tube at the street is the preferred disposal option then the odds of the small baseball sized CFLs being tossed into a green garbage bag are close to 100%.

Another interesting tidbit is about clean-up of the fluorescent bulbs. It is recommended that you do NOT use the vacuum to clean up a broken fluorescent bulb as this may result in placing the mercury-contaminated phosphor into the air you breathe. A wet cloth will ensure the dust is captured and not allowed to

get into the air, but watch out for those fingers and the transfer of the mercury to the landfill site! This will be an interesting challenge to educate the public as to the new safe way to tidy up after an accident with a light bulb.

A possible solution is a collection and recycling program that has incredible support and financial backing from all three levels of government: Federal, Provincial and Municipal. This has to go beyond product phase outs in the form of laws or options and intended good will for future generations. This will require money and lots of it to ensure the highest level of proper disposal of fluorescent bulbs to support educational materials and collection systems, and to encourage investment in sites to safely recover the mercury.

Do the world a favour and complete the following steps: • Sit down with a tuna sandwich but make sure it's not the 5th tuna sandwich this month.

• Turn on your fluorescent light bulbs.

• Read this article again.

• Ask yourself why society should embrace a technology that uses a known toxic element to generate light.

• Ask yourself if you believe that people will recycle fluorescent bulbs to ensure the spread of even more mercury into the ecosystem is prevented.

• Turn the comfort setting on your thermostat down 1 degree Celsius in the winter and up 2 degrees Celsius in the summer and reduce your carbon contribution.

• Contact your local politicians and ask if they are prepared to support the recycling programs needed to ensure the efficient use of energy for lighting while protecting the world's ecosystem.

David Clunas is with Clunas Environmental Consulting Contact: david.clunas@rogers.com

Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine

ES&E May:2007

5/22/07

11:37 PM

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ES&E May:2007

5/22/07

11:37 PM

Page 108

Effective Underground Storm Water Control,

In nature, rainfall is recognized as a life-giving asset.

When we develop a natural site the asset too often becomes a runoff liability for the developer and all parties downstream.

Traditional storm water ponds and infrastructure require expensive land area and are often over-taxed by runoff accumulations from many areas upstream.

Underground storm water detention, using economical corrugated steel pipe systems, permits developers to manage storm water on-site without sacrificing valuable land or flooding their neighbours.

For creative storm water management solutions contact a CSPI member in your neighbourhood.

Members: Fabricators: Armtec, Atlantic Industries Ltd., Canada Culvert & Metal Products, FSI Culvert, E.S. Hubbell & Sons Ltd., Prairie Steel, Soleno Inc., SPIR-L-OK Industries, Steelcor Culvert, Westman Steel Industries.

Steel Producers and Associates: Dofasco Inc., Stelco Inc., Sorevco, Ironside Design Manufacturing Inc., METAL KOTING, Noranda Inc., The Dow Chemical Company.

CORRUGATED STEEL PIPE INSTITUTE 652 Bishop St., Unit 2A Cambridge, Ontario N3H 4V6 Toll Free: (866) 295-2416 Fax: (519) 650-8081 Email us at: info@cspi.ca Visit our web site at www.cspi.ca