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March 2008
Official CANECT 2008 Showguide Page 88 The danger of liability for cross-border pollution What did that watermain leak actually cost? BC resort installs flexible MRB wastewater treatment system www.esemag.com
Spring conference previews
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Contents ISSN-0835-605X March 2008 Vol. 21 No. 1 Issued March 2008
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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.
FEATURES 7 10 12 16 20 22 24 28 32 34 36 39 40 42 46 50 53 55 60 66 70 73 74 77 78 80
Why low-bid systems are bad for Canada’s environment - Editorial comment by Tom Davey Ontario to change how e-waste is processed Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine celebrates two decades of publishing Richmond, BC’s innovative grease discharge initiative What did that watermain leak actually cost? Asset management and life cycle cost analyses combine to abate water main failures York Region initiates water and wastewater sustainability strategy Meeting the challenges of upgrading aerated facultative lagoons The danger of liability for cross-border pollution - Cover Story Senator Tommy Banks addresses 2007 WCWWA conference Ontario MOE faces contaminated site clean-up standards dilemma BC resort installs flexible MBR wastewater treatment system Proper impeller selection for wastewater pump performance Time for Canada to take the plunge on stormwater system “washout” claims Designing to meet current river intake environmental requirements Vegetative solutions to landfill closure problems Reviewing Water For People’s work in Bolivia Bioremediation of petroleum contaminated sites The future of clean transportation Permanent turf reinforcement mat helps protect old Saskatchewan River bridge Experimental process removes endocrine disruptors from wastewater In situ restoration of water pipes in high-rise buildings Spring conference previews, OWWA, WEAO, BCWWA CAEAL awards its 2007 scholarships Best management practices for testing chemical properties during first response One-pass trenching method used for Alberta sour gas plant groundwater remediation project
C A NE CT
Official CANECT 2008 Showguide - Page 88
Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine presents the 16th Annual Canadian Environmental Conference and Tradeshow, April 21-22, 2008, Toronto . . . . . . . . . . 87 CANECT Floor Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90, 91 Exibitor Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92-97
DEPARTMENTS Environmental News . . 98-105 Product Showcase . . . . . 82-86 Professional Cards . . . . 99-105 Ad Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
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MARKET LEADING AND INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS FOR WATER AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT 1. BIOSEC ENVIRO Shafted & Shaftless Screw Conveyors, Belt Conveyors, Sludge Storage & Truck Loading Systems
2. BRENTWOOD Trickling Filters, Tube Settlers, Cross, Vertical Flow and Mixed Media
3. CALGON UV Disinfection Systems for Water & Wastewater Advanced Oxidation for Taste and Odour www.proaquasales.com TEL. (416) 861-0237 FAX. (416) 861-9303 512 King Street east Suite 320 Toronto, ON. M5A 1M1
4. GRANDE WATER MANAGEMENT Tipping Buckets, Bending Weirs, Flushing Gates, Flow Regulation, CSO Management
5. DRESSER ROOTS Positive Displacement Blowers, EasyAir packages, Single Stage Centrifugal Blowers, Control Systems
6. EUTEK SYSTEMS High Performance Grit Removal, Washing & Dewatering Systems
7. GET INDUSTRIES Grind Hog Comminutors
8. HALLSTEN Aluminium Covers Bio Floor Biofiltration System
9. HSI Multistage Centrifugal Blowers, Advanced Controls, Rebuild & Refurbishment Services, parts for Hoffman & Lamson
10. ML SEPARATION & CONVEYING, INC. Chain & Sprocket Screen, Rotary Screen Climber Screen, Wire Rope Screen Shaftless & Shafted Screw Conveyors Screenings Washers & Compactors, Grit Removal
11. MIEX Colour and Organics Removal, THM Reduction, Nitrate Removal
12. MIOX On-site generation of Mixed Oxidants or Sodium Hypochlorite, THM Reduction, Microflocculation
13. SANITAIRE Fine and Coarse Bubble Diffusers, In Place Gas Cleaning
14. SALSNES FILTER Filter Cloth Screen
15. SCHWING BIOSET Sludge Cake Pumps, Storage – Sliding Frames, Pushfloors, Truck Receiving, Screenings Pumps Fluid Bed Sludge Dryers, System Integrators, Lime Treatment & Stabilization
16. SPAANS BABCOCK Archimedes Screw Pumps Rebuilds Bormet Fine Screens High Efficiency Surface Aerators
17. TGO TECHNOLOGIES INC. ChlorTainer - Chlorine Gas Containment
18. UNDERGROUND SOLUTIONS INC. Fusible C900/905 PVC Water & Sewer Pipe, HDD, River and Road Crossings, Sliplining, Pipebursting, Duraliner PVC structural rehab
19. SIEMENS WATER TECHNOLOGIES Travelling Water Screens Block and Cast-in-Place Underdrains Washtroughs, Waterboy, Trimite and Trident Package Water Plants Centrol Filters, Sludge Sucker Envirex Circular and Rectangular Clarifiers, Thickeners, DAF units RBC, SBC Units and SBRS Clarification Oxidation Ditches IFAS Media Jet-Tech Aeration, Jet Mixing Continuous Backwash, Traveling Bridge & Disc Filters Centrifuges, Belt Presses, Rotary Drum Thickeners, Filter Presses, Dryers Cannibal Solids Reduction Process Gas Holding Systems Zimpro Fluid Bed Incinerators RJ Chemical and Biological Odour Control, Chlorine Scrubbers
20. GE/ZENON ENVIRONMENTAL Membrane Drinking Water Tertiary Filtration & MBR Wastewater Mobile Units Integrated UF, NF and RO systems EDR
SPARE PARTS FOR ALL PRODUCTS
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Comment by Tom Davey
Why low bid systems are bad for Canada’s environment Reprinted from ES&E’s first issue in January/February 1988
“Nowadays, people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.”– Oscar Wilde he low bid system is rooted deeply in government buying practices. Any variance from the tendering system is viewed with great suspicion by the news media. Seldom is it seriously considered that the value of certain goods and services simply cannot be determined by purchase price alone. Yet the services of television commentators and editorial writers are obtained by the very opposite of the low bid system. Publishers, quite sensibly, pay what is necessary to get the best, or most appropriate, talent for their needs. Indeed it is commonplace for television networks to boast of spending astronomical sums of money for “anchors”, some of whom simply read lines written by other people. I have yet to hear of any network putting out tenders for their talking heads, or newspapers seeking low bids for their columnists. Incidently, many environmental articles and TV commentaries do look as if they were written by scribes hired under the low bidding system; but that is a subject for later discussion. While news media salaries are based on talent, experience or “ratings’, many of these same commentators will hint darkly of ill-doing if any government agency buys its goods and services the same way
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the media moguls do, by seeking out the best available product or talents for their various projects. And not just environmental spending is involved. Even advertising agencies are suspect if they are awarded any contract not put out to tender; yet such subjective factors as creativity, graphics and art direction – the very essence of the advertising world – defy computation by normal buying practices. Likewise, many factors go into value engineering. In consulting engineering, for example, there are some firms which, because they have heavy investments in both R&D and staff upgrading, have developed great expertise in certain disciplines. Indeed, because some foreign governments insist on the best available technology, Canadian engineers are frequently sent thousands of miles to remedy serious environmental problems. Scientific and technological expertise cannot be measured using the same marketplace tools as those used for the purchase of sand and gravel. Similarly, many government buying practices actually stifle innovation in the development of new, improved or more durable treatment equipment and processes. Service too is a vital component of environmental purchasing, yet is too often ignored by the tendering system. Environmental treatment plants are often large and extremely complex operations. Year in, year out, they have to work unceasingly for decades. As public health is at stake, clearly after-sales service is a vital ingredient in treatment systems. Yet equipment suppliers who provide exemplary service, who
support seminars and conferences which do so much to advance the state of the art, who do R&D to improve and upgrade their products, these are the very firms which are at a disadvantage when bidding on price alone. Although private sector companies are very cost-conscious, they know the real value of product reputation and service. While private firms exist in an extremely competitive universe, many are quite willing to pay for quality, without erecting wearisome layers of bureaucracy. The private sector values product innovation, reliability and service, so the reputation of their suppliers is highly regarded. They know only too well that the true value of reliability and service is not always reflected on purchase price alone. Sad to relate, but many fine equipment suppliers have left or reduced their involvement in the municipal markets. Their withdrawal is a blow to both the Canadian environment and economy. Mediocre equipment and processes will exact their own price, both economic and environmental, in the not too distant future. We have made some dazzling progress in the research and development of many environmental products and processes. Perhaps it is now time to develop an awareness of value engineering among municipal and provincial purchasing staffs and elected officials. In purchasing, there simply are no free lunches to be had. 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 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. 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 steve@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 $3.75 GST).
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Letters to the Editor Hello Tom,
Dear Tom & Steve,
Re: the Don River and article "The day the earth was moved"
I want to send our sincere appreciation for the cover story in the September 2007 issue of Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine, in regards to the global environmental conference held in Moncton in June 2007. As a follow up to the June 2007 Moncton conference, we have created an International Biosolids Network web site www.internationalbiosolidsnetwork.org The web site is intended to centralize and be a one-stop site of all the links, globally, relating to wastewater biosolids. The web site is, and will continue to be, a work–in –progress providing links to associations, users, operators, academics, government and regulatory agencies to the benefit of the global community. We are also in the process of producing the “Second Edition” of the Global Atlas of Wastewater Sludge and Biosolids Use and Disposal, originally produced in 1996. The United Nations – Habitat has agreed to fund this update. Last, but by far not the least, we are continuing efforts to establish a Canadian Biosolids Partnership in order to try to bring some focus to the management of wastewater biosolids in Canada. As it stands today there is no coordination of research, resources, knowledge, best practices, etc.
I am writing with regards to a photo you took back in 1969, the same photo that appears in "The day the earth was moved". Currently Pollution Probe is doing some work on the Don River in collaboration with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. In bringing together background material and context for this work we would like to use your photo in a project report. For now the report is essentially an internal document, though it may in part be reworked into something more public in the future. It was a real pleasure to chat with you today. Some of the best things in life are those that arrive unanticipated. Matthew Retallack Senior Project Manager Pollution Probe Tom Davey Re: Mercury in compact fluorescent light bulbs - January 08 I enjoyed your article. I have been telling people about this for years now. In fact I’ve told them to stay with conventional light bulbs until LED light bulbs come out for home use. So thanks for pointing this out. It backs up my rant. A guest speaker I had in class (an engineer) told the class that, yes, conventional light bulbs do waste a lot of energy but in Canada that heat is not lost but used to warm the home. Interesting. So it seems to me that once GE, Sylvania, Philips and others have us equipped with compact fluorescent light bulbs they will come out with LED bulbs. That’s my suspicion anyhow. Best regards, Brian Christianson
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Ronald J. LeBlanc, Chairman/ Greater Moncton Sewerage Commission Ronald LeBlanc has been appointed by the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association as its 10th Honorary Member. This distinction is given to persons who have made an outstanding contribution to the municipal water and wastewaster sector and the objectives and activities of CWWA. Mr. LeBlanc has been the principal force behind the move to develop a Canadian Biosolids Partnership, has forged links with other such Partnerships around the world, and has contributed significantly to the examination of municipal liabilities in respect to the Fisheries Act and for flooding events.
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Regulations
Ontario to change how e-waste is processed By Dianne Saxe ach year, Canadians spend millions of dollars on the latest electronic devices. From digital cameras and laptops to video game systems and televisions, Statistics Canada estimates that in 2004, this figured topped $880 million. As we replace more and more of these devices in favour of newer, quicker and fancier products, we are increasingly challenged to find safe and smart ways of disposing of the older equipment. For instance, a few years ago, consumers were replacing their computers every three or four years. Now, a quarter of computer owners replace their systems every year. The average Canadian home computer is 2.5 years old, down from 2.7 in 2006. While this may be good for businesses and manufacturers, there is the problem of what to do with all those "old" items. The United Nations says that e-waste is growing and estimates that 20 to 50 million tonnes of electronic waste are generated every year worldwide. In Canada, we send nearly three-quarters of our annual discarded electronic products to the local landfill; much of the rest is exported overseas. This amounts to over 140,000 tonnes of e-waste each year, with over 70,000 tonnes being produced in Ontario alone.
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The threat of e-waste Landfills contain all sorts of materials - from your old desk chair, to that worn out mattress - much of which is benign. But televisions, computer monitors and other high tech electronic devices are particularly unsuitable for landfill, because they are full of heavy metals. Some of these metals are too valuable to throw away. Others, such as lead, cadmium and mercury, are too toxic to put in the ground, where they leach into ground and surface water. One quarter of the glass in CRT monitors, for example, is typically made of the potent neurotoxin, lead. What is being done? Over the last year, governmentowned Waste Diversion Ontario has been working on a plan for an industryfunded waste diversion program for Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE). A draft of Phase I of the Plan was released for public comment on January 14, 2008; a link to it is available at http://envirolaw.ca. The Plan must be finalized by March 31, 2008. As directed by the Minister of Environment, Phase 1 will cover desktop and notebook computers, peripherals, monitors, printers/fax machines and televisions. They hope to recover 48% of Phase I e-waste the first year, increasing to 65% by 2013. Phase II will deal with
telephones, stereos, PDAs, copiers, radios, speakers and cameras; Phase III will cover other electronics. Where will the money come from? Funding for the Plan is likely to be provided by electronics manufacturers and vendors through a new non-profit corporation called Ontario Electronic Stewardship. The total cost is expected to be at least $48 million per year. They may recover the cost through an extra charge when electronics are sold. If commodity prices stay high, it is also possible that the metal in old electronics could be worth enough to pay for their collection. Many devices contain copper and precious metals such as gold and silver. In a single year, roughly 1,600 tonnes of copper, 35 tonnes of silver, 1.5 tonnes of palladium, and 3.4 tonnes of gold could be recovered by recycling 100 million cell phones. These metals are valuable since they can be easily re-captured and have already been refined. In fact, electronic scrap metals can be cheaper and more valuable than traditional scrap metals found in other products like cars. As a result, mining giant Xstrata PLC has become the world's largest consumer of e-scrap; Teck Cominco is also considering refining e-waste. Dianne Saxe is an environmental law specialist. For more information visit www.envirolaw.ca
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Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine celebrates two decades of publishing
By Tom and Steve Davey
any things are conceived at parties and, appropriately, it was at a publisher’s party in 1987 that the idea of a new environmental magazine was raised by a friend: “Why don’t you launch your own environmental magazine?” he enquired. He knew that both of us had been editors of Water & Pollution Control Magazine (W&PC), and that the Davey family worked closely with both the Water Environment Association of Ontario and the Ontario Water Works Association. It seemed like a good idea and during WEFTEC’87 in Philadelphia we formally announced the launch of Environmental Science and Engineering Magazine. The reaction was most favourable. The first issue rolled off the presses in February 1988 and was immediately embraced by the industry. The very first editorial comment by Tom Davey was titled: “Why low-bid systems are bad for the Canadian environment”, a theme which touched a nerve in both consultants and suppliers. This issue also carried an article by Federal Environment Minister Tom McMillan, which echoed the magazine’s stance on under-priced drinking water. He argued that price drove consumption. When water was undervalued, it would be wasted, leading to environmental neglect and pollution.
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The first issue also carried an article by Ontario Environment Minister Jim Bradley about the Municipal Industrial Strategy for Abatement (MISA) program. The objective was the virtual elimination of persistent toxic substances entering the environment. It called for strict monitoring and testing programs and resulted in a surge of spending in the environmental industry. Unfortunately, government emphasis on the MISA program was short-lived, when the Liberal Party lost to the New Democrats, in the 1990 election. Many analytical laboratories, which had geared up for an anticipated demand for their services due to the MISA program either went out of business, or abandoned the environmental market. One key component of the Ontario government’s plan to deal with toxic substances, such as PCBs, was the creation of the Ontario Waste Management Corporation in the early 1980s. Unfortunately, the OWMC became endlessly stymied by public opposition and activist groups against the use and location of its waste incineration facility and disposal site. Ultimately, after spending some $120 million in studies, the OWMC was abandoned, without ever treating as much as a handful of waste. In the late 1980s, ES&E carried many staff-written articles advocating the use of PCB contaminated wastes as fuel for cement kilns. The articles stressed that the rotary kilns were a good idea because they could harness the thermal properties of the wastes while making cement; that the PCBs had a long residence time in the flame, leading to almost total destruction; and that there was a saving in valuable fuel used instead of conventional incineration. However, public opinion was against the use of PCB wastes as fuel and this option was abandoned. Much of Canada’s PCB wastes ultimately were directed to the United States. Leak detection from underground storage tanks also became an important issue in the late 1980s. In the July 1991
issue of ES&E, an article by Richard Rush and Keith Metzer, of XCG Consultants, reported that there were approximately 70,000 retail gasoline storage tanks in Canada. Studies had shown that 20-25% of these were found to be or were suspected to be leaking. “The remediation cost could be many tens of billions of dollars – the same order of magnitude as the annual Canadian federal deficit,” stated the authors. The fearsome “hole in the ozone layer”, caused largely by chlorofluorocarbon emissions, dominated the news in the 1980s. ES&E published several articles on methods to recapture CFCs, including those by Dusanka Filipovic, who played an active role in the development of an innovative technology to recapture CFCs from refrigeration and air conditioning equipment when serviced or decommissioned. Ms. Filipovic later won several awards for her engineering work, including the Engineering Medal for Research and Development from Professional Engineers Ontario. The ozone layer, which once dominated media coverage, is no longer as newsworthy since its recovery seems to be well underway. Early on, after its launch in 1988, ES&E reported on the increasingly important role of environmental laboratories and how labs could now measure toxins to parts per quadrillion. This was analogous to one second in 32 million years, surely space age achievements, yet laboratories were, and still are, too often the forgotten profession in environmental remediation. Non-point pollution sources, such as oil contamination in stormwater, began to be tackled in the early 1990s. In response, sophisticated catchment systems were developed to separate and retain oil in catch basins. One Canadian company, Stormceptor, has been at the forefront of this technology and has designed and sold thousands of stormwater separation units, throughout Canada and many other countries around the world. In the 1990s, new and improved treat-
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Tom Davey (left) with En vironment Minister Lucie n Bouchard
ment processes emerged. Membrane technology for both drinking water and wastewater developed at an astonishing rate. Ozone, probably first used in Canada in Québec, is now used in drinking water plants in Ontario and other parts of Canada. Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection, too, is increasingly used in both drinking water and wastewater management. The same decade brought great change to Canada’s consulting engineers. In the November 1995 issue of ES&E, George Powell, of CH2M Gore & Storrie, stated that “as the consulting industry in Ontario downsized from about 13,000 in 1990 to under 10,000 in 1995 to react to the slowdown in the domestic market, the need to develop opportunities internationally grew.” He went on to say that “international design/build/own/operate/transfer, BOOT projects as they are often called, are becoming the norm.” Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the out of sight, out of mind attitude towards water mains and sewer lines resulted in gross neglect of cleaning, repairing and replacing this infrastructure. In 2001, this attitude changed when eight people died and some 2,000 were made seriously ill, some perhaps permanently, from E. coli 0157:H7 contamination in Walkerton, Ontario’s drinking water supply. Stan and Frank Koebel were workers at the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission at the time of the tragedy. Frank worked as the water foreman while Stan worked as the Commission's supervisor. Both would eventually plead guilty to falsifying reports and were formally sentenced in December 2004, with Stan receiving a year in jail and Frank, nine months of house arrest. Reaction to their sentencing was mixed. Some felt it was justice served, while others believed the tragedy was the result of many other factors, and that it could have happened elsewhere at any time. In 2002, Justice Dennis O’Connor released The Walkerton Report, which made some 93 recommendations and added new vigour and commitment to revitalizing Canada’s water and wastewater infrastructure. Among its many recommendations was mandatory certification, which has created a new level of professionalism among water plant operators. www.esemag.com
As the Ontario government had closed down its operator training facility in the mid ‘90s, mandatory operator certification has created an opportunity for private sector operator training. Another victim of the Walkerton tragedy has been acceptance of the land application of biosolids, with many landowners and municipalities denying Tom Davey (centre) permission to do so in order to receives his AWWA award play it safe. Following a fire at a soon to be commissioned sludge pelletization facility, the biosolids disposal situation in Toronto became so desperate that the city currently trucks its biosolids to a landfill in Michigan. The city re(left) with Denise Simpson cently purchased a landfill site near E 07 Penny Davey at AC London, Ontario, where its biosolids will eventually be landfilled. Sandra D avey wit h George In the January 2008 issue of Powell of CH2M HILL Ltd ES&E, Phil Sidwa, of Terratec Environ. mental, wrote that “ considering the acceptance of recycling by society, the rejection of landfills and the overwhelming evidence of climate change, the arguments raised against the land application of biosolids that have met strict quality standards are not realistic.” Infrastructure manufacturing has become a very high-tech operation in recent years. On one field trip in 2006 ES&E staff saw an advanced, totally robotic operation where concrete, sand, water and gravel were converted into huge concrete pipes which could ntario ey with O rling Penny Dav Minister Norm Ste be installed the next day. Other infrat en m on ir Env structure technologies have also shown significant engineering advances which make their products more versatile, permanent and fiscally competitive. The issue of global warming, first raised by Tom Davey in a 1968 Water & Pollution Control Magazine editorial comment, again took centre stage in onment th Ontario Envir Tom Davey wi t lio Canada, with the government ratifying da El Minister Bren the Kyoto Accord in 2002. The cost/ benefit debate surrounding this issue still rages. Who could have predicted that Al Gore, a former Vice President of the United States, would be honored with a Nobel Prize in 2007 for his environmental activities focusSteve Dav ey (left) re Bedell A ceives h ing on global warming? ward is from WE presiden F t Joe Sto we
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Dusanka Filopovic, standing, with Tom Davey, ES&E co-founder and editor.
The Water Environment Federation has also recognized global warming as a key issue facing both the water and wastewater industries. Last summer was one of the driest on record and many areas of Canada experienced droughtlike conditions. In 2007 ES&E ran an article about Victoria, BC’s imaginative public relations campaign to reduce water consumption by 20-30%.
Global water supply is an ever-increasing problem and ES&E has strongly supported Water For People. This charitable organization was set up to provide clean drinking water to Third World countries using appropriate, inexpensive and sustainable technology. Outbreaks of lethal diseases which haunted Europe and the Americas for centuries have either been vastly reduced in Third World
"Congratulations to Environmental Science and Engineering on 20 years of great environmental journalism!"
"Canada's premier biosolids company managing municipal and industrial non agricultural source materials. 25 years of experience. State of the art equipment. Nutrient management specialists and Certified Crop Advisors on staff. Beneficial re-use through land application, including our exclusive high solids injection system, pelletizing and other "Class A" technologies. Municipal and industrial digester, tank, lagoon and routine pumping station cleanout specialists with Canada's only mobile inorganics screening and grit removal and dewatering equipment. Mobile dewatering innovators offering mechanical, geo-synthetic and blending methods."
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countries or eliminated thanks to Water for People. Many ES&E articles have postulated that environmental engineers have perhaps done as much for public health as the medical profession. ES&E’s Sales Director, Penny Davey, serves on the board of Water for People Canada. When we launched ES&E in 1988, our goal was to make it a voice for Canada’s water, wastewater and environmental protection professionals. During that time, ES&E staff have been extensively involved with and have won awards from the Water Environment Federation, the American Water Works Association, Environment Canada, the Water Environment Association of Ontario and the Canadian Business Press. ES&E intends to provide a vigorous forum where issues affecting environmental professionals can be debated and where new technologies, projects and policies can be introduced. Tom Davey is Editor, and Steve Davey is Publisher of Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine.
Thank you! The publishers of Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine would like to thank the following companies who advertised in our inaugural issue of January/February 1988 and who continue to advertise with us to this day: Ainley & Associates R.V. Anderson Associates Anthrafilter Associated Engineering Can-Am Instruments Davis Controls Delcan Dillon Gartner Lee Geneq Inc. Gore & Storrie (CH2M HILL) Gorman-Rupp ITT Flygt Knox Martin Kretch (KMK) MacLaren Engineers (GENIVAR) Marshall Macklin Monaghan Proctor & Redfern (Earth Tech Canada)
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Richmond, B.C.'s innovative grease discharge initiative By Penh Tov, P.Eng
Minoru Park, Richmond, BC.
his year, restaurants in Richmond, British Columbia, can expect to be visited by a dedicated sanitary sewer bylaw enforcement officer, offering in-depth educational materials – and a friendly warning. If a restaurant continues to improperly dispose of grease, City Council will consider rescinding its business license. This coastal city’s innovative grease reduction plan also includes exploring a Grease Recycling Program to send grease to a facility that can recycle it into various end-products such as animal feed and biodiesel fuel. "Our approach is focused on the longterm environmental sustainability of Richmond, the region, and the coastline,”
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says Jim Young, the City’s Manager of Engineering Design and Construction. The cost of grease Sanitary sewer overflows are a significant threat to public health and the environment. Essentially, liquid grease (often from restaurants) enters the sewer system, cools and solidifies in the sewer pipe. This leads to a reduced hydraulic capacity, and grease attaches to the pipe walls – the "arteries" of the system. Removal of the grease is expensive but necessary. Without removal, the system will experience blockages, resulting in flooding, a serious hazard for the municipality. In coastal regions, there is additional concern. Grease-related overflows can end up in the Pacific Ocean and compromise fragile ecosystems.
"Proper grease control can help prevent overflows from happening in the first place," notes Young. "We want food establishments to understand that they are accountable, and that sustainability is a necessary part of their business practices." Sustainable business practices not only protect the environment, they save taxpayers money. The City of Richmond estimates that removal of grease from sanitary sewers has been costing approximately $311,000 annually in operations and maintenance. In addition, the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) has been spending $40,000 to $50,000 annually to remove grease from Richmond that ends up at the GVRD wastewater treatment plant. The City is taking a preventative approach that targets food establishments, as it seeks new recycling options that benefit the community and the environment. Sustainability on the coast Located in Metro Vancouver (20 minutes from downtown), Richmond is comprised of 17 islands at the mouth of the Fraser River. With a population of more than 185,000 (and more than 750 restaurants) it has been experiencing rapid growth. Once a rural community, it is now an international centre, comprised of urban spaces, bedroom communities and surviving rural lands, including many family farms. It is where the river meets the ocean. Here is the Pacific Flyway, where birds migrate between the Arctic and South continued overleaf...
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Wastewater America. The shores are an estuary border, essential for fish, birds and protected wildlife. When it comes to stormwater and wastewater management, the habitat hangs in the balance. And development is always a challenge. Continuing development of the City, as well as construction for the 2010 Winter Olympics (including Rapid Transit and a Speed Skating Oval), have necessitated that Richmond take lasting action to prevent wastewater-related pollution. During the games, food establishments will be inundated with leftover oil, grease and solids, the leading cause of sanitary sewer overflows. The Vancouver 2010 Committee’s Sustainability Report calls upon communities to “develop wastewater management plans that focus on leading-edge technologies and practices.” As a result, food establishments throughout the region have been replacing their traditional grease traps with more comprehensive grease interceptor systems that use gravity separation technologies to segregate oil, grease and sediment from wastewater. A city's "triple bottom line" Richmond's Grease Discharge Edu-
cation and Enforcement initiative has been developed in alignment with its Corporate Sustainability Initiative, which "promotes, facilitates and coordinates action by departments that will help create a more sustainable Richmond at the corporate and community level.” The City has been working towards "a triple bottom line", where all planning, new projects and existing practices consider environmental, social and economic impacts, rather than the "single bottom line" – immediate economics – which has tended to dominate politics in most cities. It has developed a central sustainability team and embraced new and emerging green technologies. Richmond’s goal is to become a municipal leader in sustainability, with the participation of the community, business and other sectors. Dealing with grease discharge is a big part of that equation. Preventative education With their budgets stretched tight, many cities do not allocate the resources to adequately monitor grease disposal and provide information on grease control. As a result, restaurants do not have
regular contact with enforcement officers, and they may pay little attention to their environmental impact. Furthermore, many restaurants are equipped with under-sized and ineffective grease trap systems, which could be replaced with high-capacity grease interceptors. Richmond is in the process of hiring a dedicated sewer bylaw enforcement officer. The officer will be trained and equipped with educational resources, presented in a non-confrontational, easy-to-understand style. And the officer has plenty of time to answer questions and provide resources. “The goal is not to penalize, but to educate," says Young. "Many food establishments say they want to do the right thing but they need the information. We’re providing it.” A broader public education campaign is another component of the program. The City will be educating the public through a series of creative advertisements which address the proper disposal of household grease, as well as grease in the workplace. A radical enforcement model Many cities levy fines on non-com-
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Wastewater pliers (and gain revenue from these fines). But while the non-compliers pay, they don’t necessarily clean up their act. In contrast, Richmond's approach to enforcement reflects the triple bottom line approach. “We’re not interested in using fines as a revenue-generating strategy," says Young. "Our goal is to increase long-term compliance." The City has implemented a fourstep model: Step 1: The sewer bylaw officer visits the business, providing easy-tounderstand information and the opportunity to ask questions. Step 2: Follow-up inspection. The bylaw officer provides verbal warning if no grease interceptor is on the premises or if the existing interceptor is not maintained. Step 3: After the food establishment has an opportunity to make changes, the officer follows up again. In the case of non-compliance, the City issues progressive fines. Step 4: If all else fails, the City Council may refuse to renew the noncomplier’s business license. Step 4 is a more serious penalty than
most municipalities' enforcement structures, and it serves as a powerful deterrent strategy. It sends a clear message to non-compliers: when it comes to cleaning up and enacting sustainable business practices, it's now or never. Recycling: biodiesel and animal feed The City is investigating the recycling and reuse opportunities for restaurant grease – often called "yellow grease" – to include recycling it into biodiesel and mixing it into animal feed. The City's goal is to establish a Grease Recycling Program where grease collected from grease interceptors can be picked up and re-used as various other end-products. A report on recycling options has been drafted and is scheduled for presentation to City Council. In standard municipal grease recycling, yellow grease is sent to rendering plants, where it is processed and used for animal feed and other products. Some municipalities also use anaerobic "digesters" to break organic material down into biogas that can be burned to produce energy. Richmond is one of the first cities in
Canada to explore recycling some of its yellow grease into biodiesel. Biodiesel is made by converting resources such as animal fats and plant oils into methyl esters, the chemical term for biodiesel. According to a joint US Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture study, biodiesel reduces net CO2 emissions by 78 percent compared to petroleum diesel. It is becoming an increasingly popular alternative energy source worldwide. Grease recycling is a sensible solution from both an environmental and an economic standpoint. Many private recycling stations pay top dollar for grease; in a sense, dollars are being dumped down the drain when municipalities don't recycle grease. As the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources states: "Fats, oils, and greases are commodities and should be treated as valuable resources that can and should be recycled whenever possible." Penh Tov, P.Eng., is with Green Turtle Technologies. E-mail: infoca@greenturtletech.com
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Infrastructure
What did that leak actually cost? he City of St. Thomas is located 20 kilometres south of London, Ontario, and has a population of 35,000. The City is a proactive municipality encouraging their operations staff to use the latest equipment and methodologies to identify areas of leakage within their distribution system. With the tools and knowledge learned, they have detected and repaired many leaks to date. Recently, during a routine leak detection exercise, city crews placed leak noise loggers (Permalogs) on strategic valves within the distribution system. Permalogs listen for leaks during the night-time and determine if there is a leak within a 200metre radius. If a leak is detected, the Permalog will transmit an alarm signal wirelessly. City crews then patrol the area with a Patroller, and receive the alarm signals, identifying areas of possible leakage, which are then investigated with the use of water leak correlators and electronic sonic leak detectors. In March 2006, City crews detected
T
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Actual Costs Leak (estimated for at least two years) on 100mm cast-iron water main equates to: Daily Waste (L) 81764 Water Rate per Litre $0.0004977 $40.69 Sewage Rate per Litre $0.001150 $94.03 Daily Total Water & Sewer $134.72 2 Year Period $98,348.53
and pinpointed a leak on a 100mm, 100year-old cast-iron water main in the City’s south end, using the methodology described. In this case, the water did not surface. However, two years ago the City did repair a sinkhole near the curb at the leak location with approximately two cubic metres of crushed gravel. Costs to repair the leak were less than $2,000, but what were the actual costs associated with the lost water?
Volume Monthly Waste (L) 2452946
Yearly Waste (L) 29844186
$1,220.83
$14,853.45
$2,820.89 Monthly $4,041.72
$34,320.81 Yearly $49,174.27
After crews uncovered the leak, it was found that the leaking water was escaping into an unplugged sanitary sewer lateral, thus never surfacing. By having an active leakage detection program, such costly leaks can be located early and can save thousands of dollars for the municipality. This can defer costly expenditures for plant expansion. For more information, E-mail gary.fricke@hetek.com
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evolution™ AMI Water conservation is a natural outgrowth of our technology. The time is now. The need is critical. The intelligent use and efficient management of our water resources are more important now than ever. Increasing water consumption, droughts, and growing populations have diminished supplies of fresh, potable water and created the demand for a smart metering solution. Elster Metering’s evolution™ AMI provides the solution through innovative advanced metering technology that drives utility-wide conservation efforts and effectively manages and measures water consumption. An intelligent two-way communications-based system, evolution™ AMI’s advanced features enable utilities to acquire on-demand readings, real-time leak detection, and tampering or backflow notifications. evolution™ AMI is the only advanced meter reading technology that offers a complete, end-to-end AMI solution with the capability to migrate from mobile AMR to fixed network AMI without system change out. Utilities can use evolution’s in-home user display to quickly and easily provide consumers with a real time picture of daily water usage, effectively encouraging their participation in conservation. evolution™ AMI also empowers utilities with remote valve actuation which automatically shuts off water to a residence, conserving water, preventing floods, and adjusting water consumption on a seasonal basis. Competitively priced for high and low volume deployments, evolution™ AMI provides low infrastructure and administrative costs, while supporting true utility-wide conservation efforts. The time is now. The need is critical. evolution™ AMI Elster Metering – Canada 1-866-703-7582
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Infrastructure
Asset management and life cycle cost analyses combine to abate water main failures By David Beck sset management, a timehonored tool for decisionmaking in the business sector, has more recently found its way into public works management. Quite likely the most effective way to improve the cost-efficiency of virtually every expenditure, the relevance of asset management for public works infrastructure was revealed in the most recently revised government accounting standards which now consider infrastructure elements (water and sewer service, roads, bridges and such) as manageable assets. This new paradigm and the subsequent use of asset management practices has resulted in substantial economic benefits to municipal governments across Canada, the United States, Australia and many others. Asset management benefits in public works management The significance of asset management in public works administration became evident when the US General Accounting Standards Bureau issued its Statement No. 34, Basic Financial Statements – and Management's Discussion and Analysis – for State and Local Governments in late 1999. One of its requisite items required municipal governments to financially account for capital assets in a manner equivalent to private industry practices. Given the historical absence of particulars, public works managers were then poorly equipped to accurately plan future needs and budget expenses. Asset management techniques promote more astute decision-making for new and/or rehabilitation projects so that they provide the most favorable long-term economic benefits. Consider this definition of asset management by the US Federal Highway Administration: “… a systematic process of maintaining, upgrading, and operating physical assets cost-effectively. It combines engineering principles with sound business practices and economic theory, and it provides tools to facilitate a more organized, logical approach to decision-
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making. Asset management provides a framework for handling both short and long-range planning.” The asset management philosophy views infrastructure elements as community investments and, as such, efficient use of capital is elemental. Whether in government or industry, good business practice always involves evaluating alternatives to determine which will meet the intended service requirements for the least cost over its expected service life. “Life Cycle Cost Analysis”, “Life Cycle Costing” and “Value Analysis“– all introduced some five decades ago –
are worthwhile evaluation techniques for estimating the total ownership cost (initial cost plus predictable operating/maintenance expenses) for the life of a system, thereby assisting with decisions about how to invest limited resources. As a component of asset management practices, these are the highly effective ways to evaluate alternative products/systems. In the course of such analyses, historical data for the various life-cycle elements – such as maintenance costs, repair frequencies and longevity – for systems in similar operating conditions are essential points.
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Infrastructure The maintenance cost of old water mains The asset management viewpoint is especially important for underground infrastructure such as sewer and water services. Repairing water main failures usually involves substantial emergency attention, extensive excavation and equipment. Moreover, these almost always result in traffic disruption and significant lost water revenues. About a decade ago, the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) attempted to survey over 30 major Canadian municipalities in order to quantify the types and consequences of water main breaks. Perhaps not surprisingly, nearly one-third did not keep records of the number of water line failures nor the repair costs. Nearly twodozen cities did respond, however, and provided enough information to develop a reasonably good estimate of the nationwide effects of water line failures. The data showed that water line breaks were costing Canadian municipalities $82 million annually (based on an estimated labour and material cost of $2,500 per failure in 1995 dollars). Furthermore, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities estimated that these resulted in some $650 million dollars in lost water revenues nationwide. More recent information is available from the City of Winnipeg (www.winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste/water/mainbreaks.stm#10). They report that their current cost for repairing a water main break is approximately $4,000 per instance. By applying this repair cost to the foregoing analysis, the estimated annual present-day cost of water main breaks increases to about $1.3 trillion nationally. Further, by estimating that water values increase proportionally with cost of living indices, lost water revenues associated with these breaks rise to $910 million. By these estimates, water main breaks are costing Canadian municipalities over $2 trillion dollars annually. An alternative technology PVC pipe technology was introduced to North America in the late 1940s and was certified by the National Sanitation Foundation (now NSF International) as suitable for potable water systems in the 1950s. The use of PVC pressure pipe in municipal environments has become so prevalent that the Uni-Bell PVC Pipe www.esemag.com
Association estimates that PVC pipe currently accounts for approximately 70 per cent of the footage installed for buried potable water distribution and transmission systems. Municipalities worldwide have reduced their water line operating and maintenance costs with PVC pressure pipe. Managing your infrastructure The most efficient public utilities are quite often those that embrace newer managerial practices and modern technologies. Increasingly, public works de-
partments are discovering that combining proven business-oriented programs with more cost-efficient materials and operating techniques can substantially improve their overall proficiency. This leads to lower operating costs, enhanced services, lower construction and maintenance expenses, and, best of all, a better community. David Beck is an independent consultant. E-mail: depeck@422@sbcglobal.net
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Long Range Planning
York Region initiates water and wastewater sustainability strategy By G. Zukovs and H. Hatami ow can increasing demands be imposed on the environment without reducing the environment’s capacity to support future generations? This is a central issue confronting the Regional Municipality of York, one of the fastest growing areas in Canada. York Region’s answer: adopt strategies that emphasize sustainability as the hallmark for managing growth. Located in south central Ontario, York Region covers 1,776 square kilometres, and includes farmlands, wetlands and kettle lakes, the Oak Ridges Moraine and over 2,070 hectares of forest. The Region is a mix of urban and rural communities, and is currently home to over 950,000 residents. By the year 2026, estimates suggest there will be 1.3 million people in York Region, an increase of almost 40%. Right now 29,000 businesses provide more than 465,000 jobs in the Region, and employment is increasing at a rate of 15,000 - 20,000 jobs annually. Forecasters predict that employment will double to almost 700,000 jobs in the Region by 2026. The human and economic growth that York is experiencing has and will continue to put enormous pressure on the Region’s environment and its infrastructure. The issues the Region is grappling with range from ways and means to achieve a balance between intensification and greenfield development, matching employment to population growth, maintaining and enhancing the quality of life residents enjoy, to ensuring that the timing, costs and approvals for infrastructure delivery, including sufficient fiscal resources, closely mirror the forecast demand. Recognizing these challenges, the Region has initiated a multi-faceted approach to managing its growth. The first element is articulated in the York Region Sustainability Strategy "Towards a Sustainable Region", endorsed by Regional Council in 2007. This document contains a corporation-wide, long-term framework for making smarter deci-
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sions about growth management and municipal responsibilities that better integrate the economy, environment and community. The Region refers to this integration of economy, environment and community as its “triple bottom line”. Taking the United Nations Brundtland Commission’s definition of sustainable development as a starting point, that is "development that meets the needs of the present without compro-
mising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”, York Region’s Strategy sets out eight guiding principles that are intended to inform and improve all Regional policies, initiatives and operations: 1. Provide a long-term perspective on sustainability. 2. Evaluate using the triple bottom line elements of environment, economy and community.
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Long Range Planning 3.
Create a culture of continuous improvement, minimizing impact and maximizing innovation. 4. Identify specific short-term achievable actions that contribute towards a sustainability legacy. 5. Set targets, monitor and report progress. 6. Foster partnerships and public engagement. 7. Raise the level of sustainability awareness through education, dialogue and reassessment. 8. Promote sustainable lifestyles and re-evaluation of our consumption and expectations. The second element of the Region’s approach deals directly with the infrastructure needs of the expected growth, and includes the development of specific “sustainability strategies” for major infrastructure master plans. Master planning for water and wastewater services in York Region presents unique challenges, and not just due to the high rate of growth. Water and wastewater servicing is a multi-jurisdictional undertaking, based on the Region’s location and municipal governance structure. York Region comprises nine area municipalities, with the result that it acts as a water “wholesaler” supporting supply, treatment, storage, pumping and transmission mains. In turn, the area municipalities are responsible for distributing the water to local customers. Potable water is provided from a number of surface and groundwater sources. Through partnership agreements with the City of Toronto and the Region of Peel, water is supplied from Lake Ontario to area municipalities in the southern part of the Region. The northern portion of the Region takes water from Lake Simcoe and several communities rely, in whole or in part, on groundwater supplies. A large area of York Region is taken up by the Oak Ridges Moraine. The moraine's underlying geology makes it an important source of groundwater recharge and it is the source for headwaters for 65 river systems. Given its importance, the Ontario Provincial Government has enacted legislation and planning directives aimed at protecting the ecological and hydrological integrity of the Moraine area. York Region must abide by these as part of the water www.esemag.com
and wastewater master planning effort. Responsibility for wastewater servicing is similarly divided between the area municipalities, (wastewater collection and local pumping) and the Region (major pumping stations, trunk sewers and treatment facilities). Wastewater treatment in the northern part of the Region is provided by facilities that are located either on Lake Simcoe or on one of Lake Simcoe’s tributaries. Lake Simcoe and its tributaries presently exceed Ontario water quality
standards for nutrients, principally nitrogen and phosphorus, limiting their assimilative capacity. In December, 2007, the provincial government announced its intent to develop legislation and programs for Lake Simcoe that will protect the health of the lake and address all sources of phosphorus. In the southern part of the Region wastewater is primarily treated in facilities discharging directly to Lake Ontario or its tributaries. York Region’s continued overleaf...
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Long Range Planning main wastewater treatment facility, jointly owned with the Regional Municipality of Durham, discharges directly into Lake Ontario and has a rated capacity of 630 ML/d. Two-tier ownership and operation of water and wastewater systems, along with inter-regional supply and treatment arrangements are two of the features that present challenges to sustainable water and wastewater servicing in York Region. Other aspects include the limited nature of some receiving waters and area municipality jurisdiction over stormwater runoff. These factors must all be accounted for as the Region strives toward a goal of “total water management”. Early in the water and wastewater master plan development process, York Region determined the need to investigate practices and experiences of other jurisdictions. The purpose of this investigation was to (1) take advantage of lessons learned elsewhere about sustainable water and wastewater servicing; and (2) identify those best practices that would benefit its unique features and circumstances.
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The investigation considered experiences from Canada (Edmonton, Hamilton, Vancouver), the United States (Chicago, Phoenix), the United Kingdom, and Australia. A number of common themes were identified, including: • Treatment and operations of water and wastewater systems that meet or exceed regulatory requirements; • Preventive water resource protection strategies and multi-source pollution control strategies on a watershed basis; • Resource conservation through demand management, coupled with water reuse and recycling; • Integrated land use planning that emphasizes the natural environment and identifies specific natural resource goals; and, • Collaboration with neighbouring jurisdictions, open communications, and public involvement. Armed with lessons learned from other jurisdictions, a raft of well-defined existing Regional policies and programs, and using the York Region Sustainability Strategy "Towards a Sustainable Region"
as the overall guide, the Region began taking the first steps in development of a master plan for sustainable water and wastewater servicing. At its core, sustainable water and wastewater facilities planning in York Region is integrated with growth management and other planning activities to ensure well-coordinated future development that will respect the natural environment, protect public health, and ensure ongoing economic vitality in the Region. Partnerships with adjacent municipalities are being actively sought to provide cost-effective services and to enhance security and reliability of water and wastewater services. The master planning strategy itself, titled Water and Wastewater Sustainability Strategy, is comprised of ten themes. The themes, shown in Figure 1, address a wide range of issues dealing with public health, the environment, economy and finance, as well as communications, performance measurement, and adaptation. Some issues are addressed by a number of the themes; for example, public health is covered by
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Long Range Planning
Figure 1.
the themes of Safe and Clean Drinking Water, Healthy Watersheds, and to a lesser degree in other themes, such as Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. Guiding principles have been developed for each theme. These provide the Region’s “mission statement” for each theme and describe the commitments the Region is making toward sustainable water and wastewater servicing. The ability to define, measure and evaluate each theme against objective criteria is crucial to the success of York’s sustainability strategy. Accordingly, objectives, performance indicators and targets have or are being developed for each theme. For example, under the Maintain Healthy Watersheds theme, York Region has proposed the objective that wastewater effluents will be treated to reduce where possible the release of emerging pollutants such as endocrine disrupting compounds. Similarly, under the theme of Protect Community WellBeing, the Region has proposed the objective of designing and operating its water and wastewater systems so that service interruptions are minimized and the risks of surface and basement flooding are limited. The objectives for each theme have, in turn, been assigned measurable performance indicators for which targets are being developed. For example, for the Wise Use of Water theme, the Region is proposing indicators that focus on parameters associated with wastewater volume and the measurement of wastewater reuse and recycle: • Per capita residential water use; • Per capita employment water use; www.esemag.com
• • • •
Per capita wastewater generation; Fraction I/I remaining; Volume wastewater reuse; Mass or volume of wastewater by-products recycled. Development of specific targets for each indicator is well underway. Targets for some indicators, such as drinking water quality, wastewater effluent requirements, water use and service levels, have already been developed. In other in-
stances the approach at this point in the sustainability program is to apply adaptive approaches developing monitoring programs based on present indicators, examining trends over a period and setting targets or adjusting indicators, or both. In yet other cases, programs are being developed to address a particular theme and, once complete, will be added to the sustainability framework. All of these activities illustrate the evolutionary nature of York Region’s sustainability efforts. Throughout the master planning process, it has actively engaged the many stakeholders who have an interest in water and wastewater servicing within the Region. Extensive internal and external consultation is a hallmark of its master planning exercise. And it will continue to be so as the Region moves forward with development of the plan, which is expected to be completed in mid-2008. G. Zukovs, M.Eng., P.Eng., is President, XCG Consultants, and H. Hatami, PhD., P.Eng., is with York Region. Contact: georgez@xcg.com
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Wastewater
Challenges of upgrading aerated facultative lagoons By Dwight Houweling, Ph.D. erated facultative lagoon processes are being operated for wastewater treatment in thousands of municipalities across Canada. Traditionally this technology has been chosen in mainly rural or semi-rural settings where sufficient space is available for construction. Indeed, when compared with the space requirements for a conventional activated sludge process, the footprint of a wastewater treatment plant operating lagoons is very large. Lagoons remain a very attractive treatment technology, however, because they offer reliable removal of BOD5, natural disinfection of pathogens, and they can be used for chemical phosphorus removal; and all this with minimal operating costs. One of the chief reasons for this is that sludge can accumulate inside the lagoons for many years without any need for sludge disposal, which would otherwise be a major operating cost. New challenges are now emerging for lagoon operators due to the need for upgrades to keep up with population growth but also increasingly strict effluent discharge permits. Increasing treatment capacity is not as simple as adding extra volume to existing lagoons at many plants where adjacent land is not available for new construction. And perhaps even more difficult is a new focus on ammonia removal which was instigated in part by the recent guideline published by Environment Canada (2004). The problem is that reliable yearround ammonia removal is not possible in conventional lagoon processes operated in our cold Canadian climate. This is because ammonia oxidizing bacteria are washed out of lagoons during our winters when temperatures in lagoons become frigid. In such cases, innovative solutions are necessary to adapt existing lagoons to meet new challenges. Introducing support media for growing biofilms within existing lagoons or in separate reactors is one promising way to increase treatment capacity and avoid
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The author takes a sludge sample from the lagoon.
washout of ammonia oxidizing bacteria. Questions remain, however, as to where in the treatment process the optimal location for these support media would be, how to manage them and, to put it simply, would this type of solution work? Other options that have been investigated include adding sludge recycling to create an “activated sludge” within the lagoons and bioaugmentation with bacteria bought from a commercial supplier. Comparing the different technologies and evaluating how they would perform in the context of a given plant, however, can present significant difficulties. As we know, lagoons are complex ecosystems whose performance can be
affected by many factors. Effluent suspended solids concentrations, for instance, can be affected by difficult to predict phenomena such as algal blooms in summer or overturn in spring and fall. Temperatures within the lagoons can vary from mid-20s in summer to temperatures approaching 0°C in winter – with correspondingly extreme effects on biological activity in the lagoons. Other complexities are non-ideal flow patterns and BOD and nutrient loads released from years of sludge accumulated at the bottom of the lagoons. Design approaches have tended to simplify all of this using, semi-empiricontinued overleaf...
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Wastewater cal equations and rules of thumb. These design tools are not useful, however, for explaining why a lagoon’s observed treatment performance is better or worse than expected or how new technologies can best be adapted to improve the performance of existing lagoons. Engineers and operators need better tools to understand how lagoon processes work and to evaluate what the best approaches are for upgrading them. Tools for evaluating upgrades Although year-round ammonia removal through nitrification cannot be expected in conventionally operated lagoons in Canada, reliable seasonal ammonia removal can. Onset of seasonal nitrification is typical in early or midsummer and can last well into the fall. This is significant because the seasonal nitrification period overlaps to a large degree with the period of highest sensitivity of receiving waters to ammonia toxicity. So it is of interest to know whether receiving waters can be protected by simply ensuring that seasonal nitrification takes place in existing lagoon installations, without the need for major upgrades.
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Mechanistic modeling using simulation software such as BioWin™ has been used as a tool to investigate the role of various factors in determining the onset and loss of nitrification in lagoons. Growth rates of ammonia oxidizing bacteria, dissolved oxygen availability, mixing regime, seasonal temperature variation and heat loss, as well as other factors, are taken into account and evaluated according to their relative importance. The effect of increasing dissolved oxygen availability or even bioaugmenting with commercial bacteria can thus be evaluated. An interesting outcome of these types of modeling studies has been to reveal in one case that dissolved oxygen was limiting the extent of the nitrification period by several weeks or that bioaugmentation is a promising way to hasten the onset of nitrification in spring, but not to extend the nitrification period in fall. Mechanistic modeling studies are able to evaluate these types of scenarios because they account for the interaction of many processes, both physical and biological, occurring in the lagoons as well as accounting for
time-lagged effects such as the relatively slow process of biomass washout. In another case, modeling studies revealed that proposed baffle installations to increase BOD removal capacity in existing lagoons could have the effect of eliminating seasonal nitrification altogether. Other interesting applications of mechanistic modeling, which one could suggest, are to evaluate the effect of baffles on heat-loss, temperature variations and oxygen demand. One of the main drawbacks of lagoon systems is that their large size and long hydraulic retention times mean that a lot of heat loss occurs during cold weather. Temperatures approaching the freezing mark in winter limit biological treatment severely. At one plant in southern QuĂŠbec, it was observed that samples taken in January from the effluent of the first lagoon of a series of six, froze in a funnel as they were poured into a sampling bottle. Biological removal of BOD and especially nitrification must, therefore, occur upstream in the process where sufficiently high temperatures exist. This has led to suggestions for installing attached
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Wastewater growth reactors, such as moving-bed bioreactors or trickling filters, upstream of the lagoon series. In this type of scenario, downstream lagoons are effectively converted into polishing lagoons. This solution may be unattractive to many operators, however, because the newly converted “polishingâ€? lagoons may be seen as redundant or, even worse, a liability in the process chain. This is because sludge accumulated in the lagoons undergoes digestion which results in the release of both oxygen demand and nutrients. The result could be that a process with full nitrification in the upstream attached growth reactors could still release high ammonia concentrations to the receiving waters due to nutrient loads from the lagoon sludge layers. This was investigated in a modeling study on municipal lagoons operated in QuĂŠbec and indicated that ammonia load from the sludge layer could be responsible for as much as 50% of the overall ammonia load in the plant after only three years of sludge accumulation. Another study on the oxygen demand load from the sludge layer indicated that the same could be true re-
www.esemag.com
garding the BOD load on the lagoons. In the case of predicting BOD release from the sludge layer, however, there is the difficulty of having to evaluate the amount of oxygen demand which is transformed into methane gas, which is not an easy task. So it is not possible to characterize the BOD load from the accumulated sludge layer without first quantifying the amount of methane generation. This is an issue of interest because large quantities of methane gas are generated by municipal lagoons during at least the summer period and possibly year-round. This methane gas should then be accounted for when municipalities calculate their greenhouse gas emissions. Or, looking at the issue from another point of view, municipalities could be looking at this methane generation as a potential source of renewable energy that should be collected. This is already done in some agricultural effluent lagoons and could be considered in Canada if engineers had access to tools that helped evaluate how much gas is being generated. Covering the lagoons to capture this methane, at least par-
tially, could have the additional benefit of limiting heat loss in winter. To properly investigate these possibilities there is a need to better evaluate and quantify the digestive activity of lagoon sediments and mechanistic modeling would be central to this investigation. There are many questions about how to upgrade lagoon plants for increased capacity and ammonia removal while still retaining some value from the original lagoons. Finding good solutions to these questions must involve a study of how to manage heat loss and temperature profiles in the lagoons as well as lagoon sludge accumulation. Mechanistic modeling using a commercial model simulator is the best platform for performing these types of studies because it provides a simple way to set-up and interface the model while accounting for the numerous, relevant physical and biological processes. Dwight Houweling, Ph.D., is with Envirosim. E-mail:dwight@envirosim.com
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Cover Story
The longest unprotected border no more? – The danger of liability for cross-border pollution By Sven Hombach and Ralph Cuervo-Lorens
t one point, the practice of environmental engineering could be summarized as follows: negotiate one set of permits; know all of your allowable emissions and immissions; then design accordingly. This is no longer the case as Canadian companies have to face an uncomfortable new reality: even if they have a bullet-proof set of Canadian permits, the long arm of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can reach them if their activities cause adverse effects south of the border. With many industries and municipalities being located less than 300 km from the longest unprotected border in the world, potential U.S. liability now has to be factored into design choices. The risk arises either if a facility is located in an area that shares a watershed with the U.S., or if there is a genuine chance of air pollution migrating south. Precipitating the new liability framework is a very recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, which on January 7, 2008, refused to hear an appeal from a precedent-setting Court of Appeal decision that held that the U.S. Superfund Law (the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) could be applied to companies which are located in Canada, but whose Canadian activities result in pollution in the United States. The Superfund Law, in a manner similar to most Canadian environmental statutes, allows the EPA to issue mandatory clean-up orders to companies that have caused pollution in the
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past, based on the “polluter pays” principle. Where the EPA cannot issue such an order (e.g., in a case where the company that caused the pollution no longer exists), the Superfund Law also has a regime to qualify certain sites for remediation paid for by public funds. The issue of extraterritorial application of the Superfund Law was a nonissue until 1999, when the Colville Tribes, a native group in the State of Washington whose land is located about 15 km south of the border, noted that their land was polluted and petitioned the EPA to qualify it for Superfund remediation. The contamination was the result of Teck Cominco, a Canadian operator of a lead-zinc smelter close to the border, having released slag into the Columbia River from 1906 until 1995. During the entire time of the releases, Teck Cominco was complying with the British Columbia environmental laws then in place. The releases were not illegal. Rather than qualifying the land of the Colville Tribes for Superfund remediation, the EPA decided in 2003 to issue an administrative clean-up order against Teck Cominco in Canada. With both parties unsure of whether such an order could be validly issued against a company outside the United States, Teck Cominco ignored the order and the EPA, in turn, took no steps to enforce it. However, unhappy with that state of affairs, two members of the Colville Tribes decided to bring a private citizen suit to enforce the order. As noted, they succeeded all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The District Court decided that the
clean-up order against Teck Cominco resulted in the extraterritorial application of a domestic U.S. statute. However, the Court reasoned that even though U.S. law contains a presumption against the extraterritorial application of domestic law, the Superfund Law overrides this presumption and the order was validly issued. Following the decision of the District Court, the EPA and Teck Cominco reached an out-of-court settlement. However, because there were other issues that hinged on the validity of the order, and because the two private individuals were not parties to the settlement and thus not bound by its terms, the decision was appealed to the Court of Appeal for the 9th Circuit. Like the District Court before it, the Court of Appeal upheld the validity of the order. However, it did so for different reasons. Rather than holding that the order was a valid extraterritorial application of U.S. law, it reasoned that the order was based on the “release” of a contaminant in the U.S., and not on the “disposal” of a contaminant in Canada. Because the former is an issue solely of U.S. jurisdiction, and the latter an issue solely of Canadian jurisdiction, the Court of Appeal found that there was no extraterritorial aspect to the order and it was a perfectly valid exercise of the domestic jurisdiction of the EPA. It is noteworthy that the Court of Appeal’s decision has received a lot of criticism for creating a legal fiction by trying to separate the release of contaminants in the U.S. from the disposal in Canada. However, this criticism does not
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Cover Story change the fact that for now the ruling is the last word on liability for cross-border pollution. On January 9, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to reconsider the Court of Appeal’s decision without providing reasons, which is common procedure for most cases it refuses to hear. That means the Court of Appeal’s decision is now binding law across the land. The lesson to take from the Teck Cominco decision is that just because a system of Canadian permits is in place, a company or municipality located anywhere close to the border is not necessarily shielded from liability. While over the past 20 years the Canadian environmental law regime has become significantly more sophisticated, and many practices deemed acceptable twenty years ago would no longer receive a permit today, design decisions still have to take into account the possibility of unwanted cross-border effects. As this case makes clear, the EPA can issue a clean-up order even if there is a valid Canadian discharge permit. One should avoid giving it the opportunity to do so. What remains to be seen in the wake of Teck Cominco is whether the EPA will ever attempt to also issue an order against a Canadian regulator for having granted a permit in the first place, or whether a company faced with an EPA order will try to sue the Canadian regulator that issued the company’s permit. If EPA orders against Canadian companies become more frequent in the future, we expect to see further development in this area. Conversely, it should become clear shortly whether U.S. polluters can also be held accountable for causing pollution in Canada. The Ontario-based Waterkeepers Alliance, a non-profit agency with a mandate of protecting Ontario’s lakes and rivers, has recently launched a private prosecution under the federal Fisheries Act against U.S.-based DTE Energy Co. The lawsuit deals with two coal-fired generating plants in Michigan that have released mercury into the air at a rate of approximately 300 kg/yr for many years. The Waterkeepers Alliance alleges that the mercury settled in the St. Clair River on the Canadian side of the border, leading to health advisories against eating fish from the area and forcing the Walpole Island First Nation www.esemag.com
to abandon its commercial fishery. The facts of this case are very similar to those in Teck Cominco, involving cross-border pollution as a result of purely domestic activity and a native group affected by this pollution. While the case has not gone to trial yet, the Ontario court in January issued a subpoena to DTE, requiring it to submit to Canadian court proceedings. If the Waterkeepers Alliance succeeds in its prosecution, the case will set
an important precedent, showing that liability for cross-border pollution flows both ways. At that point, the border would be unprotected no more. Sven Hombach is an associate and Ralph Cuervo-Lorens is a partner with the law firm of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP in Toronto, Ontario. Contact: sven.hombach@fmc-law.com or ralph.cuervo-lorens@fmc-law.com
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Conference Report
WCW&WA Convention received a powerful message from Keynote Speaker Tommy Banks he 2007 Western Canada Water and Wastewater Association’s Conference attracted a large turnout at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton. Senator Tommy Banks, O.C., A.O.E., L.L.D., a Juno Award-winning musician, proved he was also one of Canada’s most versatile entertainers as a Keynote Speaker. His address was a wide-ranging description of the past and present of drinking water, and he gave some powerful recommendations to address Canadian water resource problems and opportunities. “One of the things I’ve learned is that water, and how much of it we have, and how we use it, aren’t the simple matters that I once thought. In fact, they’re very complicated and more important and more immediate than I once thought. “Another thing I have learned in the past seven years as a Senator, is how much the Government of Canada used to pay attention to questions of our water supply – to measuring it, and to knowing how it worked – and how that attention has waned in the past couple of decades. “You are the leaders in your communities on questions having to do with water; and you can help to change and to form public opinion and public pressure. I want to urge you to do that, even more often and more strongly than you already do.Why do I want to urge more efforts in the interests of water research? Because I have learned that politicians of all stripes are intensely sensitive to constituents’ pressure. “The Government of Canada, in cooperation with the provinces and universities and other agencies, used to pay a lot of attention, at least to surface water and some groundwaters. It used to provide reasonably good funding to help make sure that we had a pretty good handle, given the science of the time, on what was going on with water. “For example, the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) used to carry out very valuable work on
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(Left to right ) Gary Mak, WCWEA WEF Delegate, Senator Tommy Banks, Andy Bebbington, WCWWA Conference Chair, Chris Ward, WCWWA President 2006/2007, Don Poon, WCS AWWA Director, Luis Aguiar, AWWA Vice President, Rick Corbett, WEF Trustee.
water. If you ask prairie farmers for a list of federal government institutions for which they have a universally high regard, it’s a list of one – and that one is the PFRA. It can be argued that their efforts in some cases and in some areas, saved prairie farming. But the PFRA has been downgraded. It no longer occupies the prominent position it once did, and that’s a shame, and it has to be corrected.
In Canada, domestic water consumption in residences supplied from municipal sources in 2004 was 329 litres per person per day. “How did this come about? Well, Canada was in trouble financially. The World Bank and the IMF were starting to tell us how to run the country. We had to go quickly from huge annual deficits to balanced budgets, to surpluses if we were lucky, and make a start on paying down the long-term debt. There’s only one way to do that when you’re in “the glue,” you raise taxes and cut expendi-
tures. And that’s what we did and it worked. “However inconvenient and difficult it might be, we can live without oil; we can live without coal; we can live without wheat. But we cannot live – there cannot be life – without water. But the Government of Canada, whether it is Liberal or Conservative, can’t tell us, because it doesn’t know, how much we’ve got; how much the measurable flows of surface water are down, if they’re down; where the water tables are in much of the country; where our aquifers are; how big are they; where they go; and whose jurisdiction are they in. “In the 1970s and 1980s there were more than 2,500 stations in a federalprovincial-territorial network of monitoring stations across Canada, monitoring stream flow. There are now just over 1,500. We need to have more and better information so that we can address the exponential growth of demand for water, particularly in this part of Canada. We need to pay more attention to conservation of our most precious natural resource, more attention to the efficient use of it, more attention to
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Conference Report a more responsible use of it. We need to know the real costs of water; to make sure that consumers of water, industrial, agricultural, and domestic, pay something closer to the real cost of that water. “In Canada, domestic water consumption in residences supplied from municipal sources in 2004 was 329 litres per person per day. Consumption in the prairie provinces was below that national average; it was 271 litres per person per day in Alberta; 303 in Saskatchewan, and 219 in Manitoba. But in British Columbia, where fewer than a third of residential clients had metered, pay-per-use water systems, (compared to between 88% and 98% in the Prairies) usage was above the national average, at 426 litres per person per day. “There were five Recommendations that were made to the Government of Canada in the November 2005 Report of the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment, and Natural Resources. I was then the chair of the Committee and one of the authors of the report. Recommendation 1 The Government of Canada should take the necessary steps to ensure that all of Canada’s major aquifers are mapped by 2010. This data should be made available in the national groundwater database and supported by a summary document assessing the risks to groundwater quality and quantity. Recommendation 2 The Government of Canada should work with industry and with other orders of government to develop a standard methodology for the collection and reporting of water-related data. The Government of Canada should take on the responsibility for the creation of a centralized depository for water statistics. Recommendation 3 The Government of Canada must restore funding for longitudinal water studies. Such studies are essential to ensuring the sustainability of Canada’s water resources. Recommendation 4 The Government of Canada should bolster its support for the National Water Research Institute and the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration so that these institutions can better address Western Canada’s growing water challenges. www.esemag.com
Recommendation 5 The Government of Canada should create a National Water Council. This Council, composed of representatives from industry, research institutes and all orders of government, would be tasked with identifying the key water issues that require attention from the federal government and proposing strategies for addressing them. “I believe that these are good recommendations, that they are prudent, and
that attention should be paid to them. I reiterate my plea – that you use every means at your disposal, including the leadership in this area that each of you have in your respective communities – to increase public awareness of the urgent necessity of attention to these questions and to bring pressure to bear on all orders of government.” Excerpted from Senator Banks’ speech at the 2007 WCW&WA Conference
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Site Remediation
The Ministry’s policy dilemma t has been almost a year since the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) posted on the Environmental Registry (EBR) proposed revisions1 to the standards for assessing and restoring contaminated properties. No update or decision on the status of these has yet been released, nor is there any clear idea of when that may occur. The MOE Standards Development Branch hopes to complete its review of public and technical comments in the near future2. Will there be a second EBR posting? It does not appear that decision has yet been made. Much may depend on what the standards will ultimately look like and the MOE policy and decisionmakers’ perspectives of the potential impact of the changes. The MOE faces a real dilemma. How does it revise clean-up standards that have not been updated since 1996 without impeding redevelopment of contaminated properties? Would the new standards push many more properties to risk assessments with all the costs, uncertainties and lengthy time-frames accompanying that regulatory process? How does the MOE ensure that the standards are conservative enough to minimize risks to the public and the natural environment? This is a difficult balancing act that calls for the wisdom and foresight of Solomon. It is in the public interest to ensure that the MOE gets the standards right technically and that there be a fulsome discussion of the ramifications of the standards not only on developers, property owners and lenders but also on the interests of the community at large. Some lawyers and consultants have commented that the proposed revisions were published with minimal outside consultation. Others queried the justification for some of the new standards, were concerned that some are too conservative, and pointed to some mistakes and errors in calculation or transcription of the new standards. Others have commented that the new standards may encourage risk assessments which may be the best way to assess and address environmental issues on brownfield sites. Still others were concerned there may be a lack of coordination or cohesiveness
I
By Madeleine Donahue
between the MOE’s Standards Development Branch and the rest of the MOE in advancing these standards. If the new generic standards are too stringent, many remediation projects will be unable to apply them, with the result that smaller remediation projects or properties may not be cleaned up because it will be economically unfeasible for owners to undertake risk assessments. There are added costs and time delays in submitting a risk assessment to MOE regulatory oversight. Additionally,
frequently have very justifiable concerns with the adequacy of investigation work undertaken on a property, extent of contamination delineation and assumptions that went into the report conclusions. Municipalities and citizen groups may have concerns with such an approach even if a landowner or the MOE consider it appropriate. The MOE must take care not to unwittingly bias the standards towards risk assessments because everyone is not prepared to accept a risk assessment ap-
MOE needs to produce technically defendable numeric soil and groundwater clean-up standards so as to ensure implementation of best science and engineering principles and practices that will protect the public and the environment. the timelines for many corporate commercial and real estate purchase and sale transactions are usually too short to accommodate a risk assessment approach. Owners may decide against filing records of site conditions (RSCs) unless laws compel them to do so. They may undertake their own form of risk assessment without involving the MOE, a situation that occurs with some frequency today. That may be cause for concern, particularly if all of the regulatory requirements for the risk assessment have not been adhered to. Risk assessment is not an exact or perfect science. Only certain "qualified persons" are authorized under Ontario RSC Regulation 153/04 to file RSCs based on risk assessment. Although the qualified person has to provide a certification regarding human health or ecological risk, that opinion is based on experience, judgment, assumptions and, in some cases, recommended risk management measures. A risk assessment is also only as good as the data on which it is based and the judgment, assumptions and conclusions of the risk assessor. Parties reviewing risk assessment reports
proach in all contaminated lands cases. The proposed standards should give owners the option to decide if risk assessment is an appropriate solution, not push them to it by overly stringent standards. Moreover, from a practical perspective, unless the MOE is given new resources to process more risk assessments, existing staff will be unable to review an increased number of risk assessments in a timely manner. The degree of concern with the proposed revisions to the standards and the sheer volume of comments the Standards Development Branch has received since March 2007, suggest that there is a need for a second EBR posting. This writer is of the view there should be a further posting, not only of a notice of decision on the standards but also a public consultation of sufficient length to enable municipalities, interested public and community interest groups, business representatives, landowners, brownfield developers and legal advisors to express their views to the MOE, to each other and to the government as a whole. The MOE should produce a black line comcontinued overleaf...
The 2 documents that propose revisions are entitled “Rationale for the Development of Generic Standards for Use at Contaminated Sites in Ontario” dated March 7, 2007 and “Soil, Groundwater and Sediment Standards for Use Under Part XV.1 of the Environmental Protection Act” dated March 28, 2007. 2 Soil and Groundwater and Sediment Standards for Use Under Part XV.1 of the Environmental Protection Act dated March 9, 2004 which is part of Ontario Regulation 153/04. 1
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parison between the existing and proposed standards so that the changes are readily apparent. There are important pros, cons and trade-offs to implementing new clean-up standards in Ontario. If some soil cleanup standards drop below a parts-permillion threshold and can now be measured in parts-per-billion, does ratcheting down of standards make sense? Are the standards practically achievable and, if yes, at what cost? While some of these issues are very technical and complex, the public needs to understand the tradeoffs and the risks involved. The MOE should engage the public by explaining its rationale for changes in standards, and the risks/benefits and factors it considered in arriving at revised new standards. The recent discussion and debates on climate change make it clear that the public is very interested in major environmental issues that affect their health and well-being. Contaminated lands should be no different. The public should be given the opportunity to hear debates about how to manage contaminated lands, how to undertake urban renewal in an economically feasible manner, what the legal liability risks are and how to create safe, vibrant communities. If
tougher standards are needed to ensure that protection, then the private sector will adapt as it always has when tough new regulations are introduced. What the private sector needs is a reasonable degree of certainty, predictability, clearly understood standards, and a sufficient period of time to transition to the new standards. For its part, MOE needs to produce technically defendable numeric soil and groundwater clean-up standards so as to ensure implementation of best science and engineering principles and practices that will protect the public and the environment. Even if it takes another year to engage stakeholders and the public on the revised standards it will be well worthwhile. Ultimately, the goal of revised standards should be aimed at reducing risks to the public and the environment, improving performance and also reducing overall remediation costs and schedules. There should be another EBR posting and consultation round on the proposed new standards. Madeleine Donahue is an environmental law expert and partner at Macleod Dixon LLP. Contact: Madeleine.Donahue@macleoddixon.com
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Kurz Thermal Mass Flow Meters Kurz Mass Flow Meters include single-point insertion mass flow transmitters, in-line mass flow transmitters, multi-point insertion mass flow elements, flow control valves and portable air velocity meters. For use with air and industrial gases, no other manufacturer matches Kurz Meters for response time, accuracy, repeatability, flow turn-down capability, ruggedness, value, quality and demonstrated reliability.
Process Products and Instrumentation - SOLUTIONS 38 | March 2008
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Wastewater Treatment
BC resort installs flexible MBR wastewater treatment system By Christopher Lewis ue to the growing tourism industry in British Columbia, Cultus Country Resort, located just 60 miles east of Vancouver, is in need of wastewater treatment. For water systems and utilities company Corix, an opportunity to build and operate a wastewater treatment plant in their native Canada was too good to turn down. Corix has extensive experience in the water treatment industry and has now turned its interests to designing, building, and operating their own membrane bioreactor (MBR) plants in Canada. Because Eimco Water Technologies is also interested in the Canadian market, the two companies started talking. Some of the factors considered in the decision-making process included current and future permit compliance issues, fluctuating loading conditions, and treatment capacity. After considering bids from several vendors, including at least two Canadian companies, Cultus Country Resort selected the team of Corix and Eimco Water Technologies to install an MBR system using Kubota submerged membrane equipment. Cultus is Eimco Water Technologies’ first fully designed Enviroquip™ MBR system for a wastewater treatment plant in Canada. When asked about some of the reasons that led to the selection of this system, Corix Engineer John Sainas stated, “in BC all developers must complete an environmental study. The environmental study mandates what treatment quality is required. For this developer the fact that there were water wells in the area was key in setting low effluent specs (BOD/TSS < 10/10 and 2.2 FC). While there are other ways to achieve this, membranes are in vogue and their dependability is proven.” Additionally, because Corix will operate the facility, Mr Sainas adds, “it was really our ability to work on an OEM basis with Eimco Water Technologies that was the key.” The process Cultus Country Resort serves sum-
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mer tourists to British Columbia’s beautiful Cultus Lake. The harsh Canadian winters minimize tourism during the cold season, and consequently, the selected wastewater treatment system would have to be flexible enough to handle a wide range of hydraulic demands. Using the concept of biohydraulics, the Enviroquip system was designed to exceed biological treatment objectives over the range of expected operating conditions. The Cultus Country WWTP is comprised of two independent process trains that include one anoxic zone and one MBR zone and uses the Storm MasterTM configuration. With Storm Master, the plant is capable of transforming into a sludge thickening system during the low flow winter months. This capability minimizes hauling requirements and will thus save the plant thousands of dollars in hauling costs. The Storm Master design is an important feature of the Cultus Country Resort WWTP because it further reduces overall plant operating costs by putting off-line membrane capacity to beneficial use. During extremely low flows, one of the process trains is used to treat incoming wastewater while another is used to digest and thicken solids to 3% before further treatment. As flows increase, the plant computer brings all trains on-line to treat peak flows. F lexibility and reliability Using Kubota submerged membrane units, the Enviroquip system is designed to handle average daily flows of 200 m3/day (~53,000 gpd) with the ability to expand to 300 m3/day (~80,000 gpd) with the addition of two more Kubota ES-200s. Additionally, because tourism in this region of Canada is at its apex in the summertime, an unusual step was taken to incorporate the proprietary flux enhancing polymer MPE50TM during the summer time to increase membrane flux as opposed to more typical scenarios that see higher flows during the colder months (rainy seasons). Because Eimco Water Technologies
can take advantage of membrane thickening capabilities, extreme ranges of low and high flows are handled with ease. The ability to accommodate such a wide range of operating conditions gives operators time and confidence to manage system upsets. Additionally, the ability to operate the plant manually, in the event of an emergency, provides another level of reliability that can be invaluable.
Christopher Lewis is with Enviroquip, a Division of Eimco Water Technologies. E-mail: guy.beauchesne@glv.com
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Wastewater
Impeller selection for wastewater pumps By Majid Hadavi ingle-stage centrifugal pumps are the reliable workhorses of the water and wastewater industry. However, while their versatility makes these pumps the logical choice for many applications, specifying the right impeller for the job can have an important impact on how well they perform in the field. The problems Pumps in sewage treatment plants and other wastewater management facilities have a tough job to do. Not only do they have to move huge volumes of wastewater, efficiently and reliably, but they must also cope with a wide variety of solids and other contaminants that find their way into the waste stream. These can include chunks of plastic, rubber, wood or other materials; fibres (e.g. pieces of cloth or sanitary products); and sand. When they show up in the waste stream, problems can arise! Solid chunks block passages or even jam the impellers. Fibrous materials can build up around the throat of the impeller, blocking the flow. Sand and other abrasive materials act over time, eroding impeller vanes and degrading the efficiency of the pumps. Operators are finding that these problems are getting more serious. Low-flow toilets and other water-efficient appliances are helping to reduce the per-capita water consumption, but with higher solids content in the remaining flow. (In Europe, per-capita water consumption has gone down 40% in the past 15 years.)
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From the operator’s point of view, blockages or pump failures can cause serious and costly interruptions. Clearing blockages or swapping out damaged components is dirty, time-consuming
due to fibres in the waste stream. This tends to take place in two areas: at the leading edge of the impeller, and in the narrow gap between the outer surface of the impeller and the inner surface of the
Closed vane Open vane Pumping efficiency Solids (in chunks)
Fibrous solids
Sand and abrasive solids
work. At the same time though, energy costs are a significant (and growing) part of most plant budgets, so that pumping efficiency remains an important consideration. Impeller options Major pump manufacturers offer a variety of impeller designs. Choosing the ‘right’ impeller for the job depends on having a clear understanding of the operating environment, the nature of the waste stream and the relative strengths of the various designs. There are broadly three types of centrifugal pump impellers on the market: closed impellers, with single, double or multiple vanes; open impellers, again with one or more vanes; and specialized designs. Closed or shrouded impeller designs Closed impellers offer very good energy efficiency, especially with multivane designs. What’s also important, closed impellers still deliver good efficiency while operating under low-flow conditions or when operating with an enlarged sealing gap (due to wear). Single vane closed impellers typically provide large clear passages, which reduces the danger of blockage due to large objects in the waste stream. Unfortunately though, closed impeller designs can be more prone to clogging
Free-flow (vortex)
volute casing. Accumulation of fibrous waste in these areas will reduce flows or even stall the pump. Open impeller designs There are several open impeller designs on the market that promise greatly reduced sensitivity to clogging with fibres, thanks to specially contoured leading edge shapes and the elimination of the troublesome gap between the impeller shroud and the volute casing. These impellers typically have generous clear passages, so that they can pass reasonably large chunks of solid materials without blocking. The principal disadvantage of this type of impeller is that their pumping efficiency is lower than the best closed-vane designs, especially under low flow conditions. These types of impeller are also less than ideal when pumping wastewater with significant sand content, since erosion of the vanes(s) will increase tip clearances and reduce pumping efficiency. Specialized designs Several pump manufacturers offer special free-flow or vortex type impellers. These impellers have much shorter vanes than conventional opentype impellers and work by inducing a vortex in the pump casing. Pumping action depends on the difference between the low pressure at the centre of the vor-
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Wastewater
Closed or shrouded impeller.
tex and the relatively high pressure around the outer edge. Because of the stubby vanes and large clearances, this type of impeller is extremely resistant to blocking or clogging. Since there is only limited contact between the impellers and the pumped fluid, these work well with waste streams that contain significant amounts of sand or other abrasive materials. They also work well when there is gas in the fluid. The principal drawback to free-flow impellers is their relatively poor pumping efficiency. These designs typically have efficiencies in the 40 to 50% range, compared to 75 to 80% efficiency for the closed-vane impellers. Some pump manufacturers also offer so-called cutter impellers. These have special blades or shearing elements that
Free-flow or vortex type impeller.
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KSB ‘D-Impeller’ – single-vane, open type of impeller for high-fibre wastewater.
are designed to cut long fibrous objects (sticks, pieces of cloth, etc.) into smaller pieces. These impellers are optimized for specific types of solid debris and, as with the free-flow impellers, pumping efficiency may be compromised. And the winner is… What’s the best pump/impeller combination for your application? The answer is, of course, “it depends”. The recommended approach here is to consider the full life-cycle cost of the pump installation. Different impeller designs typically don’t change the purchase price of the pumps very much, so initial cost is not a major concern. However, the cost of energy to drive the pumps can be a significant part of the equation, and here the superior pumping efficiency of closed-vane designs makes them a good choice – at least when fibrous solids are not a significant concern. As the quality of the waste stream deteriorates, reliability becomes the driving force. Experienced plant operators know that the cost of correcting unexpected blockages or equipment failures can be very high – higher perhaps than the initial cost of the equipment. When fibrous solids can cause problems, the more clog-resistant openvane designs emerge as a better choice. And, when things get really ugly, the socalled free-flow or vortex impellers might fill the bill. Working closely with a specialist from your pump supplier can help make sure that you get the pump/impeller combination that is best for your application. Majid Hadavi, P.Eng., is with KSB Pumps, Mississauga, Ontario. E-Mail: mhadavi@ksbcanada.com
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Stormwater
Time for Canada to take the plunge on‘washout’ By Robert Y.G. Andoh n June 1991, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) published a report entitled Stormwater Quality Best Management Practices. The report documented experience with structural and non-structural Stormwater Management Practices (SWMPs) and concluded that they should be implemented in conjunction with new urban development and redevelopment. Guidance, and a procedure for selecting appropriate SWMP types, were provided by the original manual. The report stated, however, that "integrated watershed planning is the preferred means of defining uses of the receiving water and hence the basis for SWMP selection." Recognition of the importance of watershed and subwatershed-based planning has continued to grow since the release of the 1991 study. Although an update to the MOE Stormwater Management Planning and Design Manual was released in 2003 to facilitate better and easier design of proper stormwater management systems, one key stormwater Best Management Practice was missing – designing stormwater treatment systems that will not “wash out”. Washout Throughout the world, thousands of stormwater pollutant removal systems are
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Fluid particle velocity vectors demonstrate that the internal components in this stormwater treatment structure isolate the sediment storage sump (blue area at bottom) from the active sediment separation zone (rainbow area at top).
being installed in an effort to prevent watercourses from being polluted. As supply has risen to meet demand, a variety of proprietary, chamber-based systems has emerged, including hydrodynamic separators, which are designed to settle out and store sediments and associated pollutants, preventing them from being discharged to the natural environment. However, recent research suggests that some systems may not be as effective as might be claimed. Some systems are subject to “washout,” or “scour,” whereby captured and stored pollutants
are flushed from a system during extreme wet weather. As Canada revises and updates its stormwater regulations, washout and its appropriate treatment solutions should be considered as an integral part of the future plan. Finding a solution It is important to consider washout in the selection of stormwater separators. Yet, it is currently not taken into account in the design or verification of many proprietary systems. Those responsible for selecting the best solutions to meet particular site needs are
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Stormwater faced with an array of technological options and an array of performance claims. However, the process of identifying the “performers” from the “failers” is not as complicated is it might appear. Washout is a particularly important phenomenon, as stormwater treatment devices are typically maintained on an infrequent basis. In addition to removing pollutants, these systems must also retain and store them for later removal during maintenance visits. A device that is effective at removing pollutants under low-flow conditions but is prone to re-suspending and washing out previously captured materials when flows increase does not serve the functions it purports to. It provides very little overall environmental benefit. It also provides a false sense of security to those relying on it to keep their water clean. With increasing urbanization, the problems of stormwater run-off from impermeable surfaces have become more apparent. Run-off often carries a high sediment load, and this, along with other associated pollutants, can have a detrimental impact on receiving water-
courses. Government has created regulations designed to curb the impacts of stormwater run-off, and the industry has responded with a generation of “flowthrough” stormwater treatment devices that remove sediment and other pollutants from the outflow. While these treatment devices tend to be effective at removing pollutants under low-flow conditions, they don’t always hold what they catch. When flows reach moderate or high levels, run-off has been known to re-suspend and discharge previously captured pollutants and carry them downstream. In recent years, various configurations of proprietary “flow-through” stormwater treatment devices have evolved, designed with the intention of removing sediment, trash, oils and other pollutants from stormwater run-off, especially in urban hot spots. These devices can be broadly classified as follows: • Gravity Sedimentation Devices, such as standard catch basins, rely on simple gravitational settlement to perform their treatment functions. continued overleaf...
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Stormwater
Sediment particle velocity lines demonstrate that the internal components in this stormwater treatment structure prevent sediment from exiting the device.
• Simple Vortex Separators rely on enhanced gravitational settlement to perform their function, through the use of a rotating flow field. Flow rotation results in extended particle residence times, and increased opportunity for settlement to take place.
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• Advanced Vortex Separators operate in a similar manner to Simple Vortex Separators, but utilize specially-designed internal components to control and enhance performance and provide isolated storage zones for captured pollutants.
Studies of proprietary treatment chambers have tended to focus on performance in terms of pollutant removal efficiency under conditions up to their “design” flow rates. However, the question of overall performance, including ability to retain previously captured material when operated within and beyond their design flow ranges, has generally been neglected. Though removal efficiency is a good indicator of a device’s effectiveness in terms of separating pollutants from stormwater, particularly under low-flow conditions, it does not provide a complete description of device efficacy, especially in terms of its ability to retain previously captured pollutants under moderate or high flows. In a recent study at Liverpool University in the United Kingdom, the effect of chamber design on performance was considered, focusing particularly on the ability of chambers to “retain” stored pollutants. Making the case for retention efficiency Retention efficiency has rarely been given full consideration, probably be-
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Stormwater cause the focus has been on removal efficiency and also possibly due to a combination of a lack of awareness and appreciation of its significance. This situation may have been sustained due to a general lack of well-defined protocols for determining retention efficiency in the field. Difficulties associated with determining this arise due to the fact that retention efficiency is dependent not only upon hydraulic loading rates, which in practical operation are time-dependent, but also on the quantities and characteristics of the stored pollutants. Earlier studies, using an analytical model in a similar system to those examined experimentally here, clearly showed that, in a well-designed vortex separator, the storage region was effectively decoupled from the main flow and could be described as a “slow-exchange region.” More recently, studies have utilized computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation to evaluate different treatment chamber designs, looking at both removal and retention efficiencies. The main findings confirm the relevance of retention efficiency as a performance parameter, highlighting the importance of sheltering the pollutants storage region in such systems. The principal observation and inference from earlier studies and the current work is that stormwater treatment chambers which utilize sedimentation and inertial separation effects need to be carefully designed to minimize the scope for re-suspension (re-entrainment) and washout of captured pollutants. This study confirms that chamber configuration and placing of internal flow modifying components has a major bearing on device efficacy. Finally, it must be emphasized that there is the need for extreme care and caution in the tendency for generalization in the categorization of device types. For example, devices that have tangential inlets with induced rotary flow regimes have tended to be broadly classified as hydrodynamic separators. However, as demonstrated from the results of this study, different chamber designs do show markedly different efficiency vs. flow rate profiles when operating under the same conditions. In this study it was shown that only the advanced vortex separator with fully developed internals ofwww.esemag.com
fered substantially more than 50 percent retention efficiency. Conclusions about “washout” The Liverpool study revealed the following: • The phenomenon of poor retention leading to the washout of previously captured solids from stormwater treatment chambers must be taken into account in system selection for practical application. • In the worst cases, washout commences almost immediately at flows likely to be encountered even in the early stages of a storm event. • The rate of stored pollutants washout is extremely sensitive to chamber design. In the current studies, re-entrainment rates ranged from zero to 100 percent. • The best performing chambers were found to be those that had induced rotary flows and internal arrangements and flow modifying components that resulted in the sediment storage region being hydraulically separated from the main treatment region. The City of Toronto should be lauded for the recent attention it has given to washout. Toronto is currently undergoing an exercise to rewrite and refine its wet-weather regulations. For this interim period, Toronto has adopted the same stormwater regulations as the New Jersey Corporation for Advanced Technology. The NJCAT stormwater treatment verification protocols are amongst the only stormwater protocols in the world that require manufacturers of structural stormwater treatment devices to measure a device’s washout performance in addition to measuring removal rates. While Toronto rewrites its new regulations, it is imperative that a washout testing requirement be retained. The time for action is now, while stormwater regulations and guidelines are still fluid in Canada. Bob Andoh is with Hydro International E-mail: bandoh@hil-tech.com Hydro International is represented in Ontario by ACG Technology. For more information E-mail: greg@acgtechnology.com March 2008 | 45
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Water Supply
Designing to meet current river intake environmental By Ian P.D.Wright, P.Eng. and Karen Crews requirements nvironmental regulations are becoming increasingly stringent for development and construction of river intakes. In order to ensure specific requirements will be met, it is advisable for a project team to meet with regulators early in the project. This will help ensure a more efficient design process and help to keep the project on schedule. Fish protection requirements will depend on the species present in the source water. The preferred solution is to deflect fish away from the intake instream. However, there are numerous other criteria that must be considered such as the river hydrology, bank conditions, navigable waters requirements, access and hydraulics. Sometimes an in-stream solution is not viable. In those cases where screening must be done away from the river, fish deflection from the screens, capture and return to the environment must be provided. New river intake The E.L. Smith Water Treatment Plant (WTP) in Edmonton is owned and operated by EPCOR which supplies drinking water to over one million people in the Edmonton Capital Region. Recent upgrades to E.L. Smith were designed to meet the needs of growth in the region and ensure a secure high quality supply of drinking water. Part of those upgrades included the construction of a second river intake, screening and low lift pumping. At the project start, the plant’s firm capacity was 180 ML/d. The initial plant upgrades increase firm plant capacity to 400 ML/d in order to meet the projected demand for the next 15 years. However, the new river intake is sized for a net raw water flow of 800 ML/d to provide for future needs. Existing facility The original intake is a bed style prism-shaped structure located in a thalweg (a low point that remains stable throughout the year) on the North Saskatchewan River. It is designed to draw up to 400 ML/d at an intake velocity of 0.9 m/s and a screen velocity of 0.3 m/s.
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The intake structure has a coarse trash rack. Water is piped to an on-shore screen house and pump house through two 1,500 mm diameter pipes. Two 9.5 mm mesh traveling water screens remove fish and debris. However, there is no provision for fish caught on the screens to be safely returned to the river. Environmental regulations Since the initial construction of the E.L. Smith WTP in 1976, additional, more stringent regulations have been implemented to ensure increased protection for aquatic life, wildlife, land and the environment. These new regulations cover: • Any harmful alteration, disruption
or destruction of fish habitat. • Deposition of deleterious substances in a water frequented by fish. • Construction of any work through or in any navigable water. • Environmental impact screening assessment to the development of all public land. • Avoid killing species or damaging residences of listed species. • Limited construction windows and limits on the amount of the river’s width that can be obstructed during construction. In Alberta, further clarification of these regulations requires working
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Water Supply closely with a number of regulatory agencies such as the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Transport Canada, Alberta Environment (AENV) and Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (ASRD). This cooperative effort allowed the E.L. Smith project team to propose initial designs, refine them through positive feedback, and to achieve a final design that satisfied all regulatory bodies and the environmental concerns. In other provinces, the same federal agencies would be involved along with the relevant provincial agencies. Establishing the design and construction criteria (Step 1) The project team contacted DFO and Transport Canada very early in the process. Transport Canada provided specific height requirements for the intake structure. DFO representatives outlined the agency’s requirements and provided input into evaluation of the alternatives. Modeling of the intake for the selected alternative to validate the design was required to obtain initial consent by DFO. Fish management criteria A Fish and Fish Habitat Assessment Study was conducted on the affected portion of the river. Based on the fish species present, DFO recommended screen design criteria for the fish size and the recommended screen approach velocity. Design criteria Although the water treatment plant upgrade required a raw water capacity of 428 ML/d, consideration was given to the relatively high intake and piping construction costs for the in-river work relative to the material costs and also the extensive work needed to meet all the regulatory requirements. It was thus decided to provide in-river infrastructure that would be expandable to 800 ML/d for future needs. DFO required a 95% or better fish survival rate for the species present. This entailed using 2.5 mm screen mesh and designing a screen approach velocity to be less than or equal to 0.1 m/s. Construction requirements Transport Canada Navigable Waters required that the top of the intake structure be at least 1.2 m below the minimum water level at a river discharge of continued overleaf... www.esemag.com
Temporary bridge built into the North Saskatchewan River.
Intake during construction.
Construction of the four intake pipes and two fish return pipes. March 2008 | 47
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Water Supply Intake physical model during testing.
100 m3/s. Limitations were also set on the construction activities by both Transport Canada and ASRD, in which not more than two-thirds of the river could be blocked off during construction. All construction work extending beyond 100 m from shore was required to be completed between a period from October 31 and March 15 (typically during river freeze conditions). Evaluating intake alternatives (Step 2) Finding an intake style that could reject fish while still in-stream was preferred. The alternatives that were considered included: • Infiltration gallery – Rejected due to
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Selected intake alternative The selected intake had the following characteristics: • Low profile bed style prism-shaped structure located in the same thalweg as the existing intake structure. • 1,000 ML/d intake capacity (800 ML/d net). • Louvered debris and fish deflecting trash screens. • Four 1,500 mm diameter intake pipes to convey water to the on-shore screen house and low-lift pump house its massive size, construction logistics (LLPH). and risk of future clogging. Selected screening alternative • Left bank (plant side) intake Two 2.5 mm mesh traveling water Rejected due to shallow bed screens were initially provided to reconditions. Deepening the bed or move debris at the pump house. No fish creating a channel to an intake baskets were attached to the screens. Inforebay were also discounted as stead, the traveling screens were angled impractical. • Right bank intake – The best location to the flow and arranged to provide a crossflow velocity that would deflect hydraulically, but rejected due to restricted access and difficulty siting and carry fish away from the screens. The crossflow velocity was created by the facility below the steep river providing an anterior raw water return valley escarpment. pump system to return approximately • In-stream screens and pump house – 20% of the design flow to the river using Rejected due to aesthetic impact on screw centrifugal pumps to minimize the river valley and restricted fish mortality. The return flow was maintenance access.
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Water Supply routed back to the intake structure through two 600 mm diameter return water pipes. CFD modeling Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling was performed by Northwest Hydraulic Consultants on the LLPH and fish return system prior to the physical model being built. The CFD modeling showed that flow conditions within the initial proposed arrangement of the pump house forebay could lead to excessive velocities along the upstream face of the traveling screens. This discovery led to an increase in the outlet size of the conductor pipes to reduce the velocities entering the forebay. The centre pier leading to the fish return pump bay was also removed to improve flow patterns. Physical modeling The river intake and low-lift pump house were modeled by Northwest Hydraulic Consultants. A 1:6 scale model of the LLPH and a 1:30 scale model of the intake mobile bed flume were constructed. Tests were conducted on the intake model to evaluate the performance from a hydraulics and fisheries perspective. The model allowed for optimization of the location of the fish return discharge point, as well as ensuring vertical louver slats would act as a deterrent for fish. Tests were performed on the LLPH model to identify any adverse flow conditions to the low-lift pumps and evaluate the hydraulic performance of the pump sump forebay and fish return system. The model was shown to DFO representatives to demonstrate the design would meet their requirements. The model also allowed for the optimization of several design factors including: • Inlet and fish bay geometry. • Confirmation that the flow swept along the screens and entered in the fish bay at a higher velocity and that no dead spots (fish lounge areas) were present. • Confirmation that there were always a current and sweeping flows in the inlet well. River intake construction (Step 3) The intake and intake pipes were constructed between January 2006 and June 2007. It involved construction of a temporary bridge and piling sections www.esemag.com
from the bank to the intake location. In order to meet regulatory restrictions/limitations on construction activities, the work was initially planned to be completed in two phases. However, during construction, difficult soil conditions were encountered. Thus, the plan was revised and broken out into three phases. Summary Current DFO standards set stringent limits on design and construction of river intakes. Discussing requirements with the regulators early in the project
is important for an efficient design process and meeting a schedule. The use of computer modeling and physically modeling helps to demonstrate the performance of the selected river intake design while also improving the overall design. Ian Wright is VP Water, Associated Engineering, E-mail: wrighti@ae.ca. Karen Crews is a Project Manager with EPCOR. E-mail: kcrews@epcor.ca
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Vegetative solutions to landfill closures ontrolling undesirable outcomes of water movement in and on landfills is a common element of landfill closure efforts. Trees, shrubs, and other plants can be added to the engineer’s tool kit as part of the remediation strategy for closed landfill sites. Vegetation can assist with typical issues such as slope stability, erosion control and leachate management, but choosing to recreate natural plant communities also provides habitat for animals and future recreational opportunities for the public. Designing vegetation covers for specific functions The biological functions of plants include stabilization, interception, transpiration and volatilization. 1. Stabilization: Plant roots stabilize soil from wind erosion and slopes from rill- and gully-forming water erosion. The roots of prairie grasses such as switchgrass, big and little bluestem, and prairie cordgrass provide dense mats that stabilize shallow and deep substrates. Prairie grass root systems may be 3-4 metres deep. Trees and shrubs such as hybrid poplar and willow develop woody structural roots that provide stability on a coarser scale. 2. Interception: Leaf surfaces, and in the case of trees and shrubs, branches and stems, intercept and slow down rain before it hits the ground. High velocity sheet runoff is prevented. The greater the plant surface area above ground, the higher the interception rate. Some water stays on leaf surfaces and is evaporated without reaching the ground surface. A “closed canopy” forms as vegetation matures, providing erosion control both by protecting the soil surface, as well as
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by actual root stabilization. 3.Transpiration/volatilization: These functions are sometimes referred to as a “biological pump and treat system”. Soil moisture, including some contaminants, is drawn up through the root system and evaporated (transpired) through the leaves. Transpiration rate is a function of the plant species, leaf surface area, extent of the root system, temperature, wind, and relative humidity. A dry windy site will generate a higher transpiration rate if adequate soil moisture is present. Small molecular weight contaminants that may be in groundwater are taken up and moved through the plant. There may be some metabolism and degradation within the plant, and these compounds can also be volatilized. For example, in the case of trichloroethylene (TCE) several processes are at work at the same time: degradation in the soil or groundwater; metabolic uptake by the plant; and volatilization. Poplar, willow, and a number of other trees can tolerate some level of contamination, and can take up and transpire landfill leachate and contaminated groundwater. They have some of the highest known transpiration rates in northern climates, which is why they are the first choice for many remediation and reclamation projects. Transpiration rates can be monitored by using a sap flow meter which provides accurate, onsite determinations, regardless of the species. A managed willow plantation can remove up to 10 litres/sq.m/day during the growing season. Transpiration volume of individual trees will increase as they get larger. Poplar and willow can also be used to intercept groundwater plumes to pre-
By Cheryl Hendrickson
vent off-site migration as the plantation transpiration rate can be integrated into the design to match groundwater flux. Costs per hectare are also lower than off-site transport and treatment, as there is a one time installation cost for a system that will function for decades. All of these processes occur at the same time, so that vegetation provides an integrated approach to water management. Some plants perform some functions better than others, and not all plants will find ideal growing conditions in the landfill environment. The factors of function and site suitability must, therefore, be taken into account when selecting species to revegetate landfills. Creating habitat and passive recreation areas Residents of many communities have generated a widespread public interest in habitat restoration with species of local origin – native species. They value this approach because it allows society to replace what was removed historically through agriculture, urbanization and resource development. The revegetation of landfill caps provides the perfect opportunity for naturalization; species representative of marshes, prairies and forested communities may be used. Native plant species, in turn, provide food and shelter to animals, and eventually, a pleasant and interesting place for the public to stroll, appreciate nature and the viewshed provided by the elevated landscape. Plantings can be designed with a park-like setting in mind, with a vision for the future, incorporating the wealth of experience in natural area design and management.
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Phase 1 and 2 panorama of maturing habitat. All photos by Mark Peterson.
Habitat restoration demands vegetation professionals that have knowledge of native species that are compatible with existing landscape conditions. They must also be able to assess the developing vegetation community so that they can manage succession – the ecological maturation of a plant community - to desirable end points. Mark Peterson and Associates, and LandSaga Biogeographical have worked together at the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (RMOW) landfill towards that end. In 1997 the Region added the naturalization of closed landfill cells to their roster of green management initiatives. The approach has been to install a selection of nursery-grown native trees and shrubs incrementally over the last 10 years. The total planted area to date is 2.7 hectares with an average installed cost for the 10,000 plus shrubs and trees of about $4.85 per square metre or $48,500 per ha. The 1m clay cap is covered with a planting layer comprised of a 75 cm mixture of daily cover (on-site silty and sandy soil), peat and compost, although other cells received woodland soil salvaged from a local development site. Costs to create a favourable planting substrate vary, as may actual installation costs depending on the size and form of nursery stock and its planting density. At the Waterloo landfill, before plant material is installed, the planting cell is topped with 15-25 cm of chopped woody mulch processed from wood waste received at the landfill. Mulch helps to control weeds and conserve moisture while the plants become established. Either bare root or containerized stock can be used, although www.esemag.com
container stock has some advantages in terms of drought tolerance and survival in unmanaged conditions. Weed control, especially after the third year, greatly improves long-term success. In a similar naturalization project at New York’s Fresh Kills landfill, field monitoring indicates that woody roots do not penetrate the landfill cap. These findings reinforce other investigations in northeastern US landfills that show that roots generally stayed in the upper 50 cm of substrate in the presence of
water and air. In the unlikely event of root penetration, the anticipated effect would be more than offset by the known interception and evapotranspiration of water that mature plants provide with their leaf canopy. Once shrubs and trees have been planted, other desirable and unwanted plants begin to arrive. Annual weed management is necessary to control aggressive weedy competition so that the desired native species can become established. continued overleaf...
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Landfill Remediation Weed control in naturalization projects demands vegetation professionals who can distinguish native, planted species from unwanted weeds. At the Waterloo landfill LandSaga provided this service, while also identifying and saving “volunteers”– desirable native plants that came in on their own. This has proven to be a cost-effective management technique that has contributed to the success of the planting. In the case of older landfills, a botanical assessment of existing vegetation should be done. Through forensic botany, a rapid assessment of site conditions affecting current and future plant communities can be made, including soil conditions, groundwater location, leachate breakouts, and site history. Vegetation characteristics can then guide which plant species are likely to be most successful for their determined function, whether it be leachate control, stabilization, interception, and/or habitat restoration. Species identified may or may not be recommended in the literature, since not all plants have been evaluated. Colonization by other native plants from adjacent natural areas via rabbits,
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Typical planting with trees and shrubs planted into wood mulch.
birds, deer and wind, is an indicator of a thriving installation. This is the “successional” restoration that was the goal of the Region of Waterloo at the outset, which describes an evolving, self perpetuating ecological system, and one that also works passively to manage the unproductive effects of water. The presence of predators like coyotes and hawks reflects the successful develop-
ment of the ecological community. Future residents of Waterloo enjoying the view of the city from a forested hilltop will reflect on the successful closure of this landfill. Cheryl Hendrickson is the President of LandSaga Biogeographical Incorporated. E-mail: hendrickson@landsaga.com
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Water Supply
Is international development always sustainable? By Annie Carrière, P.Eng., M.A.Sc. ew organizations dealing with international development are able to provide data and information in order to determine whether their actions are sustainable. Water for People (WFP) decided it needed to answer that important question for its supporters and to keep growing. That quest is what led to the creation in 2006 of the World Water Corps (WWC), which is its overseas volunteer program. Water For People? Water For People was first founded in 1991 by members of the American Water Works Association (AWWA). The main objective of the organization is to relieve the water crisis that is affecting billions of underprivileged people worldwide. The approach is simple, yet effective: helping people help themselves. WFP is committed to helping communities by developing sustainable water resources and sanitation solutions. It is well established in Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Malawi, and India. It is currently expanding its scope of action over the next five years to include five new countries: Rwanda, Uganda, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic. Last year, WFP was able to help nearly 130,000 people with a budget of
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about four million US dollars. WFP partners with local governments, the private sector, and other trusted nongovernmental organizations to ensure broad support for their work, their most important partner being the people they serve. To create lasting change, community members must be at the centre of their own water and sanitation solutions. WFP also provides health and hygiene education in each community so that people learn basic hygiene practices like hand-washing and proper food handling that can prevent disease. Water For People Canada was founded in 1995. Its board is composed of representatives from all AWWA sections in Canada. It has been focusing its attention and resources for the past few years in Bolivia and is currently spending about 75 per cent of its revenues there. Being a member of the Board, I was naturally interested in knowing the situation in Bolivia and how our financial resources were helping provide water and sanitation in that country. I joined the WWC and in November 2007 embarked on a gruelling, yet rewarding, two-week monitoring trip in the Cochabamba department of Bolivia. The World Water Corps The WWC is very active with more than ten trips planned for 2008. Its mis-
The author, (right) with Wilmer Aguilar, WFP Bolivia staff member (far left) and two villagers. www.esemag.com
sion is to support the specific objectives of WFP programs in each country. The WWC sends teams of volunteers, often water and wastewater engineers, for short-term assignments of two weeks, to assess the baseline for future development (mapping), to monitor the status of existing water, and sanitation projects (monitoring), or to evaluate the overall effectiveness of a program (evaluation). My experiences in Bolivia The monitoring trip I went on was based in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a town with a metropolitan population of more than 900,000. Bolivia is located in the centre of South America and is crossed by the Andes, which makes it a mountainous country. The city of Cochabamba is located southeast of LaPaz, the largest city in the country. We went to remote places where very few go, living everyday like Bolivians. That is what the monitoring experience feels and looks like. Exhausting work but exhilarating at the same time. Our expedition consisted of four teams, each composed of one or two volunteers from North America, one WFP Bolivia staff member, one member of the NGO that built the project, and one translator/driver. In the rural areas, most villagers speak only Quechua or Aymara (La Paz region). We would typically drive many hours in a 4x4 truck, on dirt roads, reaching and visiting between one and three remote villages each day. The highest village I went to was at an elevation of 4300 metres. Some of these villages have no phones or electricity. Most of the time we were able to come back to Cochabamba to our comfortable hotel, but some of us had to stay on site, in local hostels. In total, we visited 58 communities. Our visits consisted of interviewing users and community leaders about their system and their use of water, locating systems using GPS, and taking photographs to assess their condition. Based on the information collected, a report is being completed. The systems we visited were very simple and rustic and were designed so the villagers could operate and maintain continued overleaf... March 2008 | 53
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Water Supply
them. There were a lot of gravity fed systems with springs, concrete tanks and pressure reducing chambers, equipped with floats. We saw wells and elevated tanks. We also visited sanitation facilities, which were mainly water toilets. Overall, the vast majority of the systems were still functional. But, unfortunately, some systems were already out of
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order. In general the systems that were still functioning had an active water committee, and each family paid a small monthly fee (approximately twenty-five cents) to the committee for system upkeep. This allowed the purchase of tools and repair parts. These communities held monthly meetings where water committee business could be discussed. The poorly functioning systems usually did not have committees. This seemed to be due either to apathy by the villagers, feuding between neighbors, or simply because the committee members had left the village or died. Sometimes, there was simply no one with the tools or training to maintain the system. A general observation I made is that good management and plumbing training seem to make a huge difference in the sustainability of the systems. Conclusions This experience allowed me to witness the impacts of the projects Water For People Canada funds. I was surprised in many regards. Some villages had excellent systems, while others had management or equipment problems. Notwithstanding, in each village, the villagers had smiles on
their faces because their life was made so much easier with access to water. This exercise was very useful in many ways: it allowed us foreigners to see the impacts of the projects we fund and made us become real WFP ambassadors; it helped WFP Bolivia staff to learn from past experience and improve their program, and it also boosted communities' interest in maintaining their systems, because they know they will be visited in the future. This monitoring trip to Bolivia was a pilot program and the organization was good. As comments from the volunteers are integrated into the organization, it should become even more efficient and satisfying for the volunteers. Personally I was very pleased with the experience and went home with a sense of accomplishment. Annie Carrière is a Member of the Board of Water for People Canada, a representative of the QuÊbec Section of Water for People. For more information, please visit www.waterforpeople.org
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Remediation
Computerized bioremediation and chemical oxidation of hydrocarbon and chlorinated hydrocarbon contaminated sites ioremediation is a fairly young science in itself; however, as with most recent young technologies, it has evolved rapidly into a respected science by the involvement and integration of science branches such as microbiology, biochemistry, chemistry, geology and soils and groundwater engineering. The present day state-of-the-art bioremediation systems are totally computerized with remote communication and control and can include more than one remediation system. The BioDOT™ bioreactor system is an example of one of these systems with combined technologies for contaminated site remediation, being able to combine or individually select aerobic, anaerobic and chemical oxidization treatment processes. The combination choice of these three technologies is dictated by the site’s contamination components profile. BioDOT bioreactors are typical of a new breed of soil and groundwater remediation technologies whose results have shown, by the utilization of individual or selective combination of technologies, that they can produce rapid treatment to meet the present criteria of
B
O.Reg.153/04 and the proposed criteria of the new regulation 153/04. The treatment performance efficiency of these types of bioreactors will play an important role in the pre-treatment of contaminated soil and groundwater as it pertains to the LDR (Land Disposal Restriction) filed with the registrar of Regulations as Ontario Regulation 461/05. For the most part BioDOT bioreactors have been used generally for the remediation of gas station sites; however, with the realization of the impacts of Bill 133, the bioremediation of contaminated soils and groundwater in petrochemical and petroleum processing plants has seen a significant increase of the presence of this type of bioreactor on major corporation sites. In considering contaminated gas station sites, the sources of contamination components on these sites is not always related to BTEX and hydrocarbon fractions, particularly when these sites are located within downtown boundaries and are subject to on-site contamination sources, which in many cases contain chlorinated hydrocarbon components,
By Bryan Ball
usually PCE, sourced from dry cleaning operations that were historically or are presently located in the close proximity to the gas station. In some cases, where there is the presence of hydrocarbon and chlorinated hydrocarbons, a combined technology approach can be strategized by this type of bioreactor system. Prior to the installation of the BioDOT bioreactors it is imperative that the Phase II Environmental Site Assessment establishes the full vertical and horizontal extent of contamination in all environmental media (soil and groundwater at a minimum), and that the physical and geochemical characteristics of subsurface materials, including the local hydrology and geology, should be defined so that the fate and transport of the contamination will be understood. An evaluation of the hydrogeologic setting based on the specific geologic formation and lithology affecting groundwater flow beneath the facility and the characteristics of the impacted aquifer continued overleaf...
In order to maintain the most efficient aerobic biological contaminant removal, large masses of oxygen are required.
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Remediation
should be performed. Information, such as lithologic characteristics of the soil and bedrock, permeability of the formation depth to groundwater, thickness of the saturated interval(s) and the real extent of the aquifer(s), hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer(s) and an interpretation of the hydraulic interconnectivity between sat-
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urated zones, is needed to evaluate the horizontal and vertical extent of contamination and help determine contaminant migration characteristics. The type and amount of information gathered is dependent largely on the complexity of the subsurface environment. This information is required to perform
the remediation system modeling. Groundwater contour maps are required for each saturated zone to determine local groundwater flow patterns. Care should be taken to ensure that potential man-made influences on groundwater flow, such as french drains, unlined ponds, septic systems, stormwater outfalls, permitted wastewater discharge outfalls, or groundwater production wells, are reflected in the groundwater level contour maps. This information is used in conjunction with other site-setting information in evaluating contaminant migration pathways, establishing potential exposure scenarios and assisting in modeling the injection well matrices and recovery well locations. Once these are installed, then the bioreactors can be programmed to select specific treatment technology and to combine or individually select aerobic, anaerobic and chemical oxidization treatment processes in order to address the individual or combination nature of the contaminant components present at the site. Max-Ox oxygenation system ON! Currently, the most used bioremedia-
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Remediation tion process in treating contaminated sites such as gas stations is in an aerobic mode. Aerobic reaction is the biodegradation of organic contaminants utilizing oxygen, as the electron acceptor oxygen is the primary limiting factor for most aerobic bioremediation efforts. Stoichiometrically, petroleum compounds typically require an approximately 3:1 ratio of oxygen:petroleum for aerobic biological degradation oxidation (i.e. one mg of gasoline requires 2.5 mg of oxygen.) In nature, groundwater contains low concentrations of oxygen due to the minimal re-aeration from its laminar flow and the aqueous solubility of oxygen. Even modest biological activity will readily deplete the oxygen in the groundwater. Therefore, in order to maintain the most efficient aerobic biological contaminant removal, large masses of oxygen are required. Unfortunately, most conventional remediation systems (i.e. air or oxygen sparging), cannot keep pace with the demand for oxygen in biologically active conditions. To remedy this, the BioDOT system utilizes its Max-Ox™ oxygenation sys-
www.esemag.com
tem where dissolved oxygen is diffused into the water at concentrations greater than 110 ppm. Losses of dissolved oxygen prior to the subsurface on a sitewide or plume specific-wide scale are limited by a series of in-line one-way valve systems, thus the delivery of a customized microbial oxygenated solution directly to the plume area in the most efficient manner leads to fast and economical site remediations, mostly in less than nine months. With aerobic bioremediation, the mass balance is a function of the stoichiometry of the oxidation-reduction reactions that govern the biological utilization of a particular compound. For example, oxidation-reduction reactions for the aerobic utilization of benzene are as follows: Oxidation Reaction: C6H6 + 12 H2O → 6 CO2 + 30 H+ + 30 eReduction Reaction: 7.5 O2 + 30 H+ + 30 e- → 15 H2O Overall Reaction: C6H6 + 7.5 O2 → 6 CO2 + 3 H2O
The O2 requirement for this reaction is that 1 mole of C6H6 requires 7.5 moles of O2. Converting to the appropriate mass ratio results in the following: One unit C6H6 : 7.5 x (32/78) units of O2, or 1 unit C6H6 requires three units of O2. Therefore, aerobic biological degradation requires three pounds of dissolved oxygen to degrade one pound of benzene in the subsurface. This customized microbial solution, aside from oxygen, contains a number of nutrients that are also necessary for the success of the metabolic process of the microorganisms including iron, magnesium, sulfur, nitrogen, and phosphorous. Although most subsurfaces already contain an abundance of the required minerals, the most common additional nutrients injected along with the source of oxygen are nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrogen is typically in the form of ammonia or nitrate while phosphorus is typically in the form of phosphate. A general rule for nutrients is to maintain a C:N:P ratio of 100:13:3 to 100:10:1. continued overleaf...
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Remediation
Specific microbial solutions with a customized substrate are injected into the contamination plume through the injection matrix. Max-Ox oxygenation system OFF! The BioDOT anaerobic technology addresses the critical parameters that control the efficiency of any in situ reductive dechlorination process. In the dechlorination of chlorinated hydrocarbons using anaerobic reductive
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reactions, specific microbial solutions with a customized substrate are injected into the contamination plume through the injection matrix. This technology has shown that many groundwater contaminants can be cost-effectively biodegraded in situ by
providing a source of biodegradable organic substrate. The technology is not effective unless the following criteria can be met: a) The contaminants are anaerobicaly biodegradable; such that strongly reducing conditions can be generated.
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Remediation b) A microbial community capable of driving the process is present or can be introduced. c) An organic substrate can be successfully distributed in the subsurface. BioDOT Chemical Oxidation, Max-Ox oxygenation system OFF! Chemical oxidation system ON! The system is designed for the application of potassium permanganate for the oxidation of chlorinated hydrocarbons, in particular perchloroethylene (also known as tetrachloroethylene, perc, PCE), which is an organic, compound that is part of a class of chemicals called chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents or chlorinated solvents. Chemical oxidation is an effective process for treating chlorinated hydrocarbons such as PCE in both soil and groundwater. The BioDOT system is capable of being programmed to adhere to the basic stoichiometric equations summarizing the oxidation of PCE and TCE by the permanganate ion as presented in the following:
NEWS Major US water utilities form climate change coalition Eight of the US’s largest water utilities recently formed a coalition to improve research into the impacts of climate change on water utilities. The Water Utility Climate Alliance (WUCA) was formed by Denver Water, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California , New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Portland Water Bureau, San Diego County Water Authority, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Seattle Public Utilities and the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Together, the WUCA members supply drinking water for more than 36 million people throughout the United States. The WUCA has identified several key research needs that would improve the water supply sector’s ability to develop strategies to cope with potential impacts of climate change.
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PCE conversion equation C2Cl4 + 2MnO4- ==> 2CO2 + 2MnO2 (s) + Cl2 + 2ClTCE conversion equation C2Cl3H + 2MnO4- ==> 2CO2 + 2MnO2 (s) + 3Cl- + H+ The BioDOT system has a Mobile Certificate of Approval with the Ministry of the Environment for Contaminated Soil and Groundwater Site
Remediation for Hydrocarbon and Chlorinated Hydrocarbon contamination components. The BioDOT Mobile Certificate of Approval permits site remediation to commence without the normal 8-12 months delay experienced for a site specific C of A Application.
Bryan Ball, M.Sc., is Vice President of Bluewater Environmental Inc. E-mail: eng@blueh2o.ca
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Transportation and the Environment
The future of clean transportation By Dr. Bernard Fleet, Dr. Shibani Chaudhury and James K. Li nly in the last few years has there been a wider global acceptance of the fact that the transportation industry is a major contributor to the generation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that are contributing to global warming. With the number of vehicles on the road forecast to increase from around 700 million today to 2 billion by 2015, it is vital that the auto industry embarks on a paradigm shift towards embracing cleaner transportation technologies. This is especially important in the case of the rapidly industrialising countries of India and China that will provide the future markets for the majority of new vehicles. A wake-up call It seems that only in the last few years have the governments of the world, driven by public outcry, accepted the fact that environmental concerns are a real threat to our civilization. Climate change, long derided as pseudo-science by the US government, is now at the
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forefront of every government’s policy agenda and there is now a frantic shuffling of the deckchairs on the Titanic to try and avoid global catastrophe. At the same time, the world is facing increasing oil prices, with the war in Iraq reinforcing the old maxim that “countries
that depend on oil have to be prepared to fight for it.” The year 2007 saw some major landmarks in the automobile industry. First, oil prices topped the $100 per barrel, with some analysts predicting that it will only take another serious terrorist incident or a natural disaster in one of the oil regions to push the price to $150. Meanwhile, some government thinktanks are predicting that climate change is a larger threat than terrorism and that major lifestyle changes will be required. One of these major changes will undoubtedly be in the area of personal transportation, meaning the automobile. The other major landmark was in the speech by General Motors President Rick Waggoner at the opening of the 2008 Detroit Auto Show, where he noted that Peak Oil has already been reached and that electrification of the automobile is now inevitable. The problem is quite simple: the global population is forecast to increase from its present 6.6 billion to around 10 billion in the next 30 years and, even though most of this growth will be in the poorer regions, it will still create an enormous increase in the demand for energy, specifically fossil fuels. But it is now an accepted fact that oil reserves have already peaked and that in the future we will see the shift from a world with an increasing supply of low cost oil to one
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with a decreasing supply of high cost oil. Inevitably, part of this demand will need to be met from less accessible oil sources such as tar sands, oil shale or coal, that create an even higher environmental impact than traditional oil supplies. In the West, over 50% of oil is used in transportation and this year has seen a dramatic rise in gas prices, a trend that is likely to continue. The environmental effects of the gasoline/diesel internal combustion engine (ICE) are well known with their major contribution to greenhouse gas generation, climate change, and damage to public health through increased incidence of respiratory problems in people, especially children, living in urban areas. Yet it is only when motorists feel the pain at the gas pump that there is a call for action. This has been seen most visibly in the US, where, last year, sales of SUVs were down 50%, while sales of hybrid electric vehicles were up by a similar amount. The search for cleaner, more sustainable transportation solutions has been going on since the 1960s and ‘70s yet it is only in the last few years that the major auto companies have begun to show serious interest. Back in 1990, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) forced the US automakers hand by taking the bold step of establishing a Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) program. This mandated that 2% of all vehicles produced for sale in California had to be ZEVs and this number had to increase to 5% in 2001 and 10% by 2003. The automakers immediately stepped up with some half-hearted electric vehicle and alternative fuel programs, while at the same time joining forces with the oil companies to wage a multi-million dollar lobbying and advocacy campaign to fight the CARB mandates. With their massive resources they were able to defeat CARB and also “prove” that the few battery-powered electric vehicles that they introduced were impractical. As an aside, the few Californians who managed to get their hands on one of these electric vehicles are so happy with their low cost motoring that they are now fighting a huge legal battle to stop them being repossessed and sent to the crusher. This story is very well documented in the recent film “Who Killed the Electric Car”. As the situation in Iraq clearly shows, it is necessary to fight to maintain North America’s appetite for oil. The jump in prices at the gas pump in the wake of Hurricane Katrina also showed the vulnerability of oil prices to external events whether natural disasters or terrorist attacks. Finally, with oil reaching over $100 per barrel, even the mainstream auto industry has accepted the fact that clean transportation may be our only solution. Vehicle electrification – hybrids, fuel cells or battery? There are basically four major directions that clean transportation can take. One is low-emission vehicles (or LEVs) based on smaller, more fuel-efficient internal combustion engines. Smaller cars have long been favoured in Europe which also has a strong affinity towards diesel vecontinued overleaf... www.esemag.com
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Figure 1. Well-to-Wheel Analysis for Battery (top) vs. Fuel Electric Vehicle. (note that compared to a battery EV, the fuel cell require 2 ½ times more energy to get same amount of energy to the wheels)
hicles. Similarly, the rapidly growing auto industries in China and India mostly favour small cars, where the marketing motto is eco vs. ego. The recent launch by Tata in India of the Nano, a 2-cylinder, 600cc gasoline vehicle that sells for $2,500 is surely a beacon for the future of the auto industry. But small LEVs, even if the vehicle emissions are low, will become a major pollution problem within a very few years when many millions of vehicles hit the roads in China and India. A much more effective approach to clean transportation is achieved by introducing some degree of electrification into the auto drive train. There are many variations on this theme, but the main strategies are essentially hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), fuel cell electric vehicles and pure battery electric vehicles, (BEVs) or zero emission electric vehicles (ZEVs). The basic approach is to introduce some level of electric power, either alone or in combination with an internal combustion engine. Hybrid electric vehicles Hybrids, the auto industry’s most re62 | March 2008
cent success story, are based on a combination of a gasoline engine with an electric motor. This idea, again, is not new and, in fact, dates back to the dawn of the auto industry in the early 1900s. Hybrids combine the benefits of each propulsion system while minimizing the limitations. In the various HEV designs, the electric motor can operate alone or in tandem with the ICE, in a parallel or a serial arrangement where either one or both motors can drive the wheels. The major attraction of the HEV is that it improves overall fuel efficiency and reduces toxic vehicle emissions since, in city or urban driving, the vehicle will be running mostly on the electric motor. But vehicle price is an issue, the question being whether the additional premium for buying a HEV is offset by the cost savings from improved fuel efficiency? This question has been in dispute since improvement in fuel efficiency for a HEV will depend markedly on driving profile, whether it is mostly city or highway driving or typically a combination thereof. One obvious limitation with hybrids
is their complexity and level of technical sophistication. Having the two drive trains, electric and gasoline motors, doubles the possibilities for technical problems. But the undoubted success of HEVs is clear and Toyota alone has now sold over 1 million vehicles. They have also made some major contributions to the technology of electric vehicles. It is also important to note that, from the mainstream automobile company (OEMs) standpoint, HEVs are not a disruptive technology and hence the OEMs still retain control of the industry and do not face the possible loss of the trillions of dollars of intellectual property that has been invested in the ICE over the last century. HEVs are also well suited for specific niche markets such as the military, where the ability to switch between electric and gasoline drive trains can be of real benefit in some battlefield situations. Plug-in hybrids Perhaps the most important contribution of hybrid EVs is that it finally dispelled the myth, long put out by the auto majors, that electric vehicles were not practical either technically or economically. After the success of Toyota and Honda, all of the US automakers (the Detroit three) scrambled to play catch up and introduce their own hybrid models. But then consumers soon began to ask the next question. If the battery is good and improves fuel efficiency why can’t we have a bigger battery? And maybe while we are at it, why can’t we have one that we can plug in to the mains for overnight recharging? Again, the OEMs derided this idea saying it was inconvenient, there was no market, etc., but soon there was a dedicated group of HEV owners who were prepared to pay up to $20,000 for a custom conversion to have their hybrid converted to a plug-in hybrid (PHEV). A similar scenario was then played out and the major OEMs suddenly discovered PHEVs and several new PHEV models were announced at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. It is now clear that of the 50 or so HEVs that are scheduled to enter the market by 2010, a good proportion will be plug-in versions. In all respects the PHEV is similar to a standard hybrid
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Transportation and the Environment where the battery is charged by a generator powered by the gasoline engine, but in the plug-in option the small 1 to 2 kilowatt hour (kW/h) battery is increased to 4 to 5 kW and an external power cord allows this to be charged from the mains supply (see Figure 2). The picture is now becoming clear. If electric drive vehicles are good and also pollution free, why do we need the gasoline motor? What’s wrong with having a pure battery vehicle? But before we look at that question we need to look at another idea that has obsessed the auto industry for the past several decades, the fuel cell electric vehicle and the hydrogen highway. Fuel cell vehicles - the hydrogen highway During the past decade the Canadian government as well as the US has invested many billions of dollars in fuel cell technology with the ultimate goal of developing commercial fuel cell vehicles supported by the hydrogen highway; this is all a part of the so-called hydrogen economy. Yet, despite this massive investment and the even more massive hype that surrounds fuel cells, the industry has yet to come up with a viable product. The reasons for this are not difficult to understand. A fuel cell, despite its hype as a space-age technology, is simply another version of a battery. A “gas battery”, as the English inventor Sir Charles Grove described it 150 years ago, uses hydrogen gas along with air as the energy source. So, essentially a fuel cell, car, bus or truck is an electric vehicle powered by a device that operates like a refuelable battery! The fuel cell vehicle has some similarity to a hybrid vehicle except that the gas tank is replaced with a hydrogen storage unit, typically a high-pressure tank similar to the type used for propane/LPG vehicles. Hydrogen is then fed to the fuel cell power unit that, in turn, provides power that feeds an auxiliary battery that drives an electric motor. Despite all of the massive investment and development efforts, the fuel cell transportation industry faces several major barriers both technical and economic. While fuel cell technology still has several problems that remain to be www.esemag.com
solved, a bigger barrier is the lack of infrastructure to supply the hydrogen fuel. But the biggest barrier of all is simply economics, what the energy industry experts call EROI or Energy Return on Investment. Figure 1 shows what is called a Wellto-Wheels analysis. It analyses the efficiency levels at all stages from the energy from the grid right through to powering the wheels of a vehicle. This schematic compares a Well-to-Wheel
for a pure battery vehicle and a fuel cell vehicle. The best possible scenario is used where a renewable energy source such as solar or wind is used as the primary input. This shows the various efficiencies in each stage of the process from energy generation through the transmission to either a battery or a fuel cell. What it shows quite clearly is that in order to deliver 60 kW of power to the vehicle’s continued overleaf...
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Transportation and the Environment wheels, a fuel cell requires 200 kWh of energy input compared to 80 kWh for a battery vehicle. This means that the EROI for a fuel cell is two and a half times greater than for a simple battery vehicle and hence, pure battery technology is approximately 2 ½ times more efficient than a fuel cell. The fuel cell pathway involves the use of a gas pipeline, purification and compression steps, all of which lose energy, before the fuel enters the fuel cell. The simple fact is that the thermodynamics cannot lie. On simple EROI grounds, fuel cells don’t make economic sense. Even though there are reportedly around 600 prototype fuel cell vehicles undergoing trials worldwide and Honda recently announced the launch of limited numbers of market ready fuel cell vehicles, the rest of the industry continues to push back into decades the date when FCEVs might be available in the dealers showroom. Battery electric vehicles – the technology breakthrough At the dawn of the automobile age in
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Figure 2. Schematic of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (g = gas tank, B = battery, C = charger, EM = electric motor, T = transmission and ICE = internal combustion engine (gasoline or diesel)
the last decade of the 19th and the early years of the 20th century, electric vehicles occupied a prominent place alongside steam and gasoline engine vehicles. Despite the many early advantages of the electric vehicle over the gasoline internal combustion engine, by the early 1920s the gasoline vehicle, following Henry Ford’s genius breakthrough, established a stranglehold on the market. The reason for this state of affairs is that the Achilles heel of the EV car has always been battery performance. By the late 19th century the lead acid batteries delivered an energy density of 10Watt hours per kilogram (Wh/kg). By 1910 this had improved to nearly 25 Wh/kg. However, this trajectory of development stalled once gasoline vehicles assumed control and it was only by the end of the 20th century that energy density had doubled to around 45 Wh/kg. But, in the last decade, battery technology has made some giant strides. First was the shift to nickel metal hydride chemistry that doubled the energy density, but the big breakthrough has been the introduction of lithium-based battery chemistry. Spurred by the increasing demands for portable power from the high-tech industries such as portable computers, IT and aerospace, a whole generation of lightweight, highenergy batteries has emerged. These are mainly lithium-technology based and the best of them can now deliver more than five times the energy at less than
one quarter of the weight of a comparable volume of lead acid battery. As a result of this breakthrough, electric vehicles which were formerly golf-cart type, low speed vehicles carrying a deadweight of a ton of lead, now have the opportunity to achieve similar if not superior performance to gasoline vehicles, with one important difference: operating cost. The electricity costs for operating a pure battery electric vehicle are less than one-tenth the costs of operating a similar size gasoline vehicle! The most advanced lithium batterypowered EVs now have a driving range between charges of well in excess of 200 km. The issue of charging time has also been resolved with the introduction of new nanotechnology battery science that enables the battery to be recharged in minutes rather than hours. Alternatively, the battery unit can be charged overnight using low-cost, off-peak power. Moreover, battery prices, formerly the limiting factor, are rapidly decreasing as the economies of mass production kick in and costs of $0.50/Watt will soon be available, down from last year’s prices of $2 to $3 per Watt. Battery EVs now cover a wide range of vehicle types from low-speed vehicles (LSVs) to conventional mass-market or highway-capable EVs (referred to as full-performance BEVs). They also have found applications for commercial vehicles that include light commercial, heavy goods vehicles, especially kerbside delivery vehicles, buses and coaches.
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BEVs would seem to be the ideal solution for the modern motorist, with zero-pollution and low operating and maintenance costs. Low-speed vehicles especially are a new class of vehicle that is especially suited to the urban environment. But increasingly BEVs are seen to be entering the mainstream automobile market. Just in the past year there have been announcements from three major OEMs that they plan to launch full-performance battery vehicles. Electric vehicles may also benefit from the use of renewable energy. In California, for example, where there are now over 20,000 EVs on the road, many dedicated owners have installed solar panels on their homes or carport roofs that are able to provide all domestic power requirements, charge their electric vehicle battery and live almost totally energy and gasoline free. Today there are several unknown factors that will affect the future direction of clean transportation technology. The first is that, given the trend of increasing sales of hybrid vehicles, what fraction of this market will be captured by either plug-in hybrids or pure battery electric vehicles? The second and more profound question revolves around the upsurge in the auto market in the developing countries where both India and China are now putting close to 4 million new cars on the road every year. This number is already greater than the forecast for North America, while sales in these two regions will soon surpass the numbers for North America and Europe combined. If these new cars continue to pollute, and even if they are low-emission gasoline or diesel vehicles, the cumulative emissions will far outweigh any benefits that the West can generate through all of its greenhouse gas reduction efforts. Governments globally have to act and create the optimum market conditions for clean transport options to be implemented. These efforts may include public policy options such as road pricing and congestion charges that are in place in London and Singapore and will probably be copied by other cities. Financial instruments such as tax incentives or grants to help with the purchase of a zero pollution vehicle have also been used and are important. The way ahead As Thomas Homer-Dixon points out in his visionary book, “The Upside of Down�, when complex systems are under stress, the future directions they might take are often impossible to predict. How both governments and industry in the industrialized world and the poorer countries respond to the threat of climate change will have a major impact on the future direction of the transportation industry. At this point all we can say is that electrification provides a real opportunity for pollution-free, zero emission driving.
Dr. Bernard Fleet is an environmental scientist, E-mail: fleetec@gmail.com Dr. Shibani Chaudhury is at Viswa Bharati University, E-mail: Shibani_56@hotmail.com James K Li is a Ph. D student at the University of Toronto, Email: jameskli@gmail.com
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Erosion Control
Permanent turf reinforcement mat helps protect old Nipawin Bridge bridge spanning the North Saskatchewan River in Nipawin, Saskatchewan, was under careful watch due to excessive slope erosion near the bridge approach. The gully located immediately adjacent to the bridge approach would pose highway stability concerns if the erosion continued at its current rate. In addition to the slope’s highly erodible sandy silt soil type, the 60 metre long slope averaged a steep gradient of 1.2:1 (H:V). This steep slope was channeling runoff from an area encompassing approximately 3,000 m2 of essentially impervious ground that exhibited high runoff velocities after storm events. In addition to stormwater runoff, a natural spring also feeds the gully with water year round. Besides the highway stability, there was also the concern of large amounts of unwanted sediment being washed into the river, creating turbid water. This
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turbid water could potentially create water quality as well as wildlife habitat problems. The original site plans drawn by the consultants called for the use of rockfilled gabions placed over a geotextile fabric. After evaluating the cost of gabions and realizing that no contractors would bid on the project due to limited equipment access, hand placement labour costs, and lack of available rock, Saskatchewan Highways decided to look into alternatives to hard-armour on the slope. They contacted Nilex Inc., located in Saskatoon, for advice on other erosion and sediment control options available for the project conditions. Nilex representative, Lee Jaboeuf, recommended the use of one of North American Green’s permanent turf reinforcement mats (TRMs) as a vegetated soft-armour solution to replace the rock-filled gabion baskets. Given the flow values and other proj-
ect data from Saskatchewan Highways, Jaboeuf analyzed the project in the Erosion Control Materials Design Software (ECMDS) in order to find a suitable TRM that would stabilize the harsh conditions. A one metre wide channel with 1:1 side slopes was analyzed with North American Green’s P550 TRM, a highperformance, permanent reinforcement mat. The three-dimensional netting structure of this TRM is designed to offer permanent reinforcement of the soil and vegetation, and the polypropylene fibre matrix offers immediate erosion and sediment control protection during vegetation establishment. During evaluation of the project parameters, which expected to generate a discharge of 0.067m3/sec stress and flow velocities reaching 2.7 m/sec, the P550 (rated for 7.6 m/sec maximum permissible velocities, vegetated) was shown to be stable in the vegetated stage, but unstable in the unvegetated
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Erosion Control
Excessive erosion was creating slope stability concerns along the bridge approach.
stage due to the steepness of the slope and the shear stress impact it produced on the liner. Solution After contacting North American Green about additional options to create a stable vegetated design, it was suggested that GeoRidge® synthetic permeable check dams be used in the channel to increase channel/slope roughness and slow water velocities during the initial vegetation establishment phase. These permeable check dams allow for a smoother and less damaging release of water, by distributing and retarding flow velocities through the berm, rather than over the berm. It was calculated that installing GeoRidge at one metre intervals down the channel, perpendicular to water flow, would reduce the velocities by 40%. After re-evaluating the project in the design software with the newly calculated velocities, the P550 and GeoRidge combination proved to be a stable design during all project phases. This combination provided an extra factor of safety, given the soil type and the sensitivity of continued overleaf...
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Erosion Control The annual rye established in the channel within a few months, increasing the erosion protection and helping to blend the site into its natural surroundings.
Georidge permeable check dams were installed at one metre intervals to help reduce the velocities on the vegetated portion of the channel.
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the upper section of the slope. The final design by the consultants, Golder Associates, included a seven metre long rock-filled gabion basket at the uppermost portion of the slope to act as a scour protection area from the culvert outfall, followed by the combination of TRM and ditch checks continuing the rest of the way down to the river. Installation Installation started in July 2005 and was relatively easy after hand-shaping
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Erosion Control the existing one metre wide channel. Work on the steep slope did prove challenging, with issues of keeping material and excavated soil from sliding down the slope. After the channel was cut to its final dimensions, it was seeded with a mixture of fall rye, and other perennial and annual grasses. The fall rye was selected to provide quick vegetative cover soon after project completion, while the mix of other perennial and annual species was included to offer a natural long-term vegetative cover. The P550 was installed three rolls wide under the seven metre long gabion basket. One mat was installed down the centre of the channel, while additional mats were installed flanking the two sides. A combination of eight inch wire staples, along with specially designed 18 inch staples, were used to secure the P550 turf reinforcement mat in place. The mat was secured using a stapling density of seven staples per square metre. As an extra safety precaution, polypropylene twine was installed in a web configuration to add extra reinforcement and mat to soil contouring in the areas between staples.
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After completing the installation of the P550, the GeoRidge permeable check dams were installed along the bottom of the channel and partially up the channel side slopes at one metrespacing. Installation simply required securing the A-framed structures with 12 inch long heavy-duty soil nails. The initial installation of the erosion control mat and ditch checks was for 17 metres below the gabion. Even though this was the steepest section of the slope, total installation of the TRM and checks took only six hours. This was compared to the four days it took to install the seven metres of rock-filled gabions. Results The fall rye seed emerged very quickly along the bottom of the channel, though the sides of the channel were a bit spotty due to the inability to broadcast seed on the steep 1:1 side slopes. The side slopes were reseeded with the same seed mixture later that fall in hopes of getting more vegetation on the side slopes. Since the July 2005 installation, the site has experienced considerable rain events, with two separate rain events that following August producing over
25 mm of rain each. Additional storms in September and October brought the total rainfall to over 225 mm between late July and early October. The channel held through these storm events, even with the site in only a partially vegetated condition. Overall the project went well. Only 20 metres of the 60 metre channel were completed in 2005, with the remaining 40 metres slated to be completed at a later date. The cost savings on this project were substantial. By replacing the originally designed rock-filled gabions with a soft-armoured design consisting of the P550 TRM and the GeoRidge check dam, Saskatchewan Highways saved three quarters of the originally quoted price. Besides materials cost savings, the installation time was reduced by 75%. Now the Old Nipawin bridge approach is stable, and the North Saskatchewan River is protected from additional sediment pollution. For additional information, contact: jpack@nagreen.com
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Wastewater Chemistry
Designed experiment optimizes method for removing endocrine disrupters n endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) is a synthetic chemical that, when absorbed into the body, either mimics or blocks hormones and disrupts the body’s normal functions. EDCs can pass through wastewater treatment systems that are not currently designed to remove them. A team of researchers recently performed a designed experiment to evaluate potential methods for removing three common endocrine disrupters. The researchers treated solutions containing the EDCs nonlyphenol (NP), bisphenol A (BPA) and triclosan (TCS) with an enzyme preparation from the white rot fungus Coriolopsis polyzona. “We used a designed experiment to optimize the temperature and pH at which the removal levels were the highest,” said J. Peter Jones, Professor of the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Sherbrooke, Québec. “The optimized conditions that we developed with the designed experiment removed 100% of the NP and BPA and 65% of the TCS in four hours.” Potential risk posed by EDCs The endocrine system is a complex network of glands and hormones including the pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, thymus, pancreas, ovaries and testes. The endocrine glands release precise amounts of hormones into the bloodstream that serve as chemical messengers by controlling many bodily functions, including growth, development and maturation, as well as the way various organs operate. Examples of hormones include insulin which controls blood glucose, and estrogen and testosterone which affect female and male reproductive functions respectively. Endocrine disrupters can reduce the production of hormones in, or affect the release of hormones from, endocrine glands. They also mimic or counteract the action of hormones in target tissues and speed up the metabolism of hormones, reducing their action. Previous
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research has established that exposure to endocrine disrupters during early development may cause permanent harmful effects. Whether EDCs can have negative effects at the low levels at which such compounds are currently found in the environment has not been conclusively proven or disproven. NP, BPA and TCS are EDCs that are frequently detected in waters downstream of wastewater treatment plants. NP comes from biodegradation in STP
of nonlyphenol ethoxylates which are mainly used as non-ionic surfactants in domestic and industrial applications. BPA is used as a raw material for the production of polycarbonates and epoxy resins. TCS is an antimicrobial agent that has been incorporated into personal care products such as toothpaste, deodorant sticks and soaps. Research has demonstrated that NP and BPA can bind to estrogen receptors, interfering with the action of estrogen while TCS can interact with thyroid hormones. Recently, there has been a considerable amount of interest in white rot fungi (WRF) as a means of removing EDCs from the wastewater stream.
White rot fungus produces oxidative enzymes such as laccase, lignin, and manganese peroxidase that are relatively nonspecific biocatalysts. However, no studies prior to the current one have addressed the potential mechanism of elimination nor has there been a precise determination of the byproducts formed during enzymatic treatment. Study designed to advance EDC removal methods The two goals of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of the removal of NP, BPA and TCS with WRF enzymes and to assess the transformation mechanisms by identifying the metabolites that were produced. The researchers also wanted to be sure that the elimination of the EDCs did not produce metabolites with estrogenic activity. The researchers were well aware that the effectiveness of the removal of the EDCs could be affected by factors such as temperature and pH. This meant that accurate assessment of the effectiveness of the enzymes in removing EDCs required determining the effect of these factors and evaluating EDC removal with the factors optimized. The conventional approach to optimizing the factors would be to run a series of experiments while varying a single factor. The problem with this approach is that it does not detect interactions between factors or second order effects. As a result, the researchers decided to use the design of experiments (DOE) method that varies the values of all variables in parallel so it uncovers not just the main effects of each variable but also the interactions between the variables. This approach makes it possible to identify the optimal values for all variables in combination. It also requires far fewer experimental runs than the one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) approach. “Designing experiments and analyzing the results using DOE can be timeconsuming and error-prone when manual methods are used,” Jones said.
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Wastewater Chemistry
Fig 1. Effect of temperature and (■) pH 3, (■) pH 4 and (■) pH 5 on the degradation of BPA after a 4-hour treatment with 10 U/l of laccase of C. polyzona.
“General purpose statistical tools can do the job but tend to be unintuitive and limited in their choice of experimental designs and results analysis techniques. We used Design-Expert® DOE software from Stat-Ease, Inc., Minneapolis,
Fig 2. 3D graph view of the effect of temperature and pH on the degradation of BPA.
because it is very easy to use, yet provides very powerful capabilities including a wide range of experimental designs and powerful statistical methods to analyze the results.” The researchers decided to look at
the following factors: A) Temperature (20˚C vs. 40˚C vs. 50˚C) B) pH (3 vs. 4 vs. 5) Design-Expert software generated a continued overleaf...
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Wastewater Chemistry full-factorial experiment with nine runs for each substance to be removed. Each combination was replicated three times in a randomized run plan. The researchers mixed 5 mg/1 of each NP, BPA or TCS, 5 U/1 catalase from Aspergillus niger, crude enzyme preparation from Coriolopsis polyzona, citric Series 7000 mechanical diaphragm metering pumps
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acid/di-sodium hydrogen phosphate buffer, and 1% v/v methanol. NP, BPA and TCS were extracted from the mixture and analyzed on a high performance liquid chromatography system. The estrogenic activity of the treated system was compared to the system before treatment. Mass spectroscopy was used to identify high molecular weight metabolites. The results of the experiment were entered into Design-Expert and the software analyzed the statistical results. DOE results identify optimal EDC removal conditions A statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the model highlights the significant impact of temperature and pH on the enzymatic transformation of NP, BPA and TCS. This analysis was used to determine the best conditions for enzymatic transformation of the three EDCs. The results showed that 50˚C was the best temperature for the removal of NP and TCS, while the results for 40˚C and 50˚C were not significantly different in the case of BPA. A pH of 5 gave the best results for all three compounds studied. These results can be explained by the higher stability produced by a higher pH and the higher catalytic activity resulting from a higher temperature. The coefficient of determination (R2) value provides a measure of how much variability in the observed response values can be attributed to the experimental factors and their interactions. The R2 values of 0.995 for NP,
0.996 for BPA, and 0.994 for TCS suggest that the fitted linear-plus interactions models can explain 99.5%, 99.6% and 99.4% respectively of the total variation. The F-values were 426.0 for NP, 622.5 for BPA and 361.3 for TCS. Those values, together with a p value of <0.001 for all eliminations, indicated that the present models are statistically significant and can predict the experimental results well. The half-life of laccase activity was estimated to be 4 hours, 6 hours and 16 hours at a pH of 3, 4 and 5 respectively and a temperature of 40˚C. The elimination of NP and BPA was directly associated with the disappearance of estrogen activity. Mass spectrometry analysis showed that the enzymatic treatment produced high molecular weight metabolites through a radical polymerization mechanism of NP, BPA and TCS. “The design of experiments method played a critical role in this study by exploring the entire design space and helping researchers identify the optimal conditions for removal of the endocrine disrupting chemicals,” Jones concluded. “This work may in the future lead to industrial-scale methods for the removal of EDCs as part of the wastewater treatment process.”
For more information, E-mail: info@statease.com, or Peter.Jones@USherbrooke.ca.
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Water Supply
Restoration of domestic water pipes in high-rise buildings ne of the main objectives for the conscientious property manager is a well-thought-out preventative maintenance program. In Ontario’s housing market, some long-postponed capital upgrades have begun. With this in mind, new technologies are worth careful consideration as they offer options for investors that out-perform conventional technologies. One such European-developed technology is the non-destructive restoration of copper pipes. It provides an alternative to replacing copper pipes, with the application of an epoxy resin inside the existing pipes. This creates new composite pipes that combine the strength of the metal structure and the longevity of plastic coating. Epoxy lining is resistant to abrasion and sedimentation – major factors in the degradation of the water systems. Epoxy lining also helps prevent leaks, pipe bursts, and low pressure from corroded and eroded pipes. The lengthy procedure of tearing out walls to replace old pipes can be avoided. It saves time, reduces stress and inconvenience to tenants and offers an environmentally friendly alternative. Nor are interior renovations after the plumbing work necessary. The budget for non-destructive
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restoration of water systems in buildings compared with the budgets needed for plumbing work and masonry repair work of the interior shows direct savings of 30
By Wolfgang Osada
long-term savings. The yearly maintenance budget of $500 per unit for smaller repairs is a rule of thumb. If only $50 per unit is allocated to the water
The budget for non-destructive restoration of water systems in buildings compared with the budgets needed for plumbing work and masonry repair work of the interior shows direct savings of 30 - 50%. - 50%. Using the example of a 17-storey building with 185 apartments, copper pipes, along with plumbing work for the system replacement, amount to approximately $350,000 to $400,000. The additional cost for plastering and pipe insulation can conservatively be budgeted at $30,000 to $50,000. An epoxy method alternative for the same size building is approximately $206,000 with a contingency budget of $15,000 to $20,000 for the new valves and pipe section replacements. The immediate savings are only the beginning. Since this application comes with a 10 year warranty against corrosion and leaks in the system, it is possible to estimate the advantage of
supply damage, the savings on a 10-year warranty period amount to $92,500. Based on the period of 30 to 50 years (life expectancy of composite pipe) with no leaks, the savings in a 185-unit apartment building can be found in the range of $500,000 in maintenance costs alone. Owners are moving away from reactive maintenance approaches that rely on partial solutions and a patch-work of different materials and are moving towards solutions that are more environmentally friendly and allow for the restoration and refurbishing of existing systems. Wolfgang Osada is President of RIKOS Pipe Restoration. Contact: wolfgang@rikos.com
By implementing the RIKOS solution, pipes are no longer vulnerable to pinhole leaks because the epoxy lining process removes the possibility for erosion.
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Whistler to host 2008 BCWWA conference and tradeshow April 26 - 30,Whistler, BC he British Columbia Water and Waste Association’s annual conference and tradeshow will feature six concurrent themed sessions and a session organized by the Canadian Association of Water Quality. The event will also feature five technical transfer sessions covering the following topics: • SCADA 101 for water and wastewater • Wastewater systems and energy consumption/generation • The potential impact of climate change on municipal infrastructure: What do we know today? • Should we start building combined sewers again? • Operational excellence: the key to safe water in First Nation Communities. The everyday knowledge of water and wastewater operators will be tested in a Jeopardy-style game, which is organized by the Environmental Operators Certification Program (EOCP). In addition to a 130 booth tradeshow, the event also offers tours of Whistler’s new compost facility located at the Callaghan Waste Transfer Station, the Olympic Nordic Centre, the Olympic Sliding Centre and the Olympic Athletes’ Village.
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For more information, visit www.bcwwa.org
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OWWA/OMWA Joint Annual Conference to be held in London April 27 – 30, London, Ontario ntario’s Environment Minister, John Gerretson, and Linda Sims, Gemini Awardwinning broadcaster of CTV Newsnet, will open the annual conference of the Ontario Water Works Association and the Ontario Municipal Water Association. This year’s sessions will cover treatment, distribution, university research, management, source protection, public affairs, water efficiency and small systems. The event will also feature a 100 booth tradeshow and Casino Night, which is organized by the Ontario Water Works Equipment Association. During the conference, operators can write the Ontario Ministry of the Environment certification exams on Tuesday, April 29. Also, for the first time in many years, operators can demonstrate their hands-on prowess by competing in the Pipe Tapping Demonstration. A new event for this conference will be the Water Taste Competition. The winning utility will qualify to compete in the Water Taste Competition organized by AWWA at ACE in Atlanta this June. The OWWA Young Professionals will again be holding the Water Cup Challenge and a fun event of networking. Delegates can also take a tour of Labatt Brewery and a technical tour of Trojan Technologies head office. The closing banquet will feature Ron James, an award-winning comedian and satirist. Hailed by critics from coast to coast, Mr. James is said to be Canada’s top selling comedian.
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For more information, visit www.owwa.com
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Blue Mountain Resort to host WEAO’s annual conference and tradeshow
May 25-27, Blue Mountain Resort, Collingwood, Ontario xpanding upon the material covered in his book, The Culture of Flushing: A Social and Legal History of Sewage (UBC Press, 2007), Professor Jamie Benidickson will discuss current social and legal developments with respect to the sewage industry during the keynote session. The 2008 Water Environment Association of Ontario’s annual conference technical program will include papers on all aspects of wastewater treatment, from watershed management, collections and stormwater systems, plant operations and biosolids management. The technical program features a combination of
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half day and full day sessions including a new focus specific session on wetlands treatment and a session sponsored by Water For People Canada on investing in solutions to the world water crisis. This year will mark the 18th consecutive year for the Operations Challenge. Participants are required to compete in five events, testing their skills and knowledge against competitors from throughout the Province. The five events are: Collection System, Laboratory, Process Control, Pump Maintenance and Safety. Each Operations Challenge team must follow the Water Environment Federation (WEF) requirements that
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Research
CAEAL awards its 2007 scholarships
From left to right: Al Colodey, CAEAL Board Member, Environment Canada, and Chad Novotny.
he Canadian Association for Environmental Analytical Laboratories Inc. (CAEAL) , a non-profit Canadian laboratory accreditation body, recently announced the 2007 winners of the CAEAL Scholarship for Quality Excellence. The scholarship is awarded annually to two students, in recognition of their contribution to the “data quality aspects of environmental measurement, covering a variety of matrices.”
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To be considered for the award, candidates: • Must be enrolled in a post secondary institution (science discipline) at the time of award. • Must have completed a minimum 2-month work term with a CAEAL member laboratory within the past 12 months. • Must submit a paper to CAEAL for evaluation by the awards committee. The 2007 Eastern Canada recipient is Jordana Van Geest. Ms. Van Geest attends the University of Guelph and is studying Environmental Biology/Toxicology. She completed her work term at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Laboratory Services Branch in Etobicoke, Ontario. Her paper was entitled “A Review of Factors which Influence Data Quality in Toxicity Testing”. The 2007 Western Canada recipient is Chad Novotny. Mr. Novotny attends Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, and is studying Envi-
From left to right: David Poirier (Ontario MOE), Jordana Van Geest, John Lawrence (CAEAL Board Member, Environment Canada), Keith Solomon (Jordana’s university supervisor and a senior scientist from Ontario MOE).
ronmental Science in Chemistry. He completed his work term at the ALS Labgratory Group in Edmonton, Alberta, and his paper was entitled “Special Prepare Sulfate”. Recipients each receive $1,000, and have their names entered on a master plaque at the CAEAL Head Office.
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Due Diligence
Best management practices for testing chemical properties during first response By Cliff Holland est management practices for first response, testing chemical properties, sizing-up unknown conditions and addressing time-critical issues are a sequence of behaviours and protocols. These common sense approaches have been developed and field-tested for over 25 years and demonstrate how basic tools, combined with improvising off-the-shelf supplies, as well as clear language chemistry, can provide response capability at major emergencies. The creative use of test papers can identify the properties of unknown chemicals and also be used to provide continual monitoring of the atmosphere for corrosive vapours. General alarm gas detectors can help locate pockets of flammable liquids and sources of contamination, as well as impacting gasses and changes in atmospheric conditions. Best management practices (BMP) should be used as a key approach for identifying hazards, providing capabilities and improvising quick tests that will help keep personnel safe at small roadside spills, train derailments or criminal/terrorist events. Responders with field experience have first-hand knowledge in the management of a spill situation, spill control, remediation and regulatory compliance. Their skills go beyond reading placards, labels, guide-booklets and material safety data sheets for information. They gain control of a spill by using the response objectives of slow, divert and contain. Experienced personnel are intimately familiar with pump limitations, improvising control, as well as staging personnel, supplies and equipment. Experienced chemists and waste management technicians can size up unknown chemicals by specific gravity, viscosity, crystallization, containers and pressurization, and can also use test papers to classify chemical properties for safe response. Testing unknown chemicals has been used to identify perchloric acid, and to uncover potential impacts and scales of impact. With first-hand knowledge, personnel are in a better position to make informed
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Experienced personnel are intimately familiar with pump limitations, improvising control, as well as staging personnel, supplies and equipment.
decisions, including knowing when to do something and when not to go any further. Doing nothing can be a response option! Living with the consequences of a bad decision is not an option. Since 9/11, we have witnessed terrorist activities which revealed the harmful realities and potential of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) activities. CBRNE has created a renewed focus on the need to understand and respect physical and chemical properties. Consequently, we are coming full circle to the pre-1985 working conditions and procedures where understanding the compatibility of substances was learned and practised on the job. This was a time where working at waste manage-
ment was a full-time job of identifying, verifying and assessing physical and chemical properties for safe handling, transportation, and processing. As an example, in 1981, a forty-five gallon drum, two thirds full of household chemicals, exploded as a result of a mere two ounces of an incompatible substance being poured into it. The force from the explosion caused office furniture, on the opposite side of the cement block walls, to move out nine inches from the wall. This event happened because workers became complacent about the properties of household chemicals, worked until fatigue set in, and did not follow “The Golden Rules for Site Safety�. The golden rules of the waste man-
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Due Diligence agement industry can be traced back to 1946 and were understood by each person who worked in hazardous conditions on a daily basis. In 1979, a full-sized railcar at the Mississauga, Ontario, train derailment travelled over 2,000 feet through the air and landed in a field. The tanker could have travelled up to ten miles under optimum conditions. Thomas Waste Removal, a small, highly capable industrial waste hauler at the derailment, used the unwritten golden rules. They used their accumulated knowledge and experience, combined with the advice from the rail and chemical companies, to handle the transfer of the chlorine as well as the three-year clean-up. The Mississauga train derailment became a catalyst in the creation for the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations, as we know them today, in both Canada and the United States. In Canada, CANUTEC’s 24-hour reporting centre, support service, and its Emergency Response guidebook (ERG 2008) provide key information for site safety as well as questions to ask to verify what is on site. The responders have benefited from the legislation as it has helped them identify dangers and, in turn, has allowed them to prepare before entering accident sites. The labels and placarding provide today’s responders with a symbol that can be used to indicate what is inside a tank or container. Emergency Response Assistance Plans (ERAP) provide audited plans and procedures for company response teams and contractors to implement an effective response to any accident in transporting dangerous goods. Golden Rules for Response Safety and Best Management Practices The three golden rules for response safety are: never assume; suit-up for toxicity; and work clean. 1) Never Assume (BMP) Response is a combination of firsthand knowledge, experience and training. We cannot assume anything because on spill and work sites, spontaneous reactions and unknown conditions have fatally injured workers and responders. Do not assume that guide booklets, material safety data sheets, personal opinions, labels and placards are correct. This information should only be classified as indicator information until www.esemag.com
proven differently. Remember the drum of household chemicals that exploded when competent people were working on the job. Never assume anything is one of the first rules of life! Personnel who work with chemicals on a daily basis know that understanding and respecting the physical and chemical properties of a substance are vital for workplace and personal safety. Chemicals have varying degrees of concentration, temperature, reactivity, and compatibility, and should never be second-guessed. The day you second-guess a chemical may be your last, so every piece of pertinent information must be identified, checked and, if necessary, re-checked before anyone prepares for entry. It may not be safe to enter the hot zone or designated work area to patch, repair, open, transfer or move damaged and undamaged goods until all the physical and chemical properties have been determined. Secondary properties, incompatible conditions and potential scales of impact will also have to be considered before entry is authorized. At train derailments, industrial explosions, and laboratory spills, chemicals and products may become unstable, shock sensitive, water reactive, as well as air reactive. Damaged containers may be of poor integrity and require special handling and processing on site. Spontaneous reactions may be caused be incompatibility, heat, fire, mechanical damage, dampness or drying of the product. Until these risks and hazards have been identified and the scales of impact are determined, no one should enter the area to slow, divert or contain a spill. 2) Suit-up for Toxicity (BMP) Assessing and matching suits for ideal working conditions may not be enough. Suits that are not designed to be used in robust conditions such as train derailments or collapsed buildings may rip or tear and thereby compromise an individual’s safety. Varying conditions and unidentified chemical properties may create greater problems for choosing the right suit, along with appropriate back-up personnel, supplies and equipment. Protect the body from mechanical dangers as well as the entry routes of the body by keeping out unwanted properties such as particulates, gasses,
vapours, radiation, carcinogens, mutagens, teratogens, and other airborne toxins. Reduce or eliminate the number of situations that will need to be continually tested and monitored by suiting up for such things as asbestos and nonwarfare biohazards. Once controllable hazards are kept out of the human body, site safety efforts can now focus time and energy on the physical dangers that will harm the body, such as flammable vapours, radiation levels, reactive and explosive circumstances, as well as mechanical hazards and work site conditions. By suiting up appropriately to provide your own safe environment, nuisance contaminants can be covered off during decontamination. 3) Work Clean (BMP) Working clean, means not tracking contamination that could cause widespread impact to people, property or the environment. Workers and responders have experienced trace amounts of incompatible substances combining to cause such spontaneous reactions as heat, fire, off-gassing and explosions. Working clean also means being mindful of disturbing chemicals that have been buried underground for long periods of time. They may have formed new and highly unstable, toxic or lethal substances. Never assume anything, suit up appropriately, and work clean. Escalating situations have resulted in personnel rushing in to handle the urgency of the moment with unpredicted consequences. Practising and testing response skills and emergency response plans in real time helps responders to develop valuable techniques, procedures, and habits. Best management practices for testing and verifying, and the evaluation of products will be continued in a future issue of Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine.
Cliff Holland is with Spill Management Inc. He will be presenting a hands-on approach for keeping safe on spill sites and discussing what to do when spills happen at CANECT 2008 in Toronto April 21-22. (See page 87 for more information). Cliff can be contacted at e-mail: spillman@on.aibn.com
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One-pass trenching method used for Alberta sour gas plant groundwater remediation project ot many environmental engineers have heard of one-pass trenching and even fewer have actually applied this cutting-edge technology to environmental control and clean-up. However, a growing number of companies are starting to use this technology, resulting
N
in decreased cost of installation and increased system efficiency. One such company is WorleyParsons-Komex. With a worldwide employee base of over 23,000, its services run the gamut of energy and resourcerelated services and it maintains a significant profile in the area of
environmental control and remediation. Recently, a large Canadian energy concern with a gas plant in Alberta discovered it had a plume of contamination moving outward from its primary processing facility. The plume contained sour gas sweetening chemicals and minor light end hydrocarbons dissolved in shal-
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80 | March 2008
Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine
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Remediation low groundwater. Moving in suspension within a narrow corridor, the contaminated plume was traveling up gradient of other infrastructures. WorleyParsons was contracted to install an interception and collection system that would effectively capture the contaminants and allow for remediation of the contaminated water. The stratigraphy of the Alberta facility comprised 4 to 5 metres of silty clay till overlaying weathered sedimentary bedrock. The majority of the plume transport was occurring near the bedrock overburden contact and in shallow fractured bedrock. A vertical well point system was considered but quickly dismissed due to the probability that significant portions of the plume would very likely escape through the gaps between the well points. If the goal was maximum certainty of capture, the solution must assure that the entire plume be interdicted. What was needed was a solution that would assure that. What was decided upon was a continuous wall concept. Only with this approach was it likely that the entire plume would meet face up with a continuous unbroken system of capture and recovery.
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Due to site parameters the conventional approach to installing a continuous wall was viewed by WorleyParsons as simply unfeasible. Conventional excavation equipment such as a hydraulic excavator, front-end loaders, and bulldozers could not be employed within areas of the project where space became quite narrow. In addition, the large opening, standard with traditional trench excavation, would also come with the attendant problem of increased removal and remediation of a significant amount of spoils; both of these would add to the work requirements as well as the cost of this project. What was feasible was the precision trench installation system known as DeWind One-Pass Trenching. One–pass trenching technology and processes were developed by Gregory DeWind starting in the early 1990s and have been continually improved. In this case, the technology allowed for a surgical 18’ to 24” wide cut into the ground up to 35’ below grade with laser-guided precision. There was no open excavation! And as the name suggests, in a single pass the trencher can install a
vertical well along with a horizontal slotted HDPE STR 11 Pipe set at 35’ below grade and simultaneously backfill the trench to grade with a permeable material like pea-stone. Because one-pass trenching installs the collection pipe below the contamination, it eliminates the need for sheeting, pumping and treating of contaminated water and the removal of large amounts of often contaminated soil. The project in Alberta was initiated in late October 2007, just prior to winter conditions setting in. Two trenches running 575 linear feet respectively were installed at a depth of 27 feet below grade with a width of 1.5 feet. Four-inch HDPE SDR 11 slotted pipe was placed along the bottom of each trench. At the beginning of each trench a 18” vertical well connected to a 4” horizontal pipe. Each trench was backfilled up to grade with washed peastone. The entire installation took three weeks.
For more information, contact marc.bowles@worleyparsons.com
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Package Treatment System
Batch Waste Treatment System
ACG Technology’s package treatment system offers performance and durability. It provides sewage treatment within a small footprint. Aeration, mixing and settling can be accomplished in compact, easily transported ISO containers, ideal for remote locations. Provides flexibility of adding future parallel units, an economical means of meeting the needs of any growing sewage loads. Tel: 905-856-1414, Fax: 905-856-6401 E-mail: sales@acgtechnology.com Web: www.acgtechnology.com
ACG Technology’s batch waste treatment system is an economical alternative for the treatment of smaller or intermittent flows. Effluent is collected in treatment/settling tank and treated automatically once the cycle is initiated. Sludge dewatering is done either with a filter press or bag filters. Preassembled modules are skid-mounted, eliminating installation problems and cutting installation costs. Tel: 905-856-1414, Fax: 905-856-6401 E-mail: sales@acgtechnology.com Web: www.acgtechnology.com
The American Concrete Pipe Association has updated its Concrete Pipe Design Manual for the proper installation of concrete pipe and boxes. While focusing on the construction of the pipe/soil system, the manual addresses factors critical to the completion of the entire system, from delivery of concrete pipe and boxes to the jobsite to the acceptance of the installed sewer or culvert. Web: www.concrete-pipe.org
ACG Technology
ACG Technology
American Concrete Pipe Association
Stormwater detention software
Secondary oil containment
DASH (Detention and Sewer Hydraulics®) Software provides design engineers with a complete set of design tools to prepare, calculate and evaluate comprehensive stormwater detention systems using concrete pipe. The program consists of 4 modules.
Albarrie, a leader in containment technology, in partnership with Kinectrics Inc., offers the SorbWeb Plus secondary oil containment system for power utilities. • No maintenance • Cost-effective • Proven system • Rain water passes through, no pumps • Can be installed around energized transformers.
Tel: 972-506-7216, Fax: 972-506-7682 E-mail: khunter@concrete-pipe.org Web: www.concrete-pipe.org American Concrete Pipe Association
Concrete Pipe Installation Manual
Concrete arch bridges
Armtec provides BEBO concrete arch bridges in Québec, 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
Tel: 705-737-0551, Fax: 705-737-4044 E-mail: scott_lucas@albarrie.com Web: www.sorbwebplus.com Albarrie Environmental
Engineering Textbook
Stormwater solutions
Lone worker protection system
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
The new Grace employee monitor employs a small battery operated transmitting alarm unit that is worn by the employee. It detects lack of motion so that, if a worker stops moving, they are given a pre-alert for 8 seconds and then the alarm device emits a 95db audio alarm and sends a radio signal back to the receiver (up to ¾ mile line of sight). Use of a remote antenna and repeaters will allow the unit to cover any size facility. Tel: 800-265-0182, Fax: 905-272-1866 E-mail: info@cdnsafety.com Web: www.cdnsafety.com
Armtec
Canadian Safety Equipment
82 | March 2008
The Handbook of Steel Drainage & Highway Construction Products has been reprinted and is once again available (January 2007). There are minor changes to the 2002 version. Most significant are design examples for large soil steel structures that illustrate procedures using Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (CHBDC). Tel: 866-295-2416, Fax: 519-650-8081 E-mail: info@cspi.ca Web: www.cspi.ca Corrugated Steel Pipe Institute
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Dissolved air flotation system
UV disinfection systems
Stormwater management using large diameter corrugated steel pipe under parking areas is a cost-effective way to meet reduced runoff and environmental restrictions while allowing revenue producing services and commercial development. Comprehensive design software is available, FREE. Tel: 866-295-2416, Fax: 519-650-8081 E-mail: info@cspi.ca Web: www.cspi.ca.
The AquaDAF® Clarifier High-Rate Dissolved Air Flotation System is a viable alternative to conventional settling and DAF clarifiers. The AquaDAF is a hybrid of conventional DAF and optimally designed system components. It is highly effective for the treatment of a range of raw water characteristics including troublesome waters exhibiting low turbidity, high TOC, color and algae. Web: www.infilcodegremont.com
Degremont TechnologiesOzonia have introduced the Aquaray® SLP Series of UV disinfection systems, designed for both water and wastewater treatment applications. The SLP Series offers a compact and high efficiency range for small and medium water plants. The low pressure high output amalgam lamps are powered by efficient electronic ballasts, for a tremendous level of energy. An Lshaped reactor reduces head loss and maximizes UV dose. Tel: 201-794-3100 Web: www.degremont-technologies.com
Corrugated Steel Pipe Institute
Degremont Technologies/Infilco
Degremont Technologies/Ozonia
Denso Petrolatum Tapes
Life cycle management
Export credit agency
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
Full knowledge of your plant status allows for good maintenance planning. W@M – Life Cycle Management from Endress+Hauser provides up-todate and complete information on all your assets, including products from other suppliers. It is an open information management system providing data flow and archiving for the technical and operational management of your plant. Tel: 905-681-9292, Fax: 905-681-9444 E-mail: info@ca.endress.com Web: www.ca.endress.com
Export Development Canada is Canada's export credit agency, offering innovative commercial solutions to help Canadian exporters and investors expand their international business. EDC's knowledge and partnerships are used by 7,000 Canadian companies and their global customers in up to 200 markets worldwide each year. Web: www.edc.ca/utilities
Endress + Hauser
Export Development Canada
Pumping systems Myers optimizes system efficiencies with complete engineering services, providing cost-effective solutions and immediate cost savings when planning a pump station. Myers collection system design service provides a comprehensive analysis and design of the complete network, ensuring the system operates at peak efficiencies under various running conditions. Software programs provide the engineering tools to properly design the ideal station, including the number of pumps, type of control and lift system. Tel: 604-552-7900, Fax: 604-552-790 E-mail: epsl@telus.net FE Myers www.esemag.com
7 - n ,IFE #YCLE -ANAGEMENT 3UPPORTING YOUR BUSINESS PROCESSES
Reinforced membrane
Firestone MultiLiner is a reinforced polypropylene-based membrane that enhances the physical properties of the membrane by inserting a strong, polyester fabric (scrim) between the top and bottom plies. This combination gives it its extremely high breaking/tearing strength and puncture resistance. It is ideal for geomembrane applications. Tel: 888-292-6265, Fax: 877-666-3022 E-mail: gallantlillian@firestonebp.ca Web: www.firestonebpco.ca Firestone Building Products Canada
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 March 2008 | 83
Product & Service Showcase
Underground stormwater detention
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Oil and grease separators
Remediation/Demolition Cartridge system
Product & Service Showcase
For cost-efficient wastewater treatment, Green Turtle’s line of Proceptor oil, grease and solids separators ensures local regulatory requirements are met. Designed for commercial, institutional and industrial sites, Proceptor can help you reduce your business’ impact on municipal infrastructure and the environment. Tel: 877-966-9444 E-mail: info@greenturtletech.com Web: www.greenturtletech.com Green Turtle
Installed directly under a sink, the PHIX Cartridge System is an ideal acidic neutralization solution for single-point applications such as labs and hospitals. With its engineered flowthrough design, it effectively treats acidic wastewater and reduces project costs by eliminating the need for acid-resistant piping and neutralizing pits. Tel: 877-966-9444 E-mail: info@greenturtletech.com Web: www.greenturtletech.com
Greenspoon Specialty Contracting has been actively engaged in the Demolition and Environmental Remediation industry for over 50 years. Spanning across the commercial, industrial and government sectors, GSC is proficient in all areas of demolition (implosion and dismantlement), asbestos, mould and lead abatement, soil remediation and site decommissioning. Proficient in LEEDs projects. Offices in Toronto, Winnipeg, Buffalo. Tel: 800-928-8812, Fax: 905-458-4149 E-mail: bill@greenspoon.net Web: www.greenspoon.net
Green Turtle
Greenspoon Specialty Contracting
Stormceptor® System
Wireless dipper log control
Water level indicators
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. Hanson Pipe & Precast, Ltd. is the exclusive manufacturer of the Stormceptor System in Ontario. Tel: 888-888-3222, Fax: 519-621-8233 E-mail: mark.smith2@hanson.biz Web: www.hansonpipeandprecast.com
The Heron dipperWave point and download system allows you to wirelessly connect to your dipperlog dataloggers without unnecessary cables and problematic base stations. Through the use of a transmitter and transceiver, the dipperWave allows you to access data with your laptop in difficult to access areas or connect to over 250 dipper-logs in a 1 km radius. Tel: 800-331-2032, Fax: 905-634-9657 E-mail: info@heroninstruments.com Web: www.heroninstruments.com
The Heron dipper-T water level indicator provides all the upgraded features of other water level indicators in one top quality, heavy duty, economical unit. Each easy read yellow steel tape is tested by the manufacturer to ensure compliance with appropriate ASME standards. These tough tapes have a breaking load of over 300 lbs (150 kilos). The tape is made from high tensile steel, ensuring resistance to stretching even at abnormal loads. Tel: 800-331-2032, Fax: 905-634-9657 E-mail: info@heroninstruments.com Web: www.heroninstruments.com
Hanson Pipe & Precast
Heron Instruments Inc.
Heron Instruments Inc.
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 84 | March 2008
Submersible pumps
Floating turbidity barriers
To guarantee performance in transporting wastewater containing the most complicated substances (i.e. corrosive chemicals, abrasive solids), KSB’s line of submersible KRT pumps is available in different materials and with a variety of impeller options. The new eight-page Amarex-KRT brochure provides the information customers have to know to select the right configuration. The brochure is also available for download at www.ksb.ca/news. Tel: 905-568-9200, Fax: 905-568-3740 E-mail: ksbcanada@ksbcanada.com Web: www.ksb.ca
Layfield is a premier fabricator and supplier of a complete line of floating turbidity barriers. They are designed to restrict and contain the flow of sediment-laden runoff and to allow the sediment to settle out before being carried into adjacent or joining watercourses. Tel: 1-800-840-2884 E-mail: cmartin@layfieldgroup.com Web: www.layfieldgroup.com
KSB Pumps Inc.
Layfield Group
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Take advantage of the life left in your existing meters with our universal AMR upgrade – the DIALOG 3G®Interpreter™ Register. On the backs of your existing meters, the Interpreter will lead you well into the future. Tel: 800-765-6518 Web: www.mastermeter.com Master Meter
In-channel fine screen
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 odours. Tel: 514-636-8712, Fax: 514-636-9718 E-mail: canada@parkson.com Web: www.parkson.com Parkson
Interlocking cover system
World’s largest R/S Gate Valve Neo Valves Seguro Resilient Seal Gate Valve has been designed with sewage applications in mind – forcemains, pumping stations and treatment plants. The Seguro Valve has a resilient seal that ensures a 100% bidirectional bubble-tight seal, according to Neo Valves. Additionally, the valve is designed in such a manner that sewage debris is prevented from collecting in the bonnet area. It is available in sizes up to 60", with 100% full bore design and hundreds of installations in Canada since 1972. Tel: 1-888-515-8885, Fax: 905-624-8020 E-mail: valves@neovalves.com Web: www.neovalves.com Neo Valves
Neptune Chemical Pump Co.
Hydraulically-actuated pumps
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. Microprocessor controls are easy to use, with backlit LCD for rapid and reliable adjustment.
ProMinent’s ProMus hydraulicallyactuated pumps deliver reliable results in the harshest of environments, in accordance with API 675 standards. They have a capacity of 2.3 L/h (0.61 gph) at 241.3 bar (3500 psi) up to 384.2 L/h (101.5 gph) at 11 bar (160 psi).
Tel: 888-709-9933, Fax: 519-836-5226 E-mail: sales@prominent.ca Web: www.prominent.ca ProMinent Fluid Controls
University for working professionals
Tel: 416-444-4484, Fax: 416-444-4485 E-mail: kszasz@protectolite.com Web: www.protectolite.com Protectolite Inc.
Royal Roads University
www.esemag.com
Neptune Chemical Pump has introduced a new explosion-proof polymer makedown system for preparation, activation and injection of liquid polymers in water and wastewater treatment applications. The system can produce dilute solution (0.1% - 2.0%) at capacities from 20 GPH to 3,000 GPH of total makedown solution. This new polymer makedown system uses the patented “Gatlin Mixer". Tel: 215-699-8700, Fax: 215-699-0370 E-mail: pump@neptune1.com Web: www.neptune1.com
Metering pumps
Royal Roads University is the only public university in Canada exclusively devoted to meeting the immediate needs of working professionals. We pioneered the best model of learning by combining short on-campus residencies with teambased online learning to enable you to maintain your life and get ahead in your career. Tel: 877-778-6227 Web: www.royalroads.ca
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.
Polymer makedown system
Tel: 888-709-9933, Fax: 519-836-5226 E-mail: sales@prominent.ca Web: www.prominent.ca ProMinent Fluid Controls
Membrane bioreactor Sanitherm, a division of Wellco Energy Services, 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, a division of Wellco Energy Services March 2008 | 85
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AMR upgrade
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Filter cartridges
Grit chamber
Tel: 416-615-3406, Fax: 416-752-8944 Web: www.schneider-electric.ca
Absolute rated POLY-PLEAT cartridges meet or exceed the three-log (99.9%) removal requirements described in National Sanitation Foundation Standard 53 for cyst sized particles. For this reason, POLY-PLEAT filter cartridges are ideal to control cryptosporidium, giardia cysts and other harmful microorganisms to help ensure cyst-free drinking water. Tel: 800-565-5278 Fax: 905-820-4015 E-mail: sales@service-filtration.com Web: www.service-filtration.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
Schneider Electric
Service Filtration
Smith & Loveless
Electrical systems service Schneider Canada Service & Project’s experienced Power Systems Engineering (PSE) team provides a wide range of comprehensive, focused solutions to performance problems for any type of electrical equipment. Complete service solutions are available for installation, maintenance, analysis and modernization of your electrical system.
Specialist training
Hatch safety net
Electric actuators
Tel: 888-835-3045 Fax: 1-888-835-2847 E-mail: troy-ontor@troy-ontor.ca
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
Troy-Ontor Inc.
USF Fabrications
Product & Service Showcase
Practical Hands-on Progressive Formats
Tel: 905-578-9666, Fax: 905-578-6644 E-mail: contact@spillmanagement.ca Web: spillmanagement.ca Spill Management
Internal joint seals
Troy Controls has introduced the Promation Engineering Intelligent Electric actuator with Canadian designed, microprocessor-based technology. It is designed to solve many of today’s problems associated with small electric actuators. Motorized valve packages are available for severe modulating or isolation service.
Controlling contaminated groundwater
Depend-O-Lok is the new standard for joining pipe to 144”. Engineered for restrained and unrestrained systems, Depend-O-Lok allows angular deflection and pipeline thermal expansion/contraction while maintaining seal integrity. Specify in systems to 600 PSI for strength, reliability and ease of maintenance. Tel: 905-884-7444 E-mail: viccanada@victaulic.com Web: www.victaulic.com
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
Victaulic
Waterloo Barrier
86 | March 2008
Pumping actuation The Waterra PowerPack PP1 provides the mechanical actuation for pumping with inertial pumps to depths of over 60 metres in a fully portable, single operator power unit. At 13 kg, the PowerPack PP1 provides outstanding pumping performance. 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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Official Show Guide For:
The 16th Annual
Canadian Environmental
Conference & Tradeshow
April 21 - 22, 2008
CANECT2008
Metro Toronto Convention Centre - South Building o-organized by Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine, CANECT is the largest event of its kind in Canada, typically attracting some 2,000 tradeshow visitors and conference delegates. Conference delegates and tradeshow visitors are a high quality audience of senior people responsible for environmental engineering, regulations and compliance issues.
C
CANECT 2008 will again be co-located in the same hall with Health & Safety Canada, an annual tradeshow of the Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA). This annual show attracts over 6,000 delegates, including those with EH&S and senior management responsibilities. (Visit www.iapa.ca for details) Combined, CANECT and Health & Safety Canada are expected to attract some 475 exhibiting companies and 8,000 tradeshow visitors. Tradeshow badges from either show will allow admission to both shows at no extra charge. To register for free tradeshow registration, please visit www.canect.net, or fill out and fax in the free pass that came with this copy of ES&E magazine. If you would like to receive a printed CANECT conference program, please contact Darlann Passfield, Tel: 905-727-4666 (Ext 30), or Toll Free: 1-888-254-8769, Email: darlann@esemag.com. Conference details are also available at www.canect.net
Scheduled Session Topics Environmental Regulation & Compliance Brownfields & Contaminated Land Dealing with Industrial Air Emissions Industrial Water and Wastewater Compliance Spills and Environmental Emergencies Waste, Waste Diversion & Stewardship The ABCs of GHGs: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint Dealing with Environmental Approvals Handling Inspections and Investigations Environmental Management - Best Practices
w w w . C A N E C T. n e t
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CANECT Workshops
Day 2 - April 22 Program: Day 2: »
Day 1 - April 21
Bonus: All CANECT registrants can attend a FREE 8 a.m. presentation by keynote speaker and world-renowned futurist Watts Wacker, who has been a futurist at SRI International, the legendary Menlo Park think tank and Yankelovich Partners.
Program: Day 1: » Bonus: All CANECT registrants can attend a FREE 8 a.m. keynote address given by Christopher Kennedy Lawford, author of “Symptoms of Withdrawal” and contributor to CNN’s “American Morning” and the entertainment news program “Extra”
A1
C1
E1
C2
Industrial Brownfields: Working with the new rules This course provides registrants with a practical and proven introduction and update on complying with brownfields regulations; Records of Site Condition and the site assessment process, remediation and development-related issues.
Regulatory Enforcement: Dealing with Inspectors, Investigators & Prosecutors Almost any leak, spill or approvals violation can trigger an MOE IEB investigation. Where it goes from there depends very much on how well prepared you are. This proven course gives insight into proactive strategies to minimize negative outcomes for individuals and organizations.
D2
Industrial Water and Wastewater Regulation & Compliance This course provides municipalities, MISA - regulated industries and others with proven compliance strategies to deal with regulations and approvals covering water, water-taking, source water protection, Bill 133 amendments to OWRA, and proposed new model sewer-use bylaws.
Dealing with Industrial Solid Waste & Waste Diversion An essential annual update on current issues in waste management and an industry guide to meeting the new regulatory and practical challenges of waste manifesting, waste diversion and product stewardship.
ABCs of GHG Management Reducing GHG emissions is no longer just a matter of compliance, but of community responsibility. Attend this course to get to grips on practical steps you can take to reduce your organization’s carbon footprint. Get in touch with the drivers, the regulations and management tools that will help convert carbon reduction obligations into cost reduction opportunities.
Environmental Management Best Practices A new CANECT course offered by CEAs from Jacques Whitford illustrates how practical Best Management Practices can enhance a recognized Environmental Management System to improve an organization’s environmental performance and secure environmental due diligence.
D1
B2
Dealing with Industrial Air Emissions This course, presented by RWDI AIR and Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP, delivers Canada’s most up to date guide to complying with the tough, new provincial and federal air emissions rules, and provides practical insights on dealing with requirements and complaints related to noise, odour and dust (NOD).
Dealing with Certificates of Approval (C of A) and Permitting Understanding the triggers that attract the permitting requirements are a key skill necessary for all environmental professionals. In this session experienced lawyers and consultants simplify the requirements surrounding approvals and and permits while MOE staff outline new guidance material available to applicants.
Environmental Regulation and Compliance, 2008 CANECT’s essential annual introductory and update course - presented this year in association with leading environmental lawyers from Bennett Jones LLP - has established its reputation as Canadian industry’s chosen source for cutting-edge environmental regulation, compliance and due diligence training.
B1
A2
E2
Spills and Emergency Response Management and Compliance New Spill Reporting, Contingency Planning and Environmental Penalties regulations are now in force - along with a new zero tolerance approach to spills. Learn about your compliance responsibilities under these regulations and how to pro-actively manage your organization’s spill contingency planning and response.
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CANECT T Exhibits of CANECT ... Manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and companies from the following areas: Air pollution control Analytical laboratory Confined space entry Consulting engineering
• • • •
Containment Decontamination systems Emergency response Environmental auditing
• • • •
Filters Groundwater treatment Hazardous waste treatment Health & safety
• • • •
Instrumentation & control Legal services Liners/geotextiles Noise & vibration control
TRADESHOW ENTRANCE
FLOOR PLAN
• • • •
2104
2103
2106
2105
2108
2107
2003
2004
1904
1903
2007
1803
1808
1807
1905
2005
2008
1804
1908
1907
2110
1809
2112
2111
2012
2011
2114
2113
2014
2013
2116
2115
2016
2015
2117
2124
2123
2024
2127
1812
1913
1814
1813
1916
1915
1816
1815
2017
1918
1917
2023
1924
1923
2025
2125
2128
1911
1912
2027
2028
1817
1824
1823
1828
1827
1925
1928
1927
1829
2130
1831
CANECT CAFÉ
2133
2034
2135
2306
2307
2308
2033
1934
1933
2035
1936
1935
2309
2310
2311
2312
1834
2313
1833
2314
ACTION ALLLEY INTERNNET CAAFÉ
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CT ‘08 • • • •
Oil & water separation Pumps, pipes, valves, fittings Protection/safety equipment Recycling
ON ALLEY NTERNET CAFÉ
• Residuals dewatering, disposal & handling equipment • Site & soil remediation
• • • •
Hours April 21
- 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
April 22
- 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Software systems Spill control & containment Stormwater control Tanks & storage
• • • •
Transportation services Water treatment Wastewater treatment Waste disposal
Still more booths this way
Last year the combined shows totalled more than 750 booths!
Act now to make sure your company, product or service is represented at CANECT in 2008! Reserve your booth space today!
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Canadian Environmental Conference & Tradeshow List of Exhibitors as of March 15, 2008 ACG Technology Ltd.
#1803
Woodbridge, ON 905-856-1414 Fx: 905-856-6401 E-mail: greg@acgtechnology.com Web site: www.acgtechnology.com Contact: Greg Jackson Products/Services to be displayed: Water, wastewater & stormwater treatment equipment.
Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E Adventus Group #1812 Mississauga, ON 905-273-5374 Fx: 905-273-4367 E-mail: julie.paule@adventusgroup.com Web site: www.adventusgroup.com Contact: Julie Paule Products/Services to be displayed: Daramend ®, EHC®, EHC-O®, Aquablok+™, Remox ®, EC. AET Consultants Inc. #1935 Waterloo, ON 519-576-9723 Fx: 519-570-9589 E-mail: scott@aetconsultants.com Web site: www.aetconsultants.com Contact: Scott Freiburger Products/Services to be displayed: Sustainable, environmental & waste solutions including solid & hazardous waste management, regulatory compliance, environmental management, LEED design & facilitation, green building retrofits, energy audits and project management.
AGAT Laboratories
#1907
Mississauga, ON 905-890-5299 Fx: 905-890-3320 E-mail: beckman@agatlabs.com Web site: www.agatlabs.com Contact: Kelly Shea Products/Services to be displayed: Soil and water environmental testing services.
Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E Albarrie Environmental Services #1809 Barrie, ON 705-737-3906 Fx: 705-737-9652 E-mail: albarrie@albarrie.com Web site: www.albarrie.com Contact: Linda McFadden Products/Services to be displayed: Filtration products, technical services, filter bags, high efficiency filter bag cleaning, baghouse accessories, laboratory testing. Altech Technology Systems Toronto, ON 416-467-5555 Fx: 416-467-9824 E-mail: gbennett@altech-group.com Web site: www.altech-group.com 92 | March 2008
Contact: George Bennett Products/Services to be displayed: Air emission control/equipment: System Reither wet venturi air scrubber; industrial waste water treatment: System Hydro Kleen membrane bioreactor.
Aqua Terre Solutions Inc.
#2005
Toronto, ON 416-635-5882 Fx: 416-635-5353 E-mail: sbonneville@aquaterre.ca Web site: www.aquaterre.ca Contact: Shawn Bonneville Products/Services to be displayed: Responsible, practical, innovative and cost-effective environmental solutions.
Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E Avensys Inc.
#2017
Mississauga, ON 905-564-4700 Fx: 905-564-6776 E-mail: info@avensys.com Web site: www.avensys.com Contact; Peter Seto Products/Services to be displayed: Leading Canadian distributor of instrumentation and systems for the environmental industry. Avensys offers equipment for water, wastewater, groundwater, air quality, atmospheric emission, gas detection, hydrology and meteorology applications.
Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP #1827 Toronto, ON 416-863-2400 Fx: 416-863-2653 E-mail: robert.fishlock@blakes.com Web site: www.blakes.com Contact: Robert Fishlock Products/Services to be displayed: Legal advisory services. Bluewater Environmental Inc. #2124 Point Edward, ON 519-337-0228 Fx: 519-337-9178 E-mail: eng@blueh2o.ca Web site: www.blueh2o.ca Contact: Bryan Ball Products/Services to be displayed: Mobile in-situ soil & groundwater bioremediation (Bio-Dot System). Environmental services, site assessments, environmental consultants, professional engineers. Caduceon Environmental Laboratories #2110 Kingston, ON 613-544-2001 Fx: 613-544-2770 E-mail: contactkingston@caduceonlabs.com Web site: www.caduceonlabs.com Contact: Damien Gilbert Products/Services to be displayed: Environmental laboratory.
#2105 Can-Am Instruments Ltd. Oakville, ON 905-829-0030 Fx: 905-829-4701 E-mail: support@can-am.net
#1903
Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine
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CANECT Exhibitors Web site: www.can-am.net Contact: Mark Reeves Products/Services to be displayed: Hach samplers & flow meters, Highland oil/water separators, Arjay oil/water monitors.
Claessen Pumps Limited
#1804
Innisfil, ON 705-431-8585 Fx: 705-431-2772 E-mail: pb@claessenpumps.com Web site: www.claessenpumps.com Contact: Paul Brierton Products/Services to be displayed: Grindex electric submersible pumps, Power Prime diesel pump, Bravo slurry pump.
Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E Drain-All Ltd. #2133 Ottawa, ON 613-739-1070 Fx: 613-741-3153 E-mail: sales@drainall.com Web site: www.drainall.com Contact: Stephen E. Huza Products/Services to be displayed: Environmental Services: liquid/solid hazardous waste removal/disposal; emergency spill response; confined space entry. Industrial wet/dry vacuuming, excavation, high pressure blasting, Duall Division, Met-Pro Corp. #1808 Owosso, MI 989-725-8184 Fx: 989-725-8188 E-mail : info@dualldiv.com Web site: www.dualldiv.com Contact: Ted Fattal & Mike Sprague Products/Services to be displayed: Corrosion resistant ventilation systems, fans, and scrubbers. ECO Canada #2023 Calgary, AB 403-233-0748 Fx: 403-269-9544 E-mail: lschonhoffer@eco.ca Web site: www.eco.ca Products/Services to be displayed: Human Resource management in support of the environmental profession. EcoLog Environmental Resources Group #1924 Toronto, ON 416-510-6867 Fx: 416-510-5133 E-mail: sfrayne@ecolog.com Web site: www.ecolog.com Contact: Carol Bell-LeNoury Products/Services to be displayed: EcoLog Environmental Resources Group provides news, information and services on legislation, risk, waste and hazardous materials through its various products. EMRP Inc. #1908 Brantford, ON 519-751-3405 Fx: 519-751-3443 E-mail: johnt@emrp.ca Web site: www.emrp.ca Contact: John Theurer Products/Services to be displayed: Water treatment. Environment Canada – Ontario Region #2012 Toronto, ON 416-739-4826 or 800-668-6767 Fx: 416-739-4776 www.esemag.com
E-mail: enviroinfo.ontario@ec.gc.ca Web site: www.ec.gc.ca Products/Services to be displayed: Government information notepads. Environment Canada #2035 Ottawa, ON 613-948-8434 E-mail: jake.sanderson@ec.gc.ca Contact: Jake Sanderson Products/Services to be displayed: Exhibit for chemicals management plan.
Env. Resources Canada Industry Guide
#2114
Victoria, BC 250-708-0427 Fx: 250-708-0429 E-mail: fredh@contactcanada.com Web site: www.contactcanada.com Contact: Brian Kelly Products/Services to be displayed: Canada's National Environmental Directory. On industry desks year-long with existing and new clients, government bodies and stakeholders seeking your products & services. Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine Aurora, ON 905-727-4666 Fx: 905-841-7271 E-mail: denise@esemag.com Web site: www.esemag.com Products/Services to be displayed: Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine. Filter Innovations Inc. #2123 Toronto, ON 416-490-7848 Fx: 416-490-0974 E-mail: jdragasevich@filterinnovations.com Web site: www.filterinnovations.com Contact: John Dragasevich Products/Services to be displayed: Oil water separators, MBR, domestic waste water, pump and treat groundwater remediation, ultrafiltration, metal working fluids, air scrubbers, H2S removal. Flochem Ltd. #1923 Guelph, ON 519-763-5441 Fx: 519-763-9691 E-mail: ttrottier@flochem.com Web site: www.flochem.com Contact: Tim Trottier Products/Services to be displayed: Remediation and water/wastewater chemicals and services including CaS2O3 for dechlorination and ozone quenching and H2O2 for remediation, odour control and disinfection. Fluorescent Lamp Recyclers (FLR) Technologies Inc. #1817 Ayr, ON 519-740-3334 Fx: 519-740-2320 E-mail: martin@contech.ca Web site: www.flr.ca Contact: Martin Hassenbach Products/Services to be displayed: Hazardous waste treatment services including fluorescent lamps, PCBs, transformers and other hazardous waste.
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CANECT Exhibitors Frac Rite Environmental Ltd. #2111 Calgary, AB 403-265-5533 Fx: 403-265-5648 E-mail: gbures@fracrite.ca Web site: www.fracrite.ca Contact: Gordon Bures Products/Services to be displayed: In situ remediation using soil fracturing, amendment injection, and subsurface fracture/amendment mapping. Globe Star Systems #2128 Toronto, ON 416-636-2282 Fx: 416-635-1711 E-mail: info@globestarsystems.com Web site: www.globestarsystems.com Contact: Peter van den Berg & Irving Whynder Products/Services to be displayed: The ConnexALL smart building – energy efficient building management. Golder Associates Ltd. #1911 Mississauga, ON 905-567-4444 Fx: 905-567-6561 E-mail: solutions@golder.com Web site: www.golder.com Contact: Roxana Bahrami Products/Services to be displayed: At Golder Associates we strive to be the most respected global group specializing in “Ground Engineering and Environmental Services.”
Greenspoon Specialty Contracting
#1936
Brampton, ON 905-458-1005 Fx: 905-458-4149 E-mail: kmitchell@greenspoon.net Web site: www.greenspoon.net Contact: Kevin Mitchell Products/Services to be displayed: Display board for environmental contracting services. Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E Ground Effects Environmental Services #1823 Regina, SK 306-352-1400 Fx: 306-352-1412 E-mail: gee@groundeffects.org Web site: www.groundeffects.org Contact: Calvin Prokop Products/Services to be displayed: Environmental remediation equipment manufacturing, sales, service, rentals; multi-phase vapour extraction; In situ electrokinetic remediation for salts, PCBs, heavy ended hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons. Hazco Environmental Services #2309 Kitchener, ON 519-886-2972 Fx: 519-886-3078 E-mail: tlorentz@hazco.com Web site: www.hazco.com Contact: Terry Lorentz Products/Services to be displayed: Soil and groundwater remediation, demolition, emergency response, remediation and pollution control technologies, landfills, bioremediation facilities and waste services. Hybridyne Power Systems Group Newmarket, ON 866-230-3918 Fx: 866-230-3918 E-mail: info@hybridynepower.com 94 | March 2008
#2034
Web site: www.hybridynepower.com Contact: Richard Leverton Products/Services to be displayed: Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems; Entry level systems with Remote Hybrid System© (RHS); Enterprise Behind the Meter Systems; Utility scale Hybrid Energy Parks©
IPEX Inc.
#2013
Mississauga, ON 905-403-0264 Fx: 905-403-1124 E-mail: andpot@ipexinc.com Web site: www.ipexinc.com Contact: Andrew Potter Products/Services to be displayed: EnviroStream Catch Basin Inserts are simple drop-in structures designed to remove oil, grease, contaminated sediment and other environmentally harmful compounds from stormwater flows. Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E Jurassic Activated Carbon Inc. #2028 North York, ON 416- 297-8876 Fx: 416- 297-9976 E-mail: rodgerlu@jurassiccarbon.com Web site: www.jurassiccarbon.com Contact: Rodger Lu Products/Services to be displayed: As a professional provider of Chinese activated carbon in Canada, we have many different types of carbon available including PAC, GAC & pellet based on lignite coal, bituminous coal, anthracite coal & coconut shell. Kentain Products Limited #2135 Kitchener, ON 519-576-0994 Fx: 519-576-0919 E-mail: info@kentain.com Web site: www.kentain.com Contact: Glen Lippert Products/Services to be displayed: Manufacturer and supplier of flexible (bag type) PVC liners for chemical storage tanks and for potable water with our NSF-61 material. Lakes Environmental Software #2103 Waterloo, ON 519-746-5995 Fx: 519-746-0793 E-mail: sales@weblakes.com Web: www.weblakes.com Contact: Julie Swatson Products/Services to be displayed: Lakes Environmental supplies easy-to-use and sophisticated air dispersion modeling, emissions inventory and risk assessment software to industries, government agencies and academia.
Layfield Geosynthetics and Ind. Fabrics Ltd. #2107 Vaughan, ON 905-761-9123 Fx: 905-761-0035 E-mail: customerservice@layfieldgroup.com Web site: www.layfieldgroup.com Contact: Mark Simpson Products/Services to be displayed: Geomembranes, wick drains, geogrids, geotextiles, erosion control, geoweb, grass pavers, floating covers, tarpaulins, silt fence, sediment control, installation services. Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine
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CANECT Exhibitors Liberal Party of Canada #2130 Ottawa, ON 613-237-0740 Fx: 613-235-7208 E-mail: info@liberal.ca Web site: www.liberal.ca Contact: Mohamed Fouad Products/Services to be displayed: We are here to share our visions and goals for Canada with visitors.
905-795-9700 Fx: 905-795-0002 E-mail: pine-on@pine-environmental.com Web site: www.pine-environmental.com Contact: Aimee Fossett Products/Services to be displayed: Environmental monitoring instrumentation including: air monitoring, water sampling, water quality, health & safety and soil sampling equipment, environmental sampling supplies.
Ministry of the Environment Toronto, ON 416-314-3910 Fx: 416-314-7919 E-mail: leadership.moe@ontario.ca Web site: www.ontario.ca/environmentalleaders Products/Services to be displayed: Ontario’s Environmental Leaders Program (OEL).
Plasco Welding & Fabrication Inc. #2112 Thorndale, ON 519-268-1190 Fx: 519-268-1107 E-mail: info@plascowelding.com Web site: www.plascowelding.com Contact: Richard Khan Products/Services to be displayed: PVC/CPVC pipe, fittings, valves; single & double wall plastic chemical storage tanks; plastic welding & fabrication.
#1916
National Environmental Balancing Bureau (NEBB) #2104 Gaithersburg, Maryland 301-977-3698 Fx: 301-977-9589 E-mail: nebb@nebb.org Web site: www.nebb.org Contact: Barry Novich Products/Services to be displayed: NEBB technical publications on: testing adjusting and balancing; cleanroom performance testing; sound and vibration measurement; and building systems commissioning. Also, brochures on NEBB certification programs and technical seminars. Niagara College #1833 Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON 905-641-2252 Fx: 905-988-4309 E-mail: sherkimer@niagarac.on.ca Web site: www.niagaracollege.ca Contact: Sandy Herkimer Products/Services to be displayed: Environmental post graduate programs (including distance). NSF International #2007 Guelph, ON 866-261-0086 Fx: 519-821-4899 E-mail: westerncanada@nsf.org or easterncanada@nsf.org Web site: www.nsf.org Contact: James Cuff Products/Services to be displayed: NSF's certification and auditing services are designed to protect your business. Services include: ISO 14001, greenhouse gas, fiber sourcing, chain-of-custody, sustainability services and more… ONEIA #2113 Mississauga, ON 416-531-7884 Web site: www.oneia.ca Products/Services to be displayed: Member company brochures. Pack-A-Cone c/o Mindspace Inc. #2108 Markham, ON 905-284-1000 Fx: 905-284-1082 E-mail: info@packacone.com Web site: www.packacone.com Contact: Cory Tse Products/Services to be displayed: Traffic cones, safety wear. Pine Environmental Services, Inc. Mississauga, ON www.esemag.com
#1807
Pollution Equip. News/Rimbach Publishing Inc. #1814 Pittsburgh, PA 412-364-5366 Fx: 412-369-9720 Products/Services to be displayed: Publications – Pollution Equipment News & Industrial Hygiene News. Pottinger Gaherty Environmental Consultants #2115 Oshawa, ON & Newmarket, ON 1-888-888-1395 E-mail: information@pggroup.com Web site: www.pggroup.com Contact: John Dewilde & Bridget Mills Products/Services to be displayed: Environmental consulting services specializing in contaminated site assessment & remediation, air quality, environmental planning & hazardous material. Power Plant Supply Co. #2106 Scarborough, ON 416-752-3339 Fx: 416-752-7637 E-mail: info@powerplantsupplyco.com Web site: www.powerplantsupplyco.com Contact: Stephen Riesberry Products/Services to be displayed: Magnadrive couplings transmit torque from the motor to the load across an air gap. Eliminate vibration and reduce maintenance cost. Prolite Systems Inc. #2004 Maple Ridge, BC 604-460-8250 Fx: 604-460-8254 E-mail: bill@prolitepiping.com Web site: www.prolitepiping.com Contact: Bill Trulsen or Brad Warning Products/Services to be displayed: Corrosion resistant industrial mist elimination pollution control systems; assay and laboratory ventilation systems; thermoplastic, dualaminate and dual containment piping systems. Pro-Tec Storage Solutions #1834 Manufactured by X-treme Energy Group Inc. Innisfail, AB or Niagara Region, ON 1-800-661-3747 Fx: 403-227-4073 E-mail: sales@protecstorage.ca Web site: www.protecstorage.ca or www.xeg.ca Contact: Lori Norsworthy or Cheryl Cascaden Products/Services to be displayed: Hazardous Materials Storage: ULC Listed and FM Approved prefabricated steel storage products compliant to all applicable legislation. Also offering Emergency Shower Facilities. March 2008 | 95
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CANECT Exhibitors Quantum Murray LP/Echelon Training Services #1816 Stoney Creek, ON 905-388-4444 Fx: 905-643-3106 E-mail: mark.jasper@echelonresponse.com Web site: www.quantumgroup.ca Contact: Sarah Urquhart Products/Services to be displayed: Hazardous material removal and abatement, decommissioning and demolition, environmental remediation and reclamation, brownfield re-development, emergency response, confined space, Echelon Training Services.
Rain for Rent
#1912
Monroeville, NJ 800-742-7246 Fx: 856-863-0247 E-mail: jmoussally@rainforrent.com Web site: www.rainforrent.com Contact: Joseph Moussally Products/Services to be displayed: Pumps, tanks, filtration systems.
ReNew Canada #2011 Toronto, ON 416-444-5842 Fx: 416-444-1176 E-mail: info@renewcanada.net Web site: www.renewcanada.net Contact: Miles Baker Products/Services to be displayed: ReNew Canada is the leading source of information and commentary on Canada’s infrastructure industry. Rice Earth Sciences #2117 Vaughan, ON 905-760-0170 Fx: 905-760-0171 E-mail: info@riceeng.com Web site: www.riceeng.com Contact: Mike Kleespies Products/Services to be displayed: Rice provides a complete line of environmental supplies and rentals to service the needs of groundwater contractors, consultants, industry, and government. Rusmar Inc. #2008 West Chester, PA 610-436-4314 Fx: 610-436-8436 E-mail: rgormish@rusmarinc.com Web site: www.rusmarinc.com Contact: Rebekah Gormish Products/Services to be displayed: Long duration foam to control odors, VOCs and hazardous dust during excavation/storage of contaminated soil. RWDI Air Inc. #1813 Guelph, ON 519-823-1311 Fx: 519-823-1316 E-mail: info@rwdiair.com Web site: www.rwdiair.com Contact: Carol McClellan Products/Services to be displayed: Environmental consulting including air quality, noise & vibration and hazard & risk services.
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Sonic Soil Sampling Inc. #1917 Concord, ON 905-660-0501 Fx: 905-660-7143 E-mail: sonic@sonicsoil.com Web site: www.sonicsoil.com Contact: Al Archibald Products/Services to be displayed: Environmental drilling equipment.
Spill Management Inc.
Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E
SGS Environmental Services Lakefield, ON 705-313-1178 Fx: 519-672-0361 E-mail: regan.thompson@sgs.com
Web site: www.ca.sgs.com Contact: Regan Thompson Products/Services to be displayed: Environmental analytical services, data services.
#1815
#1904
Stoney Creek, ON 905-578-9666 Fx: 905-578-6644 E-mail: contact@spillmanagement.ca Web site: www.spillmanagement.ca Contact: Ruth Holland Products/Services to be displayed: Spill Management teaches hands-on response skills, strategies, and ER planning to industry, emergency services, institutions, hospitals and universities across Canada. Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E St. Lawrence County Ind. Development Agency #1913 Canton, NY 315-379-9806 Fx: 315-386-2573 E-mail: bnorton@slcida.com Web site: www.slcida.com Contact: Suzan Denny Products/Services to be displayed: St. Lawrence County – The US Market Starts Here! Your best location for an expansion within the US marketplace. Summit Process Controls Group, Inc. #2003 Brockville, ON 613-926-0108 Fx: 613-926-0269 E-mail: info@summitpcgi.ca Web site: www.summitpcgi.ca Contact: Steve Paquette Products/Services to be displayed: Multi-gas detection/monitoring, IAQ analyzers, emissions analyzers, leak detection, air velocity, particle counters, safety monitors, refrigerant/ammonia monitors, VOC/ozone monitoring. Team-1 Emergency Services #2306-2308 Hamilton, ON 905-383-5550 Fx: 905- 905-574-0492 E-mail: wes@team-1.com Web site: www.team-1.com Contact: Wes Hicks Products/Services to be displayed: Emergency response/CBRNE Response Unit. Terratube #1915 St-Denis-de-Brompton, QC 819-846-3642 Fx: 819-846-2135 E-mail: info@terratube.ca Web site: www.terratube.ca Contact: Jocelyn Douheret Products/Services to be displayed: Terratube sells and operates the Geotube container technology, the intelligent solution for sludge dewatering and management without energy or complicated equipment.
Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine
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CANECT Exhibitors URS Canada Inc.
#2014
Markham, ON 905-882-4401 Fx: 905-882-4399 E-mail: mahmood_ghinani@urscorp.com Web site: www.urs.ca Contact: Mahmood Ghinani Products/Services to be displayed: Brochures/pamphlets, LCD. Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E
Walkerton Clean Water Centre
#1918
Walkerton, ON 519-881-2003 Fx: 519-881-4947 E-mail: kfransen@wcwc.ca Web site: www.wcwc.ca Contact: Kelly Fransen Products/Services to be displayed: Information on leading edge technology demonstration and water operator training programs available at the Walkerton Clean Water Centre. Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E
XCG Consultants Ltd. #1905 Oakville, ON 905-829-8880 Fx: 905-829-8890 E-mail: deborahm@xcg.com Web site: www.xcg.com Contact: Deborah Molloy Products/Services to be displayed: XCG Consultants is a recognized leader in environmental consulting services, assisting clients with water and wastewater management, environmental compliance and audits and permits. Please see our ad in this issue of ES&E
NOTES
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NEWS Nfld and Labrador government responds to contaminated chlorine problem Chlorine purchased by 11 municipalities to disinfect water supplies has been recalled by the distributor due to contamination, according to a Newfoundland and Labrador government bulletin. These communities are on a non-consumption water advisory due to contamination. Agent Cordiere LCV, a scented product, has been found in a chlorination product purchased by these municipalities and used to disinfect their water supplies. Health Canada has completed a health risk assessment of the chemical involved and the potential for health riks is low. The affected communities are: Lewisporte, Cupids, Tizzards Harbour, Gander Bay South, Port aux Port West, Whiteway, Terrenceville, Rushoon, Normans CoveLong Cove, Wabana and Harbour Main. Municipalities have been notified by officials from the departments of Environ-
1933
2008
Complete groundwater engineering and hydrogeologic services which include: groundwater resource assessments, well head protection studies, exploration programs, groundwater flow modeling, well design, large diameter high capacity well construction and testing, well rehabilitation and re-development programs, well video inspection, geophysical logging, supply, installation, and maintenance of pumps.
P.O. Box 310, 342 Bayview Dr. Barrie, ON L4M 4T5 (705) 733-0111 Fax: (705) 721-0138 E-mail: iws@iws.ca Web site: www.iws.ca
INTERNATIONAL WATER SUPPLY LTD.
98 | March 2008
ment and Conservation, and Government Services to stop using the product immediately. They were also contacted by the manufacturer and advised to return any unused product. The communities affected are currently flushing their distribution system and injecting a new batch of chlorine.
Over $4 million committed towards the clean-up of the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers The Government of Canada is investing up to $3.3 million to clean up the St. Clair River. Together with the Province of Ontario and in consultation with local stakeholders, the federal government will develop a sediment management strategy for the river. Remedial options could include capping and/or dredging, disposal of contaminated sediment, and long-term monitoring. The clean-up project will begin in 2010 and be completed by 2012. The government also announced that it is investing up to $600,000 to help clean up the Detroit River. The funding will go towards the excavation and removal of PCB-contaminated sediment and bank soil. The project will begin in the fall of 2008 and be completed by 2009.
Phosphates in detergents to be heavily restricted The federal government is proposing to amend regulations in order to reduce the amount of phosphates added to laundry detergents and to limit the amount found in dishwasher detergents and general
purpose cleaners. By 2010, the government will set a limit of 0.5% by weight for laundry and dishwasher detergents and, where analysis indicates, in general purpose cleaners. Phosphates are used in certain detergents and cleaning products to soften water, reduce spotting and rusting, hold dirt, and increase performance. However, too much phosphate in the water can lead to an over-production of blue-green algae. Though blue-green algae are naturally-occurring, in large quantities they can emit a harmful level of toxins. This can lead to poor water quality and force the closure of beaches in warm temperatures.
Ontario approves new diversion plan for municipal hazardous or special waste Ontario Environment Minister John Gerretsen has approved a new program that aims to double the amount of household hazardous or special waste that Ontario diverts from landfills and the environment over the next five years. The program, developed by Waste Diversion Ontario, will help Ontarians reduce, reuse, recycle and responsibly dispose of common household products such as paints, solvents, batteries and oil filters that can often end up being poured down the drain or thrown out with regular garbage. Phase One of the program will begin on July 1, 2008, and includes paints and stains, paint thinners, strippers and other solvents, oil filters, lubricating oil containers, non-rechargeable batteries, engine coolant, pressurized containers such
ACTUATORS • Electric • Pneumatic • Manual Gears • Retrofit • Field Service • Complete Valve Automation
1-888-835-3045 Fax: 1-888-835-2847 E-mail: troy-ontor@troy-ontor.ca Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine
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NEWS as propane tanks, fertilizers and pesticides. The program will make it easier and more convenient for consumers to return these wastes for proper management. For rural and northern Ontarians where service often does not currently exist, this will mean the introduction of new collection events. For urban Ontarians with some level of existing service, this will mean extending depot hours and increasing the number of collection events. Phase Two of the plan will soon be under development, and will include portable fire extinguishers, fluorescent lights, rechargeable batteries, pharmaceuticals, syringes, thermostats, and other measuring devices containing mercury. www.stewardshipontario.ca
Protecting the water sector from security threats The Water Environment Federation (WEF), in partnership with the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), the American Public Works Association (APWA), and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), has released a new publication that provides an overview of the legal and policy framework that governs key aspects of security at drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities in the United States. Intended for water and wastewater utility executives, managers, and operators, Protecting the Water Sector from Security Threats covers the most common legal considerations when implementing a security and emergency response program in utilities and public works facilities. WEF members can download the document from the WEF website at www.wef.org.
Call for papers
• ANTHRACITE • QUALITY FILTER SAND & GRAVEL • CARBON • GARNET ILMENITE • REMOVAL & INSTALLATION 20 Sharp Road, Brantford, Ontario N3T 5L8 • Tel: (519) 751-1080 • Fax: (519) 751-0617 E-mail: swildey@anthrafilter.net • Web: www.anthrafilter.net
Aqua Terre Solutions Inc. Environmental Scientists & Engineers Responsible, Practical, Innovative, Cost-effective Environmental Solutions
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Member of the SNC LAVALIN Group
TORONTO
OTTAWA
CALGARY
LETHBRIDGE
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The 13th Canadian National Conference and 4th Policy Forum on Drinking Water will take place in Québec City, October 4 to 7, 2008. This biennial conference is sponsored by the Federal Provincial Territorial Committee on Drinking Water which develops the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking continued overleaf... www.esemag.com
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NEWS 4 Edmondson St. Brantford, ON, N3R 7J3
Water Quality and other information and guidance pertinent to those in the drinking water field. The Conference also provides an opportunity for all Canadian stakeholders in drinking water to meet and present or exchange views on current and emerging issues in the provision of safe drinking water. www.cwwa.ca
BC government supports Okanagan water study
Get a clear view of:
“Specialists in non-intrusive ground investigations” Tel: 905.458.1883 Fax: 905.792.1884 E-mail: clearview@geophysics.ca Web: www.geophysics.ca
• UST's, buried metal, debris & fill • Former excavations & structures • Leachate plumes • Voids and fractures • Stratigraphy • Pipes and utilities
Ontario’s engineering companies congratulate ES&E Magazine on 20 years of editorial excellence in environmental journalism. Consulting Engineers of Ontario 10 Four Seasons Place, Suite 405 Toronto, ON M9B 6H7
100 | March 2008
Tel.: (416) 620-1400 Fax: (416) 620-5803 E-mail: staff@ceo.on.ca Web site: www.ceo.on.ca
Provincial funding of $150,000 will help complete a two million dollar, three-year water supply and demand project, for the Okanagan Basin, a semi-arid region in British Columbia. The Okanagan Basin water supply is affected by population growth, economic development and climate change, as well as fluctuations in annual snow and rainfall. Started in 2006, the Okanagan Basin Water Supply and Demand Project is scientifically assessing water use and availability in the region, and developing scenarios that will create better understanding of how the changes in the Okanagan are affecting water resources now and in the future. The study will be used by the Okanagan Basin Water Board, its Water Stewardship Council and partners to optimize water supply and demand, and provide a basis for water licensing decisions and development of drought and water management plans. It is also compiling all information on water use and supply in the Okanagan into a library. The study is expected to be completed in 2009. Outcomes of the study will include: • A cutting-edge, comprehensive water science database for the Okanagan Basin. • State-of-the-Basin reports on water supply, use and demand, and groundwater supplies that update the 1974 Okanagan Basin Study. • Hydrologic models for surface and groundwater. • A geographic information system-based agricultural demand model. • A water budget model for the Basin with climate change scenarios. www.obwb.ca/water_supply_demand Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine
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NEWS Video taken at Robson Bight shows wreckage stable Video footage of sunken equipment in the Robson Bight (Michael Bigg) Ecological Reserve in British Columbia, shows that the vehicles are mostly upright, relatively undamaged and do not appear to be leaking hydrocarbons. The BC Ministry of Environment and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) partnered in obtaining video footage to determine the condition of the wreckage after a barge carrying vehicles and forestry equipment foundered, dumping 11 pieces of equipment inside the boundary of the protected area on August 20, 2007. The Ministry has contracted technical experts to provide additional analysis of the equipment, which will help them and the CCG assess the risks posed by the equipment and identify options for its mitigation. These analyses will include a look by Environment Canada at the possible effects if any of the remaining petroleum products are released, and reviews by other experts to further assess the condition and stability of the tanker sitting on the seabed. It is believed that the current condition of the equipment on the seafloor will allow the time necessary to undertake a complete analysis of the options available.
Manitoba imposes regional moratoriums on hog industry expansion Manitoba Conservation Minister Stan Struthers has announced three new regional moratoriums on new or expanding hog operations to protect water and ensure the long-term environmental sustainability of the hog industry. He is accepting in principle the final report on Environmental Sustainability and Hog Production in Manitoba and its 48 recommendations and launching a plan of action to respond to the report. He also announced a further halt to industry expansion in three regions of the province where enhancement of existing environmental protection is necessary. These include Southeastern Manitoba, the Red River Valley Special Managecontinued overleaf... www.esemag.com
Focused on the Special Needs of Industrial and Commercial Clients for More Than 20 Years
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420 Weber Street North, Unit G Waterloo, ON N2L 4E7 519.886.7500
From multi-billion dollar Fortune 100 companies to family-run Owner-Manager enterprises, Geomatrix serves industrial and commercial clients locally and around the world from our18 North American offices.
Suppliers of Water And Wastewater Equipment
• Drinking Water • Screening / Filtration • Separation / Flotation • Sludge Dewatering / Collection • Biotreatment / Aeration • Centrifugal & PD Blowers • UV Disinfection • Industrial Treatment
H2FLOW EQUIPMENT INC., Concord, Ontario Tel: (905) 660-9775 Fax: (905) 660-9744 Email: info@h2flow.com Website: www.h2flow.com
• Oil / Water Separators • Package Treatment Plants • Stormwater Treatment • Tanks & Tank Covers
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Hydromantis, Inc. Consulting Engineers ! 420 Sheldon Drive, Cambridge, Ontario, N1T 2H9 Tel: (519) 624-7223 Fax: (519) 624-7224 ! 1685 1 James Street Ontario, L8P L8S 4R5 1G5 Main St. South, West,Suite Suite1601, 302,Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, Tel: (905) 522-0012 Fax: (905) 522-0031
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NEWS INTERNATIONAL WATER SUPPLY LTD. WWW.IWS.CA
WELL AND PUMP MAINTENANCE 1-800-461-9636 After Hours Emergency Pager: (705) 734-3277 342 Bayview Drive, Box 310, Barrie, Ontario, Canada L4M 4T5
Tel: (705) 733-0111, Fax: (705) 721-0138 E-Mail: iws@iws.ca
ment Zone, and the Interlake Region, which borders on Lake Winnipeg to the east and Lake Manitoba to the west. As well, the government is taking immediate action on the Clean Environment Commission (CEC) recommendation to finalize contingency plans to deal with a border closure due to disease or politically-motivated action such as the American country of origin labelling legislation. The moratorium on new and expanding hog operations will be lifted in the rest of the province subject to new, more strict requirements as recommended by the CEC.
Alberta to cut projected C02 emissions by 50 per cent
COMMUNITIES
Specialists in Environmental Planning and Engineering, Hydrogeology, Waste Management and Water Resources Head Office: 80 Commerce Valley Dr. E.Thornhill, ON L3T 7N4 t: 905.882.1100 | f: 905.882.0055 www.mmm.ca
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TRANSPORTATION BUILDINGS INFRASTRUCTURE
Alberta will cut projected greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 as part of a long-term climate change plan that focuses on carbon capture and storage, consumer incentives and greener energy production. Experts agree carbon capture and storage holds great promise for Alberta. Research indicates new and next generation technologies will deliver the majority of the new plan’s reductions – about 70 per cent of the 200 megatonne reduction by 2050. Up to $500 million could be directed towards these initiatives, including allocations through the Canada ecoTrust and the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund. The Alberta government will strike a government-industry council to determine a go-forward plan for implementing technologies, which will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by capturing air emissions from industrial sources and locking them permanently underground in deep rock formations. About 12 per cent of Alberta’s reductions will be achieved through conservation and energy efficiency. Offering consumer incentives to become more energy efficient is a key action under this theme. A detailed implementation plan will be completed this spring. The plan also calls for increased investment in clean energy technologies and incentives for expanding the use of renewable and alternative energy sources such as bioenergy, wind, solar power, hydrogen, and geothermal energy. Initiatives under this theme will account for Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine
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NEWS 18 per cent of Alberta’s reductions. A detailed implementation plan will be developed and released shortly.
New money for Victoria’s sewage treatment plan The British Columbia government, in its provincial budget, has committed $9 million over three years to assist Victoria’s Capital Regional District in planning for treatment and procuring wastewater treatment facilities. For years, the CRD has been releasing untreated sewage directly into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, despite widespread concerns about the environmental impacts, resulting in the contamination of the seabed around the two outfalls. The new money will be used for continued development of the CRD’s plan for treatment, including the creation of a business plan, siting of potential treatment plants and, hopefully, further efforts into bringing integrated resource recovery to the region.
Peter J. Laughton, P. Eng. Consulting Engineer
Environmental Engineering Services
King City, Ontario CANADA
p.laughton@pjlaughtonenv.com
tel: +1.905.833.6738 fax: +1.905.833.8497
Davis Controls celebrates 75 years of business
C.R. Davis founded Davis Controls Ltd. in 1933. He began by offering boiler and refrigeration repair services in the downtown core of Toronto. The stated mission of the company in its early days was to serve as a "Watchdog" over the instrumentation and controls needs of local businesses, and the corporate 'Automatic Watchdog Controls' logo was born. Since 1933, the distinctive Great Dane "Watchdog" logo has been associated with the company and its products and services. Maintaining the course set by Mr. Davis, Davis Controls continues to hold a leading position in the instrumentation and controls market, and has a strong financial foundation to support this business. From modern head office facilities in Oakville, Ontario, and several other locations across the country, the company supports warehousing, service, information management and enterprise
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continued overleaf... www.esemag.com
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NEWS wide, web-based, knowledge management software, connecting customers, suppliers and sales representatives from coast to coast. Congratulations on your longevity in this business!
Casco fined for violating Ontario Water Resources Act Casco Inc. has been fined $60,000, plus a victim fine surcharge, after pleading guilty to violating the Ontario Water Resources Act. The Court heard that Casco, which operates a cornstarch products manufacturing facility, is authorized, under its Certificate of Approval, to discharge its industrial sewage into the St. Lawrence River. There are monthly con-
centration limits set for the discharge. The company exceeded its discharge limits in March 2005 and again in March 2006, despite the fact it had indicated it would investigate means to mitigate such further spring discharges. The company was charged following an investigation by the Ministry of the Environment’s Investigations and Enforcement Branch.
BC oil and gas firms fined for discharges Two major resource companies operating in a remote area in northeast British Columbia have been fined a total of $113,000 after pleading guilty to a charge under BC’s Water Act. Anadarko Canada Corporation and
Norcana Resource Services (1991) Ltd. recently pleaded guilty to a single count under Section 41 of the Water Act. The companies were jointly charged with making unauthorized changes to a stream after 114 stream crossings were inspected, more than 12 hours of statements were collected and a large amount of evidence was gathered and sorted. This was a joint investigation by the BC Conservation Officer Service and the BC Oil and Gas Commission, which started in February 2004 and concluded in July 2005. The stream crossings involved in the investigation were located in the Adsett Creek and Jackknife Creek watersheds, both tributaries of the Prophet River, approximately 100 km southeast of Fort Nelson. The creeks serve as habitat mainly for grayling and bull trout. The BC Conservation Officer Service encourages the public to report all poachers and polluters (RAPP) by visiting www.rapp.bc.ca.
Brownfield plan will create greener BC communities
www.trg.ca Experience, Innovation, Diversity, Teamwork & Commitment
Tel: (905) 823-7965 Fax: (905) 823-7932 www.pcbdisposal.com 104 | March 2008
• 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
Community Services Minister Ida Chong listens as Environment Minister Barry Penner speaks about the new Brownfields Renewal Strategy at the Dockside Green construction site in Victoria.
British Columbia’s Agriculture and Lands Minister Pat Bell has outlined an innovative solution to revitalize abandoned and under-utilized lands (brownfields). A $10-million remediation fund will be established to create green opportunities for communities as they revitalize inactive or unused lands. These funds will allow the redevelopment of both Crown and private sites. The announcement was made at Dockside Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine
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NEWS Green, a new Victoria housing development that is a prime example of brownfield revitalization. Effective immediately, this strategy will: • Fast-track green developments waiting for provincial environmental approvals. • Implement a $10-million fund built up over five years. • Broaden brownfield tools for local governments, linking brownfield renewal with government’s proposed Green Communities Initiative to • Create tax incentives and disincentives to attract more investment in brownfield projects and to dissuade owners from keeping brownfield properties idle. • Provide municipal staff involved in redevelopment projects with direct expert assistance on a project-byproject basis. • Provide enhanced flexibility in liability allocation so that brownfield owners will be encouraged to either sell or redevelop idle properties. • Develope a virtual brownfield office.
• Develope a post-secondary program that offers a certificate of brownfield entrepreneurship. • Facilitate the return of Crown owned brownfield sites to productive use. Since 2001, the Province has committed more than $257 million to identify and clean up a number of B.C. Crown contaminated sites. www.gov.bc.ca.
John Meunier Inc celebrates 60th anniversary John Meunier Inc., a subsidiary of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The company was founded in 1948 by John Meunier. His son, Gabriel Meunier,
led the company from 1974 to 1998 and during that time introduced wastewater and drinking water technologies into the firm’s product lineup. Initially, John Meunier Inc. catered to a local business base, interested in pumps and swimming pool equipment. Today, John Meunier Inc. is active throughout the North American continent, providing drinking water, wastewater and stormwater technologies to municipal and industrial clients. Throughout the history of the company, John Meunier Inc. has been manufacturing and assembling its technology in Canada, at its 4500 m2 production shop, in Ville St-Laurent, Québec.
For more information, visit www.johnmeunier.com
1-800-668-1983 www.tsh.ca tsh@tsh.ca
Canada’s National Environmental Industry Directory Visit booth #2114 for your free copy Expert People. Better Decisions. • Municipal Infrastructure • Wastewater • Drinking Water • Water Reources
Company Spotlights See pg 6
• Site Assessments • Remediation • Risk Assessments • Solid Waste
Celebrating 20 years in publishing
6 8
Contents Key Events
10
RAPID INDEXES
14 22 29
FEATURE ARTICLES Air & Water Quality Waste & Recycling Remediation
Toronto | Kitchener | Kingston | Edmonton | Cincinnati | www.xcg.com
PROFILES 33 Environmental Companies 137 Services & Suppliers CROSS INDEXES 160 Environmental Products, Service & Suppliers 181 Alphabetical
The Word’s Largest Trade Show for
IFAT 2008
www.esemag.com
Wa t e r - S e wa g e Refuse - Recycling May, 2008 Munich www.ifat.de see pg 7 & 186
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Use this information to contact our advertisers directly
Advertiser INDEX
Company
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Page
ACG Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107 AECOM Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 AGAT Laboratories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 American Concrete Pipe Association . . . . . . . . . .15 Aqueous Operational Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Armtec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30,31 Associated Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Atlantic Industries Limited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 Avensys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 AWI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 AWWA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 Backup-Power.ca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 C&M Environmental Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . .35 CAEAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 Canada Unlimited/IFAT’08 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 Canadian Safety Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 CH2M Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 Claessen Pumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Corrugated Steel Pipe Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108 Degremont Technologies Infilco . . . . . . . . .41,43,45 Delcan Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Denso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Dewind Dewatering and Trenching . . . . . . . .(insert) Direct Separation Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Earth Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Eimco Water Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Elster Metering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Endress + Hauser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Env. Resources Canada Industry Guide . . . . . . .105 Gardner Denver Engineered Products Division . .74 Glentel Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Gorman-Rupp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Greatario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Greenspoon Specialty Contracting . . . . . . . . . . . .66 Grundfos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11, 23 Heron Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 Hetek Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 Hoskin Scientific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 Hoskin Scientific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Hoskin Scientific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Ideal Pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 International Water Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 IPEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 ITT Water & Wastewater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 John Meunier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Master Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 MS Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 Mueller Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 Neptune Chemical Pump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69, 72 North American Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Orival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Parkson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Pro Aqua . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 ProMinent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Rain for Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 Rocky Mountain Soil Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Royal Roads University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Saf-T-Flo Chemical Injection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Sanitherm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 SaskTel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 Schneider Electric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Serpentix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Smith & Loveless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 SPD Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Spill Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Stantec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Terratec Environmental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Troy-Ontor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 Victaulic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Walkerton Clean Water Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 Waterloo Biofilter Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 Waterra Pumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Whipps, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 XCG Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
106 | March 2008
Website
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Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine
March 2008 Final:2008
3/19/08
12:09 AM
Page 107
March 2008 Final:2008
3/19/08
12:09 AM
Page 108
Published on Mar 1, 2008
This issue focuses on: The danger of liability for cross-border pollution; What did that watermain leak actually cost?; BC resort installs f...
Published on Mar 1, 2008
This issue focuses on: The danger of liability for cross-border pollution; What did that watermain leak actually cost?; BC resort installs f...