The Wave | Summer 2017

IN THIS ISSUE

Unsurpassed Solutions in the Water Environment

Rhonda Harris Receives Lifetime Achievement Award page 4

The

MS4 Storwater Services for Amherst, MA page 5

Canaan Fire District#1, VT Water System Improvements page 6

Wave A quarterly news publication

Summer 2017

www.tataandhoward.com

T&H Wins Two Awards!

Tata & Howard was recently awarded a 2017 Engineering Excellence Merit Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Vermont (ACEC/VT) for the Canaan, Vermont/Stewartstown, New Hampshire Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades, and a 2016 PCI Design Award from the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) for the Rehabilitation of the Skilton Road Stone Masonry Arch Bridge in Watertown, CT. The Towns of Canaan, Vermont and Stewartstown, New Hampshire operate a shared wastewater treatment facility, which required significant upgrades. The existing facilities were 40 years old and although a few upThe Canaan, VT/Stewartstown, NH shared wastewater treatment plant won an ACEC/VT Engineering grades were performed in the 90s, the facilities were not performing well, Excellence Merit Award. did not meet Life Safety codes, and required significant maintenance. The upgrade met all of the goals of the Towns by providing for simple operation and maintenance requirements, meeting the Life Safety codes, eliminating confined spaces, lowering electrical power costs, and meeting discharge parameters through production of high quality effluent.

“We were thrilled to learn we received an ACEC Vermont Engineering Excellence Award,” said Gary A. Leach, P.E., Vice President, who served as Project Manager for the project. “Upgrading the Canaan/ Stewartstown shared wastewater treatment plant was absolutely critical for both residents and plant employees, and to be able to design such an efficient, safe, and affordable solution while procuring 100% financing for the project was quite an accomplishment. We are glad that ACEC Vermont agreed.”

The Skilton Road Bridge, originally built in 1865 as a one lane, dry stone masonry arch bridge over the Skilton Gorge in Watertown, Connecticut, was found

The rehabilitated Skilton Road Bridge in Watertown, CT received a PCI Design Award. The project had previously won an Engineering Excellence Merit Award from ACEC/CT.

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Manganese Filtration Using Biological Pressure Filtration, Shrewsbury, MA The Home Farm Water Treatment Plant (WTP) in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts was originally constructed in 1989.

Although the WTP is still fully functional, its treatment capabilities are limited to chemical addition and air strippers for VOC removal, and the plant is capable of treating 6.0 million gallons per day (mgd). Manganese is present at all Home Farm wells, with widely varying levels from a low 0.03 parts per million (ppm) to a high 0.7 ppm. The existing treatment plant sequesters manganese, but does not have the ability to remove it from finished water.

Three treatment methodologies were piloted. The first two were greensand and pyrolucite, both commonly implemented catalytic media options for removing manganese and iron. The third was Mangazur®, a new technology, which contains the microscopic organism leptothrix ochracea that consumes manganese and is naturally occurring in groundwater. Through consumption, the microbes oxidize the manganese to a state where it can precipitate onto the media. Unlike other media, Mangazur® does not require regeneration due to the continuous growth of microbes within the filter. Mangazur® technology also does not require chemical addition for pre-oxidation, minimizing the amount of chemical required for the plant.

Pilot testing for the biological treatment was performed over five one-week trials. Test parameters included a long shut-down on the filters, adding pre-oxidant, and adjusting pH or dissolved oxygen. The results of the testing indicated that although the Mangazur® does require a correct dissolved oxygen level and pH, it does not require a pre-oxidant, making the only chemical addition necessary for pretreatment potassium hydroxide for pH adjustment.

Filter backwash efficiency is also a major benefit of the Mangazur® technology for the Home Full Design of the New 7.0 Home Farm Water Treatment Plant in Shrewsbury, MA Farm application. With loading rates twice that of traditional catalytic media and filter runs exceeding 96 hours; the Town would only need to backwash the four filters once every four days rather than eight filters every day, saving a significant amount of water. The backwash flow rate and duration are also significantly lower for Mangazur® filters than for other traditional filter options. The results of the pilot tests indicated that all technologies were viable options to reduce manganese levels; however, the biological treatment was the most efficient and attractive option.

Initially, the Town was only considering constructing filters along with the required backwash holding tanks in a new building and utilizing the chemical feed systems in the existing treatment facility. However, as the project progressed, it was determined that it would be more cost effective to replace the existing aging air strippers rather than to continue to rehabilitate them, and eliminate the need to re-pipe the flow since the existing strippers added too much dissolved oxygen prior to the biological units. Since the existing chemical feed equipment in the plant is aging and the existing building itself was also in need of rehabilitation, the decision was made to construct an entirely new standalone 7.0 mgd facility. The new facility also contains three deep bubble aerators for VOC removal.

Home Farm will also be a somewhat revolutionary treatment plant. While Mangazur® technology has been approved in one other municipality in Massachusetts, there are few treatment plants in the northeast using this technology, and of those treatment plants, none have a design capacity above 5.0 mgd. Home Farm has a much higher design capacity and will be the largest Mangazur® water treatment plant in the northeast once completed. The Mangazur® filters at Home Farm will have the second highest design capacity in the country, after a 26.0 mgd treatment plant in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Construction is scheduled to begin this summer.

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T&H Wins Two Awards (continued from cover)

to be structurally deficient in 2013 and required rehabilitation. The bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places, so special consideration was required during design to preserve the historic nature of the bridge. The project was partially funded by the Local Bridge Program, which required the width of the bridge to be increased to accommodate two traffic lanes, and the Town requested that a sidewalk be installed on one side of the bridge. These two design challenges were met by installing transverse prestressed concrete across the existing bridge. The bridge is owned by the Town of Watertown, Connecticut.

“Receiving the PCI Design Award for Best Rehabilitated Bridge was quite an honor,” said William S. Andres, P.E., Associate at Tata & Howard, who served as Project Manager for the project. “The project was of great value to Connecticut residents for both safety reasons and historical significance, and the utilization of transverse prestressed concrete beams was truly innovative.”

The PCI Design Award was presented on March 3, 2017 at the PCI Design Awards Breakfast held during The PCI Convention and National Bridge Conference in Chicago, Illinois. The ACEC/VT Engineering Excellence Award was announced on February 24, 2017 at the Vermont Society of Professional Engineers’ E-Week Banquet, and was formally presented at the Annual ACEC/VT Engineering Excellence Awards Dinner held in May.

Continuous Flow Monitoring in Greenfield, MA

Tata & Howard assisted the Town of Greenfield with conducting continuous flow monitoring for the existing sewer collection system. The existing collection system consists of approximately 70 miles of sewer main, four pump stations, and one wastewater treatment facility. The flow monitoring took place over a 12 week period and included 18 sub-basins.

Tata & Howard

Philanthropy Helping the Colonias

Chelsea Henderson delivered the pie in the eye to Steve Rupar, who is not only a talented engineer and an excellent manager — he is also a great sport.

To celebrate Pi Day, which falls on March 14 every year (3.14!) we decided to have a fundraiser to support the Texas A&M Colonias Program to help bring clean drinking water to people living in our nation’s colonias (visit our website for info on colonias). Votes were collected for those who did not opt out until 4pm, at which time the top three vote getters were to take a whipped cream pie in the eye. Topping the chart all day long were Steve Rupar, Matt Barry, Dan Bishop, Karen Gracey, Jenna Rzasa, and Matt Morganelli. In the final half hour, voting was fast and furious, with Ken Trask and Patrick O’Neale jettisoning to the top. At the very last moment, a crew from the Marlborough office came forward with a collective vote for Jon Gregory that pushed him into the top three right as the clock struck 4pm. The final standings put Patrick in first place, Jon in second, and Steve in third. Everyone was such a great sport, realizing that the whole event was just for fun — and funds! The total take was over $1,500, which was mailed the next day to the Texas A&M Colonias Program.

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Rhonda Harris Receives WEAT Lifetime Achievement Award

Front Cover

Vice President Rhonda E. Harris, P.E., MBA, WEF Fellow, was awarded the Water Environment Association of Texas (WEAT) Lifetime Achievement Award during the awards luncheon at Texas Water 2017 held at the Austin Convention Center, Austin, TX on April 11, 2017. This prestigious award recognizes and honors an individual who has demonstrated continual and tireless contributions toward the improvement of the water environment throughout a long and distinguished career in the wastewater treatment industry and in WEAT and WEF. The award goes to a person of proven preeminence in WEAT activities and who has held positions of leadership in the WEAT organization.

“Receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from WEAT is truly an honRhonda Harris (l) receives the WEAT Lifetime or,” stated Ms. Harris. “WEAT has demonstrated a longstanding dedica- Achievement Award from Jenny Hartfelder, Presition to the protection of the water environment as well as support and dent-Elect of the Water Environment Federation (r) commitment to water environment professionals. My time and experience with the organization has been a true pleasure, and I am humbled by their recognition. I look forward to many more years with this incredible organization.”

About Rhonda Harris Rhonda Harris has over 40 years of experience in managing and administering a variety of facilities and programs in the water environment industry. Ms. Harris is a licensed Texas Class “A” Water and Class “A” Wastewater Operator, and an approved operations trainer in Texas. Her experience includes development and implementation of technical training programs for operations personnel, and authoring and implementation of regulations/rules for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She has extensive experience in design, construction, management, and management consulting for public and private water sector, worldwide.

Ms. Harris joined the Water Pollution Control Federation and the Texas Water Pollution Control Association in 1982, while still a student at the University of Texas at Arlington. She was on the steering committee to create the North Texas Section of TWPCA in 1983 and was active in getting the section approved at the WPCF meeting in 1984 in New Orleans. She became the membership chair for TWPCA in 1985 and was elected a director representing TWPCA on the WPCF Board of Directors in 1989. She served on the board through the name change process to the Water Environment Federation and the Water Environment Association of Texas. She served on the WEF Executive Committee (now called the Board of Trustees) from 1992 to 1993.

In 1994, Rhonda was elected vice president of WEAT and served as president from 1996 to 1997. She was a leader on the original task force that created the Texas Water conference, which is now the largest regional water conference in North America. She served as exhibits chair from 2003 to 2013, during a period of extreme growth for the conference exhibits. Rhonda was also elected vice president of WEF in 1996 while serving as president of WEAT. She served as president of WEF from 1998 to 1999. As past president, she was instrumental in creating the Water Associations Worldwide, an international forum of the major global water associations, and served as its convener for the first three years of its ten year existence. Rhonda was elected as a member of the International Water Academy, a forum of the top 500 water professionals worldwide, in 2000. In 2001, she received an Honorary Membership in the American Waterworks Association. She served as the chair of the Executive Committee for the Inter-American Water Resources Network (IWRN) from 2008 through 2012, and is still a member emeritus on the Board.

Currently, Rhonda is a director on the Board of the Water Technology Acceleration Project (WaterTAP), a provincially funded organization in the province of Ontario, Canada, to assist new water technologies to market. In addition, she serves on the Board of Advisors for the College of Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington.

With 35 years of active membership in WEF and WEAT, she continues to actively mentor young professionals in the water sector.

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MS4 Stormwater Services, Amherst, MA Tata & Howard is currently providing MS4 stormwater compliance services for the Town of Amherst, MA. T&H will initially prepare and file a Notice of Intent (NOI) with the EPA and MassDEP on behalf of the Town for coverage under the new 2016 Massachusetts MS4 General Permit. As part of the NOI filing, T&H will prepare a summary of discharges to receiving waters from the MS4, a summary of the Town’s stormwater management program including current and proposed best management practices under the six minimum control measures categories, and a summary of proposed actions for meeting total maximum daily load (TMDL) and water quality limited waters requirements. The NOI will also include documentation necessary to determine whether the Town meets the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Endangered Species Act (ESA) eligibility requirements, which is required for coverage under the MS4 General Permit. T&H will also prepare documentation necessary to determine whether properties listed or eligible for listing under the National Register of Historic Places are within the path of discharges or discharge-related activities covered by the MS4 General Permit, as part of the NOI. T&H will prepare a written Stormwater Management Program (SWMP), which includes all of the Year One requirements in the Massachusetts MS4 General Permit including identification of people responsible for program implementation, documentation of compliance with endangered species and historic properties requirements, documentation of authorization of all new or increased discharges granted by MassDEP, listing of all discharges subject to an approved TMDL and description of response, description of practices to reduce pollutants to the maximum extent possible, and description of measures to avoid or minimize impacts to surface public drinking water supplies. An Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE) bylaw will also be created and implemented by the Town.

T&H will prepare draft written documents required under the 2016 Massachusetts MS4 General Permit including a procedure for site plan review, procedure for construction site inspections and enforcement, ordinance to require sedimentation and erosion controls, and ordinance to address post-construction site runoff in new development and redevelopment. Lastly, T&H will prepare the Town’s Year One MS4 General Permit Annual Report.

Under

Construction A few samples of projects currently under construction:

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Milford, MA Wastewater Treatment Facility Upgrades

New solids handling building including new grit classifier, rotary drum thickeners, thickened sludge pumps, and sludge truck bay; replace thickener mechanisms and covers for sludge storage tanks.

Meadowwalk Wastewater Treatment Plant, Sudbury, MA

Convert existing 50,000 gpd SBR plant to a 90,000 gpd MBR plant.

Great Brook Stormwater Culvert, Waterbury, CT

Construction services for the rehabilitation of the Great Brook Stormwater Culvert under Cherry Street in Waterbury, CT.

Wastewater Pump Stations Auburn, MA Improvements to four wastewater pump stations.

Lead Service Line Replacement, Newton, MA

Construction services for the replacement of 588 full and partial lead water service connections in Newton, Massachusetts.

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Canaan Fire District #1, VT Water System Improvements Tata & Howard recently completed the bidding for construction on the second phase of a five phase water system project in Canaan, VT for Canaan Fire District #1 (CFD#1). The first phase was 11,000 feet of water main and services, which was installed this past year. The second phase consists of the construction of a dual cell cast-in-place concrete 220,000 gallon water storage tank and 1,600 feet of 12-inch transmission main.

Recently Awarded

Contracts

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Falmouth, MA

Design of the Main Street water main replacement and roadway reconstruction.

Marlborough, MA

Lead services replacement project that includes design and construction services for the replacement of over 1,200 suspected lead services throughout the City. The work is being funded

by MWRA through the lead service replacement loan program.

Avon, MA

Capital Efficiency Plan™, SCADA, WMA permitting, and asset management study.

Meriden, CT

Engineering services to design and bid modifications to the Finch Avenue Pump Station interconnection so that the City can supply the Low Service Area from the RWA on an emergency basis with a firm capacity of 1.0 mgd.

South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority

Management and leadership consulting.

Canaan, VT

Bidding, construction administration, and post construction services for a water storage tank.

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An interesting aspect of this project is that it ties into an adjacent water district, the West Stewartstown Water Precinct (WSWP) in Stewartstown, NH. The new tank will provide a consistent and higher water pressure in both CFD#1 and especially the WSWP. A third phase of the project would connect a third local water district, Canaan Fire District #2 in Beecher Falls, VT. It would connect CFD#1 and CFD#2 via a 6,500 foot connector pipe installed along an old railroad bed, now used as a recreational trail. The planning portion of the project is nearly complete which required extensive permitting with the State of New Hampshire.

In conjunction with the tank and new piping for CFD#1, we have a separate water distribution system replacement project for the WSWP that includes an upgraded water main over the Connecticut River that ties into CFD#1, a new metering building, and 6,500 feet of water main with services and new connections. Permitting with the NH Department of Transportation has been completed, and the project is expected to be constructed during the summer and fall.

The fourth phase of the project is the construction of a water treatment facility at the CFD#1 water supply well for the removal of iron, manganese, and arsenic. A pilot study was completed in December 2016 and we are now in the design stage of a pressure filtration treatment system.

The other major source of supply for the CFD#1 water system is a large spring source located completely in Canada consisting of eight springs spread out over a mile. This source and an existing water storage tank will be decommissioned once the new water filtration facility and water storage tank are in operation.

The Benefits of Unidirectional Flushing Conventional Flushing From tank

A

Velocity 1 to 3 ft/s

B C D

Tuberculation, or build-up, on distribution pipe walls is caused by corrosion and microbial activity. Excessive tuberculation affects both the quality and quantity of water supply.

Distribution system deficiencies are responsible for over 25% of waterborne disease outbreaks in the United States each year.

E

A

Velocity of water is significantly higher in UDF than in traditional flushing, providing far better pipe scouring.

C During conventional flushing, dirty water is recirculated throughout the system, whereas UDF forces water in one direction, from a clean source through a dirty pipe, providing for superior pipe wall cleaning.

B

Valves are opened and closed during UDF, enabling water systems to locate broken or closed valves and to learn critical information about the D Sediment, corrosion, and biofilm are forcefully system. Exercising hydrants and valves in this way flushed out during UDF, whereas they remain also prolongs their useful life. circulating in the system in conventional flushing.

E UDF actually uses up to 40% less water than conventional flushing.

F Conventional flushing does not produce a high enough velocity to adequately scour pipe walls, whereas the increased velocity in UDF removes a significant amount of tuberculation from pipe walls.

Regularly scheduled UDF is an invaluable part of a system’s asset management program.

Unidirectional Flushing (UDF) From tank

A

F

Velocity 3 ft/s or greater

B C Tuberculation clogs pipes, decreasing water pressure and negatively impacting distribution. Pipes that are regularly cleaned with UDF are safer, more efficient, and have a prolonged life span. UDF is one of the most cost-effective ways to maintain a safe, functional distribution system.

D

If you would like a copy of our UDF infographic, we’d be happy to send you one at no charge.

Contact us at contact@tataandhoward.com or 508-214-4209 to request yours.

F

E

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The Donald J. Tata Engineering Scholarships To celebrate Don Tata’s life and to create a lasting legacy, Tata & Howard is implementing two scholarships in Don’s memory. The Donald J. Tata Engineering Scholarship for Marlborough High School in Marlborough, Massachusetts — where Tata & Howard’s corporate headquarters are located — went into effect this year. The scholarship recognizes an exemplary senior from Marlborough High School who is majoring in engineering in college. The first recipient will be announced at the Marlborough High School graduation ceremony on June 12, and will be featured in the next issue of The Wave.

The Donald J. Tata Engineering Scholarship for Natick High School in Natick, Massachusetts — Don’s home town for over 30 years — will recognize an exemplary senior from Natick High School who is attending Don’s alma mater Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and will go into effect in 2018.

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