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WATCH WHAT YOU FLUSH

September 20, 2013
engineering, finance, sanitary sewer, toilet flushing, Uncategorized, water sewer management
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I love stories about sewage in print.  As a water/wastewater guy, it is amusing to see sewer stories in the local papers and national news when they are about the “oddities” of operations.  One recent article talked about the impact of “flushable items” that should not go down the toilet.  “Flushable” wipes was the offender this time, but past discussion involved tampons, diapers and paper towels.  The reality is that NONE of these items should ever go down the toilet.  Those paper toilet seat covers are questionable as well.  Let’s see why. 

Sewer agencies have a very different view of what is flushable that tampon manufacturers, diaper manufacturers, paper towel and now flushable wipe makers.  Sewer agencies are responsible to insure that waste moves down the gravity pipes and through the lift station pumps without creating backups in the system.  The majority of material in a sewer system is water.  Followed by chopped up solids.  The design of the toilet involved two separate concepts.  One is simply creating the opportunity for a syphon to move waste when flushed but holding water when not.  It is a gravity principle based on partial pressures.  Simple stuff.  But toilets also tend to “chop up” material when the flushing action occurs.  The flush is violent and thin toilet paper and the soft solids in the toilet are easily shredded and blended into the water.  Think about your blender.  Soft stuff gets chopped up.  Enough mixing, it is all liquid.  As a result there is very limited opportunity for either thin toilet paper or most solids to plug up a toilet. 

But people don’t like thin toilet paper.  So we have manufactures making toilet paper with cotton fibers in it to make the paper soft.  And people like the “high quality” paper towels that upscale restaurants use.  Unfortunately too many people use those high end paper towels on the toilet seat, so down they go.  Wipes are reinforced paper also.  Fibers make them strong enough to, well wipe.  Tampons are notorious as absorbant fibers.  The key in each case is the fibers.  Fibers are not chopped up during a flush because the toilet flush is not designed to shed cloth.  As a result two things happen.  First, the fibers then to stay together as a mass.  Grease and other materials in the sewer system will stick to eh fibers making an even larger glob of material.  A recent YouTube photos showed a 15 ton grease ball in a large sewer system.  Grease and fiberous materials in the sewer system – you don’t want that to plug up your interceptor.

The other problem is lift stations.  The pumps at lift stations are designed to pass a 2.5 in ball, but not a bunch of strings.  As a result the fibers get stretched out, and wind around the pump impeller rendering it useless.  Or the material may mat in the impeller preventing the pump from pumping water.  One of the most common lift station problems is fiberous material winding around impeller shafts that burn out pumps.  Pumps cost thousands of dollars to repair or replace, so this is money from the ratepayers’ pockets.  One of my clients had the restaurant problem.  The lift station impellers would completely clog every 3 days.  The lift station would nearly overflow before the pumps were removed, the guys would open up the pump, and dig out the material.  Obviously fiberous paper and there were only two connections to the lift station.  The City ended up installing a $160,000 grinder system to grind up this material because the restaurant was unwilling to change their practice.  The major offender was women using the paper towels as seat covers.  The lines inside were a mess as well. 

The moral of the story is that toilet paper, water and body waste goes down the sewer.  Not napkins, feminine hygiene products, baby wipes or any fiberous paper material that feels soft, but won’t deteriorate, regardless what the manufacturer claims on the box.  These material do not degrade, the only create costly repairs, inconvenient and costly backups and a host of other problems for downstream users and the utility.  Put this material in the proper trash can. 

And see where else can you talk about this stuff, except when talking about sewage?

COLORADO IS DRY, WELL NOT ANYMORE

September 16, 2013
Drought, economy, engineering, Flooding, infrastructure, Insurance, Leadership, management, stormwater, sustainability, Uncategorized
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I went to Colorado in July, and it was bone dry like I noted in a prior blog.  The trend was expected to continue, but then something happened.  It rained.  A lot. It’s been raining for almost a month.  Last week it was wet out there, really wet, devastatingly wet on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park (Boulder, Estes Park, Longmont, Lyons). The rain has not really let up so mountain streams are over-running their banks, flooding streets, washing away bridges, damaging property and businesses.  Helicopter evaluation of the damage indicates that miles of roadways are badly damaged. Route 34/36, the primary eastern entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park may have 17 miles (of 20) damage pavement and foundation needing immediate repair.  Estes Park is cut off from the world and there was mud in the streets.  Rocky Mountain National Park is closed to allow access from Grand Lake for emergency vehicles, residents and supplies.  And eastern emergency route from Nederland is also available.  Tourism has halted in the peak of Fall tourist season.

How fortunes have changed, and continue to change.  Three years ago it was the west side of Colorado with 300 inches of snow that flooded downstream communities.  Three months ago was drought. Are these changes part of a larger issue, or a continuation of the status quo?  Hard to know, but certainly both events were far above any prior events experienced in the area.  The local infrastructure was not constructed to meet these conditions, so either the climate is changing, our models are wrong, or both.  We see the same issue playing out regularly around the world when the 100 year or 500 year storm event occurs and wreaks havoc on a community which does not have infrastructure planned for events like this.

 Expect NE Colorado to be a federal disaster area.  Expect billions to be spent on reconstruction of roadways.   But the larger question is whether the new, replacement infrastructure will survive a similar, or larger climate event in the future.  Will our infrastructure planning be short sighted or will it be adjusted accordingly?  The potential for us to protect infrastructure, and property is completely related to our ability to adjust to infrastructure needs and to minimize exposure to weather events.  Keep in mind our economy and way of life is directly related to our infrastructure condition.  But people want to live near rivers and streams, but rarely consider the real risk and consequences. 

How do we address these risks?  FEMA evaluates the probability of flooding to set flood insurance, but FEMA does not prevent construction in flood zones.  Where construction can occur is a state or local issue.  Of course, few local entities want to limit development in any way, so we keep putting people at risk.  Local officials, like those in Florida, keep pushing FEMA officials to reduce flood risks, despite evidence of increasing rainfall intensity that would increase flooding.  Florida is not alone.  No doubt Colorado officials have the same views.  We need to impress upon local officials the risks and encourage them to reduce risks to citizens.  It’s our tax money and insurance premiums they are raising.  But they are rarely held accountable.  Nor are non-elected officials.  Somehow, this needs to change.  We need leaders to stand up and draw the  line in the sand.

WHY ARE HEALTH CARE COSTS SO HIGH?

September 8, 2013
communciations, Congress, economy, finance, funding, infrastructure, innovation, Insurance, Leadership, management, politics, Revenues, Uncategorized, Water Funding, water sewer management, water supplies
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Why are health care costs increasing so fast?  Did you ever wonder about that?  We keep hearing about how health care costs, Medicare, Medicare, Obamacare are going to bankrupt us, but why is that?  Why are the cots going up so fast?  It is an important challenge for local officials and utilities who generally pay the health insurance costs for their workers.  There is more to the story that we are not being told.

One problem that get identified quickly is that only 80% of the population is included in the health care system.  Many who are not are “healthy” young people who don’t demand the services.  The concept of the health care bill was to solve this problem by spreading the costs of health care across the entire population using private and public providers.  First, I think there are way more unhealthy  people included in the 20% than we realize because the political dialogue keeps focusing on the few that want to live off the grid – I feel great so I don’t need insurance.  That guy is part of the problem.  That guy gets into a car accident, gets taken to a public hospital, gets treated, gets a bill for $26,000 to fix his broken leg, refuses to pay anything, and the taxpayers get stuck with the bill.  My solution to that guy is if you don’t want to pay for health insurance, bring cash.  Otherwise, “no soup for you!” to paraphrase a famous Seinfeld episode.  Of course my doctor, nurse and therapy friends think that’s a little cold hearted. 

The next argument is the cost of doctors, therapists and nurses.  Okay, I know a bunch of them, and that’s not where the money goes.  These people have lost money in the past 10 years.  Many are going form full-time to part-time employments as Medicare, Medicaid and health insurance bureaucrats decide services are no longer needed.  They will tell you the major change in their lives is paperwork….hold that thought for a moment.

The cost of drugs comes up.  Medicare and Medicare are the largest purchasers of pharmaceuticals in the world.  So in other works, they set the lowest price by supposedly bidding the “contracts” for services. Only there is often only one provider, so exactly how does that work?   Sounds like we don’t get a good deal there, which is why the arguments for importing Canadian drugs or drugs from Mexico keeps popping up.  They get a better deal than we do and most of these are supposedly AMERICAN companies.  No home town discount (I guess I know where free agent baseball players get the idea).   And my medical friends confirm this as an issue.  Check out the comments from Mr. Falloon at Life Extension (www.lef.org) for discussion. 

So let’s go back to the paperwork discussion.  Once upon a time doctors simply sent a little paperwork to the health insurance company or the federal government and said you needed some service.  And the insurance company processed the bill for the services.  The cost was paid by insurance premiums collected by the insurance company.  Everyone was happy.  But then someone at an insurance company said, “wait we could make more money if we asked more questions and paid less for these services.  It would help our bottom line.”  So you hear the complaint that the folks at the insurance companies are deciding whether you need that procedure or not.  And contractors decide if someone needs Medicare or Medicaid services, not the government, not your doctor, your nurse or your therapist.  Not any person that knows you, but some unseen, private sector bureaucrat who’s goal is to minimize the amount of your premium spent on services so they can enhance their bottom line.  And apparently they are very effective because the health insurance industry is very lucrative.  So maybe we have stumbled onto something here.  Maybe the cost of medical coverage is more related to drugs and bureaucracy (and it is not government bureaucracy!!) than the actual cost of services.  Maybe the old system, even if there was some fraud in it, wasn’t nearly as bad as it was made out to be.  It reminds me of one of the 4 laws of City management I developed years ago:  Never give elected officials a bad alternative – it becomes a magnet.  It always worked (hence a law).  I didn’t learn why until years later when I realized, that the worst option was the one all the lobbyists lobbied for even at the local level.  It was the option where they could make the most money “fixing

SCHOOL’S STARTED

September 3, 2013
communciations, economy, engineering, Environment, graduation, innovation, Leadership, management, sutdents, Uncategorized
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School is back in session.  It is a great opportunity to see what kind of great things we can learn this year.  We can learn from the students as much as they learn from us.  Working with college students, in bridging that connection between my real world clients and my students keeps me engaged and allows me to act as a conduit of information between the two sectors.  That conduit potentially includes jobs for students and technology for clients.  It is remarkable how much the skills sets of the students have changes and increased in certain areas in five years, let alone 10.  I remind them that 5 years after they graduate, the skill set of the next group will be far ahead of theirs. Get your license and keep learning and staying up to date with technology.  It is far too easy to get behind and it is surprising how many graduates figure they are done with learning when the graduate.  Far from it.  The advances and changes in the industry move so quickly.  All my students are doing 3 dimensional projects versus cad drawings 5 years ago.  And those cad drawings were so far above the cad drawings of ten years ago.  All three groups are ahead of a lot of engineering firms with respect to technology.  And there accompanying utilities as well.  My students make great interns for GIS – it comes naturally to them.  My older friends?  Well, let’s say there is a bit of a learning curve.  As we try to be more efficient, training and skill development become continuous exercises.  It is obvious when you compare skill sets of recent, current or older graduates.  Of course skill sets may not translate to knowledge, for there is no substitute for field experience, especially in the water and engineering fields.  The reality is often much different than you expect, for a variety of reasons.  How you adapt means experience.  It is why the older crowd and the younger crowd need each other and need those communication avenues.  I find that my teaching keeps you engaged in the changes in technology, viewpoints and the new generation while maintaining the relationships with the real world

SURVEYS TO FIND, WHAT YOU WANT TO FIND….

July 31, 2013
Congress, Leadership, politics, Uncategorized
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Jim DeMint is a smart guy.  He parlayed a short stint as a Tea-Party Senator from South Carolina into a million dollar a year executive position with a conservative think tank.  Then he sends out surveys to figure out where the “public” stands on certain issues.  For example: 

Because of uncontrolled spending, the federal government ran a $4 trillion budget deficit for 232012 and our national debt is not a staggering #16 billion.  Do you want Congress to take serious action to rein in out-of-control spending?  Yes or no. 

Ok, first the deficit was not $4 trillion in 2012.  So that’s a lie.  But what are the other options?  Reining in spending is not the only option, but it is the only one given.  Certainly the question is most likely to get a “yes” answer which is exactly what DeMint’s organization is looking for. 

Let’s look at another one.  

How would you consider yourself politically:  Very conservative, somewhat conservative, Independent, but lean conservative, independent, but lean liberal, somewhat liberal and very liberal.  

Clearly a “you are either with us or against us” question, but one that tells you everything you need to know about Congress and politics in general.  You can’t be in the middle.  You can’t draw the best ideas from both sides of the aisle.  Precisely the problem gripping Washington and many State capitols.  No one can compromise, so we get sequestered.  This type of polarization does not help America move forward nor does it help use solve problems. It increases the burden on local governments to address the problems that the failure to compromise at higher levels allow to persist, or may even create.

Increase Revenues without Raising Rates

July 27, 2013
finance, Leadership, management, Meter Reading, Revenues, Uncategorized, Water Funding
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It surprises me how many utilities ignore their meter stock.  Water meters are the “cash registers” of the utility – they are how we bill our customers.  Many utilities allow their meters to age without checking how much loss their may be.  I have a client who regularly has issues with high unaccounted for water, which is a permit condition.  Every time the issue arises, they ask me what to do.  Each time I ask the Finance Department, which is responsible to for meter reading and billing, to check the number of meters with 90 days of zero readings.  The past two times I had them do this the number of meters was about 10% of the system! Both times I have had them replace all 10% immediately.  The result each time was to decrease the unaccounted for water amount in half (15 to 7%).  In essence they received a 7% rate increase without raising rates.  Yet, the Finance department NEVER runs the zero read report unless I ask them to. 

 

This situation is all too common.  Meters lose accuracy with time.  Small meters lose accuracy slower than big meters, which may lose 50% of their accuracy (for low flows) within 2 years, but the small meters may not last the 15 to 20 years they are typically installed.  The easy way to monitor this is to run a zero read report monthly, and to run a report to compare the water billed 12 months apart to see if the billing amount decreases significantly from year to year.  Water utilities need regular meter maintenance to insure they are receiving the revenues for services delivered.  But it is often too easy, or too politically difficult to spend the dollars to insure meters run accurately and to bill people appropriately.  But we should ask if it is fair to bill others disproportionately to avoid fixing the meter problem?

 

Similarly utilities need to insure that everyone is being billed.  Some cities do not charge themselves for water, which means they cannot track it adequately.  Other potential users that are not metered or charged include churches, parks, and schools.  There is a fairness issues associated with not billing everyone.  Likewise, large losses that cannot be accounted for may be indicative of water theft.  A water audit program can help identify potential water theft.  Theft is an affront to all customers.

 

Utilities should also look at fees for services.  Sometimes these have not been adjusted for years.  Utilities should determine exactly what it costs to provide services like meter turn-ons, turn-offs and call outs.  A couple utility clients of mine have contracted to perform services for other utilities as a mean to raise revenues without big rate increases. 

 

Keep in mind though that rates need to increase because power, chemicals and capital needs are constantly increasing.  Power, cable, telephone and other utilities increase to insure they recoup their costs.  Water and sewer utilities should incorporate CPI-type increases in their rate structures to insure they can sustain ongoing operations and capital replacement programs.  Insuring everyone is billed properly and the meter inventory is up-to-date insures that rate increases are limited to what is actually needed.

 

 

SEQUESTRATION HITS US ALL

July 23, 2013
Congress, infrastructure, Monitoring Water, planning, Sequestration, sustainability, USEPA, USGS, Water Funding, water sewer management, water supplies
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Sequestration is the word we are all using to explain the failure of the Congress to put together a budget with appropriate revenues and expenditures.  Congress can’t figure out how to reach a budget agreement, so the federal government set itself up for mandatory cuts in services. I had a recent grant sequestered, then cancelled.  It really could have helped a local community with long-term water supply and quality problems identify adaptation and mitigation strategies fo rites future.  Minor money for Washington, but a big deal down here.  Likewise I have spent the last 6 months on a subcommittee for USGS that is focusing on what could be cut from USGS.  That means less testing water quality, water levels in groundwater, stream gauges and less evaluation of results.  Most of the water issues USGS looks at crosses local and even state lines.  Since we all rely on water, this is at national concern.  Precisely when we need the information most, we may be getting less.  Expect to start seeing more sequestration issues. 

 

 

The problem is that the biggest expenses, social security and debt, cannot be cut without major backlash in the financial and voter markets.  So the cuts come from the smaller accounts – things like the federal share of state revolving funds, water research and water/wastewater programs.  The community and tribal assistance account was slashed $210 million while the environmental program budget was cut $135 million. While some may be cheering EPA cutbacks, the reality for water and wastewater users is less federal assistance to our industry.  That means more of the onus is on us, and on our customers.  The  unintended consequences of the failure of Congress to act….

Close UP Radio # 4

July 17, 2013
Climate, Leadership, management, planning, sustainability, water supplies
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Close UP Radio # 4

Here’s the 4th in a series of radio shows I did on line.  These are topics discussed:

Desalination is often argued as a water supply option.  But the costs for power are significant.  Power requires water.  Water treatment requires power, we can’t make decisions in a vacuum.

We do have ongoing discussions about indirect and direct potable reuse of wastewater – ie toilet to tap.  There are regulatory and public perception barriers, but in truth we do this in rivers every day

It is hard to define that term  sustainability, and it depends on who you are and what your issues are.  But water is a medium of social change as well as economic development.  Too often we look at short term solutions, which frustrate long-term potential.  Klamath River OR is an example.  

Enjoy

REVISING OUR VIEW OF INFILTRATION GALLERIES IS SOUTH FLORIDA

July 13, 2013
Climate, Environment, groundwater, infiltration, infiltration gallery, infrastructure, innovation, Leadership, management, sea level rise, sustainability, Tidal flooding, water sewer management, water supplies
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A recent Rolling Stone article outlines a potentially dismal future for south Florida.  I was quoted in the article and give the author a bunch of information.  It is hard to write articles that “pop” in the popular press while conveying facts and figures.  But I would suggest that the future is not quite as dismal as the article depicts.  The sea level rise has been ongoing for at least 140 years as indicated by the Key West tidal station, the longest running tidal gauge in the world, but the amount has been 9 inches since 1920.  True it appears that the sea level rise may be accelerating as a result of warming temperatures in the atmosphere that causes the oceans to expend, plus the loss of ice that runs off from glaciers, but 3 feet by 2100 seems the average or maybe the high average.  That is unlikely to inundate all of south Florida, but keeping the water table low will be a challenge.  I suggest that the challenge can be met and accomplish two goals.  In low lying areas the impact of sea level rise is really manifested as increasing groundwater tables.  An increased groundwater table means less soil storage capacity, which means smaller rainstorms will cause flooding.  The increased flooding is already creating a demand by residents for solutions from local public officials.  We have used exfiltration trenches (French drains) for many years, but increasing water tables will mean many of these systems will not function as they may be currently.  But what if we reverse the concept?  Instead of exfiltration, what if we allowed the water to infiltrate the pipe and go to a central wet well, and then pump the water out of the wet well?  I further suggest that the dumping large quantities of groundwater to the ocean or canals may not be permittable as a result of high nutrients, so what if this water is instead pumped to a water plant as a raw water supply?  Wouldn’t that solve two problems at once? Lots of excess fresh water supplies in an era where there are significant limitations in fresh water supplies?  Just thinking….. 

 

 

Differences in Perspective: The Generational Approaches

July 9, 2013
Banking industry, communciations, Leadership, management
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I have been inundated by articles recently about the issues with integration of Gen X and Millennials workers into the workplace.  Not sure why, but this is a hot issue in trade journals and newspapers.  The recent articles seem to focus in on the potential conflict between older, and younger workers who seem to have different perspectives on how work gets done and protocols.  These folks would do well to read Dan Pink’s book Drive, which discusses the differences in motivation and how supervisors can carefully cultivate innovation and efficiently by recognizing the differences. 

 Since I teach at a university, I deal with Gen X and Millennials all the time.  There are huge differences in their use and comfort with technology versus older workers.  It is truly second nature for the younger workers, while the older generations had to learn these technologies.  Many, if they had access to computers, they wrote programs by using punch cards and wrote their own compute programs in FORTRAN.  The younger workers don’t know even know what a mainframe computer is let alone punch cards.  Technology accelerates exponentially with time, which is why people feel left behind. 

Funny how technology works though.  While the kids I teach today are far more savvy than their predecessors 5 years ago (and those five years before that), they have to keep up of get left behind.  That’s the older worker problem – the older guys cannot compete with the use of technology, but not to worry, in five years, same for these kids.  As a result the older crowd may resist helpful technology.  It surprises me how many engineering firms resist 3 dimensional design programs, despite my students knowing how to do it.  By the way, the contractors hire my students because the contractors see the value in profits (and change orders). Younger workers know how to integrate the technology into the workplace.

 While comfort with technology is the big difference you notice, it is not the driving issue as Dan Pink points out.  Most of them make a decent wage so they are looking for more than salary to motivate them.  Interestingly money is not the primarily motivation like it can be for older workers.  The younger folk avoiding the rigid looks for flexibility, especially as it relates to family and friends.  They are comfortable with working at home and at times throughout the day.  It’s not that they work less, it’s they work differently.  We should focus on productivity, versus conventions.  Maybe we’d spend time appreciating each other more!

 

 

Go back to Drive and you realize that the Gen X and Millennials want to pursue these new technologies and integrate them into their jobs.  They are motivated by responsibility, flexibility and independence, much because that’s what their baby boomer parents taught them.  They are comfortable with flexible schedules and working when needed.  Baby boomers need to help them use these concepts to innovate and create in the workplace.  We need to learn to use this to our advantage in the workplace, not fight it.