Editor’s Office and Advertiser Information:

Florida Water Resources Journal

1402 Emerald Lakes Drive
Clermont, FL 34711
Phone: 352-241-6006 • Fax: 352-241-6007
Email: Editorial, editor@fwrj.com
Display and Classified Advertising, ads@fwrj.com
Business Office:
P.O. Box 745, Windermere, FL 34786-0745 Two new columns are debuting in the magazine this month:
Web: http://www.fwrj.com FWRJ Committee Profile and WEF HQ Newsletter.
General Manager: Michael Delaney
Editor: Rick Harmon
Graphic Design Manager: Patrick Delaney News and Features
Mailing Coordinator: Buena Vista Publishing
4 Building Community Consensus for a Regional Supplier—Patrick Lehman, Donald Ross,
Published by and Michael Condran
BUENA VISTA PUBLISHING for
Florida Water Resources Journal, Inc. 18 University of Florida Constructs Panama Canal Centennial Trail on Campus
President: Richard Anderson (FSAWWA)
34 University of Central Florida Receives Gift for Engineering Department
Peace River/Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority 38 WEF HQ Newsletter
Vice President: Greg Chomic (FWEA) 52 News Beat
Heyward Incorporated

Treasurer: Rim Bishop (FWPCOA)

Seacoast Utility Authority Technical Articles
Secretary: Holly Hanson (At Large)
ILEX Services Inc., Orlando 8 Strategies for Sustainable Construction Using a Unique Rating System: A Case Study—
Rebecca M. Oliva
Moving? 22 Priorities: Getting the Most From Your Capital Improvement Plan—Jason Destigter
42 Wastewater Treatment Cost Reduction: Stabilizing Chlorine Demand in Wastewater Effluent—
The Post Office will not forward your magazine. Do not count
on getting the Journal unless you notify us directly of address Charles Nichols, David Carr, Mark Lowenstine, and Craig Fuller
changes by the 15th of the month preceding the month of
issue. Please do not telephone address changes. Email changes
to changes@fwrj.com, fax to 352-241-6007, or mail to Florida
Water Resources Journal, 1402 Emerald Lakes Drive, Cler-
Education and Training
mont, FL 34711
14 FSAWWA ACE Luncheon
15 ISA Water/Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium
Membership Questions 24 FSAWWA Roy Likins Scholarship
29 FWPCOA Training Calendar
FSAWWA: Casey Cumiskey – 407-957-8447 or
fsawwa.casey@gmail.com
34 FSAWWA Fall Conference Call for Papers
FWEA: Karen Wallace, Executive Manager – 407-574-3318 39 TREEO Center Training
FWPCOA: Darin Bishop – 561-840-0340 47 FWPCOA State Short School
48 CEU Challenge
Training Questions 49 FSAWWA Fall Conference
FSAWWA: Donna Metherall – 407-957-8443 or

Columns
fsawwa.donna@gmail.com
FWPCOA: Shirley Reaves – 321-383-9690

17 Technology Spotlight
For Other Information 20 Spotlight on Safety—Doug Prentiss Sr.
DEP Operator Certification: Ron McCulley – 850-245-7500 30 Certification Boulevard—Roy Pelletier
FSAWWA: Peggy Guingona – 407-957-8448 31 FWRJ Committee Profile—Students and Young
Florida Water Resources Conference: 888-328-8448 Professionals Committee
FWPCOA Operators Helping Operators:
32 FWRJ Reader Profile—Raymond Bordner
John Lang – 772-559-0722, e-mail – oho@fwpcoa.org
FWEA: Karen Wallace, Executive Manager – 407-574-3318
36 FSAWWA Speaking Out—Mark Lehigh
53 C Factor—Thomas King
Websites
Florida Water Resources Journal: www.fwrj.com Departments
FWPCOA: www.fwpcoa.org
FSAWWA: www.fsawwa.org 54 New Products ON THE COVER:
FWEA: www.fwea.org and www.fweauc.org 55 Service Directories
Florida Water Resources Conference: www.fwrc.org 58 Classifieds
Throughout this issue trademark names are used. Rather than place a trademark 60 Display Advertiser Index
symbol in every occurrence of a trademarked name, we state we are using the names
only in an editorial fashion, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no in-
tention of infringement of the trademark. None of the material in this publication
necessarily reflects the opinions of the sponsoring organizations. All correspon-
dence received is the property of the Florida Water Resources Journal and is subject Volume 67 May 2015 Number 5
to editing. Names are withheld in published letters only for extraordinary reasons.
Authors agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Florida Water Re- Florida Water Resources Journal, USPS 069-770, ISSN 0896-1794, is published monthly by Florida Water Resources Journal, Inc., 1402 Emerald Lakes Drive,
sources Journal Inc. (FWRJ), its officers, affiliates, directors, advisors, members, rep- Clermont, FL 34711, on behalf of the Florida Water & Pollution Control Operator’s Association, Inc.; Florida Section, American Water Works Association; and the
resentatives, and agents from any and all losses, expenses, third-party claims, liability, Florida Water Environment Association. Members of all three associations receive the publication as a service of their association; $6 of membership dues support
damages and costs (including, but not limited to, attorneys’ fees) arising from au- the Journal. Subscriptions are otherwise available within the U.S. for $24 per year. Periodicals postage paid at Clermont, FL and additional offices.
thors’ infringement of any intellectual property, copyright or trademark, or other
right of any person, as applicable under the laws of the State of Florida. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Florida Water Resources Journal, 1402 Emerald Lakes Drive, Clermont, FL 34711

Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 3

 Building Community Consensus
for a Regional Supplier
Patrick Lehman, Donald Ross,
and Michael Condran
Democratic governance re-
quires consent of the governed.
This is never truer than when
forging a cooperative approach to
regional water supplies owned and
operated by different member
governments and serving addi-
tional political entities. The suc-
cess of the Peace River Manasota
Regional Water Supply Authority
(Authority) has rested upon its
transparent governance, outreach
to all parties, and most impor-
tantly, community support
through a not-for-profit educa-
tional organization dedicated to
extolling the benefits of regional
water supplies. The Friends of
Peace Water Inc. has been an es-
sential element of the Authority’s
regional governance success.
Authority Profile
The Authority was created by
interlocal agreement among four
Florida counties—Charlotte, DeS-
oto, Manatee, and Sarasota—to en-
sure adequate, dependable,
high-quality water supplies for a
growing population of more than
Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority location map.
4 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
900,000 in southwest Florida. By
working within a regional consen-
sus, the Authority has met the re-
gion’s water supply and created a
robust and reliable system success-
fully meeting the challenges of
completing a capital expansion
program and constructing new in-
frastructure to expand treatment
and interconnect the region’s
major water supply systems.
The Authority is a wholesale
supplier of drinking water to its
member governments. The agency
is operated through revenue col-
lected by water sales to its cus-
tomers—the member counties and
the City of North Port. The mission
statement of the Authority is “to
provide the region with a sufficient,
high-quality drinking water supply
that is reliable, sustainable, and pro-
tective of our resources, now and
into the future.”
The Authority was created
thirty years ago in 1982. Through
the initial decade of the Authority,
the planning effort focused on in-
terconnecting water systems. In
1991 the privately owned water util-
ity serving Charlotte and DeSoto
Counties and the North Port area of
Sarasota County, General Develop-
ment Utilities (GDU), went into
bankruptcy. The demise of GDU led
to acquisition of the existing Peace
River Facility located in DeSoto
County and the existing transmis-
sion pipeline that provided service
to the water systems within the
three counties served by GDU.
Through the 1990s the Au-
thority planned for expansion of the
Peace River Facility and extension of
the transmission pipeline system to
provide increased capacity to the ex-
isting water systems and to provide
expanded water service to Charlotte,
DeSoto, and Sarasota Counties.
The first decade of the 2000s
saw tremendous expansion of the
Authority’s infrastructure as it pro-
gressed into a major operating util-
ity. The Peace River Facility
treatment capacity was expanded
from 12 to 48 mil gal per day (mgd)
and the regional transmission
pipeline system was extended from
7 mi to over 65 mi of large diameter
transmission pipelines.
Friends of Peace Water
The not-for-profit, Friends of
Peace Water Inc. (Friends) has been
an essential element of this regional
governance success. Organized by a
group of local business leaders who
recognized the value of a reliable
water supply and its role in eco-
nomic growth and prosperity,
Friends advances educational op-
portunities for communities to
learn about their water supply, the
effects of human behavior on the
supply, the furtherance of public ed-
ucation, and the maintenance of
Florida’s water resources.
Large, forward-looking infra-
structure projects often stretch the
imagination. They may seem un-
necessary, or even wasteful, at the
time they are planned. The budgets
are large, and the public often fears
that they are overblown. Cynics be-
lieve that the project is just a way for
insiders to make big money or con-
sider it a government boondoggle.
It’s against these headwinds that
elected officials make funding deci-
sions, often for benefits they will not
see in their term in office.
To provide balance against
these fears and support for fund-
ing decisions, public support
groups often spring up from in-
frastructure users to advocate for
the projects with an organized
voice. A number of states have
support groups for transportation
projects, including Florida. These
groups are usually comprised of a
core membership of corporate
users who understand the eco-
nomic benefits of infrastructure
development. A grocery store
chain in Florida, for instance, is a
member of a group called Florid-
ians for Better Transportation, and
sees the benefit of road infrastruc-
ture to its distribution system.
The Friends group was char-
tered to support opportunities for
local communities to learn about
their water supply. The founders be-
lieved that many people are so used
to readily available, pure water from
the tap that few understand what is
required to keep the water flowing.
Such public ignorance is a deterrent
to prudent planning and develop-
ment of water supplies, and Friends’
mission is to foster a better under-
standing in a variety of ways.
Public Education
Friends furthers its educational
mission on two fronts. First, it hosts
an annual educational event for
elected officials, community leaders,
citizens at large, and the media at
the Authority’s Peace River Facility.
In addition to facility tours, state
political leaders address the impor-
tance of regional water supply de-
velopment. Friends raises the funds
to support the event with a catered
barbeque that has become the hall-
mark of this traditional event. Being
private and nongovernmental,
Friends can collect and spend funds
for events of this type that would be
prohibited by a public agency.
Friends’ education mission
supports three themes:
Continued on page 6

Adam Putnam, Commissioner of the
Florida Department of Agriculture
and Consumer Services, attending
the barbeque.
Continued from page 4
! Regionalism for water resource
development and distribution
! Environmental sustainability
! Managing competition among
industrial, agricultural, and pub-
lic supply demands
Regionalism
Water resources rarely respect
political boundaries, and much
time, energy, and money has been
wasted in litigation by public users
over rights to water supplies. Adopt-
ing a regional framework for water
resource development helps diffuse
the tensions among local jurisdic-
tions about water use rights. Florida
law provides for the creation of re-
gional water supply authorities by
interlocal agreement among local
governments for the provision of
wholesale water supply to locally-
owned utilities.
Friends supports, through ed-
ucation, the regional governance of
the Authority. While not everyone
agrees with all collective decisions
of the Authority, all points of view
are heard, and litigation is kept to
a minimum. Friends recognizes
that these internal workings deep
in the machinery of government
are rarely understood or appreci-
ated by the constituents served, and
it works to highlight and celebrate
these efforts. Ultimately, the con-
sumer pays for water, but through
intergovernmental cooperation
among the member governments,
all consumers benefit through co-
6 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
operative efforts and economies of
scale of large alternative water sup-
ply projects.
Friends promotes the Author-
ity’s regional approach by seeking
recognition from forward thinking
organizations in Florida, such as
1000 Friends of Florida, Audubon
of Florida, and the Collins Center
for Sustainable Florida. Recognition
by these organizations helps shore
up the political consensus necessary
for regional governance. Friends has
prepared successful applications for
recognition of good regional gover-
nance from these watchdog groups.
Environmental
Sustainability
There are many instances of
conflicts between water supply de-
mands and the environment, such
as the current issue between agri-
cultural allocations to California’s
Central Valley and protection of the
endangered delta smelt. While not
as severe as the Central Valley issues,
the Authority faces the same kind of
issue with its withdrawals from the
Peace River. Too much withdrawal
at the wrong time would have an
adverse impact on the Charlotte
Harbor estuary downstream.
The Authority has addressed
environmental sustainability by
building the storage capacity to
allow it to provide a constant supply
of water to its customers, while only
withdrawing from the Peace River
when scientists determine it is safe.
The Authority’s investment in stor-
age facilities represents a third of its
investment at the Peace River Facil-
Peace River Off-Stream Reservoir.
ity. In addition, the Authority sup-
ports an extensive monitoring pro-
gram in the estuary to measure the
effects, if any, of its withdrawals.
Because these protective meas-
ures cost the consumers money that
some may feel is unnecessary,
Friends provides an educational
event each year for the general pub-
lic at the Peace River Facility to ex-
plain the issue and provide tours of
the facilities, including its 6 bil gal
aboveground reservoir.
Managing Competition
Friends believe that when shar-
ing water resources, the economics
of all users has to be considered in
fair allocation. Urban users consume
less water than agricultural and in-
dustrial users in Florida, yet need to
meet higher standards for water
quality. Agricultural and industrial
users could easily be outbid for water
if it were allocated by market pric-
ing; therefore, rational allocation
among these disparate users requires
an understanding of the various
constraints and a willingness to find
an optimal solution for all users.
Friends promotes the under-
standing required for managing
competition through education at
its annual public event at the Peace
River Facility. Keynote speakers are
invited from various sectors, in-
cluding government, to address the
larger regional picture in which
public supply is a part. Speakers,
such as the state commissioner of
agriculture and the secretary of the
Florida Department of Environ-
mental Protection, have provided
impetus to Friends’ message.
Collaborative Approach
for Local Governments
Because elected officials from
each member government are re-
sponsive to the voters of their re-
spective counties, Friends works to
create a grass roots consensus
among voters in the four counties
that regional cooperation is, in the
long term, best for the interests of
all and has proven to be a catalyst
within the business community for
articulating the value of water.
Water is vital to a growing
economy. The promotion of the
value of water to the public and po-
litical leadership is critical to assur-
ing a reliable, sustainable, and
affordable public water supply for
the residents and businesses in the
region. Friends has recognized the
value of water and its need for eco-
nomic growth and prosperity. The
organization is instrumental in
working with the public, local
elected officials, and business lead-
ers to further the understanding of
the importance of a sustainable
water supply for the state.
Friends of Peace Water Inc. roster board
recognizing membership.
Patrick Lehman is executive di-
rector of Peace River Manasota Re-
gional Water Supply Authority in
Lakewood Ranch; Donald Ross, is
chair of Earth Balance in North Port;
and Michael Condran is regional
manager–water/wastewater services
with Conestoga-Rovers & Associates
in Tampa. !

Strategies for Sustainable Construction
Using a Unique Rating System: A Case Study
T
he Envision™ sustainable infrastructure
rating system is administered through the
Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure
(ISI) and designed to help users identify ways in
which sustainable approaches can be used to
plan, design, construct, and operate infrastruc-
ture projects. Applying this rating system to util-
ity infrastructure, such as a water resource
reclamation facility (WRRF), can provide own-
ers, planners, managers, designers, and contrac-
tors with a practical, numerical measure of
sustainability. Hillsborough County (County) is
currently expanding its South County Advanced
Wastewater Treatment Facility (AWTF) from 4.5
to 10 mil gal per day (mgd), a construction proj-
ect that totals over $68 million.
Although the project was not submitted
to ISI for official verification and award, the
rating system was applied to the construction
phase in order to assess sustainability meas-
ures carried out during this particular phase
of the project. The County retained three on-
site resident observers, one of whom is cre-
dentialed by ISI as an Envision Sustainability
Professional (ENV SP). The perspective from
which this article was written is unique—18
months of full-time construction experience
as a resident engineer on the job site, coupled
with being an ENV SP and having knowledge
of applying the rating system to other projects.
This allows for the perfect marriage of con-
struction knowledge and the rating system,
with the benefit of identifying specific strate-
gies that can be done to improve the sustain-
ability of the project. This perspective leads to
the ability to align the rating-system aspects
with the dual nature of sustainability during
construction.
This article presents examples of how the
rating system can be used during utility con-
struction projects to improve sustainability per-
formance. For example, effective coordination
through the use of meetings and written plans
reduces the chance of issues arising during
scheduled plant shut-downs and helps resume
reliable plant operations and service for cus-
tomers. The rating system provides a practical
measure of sustainability, making it easier to as-
sess, manage, and improve the conditions of
civil infrastructure and contribute to overall
8 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
F W R J
Rebecca M. Oliva
utility sustainability. This rating system has be-
come increasingly recognized by project own-
ers, planners, managers, and designers as an
appropriate water infrastructure rating tool
since its introduction in 2012.
A description of, and the need for, this rat-
ing system are presented from various perspec-
tives, and numerous strategies for sustainable
construction through the case study example at
the AWTF are described.
Sustainable Construction Defined
In their book, Design for Sustainability, Ji
and Plainiotis define sustainable construction
as “a process that is environmentally responsi-
ble and resource-efficient throughout a build-
ing's life cycle: from siting to design,
construction, operation, maintenance, renova-
tion, and demolition. This requires close coop-
eration of the design team, the architects, the
engineers, and the client at all project stages.”
Even though they state that the process is
through a building’s life cycle, this definition can
also be applied to the life cycle of facilities and
infrastructure, such as WRRFs, pipelines, and
pump stations. Furthermore, this definition
highlights the importance of cooperation
among all parties involved with the project at all
stages.
Need for a Sustainable
Infrastructure Rating System
The American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE) assessed the conditions of 15 cate-
gories of civil infrastructure. To communicate
the results of its study, ASCE produced a report
card that states that the current condition of
America’s infrastructure should receive a grade
of D (poor condition). For the drinking water
and wastewater categories, leaking pipelines
and pump failures are examples contributing
to this low grade. The ASCE estimates that a
five-year investment of $2.2 trillion would
bring America’s infrastructure grade to a B
(good condition). It would be beneficial to
have a rating system that covers these cate-
gories so that money for infrastructure proj-
ects is well spent.
Rebecca M. Oliva, P.E., ENV SP, is an
environmental engineer with CDM Smith in
Tampa.
Water professionals familiar with the Lead-
ership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED™) rating system recognize that it focuses
on buildings and facilities. What LEED does not
provide is a comprehensive system to evaluate
the sustainability of civil infrastructure projects.
Therefore, the Envision infrastructure sustain-
ability rating system was developed by ISI in
partnership with the Zofnass Program for Sus-
tainable Infrastructure at the Harvard Univer-
sity Graduate School of Design. No other United
States rating system covers all aspects of civil in-
frastructure, so Envision was developed, in part,
to fill this gap.
The Envision Rating System
This rating system has several components,
including a self-assessment checklist, the rating
tool, a credential program for individuals, a
project evaluation and verification program,
and a recognition program. The system is struc-
tured around five categories: quality of life, lead-
ership, resource allocation, natural world, and
climate and risk. The rating system’s guidance
manual contains a table of point values, which
shows the five categories and numerous credits
(each row in the table is a credit). For the case
study included here, specific strategies will be
presented that show how these Envision sus-
tainability goals, or credits, can be achieved dur-
ing construction.
Levels of achievement indicate how well a
credit meets the criteria described in the guid-
ance manual, and are arranged in increasing
order from less sustainable to more sustain-
able. There are five levels of achievement, as
displayed on the right in the table of point val-
ues: improved (encouraging), enhanced (on
the right track), superior (remarkable per-
formance), conserving (zero negative impacts),
and restorative (restoration of resources and
ecological systems, economic, and social sys-
Continued on page 10
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 9
Continued from page 8
tems). The higher the level of achievement on
a project, the more points that are achieved for
a particular credit. Once the project is scored
on the degree to which credits are met, the
project is eligible to receive an award. The ENV
SP on the project team may submit the scoring
and supporting documentation to ISI. The ISI
assigns an ENV SV (“Verifier”) to review and
confirm the points achieved as submitted by
the ENV SP. The Verifier will then make a rec-
ommendation for an award based on the per-
centage of possible points achieved: Platinum
(50 percent and greater), Gold (40 percent),
Silver (30 percent), and Bronze (20 percent).
With such a variety of ways to be sustainable, it
is nearly impossible to incorporate them all
into one project to earn all of the possible
points.
Benefits of using the system include mar-
ket recognition for high levels of achievement in
sustainability; demonstration of social, eco-
nomic, and environmental stewardship; ability
to evaluate trade-offs and meet sustainability
goals; and increased potential to receive grant
funding. The rating system includes a credential
program for individuals, through which they
can become certified (ENV SPs and ENV SVs)
to work on, submit, or verify projects for awards.
The system’s “self-assessment checklist” is
an Excel-based questionnaire used to guide the
initial stages of planning for a project to be sus-
Table 1. South County Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility Existing and Expanded Plant Data
10 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
tainable. Questions are arranged by the five rat-
ing system categories, and the user completes
the checklist by answering the questions as they
relate to the project. The available responses are
“yes,” “no,” or “not applicable.” The checklist is
more or less a preliminary assessment to see
where the project stands on its sustainable as-
pects, and it is used for internal purposes only
(not submitted to ISI). The checklist is recom-
mended to be completed prior to the project
undergoing full evaluation and scoring. The
guidance manual published by ISI assists ENV
SPs with the scoring process and helps structure
the information for verification. This manual
includes detailed descriptions of all of the cred-
its and the criteria that must be met within each
level of achievement in order to receive points
for that credit.
Perspectives
The benefits of the rating system can be
viewed from various perspectives as follows:
Owner
! Projects are to set or meet sustainability goals
! Opportunity to be a “green city”
! Good public relations from Envision awards
Engineering/Design Team
! ENV SPs provide services to increase sus-
tainability on projects
! Team looks beyond purely technical aspects
of the project
! Uses guidelines to meet the owner’s sustain-
ability goals
Contractor
! Save money using this system and more effi-
cient methods of construction execution
! Possibility to obtain more work through spe-
cialty certifications
! Recognition for awards
Public
! Care about the environment that citizens
breathe, see, live in, and use
! Would want to ensure the sustainable invest-
ment of tax dollars
! Community priorities are addressed in civil
infrastructure projects
Regulatory
! Sustainability aligns with the mission of reg-
ulatory agencies
! In many cases, using sustainable methods en-
sures permit compliance
Construction Phase Focus
The rating system looks at the degree of
sustainability during the whole project or phase.
It supports the idea that project sustainability is
cumulative and each phase contributes to the
overall sustainability of the project. The con-
struction phase is the link between the design
phase and the operations and maintenance
(O&M) phase. During the design phase, the
team strategizes for sustainability and may write
sustainability features into specifications or in-
clude sustainable aspects on the drawing sheets.
Construction is where the design is imple-
mented, and O&M is the actual use of the asset.
It is recognized that operating the facility over
the long term has the most impact on the sus-
tainability of the project; however, the focus here
is on the construction phase. In other words, the
construction phase is short in relation to the
useful lifetime of an asset (e.g., three years ver-
sus 20 years), but strategies can still be imple-
mented during this phase.
Case Study Site Description
As previously stated, Hillsborough County
is currently expanding its AWTF from 4.5 to 10
mgd. This is the largest construction project the
County has ever undertaken and the expansion
doubles the footprint of the existing plant site.
The facility is located in Ruskin (southeast of
Tampa) and borders residential, agricultural,
commercial, and transportation types of land
use. South of the facility is a County potable
water repump station, and an office building
neighbors the plant site to the west. Another ad-
jacent property west of the plant site is a cattle
field, and further west of that is an Amazon.com
distribution center. One benefit of the project
location is that there are no residential zones
immediately bordering the site. The site is
unique because it is over a mile long, in a linear
arrangement, and overlaps with the existing
plant, making it subject to exacerbated short-
term hazards. Table 1 lists the components of
the existing and expanded plant.
With so many new structures and equip-
ment, there are countless opportunities for sus-
tainable construction to be practiced in the field
at this point in the project’s life cycle.
Strategies for
Sustainable Construction
The concept of the dual nature of sustain-
ability during construction involves two major
components: the sustainable features of the de-
sign, and the sustainability during construction
activities. It is important that sustainable fea-
tures of the design are carried out during con-
struction (e.g., conformance to drawings,
specifications, etc.) and built as designed. Sus-
tainability during construction activities in-
cludes proper sequencing for maintenance of
plant operations (MOPOs), saving water and
energy using efficient methods, and appropriate
field decisions made by the contractor and
other field staff. The examples that follow illus-
trate both types of sustainability during con-
struction.
Leadership Leads to Sustainability
Leadership is one of the five categories in
the rating system. During plant shutdowns for
pipeline tie-ins, sustainable strategies would in-
clude effective coordination and communica-
tion among involved parties, organized
meetings, and written plans. For change orders,
the sustainable strategy would be that the owner
saves money with the reduction of change or-
ders, therefore reducing the amount of work
that is not competitively bid. For scheduling and
phasing of work, the MOPOs need to be care-
fully coordinated for the portion of the existing
plant within the construction zone. Testing and
maintenance should be logged and well-docu-
mented. One example of this is how the general
contractor performs regular maintenance on
pumps and other stored equipment as stated in
the specific warranty paperwork.
For the Envision credit leadership category
3.3, a project will undoubtedly be more sustain-
able if the useful life of assets can be extended.
Sustainable engineering designs can find a new
use for existing unneeded plant components
after demolition rather than disposing of them.
For example, the AWTF expansion design calls
for salvaging both existing oxidation ditches to
serve as additional reject water storage in the fu-
ture. Once the new bioreactor becomes opera-
tional, the existing oxidation tanks can be
decommissioned, but not demolished. New
equipment, such as the bioreactor mixers and
motors, are logged in the County’s asset man-
agement system. The serial number, speed,
horsepower, date put into service, photographs,
etc., of each individual asset is entered into the
asset management system, as well as any old
asset that is being taken out of service. This
method assists the County not only with know-
ing which assets it owns and where, but in the
future to know which ones may be reaching the
end of their useful life and may need to be re-
placed. Long-term planning for asset manage-
ment is essential for forecasting budget, time,
and workforce constraints and needs to be in-
corporated into the County’s capital improve-
ment plan.
Construction projects have many parties
involved—owner, consulting engineering firms,
general contractor, subcontractors, construction
manager, project managers, plant manager, soils
testing firms, resident observers, and field engi-
neers—and the AWTF expansion is no different.
A transparent dedication to teamwork and a
genuine commitment to the project’s success
will earn points for “collaboration” in the sys-
tem’s leadership category. Interpretation of the
drawings, specifications, requests for informa-
tion, submittals, and change proposal requests
require daily communication among field per-
sonnel and office managers. Care must be taken
to use the proper channels of communication
so that work is authorized by the appropriate
person in charge.
All parties involved want to feel that they
are being kept informed on project status up-
dates. Managers meet weekly at the AWTF gen-
eral contractor’s trailer to discuss project
progress, schedule, and potential challenges, in-
cluding how to avoid and resolve them. From
those meetings, leaders manage their staff in ac-
cordance with the agreed-upon items of the
meeting. It is the managers’ responsibility to
communicate information to their staff, and it is
the responsibility of field personnel to inform
their managers of any issues or questions from
the field work. This includes clear and effective
verbal and written communication. In short, an
open line of communication among office and
field staff is crucial to the success and sustain-
ability of the project.
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015
Materials Recycling and
Control Contribute to Effective
Resource Allocation
As previously stated, resource allocation is
one of the five rating system categories. Credits
within this category encourage the efficient use
and allocation of materials, energy, and water.
Prior to the creation of Envision, this category
summarized the typical idea of what sustain-
ability meant: to use recycled materials, divert
waste from landfills, buy local, and reduce en-
ergy and water use. However, as shown in the
other strategies presented here, sustainable in-
frastructure covers much more than just these
goals.
For the typical construction practice of
designating a concrete spoils pile (scraps,
washout, leftovers from pours, demolished con-
crete, etc.), sustainable strategies would include
transporting the concrete to a recycling facility,
or using it as road base. Both strategies avoid it
being taken to a landfill. The AWTF has a desig-
nated stockpile area at the north end of the site
for excavated soils. The sustainable practice is to
reuse this soil for backfill. The site contains sev-
eral large bins to collect metal waste, which
avoids it being sent to landfills and also allows
the contractor to receive a rebate check ($/lb
value) from the recycling facility. Another ma-
terials recycling sustainable strategy was the
reuse of wooden forms for concrete pours in-
stead of new pieces of wood each time. A rum-
ble strip was placed at the main site
entrance/exit that allows soils to be vibrated off
the tires of vehicles and not leave the site.
Restorative or innovative credits could be
awarded for the energy subcategory if the fol-
lowing idea can be developed: since this is an ex-
pansion of an existing plant, devise a way to
capture methane gas from the current treatment
process and use it for energy during construc-
tion, such as for temporary power of construc-
tion equipment. Using renewable energy in this
manner would allow the plant to be “energy
neutral” by the reuse of methane gas for an in-
house power plant “generator.”
Construction activities at a WRRF should
be planned for daylight as much as possible for
three main reasons:
1. Daylight is safer for the workers and observers
because visibility is not limited due to lack of
natural light.
2. Organisms are not disturbed by artificial light
used during nighttime construction.
3. The energy requirement to power lights for
nighttime work can be avoided.
Continued on page 12
11
Continued from page 11 existing plant provide service water for con- Site observers, resident project representatives,
struction activities. This benefit is twofold: workers, and other field staff should try to avoid
Effective Water Management potable water use is avoided, and the percentage fall/trip hazards, inspect ladders prior to use,
of plant reclaimed water use is increased (instead communicate with machine operators, have a
Earns Points
of that water being discharged directly into the partner for confined space entry, and wear ap-
receiving water body). A project may score high propriate personal protective equipment. When
A well-managed water use program during
in the subcategory of resource allocation for applying coatings inside of a pump station or
construction demonstrates a leader’s commit-
water if a way can be devised for the reclaimed any other enclosed structure, it is important to
ment to sustainability. When possible, it is best
water to be reused multiple times within the use air exchange fans and face masks to protect
to use reclaimed water instead of potable water.
construction process. For example, if a tank the workers within from harmful fumes and
Potable water quality is not necessary for opera-
structure can be filled with reclaimed water for a particles. At the AWTF it was common practice
tions such as hydroblasting concrete, dust con-
24-hour leak test and two days later a 30-in. for a worker to drive around the site in a water
trol, and machine washdown, so using reclaimed
pipeline needs to be pressure-tested, perhaps that truck (filled with plant reclaimed water) and
water saves money. For the typical practice of re-
same water can be used for both tests and grav- spray down the dirt roads for dust control on
fueling machinery (cranes, track hoes, forklifts,
ity flow (preferred), or pumped from one to the dry, windy days. This reduces the particulate
etc.), it is best to use double-wall fuel tanks and
other. A flow meter may be added to the hydrant matter, provides cleaner air for site personnel,
have kits nearby for quick cleanup of spills, so as
from which the general contractor obtains re- and reduces air pollutants to neighboring areas.
to not contaminate groundwater. For the
claimed water in order to monitor how much is Since this is an expansion of an existing
washout area for trucks, concrete scraps pile, and
being used for these activities. plant, the facility must still be able to operate
when cutting into pipelines, plastic liner systems
normally during the construction phase. Fur-
should be in place to prevent groundwater con-
tamination. When dealing with excessive rain, Resiliency to Hazards and thermore, phasing out the existing systems,
Adaptation to Change Allow the which are being replaced, takes careful planning
and during dewatering activities, silt fences and
Project to Overcome Challenges and coordination since portions of the new
GeoHay bales can be used and eroded slopes can
plant are within the existing plant’s footprint.
be restored. These strategies align with rating
The rating system recognizes the impor- The existing plant should be resilient to the con-
system credits RA3.1, RA3.2, RA3.3, and NW2.3.
tance of safety and emission reduction in sus- struction activities and be able to operate unin-
The AWTF expansion construction site is
set up where pipes of reclaimed water from the tainability (credits QL2.1, QL2.6, and CR1.2). Continued on page 14

12 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal

Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 13
Continued from page 12
terrupted. That was not the case at the AWTF;
system shutdowns, unintentional water line
breaks during excavation, and plant drain pump
station overflows during high rain events have
all occurred, which affected normal operation
of the existing plant. Having a response plan for
short-terms hazards increases the resiliency of
the system and therefore makes it less vulnera-
ble should a similar situation occur unexpect-
edly in the future. Envision credits CR2.2, “avoid
traps and vulnerabilities,” and CR2.4, “prepare
for short-term hazards,” illustrate that these
ideas contribute to sustainability.
Recommendations
In order to put the rating system concept
into practice, there are several recommenda-
tions that any construction project could un-
dertake:
! Utilize the Envision checklist at the beginning
of the project in order to consider sustainable
aspects in the design phase, and later in the
construction and O&M phases.
! Hold a preconstruction workshop with the
owner, design team, site observers, contrac-
14 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
tor, and subcontractors to discuss practical
measures that can be implemented to im-
prove sustainability.
! Include sustainable methods in specifica-
tions.
! List the “lessons learned” at phase milestones;
what could be done better next time to im-
prove sustainability.
! Implement the strategies described through-
out this document to increase the project’s
score, therefore making the project a more sus-
tainable infrastructure, as recognized by ISI.
Conclusion
Where the term “sustainability” used to be
a vague concept, the Envision rating system pro-
vides a practical, numerical way to measure sus-
tainability, and a project can be characterized by
its score. Evaluating a project based on the spe-
cific credits makes it easier to assess, manage,
track, improve infrastructure, and ensure utility
sustainability. A higher score indicates the proj-
ect is more sustainable, which could lead to bet-
ter recognition and the potential for more
long-term cost savings. A major advantage of
the rating system is that the design team mem-
bers think about the sustainable aspects of a
project earlier on than they would have other-
wise. Using the plant expansion of the AWTF as
a case study, numerous strategies were presented
that encourage sustainable practices during the
construction phase of a water infrastructure
project.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following for their
assistance: David Bloome and Lisa Murrin with
Hillsborough County; Michael P. Smith, José
Rodriguez, and Kevin Leo with CDM Smith;
and Tom Pedersen, CDM Smith (retired).
References
• Yan Ji and Stellios Plainiotis (2006): Design for
Sustainability. Beijing, China Architecture and
Building Press. ISBN 7-112-08390-7.
• Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, The
Envision™ Guidance Manual Version 2.0,
(2012).
• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Report Card for America’s Infrastructure
(2009). !
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 15
 University of Florida Constructs
Panama Canal Centennial Trail on Campus
The University of Florida’s George A.
Smathers Libraries, which houses the Panama
Canal Museum collection, recently constructed
the Panama Canal Centennial Trail, a 1/100th
scale replica of the canal that traverses the cam-
pus and is seen daily by students on their way to
class.
The $15,000 exhibit commemorates the
canal’s recent centennial anniversary, which was
in 2014, as well as showcases the transforma-
tional expansion of the channel. A series of
16 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
seven informational plaques corresponding to
landmarks along the channel explain the history,
engineering, and construction of the canal.
The concept for the trail evolved when the
Panama Canal museum moved to the Univer-
sity in 2012 and became the go-to destination
for canal history and research.
To display the length and significant land-
marks of the Panama Canal, Frank C.
Townsend, F. ASCE, of Jones Edmunds and a
University professor, suggested bringing the wa-
tercourse to life in a small-scale model where
visitors can see the path that ships make passing
through the channel.
Students and visitors begin the journey at
the library, which represents the Atlantic en-
trance, and follow the blue dots through the
locks found across a half-mile stretch of campus
and end at the Pacific entrance, near the J.
Wayne Reitz Union.
Townsend conceived and provided design
assistance for the trail. Born and raised in the
Panama Canal Zone, Townsend is a third gen-
eration “Zonian.” Both of his grandfathers
worked on the construction of the canal and
were recipients of the Roosevelt Medal, which
was issued by President Theodore Roosevelt to
canal workers who completed two or more years
of satisfactory service on the project.
“The completion of the Canal was compa-
rable, at the time, to the lunar landing,” said
Townsend. “The trail on campus honors the
legacy of the engineers’ masterwork. For me,
personally, it is a way of sharing my experiences
with the world.”
Jones Edmunds helped to sponsor one of
the exhibit’s zones. “The Panama Canal is a mas-
terful accomplishment in engineering history,
and these exhibits both honor the achievement
and share it with new generations,” said Bob Ed-
munds, one of the founders of the Florida-based
engineering firm.
As of late March, the Panama Canal expan-
sion project is 86 percent complete and is ex-
pected to be finished by 2016. !
 T E C H N O L O G Y
Key Largo Wastewater
Treatment District Utilizes
Aqua-Aerobic Systems Technology
Key Largo, the largest and northernmost
of the Florida Keys, is a commercial fishing
hub and scuba diving mecca. Good water
quality and a healthy ecosystem are critical to
its survival and a priority for the state of
Florida. Originally installed in 2005, the Key
Largo Wastewater Treatment District
(WWTD) utilized a small alternative se-
quencing batch reactor (SBR) for treating the
plant’s wastewater. After five years the plant
was in need of an upgrade in order to address
increasing flow rates for the population of
15,000 it now serves, and for future stringent
effluent limits.
To meet the strict nutrient limits it was
facing and ensure the health of the local
economy, Key Largo needed an advanced
wastewater treatment solution capable of
meeting Florida’s advanced water treatment
(AWT) requirements, including nutrient re-
moval, while providing process flexibility
that results in energy savings. The district
began exploring options, including a five-
stage oxidation ditch and SBR technologies.
Figure 1. Key Largo system annual data.
S P O T L I G H T
In addition, the planning staff visited nearby
installations to see the potential technologies
in operation. Following the selection re-
search, Key Largo chose the Aqua-Aerobic
Systems three-basin AquaSBR® sequencing
batch reactor, followed by two AquaDisk®
cloth media filters (12-disk units) for its up-
grade in 2010. The new system was designed
to process 2.88 mil gal per day (mgd) or
10,886 m3/day, average flow, and 5.75 mgd, or
21,735 m3/day, peak flow (Figure 1).
The AquaSBR system operates on a sim-
ple concept of introducing a quantity of
waste to a reactor, treating the waste in an ad-
equate time period, and subsequently dis-
charging a volume of effluent, plus waste
sludge, that is equal to the original volume of
waste introduced to the reactor. This “fill and
draw” principle of operation involves the
basic steps of fill, react, settle, decant, and
sludge waste. The system may be designed to
include seven individual phases of operation,
but the inclusion or duration of any individ-
ual phase is based upon specific waste char-
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015
acteristics and effluent objectives. Where nu-
trient removal is required, a simple adjust-
ment to the SBR’s operating strategies
permits nitrification, denitrification, and bi-
ological phosphorus removal.
The system is designed to meet the
plant’s effluent objectives of 5 mg/l biochem-
ical oxygen demand (BOD), 5 mg/l total sus-
pended solids (TSS), 3 mg/l total nitrogen,
and 1 mg/l total phosphorus. Based on expe-
rience with the plant over the past few years,
Key Largo’s lead operator, Jered Primicierio,
states, “What I’ve noticed with the Aqua-Aer-
obic plant is that carbon usage is minimal in
achieving nitrogen removal. We use the ac-
tual strength of the wastewater or carbona-
ceous BOD within the influent to denitrify.
The standard for removing phosphorus bio-
logically is around 3 mg/l, and we treat up to
4 mg/l. We actually take out 4 mg/l of phos-
phorus biologically, so we’re well above the
standard.”
Key Largo is able to further reduce its TSS
and remove additional phosphorus with the
AquaDisk cloth media filtration system featur-
ing OptiFiber® media. With the outside-in
configuration of the AquaDisk filters, influent
enters the filter unit and contacts the outside
of the filter disk. Filtrate passes through the
pile cloth media by gravity and is removed
from the hollow area inside the filter disk
through a hollow shaft that supports the indi-
vidual disks. As solids accumulate on the sur-
face of the media, the water level surrounding
the disks rises. Once it reaches a predetermined
level, automatic backwashing begins. The disks
rotate as backwash shoes contact the media
surface and a vacuum is applied to remove the
captured solids. During backwash, fibers flu-
idize to provide an efficient release of stored
solids. Filtration is not interrupted and heav-
ier solids settle to the bottom of the tank and
are pumped to a digester or other collection
area of the treatment plant. According to Prim-
icierio, “After the treated water goes through
the cloth media disk filters, we’re actually
achieving a .6 mg/l in total phosphorus, and
that’s probably a two-year average.”
Continued on page 18
17
 Continued from page 17
To enhance the plant’s process control
capabilities, Key Largo also incorporated an
IntelliPro® process monitoring and control
system. The IntelliPro system is designed to
offer an essential link among operations,
equipment, and treatment objectives. It ac-
tively influences the treatment process by
proactively responding to changes as they
happen and efficiently manages overall sys-
tem performance. Through the use of process
instrumentation, the system can actively con-
trol process parameters within the biological
system, such as dissolved oxygen (DO) and
system mass, and even modify the cycle struc-
ture. The addition of the nutrient module
and instrumentation adds the capability of
automatically monitoring and controlling bi-
ological and chemical nutrient removal.
Key Largo noticed a drastic improvement
in the monitoring and control of the biologi-
cal process, which is attributed in part to the
IntelliPro® process monitoring system. The
most beneficial aspect for Key Largo is the abil-
Key Largo Wastewater Treatment District Expansion. ity to fully monitor the process, such as real-
time oxidation-reduction potential (ORP),
pH, TSS, and DO concentrations in each SBR
basin. The plant also makes use of a majority
of the system’s additional features, including
active mass control and trending capabilities.
Says Primicierio, “The other beautiful thing
about the DO control is that we’ve actually
seen a cost savings of up to $10,000 a month in
the last year after we’ve dialed the air in, with
regard to time and the DO set point.”
The health of the environment certainly
has an economic impact on the Florida Keys.
Tourism is based on snorkeling, scuba div-
ing, and fishing, and many local livelihoods
depend on the commercial fishing industry
of the Keys. It is extremely important to keep
the environment clean and functioning. As
Key Largo continues to grow, the advanced
nutrient removal technologies and stream-
lined plant optimization technologies from
Aqua-Aerobic Systems will ensure that the
wastewater facility will grow with it, while
protecting the livelihood and habitat of the
region through exceptional water quality.
To learn more about these and other ad-
vanced water and wastewater treatment tech-
nologies from Aqua-Aerobic Systems Inc.
please visit www.aqua-aerobic.com or contact
the company’s local representative in Florida,
Two AquaDisk filters with covers.
Envirosales Inc., at (863) 314-0616. !

Technology Spotlight is a paid feature sponsored by the advertisement on the facing page. The Journal and its publisher do not endorse any product
that appears in this column. If you would like to have your technology featured, contact Mike Delaney at 352-241-6006 or at mike@fwrj.com.

18 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal


Doug Prentiss Sr.
S
ome of you may be aware that the FWEA
Safety Committee is now under new lead-
ership and is actively seeking new mem-
bers and participants. The committee is now
chaired by Judd Mooso of Destin Water Users,
and Scott Holowasko, with Gainesville Regional
Utilities, serves as the vice chair.
The committee will meet once each year
during the Florida Water Resources Conference
(FWRC) and, at the conference in 2016, it plans
to begin offering safety training classes with con-
tinuing education units. The instructors will be
members of the committee and attendance will
be included with registration to the conference.
This year, FWRC will be held May 3-6 at
the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando. The com-
mittee will meet on Monday, May 4, at 1 p.m., in
Bonnaire Room 5 and 6.
20 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
SPOTLIGHT ON SAFETY
FWEA Safety Committee
Begins New Leadership
Our goal is to gather utility professionals
from around the state in an effort to begin
building a network of folks who have responsi-
bility for the safe operation of their water and
wastewater facilities. The role of safety in our
profession can be a daunting task, so it is our
ambition to invigorate the committee and pool
our resources to enable us to reach out and help
each other along the way. This will be a great op-
portunity to get involved by becoming a volun-
teer so we can begin to discuss topics of interest
and plan for the way forward.
This article is our initial effort to determine
the level of interest. It is not our intent to bur-
den anyone with extra work, but rather to es-
tablish an atmosphere that allows us to discuss
any safety issues our companies may face. Ulti-
mately, we’d like to be able to provide each other
with ideas, templates, and business practices
that have proven successful in our experience.
The FWEA Safety Committee goals are:
! Increase membership and participation in
the committee.
! Provide safety-related information useful to
FWEA members.
! Align safety committee activities with FWEA
goals and objectives.
Please stop by the meeting if you are
interested; we’d love to meet you. If you
have any questions, contact Judd Mooso,
the FWEA Safety Committee chair, at
jmooso@dwuinc.com or at 850-337-3915.
Doug Prentiss Sr. provides a wide range of
safety services throughout Florida. !

Priorities: Getting the Most
From Your Capital Improvement Plan
A
ging water and wastewater infrastruc-
ture, managing capital costs, and the
ability to fund capital programs, are is-
sues that are continuously ranked by water and
wastewater utility leaders as the top five indus-
try issues in Black & Veatch’s annual report,
“Strategic Directions: U.S. Water Industry.”
The urgency of the highlighted issues
demonstrates the growing need for compre-
hensive asset management programs and solu-
tions around the prioritization and
optimization of capital expenditures.
Good practice asset management focuses
on balancing performance, cost, and risk. Ad-
ditionally, a critical component in any asset
management program is the development and
proper implementation of a robust capital pri-
oritization and optimization process.
Over the course of the past decade, Black &
Veatch has developed an innovative budget pri-
oritization and application process that uses ad-
vanced analytics to quantify and optimize
planning outcomes that explicitly take into ac-
count uncertainty and risk.
This article provides an overview of the
process and highlights the following:
! How the process supports improved utility
decision making
The capital prioritization and optimization
process described helps utilities achieve balance
among performance, cost, and risk through objective
investment planning.
22 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
F W R J
Jason DeStigter
! How improved decision making enhances
value from infrastructure investments and
new plant and system improvements
! Examples from a recent utility capital plan-
ning engagement
Building an improved understanding of
risk and how that risk can impact a utility both
financially and in other ways (such as environ-
mental impacts, safety, etc.) is a key outcome of
the process.
Capital Prioritization
and Planning
The goal of the budget prioritization and
optimization process is to minimize long-term
system costs, while maintaining high levels of
service and mitigating unacceptable system
risks. Figure 1 is a high-level flowchart of the
capital prioritization and optimization process
used to achieve this goal. Each of the steps in
the flowchart is described in the subsections
that follow the figure.
Project Identification and Justification
Project identification is a key step to en-
sure that projects are identified in a manner
Figure 1.
Jason DeStigter, P.E., is a manager within
Black & Veatch’s asset management practice
in Overland Park, Kansas.
consistent to capture both the full costs and
benefits associated with each improvement or
change to an asset or system. Identified projects
typically have several investment drivers, such
as growth, regulatory, safety, efficiency or cost
savings, repair and rehabilitation, and customer
service.
The prioritization and optimization
process has the flexibility to include all of these
different types of projects. Projects are gathered
from the current capital improvement plan
(CIP), master plans, asset management systems,
and condition assessment evaluations.
Once the candidate projects are deter-
mined, a data-collection step validates the in-
puts that will later be used in the prioritization
process. This helps assure that assumptions are
valid, realistic, and reasonable. The required
skill sets that are necessary for this project iden-
tification and assumptions evaluation include
engineering, regulatory, commercial/financial,
and utility asset management.
Project Assumptions
Once each project is identified, an associ-
ated assumptions form is completed as part of
the capital prioritization process. A template was
developed to consistently and transparently de-
velop the assumptions necessary for each proj-
ect and it’s tailored to each utility performing
this process. Additionally, this form serves as an
important quality control tool as it ensures as-
sumptions are reviewed prior to their use in the
financial templates.
The form contains a section for qualitative
and quantitative assumptions for each project.
Qualitative assumptions are based on the main
drivers for each utility to complete a project, in-
cluding planning criteria assumptions (e.g., reg-
ulatory, safety, service level, environmental,
criticality, etc.). Each planning criterion is then
scored using predefined scoring scales and def-
initions.
Quantitative assumptions include capital
costs, operations and maintenance (O&M) costs
(before and after the project is completed),
growth rates, potential revenues (if any), failure
costs (including lost revenue), and failure prob-
ability curves. Assumptions are commonly de- Figure 2. Example Probability Distribution
veloped using the results of condition
assessments and by obtaining feedback from
utility staff during a series of assumptions form
workshops. Table 1. Criteria Weighting Factors

Financial Efficiency Simulation and Ranking

The process links each project assump-
tions form to a financial template that is used
for Monte Carlo simulations, which calculate
the range of net present value (NPV) cost for
each project through its life cycle. The proba-
bilistic results generated by the financial tem-
plates form the basis for prioritizing the
financial efficiency and cost-effectiveness of
projects. Rather than single-point estimates,
the results are probability distributions of pro-
jected NPV costs, such as the one depicted in
Figure 2.
In Figure 2, the x-axis of the probability
distribution shows the range in NPV capital
costs for the project given a designated planned
installation year. The y-axis of the distribution
shows the relative probability of a certain cost
occurring. Input distributions for the following
assumptions are included in the financial tem-
plate for each candidate project (note: not all
projects will include values for all of these as-
sumptions):
! Capital cost
! O&M before project install
! O&M after project install
! Revenue (linear, nonlinear, rate, and volume
basis)
! Failure consequence
A benefit of this process is the ability to
evaluate ranges of potential costs and even
avoided costs (e.g., failure costs). By modeling
the full range of consequences, project risk ex-
posure can be evaluated and quantified for de-
cision making purposes.
In order to take into account the magni-
tude and probability of cost risk, several finan-
cial efficiency parameters are calculated. These
financial efficiency parameters help organize
the probabilistic results into results that can be
easily compared across projects for comparison
and prioritization.
The first parameter is the expected finan-
cial efficiency of the project that measures a
ratio of the NPV benefit of the project com-
pared to the project cost. Risk exposure is meas-
ured by calculating a risk-mitigated ratio for
the project that looks at the extremes of the
probability distribution of NPV results. This
metric measures the amount of risk or uncer-
tainty mitigated by implementing the project.
The prioritization process is also used to
identify projects where the financial benefits do
not necessarily outweigh the costs of doing the
projects. Projects such as these may have addi-
tional factors other than cost that risk influ-
encing their selection, such as safety
considerations or regulatory constraints. These
factors are taken into account during the prior-
itization process through the balanced score re-
sults discussed later, as well as by constraining
the optimization model.
For each project, the optimization model
includes constraints on the earliest available in-
stall year and the latest required install year to
allow for qualitative drivers to schedule proj-
ects. The next section discusses in further de-
Continued on page 24

Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 23

Continued from page 23 One of the valuable aspects of the finan-
tail the optimization model. cial efficiency approach is that the financial
templates and assumptions forms are able to
evaluate a wide variety of project installation
Prioritization and Timing of Projects years in a relatively short amount of time
Table 2. Example Financial Prioritization Results
24 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
through simulations. At this step in the opti-
mization process, projects are timed so that
utility risk tolerance levels are not exceeded.
The optimization model uses the combi-
nation of the budget scenario and nonfinancial
planning criteria constraints with the NPV re-
sults to maximize the NPV benefit for the util-
ity given these constraints. In other words, it
checks every combination of project installa-
tion dates that will:
! Maximize NPV benefit
! Stay within the annual budget and schedule
constraint levels for each scenario
The NPV benefits and budget/schedule
constraints are achieved using a genetic algo-
rithm software tool. Similar to the @Risk™
Monte Carlo simulation software, the optimiza-
tion process uses an off-the-shelf Microsoft
Excel™ add-on software module (Evolver™) to
perform the genetic algorithm. The module
software is a companion tool to the simulation
software as part of the Palisade’s Decision Tools
Suite, which is an integrated set of programs for
risk analysis and decision making.
Project timing optimization is then con-
ducted for all projects to arrive at a portfolio
optimization result. Particular focus is given to
investments that have a significant budget im- Table 3. Example Project Rankings
pact or are being considered for delay beyond
their planned installation date due to utility
budget constraints.
The projects are first scheduled based on
the risk tolerance levels of the utility. Once all
projects are within the defined risk tolerance,
projects are scheduled based on the maximum
financial benefit to the utility. The result is a
target schedule without regard to budget con-
straints. Next, budget constraints are incorpo-
rated into the scheduling process and any
changes to install years due to budget con-
straints are then recalculated.
In addition to prioritizing projects using
financial efficiency, the planning criteria are
used to balance all relevant nonfinancial issues.
Each project is scored against each planning cri-
terion using a scale of 1 to 10, with standard
definitions and scoring scale for each criterion.
The score is then multiplied with the applica-
ble weighting percent for that criterion to cre-
ate a balanced scorecard result for the project.
Table 1 provides an example of the criteria
weighting factors that a utility can use when de-
veloping the balanced scorecard.
The final step of the prioritization process
is to incorporate planning criteria scores, proj-
ect rankings, and budget constraints into the
implementation schedule.

Process Results
As described previously, the prioritization
process involves combining project prioritiza-
tion based on financial risk with project prior-
itization using a balanced scorecard approach
(financial efficiency and planning criteria).
Table 2 shows the expected outcome NPV re-
sults for a subset of projects for a recent client.
The combination of the quantitative and
qualitative results provides a balanced scorecard
evaluation for each project. Each project is eval-
uated using a weighted criteria matrix scoring
process. In the example in Table 3, four plan-
ning criteria are used in the scoring process:
! Financial efficiency
! Regulatory and environmental
! Safety
! Customer service

Each criterion is defined at the beginning

of the prioritization process before the as-
sumption forms are completed.
Financial efficiency is evaluated using the
financial evaluation template, and the other
three criteria are scored when the assumptions
form is complete. Prioritization results are used Figure 3. Example Prioritization Results
to derive the capital plan schedule in order to
Continued on page 26

Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 25

 Continued from page 25
schedule projects to minimize financial risk,
while at the same time taking into account the
nonfinancial project drivers. Table 3 is an ex-
ample of the project ranking table results and
Figure 3 visually compares project scores for a
number of example projects.
The prioritization model is used to calcu-
late the risk-weighted 40-year net NPV of fu-
ture cash flows for several scenarios of the full
portfolio of capital projects, including:
! Run-to-failure scenario – assumes projects
are delayed until assets fail or installation is
required for another reason (e.g. regulatory
constraint)
! Current CIP scenario - if the existing CIP is
implemented as planned
! Optimized CIP scenario – if the recom-
mended capital schedule using the opti-
mization results is followed

Figure 4 calculates the risk-weighted fi-

nancial results for all three capital schedules
listed. The Current CIP has an expected out-
Figure 4. 40-Year Net Present Value Cost Comparison for the System come of $76 million in risk-weighted NPV sav-
ings ($247 million minus $171 million results
in $76 million in NPV cost savings), while the
optimized CIP scenario results in an expected
outcome of $89 million in risk-weighted NPV
savings ($247 million minus $158 million).
The current CIP shows a 31 percent re-
duction in NPV cost compared to the run-to-
failure scenario, while the optimized CIP has a
36 percent reduction. The 5 percent additional
reduction, or $13 million, represents a 36 per-
cent decrease in overall system risk through op-
timization of the current CIP, demonstrating
the value of performing capital optimization
even with the same budget constraints.
The results noted in Figure 4 show the risk
reduction from a risk-weighted financial per-
spective. The next set of example results incor-
porate the nonfinancial criteria, in addition to
the financial efficiency results.
The planning criteria score other risks to
the utility that are difficult to quantify from a
financial perspective. For many utilities, these
include well-established triple-bottom-line
scoring criteria. Figure 5 shows the financial
and nonfinancial risk reduction for an example
portfolio of projects and compares it to cumu-
lative capital expenditures by year.
As part of the capital planning process, it is
Figure 5. Portfolio Risk Reduction Compared to Cumulative Capital Spend valuable to understand the risk of delaying a
project so that this risk can be considered in
Most of the forecasted risk reduction achieved by the investments occurs in the first part of the study pe- making budget decisions. Figure 6 is an exam-
riod, while more steady risk reduction occurs during the second half of the period. This validates that ple of what is developed to understand and
near-term capital dollars are being utilized on the projects and assets that expose the utility to the most quantify this risk for each project.
risk, while projects with less or no risk are scheduled later in the study period.
Implementation Schedule
One of the final results of the prioritiza-

26 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal

tion process is an optimized implementation
schedule and project rankings that meet utility
risk tolerance levels, achieve maximum cost ef-
fectiveness, and incorporate budget constraints.
The planning criteria scoring matrix is used
to calibrate the scheduling of projects to ensure
that nonfinancial criticality scores are incorpo-
rated in the planning process appropriately. For
some clients, the balanced scorecard prioritization
results are used as the primary prioritization and
optimization metric to drive the capital plan
schedule. Figure 7 shows an example implemen-
tation schedule for the optimized CIP.
For this example, since the budget con-
straint is based on an existing CIP, the optimiza-
tion model allows for unused funds to be carried
over from year to year. A corresponding set of
prioritization results (similar to the example
NPV and balanced scorecard tables and figures)
match the optimized schedule shown in figure 7.

Conclusion Figure 6. Project Delay Impact

Good practice asset management pro-
grams strive to optimally balance performance,
Continued on page 28
The figure shows the NPV cost of a two-year delay (moving from the optimized blue curve to the grey
‘two-year delay’ curve). As the project is further delayed, the NPV of cost will approach the run-to-
failure cost range (red-dashed curve).

Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 27

 Continued from page 27
cost, and risk across the enterprise. Through
good practice asset management, decision mak-
ing is made more objective and investments are
better aligned with the utility strategic plan.
Capital prioritization enables objective deci-
sion making because it is driven by explicit finan-
cial risk results and a balanced scorecard that
incorporates nonfinancial project and system
drivers.
The incorporation of budget constraints
and integration with a utility financial/rate
model enable the prioritization and optimiza-
tion process and help drive integrated planning
across the utility. The results provide an impor-
tant bridge between a utility financial plan (typ-
ically focused on balancing cost) and the
balancing of system risk and performance,
along with customer cost impacts.
Ultimately, the entire process helps utility
management take a long-term and objective
Figure 7. Capital Schedule: Optimized CIP Under Budget Constraint view towards achieving value for customers
through the balancing of performance, cost,
The stacked bar charts in the figure break down the total capital cost by the various asset and risk. The water utility client referenced in
classes shown in the legend. The red curve shows the budget constraint used in the opti- this article, for example, identified more than
mization process. $10 million in savings through capital prioriti-
zation, without affecting risk levels. !

28 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal

 FWPCOA TRAINING CALENDAR
SCHEDULE YOUR CLASS TODAY!
May
4-7 ....Backflow Tester ........................................Deltona ............$375/405
18-21 ....Backflow Tester ........................................St. Petersburg ....$375/405
18-22 ....Stormwater Level C, B ..............................Deltona ............$260/280
29 ....Backflow Tester Recert*** ........................Deltona ............$85/115

June
8-12 ....Wastewater Collection C, B ....................Deltona ............$325/355
15-18 ....Backflow Tester ........................................St. Petersburg ....$375/405
22-26 ....Wastewater Collection A..........................Deltona ............$275/305
22-26 ....Water Distribution 1 ................................Deltona ............$275/305
22-26 ....Stormwater A ............................................Deltona ............$275/305
26 ....Backflow Tester Recert*** ........................Deltona ............$85/115

July
6-10 ....Reclaimed Water Field Site Inspector ....Deltona ............$350/380
13-15 ....Backflow Repair ........................................St. Petersburg ....$275/305
24 ....Backflow Tester Recert*** ........................Deltona ............$85/115
27-30 ....Backflow Tester ........................................Deltona ............$375/405

Course registration forms are available at http://www.fwpcoa.org/forms.asp. For additional

information on these courses or other training programs offered by the FWPCOA, please
contact the FW&PCOA Training Office at (321) 383-9690 or training@fwpcoa.org.

* Backflow recertification is also available the last day of Backflow

Tester or Backflow Repair Classes with the exception of Deltona You are required to have your
** Evening classes own calculator at state short schools
*** any retest given also
and most other courses.

Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 29

 Certification Boulevard
Test Your Knowledge of Operations
and Utility Management Topics
5. What safety precaution should be taken 9. What 15-minute test will help to identify
when starting a positive displacement pump? the concentration of aeration mixed
liquor suspended solids (MLSS) or
A. The discharge valve should be closed. thickened sludge from a gravity belt
Roy Pelletier B. The inlet valve must be grounded. thickener system?
C. The discharge valve must be opened.
D. There should be no people near the A. Laboratory total suspended solids
1. What is the best parameter to use pump. (TSS)
indicating that trouble is starting in an B. Settleometer
anaerobic digester? 6. What is the system called that requires C. Centrifuge spindown
proper documentation associated with the D. Sludge judge
A. Increase in carbon dioxide person who collects samples, the person
B. Decrease in pH who receives the samples in the lab, and 10. A spray field has a total of 25 acres and is
C. Increase in sludge volume the lab technician who performs the tests? divided into four equal zones. Only one
D. Increase in volatile acid/alkalinity zone may be operated at a time and the
relationship A. Sample performance permit states that no more than 4 in. of
B. Chain of custody water can be applied to the zone. How
2. If polymer consumed in a belt filter press C. Mapping long can a zone be operated at a rate of
(BFP) is identified to be about $25 per D. Sample journal 0.5 mil gal per day (mgd) before it must
dry ton, is this an acceptable cost of be rotated to another zone?
polymer usage for a BFP? 7. What is a typical percent volatile content
of activated sludge mixed liquor A. 48 hours B. 1.4 days
A. No, it is way too high. suspended solids for municipal activated C. 4.2 days D. 144 hours
B. Yes, this is acceptable. sludge processes?
C. There is not enough data to calculate
this parameter. A. 5 to 15 percent Answers on page 62
B. 30 to 40 percent
3. Which of the following is a harmful C. 50 to 60 percent
physical agent to microbiology? D. 70 to 80 percent

A. Hydrochloric acid B. Methane 8. Of the items in the list of answers, what

C. Solvents D. Temperature may be the FIRST corrective action taken
to resolve suspended flocculation
4. Which term is most related to vector conditions in a secondary clarifier if the
attraction reduction in an aerobic microscopic exam reveals an abundance
of filamentous organisms?
digester?
A. Settleometer A. Decrease the dissolved oxygen (DO)
B. Pathogen B. Increase the DO
C. Specific oxygen utilization rate C. Increase the waste activated sludge
(SOUR) (WAS) rate
D. Food-to-mass ratio (F/M) D. Reduce the return activated sludge
(RAS) rate
SEND US YOUR
QUESTIONS
Readers are welcome to submit
questions or exercises on water
or wastewater treatment plant
operations for publication in
Certification Boulevard. Send
your question (with the answer)
or your exercise (with the
solution) by email to:
roy.pelletier@cityoforlando.net,
or by mail to:

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS? Roy Pelletier

Wastewater Project Consultant
Check the Archives City of Orlando
Public Works Department
Are you new to the water and wastewater field? Want to boost your knowledge
Environmental Services
about topics youʼll face each day as a water/wastewater professional?
Wastewater Division
All past editions of Certification Boulevard through 2000 are available on the Florida
Water Environment Associationʼs website at www.fwea.org. Click the “Site Map” button 5100 L.B. McLeod Road
on the home page, then scroll down to the Certification Boulevard Archives, located Orlando, FL 32811
below the Operations Research Committee. 407-716-2971

30 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal

 FWRJ COMMITTEE PROFILE
This column highlights a committee, division, council, or other volunteer group of FSAWWA, FWEA, and FWPCOA.
University of Florida Team.
Students and Young Professionals (S&YP) Committee
Affiliation:
FWEA
Current chair:
Danielle Bertini, Carollo Engineers
Scope of work:
To develop and implement programs to
increase the activity and membership of students
and young professionals within the association.
We support and invest in our students and young
professionals by hosting the Student Design
Competition (SDC) and Poster Competition,
awarding the Norm Casey Scholarship, selecting
the YP of the Year, and coordinating various YP
events throughout the state.
Recent accomplishments:
This past year, our committee has focused on:
• Establishing a stronger connection with
colleges throughout the state.
• Providing more guidance to faculty advisors
and students earlier in the competition
process.
• Connecting students with industry
professionals and/or local utilities.
We have accomplished these by
streamlining the information given to the
students and by reaching out to local utilities
and industry professionals to provide problem
statements or act as a mentor. Committee
members have also visited most universities to
promote the SDC .
Last year, the University of South Florida
(USF) and the University of Miami (UMiami),
won first place in their categories at the SDC.
We sent both teams to the Water Environment
Kristiana Dragash, winner of the
2014 YP of the Year award.
Federation Technical Exhibition and
Conference (WEFTEC) to participate in the
national competition. The USF took first place
in the wastewater category and UMiami took
fourth place in the environmental category.
Florida teams continue to do well in
representing the state at the national level!
This is also the first year we are hosting the
S&YP Poster Competition at the Florida Water
Resources Conference (FWRC). Students and
young professionals will be presenting their
projects and research outside the exhibit hall.
Poster themes will include wastewater
engineering, water resources, and other
environmental/sustainability topics.
Current projects:
Lindsay Marten, with Stantec in Sarasota,
was recently selected as the 2015 YP of the Year.
Lindsay was recognized for her dynamic
leadership and involvement with FWEA this
past year and her potential as a future FWEA
leader. She will be representing Florida at the
national AWWA/WEF YP Summit in 2016.
The S&YP Committee will also be hosting
several events on Monday, May 4, 2015, at
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015
University of Miami team.
FWRC:
• Student Design Competition
• Career Panel/Resume Workshop (part of the
SDC)
• First Annual S&YP Poster Competition
• Joint AWWA/FWEA YP Social
Future work:
Our goals for 2015/2016 include:
• Continuing to provide guidance and
assistance to local universities.
• Expanding our student outreach efforts to
grade school students.
• Promoting both engineering and
nonengineering career tracks.
• Hosting a student paper competition at the
2016 FWRC.
• Fundraising so we can continue to offer
benefits to our participants/award winners
Committee members:
• Tim Ware, vice chair, American Water
• Kristiana Dragash, director at large, Carollo
Engineers
• Rebecca Oliva, past chair, CDM Smith
• Isaac Holowell, CDM Smith
• Samantha Hanzel, Greeley & Hansen
• David Hernandez, Hazen & Sawyer
• Kristen Andre, Arcadis
• Lauren Davis, Arcadis
• Matt Munz, MWH
• George Dick, University of South Florida
• Yanni Polematidis, CDM Smith
• Samantha Nehme, Stantec !
Tim Ware and Danielle Bertini, committee vice chair
and chair.
31
 FWRJ READER PROFILE
Raymond Bordner
Retired
Work title and years of service.
I worked for City of St. Petersburg as the
water distri-bution supervisor and retired after
37 years of service. For the past nine years I
have worked part time for Pinellas Technical
College as an instructor for the Public Works
Academy. I teach classes for the academy’s cadet
program and for the water distribution
apprenticeship program.
What does your job entail?
As a water distribution supervisor my
responsibilities included the field services
division (meters, backflow prevention, and
reclaimed water), valve and hydrant
maintenance, new small services, and
horizontal directional drilling sections. At the
Public Works Academy I instruct academy
32 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
cadets on all classes that pertain to water
distribution.
I am also an instructor for FWPCOA on-
the-road classes for water distribution, level two
and level three, and classes for backflow
assembly tester certification and backflow repair
and maintenance certification. I attended the
first backflow assembly tester certification class
taught in Florida at the University of Florida
Training, Research, and Education for
Environmental Occupations (TREEO) Center
in 1979.
What do you like best about your job?
Water distribution has been my livelihood
and passion for the past 46 years. As an
instructor I really do enjoy passing on what I
have learned over the years to those who are
currently oversee the maintenance and
operation of water distribution systems, as well
as those who protect distribution systems from
cross-connection through backflow prevention
programs.
What organizations do you belong to?
I have been a member of FWPCOA since
1982 serving the association and its members as
committee chair of the Systems Operators
Committee for over 10 years. I also serve on the
Education Committee and Backflow
Committee. I am an honorary life member of
the association and had the honor of serving as
its president in 2011 and 2012.
I hold an active Florida Department of
Environmental Protection (FDEP) Class
1 Distribution System Operator License
No. 0016478. I have served on the FDEP
Technical Advisory Committees and am
currently serving on the Exam Review
Committee, Office of Certification
Programs for Water Distribution.
How has the organizations helped your
career?
The FWPCOA has played a key role
throughout my career as a water
distribution operator. Networking with
other dedicated and professional
operators from around the state has
provided me with a wealth of information
in the professional operation and
maintenance of water systems,
information and support that can only be
gained through personal contact with
other dedicated and knowledgeable
operators.
What do you like best about the
industry?
I was born and raised in Florida and
have seen many changes in the state’s
water environment. Having the
knowledge and understanding that there
are so many dedicated and professional
members of FWPCOA, FSAWWA, and
FWEA who work around the clock to
protect Florida’s water and ensure that
there will be plenty of clean safe water for
future generations who visit or who call
Florida their home is heartening.
I’m proud that I have had the
opportunity to play a small part in
protecting our drinking water supplies as
that water flows through a water
distribution system so no one who visits
or resides here will have to ask, “Is the
water I am about to use safe?”
What do you do when you’re not
working?
My life outside my profession is my
family. I cannot spend enough time with
my grandchildren, John Ray and Katie.
They have a special way of making me
think that I am younger than I am and I
enjoy every minute of time I have with
them.
I also enjoy ridding my Honda
Shadow on back roads, relaxing and
refreshing my spirit with the wind
blowing in my face while enjoying our
beautiful state. !
 University of Central Florida
Receives Gift for Engineering Department
Student researchers at the
University of Central Florida
(UCF) College of Engineering were
very lucky this St. Patrick’s Day
when they were visited by the Jones
Edmunds cofounder and director,
Bob Edmunds.
Edmunds arrived at UCF on
March 17 with a wealth of infor-
Dr. Steve Duranceau (middle left) receives check from Bob Edmunds (middle right).
mation to share as a guest lecturer
during Dr. Steve Duranceau’s envi-
ronmental systems engineering de-
sign class. In addition to his
engineering expertise, Edmunds
also presented a check from his
firm for $15,000 to the University
of Central Florida Research Foun-
dation in support of environmen-
tal engineering research.
Jones Edmunds’ partnership
with the engineering department
dates back more than a decade. In
the past 10 years, it has contributed
nearly $100,000 toward UCF’s re-
search in water quality, treatment,
storage, and distribution of
portable water systems.
“It has sincerely been a pleas-
ure to work with the University of
Central Florida for all these years
and see our relationship continue
to grow,” said Edmunds. “Our firm
is constantly impressed by the work
of these students and proud to con-
tribute to their education. We look
forward to seeing the impact they
have in the field of environmental
engineering.”
The firm and the university’s
engineering team recently worked
together on the design of the Polk
County Imperial Lakes Water
Treatment Plant. Soon after it was
placed into operation, Duranceau
and several of his students toured
the facility. The university helped
with the pilot testing for the plant’s
treatment technology, which was a
good way to “close the loop” with
the students and let them see the
finished product.

34 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal

 FSAWWA SPEAKING OUT
Florida Section AWWA Hosts Regional
Meeting of Section Officers
Mark Lehigh
Chair, FSAWWA
E
very ten years the
Florida Section of
AWWA gets the op-
portunity to host the Association’s Regional
Meeting of Section Officers (RMSO). It was our
turn again this year, and on March 25-27, we
took the opportunity to show off Florida and
the section.
The AWWA structure has its 43 sections
grouped into five regions in North America.
Florida is a part of Region II, along with the fol-
lowing sections in the southeast region: North
Carolina, South Carolina, Puerto Rico, West Vir-
ginia, Alabama-Mississippi, Georgia, Virginia,
and Kentucky-Tennessee.
What is RMSO you ask? It’s a great oppor-
tunity! And it’s a yearly opportunity for section
leadership to meet with AWWA staff and other
section leaders from our region. These meetings
are one of the most important tools for gaining
updated information on AWWA and sharing
Viewing sea life through the glass bottom boat.
36 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
ideas with other sections. This year was certainly
no different.
Planning for this event started at the 2014
Florida Water Resources Conference and
ramped up at our Fall Conference at the end of
last year. With so many locations throughout the
state to choose from for the meeting site, it was
a difficult decision to settle on one. Grace Johns,
the current FSAWWA vice chair, had such vision
and passion to have the event in Key Largo that
we choose it by a unanimous decision. Grace
took the lead and treated everyone to a beauti-
ful location and perfectly planned event. Thank
you, Grace! Our guest section leaders and
AWWA staff were given a front-row seat to some
of the best natural scenery and entertainment
Florida has to offer.
On Wednesday, March 25, as everyone ar-
rived, the Florida Section hosted a meet and
greet reception. We were trolleyed over from the
hotel to a glass-bottom boat to take us to our
destination. As we floated on top of the crystal
clear water and glided across the Molasses Reef,
we were treated to a beautiful display of coral,
fish, turtles, and even a shark. There were a lot of
oohs and aahs from all. It was a great opportu-
Attendees share their ideas at one of the meetings.
nity to relax and get to know other section lead-
ers in a casual, laid-back atmosphere.
The meetings kicked off first thing Thurs-
day morning with an informative presentation
by AWWA Treasurer David Rager on “AWWA
2020 : A Path to One AWWA.” His talk was based
on the AWWA strategic plan and its five main
pillars:
! First, that sections are AWWA’s primary busi-
ness partner.
! Second, that AWWA is a provider of total
water solutions.
! Third, that while AWWA is a North Ameri-
can association, its impact is felt globally.
! Fourth, that utilities are core members.
! And lastly, that this would be a plan for all of
AWWA.
Most of the rest of the day was dedicated to
section members sharing ideas about member-
ship and education. This is one of my favorite
components of RMSO. These sharing opportu-
nities have transitioned from annual reports of
general section activities to topical, focused dis-
cussions. The quality of information shared has
led to greater adoption of new ideas, programs,
 Tom Curtis had the honor of sounding the ship’s horn
FSAWWA staff and officers, and meeting attendees, at the hosted dinner. at sunset.

and initiatives among the sister sections. These

are the ideas and programs that work—the
things that the other sections are doing that are
successful and bring value back to the member-
ship.
This is the true value of RMSO and why it’s
such a successful event. You leave re-energized,
with a handful of ideas and opportunities to
serve your members. You build relationships
with the other sections in your region that con-
tinue throughout the year. The ideas are not just
shared; sections make them a reality by sup-
porting and assisting each other to become
“One AWWA.”
The evening was capped off with a recep-
tion and dinner at Snooks Bayside Restaurant.
The weather was perfect, the sunset was gor-
geous, the food was tasty, and the fellowship was
enjoyed by all 96 attendees. It was simply a per-
fect location and a great event hosted by the sec- Items available for bid at the Water For People auction.
tion. Thanks again to Grace Johns for taking the
time to plan and coordinate this event and to
Hazen and Sawyer for supporting her.
Early Friday morning the sections assem- Poole coordinated this effort and brought in On a side note, we missed seeing Christo-
bled again for an informative presentation on many eclectic, Florida-made and Florida- pher McGinness, our section services manager
branding and a legislative update from AWWA themed items, from art work and jewelry to an from AWWA. He was pulled away by a last-
Deputy Executive Director Tom Curtis. Tom autographed picture of Dale Earnhardt Sr. to minute, but very welcome new addition to his
provided a recap of the recent DC Fly-In, which craft beer and wine. We also offered items from family! Congratulations Christopher, from the
is held every year to inform new legislators in some of the countries where Water For People Florida Section and all the members of Region
Washington about drinking water issues. He has its projects. The Puerto Rico Section II.
pointed out some the key issues on Capitol Hill, brought a bottle of Rum that kicked off a bid- I’m looking forward to the meeting next
chanting his mantra “Free WIFIA.” ding war and was won by a Florida Section rep- year and the opportunity to renew old friend-
The event was capped off with a silent auc- resentative. This was a fun and successful event ships, build new ones, and steal some more great
tion to raise money for Water For People. Barika that raised over $1500. ideas! !

Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 37

 Turning a Pollutant Into
a Resource: An Overview of
Nutrient Removal and Recovery at
Water Resource Recovery Facilities
Barry Liner and Sam Jeyanayagam
In excess, nutrients can be harmful water
pollutants. Nutrients are found in agricultural
and home fertilizers, as well as agricultural op-
erations. Sources include confined animal feed-
ing operations, industrial pretreatment facilities,
septic systems, and water resource recovery fa-
cilities (WRRFs), as well as municipal and in-
dustrial stormwater runoff.
According to the U.S. Environmental Pro-
tection Agency (EPA), more than 100,000 mi2 of
rivers and streams, close to 2.5 million acres of
lakes and ponds, and more than 800 mi2 of bays
and estuaries are affected by nitrogen and phos-
phorus pollution. Excess nutrients can lead to
algal blooms, which can produce toxins and re-
sult in hypoxic zones. Algal blooms cost the
tourism industry some $1 billion annually.
These substantial impacts are the reason regu-
latory nutrient limits are expanding across the
country.
Nutrient Removal at WRRFs
Nutrient management begins with nutri-
ent removal to meet permit requirements. The
WRRFs can achieve very low nutrient discharges
through a variety of processes, primarily bio-
logical nutrient removal (BNR), physical sepa-
ration, and chemical methods. Most
technologies capable of removing both nitrogen
and phosphorus utilize BNR, which relies on
bacteria to transform nutrients present in waste-
water. In BNR, bacteria are exposed to the in-
fluent from primary treatment. The selection of
a BNR process should be based on influent flow
and loadings, such as biochemical oxygen de-
mand (BOD), nutrient concentrations, and
other constituents, as well as target effluent re-
quirements.
38 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Select species of bacteria can accumulate
phosphorus, while others can transform nitro-
gen, and a few can do both. Achieving significant
reductions in both nitrogen and phosphorus re-
quires careful design, analysis, and process con-
trol to optimize the environment of
nutrient-removing organisms. The uptake of nu-
trients and growth of microorganisms could be
inhibited by a limiting nutrient, available carbon,
or other factors, including oxygen levels.
Some nutrient removal systems rely on two
separate processes for nitrogen and phosphorus
removal. In some cases, BNR is used to remove
the majority of nitrogen and phosphorus, and
then chemical methods are used to further re-
duce phosphorus concentrations. Mainstream
nutrient treatment takes place within the typical
plant process flow. However, sidestream treat-
ment refers to liquid resulting from biosolids
treatment (anaerobic digestion and dewatering)
that is intercepted with an additional treatment
goal—to remove nutrients from a concentrated
stream and minimize mainstream impacts. Like
mainstream nutrient treatment processes, side-
stream treatment can also vary from biological
to physical and chemical removal methods.
Nitrogen Removal
Nitrogen can be removed from wastewater
through physiochemical methods, such as air
stripping at high pH, but it is more cost-efficient
to use BNR. Conventionally, this method utilizes
the natural nitrogen cycle, which relies on am-
monia-oxidizing bacteria to transform ammo-
nia into nitrites (NO2-) after which
nitrite-oxidizing bacteria form nitrates (NO3-
)—a process called nitrification. Other species
of bacteria can transform these compounds into
nitrogen, a harmless gas (N2)—a process called
denitrification. Nitrification can occur in the
aeration basin together with BOD oxidation, as
they both require aerobic conditions. In con-
trast, denitrification takes place in an anoxic re-
actor with the nitrate providing the required
oxygen. As denitrification occurs, nitrogen gas
is produced and released safely into the atmos-
phere, where nitrogen gas is more abundant
than oxygen. Nitrogen gas is inert and does not
pollute the atmosphere.
When performing biological nitrogen re-
moval, it is important that the activated sludge
has enough available carbon to sustain denitri-
fication. The bacteria that mediate denitrifica-
tion need carbon to build new cells as they
remove nitrogen. This means that utilities must
make decisions on how best to use the carbon
for the combinations of nutrient removal/re-
covery, energy generation, and/or recovery of
value-added nonnutrient products.
The nitrogen removal rate is also depend-
ent on the amount of time that sludge spends in
the reactor (solids retention time), the reactor
temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and in-
hibitory compounds. Optimal conditions differ
for nitrification and denitrification, but both
can be carried out simultaneously in the same
unit if anoxic and aerobic zones exist. Some
process configurations, such as oxidation
ditches and sequencing batch reactors, combine
nitrification and denitrification within a single
tank, while others incorporate two separate
stages. Nitrogen removal processes can also be
broken down into two categories based on
whether bacteria are suspended within the waste
stream or fixed to media. Examples include in-
tegrated fixed film activated sludge (IFAS) and
denitrification filters.
A method of nitrogen removal that has
gained favor over the past decade is deammoni-
Continued on page 40
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 39
Continued from page 38
fication, a two-step process that avoids nitrate
formation. Aerobic ammonia oxidation to ni-
trite occurs in the first phase, then nitrogen gas
is produced through anaerobic ammonium ox-
idation, also known as Anammox, which is a bi-
ological process carried out by specialized
bacteria that oxidize ammonia, and nitrite is
used as an electron acceptor (oxygen source)
under anaerobic conditions.
40 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Phosphorus Removal
Unlike nitrogen, phosphorus cannot be re-
moved from wastewater as a gas. Instead, it must
be removed in particulate form through chem-
ical, biological, or hybrid chemical–biological
processes, or nanoprocesses. Nano methods in-
volve membranes and include reverse osmosis,
nanofiltration, and electrodialysis reversal.
Chemical methods (chem-P) typically utilize
metal ions, such as alum or ferric chloride.
These compounds bind with phosphorus and
cause it to precipitate and be removed by sedi-
mentation and filtration. Chemical methods are
influenced by a number of factors, including the
phosphorus species, choice of chemical, chemi-
cal-to-phosphorus ratio, the location and num-
ber of feed points, mixing, and pH.
Enhanced biological phosphorus removal
(EBPR, or bio-P) relies on phosphorus-accumu-
lating organisms (PAOs) capable of removing
phosphorus in excess of metabolic requirements.
While many factors impact the EBPR process,
the two most important requirements are avail-
ability of a readily biodegradable carbon source
(food) and cycling of the PAOs between anaero-
bic and aerobic conditions. In the anaerobic
zone, PAOs take up and store carbon. The energy
required for this is obtained by releasing inter-
nally stored phosphorus. In the subsequent aer-
obic zone, the stored carbon is assimilated and
the energy is used to uptake excess phosphorus.
Consequently, the design and operation of
EBPR systems must consider the availability of a
readily biodegradable carbon source (such as
volatile fatty acids) and the integrity of the
anaerobic zone by eliminating dissolved oxygen
and/or nitrate contributions from the influent,
return streams, and backflow from the down-
stream aerobic zone. As with biological nitrogen
removal, oxygen levels, solids retention time, and
temperature play an important role in EBPR ef-
Nutrient removal is an essential part of wastewater treatment to help prevent algal blooms, as shown in this 2011
satellite photo of an especially severe case in Lake Erie. (Credit: MERIS/NASA; processed by
NOAA/NOS/NCCOS)
ficiency. It is common practice to add a standby
chemical system to account for poor EBPR per-
formance. Many existing biological nitrogen re-
moval processes can be modified to remove
phosphorus by adding an anaerobic phase.
However, economic and environmental
trade-offs exist, such as greenhouse gas produc-
tion in the form of nitrous oxide, as well as in-
creased energy demands. Nutrient removal
techniques can also affect biogas production
and dewatering. The dewatering process is neg-
atively affected by bio-P. During anaerobic di-
gestion, flow from the bio-P process can
decrease the efficiency of dewatering and re-
quire additional polymer as a coagulant, partic-
ularly when there are fewer beneficial metal
ions, such as iron and aluminum.
From Removal to Recovery
Beyond simply removing nutrients,
WRRFs also can reclaim nutrients. Recovery not
only prevents nutrients from entering water-
bodies, but provides a supply of these essential
resources. The most straightforward way of re-
covering nutrients is through biosolids. The EPA
estimates that the approximately 16,000 WRRFs
in the United States generate about 7 million
tons of biosolids. About 60 percent of these
biosolids are beneficially applied to agricultural
land, with only 1 percent of crops actually fer-
tilized with biosolids. However, generating solid
fertilizer from biosolids is the most common
method of nutrient recovery from wastewater.
Wastewater operations that have adopted
the “principles of becoming a utility of the fu-
ture” are using the nutrient removal process to
produce marketable products beyond simple
biosolids, including nutrients, energy, electric-
ity, and vehicle fuels. Phosphorus used for fer-
tilizer is a finite resource, with some estimating
that demand will outpace supply within the next
century. In a similar vein, ammonia is produced
via the Haber-Bosch process, which consumes
natural gas (a nonrenewable resource), is an en-
ergy-intensive process, and is associated with
greenhouse gas emissions. Interest in recovering
nutrients from wastewater has increased over
the last decade. However, the maturity of nutri-
ent recovery technologies varies, and each has
its advantages and disadvantages.
Sidestream treatment of sludge and sludge
liquor, where nutrients are more concentrated, is
generally the preferable target for nutrient recov-
ery, but resource recovery complexity can vary
widely depending on local conditions. In addition
to nutrients, there are other types of products that
can be recovered, such as metals, heat, and potable
or drinking water, which may bring financial re-
wards and benefits to help offset utility costs.
These are some nutrient-based and other
resources that can be recovered at a WRRF:
! Solid fertilizer from biosolids
o Land application of biosolids recycles ni-
trogen, phosphorus, carbon, and other
macronutrients.
o Soil blends and composts are potential
phosphorus recovery products.
o Incinerator ash is also a source of phos-
phorus for recovery.
! Solid fertilizer from the treatment process
o Struvite precipitation and recovery. By this
method, both phosphorus and ammo-
nium can be simultaneously recovered,
producing a high-quality fertilizer from
some sidestream systems.
o Other methods of phosphate precipitation
such as brushite are also becoming common.
! Water reuse
o Irrigation with reclaimed water can have
some nitrogen and phosphorus benefits.
! Chemical recovery
o Structural materials can be obtained from
carbonates and phosphorus compounds.
o Proteins and other chemicals, such as am-
monia, hydrogen peroxides, and methanol,
can be recovered.
o Solids can be stored for future mining.
A Roadmap to Nutrient Recovery
With the complexity of nutrient removal
and recovery alternatives available, utility staff
may wonder how to move forward to address
current needs or plan for future impacts of nu-
trient limits. The Water Environment Federa-
tion (Alexandria, Va.) has released a Nutrient
Roadmap to support the movement toward
smarter and sustainable nutrient management
in the context of each WRRF’s specific regula-
tory climate and stakeholder preference. The
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015
roadmap provides a straightforward, high-level
framework for planning, implementing, and
evaluating different steps of a net-zero nutrient
discharge strategy and can be found at
www.wef.org/nutrientroadmap.
Note: The information provided in this article
is designed to be educational. It is not intended to
provide any type of professional advice including
without limitation legal, accounting, or engineering.
Your use of the information provided here is volun-
tary and should be based on your own evaluation
and analysis of its accuracy, appropriateness for your
use, and any potential risks of using the information.
The Water Environment Federation (WEF), author,
and the publisher of this article assume no liability of
any kind with respect to the accuracy or complete-
ness of the contents and specifically disclaim any im-
plied warranties of merchantability or fitness of use
for a particular purpose. Any references included are
provided for informational purposes only and do not
constitute endorsement of any sources.
Barry Liner, Ph.D., P.E., is director of the
Water Environment Federation (WEF) Water Sci-
ence & Engineering Center. Sam Jeyanayagam,
Ph.D., P.E., BCEE, is chair of the WEF Nutrient
Roadmap publication task force. !
41
 F W R J

Wastewater Treatment Cost Reduction:

Stabilizing Chlorine Demand in
Wastewater Effluent
Charles Nichols, David Carr, Mark Lowenstine, and Craig Fuller

T
he operation of wastewater treatment fa-
cilities requires significant expense, espe-
cially when the facilities must provide
public access reuse or advanced wastewater
treatment-quality water. The highest expenses
are normally for power, operations, equipment
maintenance, and chemicals. If the facility uti-
lizes sodium hypochlorite for primary and
residual disinfection, these are often the highest
chemical costs. A new low-cost addition at Polk
County’s Northeast Regional Wastewater Treat-
ment Facility (Facility) has lowered the con-
sumption of disinfection chemicals, while
maintaining a more constant residual. The Fa-
cility has been able to stabilize chlorine demand
and lower the total chlorine demand, while not
significantly modifying the existing infrastruc-
ture. Additional benefits include lowered main-
tenance costs and lower algal growth. The small
addition to the Facility is the Environmental
Control Company’s floating balls, also known as
shade balls, to cover the chlorine contact basins
(see photo).
mgd, with peak month averages approaching
3 mgd.
The wastewater effluent from the Facility
has average effluent qualities of 1/0.5/4/1.5 mg/l
as defined previously. The contribution of am-
monia as nitrogen averages approximately 0.1
mg/l, which is especially important to note due
to its high consumption rate of chlorine. Dur-
ing the past two years, the Facility has had an
average total chlorine use of approximately 18.2
mg/l +/- 7.2 mg/l (1.96 sigma), with an effluent
residual averaging 3 mg/l. This equates to a con-
sumption of 15.2 mg/l with greater than 50 per-
cent variability. Removing the months of
January and February 2013 due to assisting a
facility owned by others that was known to have
higher than typical ammonia and CBOD5 lev-
els, the average total chlorine use was approxi-
mately 17.5 mg/l +/- 5.9 mg/l. This would
equate to a consumption of 14.5 mg/l with 47
percent variability over a two-year period. Fig-
Charles Nichols is a regional wastewater
treatment supervisor, David Carr is a
wastewater treatment plant operator, and
Mark Lowenstine is the water and
wastewater manager with Polk County
Utilities in Winter Haven. Craig Fuller, P.E., is
a senior water and wastewater engineer at
AECOM in Bartow.
ure 1 shows the monthly average chlorine use
as a dosage (mg/l) before the shade balls were
installed. The months of January and February
2013 were removed due to an unusual event
when the Facility treated flow from another
source that required higher than normal chlo-
rine utilization.
With chlorine demand and variability so
high and with minimal inorganic demand, Polk

Chlorine Demand Before Shade Balls

The Facility is an existing wastewater
treatment facility rated for an average annual
treatment capacity of 6 mil gal per day (mgd),
capable of treatment with effluent discharging
below 5/5/5/3 mg/l as five-day carbonaceous
biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD5), total
suspended solids (TSS), total nitrogen (TN),
and total phosphorous (TP). The Facility cur-
rently treats an annual average daily flow of 2.5

Figure 1. Chlorine Dose at Facility Without Shade Balls

42 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal

County decided to investigate options for de-
creasing the total chlorine demand. The County
considered installing an overhead shade at the
Facility to decrease the temperature and ultravi-
olet (UV) consumption of chlorine. The County
has installed an overhead shade at the Northwest
Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility (North-
west Facility) with good results, and the County
desired to implement similar measures through-
out its service area. At the Facility, the chlorine
contact basins had a much larger footprint than
the Northwest Facility, and the installation of an
overhead shade would have been much more ex-
pensive. The County found a less invasive option
by contacting a neighboring utility. The City of
Lakeland (City) had been utilizing the floating
balls to limit algal growth in a basin within the
County. The City had decided to decommission
the use of the balls, and the County requested the
use of the balls for trial purposes. By inserting
the floating balls into the chlorine contact at the
Facility, it had hoped to accomplish similar re-
sults to the overhead shade, but found that addi-
tional benefits were gained and results were
better than expected.
Chlorine Calculations
The County’s chlorine use at the Facility is
attributable to disinfection and maintenance
use. Disinfection chlorine consumed in a con-
tact basin is attributable to the initial demand
(CBOD5, inorganics), evaporation losses (off-
gassing), UV losses, and losses due to oxidation
of unwanted material growth in the basin. The
initial demand was already minimized through
treatment process optimization in the chlorine
contact basin, but the other losses were still af-
fecting the operational stability of the Facility.
The initial demand can be directly meas-
ured by comparing the dose to the residual im-
mediately after dose. Before the shade balls were
put into the Facility, the average dosage was de-
sired to be approximately 13.5 mg/l, leaving an
8 mg/l just after dose. The target set point was
elevated due to changing field conditions to
leave an effluent residual of 3 mg/l, which re-
sulted in an actual average dosage of approxi-
mately 17 mg/l. The average instantaneous
chlorine demand was calculated to be approxi-
mately 5.5 mg/l under normal conditions. It
should be noted that the maintenance amount
averages about 0.5 mg/l for cleaning other parts
of the plant, such as the tertiary filters and clar-
ifiers.
The next type of loss that can be estimated
is evaporation. Utilizing Raoult’s Law of partial
pressures and Off-Site Consequences Analysis
(OCA) Guidance (Kirk-Othmer), which is a
modified version of Mackay and Matsugu’s cal-
culations for evaporation, the average amount
of chlorine lost due to evaporation can be esti-
mated. The calculations assume an average con-
centration in the contact basin of 8 mg/l, a water
temperature of 27°C, and an average wind speed
of 10 mi per hour (mph), which are similar con-
ditions to the average in Davenport.
The chlorine average loss due to evapora-
tion is estimated to be approximately 1.1 mg/l. It
should be noted that this calculation assumes
the evaporation losses of water to be relatively
inconsequential compared to the losses of chlo-
rine (Sung, H.M.); it should also be noted that
the main contributor to the losses is wind. Al-
though temperature plays a role, it is relatively
constant. While vapor pressure of chlorine in-
creases at elevated temperatures, the solubility
capabilities of water increases. If the water tem-
perature increases 10°C (a greater variability
than exists in the effluent), the losses only in-
crease by 0.5 mg/l. However, if the wind speed
increases by 10 mph, the losses increase by 0.8
mg/l. The following equation shows example
calculations:
E = Evaporation rate in lb/min
U = Wind speed in m/s
M = Molecular weight of compound
A = Area of exposed liquid surface in ft2
Pv = Partial vapor pressure of compound evap-
orated
T = Absolute temperature in kelvin
To calculate the partial pressure using
Raoult’s Law, the vapor pressure of chlorine at
the known temperature must be considered.
Utilizing the Air Liquide Encyclopedia, the pure
vapor pressure is 7 bar (5,250 mmHg). With a
mol fraction of 2.03 X 10-6, the partial pressure
of chlorine gas is approximately 0.011 mmHg.
The other losses (UV and oxidation of un-
wanted materials) can be grouped together as
they are interrelated. The UV and nitrates pres-
ent in effluent wastewater cause growth to occur,
while the UV also reacts with the chlorine to de-
crease the residual. From the previous equations
and known information, the following can be
deduced:
Total chlorine average: 17.5 mg/l
Maintenance use: 0.5 mg/l
Initial/instantaneous demand: 5.5 mg/l
Evaporation losses: 1.1 mg/l
Effluent residual: 3.0 mg/l
Additional losses: 7.4 mg/l
Total Chlorine Consumption: 14.5 mg/l
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015
This leaves an average of approximately 7.4
mg/l of chlorine consumed by UV or oxidation
of material growth. Both UV consumption and
the evaporation consumption are highly vari-
able and depend on atmospheric conditions.
Theoretical Calculations
for Shade Ball Addition
The addition of the shade balls had some
apparent benefits. The majority of the chlorine
contact basin liquid was shaded from sunlight,
resulting in lower temperatures and lower UV
light exposure. Reviewing literature from the
manufacturer, the balls would cover 91 percent
of the surface where they are applied, effectively
allowing only 9 percent of the water to be ex-
posed to UV light. The added benefit was that
with only 9 percent of the water surface being
exposed, there was significantly less area for the
chlorine to off-gas from the liquid where the
balls are present. This would notably decrease
the variability of evaporation losses and de-
crease the consumption of chlorine. Based on
the area exposed and the decreased chlorine de-
mand, it is estimated that the average chlorine
losses from evaporation should decrease from
approximately 1.1 mg/l to 0.2 mg/l, or a reduc-
tion of 0.9 mg/l in chlorine demand.
The UV and other materials demand
should decrease by at least the same level. As-
suming that the UV losses were decreased by the
fractional area where the shade balls were added,
it is expected that the UV demand will drop
from 7.4 mg/l to 1.9 mg/l, or a reduction of 5.5
mg/l in chlorine demand.
Adding the chlorine consumption savings
together, it is estimated that the shade balls
would save approximately 6.4 mg/l of chlorine.
This would be a drop in total chlorine con-
sumption from 14.5 mg/l to 8.1 mg/l (excluding
the effluent residual). Decreasing outside de-
mands, such as UV and evaporation, should
also decrease the variability of the chlorine de-
mand. As demonstrated previously, the chlorine
demand had a variability of 47 percent within
two standard deviations. If the variability of de-
mand decreases by the amount of liquid ex-
posed, the theoretical variability in chlorine
demand should drop to 12 percent of the de-
mand value. That should result in a chlorine de-
mand decrease from 14.5 +/- 5.9 mg/l to 8.1 +/-
1.5 mg/l, excluding effluent residual.
Shade Ball Results
At the start of September 2013, the shade
balls were installed and it was almost immediately
noted that the chlorine residual stayed much
Continued on page 44
43

Figure 2. Chlorine Dose at Facility With and Without Shade Balls
Figure 3. Chlorine Dose at Southwest Facility With and Without Shade Balls
44 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Continued from page 43
more constant. Due to the tighter controls, the ef-
fluent residual is now 4 mg/l rather than the ex-
pected 3 mg/l and the dose set point residual is
now 5.5 mg/l with a dosage of 11 mg/l. From Sep-
tember 2013 through the end of December 2013,
the chlorine use and flow was tracked to deter-
mine the demand. Removing the 4.0 mg/l average
residual from the calculations, the total chlorine
demand is now 7.3 +/- 1.0 mg/l for the four-
month period, including 5.5 mg/l of instanta-
neous chlorine demand. The results were better
than calculations predicted, but it is possible that
a 12-month period will have a closer correlation
to the expected 8.1 +/- 1.5 mg/l. It is also possible
that the majority of the evaporation and UV ex-
posure was occurring where the shade balls were
added. The following is the estimated breakdown
of chlorine uses after the shade ball’s addition:
Total chlorine average: 11.3 mg/l
Maintenance use: 0.5 mg/l
Initial/instantaneous demand: 5.5 mg/l
Evaporation losses: 0.2 mg/l
Effluent residual: 4.0 mg/l
Additional losses: 1.3 mg/l
Total Chlorine Consumption: 7.3 mg/l
Figure 2 illustrates the monthly average
chlorine use as a dosage since the shade balls
were added.
The average savings of 6.2 mg/l of chlorine
(17.5 mg/l versus 11.3 mg/l consumption) repre-
sents a daily savings of nearly 129 gal per day
(gpd) of chlorine solution (12 percent wt/vol). At
a low cost of $0.70/gal, this represents a yearly
savings of nearly $33,000. The balls have a 10-year
warranty and are replaced if there are any issues
within the life of the ball. This would represent a
chemical savings of $330,000 over a 10-year pe-
riod, even if the chlorine cost did not increase
and the influent flow remained unchanged.
The improved operational performance at
the Facility is as important as the cost savings.
The shade balls have tightened the chlorine con-
tact control capability, leaving only 17 percent
of the previous deviation in chlorine demand.
This is a decrease in deviation from +/- 5.9 mg/l
to only +/- 1.0 mg/l, increasing the operation
staff’s confidence in the Facility to provide water
with adequate chlorine residual.
It has also been noted that the maintenance
on the chlorine contact basins has decreased.
Previously, a tank had to be taken down for pre-
ventative maintenance and scrubbed one day
per month to remove iron deposits, algae
growth, and dirt that had accumulated. The
time it took to scrub a tank was approximately
four hours. The tanks are now taken down one
day every two and a half months, but do not
Continued on page 46
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 45
Continued from page 44
need to be scrubbed. They are also taken down
to remove dirt or sand deposits from the floor
that may have blown in, and the time has de-
creased to only about one hour of work. This
represents a decrease of about 43 hours/year for
maintenance. At a loaded cost of roughly
$25/hour, that represents a yearly savings of over
$1,075 and, more importantly, it allows staff to
complete tasks that may be of higher priority.
The cost to purchase the shade balls would
have been only $4,700, or $2.45 per sq ft of sur-
face area. To keep the shade balls within the
basin, a vertical grate was installed in each chan-
nel of the chlorine contact basin upstream of the
overflow weir. The grate allows water to flow
through it, limiting excessive forces and keeping
the balls in their floating position. The total cost
would have been less than $10,000 for all equip-
ment and installation if performed by a con-
tractor. The cost savings in chlorine alone pays
for the ball installation in less than one year.
With the positive results observed at the Fa-
cility, Polk County implemented the use of
shade balls at the Southwest Regional Waste-
water Treatment Facility (Southwest Facility) at
the start of 2014. The total average chlorine
46 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
dosage at the facility was 18.8 mg/l from Jan. 1,
2012, through Dec. 31, 2014. After adding the
shade balls, between Jan. 1, 2014, and Sept. 30,
2014, the average chlorine dosage had dropped
by 1.0 mg/l to 17.8 mg/l.
In late September 2014, additional changes
were made to the biological treatment process,
changing how the return activated sludge (RAS)
was sent back to the activated sludge process at the
Southwest Facility. The RAS changes resulted in
1.3 mg/l less chlorine demand for a total savings of
2.3 mg/l. The chlorine dosage at the Southwest Fa-
cility averaged 16.5 mg/l between Oct. 1, 2014, and
Dec. 31, 2014. Figure 3 depicts the savings, along
with the deviation in demand for those periods.
Note that in the first month of 2015, the bio-
logical treatment process was notably changed at
the Southwest Facility, altering anoxic return and
providing for an environment that would allow si-
multaneous nitrification/denitrification. The re-
sult of the changes was a decrease in chlorine
demand of an additional 2.3 mg/l. The resulting
monthly average chlorine dosage decreased from
18.8 mg/l to 14.2 mg/l between 2012 and 2015.
The total decrease in chlorine demand at the facil-
ity resulted in a savings of approximately 61
gal/day or an annual savings of $15,600.
Acknowledgment
The authors wish to thank Jake Rohrich,
operations director for Polk County Utilities, for
his support of this project. Without him, the in-
vestigative work and installation would not have
been possible.
References
• Northeast Regional Wastewater Treatment Fa-
cility Staff – Jason Jennings, Jeff Goolsby, and
James Hickman.
• Southwest Regional Wastewater Treatment Fa-
cility Staff – Todd Potter, William Altman, James
Hall, William Mack, and Cynthia Sammons.
• Kirk-Othmer, Encyclopedia of Chemical
Technology, 4th ed., Wiley, New York, 1991.
• Mackay, D. and Matsugu, R., “Evaporation
Rate of Hydrocarbon Spill on Water and
Land,” Canadian Journal of Chemical Engi-
neering, p. 434, Vol 5., 1973.
• Sung, H.M., “Accidental Releases Analysis for
Toxic Aqueous Solutions,” Trinity Consult-
ants, 1998.
• Air Liquide Gas Encyclopedia, Chlorine/Dichlo-
rine Gas, Vapor Pressure Graph, 2013. !
 Operators: Take the CEU Challenge!

Members of the Florida Water & Wastewater Treatment Cost Reduction:

Pollution Control Association (FWPCOA)
may earn continuing education units
through the CEU Challenge! Answer the
questions published on this page, based
on the technical articles in this month’s
issue. Circle the letter of each correct
answer. There is only one correct
answer to each question! Answer 80
percent of the questions on any article
correctly to earn 0.1 CEU for your
license. Retests are available.
This month’s editorial theme is,
Operations and Utility Management.
Look above each set of questions to see
if it is for water operators (DW),
distribution system operators (DS), or
wastewater operators (WW). Mail the
completed page (or a photocopy) to:
Florida Environmental Professionals
Training, P.O. Box 33119, Palm Beach
Gardens, FL 33420-3119. Enclose $15
for each set of questions you choose to
answer (make checks payable to
FWPCOA). You MUST be an FWPCOA
member before you can submit your
answers!
Stabilizing Chlorine Demand in
Wastewater Effluent
Charles Nichols, David Carr, Mark Lowenstine, and Craig Fuller
(Article 1: CEU = 0.1 WW)
1. Including ALL months during the two years preceding this evaluation,
a. average Northeast Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility (NE Facility) total
chlorine dosage was 15.2 mg/l.
b. average NE Facility chlorine demand was 18.2 mg/l.
c. NE Facility chlorine demand variability exceeded 50 percent.
d. average NE Facility effluent residual chlorine exceeded 3.0 mg/l.
2. Theoretically, it was anticipated that addition of the shade balls would reduce NE
Facility chlorine losses by evaporation by ___ mg/l.
a. 0.2
b. 0.5
c. 0.9
d. 1.1
3. Which of the following is not listed as a benefit of shade balls at the NE Facility?
a. Reduction in trihalomethane formation potential
b. Reduction in chlorine purchase cost
c. Reduction in chlorine contact basin maintenance
d. Reduction in the variability of chlorine demand
4. The greatest reduction in chlorine dosage at the Southwest Regional Wastewater
Treatment Facility resulted from

a. the addition of shade balls.

b. process changes involving return activated sludge.
___________________________________________ c. a switch from liquid to gas chlorine supply.
SUBSCRIBER NAME (please print)
d. a reduction in plant flow.

5. The idea to use shade balls at the NE Facility chlorine contact chamber
Article 1 ________________________________________
LICENSE NUMBER for Which CEUs Should Be Awarded originated with a

If paying by credit card, fax to a. successful experiment installing overhead shade for the chamber.
(561) 625-4858 b. neighboring utility.
providing the following information: c. marketing call.
d. trade journal article.

___________________________________________
(Credit Card Number)
Earn CEUs by answering questions
from previous Journal issues!
___________________________________________ Contact FWPCOA at membership@fwpcoa.org or at 561-840-0340.
(Expiration Date)
Articles from past issues can be viewed on the Journal website, www.fwrj.com.

48 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal

Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 49
 New Products
The PekaSys Bubbler from Anua
batches treatment in cycles, including aerobic and
anaerobic steps, to clean water and reduce total ni-
trogen for residential and commercial applica-
tions. As a sequencing batch reactor, it allows the
treatment steps to occur in the same chamber.
Smart controls automatically adjust aeration,
which optimizes treatment, saves energy, and pre-
vents sludge bilking. Flexible tank configurations
include retrofitting to existing tanks or failed sys-
tems. Its single treatment chamber saves space. It
provides total suspended solids of less than 10
mg/l and greater than 50 percent total nitrogen re-
duction. (www.anua-us.com)

!
The bioForce liquid from Chempace Corp.
contains a blend of highly active microorganisms
effective in degrading a wide range of organic
waste found in many applications, such as house-
hold and institutional, wastewater treatment, and
odor control. The bacteria consortia have been
chosen for their accelerated degradation capabil-
ities of organic compounds, such as grease, fats,
proteins, starches, sugar, and cellulose, Regular use
lowers biochemical oxygen demand and chemical
oxygen demand. It controls odors through a dual-
odor control elimination package, as the microbes
digest the odor-casuing substitutes while the fresh
fragrance deodorizes the area of use. It is nontoxic
and biodegradable. (www.chempace.com)

!
The drivers app from Clear Computing,
which runs on Apple and Android devices, gives
drivers a real-time route list for service stops and
work orders, with all the information needed to
complete and update the status of each job. In-
cluded are voice directions from the current loca-
tion for each stop, maps, and update forms for key
operational fields, including quantity, units serv-
iced, and start/end times. It includes customer
email notification of service completion and gen-
erates reports for profit and loss by stop. Updates
flow immediately to the back office with comple-
tion date and time. Service verification statements
are available for emailing to customers.
(www.clearcomputing.com)

!
Forbest Products Co. created the FB-
PIC3688 pan-and-tilt pipe inspection camera sys-
tem that allows users to take panorama pictures,
with remote directional control for over 20,000
continuous hours. It comes with 400 ft of 9-mm
fiberglass cable and a reel with meter counter and
2-in. waterproof 360/180-degree pan-tilt high-res-
olution color camera head with zooming that can
work under the water no more than 30 meters. The
heavy-duty waterproof control box includes a 10-

50 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal

in. LCD color screen with USB and built-in SD
card for recording. The built-in rechargeable bat-
! video to an onboard 32 GB SDHC memory card,
which is easily removed to view video on an iPad
The JetScan Mini video nozzle from
tery pack lasts about three hours. or other DSHC-compatible device.
Envirosight can be deployed in pipes from 6 to
(www.forbestusa.net) (www.envirosight.com) !
10 in. in diameter and gives sewer cleaning crews
! visual feedback to select the proper tools,
troubleshoot backups, identify buried safety
IM-Series injection-molded septic and
hazards, and document successful cleaning. The
potable water tanks from Infiltrator Systems
device captures HD video footage from
have integral heavy-duty lids, structurally rein-
underground pipes for offline tablet viewing. It
forced access ports, reinforced structural ribbing
records up to 8 hours of 720 pixel HD MPEG
and fiberglass support posts to provide additional
strength. They require no special installation,
backfill, or water filling procedures. The tanks
provide strength in a two-piece design that effi-
ciently nests for reduced shipping costs and local
assembly. Available septic and pump tanks include
the IM-1530 and IM-1060 septic tanks, and the
IM-540 pump tank. Potable water tanks are NSF
61 certified, designed for buried water tank appli-
cations, and available in 552, 1,287, and 1.787-gal
capacities. (www.infiltratorsystems.com)

!
The Pipemaster, a manually operated, high-
pressure hose rotating system from
Hammelmann Corp. is used to remove both soft
and very hard deposits from the insides of pipes
and pipelines, including those with bends and ver-
tical sections. As an alternative to self-rotating
nozzles, rotary action is achieved by rotating the
high-pressure hose. A high-pressure supply hose
line is fixed between the pump and the rotary joint
on the rotating unit. A second hose is connected to
the rotary joint and runs via the deployment unit
into a protective base to the positioning device.
The rotation of the second high-pressure hose
around its longitudinal axis is affected by a chain
drive from a pneumatic motor to the rotary joint.
The rotation speed can be adjusted by throttle
check valves. Actuating the control lever of the
unit causes the hose to start rotating, which pro-
duces the deployment motion. (www.hammel-
mann.com)

!
The Depth Ray liquid level monitoring and
control system from Eldredge Equipment Serv-
ices provides continuous display and control of
tank liquid levels during loading and unloading
using contact, noncontact radar, and ultrasonic
technology. Systems can be used in vacuum/pres-
sure and nonpressure tanks from 4 to 66 ft. They
can be powered by 12-volt DC, 120-volt AC or
battery/solar. Installation doesn’t require tank
entry. The digital LED display is mounted in a
NEMA 4 enclosure for outside or cab mounting.
It has controls for opening and closing valves or
sounding alarms. A 500-ft-range wireless remote
control unit is available. (www.depthray.com)

Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 51

 News Beat
February rainfall was above average across much
of the South Florida Water Management District
(SFWMD), with a significant portion falling the last
day of the month.
Significantly, the Kissimmee basins continued
their trend of above-average rainfall feeding Lake
Okeechobee. Rainfall for the month north of the lake
was about double the historical average for February.
The two basins received 5.13 and 4.20 in. of rainfall
respectively, representing 216 percent and 184 percent
of average for the month.
“Above-average Kissimmee rainfall continues to
contribute to the already high lake stages,” said Jeff
Kivett, SFWMD division director of operations, en-
gineering and construction. “Operations continue
moving water south of the lake, and the District has
increased pumping at temporary water storage areas
where possible.”
District-wide, 3.07 in. of rain fell during Febru-
ary, representing 135 percent of average, or 0.80 in.
above average. February 28 saw a District-wide aver-
age of about 1 in., or about a third of the month’s
rainfall. Areas of eastern Palm Beach County experi-
enced local maximums of 10 in. that day.
Lake Okeechobee also received above-average
rainfall, with 2.94 in. of direct rainfall, representing
138 percent of average, or 0.81 in. above average. The
lake stood at 14.71 ft national geodetic vertical datum
(NGVD) today, which is 0.20 ft above its historic av-
erage for this time of year and nearly a ft higher than
this time last year.
Most of the remainder of the District also saw
above-average rainfall in February. Martin and St.
Lucie counties, among the wettest areas of the 16-
county district, saw 4.65 in. of rain, representing 185
percent of average, or 2.14 in. above average. The
Southwest Coast and East Caloosahatchee received
119 percent and 105 percent of average rainfall, re-
spectively. Big Cypress Preserve was one of the few
areas to receive below-average rainfall, with 1.70 in.
representing 77 percent of average, or 0.51 in. below
average.

!
The St. Johns River Water Management Dis-
trict is partnering with the city of Vero Beach on a
project to help improve water quality in the Indian
River Lagoon.
The Vero Beach Hybrid Septic Tank Effluent
Pumping System (STEP) project will reduce nutrients
flowing to the lagoon. The STEP project will divert
septic system effluent, currently entering the ground-
water along the Indian River Lagoon, to a central fa-
cility for treatment, preventing up to 40,500 pounds
of nutrients per year from entering the groundwater.
By reducing septic effluent and associated nutrients
from entering the groundwater, less nutrients flow to
the lagoon from septic systems near the shallow estu-
ary.
Continued on page 54

52 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal

 C FACTOR
Thomas King
President, FWPCOA Anatomy of a Short School
T
he FWPCOA held its from teaching, Kendra is a good example of the cuse to drink tequila works for me.
spring short school new generation of leaders that will take over A frequent comment from many students was
March 16-21 in Ft. from us tired old dinosaurs. Thanks from all of not getting their books early enough. I know that
Pierce. I was honored to be among those giving us at FWPCOA to those utilities who loan us many utilities have students who still have books
back to our industry by teaching and passing on their talented supervisors and staff members to from previous years who could share them until the
some of our mentionable experiences. We will for- spend time teaching. new students attend class. At my office I have set up
ever keep the unmentionable ones to ourselves. I can’t mention a short school without talking a working library of old training manuals for the
The school’s utility maintenance class is con- about Shirley Reeves. Shirley worked through a bad employees to use to study, and I would encourage
tinuing to grow in popularity, and David Patchuki case of a cold, the flu, or the black plague to put up other utilities to do the same. Having a book a few
has now added a level II certification. The hands-on with the thousands of questions that came from weeks prior to the class would help the students and
alignment training was one of the many impressive students and instructors. Some were good ques- encourage an exchange of knowledge before they
lessons offered. More than a few of the students tions, some were just whining, and some came attend the short school.
commented about the added value they would take from people in the wrong class (like the lady look- Our next big state-sponsored event will be the
back to their utility. I will also take this opportunity ing for the tax seminar). Thanks to Shirley, we con- fall short school. There are scholarships available
to mention that Dave is the new state chair of the tinue to have an education office that runs like a that cover the cost of the short school and expenses
Utility Maintenance Committee. well-oiled machine. up to $800. Each year, your region can award a
Classes on water distribution, stormwater, As for me, I truly love teaching. I get so much scholarship (Pat Robinson Award) to a deserving
wastewater collection, utility management, back- from students who enjoy the learning experience member. If you know someone to be nominated,
flow preventer training, backflow preventer repair, of an FWPCOA short school. I strive to infuse a or believe you are that person, please contact your
electrical basics, and reclaimed water were also of- sense of environmental responsibility into those region director.
fered. I was once again impressed by the dedication students who attend my classes. I have spent many If you are interested in a great learning envi-
of the instructors—they are the volunteers that a Patron-induced night of writing course material ronment shared by others in our industry, I hope to
make FWPCOA work. Many of those instructors and looking for videos to match. Actually, any ex- see you there. !
were taking their vacation time to teach classes to
the new generation of utility managers. We had ap-
proximately 240 students and greatly appreciate
those utilities that sent them.
I spent some time talking to the students as
we passed each other in the hall. I was glad to
see them exchanging ideas and “talking shop.” I
have always said the students go back to their
utilities with more than just the new knowledge
of the classes they attend; we also teach a phi-
losophy of dedication and caring that we hope
will guide the environmental caretakers of the
future.
The students were all noteworthy, but my
space is limited. I met Darin Lajoie from Welling-
ton who has worked for utilities for over 20 years
and now has a diversified background. I spoke with
Bill Peters from Palm Bay, a maintenance superin-
tendent, who was interested in all factions of the
utility management class. Chris Woolweaver from
the Ft. Lauderdale area took the stormwater class
striving to get all the certifications available to help
him move up in the field. Of course, Brad Hayes
from FWEA was there with his troops. Brad is
never at a loss for words and is one of those man-
agers who pushes his workers to attend classes in
order to better themselves and their utility.
I also spent some time with young and en-
ergetic instructors teaching for their first or sec-
ond time at a short school. Kendra Phillips from
Hillsborough County Utilities is just what the
industry needs. Full of ideas and willing to share
her knowledge while learning what we all get

Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 53

New Products
Continued from page 52
The project will save residents thousands of
dollars by connecting their septic tanks to a cen-
tral sewer system, as compared to the costs of tra-
ditional septic-to-sewer conversion projects.
Residents will be allowed to keep their septic
drainfields in place in the event of temporary
power outages that would impact the STEP
pumping system.
54 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
"Vero Beach has for years been interested
in promoting and improving water condi-
tions in the lagoon," said Vero Beach Vice
Mayor Jay Kramer. "However, when it came
time to look at the costs of removing septic
systems from the river, the community was
concerned about the high costs. The STEP
system really saved us; we can now be envi-
ronmentally active while keeping the costs
down for the community."
According to William Tredik, leader of the
District's Indian River Lagoon Protection Ini-
tiative, "Reducing nutrient inputs from all
sources is critical to the recovery and future
health of the Indian River Lagoon, Groundwa-
ter is continually entering the lagoon and im-
provements that reduce the flow of nutrients to
the lagoon from groundwater are an important
part of the overall solution."
The total cost of the project will be
$885,000, with the District providing $292,050
of the funding.
!
The Miami-Dade Water and Sewer De-
partment (WASD) has awarded Woolpert a five-
year contract, with one five-year option to renew,
to provide consulting services relating to capacity
management, operations, and maintenance
(CMOM) programs. Woolpert will work with
WASD to review, modify, and develop the CMOM
plans and programs as required by the U.S. Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region IV’s
consent decree. Woolpert’s CMOM programs will
take into account the vulnerability of the facilities
to climate-change impacts such as sea level rise,
storm surge, wind, and flooding. Woolpert will
also ensure that the programs and plans are con-
sistent with EPA’s guidance and are completed and
submitted within the specific deadlines on the
consent decree.
!
Gov. Rick Scott has announced the reap-
pointments of Charles “Chuck” Drake and
Frederick “Fred” Roberts Jr. to the St. Johns
River Water Management District.
Drake, 56, of Orlando, is the vice president
and a hydrogeologist with Tetra Tech Inc. He cur-
rently serves as a member of the National Ground
Water Association and previously served as an ex-
ecutive committee member for the American In-
stitute of Professional Geologists. Drake received
his associate’s degree from Valencia Community
College and his bachelor’s degree from the Uni-
versity of Florida. He is reappointed for a term be-
ginning March 27, 2015, and ending March 1,
2019.
Roberts, 36, of Ocala, is an attorney with
Klein and Klein LLC. He currently serves as the
vice chair of the College of Central Florida
Foundation board of directors and the chair of
the Boys and Girls Club of Marion County
Board of Directors. Roberts received his bach-
elor’s degree from the University of Florida and
his law degree from the Stetson University Col-
lege of Law. He is reappointed for the same term
as Drake.
The appointments are subject to confirma-
tion by the Florida Senate. !
ENGINEERING DIRECTORY

Tank Engineering
And Management
Consultants, Inc.
Engineering • Inspection
Aboveground Storage Tank Specialists
Mulberry, Florida • Since 1983
863-354-9010
www.tankteam.com
ENGINEERING DIRECTORY

EQUIPMENT &
SERVICES DIRECTORY
EQUIPMENT & SERVICES DIRECTORY

Motor & Utility Services, LLC

CEC Motor & Utility Services, LLC

1751 12th Street East
Palmetto, FL. 34221
Phone - 941-845-1030
Fax – 941-845-1049
Instrumentation,Controls Specialists prademaker@cecmotoru.com
• Motor & Pump Services Test Loaded up
Instrumentation Calibration
to 4000HP, 4160-Volts
Troubleshooting and Repair Services
On-Site Water Meter Calibrations • Premier Distributor for Worldwide
Preventive Maintenance Contracts Hyundai Motors up to 35,000HP
Emergency and On Call Services
• Specialists in rebuilding motors, pumps,
Installation and System Start-up
blowers, & drives
Lift Station Controls Service and Repair
• UL 508A Panel Shop,
engineer/design/build/install/commission
Central • Lift Station Rehabilitation Services, GC
Florida License # CGC1520078

Controls,Inc. • Predictive Maintenance Services,

vibration, IR, oil sampling
Florida Certified in water meter testing and repair
• Authorized Sales & Service for Aurora
P.O. Box 6121 • Ocala, FL 34432 Vertical Hollow Shaft Motors
Phone: 352-347-6075 • Fax: 352-347-0933
w w w. c e nt r a l f lor i d a c ont rol s . c om
EQUIPMENT & SERVICES DIRECTORY
CLASSIFIEDS
Positions Av ailable
Utilities Treatment Plant Operations Supervisor
$54,099 - $76,123/yr. Assists in the admin & technical work in the mgmt,
ops, & maint of the treatment plants. Class “A” Water lic. & a class “C”
Wastewater lic. req. with 5 yrs supervisory exp.
Utilities Treatment Plant Will Call Operator
$18.29-$28.38/hour. Part time. Must have passed the C drinking water or
wastewater exam.
Apply Online At: http://pompanobeachfl.gov Positions are open until
filled. E/O/E
Town of Oakland
UTILITY DISTRIBUTION TECHNICIAN I
The Town of Oakland is recruiting for a full-time Utility Distribution
Tech. 1. Requires HS diploma/equivalent, valid FL CDL class "B" license,
Level 3 FDEP Water Distribution License. Other equivalent combinations
of education, training and experience in Public Utilities or Public Works
operations will be considered. Three years work exp. a plus.
Open until filled. Compensation commensurate with experience.
Send resume to HR Director Tonna Duvall at: tduvall@oaktownusa.com
or dial direct 407.656.1117 x2102. EOE; M/F/D/V; DFWP
PUMP MECHANIC & FIELD TECHNICIAN
VERTICAL TURBINE-HORIZONTAL SPLIT CASE-END
SUCTION PUMPS
TITUSVILLE SALES SERVICE & REPAIR CENTER/
386-690-1075
58 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Showcase Your Company in the
Engineering or Equipment
& Services Directory
Contact Mike Delaney at
352-241-6006
ads@fwrj.com
WASTEWATER PLANT SUPERVISOR
The City of Lakeland is seeking a Wastewater Plant Supervisor. The Salary
is $44,803.20 - $69,513.60 annually (DOE). This is skilled and technical work
in the operation and maintenance of the City’s wastewater treatment plants.
Requires a high school diploma from an accredited school or a G.E.D. and
three (3) years of wastewater plant operations experience. Must possess and
maintain a state of Florida Class “B” wastewater plant operator certification.
Continuous – Position may close at any time without notice. Applicants must
complete an online application at: http://www.lakelandgov.net/
employmentservices/employment-services/job-opportunities
Field Inspector 1
Pinellas County Government is seeking to hire two “Field Inspector 1”
candidates to conduct cross-connection inspections. Must possess at least
2 years experience in cross-connection control and possess and maintain
a valid Florida Driver’s License. Highly desirable: Current certificate from
an approved training facility as a "Reclaimed Water Field Site Inspector",
and 1 year experience as a cross connection inspector or backflow pre-
vention assembly tester. Apply by: May 9, 2015. To apply visit:
https://Employment.PinellasCounty.org. Ph: 727-464-3367.
EOE/AA/ADA/DFW/VP. Certain service members and veterans, and the
spouses and family members of the service members and veterans, receive
preference and priority in employment by the state and are encouraged to
apply for the positions being filled.
City of Tampa Engineer II
The City of Tampa is currently recruiting for an Engineer II.
Primary responsibilities include: performing professional level work in
engineering in the Engineering Division of the Water Department.
Apply online
http://apps.tampagov.net/appl_personnel_job_openings/job_
detail.asp?posting_id=3462
 City of Largo Wastewater Plant Operator C License
WASTEWATER Marathon, Florida Keys
COLLECTION TECHNICIAN I Category: Full-Time
Progressively intensive manual labor work in the collection of
Description: This position is responsible for wastewater treatment plant
wastewater. An employee in this position is responsible for performing a
operation and process control data collection and reporting, ensuring that
wide variety of skilled to semi skilled tasks, and performing any other
the plant operates within the required State of Florida Department of En-
work in connection with the sanitary wastewater collection system
vironmental permit standards.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: High School Diploma or General
Miscellaneous: Email application/resume to HR@ci.marathon.fl.us or fax
Education Diploma (G.E.D.); Class "B" CDL with Tanker endorsement
to 305-289-4143. See website for full description: www.ci.marathon.fl.us
(CDL),FWPCOA Wastewater Collections "C" Certification; CPR/First
Aid Training

Full time, excellent benefit package Licensed Water Plant Operator

Online applications only: www.largo.com/jobs
Director of Public Works & Utilities
The City of Newberry seeks an enthusiastic, dynamic leader for its Utility
& Public Works department that has a strong background in utility &
public works operations. Position is responsible for the City’s electric,
water, and wastewater utilities (1,900 customers), and streets & drainage,
solid waste, mosquito control, and cemetery.
Ideal applicant must have ten (10) or more years of progressively
responsible related experience in a managerial or leadership capacity
within public utilities or utility enterprises.
Applications and full job description are available online at
www.ci.newberry.fl.us or call 352-472-2161 ext 112.
The North Springs Improvement District is seeking for Water Plant Op-
erators. Must possess Class C or higher FL Drinking Water license.
Trainees with sufficient education & training may be considered .
Please email Mimi Ortega at Mireyao@nsidfl.gov with your application.
Positions Wanted
PHILIP LEON – Holds a Florida dual license, B Water and C Wastewater
with 14 years experience. Prefers the Tampa Bay area, Brandon, Lakeland,
Plant City but is willing to relocate. Interested in overseas employment as
well. Contact at 5404 Boca Grande Circle, Dover, Fl. 33527. 772-485-2775
RACHEL WOOD – Seeking a Water/Wastewater Trainee position. Has
passed tests and needs plant hours to obtain license. Prefers Orange, Semi-
nole, Volusia, or Brevard County. Contact at 298 Hickory Ave,, Oak Hill,
Fl. 32759. 386-847-1814

Looking For a Job?

The FWPCOA Job Placement
Committee Can Help!
Contact Joan E. Stokes at 407-293-9465
or fax 407-293-9943 for more information.

Classified
Advertising Rates
Classified ads are $20 per line for a 60
character line (including spaces and
punctuation), $60 minimum. The price includes
publication in both the magazine and our Web
site. Short positions wanted ads are run one
time for no charge and are subject to editing.

ads@fwrj.com

Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 59

 Certification Boulevard Answer Key
From page 30

February 2014 1. D) Increase in volatile acid/alkalinity relationship

Because the alkalinity is so high in an anaerobic digester, the pH is slow changing and the
Editorial Calendar digester will basically go “sour” before the pH begins to drop. This is why the acid/alkalinity
ratio is the best process tool to use to monitor the performance efficiency of anaerobic digestion.

January ......Wastewater Treatment

2. B) Yes, this is acceptable.
February ....Water Supply; Alternative Sources An acceptable cost of polymer used per dry ton (dt) processed in a BFP depends on the type
of sludge and sludge conditioning process. Typically, with anaerobically digested sludge,
March ........Energy Efficiency; Environmental Stewardship acceptable polymer consumption is about $25 per dt processed, although more polymer
April............Conservation and Reuse may be used to create higher cake solids. Even with the increased cost for the additional
polymer, the overall cost of operation may be reduced due to hauling higher cake solids, less
May ............Operations and Utilities Management; water to haul, and the lower cost per dry ton.
Florida Water Resources Conference
3. D) Temperature
June ..........Biosolids Management and Bioenergy Production These other agents can certainly be harmful to microbiology; however, they are chemical
July ............Stormwater Management; Emerging Technologies; and not physical agents.

FWRC Review 4. C) Specific oxygen utilization rate (SOUR)

August........Disinfection; Water Quality Vector attraction reduction is related to volatile solids reduction, which identifies long-term
stability of the conditioned sludge. The SOUR test is the one most used to determine the
September..Emerging Issues; Water Resources Management vector attraction reduction performance of aerobically digested sludge. The maximum SOUR
value allowed to meet vector attraction reduction for Class B standards is 1.5 mg/hr/gm total
October ......New Facilities, Expansions, and Upgrades solids, providing that the total solids (TS) content is no more than 2 percent TS.
November ..Water Treatment
December ..Distribution and Collection 5. C) The discharge valve must be opened.
If a positive displacement pump is started with the discharge valve closed, severe damage can
occur within the pump and discharge piping. This can be a very dangerous condition, as
Technical articles are usually scheduled several months in advance pieces of the pump, pipe, or devices on the pipe (like pressure gauges) can become projectiles.
and are due 60 days before the issue month (for example, January 1 for
the March issue). 6. B) Chain of custody
The closing date for display ad and directory card reservations, Chain of custody (CoC) refers to the chronological documentation, or paper trail,
showing the seizure, custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of physical or
notices, announcements, upcoming events, and everything else electronic evidence; in this case, samples from a water or wastewater facility.
including classified ads, is 30 days before the issue month (for example,
September 1 for the October issue). 7. D) 70 to 80 percent
For further information on submittal requirements, guidelines for Younger sludge will generally have a higher volatile content, while older sludge will
writers, advertising rates and conditions, and ad dimensions, as well as have a lower volatile fraction of the mixed liquor total suspended solids.
the most recent notices, announcements, and classified advertisements,
go to www.fwrj.com or call 352-241-6006. 8. B) Increase the dissolved oxygen (DO)
Typically, filamentous microorganisms grow rapidly when the aeration DO is low—
maybe between 0.4 to 0.8 parts per million (ppm)—and possibly accompanied with a
low F/M ratio. Because filaments are strict aerobes, increasing the aeration DO above
Display Advertiser Index 0.8 pp and maybe to about 1.5 ppm, they will NOT decrease the filament growth rate;
however, it will increase the healthy floc former growth rate, and the overall ratio of
filaments to floc formers will decrease.
Aqua - Aerobic ..................................19 Hydro International ............................28
Auto Meg ..........................................54 ISA ....................................................15
9. C) Centrifuge spindown
Blue Planet ........................................61 LFManufacturing................................51
A centrifuge spindown test takes about 15 minutes and provides excellent indication of
Brown & Caldwell ..............................13 Mathews..............................................9 solids inventory. Comparing spindown test results to laboratory total solids testing can
CEU Challange ..................................48 PC Construction ................................54 identify increasing or decreasing solids concentration. The centrifuge is not intended to
Conshield/Permaform....................20,46 PCL....................................................21 replace a laboratory TS (or TSS) test, but only to supplement the lab data with quick
Crom..................................................50 Reiss Engineering ..............................40 indicators for field process control parameters.
Data Flow ..........................................45 Stacon ................................................2
Evoqua ..............................................41 Stantec ..............................................16 10. B) 1.4 days
Florida Aquastore ..............................52 Treeo ................................................39 Step 1: 25 acres divided by 4 zones
= 6.25 acres per zone
Fluid Control ......................................32 USA Blue Book ....................................7
1 acre = 43,560 ft2
FSAWWA Ace ....................................14 Wade Trim..........................................53
FSAWWA Call For Papers....................34 Xylem ................................................62 Step 2: 4 in. divided by 12 in. per ft
FSAWWA Confernce ..........................49 = 0.333 ft of water applied per zone
FSAWWA Likins..................................24 FWRC PROGRAM ADVERTISER INDEX Step 3: 6.25 acres x 43,560 ft2 per acre
FWPCOA Region IV ............................47 Atkins ..................................................4 = 272,250 ft2 x 0.333 ft of water applied per zone
FWPCOA Training ..............................29 Florida Gateway College ....................19 = 90,659.25 ft3of water applied per zone
Garney ................................................5 Hanson ..............................................25 Step 4: 90,659.25 ft3 x 7.48 gal per ft3
Gemini Group ....................................35 MAXEFF ............................................26 = 678,131.19 gal of water applied per zone, applying 4 in. of water
GML Coatings ..............................12,27 Ovivo ..................................................9
Hudson Pumps ..................................33 Raven ................................................16 Step 5: 678,131.19 gal of water per zone divided by 500,000 gal per day flow rate
= 1.356 days

60 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal

2 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 5
6 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 7
8 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
10 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 11
12 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 13
14 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 15
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 17
18 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 19
20 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 21
22 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Florida Water Resources Journal • May 2015 23
24 May 2015 • Florida Water Resources Journal