July 2021
Maine Water Utility Association (MWUA) Summer Outing at Brunswick Naval Air Station
MWUA is excited to announce an in-person Summer Outing on August 12th at the Old Naval Air Station MidCoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, also known as the Brunswick Landing, in Brunswick Maine. The Summer Outing event is a joint effort between MWUA and MEWEA.
Starting at 8:00 AM, the event will begin with two hours of training. The first session will cover the proper operation of tractor, backhoe and loader equipment, and the second hour will be chainsaw operation and safety. Both are approved for DEP and BLWSO continuing education TCH's.
Next on the agenda, attendees can participate in a corn hole tournament and water main tapping contest.
The highlight of the event will be a pig roast lunch. There will also be steak, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken and veggie burgers available.
MWUA & MEWEA hope you will join them for the fun, food, training, and networking event. For more info, go to www.mwua.org or contact Bruce Berger at bberger@mwua.org.
Maine Rural Water Association (MRWA) Announces Water & Wastewater Apprenticeship
Are you looking to hire a new employee? Are your current staffing needs being met? Are there skills missing from your workforce?
MRWA has begun a Water / Wastewater Apprentice Program with the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Maine Apprenticeship Program (MAP). Existing water/ wastewater employers can join the program to gain benefits in education and mentoring for professional advancement.
MRWA’s program is focused on developing high quality professionals by offering structured training, both on the job and in the classroom. The goal is to improve technical knowledge and work skills by developing a deeper understanding of the industry for both current and future needs. The program will provide employers the opportunity to either hire workers who are enrolled in a structured program or select candidates after they’ve successfully graduated. Operator certification test prep will also be included in the curriculum.
If you need to add new staff to your team or know someone looking for work within the Water and Wastewater industry, contact Humza Khan at humza.khan@mainerwa.org.
Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) Water/ Wastewater Classes this Fall
Are you looking to further your water/ wastewater education through a certificate program? Or just want to brush up on your skills?
SMCC in South Portland is offering an exciting fall lineup of classes to meet the needs of new or seasoned water/ wastewater professionals. These include Wastewater Treatment, Collection Systems, Drinking Water Treatment, and Water Distribution Systems.
SMCC’s Water Technology program is an expansion of the Northern Maine Community College (NMCC) Water Treatment Technology (WTT) program. Classes will utilize state-of-the art virtual technology, combined with in-person labs, field trips, and hands-on projects.
According to instructor Patrick Wiley, this program is unique because it provides hands-on experience with water and wastewater processes, equipment, and lab analyses that supplement classroom instruction and discussion. Wiley noted, “our objective is to prepare students to become the next generation of certified water and wastewater industry professionals”.
Classes are a hybrid of in-person sessions and remote learning designed to fit the schedules of busy professionals.
Questions? Contact Patrick Wiley at pwiley@smccme.edu.
MEWEA Fall Convention – In Person at Sunday River!
With vaccinations happening across the state, MEWEA is making plans for its Fall Convention to take place at Sunday River on September 16th and 17th.
A golf tournament on September 15th will kick off the convention.
MEWEA is also very excited to announce that Travis Mills will be speaking at a special session during the convention. Travis and his wife Kelsey are the founders of the Travis Mills Foundation, a nonprofit organization formed to benefit and assist post 9/11 veterans who have been injured in active duty or as a result of their service to our nation. The veteran and their families receive an all-inclusive, all-expenses paid, barrier-free vacation to Maine where they participate in adaptive activities, bond with other veteran families, and enjoy much-needed rest and relaxation in Maine’s great outdoors.
For more info, go to www.mewea.org.
Webinar Schedule
The Department has been sending a schedule of webinars approved for TCHs to certified operators. The list is updated monthly. It also includes companies and associations that offer on-demand virtual training.
The lists can also be found on the DEP website, https://www.maine.gov/dep/water/wwoperator.
True or False
1. Gage pressure readings do not include the weight of the atmosphere above the earth.
2. Repeatability means measuring something over and over again until you get the same reading twice.
3. Barometric pressure is another term for atmospheric pressure.
4. Any pressure lower than barometric pressure is a vacuum.
5. Specific gravity expresses the density of a liquid compared to the density of an equal amount of oil.
6. Accuracy and precision are the same thing.
7. Floats are well-suited for measuring levels of corrosive, abrasive, or hard to handle liquids.
8. In a closed loop control system, information is fed back to the controller to modify the action of the controller.
Multiple choice
9. List the following in order of density, from the most dense to the least dense:
wood (pine), gasoline, lead, water, aluminum, sea water.
A. Lead, aluminum, seawater, water, gasoline, wood.
B. Lead, aluminum, seawater, water, wood, gasoline.
C. Aluminum, lead, seawater, water, gasoline, wood.
D. Lead, aluminum, seawater, wood, water, gasoline.
10. The density of a substance is given as 76.3 lb/cf. What is the density expressed in lb/gal?
(Note: For water, 1 cf = 7.48 gal).
A. 0.10 lb/gal
B. 10.2 lb/gal
C. 68.8 lb/gal
D. 570.7 lb/gal
Operators use computer technology on a day-to-day basis to perform operational duties. But these systems and devices can open areas of vulnerability to criminals and those wishing malintent to our nation’s infrastructure.
Cyber-attacks can take several forms – ransomware to extort money from an organization, disgruntled employee trying to cause harm, or threats from foreign or domestic extremist groups looking to disrupt America’s infrastructure.
What can an operator do to protect themselves and their organization from these threats? It is important to assess potential risks to your organization before an attack. Federal and state agencies have developed tools, training courses and services to help organizations assess their vulnerability. Many of these services are free of charge.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) works to help critical infrastructure owners understand and address risks to their facilities. CISA has partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop guidance and resources focused on Cybersecurity Best Practices for the Water Sector. The website, https://www.epa.gov/waterriskassessment/epa-cybersecurity-best-practices-water-sector, offers technical assistance, incident action checklists, training and response exercises, and many other valuable resources for the water/ wastewater sector.
In addition, EPA is offering free, confidential, onsite assessments and technical assistance to interested drinking water and wastewater utilities on how to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a cyber incident. The onsite assessment and assistance include development of a cyber action plan to guide the implementation of best practices. To register for this service, go to https://horsleywitten.com/cybersecurityutilities/.
On an association level, the AWWA has developed a Water Sector Cybersecurity Risk Management Guidance & Cybersecurity Tool which can be found at this link: https://www.awwa.org/Resources-Tools/Resource-Topics/Risk-Resilience/Cybersecurity-Guidance.
If your organization does become the victim of a cyberattack, it is important to notify your county’s Emergency Management Agency soon as possible. If you cannot get a hold of them, call the Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) at 207-624-4400 and speak to the Duty Officer.
In addition to cyber threats, operators need to be aware of physical threats to their critical infrastructure. These can take the form of insider threats, acts of terrorism, extreme weather, accidents, or technical failures. Make sure to update emergency response plans and conduct periodic drills. Routinely inspect physical barriers that protect key components and operations. If you notice any suspicious activity, contact local law enforcement immediately.
Water and wastewater operators face many demands keeping our nation’s waters and environment safe for the public. We also need to be hyper vigilant to protect our critical infrastructure from physical and cyber security threats being faced today.
Copyrighted material. Reprinted with permission from Environmental Leverage, Inc. www.environmentalleverage.com. The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection of the linked web sites, or the information, products or services contained therein.
Last month’s article discussed potential problems to wastewater plants from having too high a sludge age. This month we will discuss issues encountered in the summer months from algae, duckweed, and difficulty maintaining D.O. levels.
The combination of warmer temperature (above 60 degrees), longer detention time, and excess inorganic minerals, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus, can cause algae growth. Algae can be a nuisance in wastewater plants.
Algae growth on the final clarifier weirs can cause problems with clogging the weirs, but more significantly, small pieces of algae can carryover into the final effluent. This can lead to high TSS and/ or BOD readings and possible permit violations. Make sure to clean the weirs more often in the summer to reduce this problem.
Duckweed are small, free floating green plants that can be a problem for ponds or lagoons. They form large blankets on the surface and can grow significantly in the summertime. Duckweed has some desirable properties for water purification since it can break down and treat some nutrients, and being a plant, it releases dissolved oxygen into the water that can be taken up by aerobic bacteria. While duckweed can be beneficial and is often found on final polishing ponds, final effluent screening may be necessary to reduce solids carryover into the final effluent.
Bristle worms can also be seen more readily in the summer months as the sludge age gets older. These are microscopic worms that can turn the foam on the aeration basin or the secondary clarifier surface pink in color due to the vast numbers of these worms They are usually found in the presence of high nitrates and older, well-developed sludge. Lowering the sludge age would also reduce the likelihood of seeing bristle worms.
Another problem encountered in the summer is too high a MLSS concentration. This will lead to more dissolved oxygen required in the aeration basins, which is a real cost item due to electrical components driving the aerators or a diffused aeration system. Oxygen transfer is also more difficult to achieve in hot water than cold water.
If your D.O. is hard to maintain, try reducing the MLSS concentration you are holding in the aeration basin (via RAS change and/or by wasting). This is where keeping track of your solids balance data is very valuable!
Next month: Assessing sludge quality using a settleometer, and how to treat filamentous bacteria with chlorination.
Recently the Board of Environmental Protection approved an Administrative Consent Agreement (ACA) with a municipal facility for sanitary sewer overflows and dry weather overflows that occurred over a period of years. Lack of maintenance of the collection system, and serious deviation from the operation and maintenance plan of a newly upgraded treatment plant resulted in two plant flooding events and more frequent and early discharge from one of the municipalities combined sewer overflows (CSO). The dry weather discharges and early triggering of the CSO resulted in unnecessary closures of two large shellfish harvesting areas in an adjacent town causing significant hardship for the local harvesters. Since the instigating events in 2013 and 2014, the municipality has replaced the operator in responsible charge, reduced inflow and infiltration (I/I) in the collection system, and worked hard with the department and other funding entities to obtain adequate funding to eliminate the CSO outfall that has been the source of the problems. The ACA had been in negotiation for a long period due to the need to reduce I/I prior to designing the collection system upgrades and difficulty obtaining adequate funding.
In total, the facility agreed to a schedule for the problematic CSO outfall removal by December 31, 2022, further flow monitoring to follow that, and a penalty of $10,300 in the form of a supplemental environmental project (SEP). The SEP will fund training and seeding (with predator protection) of shellfish areas in the neighboring town impacted by the CSO related closures.
If you have any questions about these actions or about the Department’s compliance and enforcement policy, please contact Pam Parker at 207-485-3038 or pamela.d.parker@maine.gov.
This article will give a brief overview of the most important quality control steps that should be incorporated as routine practices at labs performing compliance testing for bacteria in wastewater effluent.
Obtaining accurate and defensible results for bacteria testing on wastewater effluent is important to ensure that effluent is properly disinfected prior to discharge to the environment. Improperly disinfected wastewater effluent can contain various pathogens including viruses, parasites, bacteria and fungi.
Performing the proper quality control is an important step to ensure that you are generating accurate and defensible data. Test methods and quality control practices for bacteria analyses have evolved substantially over the past several years. Adherence to proper quality control practices is as important as ever.
Depending on the discharge location and receiving water, wastewater facilities may have requirements in their MEPDES permit to monitor levels of one or more of the following: E. coli, Fecal Coliform, Enterococcus. Approved methods for each of these organisms contain quality control elements that are designed to ensure defensibility of the results you report.
The requirements are variable depending on the specific method that is performed. In general, all methods for microbiological testing require the following information to be documented:
1) Sample location/ Date/ Time/ Name of person collecting the sample
2) Date/ Time/ Name of person placing sample into incubator
3) Temperature of incubator when sample incubation is started
4) Date/ Time/ Name of person removing sample from incubator and recording result
It is important to review the methods performed in your laboratory for additional method specific quality control requirements. These may include: Positive, negative or sterility controls, autofluorescence checks of tray and sample bottles, leak testing of trays using dye and sterility checks of sample bottles.
If you would like more information on incorporating additional QC measure into your laboratory contact DEP technical assistance at Brett.A.Goodrich@maine.gov.
1. True. Gage pressure is the additional pressure in a system relative to the atmospheric pressure.
2. False. Repeatability is the consistency of repeated measurements. It is a measure of the maximum deviation between measurements under the same conditions and with the same measuring instrument. This also refers to how stable the measurement will be over time.
3. True. Barometric pressure is another term for atmospheric pressure, which is the weight of the air molecules above a certain height relative to sea level.
4. True. Any pressure below barometric pressure is a negative pressure or vacuum.
5. False. Specific gravity expresses the density of a liquid compared to the density of an equal amount of water, not oil.
6. False. Accuracy refers to how close a measurement is to the true or accepted value. Precision refers to how close measurements of the same item are to each other.
7. False. Float cable or rods are damaged by harsh liquids: bubble tubes are more suitable for this application.
8. True. Closed loop controllers respond to feedback from within the system.
9. A. Lead (700 lb/cf), aluminum (170 lb/cf), seawater (64 lb/cf), water (62.4 lb/cf), gasoline (44 lb/cf), wood (30 lb/cf).
10. B. 10.2 lb/gal.
Convert lb/cf to lb/gal. (76.3 lb/cf) * (cf/7.48 gal) = 10.2 lb/gal.
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