City of Portsmouth, New Hampshire Public Works, 14 Sep 2023

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From YouTube: 9.13.2023 Wastewater 101 Public Information Meeting (Audio Issues)

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9.13.2023 Wastewater 101 Public Information Meeting (Audio begins at 0:14:42)

A

Okay, so it wasn't easy: okay,.

B

All right, okay, that's fine! The next thing we have is we'll understand a little bit about.

B

Pump stations, so I know that's going to be a topic, we're going to talk about a little bit later, but.

B

What are our pump stages they're, taking water from one zone and pumping it to somewhere else? A lot of.

B

Times we try to use gravity to move the the water around and you get to the point where it gets too.

B

Deep for it to be economical, our pipe should get. You know: 20 30 40 feet in the ground. So what we.

B

Do is we put in a lift station, so it lifts it up higher and then it can flow by gravity through.

B

To some other zone, so we have about 20 stations, we're going to add a couple more for uh in the.

B

Future and um these are big assets, and these are like shane- has fantasies all the time. These are.

B

Have recurring costs return maintenance and they are they're labor intensive to manage.

B

All right so combined sewer, this is a big hot topic. We want to just define the terms.

B

So it's a combination of storm water and wastewater. They all work. They all go to.

B

A common pipe, you know most of the time as you can see, it flows right to the wastewater plant.

B

That base flow that always up to a certain amount. It gets treated and captured.

B

What happens is in the the cso thing is when the system gets overwhelmed. This is one pipe.

B

In the ground, a lot of these are antiquated, so they don't have the capacity to convey.

B

All the stormwater and wastewater flows, um so what happens to a portion of that? This gets.

B

Discharged receiving water, in our case it's the river and the milk pond. So that being said, this.

B

Is a problem for a lot of communities in the u.s there's over 700 communities with csos and.

B

We have some good information on our website in terms of our compliance. You know how often have.

B

We had csos and we'll talk a little bit about it. We have some notification systems and some.

B

New dashboards, so the community can kind of be more aware of the real-time status of ours.

B

All right now, I think a big question we've been getting is: why do we still have cso events like.

B

You know this: is we put a lot of money into the system? We put a lot of investments. You know why.

B

Do we still have these cso events, so what we've been seeing is we have a lot of we've been having.

B

More frequent rain, intense rain events, so this is intensity, so if it rains all day.

B

A lot of times, it's not a problem, it's when you get inch. Two inches of you know in an hour.

B

It basically overwhelms our conveyance system, because we have these antiquated pipes still.

B

And the stock capable of conveying those those votes. The reason for the cso point is to have.

B

A relief point so that it doesn't come out in basements doesn't come out in the street, so this is a problem, a lot of places where, if you don't contain it in direct it to a location.

B

It's going to come out where you don't want it to. I think, there's a lot of history. This.

B

Is from a picture from quartz itself, I'm not sure if peter actually took the picture, but.

B

You know it will find a way out of the system when it gets well. So the point is that these.

B

Relief points are engineered there to protect public health safety. It's not ideal, but it's.

B

Better than coming out of in a basement or on the street, where it's not contained.

B

So, what's discharge during the cf, so cso events, so you know our cso flows. Our base flows are about 22.

B

Million gallons per day and a wet weather event that goes through shooting plants. So 90 of this.

B

Cso uh water is actually storm water and then, in your wastewater, most of that is water itself.

B

Anyways, that being said, you know what's coming off in these cso events. Do you have wastewater.

B

So that's a fraction of it, but then you're also getting road runoff you're getting fertilizer.

B

Runoff from parks and other grass areas you're getting pep waste getting washed out and a big one.

B

I think in a lot of areas and a lot of concerns in communities is a lot of wildlife near these water.

B

Bodies so geese and other waterfall become a real, problematic thing when you're starting to look at.

B

Beach closures and other types of contamination, water bodies- and this is the fun fact that a.

B

Goose can produce one to one and a half pounds of fecal waste per day. So you start thinking about.

B

The amount of geese that we have around here that these things can become problematic so.

B

um And then metals and hydrocarbons, so those are things from runoff from you know: roads and streets.

B

And things like that, so those are all constituents of these these csos. It's not simply wastewater.

B

What are our current cso locations? This is a nice a little bit older picture, but we have cso.

B

10A and 10b on the mill ponds um 10a is, has one pipe coming out there, but on 10b it's kind of a.

B

It's an interesting site, there's three discharge pipes: one of them is cso, but two of them are storm.

B

Water, so a lot of times when you see things flowing, it's there's a lot of stormwater that.

B

Comes out of here, just the big collection area and um it's an interesting thing. So it's kind.

B

Of deceptive sometimes to see, if is it csoing or not, and then deer street is at the end of deer.

B

Street uh going out to the river there that's a much smaller cso it doesn't, it doesn't uh doesn't.

B

See itself at all and just another fact, as we were kind of putting this presentation together,.

B

Typically, in this south mill pond area um for every inch of randolph rainfall, we get we get.

B

About 3.7 million gallons of storm water runoff in the basin, so there's huge volumes of runoff that.

B

Are generated in this area and uh so you can kind of see all the streets in the roots and stuff so.

B

There's a lot of impervious covers, so you can see why we have recurring cso basis because we have so.

A

Much imperving service that we're generating lots of runoff relative to the rainfall. I think that.

B

Foreign s that we've completed in the area, so you know combined systems. Have you know that's.

B

The primary genre of the csos, we have a lot of combined systems but, as you can see, we've really.

B

Taken care of a large majority of those combined piping systems, so a few of them are still ongoing.

B

um In yellow and green there's additional either separation projects or infiltration projects and.

A

The one thing I want to note on this here so see up here, the the pink with the green hatch on it. So.

B

That was a basin that was totally separated. After that happened, we went out there and looked at it.

B

And saw there's additional infiltration and other things, but it wasn't still wastewater. So we didn't.

B

Really solve all of our like cso issue there, necessarily so the important takeaway from this.

B

Is this is a big process and it's a long-term process, because just because you separate the.

B

System doesn't mean you solve your css at all, because you still have leaky pipes. You still have.

B

Other sump pumps that are pumped into it, you have roof trains. You have all these other things. These.

B

Other connections that can add to it so being systematic is important because it's better to.

B

Evaluate what data you have plan a project but then come back and see what the results were.

B

Because a lot of times, there's other things that are still contributing to csos or other cso events.

B

um Just another, just a couple: facts and sort of how we've progressed over the past uh 20 years.

B

Or so since 2002 there have been 28 major super projects, there's a whole number of smaller ones.

B

But about 194 million dollars of total sewer capital investments.

B

But the product of that 194 about 70 million is csos related cso specific. That would be separation.

B

Projects infiltration related projects- things like that and, as you can see from this there's.

B

Approximately 90 reduction, you know it depends really on the weather pattern. You have. You know.

B

In the early 2000s see some very high um events, um they were kind of wet years, but also the data as.

B

You get older and older. We didn't have good data to understand what the volumes and flows were. I.

B

Think my I think what I heard is that there was a kind of a board that they used. So if it got it.

B

Got moved that was the indication that there's a cso, so nowadays we have better technology, better.

B

Was actually going on the system so, but it doesn't, it does show you, though, that.

B

We have been working to steadily address some of these vcso uh flows and events.

B

um And this is just another one: we've had a really wet summer season. I'm calling may through august.

B

Say the summer season, let's just show you kind of where we're at you know the past 10 years.

A

Or so we had some drier events, but we are seeing significant, there's significant flows in august.

B

We've had a lot of very intense people. It's been challenging for the system kind of see.

B

The past this summer that we've had it, we had some more csos and there was some.

B

Of those really really intense rainfall events we're very tough for our systems.

B

Okay, yeah so um orange is the cso open and blue is the rank of all volume or rainfall.

A

Depth and inches so it's a little bit. We have a scale that got cut off here.

B

We can resolve that we'll try to resolve that in there, but.

A

The big picture is, you know, the data varies, but the troubles are looking.

B

So the thing is these are some pictures. I think that peter took from uh was before your time right.

B

But there's been a significant reduction in street flooding and also basement flooding. This was not.

A

Like a thing that happened a time per year- or this was happening very regularly, based on the.

B

Precipitation events that we got so and that's that's an important thing to consider is that you.

B

Know csos, but in terms of the amounts and the frequency is dramatically decreased over time.

B

All right, big one is so when will csos be eliminated, and I would say we don't have a.

B

Firm, we can't put a pin on it and say it will be done with this date like I was mentioning before.

B

You know we have a supplemental compliance plan, which is our target and it's our.

B

Framework to work towards removing these csos, but it's a long-term process. So it's important.

B

To evaluate the performance of it and then come back and see, did it work? Do we have.

C

To do some more things for their other solutions that we have to investigate.

B

And our the big country are kind of like value and philosophy. Is we want to prioritize projects that.

B

Operate 24, 7 365., it's easy to say: oh we're going to put in this big treatment plan here.

B

It's going to operate maybe a couple times a year. Is that the right, our opinion is that.

B

That's not the right solution to do right now. The best thing to do is start looking.

B

Through our system, how do we continue separating systems and how do we make sure we're managing.

A

That collection system and the big picture is, you know it's it's a long-term process and you know.

B

You start thinking about planning projects projects. You know, gathering data takes time.

B

Planning a project designing a project all this. This takes a significant time. We don't want to.

B

Be in a position where we're being reactive, we want to have a good strategic philosophy.

B

And kind of work for it through it, so it's a long-term process and right now we don't.

B

Have a date, the goal is to work towards that in that direction and try to improve over time.

B

All right, so the big one too, and I think we got a lot of feedback- is how do we get better notifications out to the community? So there's our? uh We have a vendor that.

B

Helps us with cso reporting and monitoring. They also manage to provide a brain gauge.

B

System and so we have new tools available to us where we have a real-time dashboard in the city.

B

So if you have any interest, go to the city's uh combines to or over the website- and we have a.

B

Real-Time map of all of our cso locations, you can click on each point you can see. When was the last.

B

Time it had a cso, what have been the volumes in the past periods of time, and then they have it's.

B

Kind of, like you know, has it overflowed in the last 48 hours are right. There we're implementing.

B

A new notification system itself so we're trying to automate subscribers getting notifications on.

B

Effectively- and we have systems in place that we can verify that it's not a false. We had a couple.

B

Of those where there was a sensor for them, we just don't want to say, like oh there's, a cso.

B

But there's really not so we have some tools in place that we have additional monitoring database.

B

um They're going live this week, so I think to expect anyone who signed up for on our.

B

Website will get a notification saying: hey this system is going live. If you want.

B

To stay still be subscribed great. If not, you can unsubscribe there's a there'll be a way to do that.

B

Another thing to emphasize- and I only get some comments on it- is the old systems.

B

They met our regulatory department, so it might not have been preferred. The.

B

Preferred notifications, but we still met our requirements so, but I think there's.

B

Always room for improvements, I think this is a good tool where we can get a little bit more.

A

Information out to people and be um kind of responsive and respect, people's uh requests.

B

All right another one too, is we have some recent flooding events that have been pretty.

B

Pretty intense so, especially in august I'll, just use this use this. As an example, we've had some.

B

Pretty intense events, this was a particularly impressive one. We got two inches of rain in two.

B

Hours and we got an inch and a half in an hour, so these type of things we have high impervious.

B

Cover like I was saying, downtown right: you get 3.7 million gallons, that's just in that little.

D

Basis, they have a bunch of other watersheds around so start. Looking at that impervious cover, and it.

B

Generates huge amounts, so both the storm draining system and the wastewater systems were overwhelmed.

B

And the compound system, as well so one particular area on the maplewood area duke street, we have a.

B

Stormwater a standstill separation project in the works it's under design right now,.

B

um So we have areas that we know we have capacity issues we're working on addressing.

B

So these are big projects, though they uh they take time and there's a lot of permitting and.

B

um And property issues that we have to resolve to get these things in the ground.

B

um Next one is mechanics: this has taken up a lot of our cities in our staff's time.

B

um It's been uh it's the city's biggest pump station and it's um it's been a real challenge.

A

I think it's a visible mark that we're having you know. We have some issues in our conveyance system.

A

So this this station was originally constructed. It's not a series of upgrades in the 70s and then.

B

The early night early early 90s and in the 2000s as well so right now, the current uh big bumps here.

B

These pumps are about 500 horsepower. These are manufactured in the early 90s era. We've had some.

B

Pump failure issues, so this is the pump right here, and this is just so. These things are about 15 feet.

B

Tall they pump about 22 million gallons per day they their capacity decreases as they wear and.

B

These are big rotating pieces of equipment. These were um the largest dry pit, submersible pumps in.

B

The country, so these are like serial number two and three made custom made in germany so with.

B

These failures, we had failures of this internal seals and those on the left side. That's called.

B

The stator, the wire these these wires, some of them these things are basically at their end of.

B

Life and we're just trying to make sure that we get them repaired and back in services. If we can.

B

um So right now we shut them offset. I think it's a lot of the community was notified, so these are.

B

Big pumps, this is just the motor and impeller the upper unit. They got shipped off outside.

B

um A lot of these parts this was made in germany, so these parts are handmade or custom manufactured.

B

So the some of the parts were taking four months, some are taking up to six months. um The rebuild.

A

Is in process but as we're rebuilding we found some additional electrical issues, so they had.

B

Going back to this, um the stator here, each one of those little wires, there's thousands of wires.

B

That's hands around by hand, so that's still in process and that's projected to take another three.

B

Months still because this is stuff, this is custom stuff, where this is you're in slotted, in the queue.

B

With hydro power generators, a bunch of these really weird, one-off custom pieces of equipment.

B

um So right now we're you know the big visual reminder that it's not operating as it normally.

B

Does is temporary pumps in the yard so we're we have a secondary pump behind that fence.

B

That is operating. That's our standard pump. That's there! That's where we're working as.

B

Like our duty pump- and we have these two big engine- driven pumps, that'll enclosures, those.

B

Are sound engine enclosures um and they only turn on when we have a rainfall event. So in.

B

Wet weather, so the flows come up and we need to pass addition flow, that's where it is, and then the.

B

Tarps there it's kind of a little bit unsightly, but those tarps have a little insulation and we.

B

Have heat trace wires? We want to make sure the pipe is. That's why it's not ideal, but it.

B

Keeps the pipes flowing and I make sure that we don't have any reliables those specific uh units.

B

So it was unfortunate, it was an untimely failure of the equipment because there's a.

B

Current project underway we're at the 90 level we had a design. We were designing.

B

um Parts repairs upgrades and other things and reliability improvements at the site, so this.

B

Is a sort of an extreme example like failure example, so I think what we're doing and what.

B

We've learned from this is that probably a more comprehensive upgrade is necessary versus just.

B

A parts replacement or electrical converter replacement, so I think right now we're kind of.

B

Re-Centering, our our path board and probably have a more um involved public process to define uh a.

B

Bigger cip project for us, so I think this one this will come out to the community and you'll have.

B

We'd like to get feedback proposed options forward, but this right now, I think, is we're still we're.

B

Trying to get the the parts replaced right now just to get the system facility back on, but then.

A

We'll come back out, I can kind of talk a little bit more about maybe a more comprehensive project.

B

All right so we're going to jump over to treatment systems, um so this is talking.

B

About the pure silent plant, specifically, I think there's been some comments regarding that, so you.

D

Know why do we have treatment plans? So this is taking you know, wastewater or combined storage.

B

And treating it from you know, kind of like a dirty uh place to clean place. That's, for instance,.

B

Particulate matter when you arrives and professional websites can be flushed other.

A

Things like that from the water sands and grits, and rocks and stuff like that, we get those removed.

B

In the early phases sell that organic material on those two big clarifiers, it's something to note.

B

Too, that um those clarifiers well I'll talk about another slide are original to the original plants.

B

um And I'll compare that stuff a little later, but we're really trying to remove the gluten.

B

Components and concentrate that treatment in one spot for distribution to the water body.

B

All right, so in just terms of like spatially, where these things work so so dave's here and he works out of the peas wastewater plant. That's over in peace.

B

Tradeport area, so that that treats mainly the p street port and there's some a few other.

B

Customers around there and I think it's just charged all the way up to an outlaw.

B

River up there and then the pierce island facility covers most of portsmouth and then.

B

Discharges right out into the channel there, and then those are the three cso locations.

B

So the pierce island treatment plant, so it was constructed in in the late 70s.

B

um And this is just a comparison: that's the new plants up on the top and that's the old plant too.

B

There's a lot of similarities here. So when we talk about some of these facilities, it's this is a 24 7.

B

365 facility like when you do these upgrades, you can't really take the treatment offline, so you.

B

Start looking at this in most facilities, it's it's series is a series of upgrades over time, so the.

B

New facility has a capacity of about 6 mgd to do secondary treatment, so the original plant was just.

B

Primary treatment means it went through clarifiers and then it got disinfected and discharged.

B

um It has a wet weather capacity of 21 mgd, so this is where the system operates in sort of two.

B

Modes, the first mode, it runs all the way through the facility gets disinfected and discharged and.

B

Then kind of the wet weather mode, the six million gallons- goes through the full treatment and then.

B

A portion of that flow goes to the primary clarifiers. It's disinfected and discharged.

B

So right now we have a new draft permit, it's not in effect yet.

B

um But we have a good, detailed video tour for my when the facility went live. That's on the website.

B

And I didn't put the link in there, so I will update that link to make sure if you're interested.

B

In looking through the fly through the site, it's a really cool, um a really cool video and it just we.

A

Can't do it justice I mean just talking about this site would be a couple of hour presentation, so.

B

uh So peace treatment facility- this one here is- is a little bit busy, but just to show like this is.

B

Very similar to how you're silent is the patchwork of various upgrades over time. This was constructed.

B

In the 50s for the air force updated it, you know over various periods, it has a 1.2 mgd to uh design.

B

Capacity and we have a new pro active permit, which gives us a little bit extra capacity for future.

B

um So I mean you can see it's a little bit of everything, but this is a these. Are our two.

B

Treatment facilities and uh they're, currently, you know ongoing and we never stop trading.

B

Okay, so how's the pierce island wastewater treatment.

B

Since the upgrade we have dramatic performance, this is going from primary achievement facility.

B

Or a chemically assisted uh primary treatment to a secondary treatment with a kind of a high.

A

Rate filtration system, so, if you can see this is order magnitude improvements to suspended.

B

Suspended solids in bmd, or uh so that it's kind of a weird term. Actually, we didn't really define.

A

It, but essentially it's like, if you put all this wastewater into our body like how much.

B

Oxygen, do the bugs the bacteria take. That's what usually leads to you know like fish kills. You.

B

See like fish kills and receiving waters, that's usually because of bog. That's because there's a.

B

Big algal bloom and all the microbial growth happens and it sucks on the air out and then.

B

The fish or other organs- and then the big one for us too, is is nitrogen removed. This we've.

B

Decreased nitrogen total nitrogen coming out of the back end of the pipe by about.

B

75, this is really helping the estimate, water quality and I think both facilities.

B

Electronic improvements on p-side, it's been operator improvements and.

B

This one here, there's in a pure, uh pure cyan, there's been a lot of technical improvements.

B

All right, so I know this has been a hot button one I think I mentioned at one of the council meetings, so the primary clarifiers.

B

There's a scraper mechanism inside there so when the solid clarifier acts as like a big wide spot.

B

In the pipe so the water comes in and all that stuff settles down the solid settle out to the.

B

Bottom and there's this rotating scraper at the bottom that directs all those solids to a point.

B

In the middle that we suck out dewater and get rid of so we had a failure of the bearing unit itself.

B

On there, so what happens? Is those scrapers can't rotate properly? So what we've done is we've had.

B

The the mechanism removed and it was refurbished off-site. We got another, a new one as well, and.

B

Actually, the good news: we got notification from our uh the manufacturer that it was shipped.

B

Today so it's been, uh it's been delayed many times, they've been having staffing issues and.

B

um So it's been a challenge trying to get those get those units back. But again, though, these are.

B

Old units these were slated for the year on the cip in two years, so there was going to be.

B

A whole replacement of both units and those clarifiers and uh was a fiscal 26, and I just.

B

Again, like mechanic tree, it was unfortunate that these units uh they failed before they.

B

um Before we had a, we could just replace them so kind of a it's more of a timing thing.

B

All right, so how is the the performance been impacted, so this happened? Sort of in uh in.

A

The january time frame, so you know we have data here so with these facilities, they're 24 hours, a.

B

Day, you know seven days a week, 365. we built in redundancy like the reason for having two.

B

Clarifiers is you can operate off one third or you can even operate other other scenarios, but you can.

B

See here that our achievement performance has not really had any changes, really the the impacts it.

B

Has been to the community? It's really because we are using that tank in a non like standard.

B

Scenario so the water sits. The wastewater sits in that tank a little bit longer before we can clean.

B

It up and wash it down. So that's why I think some people have smelled some things. We're trying to.

B

Really work on uh making sure it doesn't go septic, but um it it happens, pretty quick in a way smart.

B

um Next slide, I think another question we've been getting is: do we have capacity.

B

For new development to say, there's a lot of new construction um can we can we handle it? I think.

B

In terms of capacity of our future facilities, yes, we can there's, they were designed for a.

B

Great time, and then peas also has a additional permitted capacity available. If we do need need.

B

It there, but the big, the big takeaway is our series. Events have been down we're getting less.

B

There's about 10, less sewer use and we have about 10 more uh customers. So, as you can see so.

B

The new development hasn't really been adding new sewer capacity to the systems.

A

Requirements so, and a lot of that comes through you know, more efficient, uh fixers, toilets showers.

B

Things like that, and it's an important thing to note that all these you know commercial buildings.

B

Or apartments and other things they haven't really been, they haven't been uh increasing the flows to.

B

Our conveyance and treatment systems all right and I'm going to hand it over to brian we're.

A

Going to talk a little bit, how do we pay for this work? How do we make sure it's a cost effective.

D

Great, thank you. Thank you, eric um a good segue to mention blue. So we are saying think blue.

D

um And that's one aspect of uh you know: water, wastewater's, farm water,.

D

um Getting the message out there: water efficiency, so I think you know we can attribute a bit of of.

D

uh The reduction in usage to how how much our customers have really um you know, worked on.

D

Water efficiency- I also want to say, um eric's, been with us nine months when he came here. I.

D

Think he knew where portsmouth was, but he didn't know anything about our wastewater system. So.

D

You know you could walk away from this meeting going. You got to be kidding because and maybe.

D

That's why we put him on the hot seat to make the presentation so we'd have to really learn.

D

This stuff uh right and left, but it's amazing and we're very fortunate to have them with us.

D

In his experience too, um he was in seattle for 10 years managing their pump stations um there. So.

D

Anyway, um says I'm muted, but I don't think I am in my muted monty. No, uh so, okay.

D

um They are paying for all this, so so many of you have seen this graphic david heider our.

D

Ring consultant has, uh you know, worked with us um for a number of years now and we've implemented.

D

um What we like to call our our steady state rate setting policy using a glide path, approach and.

D

um We've got some examples: there there's two ways really to fund these big capital projects.

D

um You know the close to 200 million dollars of capital. Money doesn't come out of nowhere and also.

D

um You know we have operating costs that go up here as well, so we have to plan for those and.

D

Part of that has been to establish a net position blind path approach, and that is to to raise your.

D

Rates a little bit ahead of projects, maybe more money than you need today, but you know you need.

D

The money you know three to five years from now to pay for these big projects like the pierce.

D

Island upgrade- or you can just say, okay, we'll wait for that upgrade and we'll wait for that.

D

Bill to come and start paying for it, then so the the green line is that steady state, where you end.

D

Up at the same place in the end, or you can raise your rates as you go so here's an example of this.

D

Some seacoast systems and the hatched ones are the pay, as you go examples and the other three.

D

Are more, you know, following this kind of steady state, so new market um they're in the red dover.

D

Is in yellow and we're in the green, so those are the percent rate increases from 2017 to 2022.

D

um But the other somersworth and um in durham have done more, the you know pay as you go raise rates.

D

As needed as projects come in and uh really the the dramatic different example would be.

D

Exeter, so exeter didn't really establish a policy ahead of time, so, as you can see, they've had the.

D

um Close to double the rates- um and I know they do still have some capital work ahead of them.

D

So we've been taking that approach and here's the actual rates and you know the actual trend.

D

um Over time since the implementation of that, so we really have been following that that.

D

Glide path approach, and uh we we feel that you know that's really helped us with that.

D

um And we are, you know, are going to continue that.

D

um So to to kind of sum things up, um there are other opportunities. You know there's as eric said.

D

um You know there's so much more um to uh to waste water, but we covered it and a lot of.

D

Other aspects we have the six year, cip, we have the permits that are active. We have other things that.

D

We bring before council regarding policy and regulatory compliance needs and the long-term.

D

Plans so again we'll have the six-year capital plan that has a lot of sewer in. It has a lot of.

D

Continued projects on the sewer separation we've got the long-term control plan coming up. We also.

D

With the new permit, we have william in his new position as the ipp fog coordinator, we're upping.

D

That program so fatsoil is in greece. We now have the active permit with all the restaurants that.

D

Just went live september, one so william's been very busy with that and we'll be updating the.

D

Sewer ordinance soon as part of our regulatory requirement, we have to update that submit it.

D

To epa in a timely manner, they'll review it and then and comment and get it that so and then of.

D

Course, when we get to the very big projects that you know need bonding money, we go back before.

D

um Council on that, so um I'm gonna wrap up saying we we are before that meeting. We talk with staff.

D

We're getting ready for the storm this weekend. We really have no idea whether it's going to be.

D

A big hit, we know it's going to make big waves, so hopefully that's maybe all we see, but we could get.

D

Two to four inches of rain: we might get some wind, but we'll do our best to uh to uh track.

D

The storm and stay the best ahead of it as we can, and hopefully you don't have to test the new tso.

D

Activation system, so um with that, I'm going to let suzanne get back up here, she's going to do the q a.

D

um Due to the setup we have with with the room, I'm going to stop chair all we're going to have.

D

um There we go well is uh for the viewers out there, um we don't have a microphone in.

D

The audience um because the setup is literally being you know, operating from this computer here.

D

With the that, so what we'll ask is suzanne will take questions and she'll she'll, repeat them and.

D

um And do our best to answer so thanks for coming and uh I'll turn it back over to suzanne.

C

Thanks uh and eric, if you want to come up because I'm guessing most of these are going to be, you.

C

um Or other members of the team, uh it is interested um if you have a question.

A

um Raise your hands to recognize you and I they wind up repeating the questions. The other.

C

Possibility is, um if you'd like to write down questions and pass it yourself. That's another.

C

Option, if you wanted to add around so we're kind of I'm working I'll work with whatever is most.

C

Effective, so you can either raise your hand and I'll do my best to see if I can either summarize.

C

The question so we can get it on the page or we want to write it down. I'm happy to take this out.

A

C

Who wants to answer that one? So for the for the record for speed trusted from the audience.

C

Member was a question with regard to what rules might exist with regard to redevelopment of sites.

C

And how storm water is treated or handled and considered in sites are redeveloped runoff onto.

A

Right exactly okay, yeah! Thank you that specific uh to storm water. We we did have a.

D

Stormwater work session um and uh on the city's website there is a recording of that. But yes,.

D

um Any any development, um some of this commercial development downtown or redevelopment they have.

D

To have what's called a storm water management plan for their construction, so that manages all.

D

The storm water during construction, but then the larger projects have to have a permit to.

D

Put bmps best management practice, so places have been putting rain gardens in, of course,.

D

Pavement capture, they can't increase the runoff that goes to the neighboring properties, foreign.

E

Some of the smaller projects you had asked about auxiliary dwelling units.

E

Or accessory dwellings, and they do not always get captured relative to stormwater the. However.

E

The city ordinance does have requirements relative to runoff from one property to.

E

Another, so if a project impacted another property say they built something and all.

E

Of a sudden, all the stormwater was coming onto your property as a result of that.

E

There'd be option for recourse against that other property, but the smaller projects, where it's it's.

E

Based on the square footage, uh in terms of so it's typically, the larger projects get captured.

E

But the smaller ones are aren't always there, but as brian can speak to and we'll you'll be.

E

Seeing in the future we're putting together, where putting together additional stormwater.

E

Requirements and potentially an enterprise fund to more an alternative way to manage the.

E

Stormwater funding, which will be more restrictive relative to runoff in a smaller square footage, so.

C

Any other questions.

A

So the question for the recording that is the public is a question and how they.

C

Are regulated and what the availability is, or the impact is honest to our line.

A

History, typically, we like to require, uh if there's a sewer line in proximity to your property like to.

B

Have that connected, I think, there's certain requirements in the ordinance to do that.

B

um We've had some recent projects where we've tried to do those separations and there have.

B

Been some agreements where we uh they're not required, but if there's property transmissions.

B

Or other things like that, we're trying to make sure that those kids are discovered. But.

E

Yeah, specifically relative to the regulation of septic systems, that is, the state function, the.

E

City does not um invest that unless it's a failing system and our health officer will get involved.

C

And I will say, the um the city uh did do a major sewer extension out of sagamore avenue in that.

C

Area and uh the city council's uh of the past and present um have uh put additional money in the.

C

Budget to help uh incentivize owners to connect to the new line, so there has been a demonstrated.

C

Commitment, apart from the city council, to help provide incentives for a connection of.

C

Subjects you know getting off the subject and connecting to the news that remains.

C

And so just to jump into septic systems in general are a large, a large contributor to.

B

uh Water quality issues and receiving waters. So it's it's a noted contributor to biological.

B

Activities so algal blooms, things like that and also um beach closures and such so those.

B

Are things where it might not be visible, but it is a contributor to water quality issues.

A

A

A

A

That it should be achieve them completely, provide 23-24.

C

So, do you want to just run bypass first and let me know, and then I can talk about them.

C

Yes, I should thank you yeah, so uh the question a couple of questions from.

C

um From the audience from the public uh regarding um how the bypass works at the.

C

Appear asylum wastewater treatment facility when there are large flows to the treatment.

C

Facility during intense rain events, and it what are if we do, we know the volume that has bypassed.

C

uh With the full treatment training at the pierce island plans and the third question.

C

Relates to the long-term water, the supplemental compliance plan related to the long term and.

C

All right so the thing at the island, all the waste flows are treated they're treated to different.

B

Degrees so uh dude, let's go back to the figure, it's probably easier to kind of visualize. It.

B

That's right in the beginning care, okay,.

D

Yeah the share all right: it'll zoom.

B

All right, so this is sharing.

D

D

Let's give this one.

B

Together all right: well, we can talk through it. So remember how we're talking about we.

B

Had clarifier issues so it comes through the pipe comes in there's a couple of buildings. There's two big rounds there where I go.

A

All right, okay, so how is it still presenting there? Okay, so goes through two, so you have primary treatment.

B

So we're taking the rags the rocks, the other things out. Then it goes to grit, which is the.

B

Sand and dirt like that, then it goes to the two big round. Clarifiers all the flow goes through.

B

That doesn't matter if it's wet weather, dry weather, anything it always goes through there.

B

The facility continues to operate so that 6.13 mgd capacity. It continues.

B

To operate if it exceeds that capacity, the portion gets split, there's a kind of a box.

E

E

Instead of just eliminating the 6.1, they actually push up to 10.

E

uh Up to a couple hours, yeah for a few hours.

E

Before it starts, divide, correct and then so that blending treatment, so I think it kind of like is.

B

Like a white, uh a wet weather chamber's face so after it goes through the clarifiers, then it goes.

B

To those chlorine contacts so we're dosing it with disinfectant to kill the microbial growth.

B

Microbial life in there so we're treating it one fraction of it over on the the standard.

B

uh Secondary treatment and the other one is sort of a primary treatment, with a really heavy dose.

B

Of disinfectant before it goes out, but we track that that gets reported to the state. So we have.

B

Good real-time data for both of those flow streams. We have flow meters on both sides of.

B

It so we have good, accurate accounting. We track that. I don't know the numbers off the top of my.

B

Head but we can provide those because we have it in our scada system. We report it to the.

B

State, so every on a daily basis, yeah, we have a report, so I think we can post that as well.

B

And maybe that's something we'll attach with this presentation when we put on the website.

C

Treatment, trains are blended at the end of the fight and we make permit limits.

C

On the phone that is bypassing the full treatment train at the end of the price, we are still meeting.

C

The permit, so no one is very important. The king, you are not gonna for undergarments.

A

Right in terms of longitude, if you want to do that, one yeah so back in 2017., the city uh submitted to.

C

The environmental protection agency, a supplemental compliance plan, so what had happened is the city.

C

Had done an evaluation of how well, we had done with our separation efforts, what were the flows.

C

Looking like, where did we need to take our next steps in order to reduce the number of cso events.

C

So as part of that, the city submitted a plan with a variety of projects outlined and we reported on.

C

Those monthly which you'll see actually on the website in our monthly reports and what occurred.

C

Really over the last kind of year is that year and a half is that when we looked at the fleet street.

C

Basin, one of the things that became clear is that we needed to do more there rather than less.

C

And that the way to kind of deal with all the infrastructure challenges, as well as the.

C

um Separation that we wanted to accomplish is that we needed to make it a bigger project, so.

C

Actually, we have applied to the epa to ask for additional time to do that. Fleet street.

C

Project because it is grown in size and in scope and what we like to accomplish.

C

um In addition, we're still doing uh what we call inflow and infiltration improvements.

C

Which means replacing old pipe because old pipe often takes in ground water and so part of what.

C

We're trying to do as well is do more of those projects before we do another evaluation of the.

C

Whole system and figure out what the next scope of projects is, so the goal is: let's do a few.

C

More projects get them done right, get them done. Well, then, we'll do our big evaluation, because, as.

C

You saw in eric show, sometimes you do the work and then you discover, maybe it doesn't produce.

C

Everything you expect in terms of you know how the system's going to operate, or maybe it does better.

C

So that is kind of the process that we're looking at right now and um we've had like.

C

I said some we've done some other projects and bigger projects over the last five years.

C

And epa is, and des and other stakeholders are aware that the city has been putting a lot of.

C

Investment in our separation projects and our other environmental projects, so there is an.

C

Outstanding request and we're expecting uh to get that more formalized, but that's where that stands.

A

There's nothing going on, um so I guess I'd like to know about that. I'd like to know what you feel.

A

um Because you're not going to treatment, how that might be affecting our youtube.

A

And I would also like to know what your time frame is.

A

It has a big concern: animals.

A

A

Honestly conditions.

A

Yeah exactly a lot of guys.

A

A

A

A

I'm not quite sure about that trying to stay there, because I.

A

Think being one and a half percent of the population.

A

And then commercial development so.

A

And okay and so for the record uh I'll, try and just summarize and maybe as we answer it, maybe.

C

A bit kind of back and forth here um so first off there was a question with regard and asking.

C

For a little more explanation in terms of the odor issues that some sections of the city have.

C

Been experiencing and asking for a little more clarification and really confirmation uh which.

C

I think eric can provide that there has been no illegal dumping uh and or discharges any.

C

Discharges that happen in our sewer system, um when they, you know, as they have happened in the past.

C

There have been events where we've found leaks. um Those get reported, they're required to be reported.

C

um So there have been if I'm wrong, there's been no um leaks in the system that have required.

C

Reporting so I think uh eric and we'll start with that piece. First, let's, let's talk about.

C

Them again annex street pump station a little more and the clarifiers. So do you want to hit.

C

That first and then we can circle back to some of the other items: yeah yeah, our team, so shane and.

B

Other there's a wastewater plan, so we we've got initial code of the case we haven't had.

B

Recent ones in terms of order complaint issues, at least that hasn't come to us um when we went.

B

Around it looked like, we can't actually doesn't really produce the odors. We haven't the odor.

B

We have the wastewater contained and covers, and things like that, we have an odor control system.

B

On that uh on the facility, our understanding is that the odors are coming from that clarifier.

B

um The clarifier, because we can't scrape the sludge out we have to let it go out and dewater.

B

It physically after a storm event has occurred, so I think the first couple times it had a little.

B

Bit of a smoke, so we let it sit for a day or so because these pumps are sludge pumps, they they run.

B

Pretty slow, they're really a lot of solids to them. They get they heat up and they overheat easily.

B

um But I think our guys have recently been based rinsing them down and trying to wash them out as.

B

Soon as possible after the rain event has passed. So that being said, like I have not heard of, I.

B

Haven't heard anything of the past couple of months about that we had a couple notifications.

B

And then we made sure we locked up response plans, but um it's not associated with the pump station.

B

As our understanding and the the calorifier mechanism is uh they'll get replaced, it's.

B

Yeah, it hasn't come over to me specifically so.

C

But whatever you have complaints, what is the process when people have this place.

A

47 50 30 and the orders you know the complaints will get to us will investigate the challenge.

E

Voters, as you know, is there are many sources of voters, um and it also is dependent upon whether.

E

Wind, um how density errors at the moment, um so orders could be spelled in one area.

E

um And we may not be a half a block away. You may not know anything, um so it's challenging.

E

To chase down and find the sources, but uh we are aware of the challenges, but that clarifier.

E

And we're working on addressing it, you would mention dumping legal dumping uh as potentials.

A

A

But nothing's dumped from the city system directly um without treatment. So if you're.

E

Implying or saying that it was a city dump that did not happen if you're saying that somebody else.

E

May have had a truck out there, dumping somewhere, that, I would say, call the police and ask them to.

E

To do a quick check in the area because that's a big deal if somebody's legally dumping and.

E

We have seen people do that uh and it's it's a major concern. We want to make sure that's.

E

Nipped, you know they get arrested and you know held accountable yeah. This facility doesn't.

B

We also mentioned some uh reliability, so one single point of failure on the pipeline. There's.

B

A parallel parallel pipe there, so there's two pipes on the ground. um I think that's that's an.

B

Important thing and that's something that when we look as good asset managers and work on improving.

B

Our infrastructures making sure we don't have single points of players and slowly results.

B

So that's right, mechanic street. We had two pump problems, but we have a third pump still.

B

Functioning and then we brought in backups to back that up. So that's what we're always looking for is.

B

Because we always have to be operating, we need to make sure we have those levels of redundancy.

B

And we we do and that's what we're shooting for we're shooting for not having those single points.

B

Right now we have three pumps of cancer. We have one of the three of the pump station.

B

Is functioning and we have two backup pumps in the yard and those are those.

B

The metal boxes with the pipes running to them, so we have three pumps currently active there.

B

But the ones the temporary pumps are only active during the rainstorms.

E

And, as eric said, are they are treated so and then.

E

Everything that bacteria is not coming from any disclosures are not coming from.

E

So, that's something that you know you need to feel good about uh and the challenges you know. There's.

E

All the sex has been rained septic systems. Are, you know, failing geese population, uh real issues.

E

um So that's that's the main strive.

E

um You're also asked about timing on the pump station getting fixed right, so I think the first.

A

Step is to get those main pumps back in operation, so um we still are out the estimate from the shop.

B

To do the rewindings on the motors is still three months out, um so we're not going to be back for.

B

In full capacity or within the current, with the design to pump system until probably december.

B

Time frame, um that being said, the project for upgrades, I think what we're going to do is try.

B

To progress that one faster than we thought we're going to, we thought we had a couple more years.

B

um So we don't have an answer on the timing for that yet because that depends sort of on the.

B

Scope of what we think is and when we work with our vendors in the community, what's the right.

B

Solution for this to make sure we don't have these type of trailers and we can ensure reliability so.

E

I don't recall ever.

E

Hear silence, I know we talked about a pr p, um so that meant you know. Okay,.

E

I think what we're referring to is the uh the hebrew press, so the solids press, so it was.

B

Designed to have three presses, so it's funny when you think about a wastewater plant, it's not just.

B

Water going through it's water with with waste so you're, basically at each step, you're taking out.

B

A waste stream taking out a waste stream and all that waste streams. What we do is we press out the.

B

Water and we take those solids and we bring those to a landfill, and then the water gets circulated.

B

So I think what we're referring to is. There was three in the design and uh during the value.

B

Engineering process, one of those three was removed um and I think it's in the cip to add it in.

B

Because, with that we're prep, the guy, our operators are, are running the presses um during most working.

B

Hours, we don't have any sort of uh ability to lose one or have downtime type thing, so we're operating.

B

Them too frequently so having a third will uh kind of improve our pressing process, and I would say.

B

In terms of clarifiers, there really isn't real estate to add another one unless it goes outside.

B

The footprints, I think it's my understanding, I think my counsel- that we shall not do.

D

um And the the question on on usage, so you know actual numbers so that that that usage number so.

D

Every every sewer customer has a meter so water, your what your water meter juice is, is what your.

D

Sewer bills are based on so in foi 12. um Now this is in units. So um the way we built um there were.

D

uh One billion 173 million 423 was fy 12 and for fy 22 it was one zero. Seven, three five, two three.

D

So about a 10 reduction, which is very similar to what we're seeing on the water side um again we're.

D

Seeing efficiencies there and in fy 12, we had just over 6 000 customers in right now close to 6800.

C

Conservation and changing out those older appliances- you know brian, has been you know.

C

Rolling and pushing out those interchange hours, you know those old washing machines and those.

C

Old toilets for the local experience, and um so we've really done a long actually. Enforcement.

C

Throughout the state is known for really banning at the forefront of its. You know.

A

Water efficiency programs- and this is where you're seeing part of that you know result of.

C

The benefit of that extra work by by staff to kind of move that conversation along so.

A

C

So would not be a cso, it would be a storm water outfall, and that is part of the challenge of sort.

C

Of doing more, which is we need to upgrade and improve that storm water outfall put in a new.

C

Outfall second, parallel: it is not a cso, it will not have wastewater just rainwater and we uh you.

C

Know the design or you know early designs, are it has treatment you know as required? You know given.

C

Current regulations and our intention to you know, remove pollutants from water and that's one thing.

B

Why the project is sort of expanded in scope? It's important to make sure we capture that we.

B

Don't want to leave some little portion or some uh part of it still combined and that's that's a big.

B

Thing we don't want it to be successful. There's a good opportunity to totally separate lessons that.

B

Doesn't mean that we're not going to have inflow issues or other pipes, so those are those things.

B

Where we do that project and we still might have to come back, gather some data and see, are there.

B

Other places that we need to focus around so again, it's like that long-term plan. Oh sorry,.

A

Actually, we don't think about what's currently matter. I understand how old it was.

A

Right around 60 years old, my question is:.

A

Cip or get in an estimate to the council.

A

So we know kind of expensive funding down the line and what, if you're, going to move it up at.

A

What point in time are you going to do that, and um when do you really estimate that.

A

So if you're going out three months or just being embarrassed here, that's in december.

A

Until then, can we say that we're going to be fully functional at that point in time or are.

A

We going to have another kind of a surprise there and have to go up for a large expenditure again.

A

It's a hard question. Another question on that is kind of backup we have um down there.

A

My understanding was that we didn't really have backups down there. That's what we haven't been.

A

Involvements also, so the question for from the public uh is looking for a little more detail in.

C

Terms of mechanic street pump station, that's current condition and plants moving forward.

B

So the pump station designed to have two pumps, so you have a duty and a standby. So the backup was.

B

One of those big pumps and then the third one, the yard was basically because those pumps you at low.

B

Flows, rather than have them turn on and turn off. You have a little bit more turn down so that third.

B

One is basically like a third redundancy so that third one can handle most of the flows, except for.

B

Significant rain events, so the redundancy you have two redundant pumps, especially one of those pumps.

B

Should be able to pump most of the flow or all the flow at the facility and that's how it operates.

B

um In terms of rebuilding the the pumps were replaced in 1991, so they're, I don't know 30.

B

Something years old, you're right, though so you're thinking, you're coming back, they're rewinding them.

B

And replacing components is it? Is it a good value for your dollar and the reason why that was the.

B

Rebuild was selected in the interim is because it's when you replace the pumps, it's not just.

B

Replacing the pumps to do that to get those pumps to work, you have to redo all the piping. All the.

B

Valves, you have to redo all the electrical systems, so the variable frequency drives. You have to redo.

B

The electrical service, so it's not just this one thing: it becomes this cascade of things, so the.

B

The interim project, as it was was anticipated, was to replace parts to get us through a little bit.

B

Longer horizon so that the bigger project could be land could be planned, budgeted for and things like.

B

That in terms of time frames, so the parts come back and say three months so say it takes another.

B

Month or so to get everything installed test it out certified make sure it's functional. We want to.

B

Let it run for about a month make sure there's no electrical things that come back software.

B

Issues so you're looking about four months to get those rebuilt equipment back in place and operable.

B

So that's the time frame in terms of time frame for the bigger project. I think right now, because.

B

Of the type of failure that we saw um we're going to have to pivot in terms of our planning, I think.

B

We have a big kickoff design that other project was at about the 90 level, so we're going to pivot.

B

We have some uh some pump station experts, some kind of national experts coming in and we're.

B

Working on understanding sort of various scenarios that we can work with, what are the things that we.

B

Need to do to get through a um the next few years. What's the right amount of work that we have to do.

B

And is it a new facility? Is it a totally revamp of the current facility and understanding how.

B

We can make that work. That's that's still in process, so that that time we don't have.

B

um But you think I know you've been on the council before these projects take a long time. So even.

B

If you say I'm ready to go, and I know what I'm going to do, it takes say it takes a year so to.

B

Get a design together, then you have to work with the community. We have to get feedback from the.

B

Community say that's six months a year start thinking about these projects, even if we have.

B

Exactly the plan that we want in place today, it still takes several years to even implement it. So.

B

um We need to make sure it works. Now we bring back those pumps to make sure they're, functional and.

B

Then we can, then you know, plan for the bigger project in the future and just to reiterate.

E

The the temporary, the the short-term project which we weren't designed for is we're putting that on.

E

Hold and we're saying we need to do. We need to acknowledge that a larger project needs to.

E

Be done so what eric was saying is we're pulling together some experts to start brainstorming. What.

E

The scope of that bigger project is going to be so we can move it forward more quickly and come.

E

To council in the near term, um we've also applied for best uh congressional set-asides for money.

E

uh To move forward on the bigger project, this location and we weren't successful, uh but they.

E

Are they understand the importance of this pump station? uh So we are, you know we we're instead of.

E

Originally, we were thinking about the pump station being done around the same time as the bridge.

E

Because the bridge needs to be replaced in about 10 years, um but so we were hoping to to stretch.

E

It out in that time period for a number of reasons, one the neighborhood just you know.

E

Got through a major treatment plant project, we didn't want to burden the community uh with.

E

Doing another big project in that immediate location, um but based on the experience that.

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We've had with this with these pumps failures, we're realizing that we don't really have the.

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Luxury of waiting that kind of time frame, we need to planning for the near-term updates foreign.