Conference Papers

Follow the Drop is an innovative mobile application and data platform that is designed to enable cities to respond to climate change by collecting stormwater metrics and helping property owners to reduce flooding and pollution. Initial funding to develop the software came from the State of Hawaii Water Security Advisory Group and the Hawaii Community Foundation to support the reduction of stormwater runoff as well as build water security to meet Hawaii's Freshwater Initiative goals to increase water supply by 100 million gallons per day by 2030. In partnership with a local nonprofit, the initial prototype was beta-tested in Hawaii schools to ensure ease-of-use and was coupled with a 13-lesson plan design-thinking course for green infrastructure. Today the software and data platform is serving as a community engagement tool to support municipal green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) programs. Follow the Drop incorporates local rain sensor data and by taking a photo of an opportunity to capture stormwater from a drainage device (ex. downspout, catch basin, etc.), Follow the Drop automates the annual stormwater runoff volume, provides the optimum size green infrastructure system for that opportunity, and displays the volume of stormwater captured for the size and type GSI system inputted. The software also serves as a decision tool; the user is able to collect data from multiple opportunities and congregate and compare them in chart, map, or list view, to identify the best size and location for their green infrastructure project. Specifically for stormwater utilities (SWUs), the app can be distributed to its customers to identify opportunities to capture stormwater onsite to receive a potential fee credit, rebate and/or grant. The municipal agencies are able to track the locations, sizes, status and volumes of stormwater captured of submitted projects to support green infrastructure asset management, maintenance assurance, billing/fee credit management, compliance reporting, and sustainability metrics. The software is being piloted by the City and County of Honolulu to support its future SWU GSI incentive program to simplify the application process for property owners to submit GSI projects to receive fee credits. The presentation will provide the background including water resiliency goals set forth by the Hawaii Freshwater Initiative, current use cases and data output from the software for the Pilot, and next steps of the Follow the Drop program.

Public water agencies throughout the United States face many challenges with extending the reliable service life of their aging buried infrastructure. The San Jose/Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility (RWF) has the capacity to treat approximately 200mgd, with ongoing projects expanding this number. It is located in the City of San Jose (City) and has approximately 67,000 linear feet (LF) of buried wastewater process pipes, many of which were installed in the '50s and '60s and thus have exceeded their design life. Because of the potential terminal condition for some RWF piping, the City is using this Project to increase operational reliability and mitigate the likelihood of failure of their existing buried linear assets. If selected, the purpose of this presentation would be to share BV and the City of San Jose's approach to a large-scale piping condition assessment and rehabilitation effort. The presentation would include a description of the risk tool that BV developed exclusively for this project, condition assessment methods that were implemented, and rehabilitation methods that were selected. Fortunately for these agencies, many viable pipe rehabilitation methods have been invented to date, and there are often large pools of contractors vying for the job. Unfortunately for these agencies, there is rarely a platform available to share feedback or lessons learned from prior projects, even between neighboring cities. Furthermore, it is rare for an agency to embark on such a large, comprehensive project. Therefore, the largest benefit of this presentation would be the ability to share BV and the City's approach to delivering an on-time/under budget project, which started with developing a piping inspection prioritization tool and ended with rehabilitating pipes to provide an additional 50-year service life. In 2018, the City retained Black & Veatch (BV) for the Yard Piping Improvements Project (Project) to systematically assess all buried process pipes 8 inches to 144 inches at the RWF, which equates to approximately 60,000 LF of piping. Pipes at the RWF are comprised of many materials, but are primarily made of either reinforced concrete, ductile iron, or welded steel. The focus of the multi-year Project is to repair, rehabilitate, or replace (R/R/R) pipes, or portions of pipes, that are highest priority by virtue of their criticality and/or observed physical condition. In 2015, as part of a separate project, BV developed a condition assessment plan that provided a prioritized list of critical pipes for inspection, inspection protocol recommendations, and end of life estimates. The plan used weighted risk factors to determine the LOF (likelihood of failure) and COF (consequence of failure) for each assessed pipe. Depending upon identified pipe risk, inspection protocols and desired levels of inspection detail were determined for each pipeline. The final report produced in 2015 has served as the technical basis for the current Yard Piping Improvements Project, and the recommendations provided in that initial report have largely been followed. To date, approximately 36,000 LF of primary and secondary treatment piping has been inspected. Following each inspection, BV reviews the resultant condition data and makes R/R/R recommendations based on the findings. The Project follows an annual cyclical schedule whereby pipes are inspected during the regional dry-weather season, design work based upon these inspections occurs during the wet weather season, and R/R/R construction proceeds in the next dry-weather season. There is a separate service order for each year's pipe rehabilitation design, and a design-bid-build (DBB) project model is followed for each service order. Approximately 2,200 LF of the 36,000 LF inspected to date was identified to have severe deficiencies requiring R/R/R, and these pipe segments have since been rehabilitated. The scope for the first pipe rehabilitation service order contained primary effluent 96-inch reinforced concrete pipe (RCP) and an elliptical 87x136-inchpipeline. Beginning in the '50s, the RWF has slowly expanded to add more effective treatment processes and to increase the overall plant capacity. As a result of this expansion, there are many buried crossing utilities that preclude the feasibility of applying many traditional rehabilitation methods, resulting in a trenchless method focus. Ultimately, the 96' pipeline was rehabilitated with CIPP, and the 87'x136' was rehabilitated using a combination of concrete crown restoration with geopolymer material with an epoxy top coating. The second pipe rehabilitation service order, which is currently in the design phase, contains more primary effluent RCP including 78-inch, 96-inch, and 84-inch pipeline. CIPP was selected as a rehabilitation method for both the 78-inch and 96-inch pipelines, and concrete crown repair with a with an epoxy top coating selected for the 84-inch pipeline. The overall project is scheduled to be completed in 2026, with phases completed each year. The presentation of the Project, which has never been presented at a WEF Collections Conference to date, will focus on condition and risk assessment, selection of inspection methods and applications, the criteria against which rehabilitation alternatives are compared, planning and successfully executing pipeline rehabilitation.

Many New England communities are undergoing flow restoration efforts to improve the health of impaired waterbodies. One such waterbody is Englesby Brook, which drains an area of approximately 605 acres in Vermont's Burlington Bay watershed before flowing into Lake Champlain. Englesby Brook was designated as a stormwater-impaired watershed on the 2006 Vermont 303(d) list due to multiple impacts associated with excess stormwater runoff [1]. A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) target was subsequently released, requiring an 11.2% increase in stream flows during low flow conditions and a 34.4% reduction in flows during the 1 year 24 hour storm event. To improve stream health in Englesby Brook, the City of Burlington Department of Public Works planned a number of stormwater projects. One such project was the retrofit of a stormwater basin called '08 Pond', a wet detention pond collecting runoff from 131.5 acres (21.7% of the Englesby Brook watershed). The proposed retrofit would have included expanding the existing pond footprint, excavating below the pond bottom, and creating additional storage above the existing permanent pool at an estimated 2015 cost of $400,000. This proposed project was estimated to reduce peak discharge from the pond by 63.4% for the 1 year storm [1]. However, recent advances in communications and control technology provided an alternative to this traditional expansion retrofit. To optimize flow through the 08 Pond, the City of Burlington decided to enhance the basin with continuous monitoring and adaptive control (CMAC) technology. CMAC systems leverage real-time site data, the weather forecast, cloud-based software, and flow controls (e.g., actuated valves) to predictively control the timing and rate of flow through stormwater facilities [2]. At 08 Pond, CMAC automatically draws down the pond below the normal pool in advance of storms, allows the pond to fill up targeting zero discharge during events, and performs a post-storm release. Model results show an up-to 80% reduction in peak discharge during the 1-year storm is possible through the use of CMAC at 08 Pond. Anticipated CMAC costs in early 2020 totaled $98,000. Following the retrofit completion in May, 2022 the City will have invested $105,000 to facilitate the installation of this innovative CMAC system. Data from a set of storms totaling 1.63 inches of rainfall in seven days at 08 Pond is shown in Figure 2. Englesby Brook 08 Pond is the second CMAC system in the City of Burlington. The first was the enhancement of an underground detention vault at the Greater Burlington YMCA in 2020. During an analysis period of 3/1/2020 through 11/1/2020, this project retained 70.2% of the stormwater volume during critical wet weather periods, compared to only 16.8% stormwater capture simulated for an identical passive detention system. This presentation will discuss how Burlington is working towards stormwater impaired waters flow restoration and parallel water quality requirements, the background for the Englesby Brook 08 Pond project and highlight aspects of the design, construction, and software configuration. Performance results will be shared for both the 08 Pond and YMCA CMAC projects.

We propose a technological approach to storm response and watershed resilience based upon massive sensor networks, and present lessons learned with regards to long-term operations, real-time alerts, and data-driven visualizations. The presence of a single real-time streamgage can help response crews determine which roads and facilities most are at immediate risk (Figure 1). However, when scaling up, network maintenance can be prohibitive to ensuring the network stays fully operational while minimizing downtime. Starting in 2020, we began operating a network of 150+ wireless water level monitors in collaboration with communities throughout four states across the Great Lakes. Upon installation, high precision GPS was used to survey each site (e.g. sensor and streambed elevations), which was essential for correlating stream levels with the elevations of assets at risk of flooding. The custom enclosures were designed to be fully detached from a fixed bracket, so that in the event a monitor needed to be replaced, it could be done quickly without the need for resurveying. When compared with nearby USGS gages, the sites maintained Pearson correlation coefficients exceeding R2 > 0.95 before and after swaps. Based on over one hundred swaps across our network of 150+ monitors over the past few years, minimizing time-consuming field tasks such as resurveying has reduced the expected time at a given site from an hour (e.g. for reinstallation) to approximately ten minutes. We also explore example use cases where continuous stream monitoring has benefited local communities. In two instances, we were able to locate where ice jams built up and alert grounds crews, ensuring nearby property was protected. The monitors subsequently captured the subsequent waves as the jams broke and also provided datapoints for estimating the stream velocity of the channel. In addition, in response to an intense 30-minute 10-year storm event, we observed that a project upgrade met its design goals while crews were still on site. (Figure 2). The data has also proven useful in instances where monitors upstream and downstream have helped identify non-point sources contributing to unexpected runoff. Ultimately, when coupled with asset information and digital elevation models, there is promise for real-time visualizations such as flood maps to help users identify the setpoints at which they would like to be notified. As more data is collected, we have begun exploring the use of learning rainfall-runoff models to forecast water levels. We close by exploring these opportunities and present our preliminary results.

The Port of Long Beach (Port) is the second-busiest seaport in the United States and committed to improving the environment. Capturing and using stormwater can offset potable water demand, result in reduction of pollutant discharges, and enhance regional drought resiliency. Therefore, the Port and its consultant, Stantec, conducted the Stormwater Harvesting Study to prioritize stormwater harvesting options for the Port. The following three scenarios for stormwater capture were examined: Onsite use, wherein stormwater would be captured, diverted, treated to meet Department of Health standards to use as an alternative water supply, and then provided to select Port tenants for use, with excess water being diverted to sanitary sewers or outfalls. Diversion to the sanitary sewer, wherein stormwater would be captured and diverted to the sanitary sewer for treatment and use off-site. Diversion to Long Beach Municipal Urban Stormwater Treatment (LB-MUST), wherein stormwater would be captured and diverted to the LB-MUST facility for treatment and use by the City of Long Beach. To prioritize locations for stormwater harvesting and onsite use, a pass/fail screening was applied to the Port's drainage basins, followed by a weighted screening criteria and ranking value. Top scoring drainage basins were linked to specific tenants within the Port to determine the final scenarios. A general concept for these projects is shown in Figure 1. Twenty-two Port-owned stormwater pump stations were analyzed for diversion to the sanitary sewer. Locations were prioritized based on the pumping capacity, and screened if located upstream of a drainage basin, in a crowded area, or not located near a viable sewer for discharge. A general concept for these projects is shown in Figure 2. Diversion to LB-MUST considered the available treatment capacity at the LB-MUST facility and the design capture volumes of drainage basins within the Port's Pier B. Two alternatives, a below ground tank and a detention basin, were considered to store the diverted stormwater within the City of Long Beach prior to diversion to LB-MUST. A general concept for these projects is shown in Figure 3. A Triple Bottom Line Cost Benefit Analysis was performed to prioritize the projects. This analysis integrates the broader social and environmental perspectives into decision making, and enables project proponents to objectively justify a project. A ranking of all projects is in Table 1.

This presentation is intended to convey the design concepts, efficacy of rehabilitation methods, and construction challenges for the Guam Waterworks Authority (GWA) Interceptor Sewer Refurbishment Project. The project included the rehabilitation of a large diameter interceptor sewer by UV cured-in-place pipe (UV CIPP). Design of the UV CIPP was based on ASTM F2019 - Rehabilitation of Existing Pipelines and Conduits by the Pulled in Place Installation of Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) Cured-in-Place Thermosetting Resin Pipe (CIPP). Design criteria for the project included the calculation of dead loads based on the actual depths of cover above the top of the existing pipes as well as live loads based on AASHTO HS25 for sewers both inside and outside of the roadways. Guam is a U.S. Territory in the Western Pacific with a population of almost 170,000. The island is approximately 10 miles wide by 32 miles long. It is located about a quarter of the way between the Philippines and Hawaii, approximately 900 miles north of the equator, and it sits atop the western rim of the Marianas Trench. The island is strategically important to U.S. military operations because of its location, its land areas suitable for major airports, and its naturally deep harbor is a safe port for ships and submarines. U.S. military bases, including Naval Base Guam and Andersen Air Force Base cover approximately 39,000 acres or 29% of Guam's total land area. To accommodate the increased wastewater flows expected with the transfer of 5,000 or more U.S. Marine Corps families from Okinawa to Guam in late 2024, the Guam Water Authority assessed the condition of about 8.4 miles of 18-inch through 42-inch diameter interceptor sewer to reliably carry wastewater. The interceptor sewer extends from Andersen Air Force Base on the north end of the island along Guam Route 9 and thence along Guam Route 3 to the Northern District Wastewater Treatment Plant. The existing interceptor sewer was constructed in the 1970s. An assessment of the condition of the sewer was conducted in 2010, and a report of the findings was completed in 2015. The report noted significant corrosion of the inner walls of the sewer and recommended rehabilitation of its entire length. Additional assessment in 2017 noted that most of the sewer was constructed using Techite Reinforced Polymer Mortar Pipe and Asbestos Cement Pipe. Both materials can be problematic. Techite pipe is a thin-walled fiberglass composite pipe that was manufactured in the 1970s. It was removed from the market in about 1980, because it was found to be subject to catastrophic failures. Because of the concerns to health caused by the handling of AC pipe- especially the risks of inhaling asbestos dust when cutting the pipes - it is no longer produced or allowed in many countries, including the United States. Guam Waterworks Authority utilized a progressive design-build delivery process to procure a contractor (design-builder) for the project and contracted with our design-build team in September 2019. The design-build team included Core Tech-Hawaiian Dredging (CT-HD), as the general contractor; Michels for the UV CIPP lining; Mocon Construction for manhole rehabilitation; Dueñas, Camacho and Associates for bypass pumping and civil design; and Gresham Smith for rehabilitation design. The project was funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) for the U.S. Marine Corps redeployment of families from Okinawa to Guam. GWA and CT-HD determined that UV CIPP was the best solution for the pipeline rehabilitation. Previous attempts to install conventional CIPP on Guam USA had achieved mixed results at best. This was partially due to the remote location of the island, which makes the installation of conventional CIPP logistically difficult. Essentially, the conventional liner manufacturer must either build a wet-out facility on the island, or the installation crews must wet out the liner on the job site. On-site wet-out is difficult for even small pipe diameters. It is impractical if not impossible for larger diameter liners. Therefore, UV CIPP was selected because the liners could be impregnated at the manufacturer's wet-out facility, then properly stored and transported by container ship to the island. The obvious conclusion is that UV CIPP is ideally suited for sewer rehabilitation in a remote location such as the island of Guam. Almost all the existing manholes on the interceptor were PVC lined precast concrete. Significant portions of the PVC manhole liners were defective and in need of repair. In lieu of repairing the PVC liners with similar products, our Design-Build team proposed rehabilitating the defective manholes using an epoxy lining system. The $23 million project, which included the rehabilitation of approximately 44,350 LF of 18-inch through 42-inch diameter sewers, necessary pre-lining point repairs, and the refurbishment of approximately 100 manholes, was successfully completed in July 2020. Although the project was completed on schedule and with minimal change order costs, our team had to overcome significant challenges. These challenges included: - Scheduling of all phases of the work, including long delivery times for the liners from the manufacturer. - Numerous bypass pumping setups, which were complicated by required minimum cure times for cementitious repairs before lining the existing manholes with Raven epoxy. - Detailed traffic control plans and coordination with highway construction along Guam Route 3. - Scheduling and permitting work on Federal Lands. - Protection of Endangered Species such as the Common Mariana Moorhen. - Archeological Review. - Constructability issues such as:
a manhole and sewer segment that were partially under a multistory apartment building.
removal of jagged edges of failed
Techite pipe without a robotic cutter, which was not available on the island. It is felt that the information provided in this presentation will be of value to the engineering community, especially for future projects with large diameter sewers, extensive bypass pumping, remote installations, and stringent design requirements.

Our cities are built over thousands of miles of hidden stormwater infrastructure. Stormwater performance data is infrequently and informally collected, meaning we often do not know what is going on in pipes until something goes wrong. Flow datasets are typically collected from monitoring projects that are temporary, limited, and sparse. Stormwater utilities are at the cusp of the same data revolution that electric, gas, and water utilities undertook: system-wide metering. Technology advances have made dense, real-time flow sensor networks possible and affordable. Moving beyond traditional flow monitoring, real-time flow metering gives rise to new data-driven BMPs and insights to help cities to understand their systems. Two case studies will be presented from Jersey City, NJ, and Norfolk, VA, demonstrating the broad applicability of flow metering as a stormwater BMP. Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority installed a real-time flow sensor network to track and quantify combined sewage overflows as they occurred. The network featured multiple sensors at different locations in each outfall to determine the timing and volume of CSOs. Over a six-month study, direct measurements found 42 CSO days with a total discharge of 16 MG, compared to a SWMM model prediction of 21 CSO days and 10 MG of discharge (Fig 1). The differences detected in modeled and measured volumes are notable because JCMUA is required to report release volumes, and their Long Term Control Plan is developed for a specific volume. Flow metering in Jersey City is ongoing with a third network expansion planned for 2021. The City of Norfolk uses a real-time network to track tidal backflow in the storm system and separate contributions from tailwater and stormwater. Dense sensor networks were deployed in two flood-prone sewersheds. One objective was to evaluate overall capacity trends. Fig 2 shows the 30-day average capacity in one sewershed, which was over 50% full. The network delineated the exact inland extent of tailwater here. An algorithm was developed to separate stormwater from tidal flows in real-time. Fig 3 shows measured depth at a location with tidal influence, and Fig 4 shows the stormwater flows separated by algorithm. Findings from Jersey City and Norfolk show that using flow sensor networks to capture real-time data is critical to assessing system performance, is applicable to variable settings and objectives, and that real-time data itself can be considered a stormwater BMP.

Charlotte Water is the largest sewer utility in the Carolinas with approximately 4,500 miles of gravity sewer. Charlotte has been implementing a substantial and aggressive long-term sanitary sewer rehabilitation program to reduce sewer system overflows (SSOs), correct historic maintenance problems, and reduce infiltration and inflow (I/I) into aging sewers. Charlotte's rehabilitation program has a current annual budget of about $25.5 million, including an annual budget of approximately $10 million for small diameter sewer rehabilitation and approximately $6 million for large diameter sewer rehabilitation. Charlotte has been systematically rehabilitating their large diameter sewers over the last 10 years. Charlotte's main trunk sewer entering their largest treatment plant (McAlpine Creek Wastewater Management Facilities) is a 78' concrete sewer installed in the 1960s. The sewer has deteriorated over the years, including significant structural defects/cracks, heavy infiltration into the sewer, and severe hydrogen sulfide corrosion. Failure of this large sewer would cause a major sewer system overflow and be extremely difficult to repair. Charlotte prioritized this 78-inch sewer as their most critical sewer asset in need of rehabilitation. This presentation will discuss the first phase of the 78-inch sewer rehabilitation work that was completed in 2022 for $6.5 million. The 78' sewer is routed through the Carolina Place Mall and big-box store parking lots and crosses two major 4-lane roads. The sewer is 64 feet deep at its midpoint and 32 feet deep at each manhole. The total length of 78' sewer rehabilitated was 2,700 feet, with one section of sewer being 2,200 feet long with no intermediate manholes. Cured-in-place pipe lining (CIPP) was installed in the 78-inch sewer via an 'over-the-hole' wetout installation, meaning the CIPP was wetout (manufactured) right on site and immediately inverted into the 78' sewer. Special CIPP thickness design was required due to the 64-foot depth. The bypass pumping system had a capacity of 57 mgd and included ten 12' pumps manifolded into three 24' force mains over 5,000 feet long each. The bypass piping was routed across two major roads utilizing portable steel truss bridges over the roads -- the first time this was ever approved for such use by NCDOT. This was a major project with many difficult obstacles and challenges. The design issues, construction techniques, and bypass pumping system were very unique and definitely not an everyday type of rehabilitation project. The complex design issues that were encountered that will be presented to the attendees include determining the accurate inside pipe diameter using specialized LIDAR CCTV inspections to profile the pipe (this pipe was severely corroded so the inside diameter was larger than the original pipe diameter), modifying the CIPP thickness design parameters to achieve a design that could be successfully installed (including the soil modulus, short-term flexural modulus and safety factor), utilizing a fiberglass reinforced liner to reduce the CIPP thickness and allow the 2,200-foot section of CIPP to be transported to the jobsite and installed in a single installation (including shipment via a special 94-foot-long trailer with 44 wheels that could be steered independently), and designing a temporary steel truss bridge over a 5-lane and 3-lane road to allow the bypass force main piping to cross the roads (the first time NCDOT ever approved a bridge installation for this purpose). The primary purpose of this presentation will be to thoroughly describe the unique challenges with this project and transfer our lessons learned and unique solutions to the attendees. Large diameter sewers are the most critical sewers in the sewer system as they convey large amounts of flow. Failures can lead to major sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) and significant environmental impacts. Rehabilitating large diameter sewers is extremely complex and difficult, and the design challenges often seem insurmountable, just like was the case for this project when Charlotte prioritized this sewer for rehabilitation. Sharing our lessons learned, out-of-the box thinking, and unique solutions to difficult design issues will be invaluable to the attendees as they return home to tackle their own difficult, large diameter rehabilitation projects. In addition, several of our design and construction solutions will impact the rehabilitation industry as a whole, in particular in the Southeast where this project was performed. We have demonstrated that substantial CIPP material can be shipped to the jobsite using a special 94-foot-long trailer, whereas shipments were previously limited to a much smaller quantity of CIPP on a much smaller trailer. Understanding that a trailer this large is available will impact how other parts of the country start planning their CIPP designs and installations. Further, we have convinced NCDOT to allow temporary truss bridges over their roads for bypass pumping which will significantly change how rehabilitation projects can be performed. We now have another method to address the difficulty of how to cross DOT roads with bypass piping, and we are already seeing that solution being utilized in other parts of North Carolina. Sharing this solution at a national conference may have wide-ranging impacts across the country.

Utilities around the world have navigated the challenges of the global pandemic by working collaboratively and taking new approaches to delivering on their organizational mission. Some are seeking ways to shift from near-term agility to long-term resiliency and sustainability. Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission's (WSSC Water) Strategy and Innovation Office (SIO) worked with their cross-departmental New Normal Taskforce (Taskforce) to think beyond the current challenges to examine emerging challenges and opportunities. Using scenario planning and virtual forums, the SIO and Taskforce identified six key business opportunity areas for investment that build from pandemic-driven insights and will position WSSC Water for success across a variety of potential futures. This effort demonstrated WSSC Water's ability to leverage crisis-based momentum and internal partnerships to move beyond near-term shocks to build resiliency for the future. WSSC Water is currently among the largest water and wastewater utilities in the nation, with a network of nearly 6,000 miles of water pipeline and over 5,600 miles of sewer pipeline. Their service areas span nearly 1,000 square miles in Maryland's Prince George's and Montgomery counties. They serve 1.8 million residents through approximately 475,000 customer accounts. Guided by their vision to be the world-class water utility 'where excellent products and services are always on tap' and commitment to ethical, sustainable, and financially responsible service led WSSC Water to form the Strategy and Innovation Office (SIO). The SIO is charged with accelerating organizational performance through strategic planning and execution, knowledge management, and organizational effectiveness. The SIO is made up of the Office of Innovation and Research, Strategic Performance Office, and Enterprise Risk Team. The Office of Innovation and Research is responsible for finding and accelerating new technologies and processes that reduce operating expenses, increase safe work practices, improve sustainability and create new revenue opportunities. The Strategic Performance Office leads strategic business planning, data analysis and process improvements. Enterprise Risk spearheads business risk assessments and mitigation planning to minimize challenges to implementation of WSSC Water's strategic business plan. The New Normal Taskforce was formed as a cross-departmental team to identify and address challenges associated with the global pandemic and operational challenges. The Taskforce included the SIO as well as representatives from human resources, asset management, diversity and inclusion, police and homeland security, finance, production and utility services departments. Throughout the pandemic, the Taskforce reviewed working conditions, business practices, and technologies to identify concepts to permanently adopt into post-pandemic operations. Arcadis was retained to facilitate a series of virtual sessions to engage the SIO and Taskforce in examining the emerging opportunities and challenges post-pandemic recovery plus ten years. This longer view was used to move beyond the current context and challenges of the pandemic to identify and to better position WSSC Water for long-term success. A key tactic in this exercise was scenario planning. Scenario planning is a method of using uncertainty in plan development and decision making. By using this tactic, leaders can make decisions or adopt strategies that play out well across several possible futures resulting in more resilient business plans. The WSSC Water-Arcadis team held a series of virtual workshops built on the key steps to scenario planning. First, the team developed framing questions that identified the most pressing challenges or questions facing WSSC Water. These questions included complex long-term topics (e.g., digital transformation, affordability, workforce development, community understanding) that do not have established or discrete solutions. The framing questions were used throughout the workshops to keep discussion anchored in the practical challenges of the utility. Second, the team developed and evaluated key national and regional trends that are outside the control of the organization but impact their decision-making. This analysis involved deep dives into nine trend areas including advanced asset management, alternative energy technologies, climate change, policy and governance, contaminants of emerging concern, customer expectations, intelligent water, revenue and pricing, as well as workforce development and upskilling. From these trends, the team selected two key themes to develop a scenario compass and four alternative future scenarios for use in the idea development sessions. Using a world café format and collaborative virtual platform, the team examined each alternative future scenario and generated ideas that leveraged existing resources to address each of the framing questions. Discussions included approaches to improve infrastructure management, operational efficiency, business continuity, workforce development, customer experience, and digital transformation. From these discussions, idea themes were identified and consolidated into potential innovation investment areas. Over 600 individual ideas were contributed through the virtual sessions which were consolidated into 19 primary idea themes. These themes were later grouped into six research and innovation investment areas including customer experience, infrastructure, stakeholders, operations, sustainability, and data & digital. Within each of these areas, the specific ideas were sequenced across three priority horizons: H1 — enhancing existing core functions, H2 — adopting new functions from partner or adjacent industry, and H3 — novel function or future aspirations. These horizon maps provide a roadmap for general exploration by the SIO. Lastly, using the six investment areas, the team developed tailored roadmaps for innovation investments regarding each framing question. The SIO will use the roadmaps to develop a strategy to assist WSSC Water leadership with investment in near-term innovation with long-term impact and reduction of risk posed by uncertainty. They will use the investment areas to assess and prioritize new ideas and technologies as well as guide decisions regarding resource allocations. The horizons within each investment area help set a cadence for needs assessments and functional requirements for external partnerships. Further, the collaboratively developed focus areas identify cross-departmental support and resources needed to implement these strategies. Lastly, the exercise provides SIO with a number of tactics that will support review of trends and alternative futures. As trends change, the updated roadmaps will provide a framework to guide revisions to investment areas or sequencing to improve organizational resiliency. In this presentation, our team will walk through WSSC Water's experience and outcomes. Participants will learn the fundamentals for applying planning tactics to leverage uncertainty and lessons learned during the pandemic to identify investment areas that will support long-term organizational resiliency.

The purpose of this paper will be to present recent advances and techniques along with proper application of proven methodology to rehabilitate two structurally compromised reaches of the Northwest Interceptor Sewer (NWI) in the City of Detroit, Michigan. The NWI is one of the major interceptor sewers in the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) system and serves hundreds of thousands of residents and businesses in Detroit, Redford, Livonia, and Westland, Michigan. As part of the asset management initiative GLWA inspected the NWI using remote operated vehicle (ROV) video techniques in absence of flow control, preventing the lower half of the NWI to be inspected or observed. The ROV inspection revealed several reaches of the NWI along Trinity Avenue and Pierson Street at Warren Avenue that appeared significantly distressed and required emergency rehabilitation. Further investigation, evaluations, and designs were required to perform the required rehabilitation. Manned inspections of these NWI reaches were attempted but were extremely limited due to the high flow conditions. At that time, GLWA activated their Emergency Repair Contract CON-149 with Inland Waters Pollution Control (IWPC) to implement flow control devices and perform the required rehabilitation under a design build approach. An extensive flow control plan was developed and implemented to gain entry. This plan included new flow control gate construction, diversions to other nearby interceptors, and wet weather flow-through designs. Coordination with environmental agencies and knowledge of the GLWA system were important aspects to develop this plan. A geotechnical investigation conducted as part of the initial effort revealed silts and sands surrounding the pipe, with a static groundwater level high enough to drive soil material into the pipe through major cracking, causing concern for further degradation of the pipe. Following implementation of flow control, a manned entry was performed, which revealed more extensive deterioration than was initially apparent, including several sections on the verge of collapse. Immediately following the inspection, rehabilitation options were developed and reviewed based on the variable condition of each reach. Cured-in-Place rehabilitation was not selected due to requirements for long term wet weather flow control that would have been extremely expensive and that would have presented unacceptable risk to the environment. Slip lining methods were not selected due to the large entrance shafts that would be required and the unacceptable reduced lining diameter that would have resulted. Ultimately, a rehabilitation system was selected consisting of: 1) Stabilizing the existing host pipe by emergency support, followed by 2) restoring ground support around the host pipe, and then 3) Installing a reinforced sprayed geopolymer liner to restore the structural lining. This approach allowed for restoration resulting in maximum pipe diameter, with the least risk to the environment. Initial emergency stabilization consisted of first installing steel ribs in the most degraded reaches, followed by groundwater dewatering to minimize further loss of ground through the lining into the sewer. Geotechnical instrumentation consisting of piezometers and surface settlement points were installed to monitor the ground surface above the interceptor, followed by cement and chemical grouting to stabilize the ground around the pipe and further minimize loss of ground into the pipe. Major cracking was repaired in some reaches by installing reinforcing steel rods and anchors followed by over-patching with Eco-Cast lining materials. Following stabilization of the host pipe, the interceptor reaches considered compromised were re-lined with a steel reinforced Eco-Cast lining system. The system consisted of installing horizontal and circumferential steel to limit future cracking of the Eco-Cast liner. This presentation will discuss the emergency approach to the inspection, design, flow control, and rehabilitation methods of the NWI, during which time continuous sanitary sewer service was maintained without interruption, and no sanitary overflow occurred to the environment as a result of the project. Unique and creative methods for accomplishing this repair will be discussed, including the use of a dry weather diversions and bypass; and developing a fully structural finished and crack resistant spray-on lining with thickness of only 3 inches. The rehabilitation of the Trinity and Pierson reaches are complete and flow has been restored to the NWI in this area, with minimal surface disruption and no negative impacts to the environment. The project leaves behind a permanent flow diversion structure that will allow inspections and maintenance for years to come. As a side note, ongoing follow-on tasks for this project will provide two additional permanent flow control structures. This rehabilitation project illustrates several conclusive lessons to the industry described as follows:
Full dewatered inspection of Interceptor sewers is essential, as the initial ROV inspection of this sewer was not adequate due to high flows. Where practical, sewer owners should preemptively install flow controls within their major interceptors that will facilitate regular full-diameter inspections.
Repair methods must be balanced against available and feasible flow control options.
Distressed Interceptor reaches are often distressed due to poor soil conditions such as wet silt/fine sand conditions.
Grouting these reaches to re-establish host pipe confinement is essential usually requiring an exterior dewatering system.
Use of a reinforced sprayed liner system is an effective method to be employed for limited flow control conditions while providing a structural and flexible complete repair, with minimal diameter reduction. Reinforcing is essential for spray-lining systems where future movement or reflective cracking of the host pipe is a possibility.

Transforming a utility's culture to embrace innovation requires redefining behavioral norms and recruiting stakeholders into the innovation environment. Often, utilities struggle with establishing innovation cultures due to ineffective change behavior techniques as well as complex and inflexible supply chain relationships. Peer scanning, informative interviews, and design thinking are all effective tools that can assist utilities with breaking down these barriers. Our team used these tactical approaches to serve as the catalyst for understating how to leverage innovation for the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB). BWWB sought out ways to use innovation for financial impact. It began by conducting a survey to determine ways that peer utilities have reduced operating expenses, reduced/delayed capital expenditures, generated revenue, experience economic development, or 'delivered value' to the customer. 17 utilities were surveyed to understand how they utilize innovation to improve their financial bottom line. Through exploring ways to reduce operating expenses, generate revenue, and optimize capital expenditures, utilities are using innovation to overcome financial hurdles. Insights emerged, detailing that utilities have felt real financial benefits from implementing innovative ideas, technologies, and business processes. 100% of the utilities experienced reduced operating expenses. While 47% experienced reduced capital expenses, only 29% of the utilities experienced increased revenue. Most utilities reported benefits were long lasting and were not one-time. 12 of the surveyed utilities participated in informational interviews to gather further details on their approaches. From conducting interviews, BWWB gained insight on items for possible implementation. Over 20 suggestions were mentioned; it included ideas such as regionalizing services to leveraging assets to partnering with vendors to develop technology. Overall, the initiatives mentioned were aligned with alternative revenue, economic development, cost savings, and management of customer expectations. To determine the feasibility of implementing some of the innovation approaches discovered, BWWB vetted the unique ideas. Since BWWB had already implemented several strategies similar to peer utility initiatives, those opportunities were not considered further. BWWB ultimately selected to vet 4 opportunities through the design thinking process. Tim Brown, the president of the design house IDEO, defines design thinking is defined as 'a human centered and collaborative approach to problem solving, using a design mindset to solve complex problems.' By bringing together diverse stakeholders and perspectives to engage on strategic opportunities, design thinking places the human at the front and center of a problem. Our process followed 3 themes: -Learn: Examine opportunities through the lens of all stakeholders involved and consider the jobs done by key players. -Inspire: Explore innovation approaches that have been successful in other utilities. -Create: Generate ideas that addressed opportunities identified in the Learn session and then developed an actionable roadmap to bring the ideas to fruition. Our team will present BWWB's case study approach to building its innovation culture as well as detail lessons learned along the way. BWWB recognizes that a culture of innovation is born when everyone can play. By using tactical approaches, BWWB focused on fostering new behavioral norms and engage key stakeholders in the organization as building blocks for developing its culture of innovation.

The Stormwater Management Program (SMP) is a Johnson County, Kansas program which partners with the 20 cities in the County to manage stormwater and is funded by a 1/10th of one percent, county-wide sales tax. It administers these funds on behalf of the Cities, historically by providing matching funds to Cities for eligible projects, including study, design, and construction projects. SMP has invested significantly on StormWatch Alert 2 systems (www.stormwatch.com) over the past 30 years to implement real-time early flood warning systems. SMP has funded the installation and maintenance of many of the sites throughout the region and has utilized the data generated from the system for SMP-sponsored studies and projects. SMP also funds a portion of the cost to maintain and improve the website. Johnson County owns 68 of the 108 sites in the system. In addition, City of Overland Park, Kansas Department of Transportation, and City of Kansas City, MO owns several sensors. Currently, SMP with the help of City of Overland Park uses manual process of forecasting flooding conditions and implements emergency management procedures within the county based on existing stream level and National Weather Service's forecasted weather information. However, this process is very tedious, time consuming and not reliable to accurately forecast future flood conditions. Given these challenges, SMP engaged with NEER for the pilot study to utilize its cloud-based Machine Learning (ML) solution to automatically forecast early flood warning system (up to 24 hours) for the Watershed Organization 1 using existing hydraulic models and StormWatch real time datasets. NEER obtained existing HEC-1 and HEC-RAS models from FEMA for Watershed Organization 1. After verifying the integrity of the models, NEER converted existing HEC-1 and HEC-RAS models into EPA-SWMM model. During the conversion process, NEER followed the standard engineering practices to update the existing hydrology (subbasin and storage data) and hydraulic (open channel geometry, culverts, and bridge data) characteristics. After updating all the parameters, the hydraulic model was calibrated using StormWatch gage data collected during 2016 to 2020. There are a variety of statistical measures used to measure the goodness-of-fit between a long term continuous measured and a modeled hydrograph. For this study, statistical measures Integral Square Error (ISE) and Nash'Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) were used as a single, non-subjective, statistical measure of model calibration (https://www.chijournal.org/C414). Generally, calibration results showed very good to excellent NSE and ISE range for all the gage locations. After the calibration, NEER set up a continuous real time and forecasting stormwater simulation model. In this step, StormWatch gage data (rainfall and stage collected every 5 minute) was obtained and stored in a Time Series Database. In addition, the 24-hour forecasted rainfall data obtained from the National Weather Service was also used in forecasting the stage and water surface elevation along the Brush and Turkey Creek. This real time and forecasting model that is scheduled to run every 6 hours, provides a predicted and forecasted floodplain boundary, depth grid, water surface elevation grid, velocity grid, and flood severity grid. that can be used for operational decisions. The total number of buildings and roads flooded, and operational recommendations (such as closing of roads, and evacuation of buildings) for every 6 hours is stored and displayed in the dashboard.