Results

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.

In the past two decades, wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) have been undergoing a dramatic transformation from solely focusing on wastewater treatment to resource recovery of valuable byproducts from waste. Utilities are increasingly realizing the benefits of biofertilizer production, nutrient recovery, energy production, and water conservation and the value it brings to the overall bottom-line for the end user. Wastewater utilities are also uniquely positioned to bridge the demands of renewable energy production as well as reducing organic solid waste from ending up in landfill, both regulated in many states in the US. The US EPA has identified more than 1,300 facilities in the US that rely on anaerobic digestion to reduce organics from wastewater, however, per the American Biogas Council, an estimated 40% of all anaerobic digesters in the US are being underutilized. Digesters with excess capacity are energy sinks, requiring just as much heat and electricity when operated at under capacity as they do while fully optimized, but with very little return in the form of energy production (as biogas). This unused digester capacity can be utilized to anaerobically codigest landfill diverted organics to produce biogas, which in turn can be converted to biomethane or heat and electricity using a combined heat and power system. Increased biogas production is just one of the many benefits of introducing high strength biodegradable wastes from commercial and industrial establishments into municipal anaerobic digestion systems. Digestion systems can also be designed to produce Class A or exceptional value (EQ) biosolids that is returned to the market as biofertilizer or soil amendment. In anticipation of an upgrade from 5.0 to 7.7 MGD, Hermitage Municipal Authority in Pennsylvania undertook a major upgrade of their solids handling facility to increase treatment capacity. The facility only has secondary treatment, meaning there is no easy-to-digest, high calorific value primary sludge as a feed to the new anaerobic digesters. As part of the upgrade, one of the goals was to boost biogas generation and use it as the primary fuel in a combined heat and power (CHP) cogeneration system to offset process heat and generate renewable electricity. This lead to a solids management plan specifically design to address high strength codigestion of source separated organic (SSO) wastes imported to the facility, mostly focused on pre-consumer expired or contaminated food waste, all while still able to produce a US EPA approved Class A biofertilizer. A new two phased digestion system was built using two existing anaerobic concrete tanks on site and one new steel tank. This system includes a first stage thermophilic hydrolysis reactor to acidify high strength waste, followed by high rate mesophilic digesters. A new biogas collection and treatment system and a combined heat and power unit was installed. Subsequently, a second CHP system was installed to maximize biogas utilization with minimal downtime. A new depackaging system, capable of handling dairy/liquid waste was included as part of this initial upgrade. This limited use process justified the needs of the time since only one regional dairy had agreed to divert their pre-packaged, expired dairy waste to the wastewater plant for organics recovery. Subsequently, a second depackaging system was installed to widen the imported source separated organics profile, specifically to include the capabilities to extract organics from various packaged solid food waste. The design of the facility also include a staging area to receive imported packaged organic waste from grocers, large food manufacturers, dairy and other organic waste generators. More recently, a new innovative depackaging process was installed to improve organics removal efficiencies, reduce contaminant level in extracted organic slurry, and manage increased throughput of imported waste at the facility. The three depackaging units are now capable of handling both solids and liquid waste effectively. Since January of 2013, the facility has grown from having just one dedicated organics waste supplier to now receiving food waste from over a dozen major sources. The facility has since processed over 8,000 dry tons of solid waste and over 12 million gallons of high strength liquid waste. The facility utilizes a custom organics feed staging strategy in the advanced anaerobic digestion system, that allows an applied organics loading rate (OLR) in excess of 12 kg/m3 (0.75 lb/ft3) in the first stage thermophilic acid digester. The second stage mesophilic gas digester is fed at a rate of 3 kg/m3 (0.19 lb/ft3), which is typical of conventional digesters, but is capable of higher OLR input. The phased digester feed is a combination of secondary municipal sludge and depackaged organic high strength slurry, in some instances pre-heated prior to introducing it to the thermophilic digesters. The organics loading ratio on a mass basis for municipal sludge to imported waste ranges between 1 to 0.6 and 1 to 1, with 20 tons of municipal sludge for every 12 to 20 tons of organic slurry. The phased digestion system is a US EPA's Process to Further Reduce Pathogens (PFRP) equivalent process, designed to achieve Class A biofertilizers as the final product. The current bioenergy system is capable of treating over 125,000 cubic feet of biogas and generates up to 13,400 kilowatts hour of power. The goal is to convert the biogas into compressed natural gas (CNG) to capitalize on the renewable energy credits to improve the cities renewable energy portfolio. In addition to increasing the bioenergy and biofertilizer production, the authority collects tipping fees from food waste generators that offsets ratepayer contributions. Renewable bioenergy production using landfill diverted organics all occurs within this resource recovery facility. This synergistic approach will benefit the solid waste industry from having to find new ways to manage organic food waste, the energy industry from having to build new renewable energy facilities, and most critically the wastewater industry in maximizing existing infrastructure to produce biofertilizer, recovery nutrients, produce bioenergy, and conserve water all while generating revenue from tipping fees. The paper offers a concise methodology that illustrates this synergetic approach to a growing problem. The paper aims to cover the nuances of source separated organics pretreatment, anaerobic codigestion and related processes.

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) is a special-purpose district responsible for treating wastewater and providing stormwater management for residents and businesses in its 882-square-mile service area, which encompasses Chicago and 128 suburban communities throughout Cook County. The MWRD works diligently to protect Lake Michigan, the source of their drinking water, and to ensure the health and safety of residents and area waterways. In 2020, the MWRD embarked upon a strategic planning process to establish the vision and goals that would guide its work over the next five years. The MWRD engaged Arup and Civic Consulting Alliance to conduct the strategic planning process in collaboration with its Board of Commissioners and Executive Team. We brought expertise on structuring comprehensive stakeholder engagement for water utilities along with experience working with institutions to embed an equity-focus across their work — two strategic priorities for the MWRD in this round of planning. This new Plan built on the accomplishments of their 2015-2020 Strategic Plan. The goals were to: - Articulate the mission, vision, and strategic goals for the MWRD for the next five years - Identify a set of strategic initiatives to achieve those goals - Provide a framework for measuring progress and reviewing/updating the Plan on an annual basis The planning process began in September 2020 and was completed February 2021. The Strategic Plan was formally effective on June 3, 2021. We undertook a comprehensive, staged approach that consisted of four consecutive phases: - Phase 1: Led an intensive and iterative engagement effort to assess the MWRD's current state and identify its desired future state. That engagement effort included MWRD leadership and more than 500 MWRD staff, as well as approximately 50 stakeholder organizations that participated in a stakeholder workshop — including the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the Metropolitan Planning Council, and a range of environmental and community-based organizations — and members of the general public who participated in public-facing surveys. - Phase 2: Conducted a workshop with the MWRD's strategic planning Steering Committee, which identified five strategic goals: resource management; stormwater management; workforce excellence; community engagement; and enterprise resilience. The strategic goals were formulated based on information and opinions collected during Phase 1. - Phase 3: Facilitated working groups for each strategic goal and developed a Strategic Roadmap for the MWRD to implement, including 150+ sequenced initiatives and metrics to measure progress. - Phase 4: Finalized the Five-Year Strategic Plan, which includes 5 overarching strategic goals, 32 strategies (that support the goals), and initiatives and a framework for the MWRD to update the plan annually. We presented on global best practices and industry trends to help guide the visioning process, and facilitated external stakeholder workshops to bring perspectives from environmental organizations, local communities, and regional planning groups into the planning process for the first time in the MWRD's history. Our Strategic Planning team leveraged industry frameworks from organizations such as the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) and Water Environment Federation (WEF); and augmented with other trending research such as City Water Resilience Approach (by Rockefeller Foundation, Stockholm International Water Institute, Arup) and Circular Economy principles (Ellen MacArthur Foundation) to create a context-specific Strategic Plan for the MWRD. This resulted in a Strategic Plan that is innovative, responsive to key trends such as the growing threat of climate change, and the racial and social inequity in Cook County. As a result of this process, the MWRD is equipped with a Strategic Plan guided by the principles of engagement, collaboration, innovation, equity, and resilience. The MWRD's vision for its future state has been updated, and given the racial and social inequity in the communities served by the MWRD, its core values have been expanded to include equity and diversity. Moreover, these values are reflected in the specific strategic initiatives outlined in the new Plan. For example, one key focus is to identify and eliminate barriers to participation for disproportionately impacted areas (DIAs) — low-to-moderate income areas that may be more susceptible to flooding, and that often have less capacity to partner with the MWRD to implement stormwater solutions and alleviate local flooding. The benefits and significance of the Strategic Plan will be far-reaching for the MWRD to give a positive social impact to the communities it serves. These include: - Integration of an equity lens into the District's vision and strategies, to reduce the disproportionate impact of flooding and other water management challenges on low-to-moderate income areas in Cook County - District is equipped with a robust, collaborative, and community-informed strategic planning process that will guide it to a path to a more sustainable future The presentation will provide the following: - An overview of the overall strategic planning process - Steps to make the process more inclusive, and how staff at all levels were engaged, and how external organizations and the public were engaged - Identify the industry related frameworks that were used to develop the Strategic Plan - A review of key themes and initiatives identified in the Strategic Plan - Key outcomes that will forge stronger and more equitable connections with the communities the District serves - Lessons learned from conducting this process remotely and in virtual environments

Carbon and glass fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) have been used for infrastructure for more than three decades, and applications in pipeline rehabilitation has gained momentum in recent years. The advantages these systems can provide include high strength, light weight, and ability to be installed on essentially any type of pipe material, size, and geometry. The common practice for an FRP system design entails accounting for carbon layers only. While carbon fiber is extremely strong in tension (200,000 psi ultimate tensile strength and above), it is not as strong in compression (typically about 50 percent of tensile strength or less). As such, if the external loads on a pipe is significant, such as deeper gravity sewers, then a stand-alone design CFRP system will result in too many layers of carbon with a price greater than other alternatives by multiple folds. This has been the primary reason for FRP systems not being able to find many applications in the wastewater and stormwater infrastructure rehabilitation. This is changing with latest advents in the FRP industry. One such example is sandwich structure system developed by QuakeWrap based on one of the co-authors' (Dr. Mo Ehsani) idea of utilizing the I-beam concept for the FRP liner profile to increase ring stiffness without using excessive layers of carbon fiber laminae. This concept was developed into a pipe (StifPipe®) and has been used in a number of applications over the years. The first tier StifPipe® applications were made using a 'mini I-beam' fabric sandwiched between glass and carbon fiber polymer layers. Then after much testing and evaluation, the manufacturer (QuakeWrap) moved onto a proprietary 3D fabric that has the capability to absorb more epoxy resin, thereby giving it more ring stiffness without a significant increase in weight. The first installation of StifPipe® with the sliplining method dates back to 2012 for a 48-inch wastewater pump station discharge line in Avalon, California. The outside diameter (OD) of the StifPipe® segments used was 47-inches and the one-inch annular space was filled with non-shrink grout. This first installation was followed by multiple other sliplining applications mostly in stormwater lines and culverts up to 70-inches of diameter. In 2018, QuakeWrap started entertaining the idea of building a StifPipe® inside a pipe as cured-in-place installation. In other words, this would be applying the conventional FRP installation technique (wet layup) with the resin rich 3D core fabric. Upon a couple of successful mock installations at QuakeWrap's R&D facility, the first project with the wet layup was carried out in New Jersey (for Middlesex County) to repair a 66-inch storm sewer pipe. The installation went smoothly and QuakeWrap has completed several projects ever since with this method including a 12-ft diameter, 100-120 ft. deep stormwater tunnel under I-35 in Minneapolis, Minnesota (see the image below). The latter case required a 1.47-inch thick StifPipe™, which is designed to withstand the entire soil and groundwater pressure at that depth. FRP systems' high stiffness, hence low thickness along with their smooth surface (Manning's n between 0.009 and 0.010), often results in improved hydraulic capacity in a sewer line after lining. A typical StifPipe® has a pipe stiffness (PS) value of 75 and weighs about a tenth and fifth of concrete and centrifugally cast glass fiber reinforced pipe (CCGFRP) of equivalent strength, respectively. This enables installation of StifPipe® without any jacking equipment for diameters up to 72-inch. Design considerations include factoring in any excessive axial forces, which could require additional layers to prevent axial buckling in a pipe that is otherwise has a small wall thickness to withstand external and internal pressure (for force mains and surcharge conditions). The main installation challenge for the wet layup installation of StifPipe® is making sure the surface prep is done properly. This applies to all types of FRP installation; nevertheless, a unique challenge for StifPipe® is making sure the thick and heavy 3D core layer is saturated with epoxy completely and applied properly on the preceding layer. There is no saturating machine produced for this type of thick fabric; and therefore, the current practice is infusing the resin with ribbed rollers. Quality assurance is performed by weighing the saturated fabric. FRP systems are continuing to provide a viable alternative for pipeline rehabilitation, and the use of FRP systems for particularly large diameter pipelines is growing. Nevertheless, better design practices and education of the end users are needed to get the best out of these high-tech materials in achieving cost competitiveness. With such design practices it is fair to assume that the use of these materials will also grow in the gravity flow pipe systems (mainly storm and sanitary sewers) given the advantages they provide such as high strength, minimal thickness, smooth surface, and ability to accommodate any geometry. Right design and installation practices will enable engineers and owners to enjoy the great benefits of these materials to maximum extent. This presentation will present design and installation practices for composite, as well as proprietary, FRP systems used for sewer rehabilitation. The presenter will also provide insight into NASSCO's Guideline Specification for sewer rehabilitation with FRP, which was published recently. (https://www.nassco.org/resources/guideline-specs).

The Chagrin River-Lake Erie Direct Tributaries (CHALET) Stormwater Master Plan (SWMP) Study advanced the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District's efforts to protect Lake Erie, critical infrastructure, and over one million residents by addressing flooding, erosion, and water quality problems associated with stormwater runoff in the Cleveland Metropolitan area. Regional assets that receive and convey stormwater were evaluated throughout the 86-square-mile drainage area using a combination of field inspections and hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) models. Field geomorphic inspections of waterways and stormwater basins were conducted through streamlined technology. Fifteen subwatershed models of the study area were also developed to identify flooding problems. Condition ratings for assets within the regional stormwater system (RSS) were then developed using standardized GIS data processing that integrated field inspection and modeled flooding results. Areas with poor ratings were grouped to define problem areas, and cloud-based GIS access facilitated the development and evaluation of alternative improvement projects. The resulting CHALET SWMP delivered a prioritized list of construction projects and operation and maintenance activities to reduce flooding and erosion risks and enhance stream health throughout the region. This presentation will focus on how inspection data and modeled flooding results were classified following the District's standards, integrated, and shared among the project consultant team to systematically compare risks across the study area and develop improvement plans. This process will be illustrated by focusing on one of the resulting 47 problem areas. This case study demonstrates how structural, hydraulic, and sedimentation and debris risks were flagged throughout the RSS and holistically considered when developing improvement projects. Key technologies that facilitated data collection, asset performance evaluation, and alternative development will also be highlighted. During the data collection process, culverted streams were inspected using closed circuit television, while stormwater basins and open channel streams were inspected through the ArcGIS Survey123 platform. These inspections produced numerous videos and photographs that were shared back with the District and hosted on their ArcGIS Online (AGO) platform. These inspections resulted in condition assessments with ratings for structural integrity and sedimentation and debris. These ratings for basins and streams were added into the GIS dataset used in the subsequent performance evaluation. In addition to the inspection data, open channel spherical imagery was collected throughout the study area. These 360-degree views of the streams were linked to a GIS dataset so that the consultant team could easily verify inspection results and develop improvement projects. This Google Street View-like tool proved invaluable for increasing the efficiency of desktop-based analysis, thus minimizing the need for return trips to the field. The CHALET SWMP team developed 15 H&H stormwater models using PCSWMM. These models drew on field inspections, flow monitoring, and spherical imagery. The PCSWMM models were used to predict flooding with the planning focus being, when feasible, to develop solutions that would avert flooding at the 100-year design storm event. Hydraulic condition ratings for RSS assets (culverted stream, basins, crossings, and streams) were based on the flooding depths of nearby buildings, roads, driveways, and other transportation assets. Using the District's standards, a condition rating related to flooding depth and a criticality rating related to asset importance were assigned to each building and transportation asset. More important buildings and roads, such as hospitals and highways, had higher criticalities than less important assets, such as residential garages or local streets. Condition ratings and criticalities of the RSS and associated buildings and transportation assets were combined to develop business risk exposure (BRE) scores in a comprehensive GIS dataset. Assets with high criticalities and poor condition ratings for structural integrity, hydraulic performance, and/or sediment and debris resulted in the highest BRE scores. Problem areas were delineated where multiple assets in close proximity had high BRE scores. Improvement alternatives were then developed for each area. Standardizing GIS data management of inspection results, generation of condition ratings, assignments of criticalities, and calculation of BRE scores supported data-driven performance evaluations and solution development. One problem area in the Euclid Creek East subwatershed serves as a case study for how comprehensive data management facilitated evaluating asset performance and improving regional stormwater management. Along this portion of Euclid Creek East Branch, inspections identified debris accumulation at a basin inlet, a failed crossing, and high criticality buildings near an eroding stream bank. Modeling predicted flooding of local roads. When considered together through the GIS database operational performance evaluation, this portion of the East Branch was flagged for problems stemming from hydraulic performance, structural integrity, and debris accumulation, and a problem area was defined. A set of baseline recommendations and two alternatives addressing flooding were created. The alternative that reduced the risk most effectively and efficiently was then recommended to the District in the SWMP. With standardized GIS data delivery, recommendations from this SWMP, in addition to the District's three previous SWMPs, can now be integrated and shared with internal District stakeholders, enabling the District to comprehensively present problem areas and recommendations across their entire service area. ArcGIS Online and the Enterprise Portal offer a dynamic and interactive method for effectively sharing SWMP recommendations. Results from this data-driven planning process now serve to prioritize nomination of improvement projects to the District's design and construction plan or for advanced stormwater planning.

The management of PFAS has been a topic of discussion among the water/wastewater industry for the last few years, which has led to the development of the EPA's interim guidance for PFAS management. Our current understanding of both the extent of PFAS contamination nationwide in drinking water supplies and the concentrations that produce adverse health effects in the human body are in their early stages. What is certain is that PFAS will become an issue of growing concern over the next several years, if not decades, with the advancement of contamination site and health testing. Recently drafted EPA interim guidance and its key focus areas. The current on-going USEPA's PFAS Action Plan intend to develop MCLs for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water and to take steps to classify PFAS as hazardous substances. These actions have the potential to affect wastewater utilities in two keyways: (1) By requiring higher levels of treatment to protect downstream public water supplies and/or expanded source water protection measures; and (2) By limiting disposal options for PFAS contaminated waste or biosolids. States are also developing their own standards for PFAS in surface waters. The standards could be drivers for new permit limits and/or additional monitoring requirements for WWTPs. In turn, these requirements could result in costly investments in new treatment technologies to achieve a higher level of PFAS removal. Following States have already developed MCLs ahead of EPAs action plan: -New York established MCLs for PFOA and PFOS of 10 ppt individually -New Jersey adopted MCLs for drinking water for PFOS (13 ppt), PFOA (14 ppt), PFNA (13 ppt), and groundwater quality standards for PFNA (13 ppt), PFOA (14 ppt), and PFOS (13 ppt) -Michigan adopted groundwater cleanup standards for PFNA (6 ppt), PFOA (8 ppt), and PFOS (16 ppt), and MCLs in drinking water for PFNA (6ppt), PFOA (8ppt), PFOS (16ppt), PFHxS (51ppt), GenX (370ppt), PFBS (420ppt), and PFHxA (400,000ppt) -New Hampshire adopted drinking water MCLs for PFOA (12 ppt), PFOS (15 ppt), PFHxS (18 ppt), and PFNA (11ppt) -Vermont adopted a drinking water MCL for PFHxS, PFHpA, PFNA, PFOS, and PFOA of 4ppt individually and 20 ppt combined. -Massachusetts adopted drinking water MCLs for PFOS (3.3 ppt), PFOA (3.3 ppt), PFNA (3.3 ppt), PFHpA (3.3 ppt), PFDA (3.3 ppt) and not to exceed 20 ppt combined. During this presentation the following topic areas will be also covered: 1.Removal mechanisms of the PFAS treatment technologies focused on destruction, concentrating, and sequestration 2.'Off-the-shelf' and innovative treatment technologies 3.PFAS minimization as a primary management strategy and the fate and transport of PFAS when these substances are used Although most municipal wastewater utilities have not yet had to deal with PFAS issues, a proactive approach, starting with an initial PFAS risk evaluation is recommended. This initial risk evaluation is intended to provide municipal decision-makers with some idea of where their PFAS risks lie, as well as give them recommendations for next steps to inform proactive planning for PFAS response.

In water-stressed regions around the world, a dearth of resilient water utilities is jeopardizing access to basic needs such as piped drinking and irrigation water. The availability of this water is heavily tied to utility management of wastewater as a resource to reverse growing supply pressure on freshwater sources, something which the American Southwest has dealt with head-on with its established aquifer and reservoir infrastructure. However, wastewater treatment and reuse infrastructure has become even more challenging for utilities in the region due to the growing impact of climate change-proliferated droughts. While technologies like MBR (Membrane Bio Reactors) and MABR (Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactors) are being readily implemented as creative reuse solutions for the region, innovation in utility planning will be just as valuable. Further, the need for innovative infrastructure strategy applies to A) densely populated cities with limited space to add centralized utility infrastructure, B) new towns or suburban regions where utilities need to be quickly built and C) irrigation infrastructure that needs to be built or improved (i.e., 2021 Lake Mead crisis). Given these challenging scenarios, Modular Decentralized Wastewater Treatment (DWT) is a compelling new solution gaining traction globally. These systems are crucial for the Southwestern US and beyond in the fight against 'Day Zero' (including Cape Town itself) due to their associated affordability and speed of implementation. When implemented correctly, Modular DWT can also deliver the following benefits: - Augmented biological load removal capacity (depending on the technology used) o Can extend to nutrient removal in order to reduce coastal 'dead zones' - Minimized piping infrastructure and land usage based on accurate fulfillment of treatment requirement - Can be easily deployed in regions with Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) issues as a standby unit -Simplified sludge handling and disposal due to point source treatment - Impacts of system downtime can be reduced due to distributed approach and standardized IoT Integration (rather than relying on one custom, centralized system) Our paper will identify hotspots for the next 'Day Zero' scenarios and how what a modular DWT program there might look like.

This paper will present a project in Novi, MI where 300 feet of 10-inch sanitary sewer was installed over a Peat and Marl Zone using a trenchless stabilization process and the pilot tube method of guided boring (PTM). The study is a comparison between the originally designed 'open excavation' project and the value engineered project using PTM and grout injection for the Grand River Road project (adjacent to two busy thoroughfares and a Cadillac Dealership). In 1996, the City of Novi, permitted development of a 10-acre parcel which included a sanitary sewer line that was added to their existing collection system. Located in Oakland County, this installation was originally constructed using PVC Truss Pipe at cover depths ranging from 10 to 12 feet. Below the pipe, the soil consistency was layers of peat and marl. In 2006, the site was redeveloped with an additional 10-foot of fill added to the area above the sanitary sewer line. This surcharge load affected the flexible pipe / soil structure as well as the peat / marl foundation below the pipe zone; the result was a failed pipeline. A new sanitary sewer line was proposed, designed, and bid as a conventional open trench excavation with 'over-excavation' of the marl zone. Soil borings indicated the existence of a peat/marl zone within the sewer elevation (on the west end) and below that, was a 5-foot layer peat zone above a 7-foot layer of marl. Moving to the east, the marl zone was just 2 foot below the sewer invert. The initial bid design required over-excavation of the peat and marl, the addition of a geotextile wrap, and 1-3 inches of backfill with crushed stone. This foundation improvement was required for pipeline support using conventional open-trench installation methods. This paper outlines the soil stabilization and installation method of PTM used to replace the sanitary sewer. The project was originally specified conventional open-excavation and the Contractor value engineered the project using grout injection and then used Pilot Tube Method of Guided Boring install the sanitary pipe.

Background:
Situated between the Kansas and Wakarusa rivers, Lawrence, Kansas has an area of nearly 35 square miles divided into 11 tributary watersheds and 59 sub-watersheds. The 2020 Census population of approximately 95,000 reside within city limits, which is primarily developed with single family residential being the primary use. A large portion of the city is occupied by the University of Kansas and its associated properties. The enclosed stormwater system is comprised of over 17,600 structures and approximately 265 miles of piping, including both public and private infrastructure. The City of Lawrence, KS, is required to comply with a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Program as part of the federal Clean Water Act. Historically, the common practice was to hire a consultant to evaluate stormwater data, run pertinent calculations, publish a report of projects that the City will get to when budget allows or enough concerns are raised to address. The City of Lawrence challenged that process and looked to its consultants as partners to provide holistic and interactive stormwater solutions to find a balance for the stormwater system. Approach: Managing a stormwater system requires balancing financial resources and physical system needs based on available data. The Stormwater System ID, Assessment & Model Creation Project, undertaken by the City of Lawrence, KS is an innovative approach to identifying stormwater assets condition, criticality, and serviceability. This data, along with modernized stormwater modeling methods, is helping identify cost effective solutions to managing the stormwater system. The project team, consisting of engineering consultants and City Engineering Staff have learned several lessons during this comprehensive project. This session will highlight lessons learned from a private consultant and municipal engineer's prospective and help others become wise from our mistakes and help you find balance in stormwater management.

What makes this project unique?
The City of Lawrence wanted to better understand its entire stormwater system, which encompasses the entire City, all 59 subwatersheds across nearly 35 square miles. All the asset inventory and condition information will reside in one primary database, Utility Network by ESRI. This dataset is shared with other utilities within the City, helping level the informational knowledge. Additionally, every structure will have a 3D digital model allowing users to visually confirm condition and routing. What can be learned from this project? There are evolving technologies in managing a stormwater system, but they all come back to having a good map and a plan of action. The foundation of this project, which can be used on other projects is a solid repository for data, aka a map. From that foundation, project engineers and asset managers can start piling on information to make the map more detailed, especially in a digital environment. One of the first benefits to a digital, ESRI based map, was the ability query quantities and assign statuses to assets. The project team created live dashboards that recorded a host of statuses which helped track progress and identify a punch list of structures or lines that needed attention prior to being labeled 'Inspection Complete.' The second foundational piece of the project was a plan of action. The scope of assets to be identified and appraised, initially seems to be an endless list of letters and numbers. Using digital maps and isolating work to be done in a specific watershed at a time, helped make the task of collecting all the data attainable. A prioritization of tributary watersheds was created, and field crews worked across the basins systematically. Another foundational cornerstone is communication. The project team and sub-teams held regular status meetings and huddles. These interactions allowed the entire team to maintain visibility on progress, areas that needed attention and successes. Having an engaged team across the variety of individuals contributing was key to consistency. The field team included staff from one of the consultants and from the City, this required coordination and communication of procedures and standard language. The data team processing and performing QA/QC had to communicate with field teams and modelers to ensure field data was accurate and incorporated into the models.

Innovation and Technology at Work
The mapping technology and ability to see and find additional details on assets is a game changer. But investing in innovation was important to the City of Lawrence for several reasons. -Data collection was done without having to put City or contractors at risk during manned entry of a confined space. -Asset physical measurement information, as well as condition assessments can be done with one touch of the structure while in office. Saving time and reducing field data collection errors. -TREKK 360 scans and models provide a snapshot in time to the current conditions of structures to be compared to future scans. -Modeling experts have a variety of easily accessible data to tune their model. -The affordability and simplicity of deployment allowed multiple crews to collect data simultaneously and rapidly. Reducing the field time and negative impacts of weather delays. Better understanding the stormwater system from an asset identification standpoint, aided the ability to accurately model the system. These steps were critical to understanding the status quo and what improvements will be required to improve the level of service across the City of Lawrence. Balancing the financial resources and setting an acceptable level of service will be the second presentation by our team members of Burns & McDonnell.

Regional flooding has been controlled within the Coachella Valley in Southern California since 1915, with existing facilities built or improved in the 1970s following severe floods. The Coachella Valley Water District provides stormwater protection for a 590 square mile area within the valley by using approximately 135 miles of channels along with a number of dikes and retention basins that can convey approximately 80,000 cubic feet per second of flow from the surrounding mountains into the Whitewater River. In 2017, the District partnered with Black & Veatch to launch an extensive asset inventory and support implementation of their asset management system. This presentation will show how the rapid growth of CVWD's asset management system has benefited their stormwater management program by: 1) Showing the importance of data structuring and establishing a data collection protocol for a successful asset management program. 2) Engaging stakeholders across their business to create an expansive and robust registry which supports current and future programs. 3) Providing data to justify capital improvements and preventative maintenance decisions; shifting away from reactive maintenance and developing defendable investment prioritization. The Project has completed a field-based inventory, baseline full-system condition assessment, development of risk-based prioritization criteria, and mapping business processes. The stormwater assets were collected over a 4-week field effort with zero injuries. To execute these efforts, Black & Veatch leveraged an off-the-shelf ESRI product tailored so the final asset inventory seamlessly integrated with the District's CMMS software. CVWD staff were involved in each step of the project, helping structure data hierarchies and dictionaries, collecting field data, and incorporating institutional knowledge into business process mapping and prioritization criteria development. Data management was key as the final inventory contained over 80,000 data points including sub-meter accuracy GPS coordinates, field documented asset specifications, over 1,500 photographs, opinions of replacement costs, and baseline likelihood of failure and consequence of failure criteria. Post collection, the District's forces now have verified asset locations and attributes that provide reliability to day to day efforts. Scalability was built into the implementation to support on-going and future development of the asset management system.

Following an EPA 308 Letter of Violation in 2014 citing high rates of SSOs within the collection system, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County (WSFC) Utilities identified system condition as a key driver of gravity sewer failures. A rehabilitation plan was quickly developed and implemented to assess and rehabilitate poor condition assets within the system. Five years later the plan has underwent significant changes. By understanding the basis of this program and using the results to date to improve the initial plan, a sustainable long-term collection system has been developed to achieve WSFC Utilities level of service goals. Initial rehabilitation needs were projected using a Statistically Significant Sample Survey (4S) which sampled the variety of pipes in the system to determine which features correlated with the poorest condition. Based on these findings, rehabilitation yield rates were developed for the system. Areas with assets most likely to yield high volume of rehabilitation work were prioritized for assessment and rehabilitation measures were developed based on these asset-specific inspections. This allowed WSFC Utilities to prioritize the inspection of assets most likely to be in poor condition, maximize the number of asset failures identified, and efficiently address these failures to improve overall system condition as quickly as possible. Five years later findings indicated changes from those initial assumptions. Pipes were yielding nearly double the rehabilitation requirements. Additionally, the cost of rehabilitation had begun to escalate quickly. Initial plans were no longer appropriate and needed to be modified to be sustainable over the long-term. Figure 1 shows where data has and has not been collected to date. Using the much larger data set that now included five years' worth of condition assessment data in addition to initial 4S findings, a variety of statistical and machine learning approached were used to update rehabilitation yield rates. The types of rehabilitation required for poor condition assets could now be projected as well. These improvements, combined with updated unit prices, were used to develop a update cost of bringing the system up to target service levels. Updated failure rate projections of initial asset classes can be seen below in Figure 2. Understanding the high levels of investment required to fully improve the condition of the collection system to target levels of service, WSFC Utilities elected to focus their rehabilitation program on the worst performing asset classes. By targeting condition assessment and rehabilitation activities on these poorest condition assets, overall system can be improved most efficiently. Challenges exist in collection of data on these assets only. Throughout the collection system these in-program assets are intermixed with non-critical assets. To assess condition and rehabilitate these in-program assets only would be inefficient. Even for sub-basins with the highest concentration of in-program asset classes non-critical asset data is captured. When accounting for this factor the total cost of condition assessment and rehabilitation for all in-program asset classes is approximately $158M in present value, as illustrated with Figure 3. This cost must be spread over multiple years. Resource constraints, including funding and workforce limitations, prevent the rapid deployment of these rehabilitation activities. However, as the timeline for this investment is extended the system continues to deteriorate. A sustainable long-term rehabilitation plan must invest enough resources to offset normal condition deterioration and improve conditions to target levels of service. By modeling condition deterioration and existing rehabilitation needs, WSFC Utilities can test funding scenarios to develop a plan that balances long-term service needs with financial limitations, as illustrated in Figure 4.

Municipal stormwater permittees in Orange County are implementing watershed management programs to meet MS4 Permit requirements. As part of these programs, Permittees are responsible for inventorying and inspecting private and public stormwater assets as well as reporting on progress toward watershed planning goals and regulatory requirements. To help address these requirements, the Permittees, Geosyntec Consultants, and Sitka Technology Group worked together over the last three years to develop an open-source web platform for stormwater asset management — OC Stormwater Tools (www.ocstormwatertools.org). This platform is intended to help manage and report on existing assets and plan for future assets (Figure 1). The tool caters to many user roles, from field crew to jurisdictional managers, across several modules. The Inventory Module maintains consistent BMP asset inventories across jurisdictions in the County. Geosyntec worked with early adopters to onboard their data and tailor the system to user needs. The Inventory Module supports mobile data entry, rapid condition assessment and maintenance tracking. It also allows users to inventory development sites and associated private BMPs. It now contains over 11,000 structural BMPs across 18 jurisdictions and is growing (Figure 2). The Trash Module supports Permittees in complying with statewide trash requirements. It also supports mobile visual surveys of the effectiveness of measures to reduce trash loading. Based on the inventoried trash BMPs, the tool calculates quantitative progress toward goals (Figures 3 and 4). The Modeling Module calculates the water balance and pollutant load reduction of inventoried BMPs for both dry and wet weather conditions (Figure 5). To do this, it runs algorithms in near-real-time as information about BMPs and their drainage areas is added. This is also supported by GIS resources and geoprocessing services provided by the OC GIS department. Although the network of BMPs in the County is complex, the algorithm recalculates the long-term stormwater capture efficiency, volume reduction, and treatment performance much faster than a continuous-simulation model. This presentation will provide an overview of the tool, key takeaways from the process, and a discussion of how this will support more streamlined reporting and planning in the future. We also hope to engage in an audience discussion about how this open-source code could benefit other stormwater and watershed managers.