Gotham JA Miele, Sr, PE

Water conservation cleans Long Island Sound, RL Swanson, DJ Tonjes

Marine vessels serving New York City, W Goyzueta, J Chen, K Byrnes, R Ferro

Line stops avoid bypass in pumping station, F Gallo

Pilot biological nutrient removal, B Bodniewicz, K Mahoney

Enhanced beach protection — 2000, FJ Oliveri, F Loncar, M Ellis

Telemetering in New York, S Rozelman, S Aziz

Job order contracting, MP Quinn, P Schrayer

Operational benefits of celebrating Water Week, RE Adamski, H Einsohn, M Keating, A Lamarche, B Olivieri

CSO signage: expanded notification, S Rozelman, P Lutz, F Loncar

Brooklyn student wins water prize

Executive director's message, P Cerro-Reehil

People and places

Summer 2001 — Vol. 31, No. 2

by Frank J. Oliveri, PE, Frank Loncar, PE, and Marzena Ellis

NYCDEP's Collection Facilities operations crew checking a sewer regulator

The Bureau of Wastewater Treatment is responsible for the operation of New York City's Collection Facilities. These facilities convey the flow of sanitary and combined sewage to the fourteen wastewater pollution control plants (WPCPs). They include 130 mi of interceptors, 90 pumping stations, and 490 sewer regulators and outfalls. The system is designed to convey the maximum flow (up to two times design dry weather flows) to each respective WPCP while any additional wet weather flow is discharged as combined sewer overflow (CSO) to New York Harbor.

A failure in the conveyance system during dry weather can cause sewage to spill into the Harbor resulting in dry-weather bypass. One of the major operating goals of the Collection Facilities group is the elimination of unplanned dry-weather bypasses.

The Operations Division quickly responds to problems and makes necessary repairs to restore operation when a regulator or pumping station malfunctions. The main factor, though, that controls the quantity and duration of a dry-weather bypass is the time that elapses before the problem is actually discovered.

In 1997 a series of beach closures prompted NYCDEP to take action related to collection facilities. On July 2, 1997, NYCDEP instituted the Enhanced Beach Protection Program (EBPP) to minimize the chance of additional closures caused by failures of the collection systems. EBPP implements increased surveillance and preventative maintenance for critical pumping stations and regulators. The program's success in 1997 and 1998 led it to be instituted as an annual undertaking.

New twist for 2000

In 2000, a new EBPP was developed using the knowledge attained from the previous three years. The new program's goals included:

• Prevention of any beach closings from failures of collection facilities
• Average bypass response time of 8 hr.

Further improvements were anticipated from starting the program on May 26, before the beginning of the bathing season. The new program would include all the original beach-sensitive locations and additional sites to be monitored which had been identified as high maintenance facilities.

NYCDEP's new shoreline survey vessel

In addition, Bureau personnel would increase the frequency of monitoring and the number of locations monitored by implementing Harbor Marine Programs. This was the second year that Department could rely on the PS44 telemetry to monitor most pump stations. NYCDEP is the only agency in New York State to adhere to a 2-hr notification deadline for raw sewage bypasses.

Results

A total of 7.8 million gal was bypassed from all pump stations and regulators during EBPP 2000. This is identical to the amount bypassed during EBPP 1999. That amount that was 60% below the volume in 1997, the first year of EBPP, on a monthly average basis. The graph below shows the history of bypasses since the EBPP program was started.

Enhanced Beach Protection Program: Raw bypasses in millions of gallons (Note differential on y axis.)

The program did significantly reduce the quantity of bypasses from regulators. The total discharge from all regulators during EBPP was 90,000 gal. Of this total 50,000 gal was discharged from EBPP regulator sites. For the entire program period, only nine bypasses occurred including four at EBPP regulator sites.

In 2000 there was an unexpected spike in bypasses from pump stations. The total discharge from all pump stations during EBPP was 7.71 million gal. Of this total, 7.48 million gal was discharged from EBPP pump stations. For the entire program period, only eight bypasses occurred including five at EBPP pumping stations.

The Mersereau Avenue Pump Station is undergoing complete rehabilitation.

Note that of the total 7.48 million gal bypassed, 4.80 million gal (or 64%) originated from the Mersereau Avenue Pumping Station on June 28, 2000. This pump station is currently being operated by the rehabilitation contractor who damaged the force main during construction. Another bypass was caused by a subcontractor who bored through the top of the Conner Street Pump Station force main on August 30. The bypass was abated in less than 8 hr through the Bureau's emergency force main repair contract.

During EBPP 2000 one illegal discharge of raw sewage was discovered in Rockaway on July 13 by the Bureau's surveillance of outfalls. The illegal connection was responsible for 3.49 million gal of bypass during the EBPP period, but it is not related to collection facilities.

On August 23, the Danish American Beach and the Manhem Club (both private) were closed because of accumulative high bacteria counts—unrelated to NYCDEP collection facilities. Water quality surpassed bathing standards at both locations (more than 2400 MPN/100 mL total coliforms and more than 200 MPN/100 mL fecal coliforms) until August 30. Beaches were reopened the next day. There were no beach closures attributable to bypasses from collection facilities during the 2000 EBPP.
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Frank J. Oliveri, PE, Frank Loncar, PE, (phone 718-595-4994) and Marzena Ellis are with the Collection Facilities, Bureau of Wastewater Treatment New York City Department of Environmental Protection.