Gotham

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

Executive director's message, P Cerro-Reehil

People and places

Summer 2001 — Vol. 31, No. 2

People and places

Melissa Moran awarded Busch Prize

Melissa C. Moran, a senior project engineer with Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., has been awarded the firm's most prestigious honor, the Dr. Paul L. Busch Prize. The award recognizes Moran's outstanding technical achievements and leadership.

Busch Prize Winner Melissa Moran with Pirnie Chairman and CEO Gary Westerhoff and VP Doug Owen, Chair of Selection Committee

The Busch Prize was established last year to perpetuate the spirit and example of Malcolm Pirnie's late president and CEO, Dr. Paul L. Busch. The award is presented each year to a staff member who has best demonstrated the commitment and contribution that embodied Dr. Busch's leadership. In accordance with his belief in the need to make important professional contributions early in a career, only non-managerial staff is eligible.

Moran was chosen because of her leadership and problem-solving skills. She is a licensed professional engineer based in Indianapolis. Her work has concentrated on process evaluation, planning, and design of drinking water treatment systems. Currently, she is evaluating ultraviolet light-ultrafiltration for disinfection of the Cincinnati Water Works.

AllMax additions

AllMax Professional Solutions, Inc. has added the following to its Operator 10® Plus "Certified Partners": Midwest Analytical Solutions in Delaware and Dalton, Ohio; Leslie Armstrong in Hamilton, Ontario; Schenck & Associates in Sussex, Wisconsin; and Reinbrecht Associates in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.

Representatives from these companies have successfully completed the necessary level of training to provide setup, services, and training to their clients on the Operator 10® Plus software.

Technology project of the year

The Central New York Chapter of the New York State Society of Professional Engineers presented its Technology Project of the Year Award to John Przepiora, PE, on behalf of the Syracuse Department of Water for its $3 million corrosion control and disinfection upgrade project. This project enhances quality to over 200,000 water consumers. Stearns & Wheler and Crawford & Stearns provided engineering and design services. The new facilities went online in February 2000.

The updated facility features redundant and easy-to-operate chemical feed facilities for chlorination and corrosion control. At the same time, the facility itself is aesthetically and historically in tune with the surrounding neighborhood and meets all New York State historical preservation requirements.

New associates at Greeley and Hansen

The partners of Greeley and Hansen LLP announced the addition of two new partners: Lawrence P. Jaworski and Paul J. Vogel.

The firm also appointed three new associates. They are Joseph M. Grgin, Sundaram Solai, and Jay H. Niec. Grgin and Solai are NYWEA members.

M G Lang

Matthew G. Lang

Lockwood, Kessler & Bartlett, Inc., Long Island's oldest consulting engineering firm, has named Matthew G. Lang its new marketing manager. Lang, an 11-yr veteran with LKB, will head the firm's marketing division.

Lang is a graduate of SUNY Stony Brook. Previously at LKB, he had combined responsibilities in ecology and wetlands restoration as well as graphics and information technology. He and his wife reside in Queens.

Stearns & Wheler nets awards

Public Works' "Project of the Year Award"

The New York State Southern Tier Branch of the American Public Works Association has awarded Stearns & Wheler the Public Works Project (Environment) of the Year Award. This award recognizes the company's excellence in management and administration of the water filtration plant project for the City of Binghamton.

In 1997, Stearns & Wheler evaluated Binghamton's 20-MGD conventional filtration plant and recommended improvements to comply with current and proposed drinking water regulations. It also suggested changes to improve reliability of the process, upgrade of the chemical-feed system, a switch from chlorine gas to sodium hypochlorite, a silo for powdered-activated carbon storage and feed, exterior masonry and roof replacement on all buildings, residual pumping expansion, heating and ventilation replacement, structural improvements to process tankage, replacement of raw finished water and backwash pumping systems, replacement of filter valves and actuators, and rebuidling of two filters.

The project design also included a complete supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system for the City's water and sewer-collections systems, encompassing twenty-seven remote tanks, water booster pumping stations, and sewage pumping stations. Final design was completed in 2000.

Safety excellence

S&W Services, one of the Stearns & Wheler Companies, placed first in the Associated General Contractors' Safety Excellence Awards program in 2001. The company was deemed best in the nation in its category of specialty contractor. The award recognizes members that lead in reducing work place injuries and fatalities.

Takashi Asano wins Stockholm Water Prize

Takashi Asano, an adjunct professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California at Davis, has been selected to receive the prestigious 2001 Stockholm Water Prize. The Stockholm Water Foundation announced Asano's selection both in Stockholm and at the United Nations in New York, where water experts gathered for the forum "Water and the Next Generation: Discussing Countermeasures to the Water Crisis."

Asano, a WEF member since 1965, has been called the world's foremost expert on the safe and beneficial use of recycled water—an innovation viewed as key to aiding areas around the world that lack a sufficient water supply. When making its selection, the Stockholm Water Prize nominating committee wrote of Asano's "outstanding contributions to efficient use of water in the domain of wastewater reclamation, recycling and reuse through theoretical developments, practical research and worldwide adaptation and promotion."

His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will present the Prize to Asano on August 16 at a ceremony during World Water Week in Stockholm. Founded in 1990, the Prize includes a $150,000 award and is presented annually to an institution, organization, individual, or company that has made a substantial contribution to the preservation, enhancement, or availability of the world's water resources.

Ogden Water becomes Covanta Water

In March 2001, Ogden Corporation announced the change of its corporate name to Covanta Energy Corporation. The change follows more than a year of divesting nonenergy- and nonwater-related businesses. The Company's objective was to focus on developing, building, maintaining, and operating infrastructure projects. These activities will be handled by Covanta Energy and Covanta Water.  Covanta Water Systems' Web site explains how it will work with communities to implement advanced water and wastewater filtration

New York governor joins national review of oceans

Governor George E. Pataki joined the Pew Oceans Commission, an independent group of distinguished Americans conducting a review of the policies needed to restore and protect living marine resources in U.S. waters. The Commission—the first review of national ocean policies in over 30 years—will issue recommendations to Congress and the nation in 2002.

The Governor stated, "It is important that we understand that we all have a stake in the future of our environment. It is especially critical, that we understand this about our marine resources and recognize the need to improve our stewardship of our oceans." The Governor's involvement is a way for New York fishermen, businesspeople, resource managers, conservationists, local officials, and coastal residents to be heard in the Commission's work, according to Leon Panetta, chair of the Pew Oceans Commission and former White House chief of staff.  The Commission's Web site provides details on the groups activities and areas of inquiry. (opens new broswer window)

R&D compensation

Compensation in Research & Development, 15th Edition, sponsored by Research & Development magazine and published by Abbott, Langer & Associates, Inc. has just been released. The book reports compensation data provided by 175 organization on over a thousand R&D employees in one hundred benchmark jobs and jobs by discipline in the R&D field.

The 489-page book includes pay ranges, current salaries, and total cash compensation reported for each job by region, state, and metropolitan area; type of employer; total number of employees; supervisory responsibility; level of education; length of experience; education vs. experience; and discipline.  The Abbott-Langer Web site provides additional information, or phone 708-672-4200. (opens new broswer window)

NYSERDA proposals

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) seeks proposals to support the development, demonstration, marketing, and commercialization of energy-efficient technologies in the areas of:

• Pollution prevention
• Waste treatment
• Environmental products.

NYSERDA will support both feasibility studies (multiple projects, each up to $50,000). It will support development, demonstration, and commercialization projects (multiple projects, each up to $250,000). Market research or market assessments up to $25,000 are eligible for funding as part of an environmental product development project.

The NYSERDA program has a decidedly New York State orientation. All proposals must have substantial New York State effect and produce significant economic benefits such as processing or manufacturing at a site in New York State. Contractors must be a New York State private business enterprise. Demonstration sites must be in New York State.  Full instructions are available on the Internet. (opens new broswer window)

Rhino Ecosystems partners with Watts Industries

Rhino Ecosystems, Inc. (RHNC), the manufacturer of the patented line of Wet Waste Interceptors, announced that it has signed a long-terms sales, marketing, and distribution agreement with Watts Industries (Canada), Inc. Web Waste Interceptors, according to Rhino Ecosystems, provide an inexpensive solution for restaurants, hotels, and food-related industries to dispose of wet waste solids.  Additional information about Rhino Ecosystems is available on the Web. (opens new broswer window)

Watts is the Canadian subsidiary of the U.S.-based Watts Industries, Inc., a major manufacturer and distributor of plumbing products worldwide with sales in excess of $516 million in 2000.  Watts' (Canada) Web site provides additional information. (opens new broswer window)

Estimating wastewater treatment plant costs

Hydromantis, Inc. announced the release of software named CapdetWorks for the design and costing of wastewater treatment plants. CapdetWorks is a planning level tool that allows the user to drag-and-drop unit processes to build a wastewater treatment plant schematic, automatically calculate a design, and then estimate the cost to build, operate, and maintain the facility.

At the planning level, current engineering practices primarily use empirical modeling techniques in combination with cost databases. This involves the gathering of historical capital and operating costs of similar size plants with similar wastewater and treatment characteristics. These techniques often estimate the cost based on only a single wastewater parameter such as wastewater flow rate. CapdetWorks is a more comprehensive system since the design is based on all the characteristics of the wastewater being treated.

The software uses design algorithms to derive, for example, the volume of concrete required for the aeration tank or the number, type, and capacity of the mechanical equipment required.

About sixty treatment processes are provided including physical/chemical, biological, biosolids stabilization, handling and de-watering technologies. From the user's plant layout, the software automatically calculates the required unit process dimensions and equipment. It also allows the engineer to override any of the calculated designs. There is a scenario management feature that encourages the user to layout many treatment alternatives and rapidly calculate and compare costs among them. Capital and operational costs for each process technology can be localized, or the user can create his or her own cost index or apply published industry cost indexes to the default values.

CapdetWorks ($2450 per license) version 1.0 is available for most Microsoft Windows operating systems.  Free evaluations can be downloaded from the company web site. (opens new broswer window)

ASCE urges $227 billion in infrastructure

The U.S. must invest nearly $277 billion in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure repairs over the next 20 years, ASCE told three Congressional committees. "Requirements for communities that have not yet achieved secondary treatment or must upgrade existing [wastewater] facilities remain very high; $126 billion nationwide is required by 2016, according to the most recent estimate by USEPA," ASCE said. "The total drinking-water infrastructure need nationwide is $150.9 billion for 1999-2018.