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Viewpoint:
Big Storms. 1
Government Goings-On. 2
Membership Renewal Notice. 2
Phoenix chapter news. 3
WSP Brown Bag Water Speaker Series: February 2010. 4
Tucson chapter news. 5
2010 Symposium Planning Committee. 8
WRRC Brown Bag Seminars: February 2010. 8
Flagstaff chapter news. 9
AHS Foundation update. 10
Ina Road Wastewater Treatment Plant – an Analysis. 11
Hydro-news. 13
Amid state's push for solar power, water-supply worries
arise. 13
Winter storms could be sign of waning drought 14
Additional Information. 14
“Is it over yet?” After years of drought, seemingly
every desert dweller pops their head up and asks that question after a
major precipitation event, such as the one Arizona experienced in late
January. And of course the
answer is that we don’t know for some period of time, because you
never really know that drought is over until it has been over long enough
for precipitation and streamflow records to accumulate to prove it is
over. So we offer our best
guesses, and hedge our answers.
But it was a big
storm. Salt River Project
noted that this storm event was very large, on the order of the 1993 storm
event which produced significant impacts on the state as a whole. SRP will be releasing water down the
Salt River for some time. The
good news is that a considerable amount of water is now stored in SRP
reservoirs. Even if there was
no further precipitation for the rest of 2010, there should be plenty of
water for those entitled to receive water stored and delivered by SRP. One of the advantages of modern
civilization is that we have more advanced technology capable of storing
and delivering water sufficient to get us through periods of drought. It was the science of hydrology that
helped get us this buffer against natural calamity.
Hydrology is an important
science anywhere, but nowhere more critical than in semi-arid
environments. The theme of the
2010 Annual Symposium, which will be held at the Westin La Paloma in Tucson
on September 1-4, 2010, is Dryland Hydrology—global challenges and
local solutions. Tucson always
puts on a great symposium.
There should be an interesting international flavor to this
symposium, and I urge everyone to mark their calendars now to reserve the
September 1-4 time frame. Not
everyone has access to SRP water, or a similar storage and delivery system,
and there will be a large number of people to hear what other approaches
can be taken.
Alan
Dulaney,
AHS Corporate Board President, 2010
This begins a new venture
for our AHS Newsletter. Because
so many of the members are consultants who deal with government, or those
who work for government, or those who wish to influence government, it
seems likely that the membership would be interested in what is happening
within government. The things
that influence our careers the most seem to happen at the Federal or State
level, although what goes on in the county flood control district or in
municipal government is often of interest. Therefore we will start a little
column on what is going on in government—not everything, because we
don’t have that much room, but items of interest will be discussed.
This month the
interesting item is the funding situation for the Arizona Department of
Water Resources. A couple of
years ago, ADWR was operating on a budget of $24 million. In the last fiscal year, this had
dropped to $18 million, and ADWR recently dropped 47 people. In the next fiscal year, funding
could drop as low as $6 million, which would cripple the agency. ADWR has to do something, and has to
do it quickly.
In a recent stakeholders
meeting, ADWR offered three different approaches to securing funding. One involves charging variable fees
at an hourly rate of $118 for reviewing applications, with the maximum fee
determined by the complexity of the application. Non-complex applications would be
capped at $10,000, but complex applications could run a lot more. There is precedent from ADEQ for
charging hourly rates for application reviews. A second approach involves new fees
that would be fixed for each type of application or report under
review. Currently no fees are
charged by ADWR for reviewing reports and application fees are relatively
low, so increasing fees in fixed amounts would raise money to supplement
reduced General Fund money. The
final approach would be to bill a new Water Assessment Fee based on amounts
used. This fee would be paid
primarily by municipal water providers, plus some from industrial users
(but only those with over 10 acres of industrial land) and the agricultural
sector. The sacred cow of
domestic exempt wells remains untouched.
Legislation to create a
Water Resources Fund into which all these fees would flow, separate from
the General Fund, will be necessary to accomplish any of these
alternatives. Also legislation
will be needed to allow ADWR to institute any fees through an emergency
rule-making process, which is faster but avoids much public scrutiny or
comment. The bills have already
been introduced (SB1355 and
SB1359). ADWR is on a fast track with this
process, so pay close attention to the fee structure that you soon may be
paying.
Alan
Dulaney,
AHS Corporate Board President, 2010
We remind our current and
past members, that it is that time again to renew your membership.
If you attended the 2009
Symposium, or renewed your membership after the Symposium, your membership
extends through the end of 2010. Otherwise, your membership expired at the
end of December 2009.
To renew your membership
you can either:
1) Renew Online: Regular
Membership ($45)
Student Membership ($15)
2) Download our Renewal
Form, and either:
a) Fax to (866) 931-3134
b) Mail to : Arizona Hydrological
Society
3317 S. Higley Road
Suite 114-120
Gilbert, Arizona 85297
February Dinner Meeting
Please note that
February's meeting is on Wednesday
instead on Tuesday!
Please join us Wednesday, Feb. 10th at
the El Penasco Mexican Kitchen at Mill Ave. and Broadway Rd. in Tempe and
have a beverage, share business cards, and talk water.
Location: El
Penasco Mexican Kitchen
19 East Broadway Road
Tempe, AZ 85252
Event:
Marketing in a Changing World, Bruce Robinson, RG
Date:
Wednesday,
Feb. 10, 2010
Time: Happy
Hour & Dinner: 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Presentation Program: 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Cost:
$15 member, $20 non-member, $5 student
RSVP
with Kirk Creswick at kcreswick@eecphx.com or 602-248-7702.
Hope to see you then.
Marketing in a Changing
World
Look around you, it is
difficult to conduct your day to day business without being confronted by conversations
or news related to the current economic situation. I remember entering the
environmental consulting industry in the late 1980’s and being
fascinated at the depth of project opportunities. The boom in landfill work
was followed by a boom in superfund work and when that was over we were all
applying our talents to Underground Storage Tank (UST) work. Each time I
was told by my superiors that this boon was a renewable source of income
that would last for years. Now we all discuss the decline in environmental
consulting opportunities as a given. This current economic downturn has
just made adjusting to that decline in opportunities a little more
uncomfortable.
In this changing world we
are all faced with the same conundrum: how to best use our operating budget
to manage sales and marketing efforts. On February 10, 2010 I encourage you
to come join me for an enthusiastic discussion of business development and
how to use the process to secure your firms success in this changing world.
We will look at some of the basic skills and who within your firm should
apply them. We will discuss business development strategies and how to
identify opportunities that are currently overlooked. Please join us and
plan on audience participation.
Bruce Robinson is a Registered Geologist in Arizona, a
LEED Accredited Professional with the United States Green Building Council
and a member of the Interstate Technology Regulatory Council, has been
working in the environmental industry in Arizona for the past 23 years. Two
years ago Mr. Robinson took on the challenge of being the Arizona Business
Development Manager for a mid-sized national engineering firm. This role
has given Mr. Robinson some unique insights into the rewards and challenges
of marketing environmental services. Mr. Robinson is interested in sharing
his insight related to business development in the environmental market
place.
January Kickoff Meeting Summary
Thank
you to everyone who came to our January Kickoff Meeting at the
SunUp Brewhouse. We had a good crowd,
good food, and a lot of great ideas being tossed around.
2012 Symposium Planning
Underway
In
the wake of the conclusion of the 2009 Symposium, the Phoenix Chapter has
already planning for 2012.
Christie O’Day, Ted Lehman, and Mike Hulst have been scoping
out possible venues. If you are
interested in helping them with the early stages of the planning for 2012,
please contact 2012 symposium planning chair, Ted Lehman, at ted@jefuller.com or 480-222-5709.
Future Event Calendar (see
also calendar on www.azhydrosoc.org)
·
March 9 – Dinner meeting, Topic
TBA, SunUp Brewhouse
·
March 22 – Bouwer Internship Application Deadline
·
March 22-25 – Arizona Science & Engineering Fair,
Phoenix Convention Center
·
April 6th – AEG-AHS Student Night, ASU
Memorial Union
·
April-July Dinner meetings – How ‘bout you? Contact Keith Ross if
you’re interested in speaking!
Topic:
Yuma Desalter and the
Cienega de Santa Clara
Speaker: Karl W. Flessa, Director, School of Earth &
Environmental Sciences, and Professor and Head, Department of Geosciences, The
University of Arizona
Location: University
of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County
Palo Verde Room
4341 E. Broadway
Phoenix, AZ
Date: February 17, 2010
Time:
Noon to 1:30
Free and open to the public. Bring your lunch. There will be time for questions and
answers. Please RSVP to Nancy
Crocker at 602-827-8200 ext. 335 or NCrocker@cals.arizona.edu.
Information for
additional seminars can be found on the WRRC web site: www.cals.arizona.edu/azwater
February Meeting
Announcement
Location: Offices of Montgomery
& Associates
1550
E Prince Rd
Tucson, AZ 85719
Event:
Engineers Without Borders, Terra
Michaels
Date:
Tuesday, February 9,
2010, 6:00 pm
Time:
Social half-hour begins at 6:00 pm; Talk
begins at 6:30
Food
and beverages provided
Engineers Without Borders
Terra Michaels will present on current and past
activities of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) UA Student Chapter, including
a recently completed upgrade to a wastewater treatment plant in Ghana and
current activities developing and implementing a rainwater harvesting
program in Mali. EWB is always looking for professional support for their
projects, and would appreciate any support from interested AHS members.
December 2009 Meeting Summary
- Marla Odom,
Tucson Chapter Secretary (2009), Montgomery & Associates
Seasonal Weather
Forecasting – El Niño and Monsoons, 2009
On December 8th,
the Tucson Chapter hosted a meeting at the offices of Montgomery &
Associates. Seventeen people
were in attendance. The meeting
presenter was Erik Pytlak, Science and Operations Officer for the National
Weather Service in Tucson. He
presented a talk titled “El Nino 2009-10”.
Mr. Pytlak began
by comparing El Nino conditions to “normal” conditions and
describing measurements used to help differentiate the two. In normal
conditions, there is a cool dry area off the west coast of South America,
but in El Nino conditions, there is a warming of the tropics. Mr. Pytlak presented the various
indicators used to predict an upcoming El Nino year and talked about what
those indicators are currently doing, showing recent data up to December
8th. Anomalies represent
deviations from normal oscillation of the ocean-atmosphere system.
In general, El
Nino signals are seen in ocean temperature anomalies at depth months in
advance of surface effects.
From October to mid-November of 2009, positive temperature anomalies
at thermocline depth increased and expanded eastward across the eastern
equatorial Pacific in response to the downwelling phase of an oceanic
Kelvin wave. The most recent
measured period shows a slight eastward expansion of the positive anomalies
in the equatorial Pacific near 50-150 meters depth. Over the preceding four weeks, sea
surface temperatures (SST) were at least 1 degree Celsius above average
across much of the equatorial Pacific.
Eastward
displacement of an atmospheric heat source overlaying the warmest water
results in large changes in global atmospheric circulation.
Mr. Pytlak also
described Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) and wind anomalies during the
last 30 days and how they relate to El Nino. Computer models disagree on
the eventual strength, but most indicate that 2009/2010 will be a moderate
El Nino year. In general, this
means there will be more thunderstorms in the tropics in winter, more
frequent subtropical taps, split jet streams (polar & subtropical), a
more active southern jet stream, and more storms across the southern United
States.
For Arizona, this
means that there is an increasing likelihood of above average
precipitation. However, El Nino
can suppress the summer monsoons because it forces the monsoon high to the
south, instead of over Arizona.
The AHS Tucson
Chapter extends a very warm thanks to Mr. Pytlak for his informative
presentation.
January 2010 Meeting Summary
- Marla Odom,
Tucson Chapter Corporate Board Member, Montgomery & Associates
Outlook for ADWR
and ADEQ in light of recent budget cuts
On January 12th,
the Tucson Chapter hosted a meeting at the offices of Montgomery &
Associates. Thirty people were
in attendance. The meeting
presenters were Bill Ellett, from the Arizona Department of Environmental
Quality (ADEQ), and Jeff Tannler, the Area Director for the Tucson Active
Management Area of the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR). Both presenters spoke about how
recent budget cuts are expected to affect the two State agencies.
Mr. Ellett
addressed impacts to ADEQ. He
began by describing revenue and expenses of the agency as well as the tasks
managed by ADEQ. The Arizona
Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund (WQARF) was created under the
Environmental Quality Act of 1986 to support hazardous substance cleanup
efforts in the State. The fund
is dependent on legislative appropriations, cost recovery from responsible
parties, corporate income tax and special fees. The WQARF budget has generally been
decreasing over time, with most of the money going to operating treatment
systems.
In September,
Governor Brewer’s office asked each State agency to prepare a 15%
budget reduction. This
reduction places the 2010 budget at about $12 million and amounts to
$1,050,000 in proposed WQARF cuts which would have the following
implications: changes to hazardous waste response time, shutdown of soil
vapor extraction sites as well as smaller sites, reduction in groundwater
and soil contamination monitoring, and cuts to other critical activities
mandated by statute such as Potential Responsible Party (PRP) searches,
community involvement, preliminary investigations, and support to other
state agencies.
In June, ADEQ
underwent layoffs, and reduced staff by about 55 employees. They have been in a hiring freeze
for a year and a half.
Additional budget cuts are likely and the agency is expected to have
an extremely reduced budget for the foreseeable future. Priority is being placed on
maintaining existing programs so that they can pick back up as money
becomes available again.
Mr. Tannler
addressed impacts to ADWR. He
began by describing how ADWR was authorized in 1980 with the Groundwater
Management Act and the duties that ADWR is responsible for. He then took a few minutes to explain
several causes that have placed the State in the current financial
situation. The economy is down,
which leads to reduced revenues from sales tax. More spending has gone to
healthcare. Voter initiatives
guarantee that money generated by tax increases cannot be re-delegated, and
new tax increases are very difficult to pass. Additionally, some programs like
ACCHS and education are protected financially, but ADWR is not. Fees collected by ADWR are returned
to the State general fund. ADWR
receives its budgeted money from the same general fund, but the budget can
change from year to year as needed, and the money ADWR generates may be
redistributed to other State agencies.
In fiscal year
2007/2008, ADWR received $24.1 million. This money provided for the tasks of
the agency and payroll for about 200 employees, some of whom are Federally
funded. For 2008/2009 the
budget was reduced to $19.4 million, and for 2009/2010, it was further
reduced to $18.1 million. The
agency has been in a hiring freeze since 2007.
In October, ADWR
also submitted a 15% budget cut contingency plan to Governor Brewer, which
amounted to a 40% total staff reduction. Unfortunately, the proposed budget
cut was realized one week before this AHS meeting, and ADWR laid off 47
employees for a total of 51 positions.
This is about half of the total staff reduction laid out in the 15%
budget cut contingency plan that was submitted.
The budget cut is
expected to have the following implications: increased processing time for
applications and other paperwork, delayed submittal of the 4th Management
Plan, reduced or halted groundwater level monitoring, delayed database
updates, and delayed model updates, including the anticipated update to the
Tucson Active Management Area model.
In response ADWR
is working with a stakeholder group to try and identify steps that can be
taken to avoid additional cuts.
The AHS Tucson
Chapter extends sincere thanks to Mr. Ellett and Mr. Tannler for their
efforts in keeping the hydrologic community updated on these State agencies
and for their candid dialogue with our group. Our thoughts and best wishes go out
to colleagues affected by these budget cuts.
March Meeting Announcement
Location: TBA
Date:
Tuesday, March 9th
2010, 6:00 pm
Social half-hour begins at 6:00 pm; Talk
begins at 6:30
Event:
TBA
The AHS Symposium
Planning Committee met on January 27, 2009 at the offices of Montgomery
& Associates. Items discussed included:
·
call for abstracts going out mid February
·
sponsorship materials being updated and will be sent out
shortly
·
handing out fliers at up-coming events like SME and NWGA
conferences
·
technical sessions subcommittee up and running
·
need additional volunteers and field trip ideas
The next AHS Symposium
Planning Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday February 10,
2010 at 5:30 pm at the offices of Montgomery & Associates, 1550
East Prince Road, Tucson.
Topic: The Pursuit of Sustainable and
Reliable Water Supplies in the Desert – The Las Vegas Story
Speaker: Richard Holmes, Southern Nevada Water Authority
Location: Sol Resnick Conference Room
Water Resources Research Center
350 N. Campbell Ave.
Date:
February 16, 2010
Time:
Noon to 1:30
This
presentation will describe the challenges, priorities and plans of the
SNWA. From dusty backwater to desert metropolis Las Vegas' growth has
depended on its water supplies. The presentation will include a brief
history of the early Las Vegas Valley water supplies and water resource
management issues and conditions that led to the formation of the Southern
Nevada Water Authority. It will chart the progress of water resource plans
in the 1990s and early 2000s and discuss the current situation against that
backdrop. It will include discussion of current realities, such as drought,
climate change, and the requirements for sustainability, and current
priorities, including conservation, diversification of resources, regional
partnerships, and how the SNWA's 2009 Water Resource Plan addresses them.
Topic: Trans-boundary Water Issues
Speaker: Roberto Salmon-Castelo, Commissioner, International Boundary & Water Commission, Mexico
Location: Sol Resnick Conference Room
Water Resources Research Center
350 N. Campbell Ave.
Date:
February 26, 2010
Time:
Noon to 1:30
Information for additional
seminars can be found on the WRRC web site: www.cals.arizona.edu/azwater
Next Flagstaff Chapter
meeting:
Our February meeting will
be a planning session focusing on this year’s Fund Raiser; Symposium
2011 in Flagstaff and a field trip.
Presentation meetings will now be held every other month. The March
meeting will feature a presentation by Charlie Ester of the Salt River
Project (details to be announced).
Stay tuned and visit the AHS Flagstaff Chapter website for updates.
Location: TBA
Date: TBA
Mark your calendars for
the following presentation at NAU!
Speaker: Paul Marinos, 2010 Jahns
Distinguished Lecturer of the Association of Environmental &
Engineering Geologists and the Engineering Geology Division of the
Geological Society of America
Date: March 5 at 12:30,
location TBD
Topic: Geology of Athens,
Greece: A case of urban geology for land use, construction of major
engineering structures, hazard assessment and sustainable development.
January 2010 Meeting Summary- Flagstaff
- Erin Young, Flagstaff
Chapter Secretary, Fluid Solutions
The Flagstaff Chapter
would like to thank Margot Truini from the Flagstaff Water Science Center,
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) office for a compelling presentation of the
USGS regional study on the groundwater occurrence and movement and water
level changes in the Detrital, Hualapai, and Sacramento Valley basins in
Mohave County, Arizona. The
following is an overview of her presentation.
The USGS, in cooperation
with Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), have completed
evaluations of hydrogeology, well data, spring data, groundwater chemistry
data and potentiometric surface information for the Detrital, Hualapai, and
Sacramento Valley basins (Anning and others, 2007). These basins are large distinct,
northwest trending alluvial basins located in Mohave Country, where
groundwater is the primary source of water. As in many parts of the western US,
population growth in these basins is substantial. The USGS and ADWR are completing
investigations in the three basins as part of the Rural Watershed
Initiative Program to improve understanding of hydrogeologic systems of the
three basins.
The groundwater gradient
in Detrital and Hualapai basins moves from south to the north, and the
groundwater gradient in Sacramento Valley moves from north to south. All
three basins represent structural basins that formed during the Basin and
Range disturbance. The
potentiometric surface for groundwater in the Basin-Fill aquifer of each
basin is generally parallel to topography, with groundwater flow from the
mountain front towards the basin center and then along the basin axis
toward the Colorado River or Lake Mead. Water-saturated sediments that fill
the structural basins form the principal aquifers are referred to as the
Basin-Fill aquifer.
Observed water levels in all three basins have fluctuated during the
period of historic water level records (1943 through 2006). In the Detrital Valley Basin,
water levels in monitored area have either remaining the same or have
steadily increased as much as 3.5 feet since the 1980s. Similar steady conditions or water
level rises were observed for much of the northern and central parts of the
Hualapai Valley Basin. However,
during the period of historic record, steady water level declines as large
as 60 feet were found in wells penetrating the Basin Fill aquifer in areas
near Kingman, northwest of Hackberry and northeast of Dolan Springs, within
the Hualapai Valley Basin.
Within the Sacramento Valley Basin, water level declines as large as
55 feet were observed in wells penetrating the Basin-Fill aquifer in the
Kingman and Golden Valley areas.
In 1991, combined annual
groundwater withdrawal for the three valleys was about 6,000 acre-feet,
almost all of which was from the Hualapai and Sacramento Valleys. By 2000, groundwater withdrawals had
nearly doubled to about 11,000 acre-feet per year
The USGS is currently
merging the water level data with data from several different types of
geophysical methods combined with well logs and surface geologic mapping to
develop a hydrogeologic framework (HFM) for Hualapai, Detrital, and
Sacramento basins. The results from the HFM and the water budget component
(on-going) will be used to develop a predictive numerical ground water
model.
Anning, David, W., Truini, Margot, Flynn,
Marilyn E., and Remick, William, H., Groundwater Occurrence and Movement,
2006,and Water-Level changes in the Detrital, Hualapai, and Sacramento
Valley Basins, Mohave County, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific
Investigation Report 2007-5182, 24 p. (http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3008/)
The AHS
Foundation starts its fifth year with a new slate of officers. Marvin Glotfelty takes over as
President of the Board of Directors for Howard Grahn, who will become the
Foundation Treasurer. Errol
Montgomery remains as Vice President and Ted Lehman continues as
Secretary. Other Directors
include Gail Cordy, Chuck Graf, Gary Small and Michael Pearce. Many thanks to Mike Geddis, retiring
treasurer and Foundation founding director. AHS will appoint one additional
Director to the Foundation at its January meeting.
Despite the global financial meltdown,
donations from both individuals and corporations have allowed the
Foundation to continue its shared support of the AHS scholarships and
interns AND continue to grow its Endowment Fund nest egg. Currently the Foundation has assets
of about $67,000, of which approximately $56,000 is locked in the permanent
Endowment Fund. The goals of
the Foundation are to eventually become self sufficient from proceeds of
the Endowment, and eventually expand our charitable activities. Thanks to our many supporters.
Howard Grahn
AHSF Treasurer
Contributed
by Mark T. Gregory, U of A Civil Engineering
Student
After attending the October 24, 2009 Tucson Water field trip of
the SAVSARP recharging project, I started to wonder about the total cycle
our fresh water supply. With a
greater understanding of how our water source is procured and distributed,
I wanted to obtain an understanding of what happens with our resource after
it is used. After making a few
calls to the Pima County Wastewater Department, I was put in contact with
David Bartos, Ina Road Reclamation Facility Operations Supervisor. Mr. Bartos was gracious enough to
give me a tour of his facility on December 30, 2009. The plant is located just south of
Ina Road and along the I-10 frontage highway right next to Mike Jacob
Sports Park with softball and soccer fields. Actually, the park was the first
thing I noticed when I drove through the entry gates and was greeted by a
friendly security guard to take my information and direct me to the
administration office to meet Mr. Bartos. We’ll get back to the park in
a minute.
The Ina Wastewater Treatment Plant, which has a classification
of IV, which is the highest classification that can be obtained due to its
complexity, and takes in 30% of Pima County’s wastewater’s 3200
miles of sewer, which is now defined as conveyance piping, is actually
comprised of two different plants.
The original plant was built in 1977 and is now known as the West
Plant. Its capacity was 25
million gallons of effluent wastewater per day. Due to growth of the city of Tucson
and ample room for treatment plant growth, it was expanded with an upgraded
that went online in 2000 at a cost of $40 million. With the addition of the new East
Plant, the total capacity of the plant was increased to treating 37.5
million gallons of wastewater per day.
In a weird twist, during the tour of SAVSARP, Dick Thompson had
commented that one of the limiting factors of water flow to the recharge
facility was the water pipes at the older Roger Road Treatment, which is
located on Roger Road east of I-10.
Mr. Bartos explained that the Ina Plant was once again being
upgraded, at a cost of $210 million, and the older Roger Plant which is to
be shut down and replaced with a new treatment facility. One of the foresights of the 2000
plant upgrade was the installation of piping to handle this increase CAP
water flow to SAVSARP.
Once the upgrades are complete in January 2014, the plant will not
only host the connection of CAP water to SAVSARP but also will be able to
handle up to 90 million of wastewater per day.
Our first stop found us standing atop the East Plant Blower
Building giving a nice panoramic view of the facility in its entirety. Mr. Bartos said the 2000 upgrade
replaced the old preliminary treatment “headworks”, with a new
“headworks” capable of handling up to 60 million gallons of
wastewater per day. The first
step of the preliminary treatment is a two inch bar screen that screens all
large trash such as food, golf balls, anything you could possibly think
would fit down a four inch pipe.
The wastewater is then lifted up by three Archimedes’ Screws
to the highest point in the plant.
The wastewater then flows through a quarter inch screen, which
further reduces the trash.
After the two screening procedures, all that is left in the wastewater
is grit size particles. The
grit drifts to the bottom of the grit basin and is removed. At this point, all that is left is
suspended sediment in the water.
All of the debris removed by these three processes is washed,
“dewatered,” and taken to the local landfill. The plant produces approximately six
tons of trash from the wastewater per day.
Now, going back to the park; one of the first things I noticed
about the plant was the lack of smell.
Mr. Bartos explained that every area that is exposed to open
wastewater is enclosed and has an air filtration system to remove
odor. The odor scrubbing
system is comprised of the main charcoal system and a back up chemical
system. As a matter of fact,
all systems within the plant are redundant to prevent breakdown of the
system. The reason for such
stringent odor control is because operators and maintenance personnel work
in the buildings and the plant also must be an environmental steward of the
community.
Over 60% of waste is removed from the water in the next
process, the primary treatment.
This is where the biology really starts to kick in. In fact, this process started in the
populations’ homes at the first flush. The human body carries trillions of
microorganisms to help with digesting food and those organisms are carried
by the sewer system to the various treatment plants. These “Bugs” are really
put to work in the primary and secondary treatment process. With a two to four hour
theoretical detention time, primary clarifiers allow greases to float to
the top of the tank and, what is now going to be referred to as sludge,
settles to the bottom of the tank.
Screens remove the grease from the top of the water while the active
sludge is pumped out to wet wells.
Before the active sludge is screened, yet again, a polymer is added
to thicken the sludge from 3 to 5.5 parts per million (ppm). After the screening of sludge, the
effluent water is returned to the primary clarifiers as Return Active
Sludge (RAS). The thickened sludge and bugs are sent to the anaerobic
digesters.
After the primary treatment the effluent water flows to the secondary
treatment. There are numerous different types of “bugs” in the
system. Some become active in
low Dissolved Oxygen (DO) and others in high levels. The more food the bugs consume the
more oxygen they use up. The
oxygen levels are used to keep the bugs happy and to control their
reproduction. This measurement
of oxygen is called Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD). All of the secondary treatment
takes place in the long slow-flow water tanks. At the beginning of the secondary
process, DO is very low to keep the low oxygen bugs happy and active. As the water flows down the tank
more oxygen is added to the water.
Thankfully, the bugs do not care where their DO comes from, the Ina
plant uses atmospheric air.
Since bugs cannot use the nitrogen, it is separated from the oxygen
and discharged, along with other gases, into the atmosphere. Towards the end of the process
taking place within the tanks the bugs that like the oxygen rich
environment are feasting and reproducing happily. More grease is screened at the top
of the long tanks while the Waste Activate Sludge (WAS) settles to the
bottom of the tank and is pumped to wet wells to be “dewatered”
and sent to the anaerobic digesters, the “bugs”. The bugs are then removed by the
secondary clarifiers. The
secondary clarifiers are circular tanks that hold 2.2 million gallons of
liquid mixture of bugs and water.
At this point, there are 2,500 pounds of bug per 143,000 gallons of
water. When the water leaves
the secondary clarifiers, there are only 30 pounds of bugs per the 143,000
gallons of water. The
rest of the bugs are returned to the secondary treatment to continue their
slave work. Unfortunately for
the escaping bugs, their usefulness has ended and it’s off to the
disinfection process.
There are different ways to treat effluent water such as,
liquid chlorine, bromine, iodine, and even ultraviolet light. According to
Mr. Bartos, the Ina plant uses sodium hypochlorite, 2.2 ppm, to create
liquid chlorine in lieu of shipping in the substance due to the dangers
involved with liquid chlorine.
He further stated that bromine and iodine are cost prohibited and
ultraviolet light works great for small flows; but, the Ina plant is just
too large. After the
disinfection process, the influent water is 99.9% clean. A total of 30
million gallons of influent water is discharged into the Santa Cruz River
each day.
The anaerobic digesters and the Ina plant’s power house
work simultaneously with each other.
The bugs turn raw sludge, with potential diseases, into digested
sludge with by-products of methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. The latter two are released
into the atmosphere while the methane is used by the onsite power plant. The Ina plant receives 50% of
its electricity from the local utility provider while utilizing the methane
to run the rest of the plant.
In turn, the coolant water used by the generators is used to keep
the anaerobic digesters at body temperature, the bug’s favorite
environment. The detention time
is between 15 and 30 days and produces approximately 300K~450K Ft3
of methane gas and 10 tons of liquid fertilizer per day. Mr. Bartos explained that future
upgrades will include a more advanced power plant.
As the tour ended, I was amazed to find that raw wastewater is
eventually turned into clean water, energy for the plant, and nutrient-rich
liquid fertilizer. The
treatment plant works every efficiently when everything is in
equilibrium. It’s all
about keeping the bugs happy and that is only accomplished by aerating with
the correct amount of oxygen, maintaining correct ph, and temperature. However, I understand the true
ingredient is the well trained personnel at the Ina Wastewater Treatment
Plant.
Special thanks to David Bartos and his crew for taking time out
of their busy day for an enjoyable and educational experience.
by Shaun McKinnon - Jan. 17, 2010 12:00
AM
The Arizona Republic
Ingley: Ranch a glimmer of renewable
energy's potential
Arizona can offer solar-energy developers
legendary sun-drenched skies and thousands of empty square miles but not
nearly so ample a supply of a third essential resource.
Water.
As the state vies for a place among the
renewable-energy leaders, seeking the jobs and tax revenue a vibrant solar
industry would create, officials face a fundamental and all-too-familiar
obstacle that could slow the green power rush.
Some of the most widely used and
economical solar-energy technologies require significant amounts of water,
as much as or more than the coal, natural-gas or nuclear power plants the
solar projects are meant to replace.
Yet the sites most attractive for solar
plants, the wide open plateaus and deserts, are also some of the hottest,
driest parts of Arizona.
What emerges is an uncomfortable question
for a state trying to secure its economic future: Should Arizona support a
renewable resource with one that is finite?
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., warns that an
uninformed embrace of solar power could threaten the state's already
uncertain water resources. But others say the conflict is not so clear-cut.
Solar energy's benefits - a free fuel source, no air pollution, no
hazardous waste - could still balance or even outweigh its demand for
water.
Some of those issues are playing out in
Mohave County, 14,000 sparsely populated square miles of northwestern
Arizona that could have been custom-ordered for solar-power developers.
Stung by the real-estate crash, county
officials rolled out a red-carpeted welcome to several large solar projects
that could help the state make deep inroads in fulfilling its solar-energy
promise. So far four projects have been proposed, and two are on the
regulatory fast track and could begin generating power within two or three
years.
The first two plants could require more
than 1.5 billion gallons of groundwater annually. That's less than would be
used by the sprawling subdivisions once planned for the area but still as
much as a city the size of Kingman, population 27,000, requires in a year.
"This technology uses gobs of water," said Robert Glennon, a
University of Arizona law professor who has written two books about water
use. "We are not paying enough attention to energy and its water
needs, and solar energy needs a lot of water."
Find the rest at http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/01/17/20100117water-solar0117.html.
ONE WET WEEK NOT ENOUGH, EXPERTS
SAY, BUT EL NIÑO MAY DELIVER MORE
by Shaun McKinnon - Jan. 25, 2010 12:00
AM
The Arizona Republic
So
is the drought over now?
Arizona's
water managers
were
prepared for the question after last week's storms soaked much of the state
and, for now, the answer is still "no." One wet week won't end a
dry streak that has persisted for a decade and a half.
But
ask again after a few more wet weeks and the answer might change.
"If
we get some more storms like these, I think it's going to be a fair
question," said Charlie Ester, water operations manager for Salt River
Project. "After this year, if we get a lot more statewide storms, it's
going to be real hard to say with a straight face that the drought's
ongoing."
What
gives Ester and other experts pause when asked the "Is it over?"
question is history. Each of the past two winters dripped with rain and
snow early on, then turned dry before spring. A promising round of storms
in December 2008 sputtered into 2009, which ended as the fourth-driest year
on record statewide.
This
year could take a different turn because of El Niño, the periodic
ocean-warming phenomenon that tends to steer wetter weather over Arizona
and the southern tier of states. A strong El Niño effect could help
improve conditions and put the drought's end in sight. But the dry streak
has persisted long enough that its effects can't be erased overnight.
Climate experts point to a moisture deficit created by years of below-normal
precipitation as an indicator of the drought's severity.
Find the rest at http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/01/25/20100125drought-storm0125.html.
Check out Shaun
McKinnon’s blog – Waterblogged
– for more up-to-date information on storm totals and news and
analysis about water, drought, conservation, climate change, natural
resources, wildlife and the environment, from the forests to the deserts,
from Arizona across the West at http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/ShaunMcKinnon.
For
more information about the Arizona Hydrological Society, or to view current
job listings and announcements, please visit our web site at:
http://www.azhydrosoc.org/
Your membership
may be renewed for 2010 by credit card through the AHS website or by
mailing a check to the Arizona Hydrological Society, c/o Christie O'Day,
3317 S. Higley Road, Suite #114, Box 120, Gilbert, Arizona 85297. Dues
remain at $45.00 year for regular membership and $15.00 for students.
Looking forward to a great 2010 with your continuing support. For those who
attended the 2009 Water Symposium, be reminded that membership dues for
2010 were included in the registration fee.
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