Some incentive to fix that leaky faucet

It certainly seems that in the future, the smart money will be on using resources efficiently. Recently, we volunteered our time to help give tours down at the local waste water treatment plant. The purpose of the plant is to treat ALL of the water that comes from our homes and office buildings (kitchens, bathrooms, laundry, etc.); not water from storm drains. The waste water treatment plant budget requires chemicals, electricity and manpower that will treat ALL of the water that is pumped to the plant. So how much does that leaky faucet cost? Click here for a nifty tool from the American Water Works Association that will tell you how to calculate the annual volume of water that is lost by a leaking faucet. Those small leaks really add up!

PS - The tool just calculates the annual volume of water lost, it does not account for the other resources that are also wasted such as: treatment chemicals, manpower and the energy required for effective water treatment. YIKES!

wireless storm water sensors monitor water quality in real time

From the MNDaily.com - dated 5-26-09 - here is a reprint of the article
here is a link to the original article

U researchers implement wireless water sensors

Subhead:

Sensors provide researchers and recreational water users with up-to-the-minute data.

BY Jessica Van Berkel
PUBLISHED: 05/26/2009

At Pamela Park in Edina, Chris Wennen, a graduate student in water resources science at the University of Minnesota, stands knee-deep in a pond, examining what resembles an enormous film canister.

The device is a wireless sensor that monitors water quality. It is one of five implemented in the Minnehaha Creek area.

Wennen said the sensors measure the levels of pollutants such as nitrate and chloride, as well as the amount of oxygen, pH, temperature, turbidity and depth of the water.

“These are the first wireless sensors to record runoff data in an urban area,” said study leader and civil engineering professor William Arnold.

Arnold and colleague professor Miki Hondzo have been working on the project for the past three years with help from graduate students, including Wennen.

The sensors take measurements every two hours and every 30 minutes during a rainstorm, when runoff is highest, Arnold said.

The data is recorded in a solar-powered box on the shore and sent via cell phone to the University’s computer lab in St. Anthony Falls. There, water experts analyze the data and predict where and when pollutants — including pharmaceuticals and pesticides — will hit.

Before sensor technology, “grab samples” were taken physically twice a month. By providing researchers and recreational water users with up-to-the-minute statistics on the water supply, Arnold and his team hope to protect human and animal populations.

Arnold is currently working to collaborate with a similar project in Iowa to compare runoff and water treatment practices in urban and agricultural areas.

“These are vital statistics for human health, and vital statistics of the environmental body,” said Deborah Swackhamer , program director of the Water Resources Center at the University. “The sensors let you assess how you are managing the resource. They allow us to access water at a finer scale.”

The close examination has yielded surprising results, Arnold said, particularly in stormwater ponds, which collect runoff from streets and yards and filter it through the soil.

The stormwater ponds being monitored include two near Minnehaha Creek and at a second site near Shingle Creek . Sensors have detected caffeine at the sites, an indicator of sewage leakage.

“The caffeine is a marker that other, more dangerous, pollutants may be leaking in,” said Wennen. “Hormones like estrogen could feminize the male geese, birds and fish so that they are unable to reproduce.”

Although the detection of caffeine is worrying, it proves that the ponds are fulfilling their function by taking out pollutants.

“What we found was surprising. The stormwater ponds remove pollution we didn’t expect them to,” Arnold said.

The sensors will change location in six weeks, said Arnold. The next location to be examined is where Shingle Creek meets the Mississippi River.

By looking at various locations, researchers can monitor leaks in sewage lines and recognize what preventative methods are working.

The research group plans to expand from five sensor sites to 100 in the next five to 10 years.

“The challenge is always funding,” said Wennen.

The project has received a total of $592,000 in funding from federal and local agencies and the University, Water Resources Center spokeswoman Nina Shepherd said.

The researchers are hopeful for the expansion of the project.

“This is a pilot program,” Swackhamer said. “In the future, this is how monitoring will be done.”

A Trend - the rise in storm water authorities

Recently an article came over my desk which detailed Washington, DC's new program to charge DC land and property owners a storm water fee based on impervious surface rather than water usage. This is not a new concept, but rather one that is gaining in popularity. As an unfunded mandate, cities and towns are scrambling to figure out how to implement the NPDES Phase II guidelines and in many cases, it is easy to see why they would consider setting up a special fund for storm water.

In our daily course of business, we sent out this article to a few of our clients just to keep them "in the know". Some like to know what is happening around the country while others responded to us asking for more information so they could explore setting up their own storm water utility. One client in Tennessee advised me that this fee is already on his home water bill and he was certain the money would be collected just so agents could be sent out to fine people. That is probably a natural thought if you don't really follow storm water.

At this point, we know of active storm water utility programs in Wilmington, DE and Washington, DC.

It was interesting to learn that sound shore communities in Westchester County, NY are also exploring the possibility of setting up a storm water authority. Click here for more information.
We will research this trend further and update as we learn more.

More recycling just makes Cent$

We volunteered last week at the Stamford WPCA to help the local middle school students tour the Waste Water Treatment Facility in Stamford. The staff are well organized and do a great job at the WPCA. They definitely accomplish a lot on the small plot of land where the facility is located at the South end of town.

So, it was a busy three hours with a lot to learn. Waste Water Recycling, Solid Waste Recycling, and the importance of storm water. One of the lessons:

Solid waste: Fail to recycle = Lost $$$ opportunity:

It costs the City of Stamford about $76.00 per ton to cart away solid waste. If we can maximize our recycling efforts, less money is needed to cart away solid waste and these savings could be used for other budget items.

That being said, in an effort to increase recycling, the City has placed recycling bins in all school classrooms and lunchrooms and implemented a system to track recycling collected from the schools. Nevertheless, the volume collected from the schools is disappointingly small. Why? Is it lack of awareness? Is it inconvenient? We need to get the important message of recycling to the kids.

Recycling is an easy exercise that just makes sense. The system is already set-up and increasing recycling discipline is an effortless way to maximize funds in these tight budget times.

No Experience Necessary - Learn Stream Monitoring

Here is a great opportunity to:
learn the science of collecting critters to assess water quality and more!

• Create a baseline of water quality throughout Westchester County
• Connect communities with their water resources through hands on involvement and education, and
• Allow access to water quality information for educational purposes.

Hone in on your specialty skills, such as online data entry, chemical analysis or insect identification.

Training Program:
Morning: Learn about water chemistry and the equipment used for stream monitoring
Afternoon: Practice collecting, analyzing and recording water quality data and identifying water critters at a nearby stream.
Optional Training:
Learn and practice entering stream monitoring results into the Westchester County Citizens' Volunteer Monitoring Program.

Training Dates:
May 2, 2009 - Rye Nature Center
May 9, 2009 Stone Bars Center for Food and Agriculture Pocantico Hills
May 16, 2009 Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, Cross River

To register, send: Your name, E-mail address, Address, City, Phone, and preferred training date to:

Susan E. Darling, Associate Planner
Westchester County
Dept. of Planning
148 Martine Avenue, Room 432
White Plains, NY 10601
Phone: 914-995-6535
Fax: 914-995-3780
E-mail: sad8@westchestergov.com
or visit on the web at: http://cvmp.westchestergov.com/cvmp

Need a new job? Here is your opportunity!

As a vendor that attends and participates in many local trade shows, one of the ways that I promote my company is to call on past show attendees and invite them to visit our booth. Over the last several weeks, I have been calling waste water treatment plants and was told by many plants that they could not attend this particular show because their plant was short-staffed.

In fact, one of the vendors participating in the show was the MDC from Hartford. Their booth was specifically set up to recruit new staff. In my brief conversation with them, they told me the trend here in Connecticut is that older workers are retiring and younger people are just not getting into the field. YIKES!

So... this could be YOUR opportunity. Or maybe you know a high school student that doesn't want to go to college or can't afford it right now that would appreciate the opportunity to start a solid career that offers:

• a great starting salary
• excellent benefits such as:
• vacation, sick and holiday pay
• tuition reimbursement
• health and dental insurance
• AND
• a pension plan

Not to mention the opportunity to learn a lot.

If you are interested, click here to learn more. Or, maybe you just want to check with your home town facility.

Rain Barrels on Sale at Aquarion in CT

How cool is this? Collect rain water from your roof in a barrel and use the water for your lawn this summer! Aquarion is selling rain barrels at a discount through May 31st. Pick-up in Trumbull on June 6, 2009. Click on this link for the full details.