|
Best Management Practices
Bergen County Utilities Authority
Best Management Practices
The Bergen County Utilities
(BCUA) has implemented best management practices in
several key areas, such as the development and on-going
implementation of up-to-date wastewater, sludge, and
capital improvement plans; optimization of operations and
maintenance practices; asset management; implementation of
water reuse; security initiatives; pollution prevention;
and public education activities. The BCUA has put these
best management practices into effect and has measurably
improved authority efficiency and effectiveness, as
reflected in improved customer relations, budgetary cost
savings, and improved plant performance in meeting
environmental standards.
BCUA has used technology to
update and maintain operations. There are plans for a
revised electronic version of the Water Pollution
Control Facilities Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Manual.
BCUA’s maintenance philosophy has also been changed to
reflect a reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) process
to create cost savings by the efficient and effective use
of labor and material resources, improve safety, and
prevent water pollution by ensuring the reliability of
critical pumping and treatment systems. The BCUA’s
computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is also
being updated to reflect the changes in work plans
resulting from the RCM process. In addition, the BCUA has
also procured and is utilizing a laboratory information
management system (LIMS) that has resulted in substantial
efficiencies in data management, sampling control and
scheduling, sampling test and methods, data sharing, and
the overall analysis process.
The BCUA is actively
implementing a wastewater effluent beneficial use program
to provide up to two (2) million gallons per day (mgd) of
secondary-treated effluent for use by the Public Service
Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) power plant for cooling
water. Furthermore, since 2002 effluent water is
available during drought emergencies for member
municipalities to use for non-contact irrigation and sewer
cleaning operations.
The BCUA authorized and
approved a security vulnerability analysis. This analysis
included a review of security personnel, fencing,
lighting, guard shack, entry access control, locking of
doors and windows, control of visitors, photo
identification, sign-in and out, CCTV surveillance,
alarming of buildings and remote pump stations to detect
intrusion, and a control and command center. Best
security practices have already been implemented as
recommended and stronger fencing, new vehicle entry
control gates, and security kiosks at both north and south
facility entry/exit roadways, additional security cameras,
command center, and other recommended capital improvements
have been designed, funded, and are currently out to
public bid for construction.
The BCUA has also
undertaken the Pollution Prevention/Waste Minimization
Program. The results of the program include: substantial
reductions in reportable products, conducting security
education and drills; limited Freon use for laboratory
analysis; switched the solved based parts wash/degreaser
to an aqueous based washer; installed secondary
containment areas for all above ground storage tanks and
electrical transformer areas; and installed storm drain
markers on all of the plant’s storm drains.
BCUA has also been active
within its community. BCUA created the “Can the Grease
Program” to educate the public on the proper disposal of
household grease. BCUA sponsors Household Hazardous Waste
Collection Days and publishes a Water Pollution Control
Division Newsletter. It also is an active participant in
the New Jersey Harbor Dischargers Group, the New Jersey
Water Environment Association Industrial Environmental
Quality Committee (IEQC), Watershed Management for the
Hackensack River Area #5 Committee, and the Bergen County
Environmental Council. Additionally, BCUA sponsors a booth
at the annual RiverFest and Hackensack River Day.
Best Management Practices
Bordentown Sewerage Authority
Image Processing
System Certification
Digitalizing documents and
records eliminates many obstacles created by paper (i.e.
misplaced originals, labor intensive paper storage). The
Bordentown Sewerage Authority’s document management
process starts with converting paper documents and records
to electronic files. The Authority is certified with an
Image Processing System Certification and the costs
associated with processing, duplication, distributing and
storing paper files will be greatly reduced as our files
are converted. State certification allow for disposal of
the paper document (with the exception of documents
requiring permanent retention) once the document has been
imaged and permission has been granted by the NJ DARM and
BSA Board members.
As a part of the Image
Processing Certification process, the Authority is
required to demonstrate that they have a Disaster
Prevention and Recovery Plan. The Authority’s imaging
system is fully backed up on a real-time basis at a remote
location provided by their IT vendor. This site is their
“hot site” in any emergency situation precluding them from
utilizing their own building. BSA believes this
contingency has added greater efficiency and effectiveness
to the customers of the Authority as administrative
services would be available within 24 hours of an
emergency.
The system the Authority
has in place, not only maintains a stored, retrievable
document, it also supports the automatic enforcement of
consistent records policy and reduces the cost of
regulatory compliance. The ability to comply with OPRA is
also an overall benefit to the Authority’s operation. The
system provides for: details regarding records eligible
for destruction; and audit trails to track all system
activity and the entire life-cycle of scanned records.
This allows the document to be imaged while attaching
pertinent information regarding that document’s life-cycle
for future use. This eliminates the need for reviewing
the same document twice with respect to disposal.
In summary, obtaining the
Image Processing Certification actually benefited the
Authority in several ways. First, it has allowed better
management of the continual influx of paper documents from
all sources every day. Secondly, through the certification
process, the Authority has a documented Disaster
Prevention Plan. Customers should benefit from a more
effective operation which translates to a more personal
approach to each customer who requires help. Cost for the
project was $43,000.
|
Best Management Practices
Mount Laurel Township Municipal
Utilities Authority
Annual Community Outreach
Programs
The Mt. Laurel MUA has
continued to reach out to its community over the years
with programs that address water conservation and methods
to educate the public. As such, these programs have
become a Best Management Practice of the Authority in
regard to addressing water conservation. Through its many
different programs, the MUA has reached several groups
within the community:
“Educating the
Educators” is in its second year. The MUA sponsored
10 teachers from Mt. Laurel and the Lenape School
district. Teachers from grades 4 thru 12 have the
opportunity to receive 27 Continuing Professional
Development Credit Hours upon completing four days of the
Water by Land Urban Ecology Workshop and submit a two-page
report stating how the materials and activities would be
incorporated into the classroom. Teachers received
materials, classroom projects and environmental
opportunities in the community and access to a variety of
sites that interpret local events through both historical
and environmental perspectives.
The MUA received the
“Mayors Cup” award for excellence at the Mt. Laurel
Township’s Fall Festival 2005. Every year the MUA
participates in the annual fall festival to educate the
public about the importance of clean/safe drinking water,
water conservation wastewater pollution control and the
MUA’s functions.
During the Annual
Landscape Fair and Earth Day Celebration in the
spring, the MUA holds a booth to show people conservation
practices by using the proper planting and placement of
native plants. The MUA discusses the idea of the “Purple
Pine” System of using gray water for irrigational
purposes. This year, the MUA sold handmade brooms to show
the benefits of sweeping instead of washing down porches
and driveways. Additionally, the MUA presented other
water conservation techniques such has hardscaping;
xeriscaping; using mulching and compost techniques; using
drought hardy and native plants, trees and flowers; using
stones, bricks and patios to fill up turf space, and drip
irrigation.
Best Management Practices
Plainfield Area Regional Sewerage
Authority
Real-time Wireless Data
Acquisition Project
The Plainfield Area
Regional Sewerage Authority was formed in 1996, and took
over the assets of the former public agency the Plainfield
Joint Meeting (PJM). Just prior to the transition, PJM
installed 20 new flow meters from a single equipment
provider to provide flow data for billing and to remedy
the primary deficiency that gave rise to the lawsuit
against them. This system came with a highly evolved DOS
based software package which provide good automated data
acquisition, screen views, and editing capabilities
In 2001, PARSA decided that
it could improve accuracy, and save money by changing the
flow meters and eliminating the $135,000 per year service
contract that the current metering system required to
operate. Instead of selecting the same brand meter for
every site, it was decided that the best accuracy would be
achieved by utilizing the technology best suited for each
site. This ultimately led four brands of meters being
selected. This also meant four different software packages
had to be learned. Although the accuracy was improved,
the new software packages lacked many of the features of
the old system including limited automated data
acquisition functions and online viewing. Due to these
shortcomings, the data was not viewed daily as was done
previously and some O&M issues arose.
To resolve the problem,
PARSA put together a bid specification for Real-time
Wireless Data Acquisition System that would use the
internet and wireless technology to bring the flow meter
data on 15 minute intervals back to PARSA’s main office
and make it available to all the employees via PARSA’s
LAN. In 2003, Telog Instruments, Inc. was awarded the
contract to provide the remote hardware, the server and
all the reporting and viewing software for the project.
The scope of the original project included installing the
remote telemetry on PARSA’s 10 largest flow metering
sites. Additionally, Hydrogen Sulfide data, as well as
BOD data from third party instruments at 2 of the metering
sites were also required to be collected and displayed.
The finished project was on
budget and although it took a little longer than expected,
the software package which combined PARSA’s requirements
with those of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority
(MWRA), produced a product that contains excellent
viewing, reporting , remote alarming and notification, and
editing functions. That combined with the real-time
updating of the screen charts and database, it allows
problems to be spotted and resolved quickly with minimal
impact to data quality. Additionally, the base unit
included additional remote sites as a plug and play
function.
Phase 2 of the project,
which encompassed the remaining 10 permanent metering
sites, was done by the PARSA staff for less than $4000 per
site. Currently on order are 4 remote units that will
provide real time data for a temporary flow monitoring
project. This will eliminate the need to for repeated
site visits to check for data integrity and allow PARSA’s
small staff to monitor more sites.
The system, because it is
web-based, also allows for remote access of the data so
the PARSA staff can view flow metering and other data from
their homes or via their laptop computers. When coupled
with the ability to remotely adjust chemical feed rates
via web-based software, it allows the staff to view H2S
data and make the appropriate changes to the chemical feed
rates from anywhere. The real-time data also allows the
needs-based scheduling of maintenance on a large siphon
chamber, which has saved manpower (about 15 man days per
year) versus the old calendar based schedule. Overall,
the project is delivering more than anticipated and will
continue to do so as the staff realizes new ways to
utilize the technology.
Phase 1 - Original Budget
Price - $100,000
Phase 1 - Final Contract
Price/ with design and inspection – $100,000
|
