Download - Water Utility Infrastructure Management

For more information visit www.uimonline.com/info


CONTENTS 

November/december 2011 

COVER STORY 

22 

Pioneering Spirit in Colorado 

Consolidated Mutual Water Company gets ahead of the curve by implementing an 

aggressive in-house pipe bursting program for water main replacement. 

By Jim Rush 

22 

26 

32 

FEATURES 

26 

Hybrids: No Longer Just for Cars 

Georgia water utility employs both mobile and fixed networking for automated meter 

reading. 

By Pam Malone 

28 

HDD and Water 

Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) offers innovative alternatives to meeting water supply 

challenges. 

By Michael Lubrecht and Dan Ombalski 

30 

Protecting our Future 

Advanced asset management plays a critical role in the keeping our vital infrastructure 

operating at the highest level. 

By Greg Baird 

32 

Public-private Partnerships 

Public-private partnerships (P3s) in the water sector are used increasingly as a means for 

addressing infrastructure around the globe. 

By Bob Bailey and Peter Nicol 

4 Water Utility Infrastructure Management 

November/December 2011


36 

34 

Teaming Up for Water Delivery 

Tampa Bay Water and Veolia Water North America complete largest design-build-operate 

water treatment facility in U.S. history. 

36 

Protective Coating for Wastewater Facility Concrete 

Surfaces — Best Practices 

Coatings can be an efficient and cost-effective technical solution for protecting and renewing 

sanitary sewer tanks, pipelines and appurtenances. 

By Jeff Maxcy and Tom Iseley 

DEPARTMENTS 

10 Publisher’s Message 

11 News 

17 Maxwell Report 

18 Washington Report 

19 Financial Report 

40 Calendar 

41 Advertising Index 

42 Commentary 

Chairman 

Sandy Robinson 

Vice President 

Malcolm Pirnie 

Steve Allbee 

Director-Gap Analysis 

U.S. EPA 

WATER UTILITY INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT 

The Journal of Finance and Management for Water and Wastewater Professionals 

Michael Deane 

Executive Director 

National Association of Water Cos. 

Editorial Advisory Board 

Ken Kirk 


National Association of Clean Water 

Agencies 

Susan M. Mays 

Communications Task Force Chair 

Water Partnership Council 

Steve Maxwell 

Managing Director 

TechKNOWLEDGEy Strategic Group 

Water Utility Infrastructure Management (ISSN 2150-1009) is published six times per year. Copyright 

2011, Benjamin Media Inc., P.O. Box 190, Peninsula, OH 44264. USA All rights reserved. No part 

of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means without written permission 

from the publisher. One year subscription rates: complimentary in the United States and Canada, 

and $99 in other foreign countries. Single copy rate: $10. Subscriptions and classified advertising 

should be addressed to the Peninsula office. POSTMASTER: send Changes of Address to Water 

Utility Infrastructure Management, P.O. Box 190, Peninsula OH 44264 USA. 

Canadian Subscriptions: Canada Post Agreement Number 7178957. Send change address information 

and blocks of undeliverable copies to Canada Express; 7686 Kimble Street, Units 21 & 22, 

Mississauga, ON L5S 1E9 Canada 

Scott Haskins 

Vice President-Water Business Group 

CH2M Hill 

Bill Hillman 


NUCA 

Tom Iseley 

Chairman 

BAMI-I 

Professor/Director CEMT 

IUPUI 

Troy Norris 

Special Advisor 

Gene Schiller 

Deputy Executive Director 

Southwest Florida Water 

Management District 

Doug Stewart 

Principal Asset Management Consultant 

GHD 



Water Optimization & Efficiency – Part II 

January 18, 2012 

2:30-3:30 pm EST | Cost: FREE 

To register, go to www.uimonline.com/index/webinars 

In the second of the series of four Water Optimization & Efficiency webcasts, Black & Veatch explores some of the options 

available to handle workforce issues currently facing utility managers. For many, labor costs represent the largest utility 

budget line item. However, reactive workforce reductions to meet pressing financial concerns can jeopardize an organization’s 

service levels as well as long-term sustainability. The second free webcast in the series addresses Labor, and will 

be held on Wednesday, January 18th at 2:30 EST. 

Attendees at the webinar will hear about: 

• Addressing the generational issues in your workforce 

• Change is good, you first. A look and managing workplace change 

• Assessing, measuring and managing staff to ‘rightsize’ your operation to maintain service levels and hold the line on costs 

sponsored by 

If you missed Part 1 of the series, you can watch the archived webinar here: 

www.uimonline.com/index/webinars 

2012 Educational Series 

Webinars 

are Free 

* Earn 

.1 CEU 

*There is a $10 administrative fee for attendees requiring a CEU 

certificate. It is the responsibility of attendees to contact their state 

approval boards to verify whether they accept webinars for credit. 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Pamela A. Malone serves as the Vice President of Strategic Development for Itron’s Water Group. Malone’s 

experience in the water industry spans over two decades and her role is multi-faceted including business development, 

government and regulatory affairs. Malone holds JD and MBA degrees from the University of San Diego 

and a degree in electrical engineering from Marquette University. 

Michael Lubrecht is a licensed geologist in Washington State and is the Senior Geologist with Directed 

Technologies Drilling, Inc., in Bremerton, Wash. He has worked in water resources development, environmental 

remediation, highway engineering, and coal exploration at various locations across North America. He currently 

resides near Seattle. 

Dan Ombalski, PG, EIT, is an engineer and geologist and the President of Directed Technologies Drilling Inc., 

at the firm’s Pennsylvania headquarters in Bellefonte. He has worked as an environmental consultant, surveyor 

and civil engineer, and has pioneered many of the drilling techniques described in the article. 

Gregory M. Baird is Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of AWI “Aging Water Infrastructure” 

Consulting. He is an experienced municipal finance and utility management professional, including serving as 

chief financial officer for Aurora, Colo., and has a Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) from Brigham Young 

University’s Marriot School of Management. 

Bob Bailey is the President of the Water Business Group for CH2M HILL. In this role, he has worldwide responsibility 

for the development, project performance, and risk management of all CH2M HILL water, wastewater and 

water resource projects. 

Peter Nicol is the Global Business Development Director for CH2M HILL’s Water Business Group. Nicol is a 

professional engineer with 30 years of experience, and has played key roles on some of the most significant 

water and wastewater treatment projects in Canada. 

Jeff Maxcy is a construction manager with CH2M HILL. He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1985 

with a bachelor’s in construction engineering and started working with CH2M HILL in 1987 as a construction 

inspector. For the past 20 years he has been involved with determining how to specify and install waterproofing 

materials, concrete restoration materials and coatings properly in a sanitary sewer system. 

Tom Iseley, Ph.D., P.E., is a Professor and Director of Construction Engineering Management Technology, 

Purdue School of Engineering & Technology at IUPUI. Iseley has over 35 years of experience in the planning, 

design and construction of underground infrastructure systems. He served on the faculty of Mississippi State 

University, Purdue University and Louisiana Tech University. 



For more information visit www.trenchlessonline.com/info

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK 

CWC and CWAA 

Acronyms are a way of life. CWC (for the Clean Water Council) and CWAA (for the 

Clean Water American Alliance) represent the more preeminent water coalitions in 

the United States. 

The CWC comprises 39 national organizations principally representing contractors, 

engineers, manufacturers, suppliers and labor unions. CWAA is more on the 

public-sector side and comprises water/wastewater organizations, private water companies, 

engineers and academicians. 

CWC is all about the construction of water infrastructure. The Council promotes its 

cause by advocating federal legislation, such as SRF funding and private activity bonds 

to address America’s enormous funding deficiencies for water and wastewater infrastructure. 

CWC is spearheaded by the National Utility Contractors Association and its 

Vice President-Government Affairs Eben Wyman, who directs CWC’s activities. CWC 

is doing great things and we were pleased to hold a reception honoring CWC at the 

UIM annual Asset Management conference held recently in Arlington, Va. 

News about CWC can be read online at: www.cleanwatercouncil.org. You will want 

to read about the legislative work under way regarding the Sustainable Water 

Infrastructure Act that would eliminate the limits on tax-free bonds for water/wastewater 

projects. This would allow communities to go the capital markets for private 

financing for the construction and repair of these systems. 

CWAA is directed by its president, Ben Grumbles, who served as the Assistant 

Administrator for Water at the U.S. EPA from 2003-2008 and more recently led 

Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality. CWA is all about water sustainability 

and improving public awareness of our environmental water issues. CWAA does 

this through two councils: the Urban Water Sustainability Council and the Business 

Advisory Council. The Sustainability Council is chaired by Kevin Shafer of the 

Milwaukee Metro Sewage Agency. The Business Council recently named Steve 

Maxwell, TechKNOWLEDGEy Strategic Group, as its chairman. 

CWAA is advancing its cause in many ways, including the establishment of the U.S. 

Water Prize program. To some, this program is modeled after the highly regarded 

Stockholm Water Prize. The inaugural Water Prizes were awarded in 2011, celebrating 

five individuals and institutions. The 2012 Water Prize nominations are open 

until Dec. 31. I encourage you to check out the CWAA at its website: www.cleanwateramericaalliance.org 

to consider making a nomination for the Water Prize. 

Lakewood Colorado Water Construction Efficiency 

Recently Jim Rush, Editor of UIM, and I had the opportunity to visit Lakewood 

Colo. We were drawn to the community by the work it is doing rehabilitating the 

drinking water system using the trenchless technology method of pipe bursting. 

Lakewood’s water is provided by Consolidated Mutual Water Company, which has 

some 400 miles of drinking water pipelines. The utility has an aggressive program 

that in 2011 replaced 34,000 ft of water mains, and using its own crew to complete 

the work. The efficiency by Consolidated Mutual Water 

Company in carrying out this work so impressed us that we 

decided to present it as the cover story for this issue. Please take 

the opportunity to read about the fine water work being done in 

Lakewood. 

Publisher 

Bernard P. Krzys 

Associate Publisher 

Robert D. Krzys 

Editor 

James W. Rush 

Managing Editors 

Sharon M. Bueno 

Keith Gribbins 

Contributing Editors 

Bradley Kramer 

Pam Kleineke 

Kelly Pickerel 

Creative Director 

W. M. Conley 

Graphic Designers 

Sarah E. Hayes 

Chris Slogar 

Elizabeth Stull 

Director of Marketing 

Kelly Dadich 

Regional Sales Manager 

Dan Sisko 

Regional Sales Representative 

Lindsie Bowman 

Audience Development Manager 

Alexis R. White 

Web & Interactive Manager 

Mark Gorman 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 

Bernard P. Krzys 

President & Publisher 

Editorial & Advertising Offices 

1770 Main St., P.O. Box 190 

Peninsula, OH 44264 USA 

(330) 467-7588 

Fax: (330) 468-2289 

www.uimonline.com 

e-mail: info@benjaminmedia.com 

For Reprints, contact Wright’s 

Reprints at 877.652.5295. 



NEWS 

conferences 

UIM Conference Visits Arlington, Va. 

The UIM Asset Management 

Conference was held at the Hilton 

Arlington Nov. 28-29 and attracted 85 

participants from across the country. 

The meeting was co-located with the 

Buried Asset Management Institute- 

International (BAMI-I) annual Board 

of Directors meeting, under the direction 

of Dr. Tom Iseley of IUPUI. 

The UIM Conference — with the 

theme “Resilient and Sustainable 

Infrastructure” — was planned in conjunction 

with Dr. Sunil Sinha of Virginia 

Tech. Following the BAMI-I meeting on 

Tuesday, Nov. 28, the UIM Conference 

began with a panel discussion that featured 

representatives from DC Water, 

the City of Baltimore, Baltimore 

County, the Town of Blacksburg (Va.) 

and United Water. The panel was moderated 

by Michael Deane, executive 

director of the National Association of 

Water Companies. 

Following the panel discussion there 

was a Clean Water Reception hosted by 

Benjamin Media and the Clean Water 

Council. Wednesday, Nov. 30 featured 

the full slate of speakers who explored 

research and initiatives, utility perspectives, 

and funding, legislative and 

financing issues. 

The conference features high level 

attendees that include municipal engineers, 

consulting engineers, federal government, 

academia, private-sector utilities 

and more. The conferences are well 

known for discussion and networking. 

Sponsors for the event were RapidView 

IBAK, Cityworks and I.T. For more 

information, visit uimonline.com. 

Main Event Sponsor 

Tom Kiefer of Baltimore County speaks during the panel discussion at the 

UIM Conference. 

Table Top Sponsors 

Eben Wyman, NUCA Vice President-Government Relations, gives a presentation on 

government initiatives related to water and wastewater. 

November/December 2011 

Water Utility Infrastructure Management 11

NEWS 

WEFTEC 2011 Attracts 

Strong Crowd to Los 

Angeles 

A total of 16,961 water professionals 

and 923 exhibiting companies from 

around the world attended WEFTEC 

2011, the Water Environment 

Federation’s (WEF) 84th annual 

Technical Exhibition and Conference, 

which was held Oct. 16-19 in Los Angeles 

The calm before the storm – the WEFTEC 

Exhibit Hall just before the doors opened 

for attendees. 

The conference offered attendees 

their choice of more than 900 presentations 

in 114 technical sessions, 37 workshops, 

eight local facility tours, as well 

as several high profile events. Key sessions 

and workshops featured in-depth 

topics such as private sewer system 

management, innovative applications 

of recycled water, water infrastructure 

investment, recent developments in 

membrane bioreactor technology, and 

improved energy efficiency for wastewater 

treatment plants and processes. 

Of particular interest was a highpowered 

Water Leaders Session that 

featured a panel of top leaders in the 

water community’s consulting, finance, 

and public service sectors. The group 

shared their perspectives on water in 

the coming decade, including some of 

the anticipated challenges and innovations 

in policy, governance, finance, 

infrastructure, public safety and health, 

technology and R&D. Moderated by 

former U.S. EPA Administrator G. 

Tracy Mehan III (Principal of the 

Cadmus Group), the panel included 

Gretchen McClain (President of ITT 

Fluid and Motion Control), Laurent 

Auguste (President and CEO of Veolia 

Water North Americas), Dan McCarthy 

(President and CEO of Black & Veatch 

Water), David Gray (Managing Director 

of Global Industrial Services for Credit 

Suisse), and Jeff Eger (WEF Executive 

Director). 

Another highlight was the Utility 

Executives Forum that examined the 

challenges faced by utilities during this 

time of economic uncertainty. Attendees 

heard about the outlook for the water 

sector as well as opportunities for innovation 

by using new approaches to 

financing, organization and technology 

through firsthand accounts by venture 

capitalist David Henderson (Managing 

Director of XPV Capital Corp.), Richard 

Fox (Chairman & CEO of Camp Dresser 

& McKee) and top executives representing 

three utilities from across the country, 

Tim Houghton (Executive Assistant 

for the City and County of Honolulu, 

Hawaii), Bill Gaffi (General Manager of 

Clean Water Services, Hillsboro, Ore.), 

and George Hawkins (General Manager 

of DC Water, Washington, D.C.). 

WEFTEC 2012 is scheduled for Sept. 

29 through Oct. 3 in New Orleans, La. 

NAWC President of the Board Lisa Sparrow, 

President and CEO of Utilities Inc., speaks at 

the Water Summit. 

La Jolla Hosts NAWC 

Water Summit 

Every day, water service companies 

help provide essential water and wastewater 

services to nearly 73 million 

Americans. The voice of the private 

water service industry is amplified by 

the National Association of Water 

Companies (NAWC) that successfully 

hosted its annual Water Summit in La 

Jolla, Calif., from Oct. 2 – 5. 

NAWC’s Summit provided a forum 

for more than 350 water industry professionals 

to exchange ideas and share 

solutions that serve customers and 

make a difference for our nation as a 

whole. Speakers offered a variety of 

perspectives on the realities and challenges 

in the water utility industry, as 

they focused on the theme of Public 

Service & Private Enterprise: A 

Powerful Combination for Moving 

Water Forward. 

The audience listened to featured 

water book authors Brian Fagan, Elixir: 

A History of Water and Humankind; 

Robert Glennon, Unquenchable: 

America’s Water Crisis and What to do 

About it; Steve Maxwell, The Future of 

Water – A Startling Look Ahead; and 

David Zetland, The End of Abundance: 

Economic Solutions to Water Scarcity. 

In their books, the authors discussed 

how water has shaped our lives, and 

will continue to do so in the future. 

Karen Barnes, from The Shelton 

Group, discussed how research and 

social media trends suggest a shift in 

water customers’ expectations and 

interest in receiving water info. Barnes 

outlined a few communications strategies 

utilities can use to strengthen programs, 

and highlighted the WaterSense 

supported campaign “Wasting Water is 

Weird.” 

Public leaders from San Diego and 

Los Angeles described how they set 

objectives for water infrastructure and 

service in the face of supply challenges 

during the “Water is Your Business: 

Local Leaders on Building 

Partnerships” session. Maureen 

Stapleton, General Manager, San 

Diego County Water Authority, shared 

her beliefs on working with the private 

sector to achieve goals. Other summit 

highlights included two panels focused 

on financial perspectives on regulation 

and its impact on access to capital, a 

panel dedicated to leadership in the 

workplace, a professor who spoke 

about California’s water challenges, 

and Ned Breslin, CEO, Water For 

People, who emphasized today’s urgency 

to solve global safe water issues. 

Eric Thornburg, President and CEO, 

Connecticut Water, ceremoniously 

passed the gavel to the new NAWC 



NEWS 

President of the Board, Lisa 

Sparrow, President and CEO 

of Utilities Inc., after the presentation 

of NAWC’S 

Management Innovation 

Awards wherein four member 

companies walked away with 

honors for their industrychanging 

ideas including 

Missouri American Water for 

their Hammerbodies Wellness 

and Safety Program; Baton 

Rouge Water Company for its 

Efficient Use of Segways; 

Middlesex Water Company’s 

Marsh Water Main 

Replacement Project, and 

CH2M HILL’s Sustainability 

Pilot Program which consisted 

of 57 community projects. 

And for the first time, 

members had the opportunity 

to earn the American Water 

Works Association (AWWA) 

Customer Service Certificate, 

a recognized industry-wide 

certification. The program, 

developed by AWWA with 

support from NAWC, offers 

professional training to staff 

of water and wastewater utilities 

that do not have the 

resources available for an inhouse 

customer service training 

curriculum. 

The next NAWC Water 

Summit will be held in 

Miami, Florida, at Turnberry 

Isle from October 7-10, 2012. 

American Water Summit 

Held in Atlanta 

The American Water Summit Conference 

met Nov. 9-10 in Atlanta. The event was 

organized by Global Water Intelligence of 

the United Kingdom. There were close to 

300 attendees. 

The “Water Investment Idol” judges were Steve 

Maxwell, Jeff Garwood, Mark LeChevallier and 

David Gray. 

The conference concentrated on four 

areas: 1) water and energy issues, including 

gas shale fracking, 2) investing in 

water, 3) desalination, and 4) public-private 

partnerships. 

Principal organizers of the event were 

Debra Coy, Svanda & Coy Consulting, and 

Steve Maxwell, TechKNOWLEDGEy 

Strategic Group. The conference was a blend 

of panel presentations and a networking 

roundtable session, including a unique Water 

Investment Idol session modeled somewhat 

after the hit TV program “American Idol.” 

The main sponsor of the event was Pentair. 

Panel presentations included such titles as 

“Water and Energy,” “Inland Desalination 

and Scarcity Solutions,” “Breaking the Mold 

on Infrastructure Finance,” and “Growing 

Blue – Moving Water Up the Agenda.” 

There were 20 networking roundtables with 

discussion leaders and topics such as: Kevin 

Shafer, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage 

District, “Sustainability in Wastewater 

Planning,” Ben Grumbles, Clean Water 

America Alliance, “Hydraulic Fracturing: 

Fresh Facts and Critical Choices,” and Greg 

Heitzman, Louisville Water Co., “The 

Corporatized Municipal Water Co.” 

There were five “Water Investment Idol” 

presenters. Michael Curren, Atlantis 

Technologies, was the winner for his radial 

deionization water purification system. A 

unique electronic technology aspect of the 

conference was a system that enabled attendees 

to vote on various questions raised in the 

panel discussions. Results of the surveys 

were immediately shown on a large screen. 

Christopher Gasson, Global Water 

Intelligence, noted this was the second 

America Water Summit held. The first was 

in 2010 and drew about 250 attendees. 

Christopher Gasson, Global Water Intelligence, 

and Kathy Shandling, IPWA. 

For more information visit www.uimonline.com/info 



NEWS 

MEETINGS 

U.S. Conference of Mayors Meets in 

Washington D.C. 

Annually, the U.S. 

Conference of Mayors 

Water Council meets in 

Washington, D.C., at the 

St. Regis Hotel. This 

year’s meeting took place 

Oct. 27-28. 

Co-chairs for the council 

are Mayor Jennifer 

Hosterman, Pleasanton, 

Calif., and Mayor Stephanie 

Rawlings-Blake, Baltimore 

Md. Considering the meeting 

was being held in 

Water Council co-chairs (l-r) Stephanie 

Rawlings-Blake (Baltimore, Md.) and 

Jennifer Hosterman (Pleasanton, 

Calif.) presided over the meeting. 

Washington, D.C., there was considerable focus on matters related 

to the federal government. At the top of the list was a discussion 

on “Federal Water and Wastewater Mandates.” 

The general atmosphere of the mayors was that there is an 

ever-increasing number of unfunded mandates. The mayors 

discussed that with tighter municipal budgets, it is difficult to 

address these mandates. Discussing the wastewater mandates at 

the meeting were Susan Bodine, Barnes & Thornburg, and 

Adrienne Nemura, Limno Tech. Regarding the drinking water 

mandates, Tom Curtis of AWWA was present. 

The second day of these council meetings is usually devoted 

to innovations. Chad Carney of 3M made a presentation titled 

“A Sustainable and Cost Effective Rehabilitation Solution for 

Potable Water Infrastructure” based on 3M’s new water pipeline 

coating system. Veolia Water has developed a new 

approach to public-private partnerships based on performance 

contracting. Harald Jensen and David Gadis of Veloia made a 

presentation titled “A Winning Formula for Your City 

Winnipeg Alliance Reshapes How City Manages Water 

Infrastructure Challenges.” 

There was a session on “System Efficiencies, Emergency 

Preparedness and Innovations.” A new Water Council member, 

PureSafe Water System’s Gerald Stoehr made a presentation on 

“Providing Water Supply in Disaster Events and Recovery 

Periods.” Another new Water Council member, Schneider Electric, 

made a presentation on “Energy Performance Contracting and 

Supply Management for Water and Wastewater Treatment.” 

Edwin Newell was there on behalf of Schneider Electric. 

As the meeting closed, the mayors met privately with U.S. 

EPA officials. 

ADVANCED METERING 

Aclara Provides Total AMI Solution to 

Town of Culpeper 

The Town of Culpeper, Va., has chosen Aclara to provide a 

total advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) solution for electric 

and water meters. Aclara is part of the Utility Solutions 

Group of ESCO Technologies Inc. 

Culpeper’s new AMI system will deliver remote meter reading 

to 5,000 electric and 6,400 water customers. It will employ 

Aclara’s TWACS power-line technology for reading electric 

meters as well as its STAR Network system for water meters. 

In addition, Aclara will supply enterprise meter-data-management 

(MDM) and consumer-engagement solutions to 

Culpeper. A web portal will provide access directly to usage 

data, allowing the town to better service its customers. 

Culpeper also will employ Aclara solutions to manage and 

restore services after power outages, control usage during peak 

electric demand, and implement acoustic leak detection to find 

water losses in the distribution system. 

“Access to near real-time information will help us understand 

events on our utility networks and to be proactive in our 

response to outages, tampering, theft and leaks,” said Mike 

Stover, Director of Light and Power for the Town of Culpeper. 

“For example, the ability to identify the extent of power outages 

without sending personnel to the field will exponentially 

improve our ability to restore services quickly.” 

BUSINESS 

Xylem Launches as New Global, Pure-play Water Technology Company 

Xylem Inc. (NYSE: XYL) 

announced Oct. 31 that it has completed 

its spinoff from ITT Corp., 

and has begun operations as a $3.2 

billion standalone global water technology 

company. Xylem’s marketleading 

product brands, applications 

expertise and technological strength 

enable the transport, treatment, testing 

and efficient use of water in public 

utility, residential and commercial 

building services, industrial and agricultural 

settings. The company serves 

customers in more than 150 countries 

to address critical water issues such as 

growing water scarcity, aging infrastructure 

and more stringent environmental 

regulations. 

“I’m extremely proud to announce 

the launch of a unique company, the 

product of more than 100 years of 

experience in the water business and 

the collective work and expertise of 

our nearly 12,000 employees and 

our strategic partners around the 

world,” said Gretchen McClain, president 

and CEO of Xylem. “While our 

name has changed with the spinoff, 

our customers will find in Xylem the 

same commitment to providing local 

service to meet their specific needs 

while leveraging our global network, 

technological strength and applications 

expertise.” 

Xylem serves a $30 billion segment of 

the global water equipment and services 

market through a distribution network 

consisting of a direct sales force and independent 

channel partners. The company’s 

products and services address the full 

cycle of water and are key in the collection, 

distribution and use of water. Wellknown 

and respected product brands 

such as Bell and Gossett, Flojet, Flygt, 

Godwin, Goulds Water Technologies, 

WTW and YSI, among others, will continue 

their place in the water industry as 

a part of the Xylem portfolio. 



NEWS 

Allentown (Pa.) Selects Itron to Manage 

Water Resources 

Itron Inc. announced that the City of Allentown, Pa.’s 

Bureau of Water Resources will implement Itron’s mobile 

data collection solution for the collection and analysis of 

water meter reads. The solution will help Allentown reduce 

non-revenue-generating water through improved metering 

accuracy, enhanced leak detection capabilities and added 

tamper deterrents. Installation is expected to be complete 

by mid-2013. 

The City of Allentown, which serves 34,000 connections 

for 118,000 residents, will install more than 26,000 Itron 

advanced datalogging water modules while utilizing the 

nearly 6,000 Itron water modules the utility already has in 

place. Allentown’s mobile data collection solution will also 

include Itron mobile collectors and web-based data presentment 

software. 

The flexibility of Itron’s technology enables utilities, such as 

Allentown, to support future migration from mobile data collection 

to fixed network systems within the same platform. 

“The City of Allentown chose Itron’s solution because it has 

the flexibility we need,” said John Parsons, manager Program 

Development. “We now have a proven solution to address the 

City’s need for increased water meter accuracy in addition to 

improving leak detection and deterring meter tampering. 

“By choosing Itron’s mobile solution, we have the option 

to migrate to a fixed base system in the future with very few 

changes to our operations. We are excited about a new automated 

meter reading system that will be a definite enhancement 

to the very labor-intensive process that we currently 

have in-place, while at the same time increasing City revenues,” 

Parsons added. 

With the Itron solution, Allentown can leverage the benefits 

of advanced datalogging analysis to detect water loss, 

conserving water resources and creating operational efficiencies. 

The solution will also dramatically reduce the time 

it takes to read all meters in the system, going from several 

weeks per quarter to two or three days. 

Greenville (Miss.) Selects Mueller Systems 

The City of Greenville, Miss., has selected Mueller Systems, 

a leading provider of innovative water infrastructure products 

and services and technologically advanced metering systems 

for water, electric and gas systems, to upgrade its water system 

with a state-of-the-art advanced metering infrastructure 

(AMI) network and new water smart meters. 

Mueller Systems will provide the Greenville with The 

Mi.Net Mueller Infrastructure Network for Utilities – an 

advanced two-way AMI network – as well as Mueller Systems’ 

Hersey water meters for approximately 13,500 service connections. 

The municipally owned utility that provides water 

services to more than 36,000 people throughout Greenville 

was scheduled to begin installing the Mi.Net System and 

water meters in November 2011. 

“The City of Greenville is always looking for new ways to 

strengthen its water system, especially when it comes to 

improving conservation, customer service and operational 

efficiency,” said Lorenzo Anderson, City Engineer for The 

City of Greenville. “Upgrading our service connections with 

smart meters and linking them together with the Mi.Net 

System will help us to better meet each of these objectives by 

reducing water loss, helping our customers to better understand 

their water usage behavior and how their water consumption 

affects their bills, and reducing operational costs.” 

The Mi.Net System enables utilities to improve operational 

efficiencies and customer service by fully automating 

the meter reading-to-billing process and linking meters, 

distribution sites and control devices in a single data network. 

Benefits provided by the Mi.Net System include ondemand 

meter readings, e-mail alerts and alarms based 

upon near real-time information as well as the ability for 

utilities to better manage their water and electric resources 

through on-going access to custom data and information. A 

recent enhancement to The Mi.Net System is Mi.Data – a 

web-based portal that enables municipalities to strengthen 

relationships with consumers by providing a consolidated 

view of water and electricity usage online. 

CONDITION ASSESSMENT 

Echologics Signs Agreement with 

United Water 

Echologics, a developer and leading provider of acousticbased 

technologies for water loss management, leak detection 

and pipe condition assessment, secured a three-year 

master services agreement with United Water. The agreement 

enables any operating division of United Water to readily 

utilize Echologics leak detection and condition assessment 

services. United Water is one of the nation’s leading water 

and wastewater utilities, supplying services to approximately 

7 million people in the continental United States. 

The agreement between United Water and Echologics 

is the result of a successful transmission main leak detection 

pilot project, completed in fall 2010. The pilot 

included testing of approximately 5 miles of water mains, 

including large diameter reinforced concrete pipe, prestressed 

cylinder concrete and cast-iron pipe for United 

Water New Jersey (UWNJ), a subsidiary of United Water. 

During the survey, Echologics non-invasively located a 

major leak on a river crossing, which was discovered on a 

42-inch CIP water main, with an estimated loss of 100,000 

gallons per day, and was isolated without breaking ground 

or disrupting service. As a result of the survey, UWNJ was 

able to quickly repair the leak, avoiding potential catastrophic 

failure. 

“Leaks and aging water pipes present significant challenges 

to water service providers around the world,” said Antonio 

Vicente, Operations Engineer for United Water New Jersey. 

“By partnering with Echologics, United Water can take a proactive, 

efficient approach to mitigating water leaks and assessing 

the structural condition of pipes, before service is compromised. 

Using advanced technology to address these items 

head-on is critical for United Water to continue fulfilling its 

primary objective, which is to provide its customers with the 

highest quality drinking water.” 



NEWS 

LEAK DETECTION 

Wachs Water Services Awarded Leak 

Detection Contracts 

Wachs Water Services announced that it has recently been 

awarded several multi-year contracts to inspect up to 4,000 

miles of critical water mains for leaks in Connecticut and Texas. 

The contracts have a combined value of approximately $1 million 

and further strengthen Wachs Water Services position as a 

leader in advanced leak detection solutions. 

The prolonged drought conditions in many parts of the 

United States over the summer have resulted in critical water 

pipelines bursting in record numbers around the country, causing 

significant repair backlogs, service interruptions, and business 

and road closures. Soil surrounding buried water pipelines 

dries and shrinks in the summer, and freezes and expands 

in the winter, which can cause water pipes to shift and develop 

leaks. If the water main is old or in a structurally deficient condition 

the changing ground conditions make the water main 

even more susceptible to leaks or failures. 

To help utilities manage the increase in water main breaks 

and to conserve water resources, Wachs Water Services will 

deploy a variety of leak detection solutions including correlator 

listening devices and the Investigator in-line condition assessment 

technology for small diameter distribution mains, and 

the LDS1000 in-line acoustic/CCTV system for large diameter 

water transmission lines. 

“We are creating a cost-effective portfolio of proven leak 

detection technologies that offer solutions for utilities of all 

sizes when dealing with water main breaks and water loss,” said 

Cliff Jones, Vice President of Business Development, Wachs 

Water Services. “We are helping utilities nationwide to develop 

proactive water pipeline management programs that reduce 

repair and replacement costs, and significantly minimize the 

impact of water main leaks.” 

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE 

Report Released on Green Infrastructure 

Barriers & Gateways 

The Clean Water America Alliance (Alliance) released a 

report, Barriers and Gateways to Green Infrastructure, in an 

international webcast recently as part of the Virtual H2O 

conference. It is based on a national survey conducted last 

Spring that solicited more than 200 utilities, NGO’s, government 

and private entities to determine what sorts of obstacles 

they experienced, and opportunities were revealed, when 

implementing programs. 

“Green infrastructure comes in many shades and slices and so 

do the benefits and barriers,” explained Ben Grumbles, 

President of the Alliance. “Green infrastructure pioneers need 

support, guidelines, and assurances to create the foundation of 

practice needed for more common adoption. A sustained campaign 

of education and collaboration will reduce risk and uncertainty 

and open the door for more communities and organizations 

to shift the paradigm from gray to green.” 

The report summarizes the results of the survey and is 

informed by the ongoing green infrastructure research and 

developed and refined through conversations with partner 

organizations including American Rivers, The Conservation 

Fund, Low Impact Development Center, Smart Growth 

America, and the Alliance’s Urban Water Sustainability Council. 

The research survey was funded by the Turner Foundation to 

help inform U.S. EPA’s upcoming Stormwater regulations due 

to be released December 2, 2011. It can be downloaded at 

http://bit.ly/gireport. 

The report was planned to be a stimulus for advancing 

policy and practice at the Urban Water Sustainability 

Leadership Conference, Oct. 3-5, in Milwaukee. U.S. EPA’s 

Nancy Stoner, the Acting Assistant Administrator for Water, 

addressed the stormwater rule and how it will impact urban 

water management. 

Key recommendations include urging EPA to use new stormwater 

regulations and permits to help drive green infrastructure, 

fully measure and account for economic and environmental 

benefits, embrace regional flexibility and results-oriented 

approaches, and focus increased federal funding for green infrastructure 

initiatives. Coordination among other federal agencies 

is critical, especially the USDA, U.S. Department of the Interior, 

and U.S. Department of Transportation. This can also be true at 

all levels of government. Only through greater coordination, 

education, and funding can green infrastructure be advanced 

meaningfully and sustainably. 

GeoTree Technologies a Finalist in National 

Cleantech Open 

GeoTree Technologies Inc has been selected as a finalist in 

the 2011 National Cleantech Open. GeoTree uses industrial 

waste materials to make products that are used for pipe and 

road infrastructure rehabilitation. 

“Unemployment is the key issue facing this country, and 

infrastructure is in a state of severe decay. We need to find solutions 

to these macro issues,” said Amir Hoda, President and 

CEO of GeoTree Technologies. “The reason for the Cleantech 

recognition is our ability to help solve these problems with 

solutions than are more cost-effective than current solutions. 

GeoTree’s technology fixes America’s infrastructure at a lower 

cost, while creating construction jobs, manufacturing jobs and 

green-collar jobs.” 

GeoTree’s technology rapidly creates a new structural pipe 

inside the old pipe, with little to no public disruption. This 

process requires no digging, virtually eliminating traffic delays 

and associated idling cars and trucks, thereby eliminating as 

much as 90 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions. This 

technology is being embraced by states, including Georgia, 

Virginia, Texas and Michigan. 

The Cleantech Open runs the world’s largest cleantech 

accelerator. Its mission is to find, fund and foster entrepreneurs 

with big ideas that address today’s most urgent energy, environmental 

and economic challenges. To date, it has helped raise 

over $300 million in capital and created an estimated 2,500 

green-collar jobs. 

GeoTree Technologies is located in Lafayette, Colo. For 

inquiries, please contact Benjamin Cook at 720-921-8810 or by 

email at info@geotreetechnologies.com. 

education programs of the Alliance. Recommendations were 



By Steve Maxwell 

M A X W E L L R E P O R T 

The “Lucky 13” Going Forward 

The stock market has not had a fabulous year in 2011 — 

the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average sit 

about where they started the calendar year, and are right 

now trading at around 90 percent of their yearly high 

point. Water stocks, lamentably, have done even worse. As 

one can see from a quick glance, while many of the stocks 

in our revised Table are trading at around 80 percent of 

their yearly highs, several are trading in the range of 60 

percent and a couple are trading down at around 50 percent 

of their high – notably Mueller Water, which continues 

to suffer on-going losses, and Aegion (the new name 

for Insituform). 

You will note that we have made several changes to our 

table of water stocks. First, we have lost a few companies 

due to industry consolidation and acquisition — notably 

Ameron and Nalco, which were acquired, respectively, by 

National Oilwell Varco, and Ecolab at strong valuations. 

Second, we dropped at least one company — Energy 

Recovery — due to its small size — less than $40 million 

in revenue, and continuing net losses. The company, 

which came to the public markets a few years ago with 

high expectations, has seen its stock price continue to 

decline — from about $9.00 to a current level of less 

than $3.00. Finally, we dropped a few other companies 

because they simply are not really that focused on water 

— i.e., less than 20 percent of their total revenues are 

derived from water. This included Danaher, Robbins and 

Myers, Federal Signal and URS Corp. 

One bright spot from the perspective of the security 

analysts has been the emergence of Xylem — the former 

water division of ITT — as 

a separate publicly traded company. 

Indeed, Xylem now represents 

one of the largest — if not 

the largest — publicly traded 

and pure-play water company 

available on the U.S. stock markets. 

It is likely to become somewhat 

of a bellwether for the 

health and growth prospects of 

the overall water industry. 

These changes leave us with a “Lucky 13” of more 

pure-play water companies whose performance we will 

follow going forward. The outlook for 2012 is certainly 

tenuous at best, as the global economy continues to 

face massive debt problems and political uncertainties 

in many parts of the world. However, many continue to 

believe that water companies represent a true asset 

play, and should be one of the better places to put your 

dollars for long-term appreciation. 

Steve Maxwell is Managing Director of TechKNOWLEDGEy 

Strategic Group (TSG), a Boulder, Colo.-based management 

consultancy specializing in merger and acquisition 

advisory services, and strategic planning for the commercial 

water and environmental industries. Maxwell is author 

of the annual Water Market Review, and a recent book titled 

The Future of Water. He has advised dozens of water firms 

on strategy and transactional issues, and can be reached at 

(303) 442-4800 or maxwell@tech-strategy.com. 

WATER DOLLARS 

Company Price % of 

52-wk hi 

Revenue EBITDA 

(000,000) 

Market Cap. Enterprise Val/ 

EBITDA 

EBITDA/ 

Revenue 

ROE Performance 

TSG Index 

Aegion (AEGN) 15.86 53% 928 88 $619 8.8 9.5% 4.8% 8.4 

Badger Meter (BMI) 29.3 64% 267 44 $440 9.9 16.5% 14.0% 14.0 

Calgon Carbon (CCC) 15.04 83% 535 88 $857 9.9 16.4% 13.0% 13.8 

Franklin Electric (FELE) 45.43 87% 809 122 $1,045 8.9 15.1% 14.0% 13.0 

Gorman-Rupp (GRC) 29.59 81% 351 61 $621 10.0 17.4% 16.0% 14.9 

Layne Christensen (LAYN) 23.45 62% 1,100 99 $457 4.8 9.0% 8.6% 7.7 

Lindsay Manufacturing (LNN) 53.93 63% 479 68 $685 8.6 14.2% 15.0% 12.7 

Mueller Water (MWA) 2.13 44% 1,340 96 $332 9.9 7.2% -9.0% 4.7 

Northwest Pipe (NWPX) 23.37 76% 466 31 $220 10.3 6.7% 3.0% 7.0 

Pentair (PNR) 36.74 87% 3,340 476 $3,637 10.4 14.3% 10.0% 12.2 

Tetra Tech (TTEK) 21.98 81% 1,790 202 $1,385 7.1 11.3% 12.0% 10.2 

Watts Water Tech. (WTS) 36.37 89% 1,390 191 $1,309 7.9 13.7% 6.4% 10.5 

Xylem (XYL) 24.35 86% 3,740 615 $4,505 9.0 16.4% 0.0% 10.9 

Total 16,535 

Financial data as of December 10, 2011 


TSG Index: December, 2011 8.84 


W A S H I N G T O N R E P O R T 

Mobile (Ala.) Completes Consent Decree Work 

Mobile, Ala., has completed all work required under a 

2002 consent decree resolving the city’s violations of the 

Clean Water Act and Alabama Water Pollution Control 

Act. The city’s Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners 

(Board) has paid the original $99,000 (federal) and 

$15,000 (state) civil penalties, as well as stipulated penalties 

totaling $476,000, and implemented related environmental 

projects valued at an additional $2.5 million. As a 

result, on October 25, 2011, the U.S. Department of 

Justice filed a notice of termination of the Consent 

Decree with the U.S. District Court. 

Alabama and Mobile Bay Watch, Inc. (known as Mobile 

Baykeeper) were co-plaintiffs with the United States in 

the case and resulting consent decree against the Board. 

This action marks a significant accomplishment for the 

Board, and will result in long-term environmental and 

public health benefits for the Mobile Bay area. This is 

also the first major Clean Water Act consent decree 

involving a municipal sewer system to be terminated 

within Region 4 of the U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

Under the consent decree, the Board was required to 

develop and implement numerous Management, 

Operations and Maintenance (MOM) programs to address 

the Clean Water Act violations cited. These include programs 

to ensure adequate sewer capacity; address operational 

and maintenance failures; control corrosion and 

grease in the sewer pipes; ensure proper reporting and 

public notification of sewer spills; prepare contingency 

plans for emergency situations; and monitor the water 

quality in the creeks and rivers within the Board’s service 

area. EPA estimates the Board has reduced its raw sewage 

discharges to surface waters by over 2.8 million gallons 

per year since implementing the programs, substantially 

reducing contamination and the risk to public health. 

The Board also completed four supplemental environmental 

projects (SEPs) as required under the consent 

decree. Two of these SEPs funded purchases of environmentally 

valuable habitats in Mobile County, under the 

Alabama Forever Wild program, and within the Dog River 

watershed. One project supported the repair of private 

residential service laterals in low-income areas. The final 

SEP provided partial funding for the publicly available 

Mobile Bay area water quality monitoring database. 

The Board owns and operates two wastewater treatment 

plants (WWTPs), which discharge treated wastewater into 

Mobile Bay and its tributary, Three Mile Creek, as well as 

the transmission and collection systems that carry wastewater 

to the WWTPs for treatment. The 2002 consent 

decree resolved violations of both the Clean Water Act 

and the Alabama Water Pollution Control Act dating back 

to 1993. 

Specifically, the Board was cited for exceeding the effluent 

limits outlined in its WWTPs’ National Pollutant 

Discharge Elimination System permits, as well sanitary 

sewer overflows (SSOs) from the Board’s wastewater collection 

and transmission systems. SSOs pose a significant 

threat to public health and the environment, and remain 

a leading cause of water quality impairment. SSOs contain 

raw sewage and have high concentrations of bacteria 

from fecal contamination, as well as disease-causing 

pathogens and viruses. 

House Repeals Withholding Rule 

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to 

repeal a rule that would withhold 3 percent of payment 

for government contracts as a way to ensure those companies 

pay taxes. The withholding rule, which was introduced 

in 2006 and scheduled to go into effect in 2013, 

was repealed by a 405-16 vote. 

Business groups had argued that withholdings create 

cash-flow problems for contractors, many of which are 

operating at low margins to begin with. The repeal will 

also have to be approved by the Senate before it can 

become law. 

EPA Announces Final Study Plan to Assess Hydraulic 

Fracturing 

EPA announced Nov. 3 its final research plan on 

hydraulic fracturing. At the request of Congress, EPA is 

working to better understand potential impacts of hydraulic 

fracturing on drinking water resources. Natural gas 

plays a key role in our nation’s clean energy future and 

the Obama Administration is committed to ensuring that 

we continue to leverage this vital resource responsibly. 

In March 2010, EPA announced its intention to conduct 

the study in response to a request from Congress. Since 

then, the agency has held a series of public meetings 

across the nation to receive input from states, industry, 

environmental and public health groups, and individual 

citizens. In addition, the study was reviewed by the 

Science Advisory Board (SAB), an independent panel of 

scientists, to ensure the agency conducted the research 

using a scientifically sound approach. 

The initial research results and study findings will be 

released to the public in 2012. The final report will be 

delivered in 2014. To ensure that the study is complete 

and results are available to the public in a timely manner, 

EPA initiated some activities this summer that were 

supported by the SAB and provide a foundation for the 

full study. 

The final study plan looks at the full cycle of water in 

hydraulic fracturing, from the acquisition of the water, 

through the mixing of chemicals and actual fracturing, to 

the post-fracturing stage, including the management of 

flowback and produced or used water as well as its ultimate 

treatment and disposal. Earlier this year, EPA 

announced its selection of locations for five retrospective 

and two prospective case studies. 

This administration continues to take steps to ensure 

that we can rely on this abundant resource for decades to 

come, including taking steps to fully understand any 

impacts related to the development of this resource. This 

study is in line with the priorities identified in the president’s 

Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future, and is consistent 

with the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board recommendations 

on steps to support the safe development 

of natural gas resources. 



ABC Predicts 2012 Will Be a 

Slow Year for Construction 

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) in November 

released its 2012 economic forecast for the U.S. commercial 

and industrial construction industry. “ABC’s analysis 

of construction trends indicates 2012 will be a year of 

gradual progress as advances in private construction are 

partially offset by ongoing declines in publicly financed 

construction,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. 

“Nonresidential construction spending is expected to 

grow 2.4 percent in 2012 following a 2.4 percent decrease 

in 2011,” Basu said. “The pace of recovery in the nation’s 

nonresidential construction industry remains soft and 

2012 is positioned to be a year of slow gain. The first half 

of 2012 may be particularly challenging, a reflection of 

the soft patch in economic activity experienced during 

much of the first half of 2011. 

“ABC’s national Construction Backlog Indicator, which 

stood at 8.1 months for both the second and third quarters 

of 2011, is not expected to advance substantially and 

likely will remain in the vicinity of 8 months of backlog 

for much of 2012,” said Basu. “However, backlog is one 

month higher from the same time last year. A backlog of 

less than 8 months is associated with construction spending 

declines, while a backlog exceeding 8 months is statistically 

associated with future construction spending 

increases. Today’s level of backlog is consistent with flat 

construction spending. 

“Nonresidential building construction employment is 

expected to increase 0.4 percent in 2012 following lackluster 

0.6 percent growth in 2011,” Basu said. “Employers 

will continue to seek increased productivity among existing 

workers in order to boost weak industry margins. 

“There may be a degree of relief for construction contractors 

with respect to materials prices. In 2011, prices 

for construction inputs rose 7.5 percent,” said Basu. “ABC 

expects 2012 materials prices will rise 4.7 percent. Despite 

a sluggish construction recovery, input prices are likely to 

remain elevated as global investors retain significant ownership 

in commodities and hedge against risks emerging 

from Europe, the United States, China and Brazil. 

“The direction of the U.S. dollar will play a major role in 

determining construction input prices in 2012. However, 

the dollar’s direction is far from obvious,” Basu said. 

“Although the nation continues to run a large trade deficit, 

which implies further deterioration in the value of the dollar 

over time, investors often race to dollar-denominated 

assets during times of global financial stress. We are in one 

of those times now, which could keep the dollar inflated in 

2012. While this would create a more challenging environment 

for U.S. exporters, it would likely result in lower 

construction materials prices.” 

Construction Industry Loses 12,000 

Jobs in November 

The nation’s construction industry lost jobs for a second 

straight month, shedding 12,000 jobs in November, according 

to the Dec. 2 jobs report by the Department of Labor. 

During the past 12 months, the construction industry has 

FINANCIAL REPORT 

added 18,000 jobs, or 0.3 percent. The construction unemployment 

rate slipped from 13.7 percent in October to 13.1 

percent in November, and is down from 18.8 percent in 

November 2010. 

Nonresidential building construction employment 

decreased by 1,200 jobs for the month, but has added 9,900 

jobs, or 1.5 percent, from the same time last year. 

Nonresidential building construction employment currently 

stands at 668,700. 

The nonresidential specialty trade contractor subsector 

lost 3,500 jobs for the month and has lost 9,900 jobs, or 0.5 

percent, compared to the same time last year. Heavy and 

civil engineering construction sector employment fell by 

7,000 jobs in November and has shed 2,900 jobs, or 0.3 

percent, year-over-year. 

Residential construction building employment decreased 

by 3,000 jobs for the month and has lost 400 jobs, or 0.1 

percent, compared to the same time last year. The residential 

specialty trade contractor subsector added 3,000 jobs in 

November, partially offsetting losses experienced by nonresidential 

specialty trade contractors. Year over year, the 

residential specialty trade contractor subsector has added 

20,800 jobs, or 1.4 percent. 

Across all industries, the nation added 120,000 jobs as the 

private sector expanded by 140,000 jobs and government 

lost 20,000 jobs. The nation has added 1,600,000 jobs or 1.2 

percent. The unemployment rate dropped from 9 percent 

in October to 8.6 percent in November. 

“Today’s employment release will be heralded by many as 

a major indication of progress,” said Associated Builders 

and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu. 

“Unfortunately, the nation’s nonresidential construction 

industry is, for the most part, not a participant in this positive 

dynamic. 

“Nonresidential building construction employment 

slipped again in November, at least partially a reflection of 

the weakness that overtook the economy earlier this year,” 

Basu said. “Heavy and civil engineering declined by 7,000 

jobs, likely a reflection of the winding down of federal 

stimulus spending. 

“While the nation’s overall unemployment rate is now 

below 9 percent for the first time since March 2011, the 

construction industry unemployment rate remains elevated 

at 13.1 percent,” said Basu. 

“Overall, the last 10 weeks have ushered forth a period of 

remarkably better news regarding the economic recovery,” 

Basu said. “During portions of the summer, it appeared that 

the economy was on the brink of recession. Financial markets 

were chaotic in August. Since that time, consumer 

spending and business confidence has been on the rise, 

translating into more robust employment gains. 

“However, because construction is a lagging indicator, 

construction activity needs to increase before we see the 

industry’s unemployment rate begin to decrease,” said Basu. 

“According to ABC’s 2012 Construction Economic Forecast, 

we can only expect to see gradual progress in construction 

activity next year.” 




Pioneering 

Spirit in 

Colorado 

Consolidated Mutual Water Company Gets 

Ahead of the Game with Pipe Bursting 

By Jim Rush 

Celebrating its 85 th anniversary in 2011, the 

Consolidated Mutual Water Company (CMWC) in 

Lakewood, Colo., is continuing the pioneering 

spirit of the company founders who banded together 

to provide water for the growing population in the West. 

Serving a population base of approximately 85,000 

people in the communities of Lakewood, Wheat Ridge 

and unincorporated portions of Jefferson County, CMWC 

is in the midst of a pipe replacement program that is saving 

the community money while increasing water quality 

and reliability. Beginning in 2010, CMWC began a systematic 

program to replace aging water pipes using the 

trenchless replacement technique of pipe bursting. 

Even though the program has been in place a short 

time, the results are already evident. CMWC is increasing 

its pipe replacement program in terms of footage installed 

per year with less cost and disruption to customers. Other 

utilities, including the neighboring communities of 

Denver, Aurora and Golden, have taken notice as well. In 

fact, CMWC has hosted some 1,000 visits to its jobsites 

over the past two years to see if the success can be replicated 

elsewhere. 

Background 

As the City of Denver grew in the early 20 th century, so 

too did its suburbs. To the west of town, water was 

obtained by drilling deep wells that came with considerable 

costs. To help allay these costs, residents banded 

together and formed “mutual water companies” that 

provided wells, pumps and distribution piping. In 1926, 

four of these companies — the Oaks Mutual Water 

Company, the Glen Creighton Mutual Water Company, 



the Wadsworth Mutual Water Company and 

the North Wadsworth Mutual Water 

Company — merged to form the 

Consolidated Mutual Water Company. 

Through the years, CMWC expanded 

through additional mergers to its present 

service area of approximately 27 square 

miles and 400 miles of distribution. Instead 

of using the deep wells, which were not considered 

sustainable, CMWC acquires 70 

percent of its water through the City and 

County and Denver. To help offset the 

effects of rationing and ensure adequate 

water supply to sustain growth, CMWC 

acquired surface water rights and constructed 

the Maple Grove Reservoir and Treatment 

Plant, which were completed in 1957. These 

facilities now provide approximately 30 percent 

of the water supply. 

The CMWC piping network comprised 

mostly cast-iron pipe installed in the 1940s 

and earlier that was reaching the end of its 

useful life. The pipe was suffering from corrosion 

and tuberculation, which resulted in 

water main breaks and water quality issues. 

In the past, CMWC had relied on open 

trench replacement of water mains, which 

resulted in disruption to residents and businesses 

in addition to the high cost of surface 

restoration. Mike Queen, president of 

CMWC, estimates that open trench replacement 

cost the utility an average of $112 to 

$115 per foot. 

Looking for a Better Way 

After Queen was invited to view a pipe 

bursting program in Florida, he was intrigued 

by the process and initiated a pilot project in 

Colorado. After evaluating and testing bursting 

equipment and piping products, CMWC 

decided to proceed with a pipe bursting program 

to replace approximately 25,000 linear 

feet of water mains beginning in April 2010 

targeting areas with antiquated and undersized 

lines. In total, CMWC crews replaced 

27,000 linear feet of pipe in 2010. 

While many cities hire specialty contractors 

for pipe bursting projects, CMWC elected 

to use its own crews. “We’ve always done 

our own pipeline installation, so we’ve always 

had our own construction crew. And it is the 

opinion of the Board, and mine too, that if 

we’re going to own it and maintain it, we 

might as well install it so that we know what 

we are getting. We met with the construction 

crew prior to starting the pipe bursting program 

and said ‘this is the direction we’re 

going, we need you on board,’ and everybody 

bought into it,” Queen said. 

CMWC purchased a TT Technologies 

800G static pull pipe bursting system and 

McElroy fusion equipment to install DR 18 

Fusible C-900 PVC pipe from Underground 

Solutions. CMWC enlisted the technical 

Cast iron pipe installed in 

the 1940s was being 

replaced to increase system 

reliability and water quality. 

Advanced Water Treatment Technology 

Pipe replacement isn’t the only area of innovation at the Consolidated 

Mutual Water Company. CMWC recently upgraded its Maple Grove Treatment 

Plant. The plant upgraded its capacity to 15 mgd (expandable to 18 mgd) and 

uses GE’s ZeeWeed Ultrafiltration membrane as part of its primary and secondary 

treatment process. 

The membrane is a pressure-driven barrier to suspended solids, bacteria, 

viruses, endotoxins and other pathogens used to produce water with very high 

purity and low silt density. It can serve as a treatment for surface water, groundwater, 

and biologically treated municipal effluent (membrane bioreactor and tertiary treatment). 

It can also serve as a pre-treatment before reverse osmosis and other 

membrane systems. 

Plant operator Chuck Conway said that turbidity regulations were the primary 

driver installing the membranes as the Maple Grove Plant. The plant uses the 

ZeeWeed 1000 system membrane for primary treatment and 500 system membrane 

for secondary treatment. 

A full-scale ZeeWeed treatment facility is comprised of a given number of modular 

components: modules, cassettes, and trains. 

A module is the basic building block and the heart of a ZeeWeed system. Each 

module contains thousands of horizontally strung membrane fibers that have millions 

of microscopic pores in each strand. Water is filtered by applying a slight 

vacuum to the end of each fiber which draws the water through the tiny pores and 

into the fibers themselves. The pores form a physical barrier that allows clean water 

to pass through while blocking unwanted material such as suspended solids, bacteria, 

pathogens and certain viruses. 

Modules are joined together to form a cassette, which is the smallest operable 

unit of the filtration system. Each cassette can have a variety of module configurations 

depending on the amount of water that the cassette is required to treat. 

Multiple cassettes are joined to form what is known as a process train. The train 

is a production unit containing a number of cassettes immersed in a membrane 

tank. Multiple process trains form a ZeeWeed treatment plant. 

Feed water flows into the membrane tanks and treated water is drawn through 

the membranes during Production by applying a vacuum to the inside of the membrane 

fibers. The water removed by permeation is replaced with feed water to 

maintain a constant level in the tank. 

The particles that are rejected by the membrane pores remain in the process 

tank and are periodically removed by a process called a Backwash (BW). During a 

backwash, filtered water is reversed through the membrane fiber to dislodge any 

particles that may be physically lodged in the membrane fiber. Simultaneously, 

aeration scours any solids that are attached on the surface of the fibers. 

To prevent fouling of the ZeeWeed membranes operators are required to perform 

regular maintenance cleans (MC). Maintenance cleaning begins by draining 

the membrane tank and soaking the membranes in a cleaning solution for several 

minutes. The solution is then drained and chemical residues are flushed from the 

membranes before the system resumes normal operation. 



assistance from the manufacturers when it initiated 

the pipe bursting program and have been fully self 

performing the installations with efficiency ever since. 

Typical pipe bursting runs are in the range of 500 to 

800 feet, but CMWC has successfully completed runs 

of 1,300 and 1,800 linear feet. 

The pipe bursting process consists of digging an 

entry pit and an exit pit instead of trenching along 

the whole length of the pipe alignment. A temporary 

bypass is needed to keep water flowing to residents 

and businesses during the process. 

Crews fuse the PVC pipe offsite and move it to the 

location when they are ready for the burst. The pipe 

bursting machine, which includes a series of rods that 

are strung through the pipe, attaches to a bursting 

head that is pulled through the existing pipe, breaking 

the pipe and expanding out into the soil while 

pulling in the new PVC pipe. Once in place, pits are 

dug to reconnect house connections. 

Pipe sizes being replaced are 4-, 6- and 8-inch. One 

unique feature about pipe bursting is that it allows 

the option to upsize the pipe. In most cases, CWMC 

is upsizing the pipe by 2 inches, including some 

instances of upsize 4-inch pipe to 8-inch. 

The first phase of the project started on April 26, 

2010, and was completed on Sept. 10, 2010. Due to 

the success of the program, CMWC increased the 

footage installed in 2011 to 34,000 linear feet, with 

plans to replace 40,000 feet in 2012. Previously, 

CMWC had been able to replace an average of 12,000 

feet of pipe per year through open-cut methods. 

CMWC purchased a second pipe bursting unit to 

allow crews to leap frog between job locations, which 

has helped increase production. 

CMWC’s Queen stated: “We saved $1.3 million 

using pipe bursting instead of the open-cut method 

on the first phase … and we anticipate the same cost 

saving results [for future projects].” He said that pipe 

bursting has cut replacement costs in half. 

Queen said that he sees resistance to pipe bursting 

at other utilities because of unfamiliarity to the 

method or a reluctance to try new technologies. “At 

some point you need to toss tradition aside and do 

what is best for the organization,” he said. “We are 

aggressively replacing our old cast-iron mains and 

in the next 15 years, our system will be in really 

good shape.” 

Andy Seidel, CEO and president of Underground 

Solutions, said CMWC is an example for other utilities 

and municipalities. “In a time of constrained 

municipal budgets and tight capital spending, 

Consolidated Mutual Water Company has shown 

that it is possible to do more with the same vs. settling 

for doing less,” he said. “The key variables to 

this equation of success are courage, discipline and 

an open mind. 

“This project is a call to action for utilities across 

the country — that with trenchless technology, they 

can gain ground on their infrastructure problems vs. 

falling behind.” 

Jim Rush is editor of UIM. 

Mike Queen, president of the Consolidated Mutual Water 

Company, at a pipe bursting project site. 

The Fusible PVC pipe was fused at city-owned property and 

transported to the jobsite when needed. 



Water Utility Infrastructure Management (UIM): 

Helping Municipal Leaders 

Make the Right Decision 

Managing water and wastewater systems requires a 

balancing act that includes inspecting and evaluating 

critical assets, planning and constructing capital improvements, 

financing projects, obtaining bonds, coordinating 

operations and maintenance, meeting local and federal 

requirements, and securing assets. Anyone who has ever 

been tasked with administering these important underground 

facilities knows that it is no easy task. 

So that’s where UIM comes in. UIM is designed to 

help utility managers, public works directors and elected 

officials keep their systems operating in peak condition, 

covering the above topics as well as broader management 

topics such as customer service, human resources and 

crisis management. UIM keeps executive decision-makers 

informed of the latest trends and technology affecting the 

business of managing infrastructure – allowing them to run 

their systems effectively and efficiently. 

Don’t be left guessing when it comes to making 

the right decision, subscribe to UIM today. 

Renew your subscription today 

Free* Subscription 

Fax: 888.585.0180 

online: www.uimonline.com 

1. What is your organization’s 

primary business (Check one) 

A. Water AND Wastewater Systems 

and/or Plants 

B. Water ONLY Systems and/or Plants 

C. Wastewater ONLY Systems and/or 

Plants 

D. City/County Government 

E. State/Federal Government 

F. Engineering Firm 

G. Financial Institution 

H. Legal Counsel/Firm 

I. Other 

______________________ 

3. Which infrastructure activities are you involved in 

(check all that apply) 

A. Consulting, Design & Engineering 

Services 

B. Drinking Water Distribution 

C. Financial Planning 

D. Infrastructure Security Systems 

E. Sewer/Wastewater Collection Systems 

F. Storm Water Collection 

G. Trenchless Rehabilitation 

& Construction 

H. Underground Utility Construction 

2. Which title group best describes 

your job title (check one) 

A. Mayor 

B. Commissioner 

C. Council Member/Chairperson 

D. City/County Manager 

E. Owner/President/CEO/COO/Partner/ 

Principle 

F. Executive/VP/Senior VP 

G. Director/Manager/Gen Mgr/Project 

Manager/Superintendent/Supervisor 

H. CFO/Treasurer/Comptroller/Finance 

Director 

I. Engineer (all) / Consultant / Estimator 

J. Other 

_______________________ 

I. Desalination 

J. Smart Metering 

K. Leak Detection 

L. Energy Efficiency 

M. Corrosion Control 

N. Reuse/Recycle 

O. Pipeline Assessment 

P. Asset Management 

Q. Other 

________________________ 

4. What population does your water system serve (check one) 

A. 0-1,000 

B. 1,001-5,000 

C. 5,001-20,000 

D. 20,001-100,000 

E. Greater than 100,000 


PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY 

Name:______________________________________________________________ 

Job Title:____________________________________________________________ 

Company___________________________________________________________ 

Address:____________________________________________________________ 

City:_____________________________State/Province:_______________________ 

Zip/Postal Code:___________________Country: ____________________________ 

Phone:______________________________________________________________ 

Fax:________________________________________________________________ 

I want to renew/subscribe to Water Utility Infrastructure Management FREE* YES 

Signature: _________________________________________Date: _______________ 

YES, I want the UIM biweekly E-Newsletter 

E-mail:_____________________________________________________________ 

Please allow 4 - 6 weeks for processing 

*This offer is free in USA & Canada. 

NO 

UIM1211

HybridS: 

No Longer Just for Cars 

Georgia Utility Employs Both Mobile and Fixed 

Networking for Meter Reading 

By Pam Malone 

As the saying goes, “The more you peel an 

onion, the more you discover.” The same can 

be said for selecting and deploying an 

advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system. 

Holding the AMI onion in your hand, you think you 

know all there is to know about it. However, as your list of 

wants and needs becomes more defined, you discover that 

choosing the right AMI system seems more complex with 

each layer revealed. 

It may seem like all AMI solutions are built the same, with 

AMI vendors promising operational efficiency, improved 

customer service and system integrity. So where do you 

start What are the different layers of the AMI solution 

Will Rogers once said that an onion can make people cry, 

but there’s never been a vegetable that can make people 

laugh. This is the story of how one utility in northern 

Georgia found both laughter and tears when deciding 

which AMI system was right for them. Though AMI systems 

are no laughing matter, there’s no use crying over 

them either. With the right tools, in-depth research and 

information, you can discover what type of AMI system is 

right for you. 

Douglasville-Douglas County Water 

and Sewer Authority 

Lori Camp, Billing and Customer Service Supervisor at 

Douglasville-Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority 

(DDCWSA), knew the utility needed to solve some problems. 

Over time, reading meters manually — even with a handheld 

device — became inefficient and it didn’t eliminate misreads, 

rereads or customer billing complaints. She knew all the 

buzzwords and acronyms, but didn’t know where to begin 

finding out if an AMI system was the right solution for 

DDCWSA; and if it were right, which type of system would 

address the utility’s immediate and long-term needs. 

Needs Identification Phase 

Similar to other water utilities embarking on an AMI 

program, DDCWSA formed a committee, and began 

examining specific departments and employees who 

would most likely be impacted by an AMI system. A sampling 

of employees was selected to be members of a 

special “AMI Impact” committee with representation 

from Purchasing, IT, Billing, Customer Service, 

Engineering and Meter Reading Departments. 

At first it seemed daunting to try to reconcile the 

wants and needs of so many functional areas into one 

cohesive unit. One employee even questioned whether 

any one AMI vendor could deliver the right combination 

of products and services to keep all stakeholders happy. 

Fortunately, each group played its part. Purchasing 

investigated the different AMI vendors and developed 

the appropriate bid specifications, formal Request for 

Proposal (RFP) and purchasing documents. Additionally, 

they researched whether one system was capable of 

retrieving at least 40 days of hourly interval data from 

meters whether gathered with a fixed network or mobile 

collection system. Also important to Douglasville was 

transparency in the evaluation process and that equal 

consideration be given to each competing vendor. 

The IT department evaluated each competing system’s 

ability to integrate AMI meter reading data into its 

billing software. Meanwhile, Billing wanted to know if 

the file transfers could be prepared to easily create a 

bill. Customer Service staff needed assurance that the 

data collected could be easily communicated to the enduser 

customer as an aid in resolving billing disputes. At 

the same time, Engineering was looking to see if an AMI 

system would enable the department to analyze flow 

rates, aggregated consumption and reverse flow from 

the datalogging information coming in from the AMI 

system. The Meter Reading department was equally concerned 

with ensuring that the read rate accuracy would 

not be compromised within the diverse topography of 

DDCWSA’s service area. Lastly, the utility wanted to be 

sure that the communications hardware would be compatible 

with different water meter types and installed 

and managed professionally. 



Background 

Utility: Douglasville-Douglas County 

Water and Sewer Authority 

Contact: Lori Camp 

Location: 30 miles west of 

Atlanta, Ga. 

Service connections: 42,000 over 200 

square miles 

The Douglasville-Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority (WSA) has been 

delivering quality water and wastewater service to Douglas County, Ga., residents 

since 1986. WSA’s goal is to protect, maintain, and enhance the environment, 

public health, safety, and welfare of the general public. Over the past 24 

years, WSA’s services, including the recent service of stormwater management, 

have won a plethora of national, state and local awards. 

AMI Solution and Vendor Selection 

Process 

DDCWSA gathered a list of AMI vendors and asked each 

company to make an informal presentation of its AMI solutions, 

products and services. It became clear after the initial presentations 

and product demonstrations that not all AMI systems are 

made equally. The differences were quite distinct. So, the utility 

decided to develop an RFP to guide it through the vendor selection 

process. Doing so gave DDCWSA more flexibility to select 

the right solution tailored to the utility’s specific needs and not 

be limited to a supplier’s off-the-shelf offering. 

The criteria outlined by DDCWSA were comprehensive, 

including compatibility with diverse brands of existing water 

meters. Additionally, the RFP required that the AMI system 

being proposed wouldn’t interfere with its existing SCADA 

equipment and that the system would seamlessly integrate into 

the utility billing system. Finally, for communication infrastructure, 

the utility required the vendor to utilize utility-owned 

property only, primarily for the placement of cellular data collectors 

that eliminate the need for additional land acquisition. 

Evaluation of each competitive RFP was also done by committee. 

The committee asked many questions, including, but 

not limited to: Did the vendor address each of the requirements 

outlined in the RFP Did the vendor have the required 

experience integrating collected meter data into its billing 

software Is the proposed system cost effective for the utility 

to operate The list of questions seemed to be endless. 

Each open-ended question revealed another layer of the 

“AMI onion.” This is where the potential for tears came in to 

play. In DDCWSA’s case, the box of tissues used to help absorb 

the tears turned out to be a proposal evaluation form. This tool 

enabled each department to evaluate the proposals from its 

own point of view. It asked each representative to rank the RFP 

responses related to each department’s wants and needs. 

The Right Choice — Itron’s Hybrid 

AMI Solution 

In the end, what DDCWSA thought it wanted at the 

beginning of their journey was not what it chose. The signs 

pointed to different paths. The path less obvious — but 

often the most valuable — was the hybrid path. That is, an 

AMI system consisting of multiple collection options — a 

combination of both mobile and fixed network meter reading. 

It assured a read-rate reliability threshold of 99 percent 

across the entire service territory regardless of the 

time of year, rain or snow, lush spring foliage or sparse tree 

limbs in fall. Additionally, the hybrid method enables 

detailed data logging regardless of whether mobile or 

fixed network meter reading is used. 

Itron provided a future-proof AMI system called 

“ChoiceConnect” that is migratable without having to 

change out embedded hardware. The system delivered 

the same meter read data to customer service representatives 

regardless of how the data were collected. Moreover, 

the system took into account the initial upfront costs with 

an eye toward long-term return on investment. As desired 

by DDCWSA, ChoiceConnect was seamlessly integrated 

into the utility’s existing billing software and system 

deployment was professionally managed. 

Camp advises: “Know your topography and how it may 

impact a meter-reading system. Let the vendor demonstrate 

and manage the software integration within the 

confines of your legacy or planned IT system. Leverage 

the wide variety of data collection devices at your disposal, 

including handhelds, drive-by automated meter 

reading (AMR) and fixed network communications. Make 

sure not only to accurately collect your data but also let 

software empower your utility to analyze it for the benefit 

of you and your customers.” 

Peeling the AMI “onion” layer by layer could make you 

cry; however, each layer that is peeled away can also help 

you discover more than you knew before. What you think 

you want actually may not be the right solution for your 

utility. Thinking outside of the box often reveals the best 

solutions. In DDCWSA’s case, a hybrid system was just 

what they needed. 

Pam Malone is Vice President, Strategic Development, for Itron. 



Horizontal 

Directional 

Drilling: 

Enabling Innovative Approaches to 

Water Supply Challenges 

By Michael Lubrecht and Dan Ombalski 

The technology for extracting 

groundwater from subsurface 

resources hasn’t advanced 

appreciably since drillers abandoned 

shovels and buckets for mechanized 

well drilling rigs. Shovels gave 

way to cable tool rigs in the early 1800s 

and mechanical improvements incrementally 

led to current well-drilling 

technology, typically rotary drive rigs 

with automated casing drivers. Despite 

mechanic al advancements in advancing 

a borehole, however, the extraction 

technology has remained the same: 

drilling and casing a vertical bore that 

intercepts a water table. Even the venerable 

cable tool rig is still used for this 

purpose in some locales. 

Meanwhile, a relatively new technology, 

shallow horizontal directional drilling 

(HDD) for utility and pipeline 

installation, has evolved rapidly over 

the past three decades. Unlike the deep 

directional bores used in oil exploration 

and production, which can extend thousands 

of feet deep, shallow HDD is 

performed from just a few feet to a few 

hundred feet beneath the ground surface. 

Shallow HDD bores typically are 

started from the surface at an acute 

angle, and are guided to a subsurface or 

remote surface target using sophisticated 

electronics packages that enable the 

driller to navigate and steer the drill 

along a desired path. 

In the mid 1990s, this technology 

was adapted to install wells for the 

remediation of contaminated industrial 

sites, military bases, gas stations and 

other locations. The shallow depth 

capabilities, combined with the ability 

to steer a bore beneath obstacles along 

a predetermined path has greatly 

expanded the ability to access contaminated 

zones with appropriate treatment 

technologies. 

More recently, HDD has been applied 

to water resources development projects, 

with promising results. Vertical 

drilling is likely to remain a mainstay 

of the water industry, but HDD can be 

advantageous in some cases. This article 

explores some of the more challenging 

water development scenarios, 

and how HDD can provide a viable 

solution. 

Common to all of these water 

resources solutions are their utilization 

of HDD’s key benefits. They require 

only limited surface disruption — from 

a single, relatively small construction 

footprint, screens may be set tens of 

feet deep, while extending laterally for 

hundreds of feet in length, with no 

other effect on the surface environment. 

For wells that extend beneath 

fragile or protected ecosystems, this 

means that no roads must be constructed 

for installation or ongoing access 

for maintenance. 

Another advantage of horizontal 

wells is their favorable screen to riser 

ratio. A horizontal well only needs to 

penetrate the overburden above the 

aquifer once (twice in the case of a 

double-ended well). This surface penetration 

is offset between four and five 

times the target depth of the well. 

Once at depth however, the length of 

the screened interval is only limited by 

the rig capacity and local geology. 

A shallow, 50-foot deep well takes 

approximately 200 feet to achieve the 

target depth, but may be hundreds or 

even in excess of 1,500 feet in length. 

In contrast, a network of vertical wells 

drilled to intercept the same volume of 

aquifer would require multiple rig setups, 

multiple wellheads, and hundreds 

of feet of non-productive riser casing. 

Thin, Shallow or 

Perched Aquifers 

Many coastal or island communities, 

and some desert municipalities, must 

tap thin, shallow or vertically constrained 

perched aquifers for their water 

supply. In some locales, the best groundwater 

reserves are situated in thin, sinuous 

buried stream channels. Production 

of viable quantities of water from these 

formations can be challenging with vertical 

wells — drawdown at even minimal 

pumping rates quickly exhausts the 

supply adjacent to the well, with the 

potential for damaging the formation. 

Multiple wells, spaced at intervals and 

pumped at lower rates may provide a 

more continuous water supply, but are 

costly to install and maintain. In coastal 

or island communities, saltwater intrusion 

is a classic problem — overpumping 

of the “bubble” of potable water 

floating above a brackish or saline layer 

can cause irreparable damage through 

saltwater intrusion. 

In contrast, horizontal wells are ideally 

suited for these aquifers. A single 

horizontal well may be several hundred, 

up to a couple thousand feet 

long, intersecting the aquifer for most 

of its length and spreading the cone of 

depression along the full length of 



screen. The ratio of productive, 

screened well to unscreened riser casing 

is many times that of a single vertical 

well, and even more favorable compared 

to a network of vertical wells. 

Further, the horizontal well requires 

only one pump, and limited transfer 

piping to convey the water to distribution 

or treatment facilities. A vertical 

well network contains not only a high 

ratio of non-screened, non-productive 

casing, but each well requires its own 

pump, and the water must be conveyed 

to a central facility with multiple 

trenched pipelines. 

Groundwater in 

Connection to Surface 

Water 

For communities adjacent to large 

bodies of surface water, such as lakes, 

reservoirs or rivers, water may be 

obtained directly from the body, or from 

multiple shallow wells installed along 

the shoreline. More sophisticated solutions 

include the Ranney collector type 

of well, with radial, horizontal laterals 

connecting to a central caisson. 

Fisheries agencies are becoming 

more demanding in the construction 

and ongoing maintenance of intake 

weirs that directly pull water from rivers 

and lakes, as protection of fish 

habitat is becoming an increasingly 

contentious issue. These structures are 

also prone to damage from storms and 

flooding. Vertical wells along shorelines 

have similar issues to the wells in 

thin aquifers noted above, in that their 

productive zones are limited and it 

usually requires many wells to achieve 

useable volumes. The Ranney collector 

system, first developed in the 1930s, is 

an effective technology to capture 

groundwater in connection with surface 

water, but the systems themselves 

are generally expensive to construct, 

with costs often exceeding $1 million 

for a relatively modest system. 

Horizontal directional drilling provides 

an elegant solution in these scenarios. 

One or more horizontal wells 

can be drilled from the surface, extending 

into the alluvial deposits or shallow 

sediments beneath surface water 

bodies. These wells take full advantage 

of the natural filtering capacity of the 

in situ sand and gravel, and protect 

the intake from flood damage or scouring. 

If additional capacity is required, 

multiple radial horizontal wells that 

gravity-drain to a central, vertical wet 

well can be installed. A Ranney collector 

system requires manned jack-andbore 

operations at the bottom of the 

caisson, with attendant requirements 

for dewatering and accommodation 

for worker safety. In contrast, since all 

of the work for a radial HDD collector 

is performed from the surface, the wet 

well can be of considerably smaller 

diameter than a Ranney collector caisson 

and none of the risks and costs of 

manned operations at depth are 

incurred. 

Fractured Bedrock in 

Mountainous Regions 

Mountainous terrain can pose both 

construction and operational challenges 

for water suppliers. On steep, sometimes 

unstable slopes it can be difficult 

to safely place a vertical drill rig in a 

position to effectively intercept waterbearing 

formations. In some fractured 

bedrock aquifers, the water-bearing 

joints run vertically, exacerbating the 

problem. In other areas, water production 

is from landslide masses that are 

relatively unstable. In more remote 

locations, getting power to the site to 

operate pumps is problematic. 

Horizontal directional drilling can 

provide a solution to many of these 

challenges. New advances in steerable 

air hammers has enabled the installation 

of wells in extremely difficult drilling 

conditions in fractured bedrock, 

landslide materials and buried talus. 

The ability to design a bore path that 

intersects known fracture systems can 

enhance water recovery. Further, horizontal 

directional wells can be drilled 

as gravity systems, requiring no pumps 

for operation. For smaller water systems 

that rely on natural springs as a 

source, HDD can be an excellent option 

to enhance recovery and maximize 

utilization of water rights. 

Aquifer Recharge and 

Brine Infiltration 

Point source discharges of potable 

water from water treatment systems are 

highly regulated and usually difficult 

to site. These include outfalls from 

municipal sewage plants, or discharges 

from facilities for treating industrial or 

remediation site wastewater. Permitting 

and design of such discharges must 

consider site ecology and wildlife 

impacts, erosion control, protection of 

the discharge structure from flooding 

or severe weather damage, and a host 

of other factors. 

Subsurface discharge of treated water 

can simplify permitting and design 

considerations. Horizontal wells can 

extend for hundreds of feet within a 

receptive aquifer, and can be designed 

to disperse high water volumes with 

slight impact to surface activities or 

ecosystems. 

At Sand City, Calif., a 750-foot horizontal 

infiltration well installed parallel 

to the beach and 50 feet below the 

low tide mark handles the entire waste 

brine stream from the city’s 300 acrefoot 

brackish water desalination plant. 

The well is drilled beneath protected 

Monterey Bay coastal dunes, which 

serve as habitat for endangered bird 

and reptile species. The horizontal well 

enables the waste brine (at nearly natural 

salinity as discharged from the 

plant) to mix with natural seawater 

beneath the sea floor before entering 

the bay, eliminating ecological issues 

related to potential salinity imbalances, 

and requiring no outfall structures, 

which were prohibited in the area. 

Conclusion 

Although vertical well drilling is a 

proven method to tap groundwater 

resources, and will continue to be a 

standard technology for water supply, 

HDD has made significant advances 

for water supply in unusual or difficult 

scenarios. If conventional drilling 

isn’t the answer to your water 

supply problem, lateral thinking may 

lead to better results. 

Michael Lubrecht, L.G., is a Senior Geologist 

and Dan Ombalski, PG, is President of 

Directed Technologies Drilling. 

November/December 2011 Water Utility Infrastructure Management 29

Protecting Our Future by Making Advanced Asset 

Management Decisions 

By Gregory M. Baird 

America’s economic dominance as a world power over the 

past several decades has been based on the strength and 

investment in its critical infrastructure. Without the infrastructure 

networks of drinking water systems, wastewater, 

ground transportation, waterways, oil, gas, electric, airports and 

seaports, our superpower engine of manufacturing both goods 

and services could never have been achieved. These early investments 

have built the foundation of our current expectations of a 

modern standard of living and have played a substantial role in 

the sustained prosperity and quality of life of our country. 

These complicated infrastructure networks are now more interdependent 

than ever before. Urbanization has layered these separate 

systems in an intensive public works infrastructure web. Each valued 

network (water, sewer, electric, etc.), each with its own unique purpose 

and critical functions, has different repair and renewal costs 

and timing requirements. Manual processes and individual human 

mental storage of these challenging relationships of risk and cost 

tradeoffs no longer meets the needs of public work and utility 

departments for municipal or private utility management companies. 

We are currently in a dynamic period of shifting “data rich and 

information poor” decision making to a more knowledgeable and 

discernible era of effective cost management for all assets. 

Our Challenging Future 

In order to make an organized transition from post-World War 

II practices to the emerging 21 st century of infrastructure technology 

and best practices, an approach to managing all of our capital 

assets is needed. At some point, an Excel spreadsheet just does not 

cut it for hundreds of thousands of assets worth billions of dollars. 

In the United States, the East Coast is lighting up with pipe failures 

due to both age and corrosion. Infrastructure intensive 

operations like water, wastewater and drainage with long-term 

assets coming to the end of their useful lives are presenting an 

overwhelming flood of funding and affordability issues. Likewise, 

the energy sector of oil, gas, electric and hydroelectric faces 

renewal issues. Unmanaged and un-forecasted, these basic systems 

will fail and utilities will be forced to restore service through 

unplanned emergency repairs requiring higher rates for customers. 

Public officials should protect the future affordability of these 

basic services by requiring infrastructure management best practices. 

Advanced asset management (AM) concepts, software tools 

and techniques that focus on managing cost-effective sustained 

performance to the customer at the lowest life-cycle cost and at an 

acceptable level of risk to the organization is the ultimate answer. 

Asset Management is the Answer 

In 2010, the New Jersey Clean Water Council, which has the 

statutory function of advising the Commissioner of the Department 

of Environmental Protection regarding issues related to clean 

water, explained that the New Jersey Section of the American 

Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2007 gave grades of D to 

wastewater utilities and C to drinking water utilities in New Jersey. 

The Council understood that for New Jersey to maintain a viable 

economy with a sound environment it must begin managing its 

infrastructure in a manner that produces the lowest life-cycle cost. 

The Council further believed that deferred maintenance (“run to 

failure”) might hold rates down in the short term but inevitably 

increases long-term costs and causes service disruptions that harm 

the customers and the environment, and is therefore self-defeating. 

The Council proposed that asset management, utility rates 

and utility accounting should be used to achieve sustainable utility 

functions and finances that minimize long-term costs. 

Managing Long-term Costs 

Communities put their economy and environment at risk when 

they ignore infrastructure asset management. The basic component 

of an asset management program includes the computerized maintenance 

management system (CMMS), but a work order system 

alone needs additional asset management software to take it to the 

next level. There are many choices of various types of asset management 

planning software, but finding one that is truly advanced and 

embeds the financial analysis and reporting component for all 

assets, across all asset types and all utilities, can be more difficult. 

The basic steps and components of asset management software 

include: 

1. Collecting and organizing tangible asset data from a broad range 

of paper and electronic sources to create the asset registry (AR). 

2. Integrating disparate database systems including GIS and financial 

packages for centralized tangible capital asset data manipulation 

that develops an enterprise inventory (EI). 

3. Performing integrated strategic short-term capital asset planning 

and maintenance management scheduling as part of the 

decision support (DS) process. 

4. Performing integrated long range, 10- to 100-year, capital asset 

planning and maintenance management forecasting as part of 

the decision support (DS) process. 

5. Tracking capital projects from inception through design and 

approvals all the way to construction as part of a capital projects 

(CP) procedure. 

Decision Support Asset Management 

Software 

A best-in-class of advanced asset management decision support 

software for all assets comes from the Canadian infrastructure marketplace, 

which as a whole seems to be recognizing the neglect of its 

long-term infrastructure funding and embracing the application of 

best practice investment solutions. RIVA Modeling, a Toronto-based 

company, offers real-time asset valuation analysis decision support 

software that is extremely scalable to support an all assets management 

program roll out while embedding baseline financial performance 

monitoring. With successful integrations with SAP, CityWorks 

Computerized Maintenance Management, financial systems and 

other vendors combined with ESRI or Intergraph GIS, RIVA offers 

solutions to the most complicated layers of repair, replacement and 

renewal decision-making over a 10- to 100-year planning horizon. 

RIVA is a web-based client-server application that can interface 

with most common applications. The data can come from any 

ODBC-compliant source, so the user can leverage existing data and 

pull data from other databases to create a central asset registry or 

inventory of all assets and their attributes, eliminating the extra 

costs of separately maintained and isolated asset databases. The 

advanced modeling capabilities are used for asset valuation, estimation 

of deferred maintenance, condition assessment, estimating 

remaining service life and for the prioritization of maintenance and 

renewal programs. These capabilities have offered Canadian utilities 

the ability to handle PSAB 3150 infrastructure reporting 

requirements, which are stricter than GASB34and fit nicely with new 

international PAS 55 and ISO infrastructure policy developments. 



There are common issues across utilities including electrical generation, 

transmission and distribution, water, wastewater and sanitary. 

Utilities must maintain service levels regardless of credit and 

economic crisis, manage regulatory risks and respond to political 

objectives. Ultimately, the ability to continue meeting increasing 

demands will depend on good stewardship of the infrastructure 

portfolio. Utilities need the ability through advanced decision support 

software to understand costs, risk and renewal prioritization in 

the context of their budget and service level requirements. 

The Corporate Approach 

The management of physical assets and infrastructure is continuing 

to emerge as a key corporate objective. Top level executive 

support is critical because it offers integration with tactical and 

strategic planning throughout the entire organization to meet 

service levels and increasing demand from consumers. 

Asset management needs to be supported from a corporate 

level to leverage the cost savings of the layered urbanized systems 

and not just be a best practice. Toronto, Ottawa, Burlington, 

Prince George and other municipalities in Canada understand the 

concept. In this context, utilities that mitigate risks to their operations 

are proving to be more efficient in managing capital and 

operational expenditures. The City of Calgary is implementing 

this concept as it plans to fully integrate RIVA across the entire 

organization, first, in the utilities then expanding to roads, transit, 

parks, rec, corporate properties, information technology, etc. 

Empowering Infrastructure Asset 

Managers 

Asset managers require the functionality of integrating across different 

asset types at the street view, to make important decisions at 

a user defined level (block by block) with a rules-based approach. 

This effort offers the ability of prioritizing assets like water mains 

and allowing the timing of the investment to advance or defer or 

align water, sewer, storm, electric, road repair and replacement programs. 

An upgraded Formula Builder tool leverages the probabilistic 

modeling capability of the software to create, change and test trial 

models and calculations. It is this type of flexibility that allows asset 

managers to compare various asset management scenarios with different 

priorities or even asset deterioration curves. As new technologies 

develop to improve asset maintenance and repair and replacement 

activities it is imperative to have decision support software in 

place to accurately evaluate the different options available cast 

against a wide range of interdependent assets. 

Benefiting Financial Asset Managers 

As more capital is required to fund future repair and replacement 

programs and as the credit monitoring services and the financial 

markets continue to demonstrate signs of uncertainty, investors in 

both public (through traditional tax exempt bonds) and private 

utilities will demand a higher level of operational cost-effectiveness 

and asset management planning. Decision support asset management 

software will be required to demonstrate and report the financial 

analysis of the asset intensive activities. The results will also 

become the basis for tax or rate increase justifications. The power of 

these tools will also enable utility infrastructure fund managers the 

ability to better forecast earning yields and rate of returns. 

Asset Register Development 

The RIVA modules offer quick asset inventory and valuation at 

the user defined hierarchal structure and level of detail requested. 

The user friendly views can drill down from a city to a street level 

and the inventory of assets can be viewed both geographically and 

by asset category at every level. The valuation process applies economic 

factors to calculate the asset values. This data is critical in 

rolling up costs to demonstrate long-term infrastructure funding 

requirements against any projected budget shortfalls. 

Effectively Managing Deferred 

Maintenance 

The quintessential nature of infrastructure needs and constrained 

budgets makes deferred maintenance a reality. RIVA has 

a deferred maintenance user defined function to calculate the 

level of deference based on a set of events triggered by the user 

defined best practice. Modeling these scenarios creates the visible 

impact of the maintenance backlog against various user 

defined financial and economic factors and assumptions. The 

financial results develop a snapshot of long-term funding issues. 

Condition Assessment Flexibility 

RIVA has the ability to import condition assessment data from 

other sources and connect these data attributes to an asset at any 

level of detail. RIVA allows for almost any condition assessment 

tool or scoring metric to be used in RIVA for advanced analysis 

and scenario testing. Prioritizing takes effect as remaining service 

life and condition assessment data are used with maintenance 

and repair strategies while monitoring the bottom dollar impact 

of different scenario outcomes. The result of an advanced asset 

management program should be to build a prioritized, full lifecycle 

plan for maintaining and replacing any type of asset while 

offering the capability of including the organization’s best practices 

of sustaining those assets for the next 30 to 100 years. This 

process should include the forecasts of the costs, condition, service 

level and risk of the assets. 

Implementation Options 

As a best-in-class, RIVA offers tools to fit the organization’s recommended 

work plans into the actual budget and demonstrate the 

effect on condition, service level and risk with state-of-the-art graphing 

and map views. This functionality is offered for large agencies 

with in-house asset databases, GIS and extensive financial packages 

with an enterprise version or even hosted by RIVA “on demand” for 

municipalities with populations under 50,000 and corporations with 

fewer than 25,000 assets. The user configures RIVA to suit his or her 

requirements, thus enhancing and complementing the capabilities 

of existing asset management tools already used by the organization. 

A useful feature of RIVA is that it implements default models 

and processes that would allow users to begin implementing all 

features of the application with minimal starting data. 

Looking to the Future 

As with most software acquisition processes, understanding the 

various features and your own asset management best practices, 

business processes, financial reporting needs and requirements are 

a first step in developing the functional requirements. It is advisable 

to always schedule a demonstration well in advance of a formal 

procurement process in order to see what the future may hold. 

As utilities move forward with asset management programs, best 

practices will be standardized and more accurate benchmarking 

will become commonplace. All organizations with physical assets 

have an obligation to track and maintain those public assets. All 

municipalities and utilities are currently on a timeline of how 

sophisticated their asset management practices are. The approaching 

motivation to implement formal corporate asset management 

programs will occur as time progresses and the lack of asset planning 

catches up to the community public view. 

Gregory M. Baird is Managing Director and Chief Financial 

Officer of AWI “Aging Water Infrastructure” Consulting and can be 

reached at Greg.M.Baird@AgingWaterInfrastructure.org. 



Public-private Partnerships: 

Exploring Synergies in the U.S. and Canadian Water Markets 

By Bob Bailey and Peter Nicol 

Public-private partnerships (P3s) in the water sector are used increasingly as 

a means for addressing infrastructure around the globe. In fact, government 

agencies have been created in the United Kingdom, Australia, across Europe 

and in Canada to support various forms of P3 implementation. Currently, 

Canada is seeing particularly strong growth in P3s. While P3s have been 

implemented in Canada for years, in 2009 the federal government created a 

the $1.25 billion P3 Canada Fund, which has contributed to increased use of 

P3s for infrastructure delivery. To date, the Canadian P3 model has been 

used for successful delivery of many health care, transportation, transit and 

building projects, and several water P3s are in the planning stage. 



P3 Implementation in Canada 

Public-private partnerships are business relationships 

between public and private entities that offer alternatives 

to traditional means of delivering service. The potential 

benefits of using P3s include: gaining access to privatesector 

capital and expertise; improving efficiency and 

life-cycle cost proformas; completing projects faster than 

with traditional models; and optimizing construction and 

performance risk-sharing. In the Canadian P3 model, 

funds for infrastructure projects are generally guaranteed 

by the government, making the risk-balance structure 

attractive to private companies and allowing the government 

to spread capital spending over a number of years. 

The private entity usually is not compensated until construction 

is complete; the onus of the construction performance 

is on the design-builder; and the private entity 

receives the balance of its payment from the government 

over a defined period during which the private company 

provides operations and maintenance for the project. 

With Canadian transportation projects, P3s have been 

implemented through the design, build, finance and 

maintain model, wherein the capital cost is paid out over 

a 10- to 20-year period. The Canadian P3 model is well 

established, is well funded, and has proven successes in 

transportation and healthcare infrastructure. 

CH2M HILL’s P3 experience in Canada includes partnering 

on numerous P3 contracts for transit and transportation 

projects, and work on the planning stages for 

water P3s. As Canadian water P3s move from planning 

to implementation, they are expected to set precedents 

for the evolution of P3s in the United States. 

P3 Opportunities and Challenges 

In both the Canadian and U.S. water markets, P3s can 

present utilities with opportunities and challenges. The 

challenges often involve real or perceived threats to the 

basic institutions that have served customers well over the 

years. In the United States, for instance, great success has 

been achieved with design, build and operate (DBO) projects 

for water infrastructure. In Canada, however, resistance 

to private-sector operation of water infrastructure is 

an issue that must be addressed for water P3s, as long-term 

operations and maintenance is an essential element of the 

P3 model. 

If P3s in North America are to be successful, it is important 

to recognize the unique aspects of water service delivery 

and risk, such as: 

• Project definition takes considerable engineering 

investment 

 

Owners must maintain control over specifications and 

technology selection 

 

Performance requirements are unique to each project 

• Technology solutions can be complex and site-specific 

 

Water facilities are unique 

Technology solutions must be carefully considered; 

for example, defining reliable treatment 

processes requires extensive water quality data, 

and an understanding of how raw water quality 

can change over time 

• Demonstrating performance takes time and expertise 

 

Developing appropriate metrics can be challenging 

 

Asset management and preventive maintenance are 

critical, and expectations must be carefully defined 

 

Operator skill is critical; control of operations is 

essential 

 

Seasonal adjustments are considerable 

 

Performance criteria are a blend of short-term “pass/ 

fail” criteria and long-term averages 

A useful P3 model may be a hybrid of Canadian and 

U.S. delivery approaches, wherein the U.S. DBO model 

is applied in Canada and elements of the Canadian 

finance model are applied in the United States. 

Though government support is by no means required 

for the successful implementation of water P3s, the U.S. 

government is considering ways to approach funding for 

infrastructure projects. There are a variety of federallevel 

policy proposals currently under consideration 

aimed at increasing infrastructure investment and, 

thereby, creating jobs. The proposal most frequently 

cited by the Obama administration is an “infrastructure 

bank” (IBank), whereby a relatively modest federal 

investment of $10 billion would yield issue loans and 

loan guarantees to eligible water, transportation and 

energy projects of up to 50 percent of a project’s total 

cost. Loans would use approximately the same interest 

rate as U.S. Treasury securities and could be extended 

up to 35 years. Congress is deliberating on the president’s 

“American Jobs Act,” which includes the IBank 

proposal and a number of other ideas. 

While it is receiving less attention on the national 

radar, private activity bond legislation is another vehicle 

that would leverage a minimal cost by the federal government 

to create greater private sector investment and 

job growth in water infrastructure. Both ideas are bipartisan 

and each deserves serious consideration as the U.S. 

Congress works to keep pace with other governments in 

a global marketplace. 

However the P3 model evolves, we will continue to 

work with clients to deliver work under a variety of contractual 

and organizational models. In evaluating delivery 

alternatives, the optimal alternative is the one that 

best meets stakeholders’ goals for that project. The wide 

variety of alternative delivery methods offer owners 

choices that are good for our industry; every delivery 

method has its place on the continuum. 

Bob Bailey is the President of the Water Business Group for 

CH2M Hill. In this role, he has worldwide responsibility for 

the development, project performance, and risk management 

of all CH2M Hill water, wastewater and water resource 

projects. 

Peter Nicol is the Global Business Development Director for 

CH2M Hill’s Water Business Group. Nicol is a Professional 

Engineer with 30 years of experience, and has played key 

roles on some of the most significant water and wastewater 

treatment projects in Canada. 

November/December 2011 Water Utility Infrastructure Management 33

Teaming Up for 

Water Delivery 

A 

new 120 million-gallons-per-day (mgd) water 

treatment plant, among the world’s most sophisticated 

water treatment facilities, is now providing 

Tampa Bay Water customers with drinking water 

that exceeds federal and state drinking water quality standards. 

Thanks to an innovative approach taken by Tampa 

Bay Water, a public regional wholesale water provider, the 

new plant – designed, built and operated by Veolia Water 

North America – is the largest design-build-operate (DBO) 

drinking water project in U.S. history, representing a 

potential model for other cities facing growing populations, 

tight budgets and water resource challenges. 

“We’re delighted that our partnership completed the 

new Tampa Bay Water Regional Surface Water Treatment 

Plant on time and under budget,” said Jerry Seeber, general 

manager of Tampa Bay Water. “This new facility is the 

backbone of our regional water service to more than 2.4 

million people. By every measure, whether water quality, 

cost or service, this project is a success.” 

Economic Benefits 

The cost savings from the project’s first phase was 

substantial – $80 million on what was originally projected 

to be a $200 million budget by Tampa Bay Water’s 

advisors. The speed of the project delivery by Veolia 

Water North America and its partners was escalated due 

to the unified approach offered by the DBO model. 

Guarantees for water quality, water quantity, project 

timelines, and operations and facility maintenance were 

established that are otherwise not available without private-sector 

involvement. Tampa Bay Water also reduced 

its own administrative and consulting costs through a 

single procurement. 

“By developing a Master Water Plan and using an alternative 

delivery approach, Tampa Bay Water has done what 

so many communities should be doing and yet have only 

begun to study, to provide a cost-effective, dependable and 

sustainable approach to water resources and water service 

for citizens and businesses,” said Laurent Auguste, president 

and CEO of Veolia Water Americas. 

Environmental Benefits 

The project also offers extensive environmental benefits. 

The region was previously dependent on groundwater 

supplies, which, when coupled with a rapidly growing 

population, was not sustainable and resulted in damage 

to natural ecosystems. 

Because of the substantial variability in quality of the 

region’s source water, Tampa Bay Water specifically selected 

Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies’ patented ACTIFLO 

clarification process, which is designed to treat water with 

high variability. The technology’s added benefit was a much 

smaller construction footprint. As a result, a hydrobiological 

monitoring program, which measures hydrological and biological 

conditions in area rivers and the local canal, has 

shown use of these source waters is sustainable. 

“Well-managed communities continue to attract new 

people and economic investment, but they also seek to 

maintain a good quality of life,” said Auguste. “This creates 

additional pressure on water resources. This pressure 

represents an exceptional challenge for many cities, and 

will continue to be a challenge for years to come. Solving 



Tampa Bay Water, Veolia Water North America 

Complete Largest Design-Build-Operate Water 

Treatment Facility in U.S. History 

these water resource issues requires smart, creative models 

and creative approaches.” 

A Public-Private Partnership 

The relationship with Tampa Bay Water goes back to 2000 

when Veolia Water North America was chosen through a 

holistic procurement approach that required companies to 

form teams (or consortiums) that merged all engineering, 

construction and operational disciplines. The Veolia Water 

North America bid team, which included Camp Dresser & 

McKee as well as Clark Construction, was selected in April 

2000 to design, build and operate (DBO) the publicly 

owned facility, which was completed in September 2002. 

This approach represented a significant deviation from 

the norm, and is the reason for Tampa Bay Water’s success. 

Typically, cities engage in single-step procurements. 

In these arrangements, companies first bid on engineering 

services, then on construction services and finally, on 

operational services should the municipality choose to 

engage in private-sector operational management. 

The DBO process chosen by Tampa Bay Water streamlined 

this project delivery process to the public’s immediate 

benefit. The process enabled greater technology, innovation, 

speed and flexibility among the bidding entities, 

because it set the outcome as more important than any 

prescribed methodology. High water quality at the lowest 

life-cycle costs could thus be achieved because Veolia Water 

could bring all project disciplines to the table to establish 

integrated solutions and greater efficiency. 

Seeber stated that after the completion of the first 

phase of Veolia’s work, Tampa Bay Water member governments 

and their customers were provided with higher 

guaranteed water quality and project enhancements 

at an affordable, cost-effective price. 

In 2007, after five years of operational results, Tampa 

Bay Water’s board of directors unanimously approved an 

expansion of the Brandon, Fla., treatment facility, making 

it the nation’s largest DBO project, sharing the honor 

with Seattle Public Utilities’ 120-mgd Tolt Treatment 

Facility. The project’s second phase included an openbook 

accounting methodology to ensure transparency. 

“Who better to manage a facility than those with 

operational expertise who also understand and are 

responsible for how the treatment process was designed 

and the facility constructed” explained Seeber. 

The Tampa Bay Water Regional Surface Water 

Treatment Plant blends source water from the Alafia 

River, the Tampa Bypass Canal, the Hillsborough River 

and the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir, delivering 

raw water through a 72-inch diameter pipeline to the 

treatment plant process equipment. 

Treatment elements utilize a multi-barrier process 

including ballasted flocculation (ACTIFLO), ozonation, 

filtration through granular activated carbon gravity filters, 

disinfection, chemical dosing and solids processing. 

Adjacent to the regional water treatment plant are finished-water 

storage tanks and a pump station that supplies 

water to the Tampa Bay Water member governments’ 

distribution systems. 

Auguste added, “Our employees are proud of the trust 

that has been placed in us and well recognize that this trust 

needs to be earned every day.” 



Protective Coating 

for Wastewater 

Facility Concrete 

Surfaces — 

Best Practices 

Coatings can be an efficient and cost-effective 

technical solution for protecting and renewing 

sanitary sewer tanks, pipelines and appurtenances. 

Asset management principles and practices 

require wastewater utilities to look beyond the initial 

cost and focus more on long-term solutions and lower 

life-cycle costs. Premature failures of coatings have generated 

much concern regarding true life-cycle costs. 

Concrete coating systems for wastewater service must 

typically withstand immersion, harsh chemicals, abrasion, 

low pH and other challenging conditions. Premature 

coating failure is significantly higher with concrete than 

with steel, for example, due to several additional variables 

including moisture content, surface strength, surface 

irregularity, alkalinity, composition and porosity, 

which results in a difficult surface to effectively coat and 

protect. Other factors include surface preparation and 

coating system mixing, application and curing practices, 

to name only a few. 

Some of the most common concrete coating system 

defects and failure mechanisms in wastewater applications 

are: 

• Osmotic blistering 

• Pinholes and voids 

• Peeling 

These failures or defects will typically lead to premature 

concrete damage, compromising structure integrity 

and personnel safety and necessitating costly repair and 

premature infrastructure replacement. 

Many concrete coating products for wastewater service 

exist in the marketplace and new products are entering 

the market frequently. This paper provides a review of the 

importance of product and process validation and presents 

recommendations and lessons learned in specifying, 

applying and utilizing these products over the past 20 

years. 

By Jeff Maxcy and Tom Iseley 

Product Evaluation and Validation 

Product evaluation and validation is not a new concept, 

and has been demonstrated to be an important factor in 

achieving success. It provides the benefit of using materials 

that have already proven to be effective in similar 

applications. 

Owner representatives and consulting engineers have 

for many years realized the importance of reviewing new 

products and processes. Most of the larger utilities with 

support from consultants have developed product review 

committees (PRCs). However, small- to medium-size utilities 

tend to have no formal process. Even for utilities with 

PRCs, the review, validation and acceptance/rejection 

tend to vary significantly from agency to agency. Often 

this process is time-consuming, awkward, inconsistent, 

subject to political influence and expensive. This wide 

variance in how decisions are made to accept/reject products 

and processes results in major challenges and 

expense for the technical solution providers. 

In 2009, the City of Indianapolis and the Construction 

Engineering Management Technology (CEMT) program 

at the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at 

IUPUI entered into a collaborative agreement that resulted 

in development of a 10-step new product review process. 

To date, more than 15 products have been evaluated 

through this innovative process at no expense to the City. 

The technology providers pay a fee. This program has 

been very successful. During 2010, both Fort Wayne, Ind., 

and Zionsville, Ind., have entered into similar agreements 

with the university. 

Due to the strong interest in the new product review 

process from utilities and consultants across the nation, a 

new program will be launched to provide access to all new 

product review reports on a subscription basis. The nonprofit 

Institute of Product Validation (IPV) (www.institutepv.com) 

has been formed to manage the national 

program. Any utility or industry representative can subscribe 

to the IPV services and access the new product 



eports. Future reviews, validation and report development 

will be done utilizing an academic alliance. The 

academic alliance will begin with six universities throughout 

North America. The alliance is expected to continue 

to expand. The reviews will rotate among the universities 

and three universities will conduct peer reviews. 

Product Selection 

Concrete coating system selection, as well as specification 

writing, is challenging because of the number of 

variables involved. These include geographic location, 

the concrete mix design, admixtures, placement and finishing 

techniques. Concrete is also comparatively weak in 

tension, has an irregular surface, contains moisture and is 

easily contaminated. 

The first, and perhaps most important, step should be 

to develop an accurate understanding of the conditions 

and requirements unique to each project. After the 

requirements are known, system options can be evaluated 

to make informed decisions. 

It is important when selecting a product to simply read 

what is written under the general description on the 

manufacturer’s data sheet. The material should be specifically 

designed for wastewater exposure. While there 

are many materials that will stand up well, the manufacturer 

and applicator should be able to demonstrate successful 

experience and history with the selected products 

in similar applications. Manufacturers who might not be 

familiar with the unique corrosive environment within 

sanitary sewers will try to convince the engineer to specify 

materials that were not necessarily intended for sanitary 

sewer use. The products may hold up to the service, 

but their use without a proven history introduces an 

undesirable element of risk of major damage. 

Whenever available, the experience and lessons learned 

from installations within the utility’s system should be 

fully considered. When specifying a replacement system, 

an accurate understanding of any past failures and performance 

limitations is key to ensuring future success and 

improved performance. The specifier should also consider 

soliciting input from other wastewater utilities that 

can confirm performance of candidate systems, or provide 

additional case histories, lessons learned or other 

experiences that could be considered for the project. 

Another way to check likely performance of candidate 

concrete coating systems is to check if the material passed 

tests performed under severe service conditions by John 

Redner and Associates for the County Sanitation Districts 

of Los Angeles from 1983 to 2004. This publication is 

readily available and lists 39 products that have passed 

the test. However, even if the proposed products will hold 

up to laboratory tests, it does not mean that they will be 

able to be successfully installed in the field. Some of these 

products are difficult to work with and require extremely 

skilled applicators. Also, the inevitable variables associated 

with each unique job may have a detrimental effect 

on their performance. It is interesting to note that this 

product evaluation program was developed by a wastewater 

utility. Initially, it was developed to meet the needs 

and answer questions for this particular utility; however, 

it soon became recognized as a standard throughout the 

wastewater industry. The rapid recognition and acceptance 

of this program demonstrates the need for product 

performance validation information. 

Coating System Specifications 

In some cases, it might be appropriate to specify performance 

criteria instead of specific products. This 

approach is thought to shift some of the risk to the contracted 

installer, but has the downside that the applicator 

may not be the ideal technical person to select the best 

materials and processes to produce the desired performance. 

In most cases and particularly for critical or complex 

applications, these decisions are best made by an 

experienced and qualified protective coating specialist. 

It can be difficult to determine which standards should 

be included in a concrete coating system specification. 

Manufacturers often have performance criteria shown on 

their data sheets that are not necessarily important to the 

application. The system specifier should understand 

which tests are relevant, as well as what constitutes a passing 

test. For instance, a specification may list performance 

criteria from one manufacturer’s data sheet with a 

high value for a certain ASTM standard, but not necessarily 

be pertinent to the application. This value will essentially 

disallow some manufacturers that would otherwise 

perform well for the application. Always use the proper 

industry standards from NACE, ASTM, SSPC and ICRI 

when specifying, installing and testing coatings in a sewer 

system. 

Field Conditions 

Less-than-ideal conditions should be expected and can 

be especially difficult to overcome. For example, in existing 

sewers, the coating applicator will typically have to 

NEW 

WATER RESOURCE! 

The Future of Water 

Discover how municipalities, water utilities, industries 

and individuals can resolve challenges facing the 

water industry to make a better future. 

Topics Covered Include: 

* Water quality & shortages 

* Population & economic 

growth 

* Energy, climate & pollution 

* Water use, transportation 

& storage 

Author: Steve Maxwell 

Hardbound/243 pages 

*Shipping and handling not included. 

Selling price subject to change without notice. 


Price: 

$34.99* 

Price: 

$34.99* 

resource center 

benjaminmedia.com/book-store 

330-467-7588 



deal with sewer flows, groundwater leaks, contaminated 

substrate, insects, animals, traffic, dangerous gasses and 

so on. 

Less-than-ideal environmental conditions are also a 

challenge in properly applying concrete coatings and 

affect their long-term performance. Rain, heat, cold, 

humidity and extremely dry conditions make it difficult to 

apply coatings on the porous surface of concrete. Increases 

in surface temperature during the initial coat to bare concrete 

may cause expansion of air and solvent within the 

concrete surface resulting in pinholes and bubbling as 

they escape through the uncured film. Concrete moisture 

can also cause a substrate side amine blush that is concealed 

from routine inspection and later results in osmotic 

blistering in immersion service. Many times the applicator 

will start with acceptable conditions and changes 

occur throughout the day that may cause the work to be 

ruined, or questionable at the very least. 

Field conditions must be continuously monitored to 

understand and adjust for their potential effects on the 

coating system being installed. Often, it is beneficial to 

control the environment to the extent possible using techniques 

such as containment, temperature control and 

dehumidification. 

Qualification of Applicators 

Even the very best coating system will fail if not properly 

installed. Similar to product selection and specification 

writing, the use of a qualified applicator is a critical 

element of a successful coatings project. Inexperienced 

buyers often sort “painting contractors” into one single 

group. In reality, coating application typically involves 

very specialized processes and equipment, and the most 

qualified applicators are often the ones that specialize in 

a particular area, such as concrete tank linings, manhole 

coatings, floor coatings or structural steel. 

Specialization fosters the development of best practices, 

work efficiency and improved product quality. When 

the same processes are repeated, mistakes are usually 

reduced or eliminated, and the process can be continuously 

improved. Risks are reduced and the odds of success 

are increased. In contrast, using inexperienced applicators 

predictably results in a large learning curve. With 

complex coating and lining systems, this learning curve 

can be very costly. 

The best contractor on the last job might not be the best 

for the next job if the type of coating work to be performed 

is significantly different than the last time. The applicator’s 

area of expertise should be a prime consideration 

when developing a short list of bidders for a project. 

A good source to find qualified applicators is the 

manufacturer of the selected products. Generally, they 

will want to recommend qualified applicators to better 

ensure the success of their product. Some manufacturers 

of high-performance coatings only sell to contractors 

that have gone through some form of a manufacturer 

training and qualification program to become an 

“approved” applicator. Requiring the contactor to be a 

manufacturer-approved applicator is almost always a 

good idea. Proof of approval should always be in writing 

from the manufacturer. 

References and referrals from other past projects 

should always be required and fully investigated in the 

applicator selection process. To ensure the “low-bid” is 

meaningful, final consideration of bidders should be limited 

to only those that are truly qualified to perform the 

work. Otherwise, an apparent lower price may only be 

due to a lack of understanding of the project requirements. 

Accepting an inappropriately low bid from an 

inexperienced applicator contractor will predictably 

result in unsatisfactory results as well as change orders, 

schedule delays and excessive rework. 

In-Process Inspection 

Some coatings applicators do excellent work. Some do 

not. However, if an applicator knows that all of its work 

will be inspected thoroughly, it is far more likely to do a 

good job. Full-time, in-process quality control inspection 

helps ensure that the selected coating system is properly 

implemented. 

Although the utility owner should monitor and inspect 

the quality of the work, the applicator must be ultimately 

responsible for its performance, quality control and 

workmanship. In cases where the owner assigns an 

inspector, the applicator will often attempt to use the 

inspector as a gauge for its work. If problems arise, the 

applicator often responds by saying it was doing what it 

was told and it passed all inspections, suggesting it is not 

the problem of the applicator. This undesirable scenario 

blurs lines of responsibility because the owner’s inspector 

has inadvertently become part of the applicator’s 

work process. The system specifier must make it clear in 

the project procurement documents that the owner 

reserves the right to inspect, but has no burden or 

responsibility for the final outcome. It must be clear that 

quality control is the sole responsibility of the contractor. 

It is ideal for every coatings applicator to have its 

own qualified, full-time inspector working at all times 

during the installation process. 

Even when an applicator has a qualified inspector, it 

can still be difficult to always get quality workmanship. 

The inspector’s paycheck comes from the applicator, 

which sometimes makes it difficult to perform inspections 

and report in an effective and unbiased manner. For this 

reason, on larger or complex projects, it is usually advisable 

for the owner to hire a qualified NACE-certified 

coating inspector to monitor the work to ensure project 

requirements are being followed. This added oversight 

usually enables the applicator’s inspector to do a better 

job. However, as previously noted, the owner’s assignment 

of an inspector should never replace the requirement 

for the applicator to inspect its own work. 

Another useful tool to ensure project quality is to 

require that the applicator utilize a manufacturer’s technical 

representative to provide field training and verify 

on a continuous basis that work is being completed in 

accordance with the manufacturer’s requirements. The 

manufacturer should inspect storage, surface preparation, 

mixing, application, testing and should ultimately 

provide some form of a Certificate of Proper Installation. 

After all, the manufacturer is the expert with its material 

and is in the best position to resolve unexpected challenges 

that develop in the field. 

To the uniformed, this level of oversight and precaution 

might seem a little overboard. However, due to their cost 

and complexity, coatings and linings in wastewater environments 

have demonstrated an unusually high rate of 

failure compared with most other construction activities. 



The consequences of failure usually far outweigh the cost and 

inconvenience of the increased project oversight. 

Recommendations 

The ultimate success of a coatings project can be best assured 

by up-front product evaluation and validation. It is also necessary 

to spend the time to research and to gain an in-depth 

understanding of the conditions under which the coating system 

will be applied and the associated long-term exposure 

challenges. This knowledge, along with local experience and 

that of other users, is then applied to establish coating system 

performance criteria and to develop comprehensive specification 

of materials and methods. Other important steps to 

achieve success include qualification of material suppliers and 

applicators and comprehensive field quality control practices. 

Jeff Maxcy is a construction manager with CH2M HILL. He graduated 

from Mississippi State University in 1985 with a BS in Construction 

Engineering and started working with CH2M HILL in 1987 as a construction 

inspector. For the past 20 years he has been involved with determining 

how to specify and install waterproofing materials, concrete restoration 

materials and coatings properly in a sanitary sewer system. 

Tom Iseley, Ph.D., P.E., is a Professor and Director of Construction 

Engineering Management Technology, Purdue School of Engineering 

& Technology at IUPUI. Iseley has over 35 years of experience in the 

planning, design and construction of underground infrastructure 

systems. He served on the faculty of Mississippi State University, 

Purdue University and Louisiana Tech University. He founded the 

Trenchless Technology Center at Louisiana Tech and was a founding 

member of the North American Society for Trenchless Technology. 





CALENDAR 

2012 

January 18-20 

80th Winter Conference 

of Mayors 

Washington, D.C. 

The U.S. Conference of Mayors annual winter meeting will be 

held at the Capital Hilton Hotel. Web: www.usmayors.org. 

February 12-15 

NACWA Winter Conference 

Los Angeles 

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies will host its 

Winter Conference – titled “Watershed Moment in the Making... 

Conquering the Challenges of the New Regulatory Frontier” – at 

the Omni Los Angeles Hotel. Web: www.nacwa.org. 

March 10-14 

Congressional City Conference 


The National League of Cities’ 2012 Congressional City 

Conference will be held at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel. 

Web: www.nlc.org. 

March 11-15 

No-Dig Show 

nashville, Tenn. 

The North American Society for Trenchless Technology’s annual 

No-Dig Show will be held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and 

Convention Center. The No-Dig Show is the largest event of its 

kind exclusively devoted to trenchless construction and repair. 

Web: www.nodigshow.com. 

June 3-6 Collection Systems 2012 

St. Louis 

Collection Systems 2012, themed “Show Me the Green: 

Confluence Planning, Implementation, and Regulations,” is 

being planned for the St. Louis Convention Center. The event is 

hosted by the Water Environment Federation’s Collection 

Systems Committee in cooperation with the Missouri Water 

Environment Association. Web: www.wef.org/CollectionSystems 

March 12-16 

nuCA Convention 

Fort Worth, Texas 

The National Utility Contractors Association’s convention is 

being held at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel. The convention 

features a unique mix of keynotes, roundtables, presentations 

and networking opportunities. Web: www.nuca.com. 

April 22-25 

national Environmental 

policy Forum 


The National Association of Clean Water Agencies teams up for 

the annual National Environmental Policy Forum at the Washington 

Marriott. Web: www.nacwa.org. 

April 23-25 

Design-Build for 

Water/Wastewater 

Phoenix 

The Design-Build Institute of America’s annual Water/Wastewater 

conference will be held at the Renaissance Glendale Hotel & 

Spa.Web: www.dbia.org. 

June 10-14 

ACE12 


The American Water Works Association’s Annual Conference 

and Exposition (ACE) is the most comprehensive and diverse 

water conference in the world. The future demands that the 

water profession be more innovative, more efficient and more 

prepared than ever before. At ACE12, you will gain the knowledge 

and vision that are essential to your job and to your industry. 

Web: www.awwa.org. 

June 13-16 

80th Annual Conference of 

Mayors 

This annual event will bring mayors and policy makers from 

across the nation to Universal Studios Resorts. The U.S. 

Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization 

of cities with populations of 30,000 or more and creates 

a forum where mayors can share ideas and information. 

Web: www.usmayors.org. 

July 15-18 

NACWA Summer Conference & 

42nd Annual Meeting 

Philadelphia 

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies’ Summer 

Cofnerence and Annual Meeting – titled “Transformational 

Leadership. . . . Changing the Game for the Next 40 Years of 

Clean Water” – is being held at the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia 

at Penn’s Landing. Web: www.nacwa.org. 

August 19-22 

ASCE Pipelines 

Miami Beach, Fla. 

The American Society for Civil Engineers’ annual Pipelines 

Conference will be held at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. 

Web: www.asce.org. 

September 9-12 AWWA DSS 

St. Louis 

The American Water Works Association’s Distribution Systems 

Symposium and Exposition will be held at the Hilton St. Louis at 

the Ballpark. Web: www.awwa.org. 

September 29-October 3 WEFTEC 

new Orleans 

WEFTEC 2012, the 85th annual technical exhibition and conference 

of the Water Environment Federation, heads to the Ernest N. Morial 

Convention Center in New Orleans. Web: www.weftec.org. 

October 7–10 

ICMA Annual Conference 

phoenix/Maricopa County, 

Arizona 

The International City/County Management Association will 

head to Arizona for its annual conference. Web: www.icma.org. 

October 7-10 

NAWC Water Summit 

Miami 

The National Association of Water Companies’ annual Water 

Summit will be held in at Turnberry Isle. Web: www.nawc.org. 



PROFESSIONAL INDEX 

Company Website 

page 

2011 Educational Series 

Aclara www.aclaratech.com 44 

Benjamin Media www.benjaminmedia.com/book-store 9 

Resource Center 

Benjamin Media http://www.benjaminmedia.com/book-store 37 


2011 

Educational 

Series 

Benjamin Media http://www.benjaminmedia.com/book-store 39 


Recorded webinars shown here:: 

www.uimonline.com/index/webinars 

Black & Veatch www.uimonline.com/index/webinars 7 

Webinar 

Webinars are Free 

BMI Online www.bmi-buyersguide.com 3 

Buyer’s Guides 

CTAM http://www.bami-i.com/certification-training-asset-management.html 20,21 

HDR 

Engineering www.hdrinc.com 3 

No-Dig 2012 www.nodigshow.com 5 

PipeLogix Inc. www.pipelogix.com 13 

TRS 

Niagara Falls www.trenchlessroadshows.com 43 

February 

I&I Reduction 

sponsored by 

March 

Low Pressure 

Sewers 

sponsored by 

May 

Flow Monitoring 

sponsored by 

HDPE Pipe 

sponsored by 

August 

Energy Action Plan 

September 

Clay Pipe 

sponsored by 

October 

Smart Metering 

sponsored by 

November 

Water System 

Optimization 

Efficiency 

sponsored by 

Underground 

Solutions www.undergroundsolutions.com 2 

2011 www.uimonline.com/index/webinars 41 

Webinar 

Schedule 

July 

Leak Detection 

sponsored by 

2012 Schedule 

Coming Soon! 

*There is a $10 administrative fee for attendees requiring a CEU certificate. It is the responsibility of 

attendees to contact their state approval boards to verify whether they accept webinars for credit. 




COMMENTARY 

A New Year’s Resolution for Mayors: 

Save Millions in the New Year 

By Tony Radoszewski 

At the end of every year, it is a tradition to review the past 

12 months and to identify ways to do better in the coming 

year. Often, we make resolutions, like committing to exercise 

more or to quit smoking in order to benefit us or those we 

care deeply about. For mayors across North America, I submit 

that one resolution they can, and should, make is to save their 

community millions of dollars in 2012. Actually, it’s not that 

hard to do. Let me tell you how. 

All you need to do is to look to your aging and degrading 

water, sewer and stormwater systems for opportunities. Every 

mayor knows that their deteriorating underground infrastructure 

requires immediate attention and investment. And with 

capital resources tighter than ever, new strategies need to be 

employed to make those dollars go farther than ever. Tested 

and proven technologies exist today that have shown time and 

time again to save substantial expense while providing totally 

leak-free and water-tight, long-life, sustainable infrastructure 

options. Systems with superior resistance to rust, abrasion 

and deterioration are readily obtainable. Use of high-density 

polyethylene (HDPE) pipe enables deployment of greener solutions 

that conserve resources now and yield long-term savings. 

Resolve to rehabilitate or expand pipe systems in enlightened 

ways that are environmentally responsible and forward 

thinking. These choices will serve generations. 

For nearly 60 years the Plastics Pipe Institute has been providing 

real-life examples of technically enhanced pipe systems 

that also save millions of dollars. The status quo is not good 

enough – older materials like concrete, iron and steel along 

with conventional methods of installation were not developed 

for the demands of current times in mind. As they seek to improve 

the lives of their constituents, while balancing budgets, 

mayors should demand that their cities make wiser decisions 

that consider current alternatives and the long-standing impact 

of each option. 

Examples of forward-thinking cities that have actually prospered 

from acting similarly will help to solidify choosing to 

accept this challenge and acting upon this 2012 New Year’s 

Resolution: 

Mayor Jack Kirsey, Livonia, Mich. 

Project: Potable Water System 

We experienced an increasing number of incident reports 

of broken water mains that required digging up the streets to 

do the repairs, and it reached a catastrophic stage. Not only 

were we losing water, a valuable resource, but the cost to our 

taxpayers was significant. We had to find the best system that 

would last the longest and have the most realistic cost. 

Nearly 27,000 feet of our aging, deteriorated water system 

needed to be replaced with new and larger diameter pipes to 

provide for our increasing population. HDPE pipe is typically 

less expensive than ductile iron pipe. We saved more than 

$200,000 just for the pipe, not including cost associated with 

the labor and time that would be needed to handle and install 

the much heavier iron pipe. The end result is that we were 

able to do this project without raising the 

rate for water. 

Radoszewski 

Mayor Jack Hoffman, 

Lake Oswego, Calif. 

Project: Wastewater Interceptor Line 

A safe and reliable infrastructure is one of many components 

of a great community. Our city, like tens of thousands 

of cities across our nation, has an aging infrastructure. If we 

don’t responsibly invest and maintain it, we risk potential loss 

of property or life that could financially burden our citizens. 

Clean water, safe sewerage systems and good roads are just 

part of our paramount responsibilities. 

Our concrete and cast iron in-lake interceptor system needed 

to be upgraded. The system was corroded, undersized and 

at risk of failing in an earthquake. If a collapse was to occur, 

millions of gallons of untreated wastewater would enter the 

lake and millions of gallons of lake water would drain downstream 

to the receiving treatment plant and overwhelm its hydraulic 

capacity. The cost of the in-lake portion of the new 

system using HDPE pipe is estimated at $95 million, which 

is $25 million less than an around-the-lake pumped system. 

Mayor Barrie MacMillan, New 

Glasgow, Nova Scotia 

Project: Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) 

We are upgrading our infrastructure at every chance we get 

because it’s important. The major area being upgraded to separate 

the storm water is a tidal estuary for salt and fresh water, and 

is the centerpiece of our riverfront revitalization. This combined 

sewer overflow reduction is a critical project for us. The large diameter, 

corrugated HDPE pipe is interesting because it seems to 

be a better product and is sustainable. Our engineer told me the 

thing that he liked about it was that it provided a good, tight seal. 

My engineering department is very confident about the plastic 

pipe and, most importantly, the project is within budget. 

Many other cities are charging ahead and taking care of their 

underground systems and their pocketbook. The City of Houston 

saved $2-4 million by using HDPE pipe and pipe bursting 

installation to replace a failed 42-in. pre-stressed concrete 

cylinder pipe (PCCP) water line. Miami-Dade will save an estimated 

$10 million by sliplining 1.5 miles of a failing 72-in. 

PCCP sewer force main with 63-in. HDPE pipe. Yet another 

example is in the city of Palo Alto, Calif., which is converting its 

entire municipal potable water system to HDPE materials. For 

many years the city used HDPE pipe in its gas system because it 

could be installed by boring instead of the open-trench method. 

So, mayors, let’s start the New Year off right. Make it your 

resolution to save your city millions of dollars in 2012 while 

giving your constituents peace of mind. It’s an easy thing to do! 

Tony Radoszewski is Executive Director of The Plastics Pipe 

Institute. For information visit: www.plasticpipe.org. 



Uniting the 

Trenchless World 

Presenters from: 

Austria, Canada, 

Holland, Iran, 

New Zealand, 

UK, and USA 

Underground Infrastructure Research (UIR) International 

Conference and Trenchless Technology Road Show 

June 5-6, 2012 Scotiabank Convention Centre 

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada 

For more information visit www.trenchlessroadshows.com 

Platinum Sponsor: 

Gold Sponsors:

Download - Water Utility Infrastructure Management

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?