DWM staff recognized by EPA

Sally Mills, Denise Skinner-Hurst, Clifford Ice and Tracy Hillick were recognized by the USEPA’s Criminal Investigation Division for their contributions to the prosecution of Acuity Specialty Products Group. The company was diluting and discharging contaminated wastewater into the City’s sewer system, tampering with the City’s sampling equipment, backdating chain of custody forms, failing to report spills and falsifying data to cover these crimes.
 
DWM employees discovered Acuity’s practice of diluting and discharging contaminated wastewater during a routine compliance sampling test in 2002. DWM employees also discovered that Acuity employees were providing false data to the City to meet the terms of the company’s pretreatment permit. The City notified EPA, and the agency began a criminal investigation that eventually resulted in some of the largest fines ever levied against a U.S. company. 
 
According to Fred L. Burnside, EPA’s Regional Special Agent-in-Charge, “There is no doubt that your employees protected human health and the natural environment through their outstanding efforts. They are a credit to your department.”

DWM’s Office of Conservation joined forces with Resource Conservation Advocates (RCA) on June 7 to make some deserving seniors’ homes more efficient. RCA had scheduled a work day that would focus on eight homes in the Edgewood Community.

In these homes, RCA:

• Installed water-saving devices on toilets
• Applied weather-stripping to doors
• Caulked windows
• Installed hot water heater blankets
• Installed low-flow shower heads and faucets
• Provided energy saving replacement light bulbs
• Distributed information packets which explained all these techniques and devices.

DWM provided water conservation kits, which include low-flow shower heads, faucet aerators and water-saving devices for toilets. “We love being able to help,” says Melinda Langston, Director of the Office of Conservation. “Every low-flow shower head and aerator that is installed helps conserve water.”

DWM staff shares expertise
at water conference

Commissioner Rob Hunter and other Department employees made presentations at the recent American Water Works Association’s annual conference and exhibition, held at the Georgia World Congress Center, June 8-12. The conference brought 12,000 water professionals from all over the world to Atlanta.

Water-conscious schoolchildren
win ice cream parties

Schoolchildren at Centennial Place and E.L. Connally elementary schools won ice cream parties provided by the Department of Watershed Management in recognition of their water-saving achievements under a DWM conservation program.

The Department challenged City schools to conserve water during the Level 4 drought. Schools formed “SWISH” (Student Water Investigators Showing How) teams, began educating their peers about conservation and monitored consumption.

The children in Sheila Appling’s science classes at Centennial Place estimated that they saved thousands of gallons of water by taking simple measures like turning off the faucet while washing hands, monitoring toilet flushing and re-using water when possible.

At E.L. Connally, Patrick Butler’s fourth-graders also saved thousands of gallons of water by taking similar water-saving measures.

Blue Bell Creameries provided the ice cream for the parties.

Water Quality Report available

Atlanta’s water/sewer customers began receiving the 2007 Water Quality Report in their June bills. The report also has been posted online and will be delivered to libraries, recreation centers and senior facilities throughout the City. The WQR describes improvements to the system during 2007 and details results from water quality tests performed on Atlanta’s drinking water throughout the year. The report shows that, once again, the City’s drinking water system meets or exceeds all federal water quality guidelines.

“The Water Quality Report continues to show the City’s commitment to clean water,” said Commissioner Rob Hunter. “We are proud of our system and of the employees who work diligently to make sure that we offer drinking water of the exceptional quality that our customers have come to expect.”

To download the report, visit www.atlantawatershed.org/pdf/WQR2008.pdf.

City hosts GreenPlumbers workshops

The City of Atlanta hosted more than 100 contractors, plumbers, inspectors and facilities management personnel for two “GreenPlumbers Caring for Our Water Metro City Challenge Certification Workshops.” Held at the Utoy Creek Water Reclamation Center, the workshops emphasized water conservation and efficiency and focused on climate care, water care, water recycling and conservation and solar water heating. Similar workshops are being conducted in cities across the country.

The GreenPlumbers workshop in Atlanta was sponsored by the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management and Cobb and Fulton counties.

“We are excited that so many plumbers and other professionals are making it a point to attend this workshop,” said Commissioner Rob Hunter. “It is a great indication that people understand not only that the drought is persisting, but also that we need to make conservation not just a short-term fix, but a long-term solution.”

The City is hosting another GreenPlumbers workshop on July 18. For information, call Miltresa McMichael at 404-546-1265.

City’s water and wastewater
plants cited for excellence

The Georgia Association of Water Professionals named Atlanta’s two water treatment plants and two of its wastewater treatment plants winners of Gold Awards for permit compliance. The water awards recognize “exceptional performance in the delivery of safe, potable water,” according to the association, which represents more than 5,000 operators, owners, contractors, manufacturers’ representatives, engineers, elected officials, industry representatives and others concerned with Georgia’s water resources. The Gold Awards given to the R.M. Clayton and Utoy water reclamation centers, recognize facilities that have had no permit violations in the previous year.

The drinking water awards, which were presented to the Chattahoochee and Hemphill water treatment plants, as well as the Atlanta-Fulton County Treatment Plant, which is jointly owned by the City of Atlanta and Fulton County, recognize facilities that have met or exceeded the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act permit requirements in 2007. The plants had no permit violations during the year. The plants treat a combined 246 million gallons of water daily.

“We are grateful to the association for recognizing our ongoing efforts to provide clean, safe drinking water and environmentally sound wastewater treatment to our customers,” said Commissioner Rob Hunter. “We are very proud of our plants and the employees who work in them to ensure that Atlanta’s water meets or exceeds all state and federal standards.”

The City of Atlanta currently is spending $1 billion to overhaul its drinking water system by replacing meters, repairing leaks, building new transmission and distribution mains and upgrading its plants. It is spending another $3 billion to overhaul its sewer system to comply with two federal Consent Decrees.

Grease Management Program
cuts sewer problems

DWM officials are praising the results of the City’s Grease Management Program, which has significantly reduced sewer problems caused by the buildup of fats, oil and grease (FOG) in the sewer system. Thus far this year, the program has kept about 2,500 gallons of grease out of the City’s sewers. Since January, the program has issued more than 2,000 Wastewater Discharge Permits, conducted 2,500 facility inspections and 115 spill investigations, reviewed 109 plans for grease trap installation and issued six citations for non-payment of permit fees and 39 notices of violation.

Implemented in 1999 as a requirement of the First Amended Consent Decree, the Program was designed to reduce sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) attributed to grease. Wastewater discharges containing high concentrations of fats, oils and grease (FOG) from food service establishments such as restaurants, schools, nursing homes, day cares and other similar public facilities contribute to more than half of the blockages or overflows in the city’s wastewater collection system.
The Grease Management Program includes the following elements:  prevention, permitting, inspection and spill investigation, plan review and enforcement actions.  Along with the Nancy Creek SSO Tunnel and citywide sewer evaluation and rehab projects, the Grease Management Program has reduced SSOs by about 70 percent.

DWM assists Atlanta
Housing Authority

The Department of Watershed Management’s Water Conservation Division played a key role at the Atlanta Housing Authority’s Utility Forum on Saturday, June 28. Miltresa McMichael gave a presentation to the roughly 500 attendees in which she explained how to read a water bill, as well as how to check for leaks. Jennifer Carlile distributed water conservation kits containing low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators and other devices to attendees.

The Utility Forum was held to help Atlantans currently residing in public housing make an easier transition to living in privately owned housing where residents are usually responsible for paying their own utility bills. According to Shean L. Atkins, Director of Community Partnerships for AHA, “We have received many comments from our residents that the type of information presented was very useful in preparing them for their futures as responsible utility users. The panelists did a superb job of translating information in a way residents could understand and put to use.”

Project Updates

Sewer Separation
Last fall, DWM completed sewer separation projects in the Stockade, Greensferry and McDaniel basins. The $300 million Consent Decree projects were completed on time and on budget, and resulted in newly paved streets. More than 18 miles of new water lines were also installed as part of the work.

Sewer separation involved separating combined sewer pipes, which collected stormwater and wastewater, into two separate pipes. The City constructed almost 34 miles of new sewers, which will dramatically reduce sewer overflows into streams and creeks.

West Area CSO Tunnel
The 8.5-mile-long West Area Combined Sewer Overflow Tunnel is on schedule for its November completion date. The last pour for the concrete lining in the Clear Creek section of the tunnel was completed on June 25. The North Avenue section of the tunnel has 11 pours left to complete its concrete lining. The 24-foot tunnel will have the capacity to store 177 million gallons of combined sewage for transfer to a dedicated treatment facility.

Sewer System Evaluation Survey and Related Rehabilitation
The SSES and sewer rehab programs continue to make their presence felt in communities across Atlanta. Thus far, City contractors have evaluated 1,076 miles of the 1,530 miles of sewer pipe that are part of the evaluation program (70 percent) and rehabilitated 267 miles of the projected 607 miles the City anticipates will need to be repaired/replaced (44 percent). Work is beginning in Sewer Group 2 (the sewers are divided into six sewer groups based on the condition of the pipes). Sewer Group 2 work will affect 11 council districts, 16 NPUs and dozens of neighborhoods, including Buckhead, Lake Claire, Kirkwood, Pittsburgh, Lakewood Heights, Peoplestown, Dixie Hills, Ansley Park, Morningside, Candler Park, Inman Park, Venetian Hills and Adams Park.

Meter Replacement
The ongoing $34 million meter replacement program is nearing the halfway mark. So far, the City has replaced 66,855 of its 153,000 meters with meters capable of being read remotely. The new meters will ensure accuracy in billing and reduce illegal water use because of new, secure meter lids.

55 Trinity Avenue, Suite 5400
Atlanta GA 30303
Tel: 404.330.6081 | Fax: 404.330.7194
Official E-newsletter for the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management • © 2008