Chattanooga to spend $33.1 million in wastewater projects
Coinciding with a sweeping consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency, the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, is launching $33.1 million in wastewater projects. Thirteen initial projects totaling $5 million were set to be approved by the City Council recently. Funding for the projects will come through a state TDEC financing program. Some of the projects include restoring a stream to a more natural channel, improvements at the sewer basin pump station, upgrades to wastewater treatment plant and much more.
City looking to replace 35-year-old pumps at wastewater treatment plant
The city in La Salle, Illinois, is looking to expand a project for upgrades to a wastewater treatment plant. The City Council approved amendment that will replace the 35-year-old pumps at the plant with submersible water pumps. The city has already begun a $2 million project to build a dike around the waterside plant to prevent future flooding. The project will include reshaping a holding pool and clearing an old pump building, while moving some pumps to another location. Funding for the project has come through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery “Ike” Program.
Donahue selected as next president-elect by AWWA directors
The American Water Works Association (AWWA) announced that John Donahue, general manager of the North Park (Illinois) Public Water District and longtime AWWA volunteer, has been selected by the Board of Directors as the association’s next president-elect. Donahue begins his role as president-elect in June 2013, at the conclusion of AWWA’s Annual Conference and Exposition in Denver, Colorado. He will serve his one-year presidential term beginning in June of 2014. An AWWA member since 1987 and active member of the Illinois Section, Donahue was honored in 2009 with the association’s Fuller Award. He has served on numerous committees at both the AWWA association and Section levels, and he continues to hold water and wastewater operator licenses.
Electrification and process control instrumentation being stepped up in wastewater plant
St. Louis, Missouri-based Guarantee Electrical Co. is advancing the electrification and process control instrumentation installation for a new $55.6 million municipal wastewater treatment plant being built by Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The new plant, which will bring the city into compliance with federal and state wastewater treatment regulations, will have an average capacity of 11 million gallons per day (gpd) and a peak capacity of 50 million gpd. It will supplement the city’s existing 7 million gpd facility that opened in 1962. Guarantee will electrify the new plant as a stand-alone facility. In addition to the primary bio-solids treatment structure, it includes an administration building, head works building, influent pump station and waste-activated sludge tanks. The plant will host four sequence batch reactors, a two-channel ultraviolet light disinfection system and an emergency generator to back up critical systems. Guarantee is installing electrical switchgear, process equipment instrumentation and alarm, security and voice/data systems.
Foul odor from Iowa industries and sewer facilities fades away
For years residents in the Sioux City, Iowa, area avoided going outside because of the awful stench coming from industries and municipal sewer facilities. That all changed six months ago when the smell started to fade away after a series of policy changes to address the longstanding problem. US Peroxide of Atlanta was awarded a $209,000 contract by the city to inject hydrogen peroxide and iron chloride into the system, which handles 29 million gallons of sewage a day. The neighborhood around Hauser was the major source of the smell where one of four pumps is housed and sends raw sewage to the wastewater treatment plant. Around $70 million was spent to upgrade the main treatment plant and replace an outdated, open sewer line underneath the interstate.
GE’s ZLD wastewater treatment technology to be installed at Texas power plants
GE announced that its zero liquid discharge (ZLD) wastewater treatment technology will be installed at two new 758-megawatt natural gas-fueled, combined-cycle power plants in Texas. In recent years, Texas has been experiencing a drought and by using GE’s ZLD technology, the two power plants, located in Sherman and Temple, Texas, will be able to reduce incoming water needs by recycling and reusing more than 98 percent of its own cooling tower wastewater. Once commissioned, the Temple Power Plant, located in Bell County, Texas, will use treated water from a nearby wastewater treatment plant, and the Sherman Power Plant, located in Grayson County, Texas, will use Lake Texoma as its cooling water source. GE’s ZLD systems will treat 450 gallons per minute of water for each power plant, more than 98 percent of which can then be reused in the process, reducing the amount of new water needed from the original sources.
PEOPLE
• Pennsylvania American Water announced that Bernie Grundusky has been promoted to head business development programs for its parent company’s Mid-Atlantic Division, which includes Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland. As the new senior manager of business development for the Mid-Atlantic Division, Grundusky will oversee the company’s growth strategies to help bring potential water and wastewater solutions to communities and other entities across the region. He will remain based in Pennsylvania American Water’s Mechanicsburg office. A resident of Silver Spring Township, Grundusky joined Pennsylvania American Water in 1991. He previously held the position of senior manager of business development for Pennsylvania American Water and served in the company’s finance and rates departments. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Lebanon Valley College and a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Pennsylvania State University.
• Koch Membrane Systems Inc. (KMS) has announced that Bill Musiak has joined the company as Commercial Director, Water and Wastewater for North America. Musiak will focus on growing the customer base for KMS and providing leadership to the company’s water and wastewater sales employees in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean region as KMS prepares to launch a series of new products for the water and wastewater market. Throughout his career, Musiak has held positions with leading organizations including Pentair Process Technologies (formerly Norit X-Flow), GE Water & Process Technologies, Ionics and CeraMem Separations. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Musiak will be based out of KMS Global Headquarters in Wilmington, Massachusetts.
• SJE-Rhombus, a control solutions provider for the water and wastewater industry, is proud to announce the addition of Don Weirens as engineered solutions sales manager. Weirens joins SJE-Rhombus with over 20 years of experience in the sales and marketing of water and wastewater controls, business development and manufacturing. His expertise includes: Industrial automation/control panels and systems, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, industrial and municipal water and waste treatment equipment manufacturing and services, motor control and electrical power distribution, groundwater remediation equipment manufacturing and electric power generation SCADA systems and monitoring services. His years of experience with industrial and municipal water and waste treatment equipment, pump motors and VFD's in a variety of applications ensures SJE-Rhombus customers innovative control solutions.
