watercon - Public Works Group Blog

March 16, 2014

WATERCON2014

This year I am fortunate to again have the opportunity to attend WATERCON in Springfield, Ill.It's amazing how every year the conference offers so many great sessions, and the exhibitors always have such interesting displays and information. In addition to attending sessions and talking with vendors, I'll be posting as much as I can on several social media sites so that all of you can follow as much of the conference as possible. Because most of these sites are already listed in a blog post over at the Watercon blog site, I won't list them again here. Instead I encourage you to visit over there. And if you're attending too, I'll be looking for your own posts and photos from the event!

One added treat is a virtual expo we set up to try out that technology. Here's an image of the entry screen – you can find the link to visit the expo over on the Watercon site.

March 20, 2013March 20, 2013

WATERCON 2013 – Day 3

And here we are already at the third full day of the conference. Today I started out in the exhibit hall talking to folks as they walked by the booth where we had a display of the #watercon Tweets. But I didn't have much time to chat before having to run off to the Mission Impossible session. As soon as I walked in the door and was handed a sealed envelope marked "Confidential," I realized this would be no ordinary activity. Upon opening the envelope, I discovered I had been assigned to a task force to determine five action points to address signficant water-related deficiencies in a community. Fortunately I was not alone in this endeavor – there were three other water professionals on my team who were obviously very experienced. It didn't take long for us to develop our recommendations. There were three other teams in the room working on the same assignment, and when we were all done, the moderators had us share our ideas. It was interesting to see that all the teams had come up with similar approaches. Well except our team had not thought of calling the National Guard. But, hey, as the one participant pointed out – they are there and available to help so why not use them. Afterwards we were all rewarded with candy for undertaking such a challenging assignment.

After we were released from our task force, I managed to catch the session on Green Infrastructure. While I could not live blog it, I did manage to share a few key points through Twitter (look for the #watercon hashtag to see the stream). The overall message from the panel of speakers is that green infrastructure is made up of complex elements. Designers are still figuring things out – particularly costs. And even though we have the International BMP Database, they cautioned trying to implement someone else's solution for your project without giving careful consideration to local conditions and factors. And finally they pointed out the operation and maintenance and monitoring of BMPs can be expensive.

Later in the afternoon, I caught the following sessions and was able to live blog them. Follow the link to run the CoverItLive tool to see the main points:

Who, What, When, Where and Why of Backflow Prevention – this was also a panel discussion about cross connections and backflow protection. It was interesting to hear the approaches and ideas from each community. Several members from the audience shared their experiences too. Make sure to run the live blog tool to see the tips and advice.

The New World of SCADA Security – this session provided an interesting view of why our operations had not experienced control security issues in the past and why they are more vulnerable now. The main point was "security through obscurity." Until 2010, hackers didn't really know about PLCs or how they operated. But because several programmers got together and wrote a program to hack into a PLC, launched it on another country's operations, and had their program picked up by someone whose actions led to the eventual release of it on the Internet, now anyone can get the code. Great.

I didn't really get a chance to talk to many vendors today – the booths had to be taken down at noon. Tomorrow is the awards breakfast and a few legislative sessions. But because I have some commitments at home, I unfortunately won't be able to attend. So I guess this wraps up my summary of WATERCON, but remember, since we captured so much of it online, you can always access the information by visiting the #watercon Tweets and reviewing the live blog sessions.

I very much appreciate ISAWWA sponsoring my registration and look forward to seeing everyone back next year!

March 20, 2013March 20, 2013

Watercon 2013 – Day 2

On the second day of Watercon, I alternated between attending sessions and visiting with exhibitors. Because of access to an outlet, I was only able to live blog a few of the sessions. The links to those are below:

Ice Pigging: Cleaning Mains with Ice – I first heard of this technique from a co-worker and really wanted to learn more about it. The talk was very interesting and informative. One of the key points I took away is that it is a cleaning technique only. You can't use this for the purpose of removing significant iron and other formations that have formed on the interior of your pipe. You can see in the image below a photo of the slide the speaker showed to demonstrate the type of material removed throughout the process.

What is Expected Coating Life for a Water Tank – the presenter showed many case studies and photos from inspections to explain their findings. He said their inspections are showing that the coatings are lasting much longer than the expected life.

Illinois Stormwater Group Recommendations – Regular readers of this blog may remember we reported on the work of this group several months ago and urged people to send in comments regarding the group's proposed draft (Why is the Illinois Department of Agriculture Determining Stormwater Rules for Cities? and Illinois Considers New Stormwater Regulations). The speaker mentioned they received hundreds of responses and are now revising the recommendations to reflect this input.

Antenna Contracts: What you Need to Know Before you Sign – if you always wondered what you might be missing in reviewing antenna contracts, this is the session you want to check out. Keith Dixon, an attorney with Dixon Engineering, brought up many issues to consider such as ownership, safety, damages, and security. This was a follow up session to the one before: Antennas & Water Towers: Why or Why Not? While I wasn't able to live blog that one, I did manage to snap this photo showing a huge truss that was installed on a tower for antennas:

The other two sessions I attended but was not able to live blog were Tips for Ductile Iron Pipe System Design & Installation and "Give me a Break" Uncovering the Truth of Water Main Breaks. When I get a chance I will follow up with a summary of those in a later post. In the meantime, I would urge everyone interested in design of ductile iron water mains to stop by the Ductile Iron Pipe Research Association booth in the exhibit hall. They have many design guides and resources you can pick up to help you at work. (They also have an interesting website with many resources and some great graphics.)

Vendors – Products

There were many vendors I was able to visit with. I enjoyed talking with Andrew at the Seiler Instrument booth and learning about their new products. Andrew is a good resource for finding out the state of GIS and CAD technology in the public works industry. If you stop by his booth you can pick up information for products that will help integrate and meet all your mapping and data needs. Here is a photo of the Seiler booth:

I also spoke to T.J. and Brian at Ferguson Waterworks. While I just met Brian, I had known T.J. for some time. He is usually the person I call when I need to know something about watermain fittings or meters. He's also the person who inspired me to write this blog post: Frozen Meters Exposed – Don't Try this at Home. Here's a photo of Brian at their booth:

WATERCON 2013 - Ferguson Waterworks Booth

I was also able to visit with the representative from EJ – the former East Jordan Iron Works company. He mentioned they are in the process of reviewing casting designs so if you have any suggestions make sure to stop by and let him know about them. I shared my pet peeve with castings – in the "old days" the curb frames had a circular plate to fit the catch basins and inlets. Then suddenly one year they changed them to have rectangular bottoms. But they still fit over a circular concrete structure! So this leaves little corners hanging over the structure that you have to seal. Of course, not all contractors are going to seal them so the inspector has to try to stand there and make sure each and every little corner is sealed instead of paying attention to important construction activities like the material and drainage of the curb. Maybe with this revision they can figure out how to address this because failures around castings are one of the major generators of work orders for the streets/sewer departments.

Vendors – Training

If you are looking for training, the Environmental Resources Training Center has materials and training schedules available at their booth in the main exhibit hall. IPSI also has a booth on the second floor in the hall outside of the session rooms. Last year I attended my first year of the three-year program and found it to be an intense, highly energetic experience. What makes it so different is the content focuses on teaching all those non-technical skills we rarely have time to acquire as we are moving up the ranks. Everyone who has ever attended can't say enough about how incredible of an experience IPSI was to them. This year, Dave Lawry and I will also be giving one of the sessions during IPSI that will focus on communication and social media.

Below is a gallery of the photos I have taken while at the conference:

March 19, 2013March 20, 2013

WATERCON 2013 – Day 1

Yesterday was the opening day of WATERCON 2013 in Springfield, Ill. – a four-day event focusing on all things water in Illinois. We were told yesterday at the business meeting that 1,400 people had registered for the conference; this number was 10% over last year's registration. It's not surprising the number is growing – the sponsoring organizations have worked hard to create a dynamic event attended by, based on all the familiar faces yesterday, everyone in the water industry in this state. I didn't have a lot of time to chat between sessions and vendor visits, but I did get a few minutes to talk with people from Stanley Consultants, Engineering Enterprises, Seiler Instrument, the City of Robinson, the City of LaSalle, the City of Ottawa, Carus, RJN, Trotter and Associates. Hopefully I can get to their exhibits and find out more about what they have been working on lately.

Because ISAWWA arranged for @AbbyMPC and I to promote the event online, I was able to live blog most of the sessions I attended yesterday. These and the others that I will live blog over the next couple days can be found at the link below:

WATERCON Live Blog Site

The blogs are archived so you can also view them by clicking on the titles shown on that site or below:

Sludge Thickening in Centrifuges and Gravity Belt Thickeners, a Comparison between MWRDGC Facilities

Formation of a Stormwater Utility in Illinois – Is it in your Future

Developing a Municipal Stormwater Utility Key Elements and Case Study Example

Envision: A Rating System for Sustainable Infrastructure

Digester Foaming Case Studies

Save Time and Money with JULIE's GIS product

Fortunately I was able to still find time to talk with a couple vendors; today I hope to visit even more. Below is a brief summary of the information they shared:

PULSCO, Inc. – Hydropneumatic Surge & Pressure Control

Stopping by and talking with the representative from PULSCO helped me learn why I saw no elevated water towers when I was in England years ago. He said the midwest is the main area in the world where communities rely on elevated water tanks – other areas, like England, use hydropneumatic systems instead of towers to maintain surge and pressure control. He said the hydropneumatic tank in the PULSCO system can also minimize water hammer. PULSCO will work with design engineers to evaluate a hydropneumatic systems for communities. The parameters they need for this are the operating pressure of your system, the desired tank volume, information about your pumping system, and specific requirements of the hydropneumatic tank such as orientation, inlet/outlet connections, paint and lining.

If you stop by their booth, they have a well-written handout explaining how their system responds to water hammer. And they have a handy little wheel to help you quickly figure out delivery times of product or material.

Fer Pal Infrastructure

The other vendor I visited with was Chris Van Wormer who is a business development manager with Fer Pal Infrastructure. The company specializes in watermain rehabilitation using trenchless technology. They use Aquapipe, a cured-in-place liner that seemed very similar to what is used in sewer lining except it is approved for potable water applications. They even handle service connections the same way as a sewer lining project with the use of a robot that drills open each corporation connection after the lining is cured. Van Wormer said the material also has some structural capacity and has been used successfully for the past 12 years in Canada and many states including Minnesota and Michigan. If you visit their booth, you can watch a short video showing the installation process, and you can see samples of the material.