WASTE WATER TREATMENT
PLANT FLOW DIVERSION
EVENTReport-January 29, 2020
Rollins Center, Lewes DE.
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This should never have happened
We are sorry that it did
We are doing all we can to make
sure it never happens again
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This is not the final report
That was the original intent of this meeting, we do not have all the information
As soon as all reports are compiled for the final report, there will be another meeting to present the results.
White Marsh has indicated it may take a few more weeks to complete their report.
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND
WHITE MARSH
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WHAT
HAPPENED
December 19, 2020 at 6:35 PM the
wastewater effluent- sewage was
by-passed and discharged into the
marsh.
December 28, 2020 at 5:30 PM the
bypass pumping was stopped.
January 1, 2020 at 9:45 PM bypass
pumping began
January 1, 2020 at 11:45 PM bypass pumping stopped
Total 3,920,030 gallons
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HOW DOES IT
WORK
Pretreatment- screening
and solids removal
Bioreactor
Microfiltration
Disinfection- U.V.
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Zeeweed Filtration
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 19
3:00 AM- White Marsh Environmental Services (WMES) operator received high level alarm.
3:30 AM- On call operator was on site and needed help from the Plant Operator. The permeate tank was dirty. The back pulse had operated for 90 minutes- over 10 times, which forced contaminants into the membranes.
5:30 AM- Operators notified WMES Supervisor Production Director, Central District Manager and Assistant Production Director
6:00 AM Sussex County was contacted to stop their flow.
8:30 AM- Contacted DNREC NPDES Compliance- Nicole Smith, DNREC Shellfish, Bott and LBPW- D. Gordon. Austin Calaman, BPW ASST G.M. (made point.) The communication was that the plant had issues, and they were confident to get it back online quickly. They would keep us informed
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 19
9:00 AM- Permeate tank cleaned and refilled with clean water. Train #4 back pulsed. Not successful.
11:30 AM- Suez/Zenon contacted for technical support.
1:00 PM- Suez gave the following direction
1. Sodium Hypochlorite soak for 12 hours to clean outside of membranes
2. Citric Acid soak- 12 hours to clean inside of membrane.
3. If #1 & #2 Fail- manual cIean required
If the membranes were heavily “sludged”- #1 & #2 would not work.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 19
3:15 PM- The plant Equalization tank
(400,000 gallons)was full, the
additional EQ tank (150,000 gallons)
was nearing full. Jeff Deats (WMES
Asst Production Director, contacted
Nicole Smith, DNREC NPDES to inform
them that WMES was going to need
to begin bypassing partially treated
wastewater to the marsh. The first
steps of the cleaning process were
under way. The effluent was being
screened, grit removed, and
disinfection with hydrogen peroxide
DNREC requested progress updates
and flow totals from the bypass.
6:35 PM- Bypass pumping began.
Trains #1 and #4 began the chlorine
soak for exterior cleaning.
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Clarifier tank
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Pretreatment- screening and solids removal
Grit Removal
5MM Screen
2MM Screen
Disinfection
Hydrogen Peroxide
Calcium Hypochlorite
DNREC approved
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The average concentration of the bypass was as follows:
Total Nitrogen = 24 mg/lTotal Phosphorus = 3 mg/l
The bypass discharge of 3,920,300 gallons equates to the following:
Total nitrogen = 781 lbs.Total Phosphorus = 98 lbs.
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Fecal Coliform
Fecal Enterococcus
Total Suspended Solids
Total Nitrogen
TKN
Ammonia
Nitrite + Nitrate
Total Phosphorus
BOD
Waiting for DNREC interpretation
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 20
AM.- trains #1 & #4 attempted to
put into operation. Failed. Cartridges for #4 were pulled and
manual cleaning begun.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 21
Manual cleaning of #4 progressed.
7:45 PM- OSHA reportable injury
occurred. WMES employee fell.
The injury area was cordoned off, all
work was immediately stopped until a
full investigation and safety
assessment was performed.
Austin Calaman call to inform of injury
at WWTP
Jeff Deats informed me from the
Beebe Emergency room that the
injury occurred. Filter appear unable
to be restored. The injury was not that bad, a hurt wrist. Job had been
halted. He would keep me informed.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 22
Bypass continued
Samples collected per DNREC
sampling plan. Wetland outfall,
Freemen Hwy Bridge, Drawbridge,
Roosevelt Inlet.
BPW- ordered 1 train (3 cassettes)
from Suez. (All that were available.)
Delivery up to 14 days.
WMES-
Began securing contractor to assist
Could County reverse flow?
Washing of membranes-discussion
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 23
AM.- OSHA. WMES and Ken Bogden (Connor Strong & Buckelew- insurance) for injury and work site review and reporting.
1:30 PM- WMES General Manager and WMES Operations Manager met with D .Preston Lee, P.E., BPW Board President and Austin Calaman BPW Asst. G.M. to receive the first full brief.
WMES staff would resume cleaning existing membranes.
Suez membranes available in Canada
County reverse flow not an option.
Tomorrow morning meeting with 3 subcontractors for assistance.
BPW GM requested AM and PM emails daily for updates sent to himself, Preston Lee and Austin Calaman.
Conference call with Secretary Garvin, WMES, BPW and Mayor Becker
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 24
8:00 AM-10:00 AM.- WMES
management met with Sub-
contractors to secure safety and
maintenance labor. D. Preston Lee,
P.E. on site and in meetings.
Safety Subcontractor performed assessment and provided policy,
procedure and equipment list for
the work to safely be restored.
Other alternative were considered.
WMES staff continued the manual
membrane cleaning
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 25
WMES Staff continued manual
cleaning of train #4 membranes
D. Preston Lee, P.E., Board
President- only day he was not at
the site.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 26
All day- WMES staff and sub
contractor- Breakwater able to pull
two cassettes and continue
cleaning.
Prepared to receive new filter on
the 27th.
Tom Panetta, BPW Board Member
on site daily from the 26th on.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 27
8:00 AM.- 120 new membrane
cartridges arrived. 40 per cassette.
8:00 AM to 5:00 PM- individual
cartridges loaded into Cassettes.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 28
7:00 AM- Removal of all existing
cartridges from cassettes and new
cartridge installation continued.
5:30 PM- Completed installation of
new membranes. Train #2 started
permeating at 5:30 PM.
Bypass pumping shut off.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 29 & 30
Cleaning continued on the
remaining trains.
Filters working to meet demand.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
DEC 31
3 cleaned cassettes were placed
into train #3.
Performed chlorine clean per Suez
suggested direction. Goal of start
up Jan 1, 2020 morning.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
JAN 1
Attempted train #3 start up. Failed
due to overpressure.
Performed citric clean per Suez
suggested direction. Goal of start up Jan 2, 2020 AM.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
JAN 1
Evening. The new membranes in train #2 had a high-pressure alarm. Suez Technical support recommended 30-minute chlorine soak. Failed.
9:45 PM. Bypass pumping begun. DNREC, City contacted. Public informed.
WMES and Suez made operational changes to correct problems.
11:45 PM. Bypass pumping stopped.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
JAN 2
New membranes met all demand.
11:30 AM. Continued to work on old
membrane train. After citric soak- failed.
Equalization tanks were being drawn
down.
Old membrane train chemically
washed again.
Additional old membranes being
mechanically cleaned.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
JAN 3
7:00 AM. Breakwater on site securing grates
WMES on site and walk through with Mayor Becker and D. Preston Lee, BPW.
4:00 PM. Train with cleaned old membranes began to permeate.
Total plant process at 700 gpm.
Second train of membranes are available for purchase, on a boat from Europe. Purchased.
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
JAN 7
Received new filters.
Began installation
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
JAN 8
Continued installation
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WHAT HAPPEN
DETAIL
JAN 9
3 trains working
1000 GPM
Normal operation
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IMMEDIATE
ACTIONS
Turbidity meter was installed in the
plant outfall/permeate tank. This
will provide an added alarm if there
is a failure of the membrane
turbidity meters.
The old controllers for the turbidity
meters were upgraded to the
newest SC200 controller.
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IMMEDIATE
CONSIDERATIONS
Investigation for an additional tank for the permeate water that is used for membrane backwash. Redundancy
Investigation of adding a filter on the RAS line to remove additional solids from the screened influent to lower the solids loading on the membranes.
Upgrade of HMI for the membrane PLC and install the Suez integrated monitoring system. 3 months into project.
Investigation/design of back-up plan to operate facility during a complete membrane failure.
Installation of new membrane filters on the other 2 trains.
Recommendations from final report
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THE PRIMARY
GOALS
Was- Get the plant operational
Now- Focusing on determining what caused the failure
Then- Institute steps to prevent it from ever happening again
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COMPILING
INFORMATION
FOR FINAL
REPORT
BPW’s Internal Review
Suez Report
White Marsh Report
Release Final Report after
all information has been
compiled and evaluated
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IMPORTANCE
OF
COMPLETING
INVESTIGATION
Importance of completing investigation was clear given recent editorial
Rush to judgement.
Pulled two unrelated events together with a 4-year-old document without checking facts.
Come to an incorrect conclusion.
Based on information we have to date, filters had not come to the end of their useful life.
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WE TAKE THE
MATTER
SERIOUSLY
Our goal is to be fair and complete.
We will not rush to judgement
Our final report will be released
ASAP.
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WE ARE
COMMITTED
TO
MAINTAINING
YOUR TRUST
We are proud of past 119 years of
service
Prompt responses
Lowest residential electric rates in
the State of Delaware
One of the lowest water rates
Dedicated BPW staff and Board
Environmental stewardship
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Thank you
Questions• BPW Board
• Mayor and City Council
• Public
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