Montana Fall Water School
| Dates: | December 9-10, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Meets: | Wed. and Thurs. (See Sessions Tab) |
| Location: | Online Webex System |
| Cost: | $100.00 |
Sorry, the signup deadline has passed.
Montana's water and wastewater systems and the communities they support rely on qualified and trained system operators. The Montana Water and Wastewater Operators Initiative (MW2OI) is a collaborative effort to provide the most comprehensive training possible for Montana's operators. MW2OI is a partnership between the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Civil Engineering and Academic Technology and Outreach at Montana State University, and the professional organizations representing Montana's water and wastewater system operators.
MW2OI is offering Fall 2020 Water School to continue the long tradition of operator training at Montana State University. Due to the restrictions and uncertainties caused by COVID-19, this year's Water School will be offered virtually over the course of two days to allow operators around the state to participate in training and meet their obligations in their communities. The theme for this Fall 2020 Water School is "Optimization and Resiliency." Knowledgeable speakers from around the nation will provide operators with important training on ways to improve their systems and share their experiences in improving the operation of Montana's water and wastewater systems.
The virtual sessions on December 9 will focus on water systems and sessions on December 10 will focus on wastewater systems.
Registration fee provides access to sessions on both days and session recordings will be made available where permitted by presenter through December 2020.
Agenda and session descriptions can be found under the Features Tab.
| Fee: | $100.00 |
Call us at (406) 994-6550 to see if you qualify for a discount on this course.
Online Webex System
You will receive a confirmation email with Log-in Instructions.John Alston
John Alston is the Water and Sewer Operations Superintendent for the City of Bozeman, where he supervises 24 operators. John has over 30 years of experience with the Water Department and has led the utility through a period of rapid growth. John is the national director of the Montana Section of AWWA and was a past national AWWA vice president. He is also a member of the AWWA Water Utility Council.Todd Brewer
Todd Brewer is the senior manager for grants, education, and utility programs in Denver, Colorado with the American Water Works Association. Before his current position, he served as the senior manager for partnership programs at AWWA. He oversaw the continuous improvement and optimization programs for drinking water treatment, distribution systems, and wastewater treatment facilities. He continues to manage the partnership programs as part of his new role at AWWA. Todd also served for 8+ years as the manager for water quality and optimization for city utilities for Springfield, Missouri. Before his tenure at Springfield city utilities, he served as the water quality lab manager and treatment supervisor for the City of Oklahoma City for several years. Overall, he has more than 22 years of experience in the drinking water utility field and has held licenses as a water operator in Oklahoma and Missouri. Todd is a licensed Professional Engineer in Oklahoma and holds a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno. He has taught college-level chemistry and engineering courses for the last 22+ years and has served as an instructor for several operator certification classes and AWWA workshops.Steve Harris
Steve Harris is the President and Owner of H&S Environmental, Mesa, AZ. where he works with wastewater operators to identify and troubleshoot wastewater lagoon problems, optimize lagoon performance and optimize sludge removal and digestion. Steve provides operator training for multiple states, tribal groups and industries. He has compiled his extensive operational experience and problem-solving techniques into "Wastewater Lagoon Troubleshooting, an Operator's Guide to Solving Problems and Optimizing Wastewater Lagoon Systems. (Available through USA BlueBook). Steve is a frequent contributor of articles to wastewater trade publications including Industrial Water World, Environmental Science and Engineering, Water and Wastewater Products, and Water Engineering Management.
Kevin Morley
Kevin Morley is the Manager of Federal Relations for the American Water Works Association (AWWA). He works closely with multiple organizations to advance the security and preparedness of the water sector. This includes supporting the development of several ANSI/AWWA standards that represent minimum best practice for water sector risk and resilience management, including cybersecurity guidance. He is a leading expert on §2013 of America's Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) of 2018 and multiple resources that enable water system to advance their security and preparedness to all-hazards. Dr. Morley has been appointed to the President's National Infrastructure Advisory Council. Dr. Morley received his PhD from George Mason University for research on water sector resilience and developing the Utility Resilience Index (URI). He holds a MS from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and a BA from Syracuse University.
Nick Pizzi
Nick Pizzi has been working in the drinking water field for 48 years and is currently a trainer with AWWA. He started his career as a chemist with the Ohio American Water Company in 1973 and became a plant superintendent at Lake County Utilities in 1984. After working his way up to Director of Water Supply, he left for the Cleveland Division of Water to take charge of the 4 WTPs that had a combined capacity of 540 mgd and served 1.4 million people.Nick has spent time as Chair of the Partnership for Safe Water PEAC and has served AWWA at the national level as a member of the Technical and Educational Council, the Standards Council, and the Distribution and Plant Operator's Division. He has published and/or edited 7 books for AWWA all aimed at helping WTP operators with their duties. Nick also spent time as vice-president of EE&T, a national engineering firm where he received training from the USEPA Core optimization team. Recently, Nick was hired to train the operators in Flint, MI after their lead disaster. He is a Fuller Awardee, an Operator Meritorious Awardee, and has been given the OPFLOW Best Paper Award. He has a bachelor's degree in Chemistry and holds an Ohio EPA Class IV Water Supply license.
Grant Weaver
Grant Weaver is a licensed wastewater operator and professional engineer. For the last 22 years, Grant has taught wastewater nutrient optimization classes for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and applied his expertise to treatment facilities across the state.Craig Woolard
Craig Woolard is a professor and head of the Department of Civil Engineering at Montana State University and the Montana Water and Wastewater Operators Initiative director. Before returning to MSU, Craig served as the director of public works for the City of Bozeman. Craig has served as the treatment operations director and then general manager of the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility in Anchorage, Alaska. Craig has been active in professional associations throughout his career and served as the national president for the American Water Works Association in 2008. Craig grew up in Kalispell, Montana, and earned a bachelor's in civil engineering from Montana State University and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He is a registered professional engineer in Alaska and Montana.| Date | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/09/2020 | Wednesday | 8 AM to 1:30 PM | Online Webex System |
| 12/10/2020 | Thursday | 9:45 AM to 3 PM | Online Webex System |
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
8:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Water Treatment and Distribution
8:00 - 8:15 a.m.
Craig Woolard, Department Head, Department of Civil Engineering, Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering, Montana State University
Welcome and Introduction to the Montana Water and Wastewater Operators Initiative (MW2OI)
8:15 - 9:30 a.m.
Kevin Morley, Manager for Federal Operations, American Water Works Association
Water and Wastewater System Resiliency: Key Concepts for Uncertain Times
America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA) requires community water systems serving 3,300 or more persons to conduct a risk and resilience assessment and develop an emergency response plan that must be actively updated every five years. A profile of the resources developed specifically to assist small and medium system will be the centerpiece of this session. Under AWIA a utility must assess malevolent threats, including cybersecurity, and natural hazards that could impact the continuity of operations. AWWA has developed multiple standards, manuals and tools to help drinking water and wastewater systems build a sound risk and resilience management strategy. Learn about key actions taken by water systems in the first round of AWIA compliance and effective adaptions implemented to address stresses imposed on utility operations due to COVID-19.
0.125 DUAL Water and Wastewater CEC's
Todd Brewer, Senior Manager for Partnership Programs, American Water Works Association
Water Treatment Plant Optimization: Demonstrating Performance
The Partnership Programs are continuous improvement and optimization programs that have helped hundreds of utilities in their mission to protect public health. Partnership for Safe Water (PSW) utilities serve more than 100 million customers in the United States alone. Currently, there are two PSW programs - one focused on treatment plant optimization and one focused on distribution systems operations. Administered and managed by AWWA, the program is a collaboration of six leading water sector organizations, including the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The PSW self-assessment and optimization tools provide effective resources for utilities to evaluate areas of strength and areas for improvement in their current operations and management. Optimization parameters for the treatment program include turbidity as the key water quality metric for surface water plants, while additional resources have been added to assist groundwater systems based on the contaminant of concern for those systems. Distribution system key metrics include disinfectant residual, main break frequency, and pressure management. The program's foundation consists of completion of a comprehensive self-assessment of treatment plant or distribution system operations, identifying factors that may limit optimized performance, and developing an action plan to enable the utility to work towards optimization. Utilities that complete the self-assessment process are recognized publicly for their optimization efforts. The PSW's annual reporting processes encourages ongoing accountability for maintaining a high level of performance and continuous focus on optimization.
0.125 Drinking Water CEC's
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Nick Pizzi, Trainer, American Water Works Association Training
Chemical Metering Systems in Water Treatment and Distribution
Attendees will be given a brief review of unit process control and the multiple barrier approach to operations, and then be shown a layout of a hypothetical WTP pre-treatment system. Raw water analysis will be given, and the process for choosing the approach for choosing the dose rates for alum and hypochlorite will be covered.
We will then get into the heart of the lecture by showing the step-by-step process for calculating the amounts of the two chemicals going from pounds per day to mLs/minute. We will show how the operator needs to set the feed equipment to accomplish this, and how the operator must periodically check the feeders to see if they are accomplishing what they are supposed to, both from a desired feed rate and desired effect. The attendees will then be shown what to do when those accomplishments are not met for various reasons. Two regulations: IESWTR ad D/DBPR will be covered.
The overall thrust of the presentation is for operators to develop standard operational procedures for chemical dosing in order to optimize treatment.
0.125 Drinking Water CEC's
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
John Alston, Superintendent, Water and Sewer Division, City of Bozeman
Lessons Learned from Bozeman's Water System Expansion
Attendees will be given a review of growth in Bozeman the last 20 years. The growth in our city and soaring home prices has meant the operations department hasn't been fully staffed in years. The staff shortage has meant the department had to make changes in what programs they do. This class will discuss how the department made operational changes and lessons learned.
0.125 Drinking Water CEC's
Thursday, December 10, 2020
9:45 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Wastewater Treatment
9:45 - 10:00 a.m.
Craig Woolard, Department Head, Department of Civil Engineering, Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering, Montana State University
Welcome and Introduction to the Montana Water and Wastewater Operators Initiative (MW2OI)
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Steve Harris, President, H&S Environmental, LLC.
Optimization of Wastewater Lagoon Systems
Steve Harris will introduce operators to a detailed protocol for optimizing and troubleshooting wastewater lagoon BOD problems. He will show operators how to properly sample a wastewater lagoon system to diagnose where, when, and why BOD problems occur. The course objective is to help operators understand the different types of diagnostic BODs and show operators algae's effect on the BOD5 test. We will also discuss nitrification's impact on the BOD5 test and the additional BOD5demand placed on the lagoon by the sludge blanket feeding nutrients back to the water column. Three (3) case studies will be presented from actual communities solving BOD5 issues to illustrate the diagnostic principals behind BOD5 troubleshooting.
0.2 Wastewater CEC's
1:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Kevin Morley, Manager for Federal Operations, American Water Works Association
Water and Wastewater System Resiliency: Key Concepts for Uncertain Times
America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA) requires community water systems serving 3,300 or more persons to conduct a risk and resilience assessment and develop an emergency response plan that must be actively updated every five years. A profile of the resources developed specifically to assist small and medium system will be the centerpiece of this session. Under AWIA a utility must assess malevolent threats, including cybersecurity, and natural hazards that could impact the continuity of operations. AWWA has developed multiple standards, manuals and tools to help drinking water and wastewater systems build a sound risk and resilience management strategy. Learn about key actions taken by water systems in the first round of AWIA compliance and effective adaptions implemented to address stresses imposed on utility operations due to COVID-19.
0.125 DUAL Water and Wastewater CEC's
1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Grant Weaver, President, CleanWaterOps
Montana's Experience with Wastewater Treatment Nutrient Removal
Beginning in 2012, Montana DEQ has provided operators with free nutrient removal training and free in-plant technical support. At little to no cost to the state's municipalities, Montana's mechanical treatment plants are now discharging one-third less nitrogen and one-third less phosphorus.
Grant Weaver will share the results of this hugely successful program. And, talk about how Montana is serving as a national model.
0.15 Wastewater CEC's
Please see agenda in Features tab for number of CEC's from DEQ