2011_Final_BMPP_web
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The Orange County Sanitation District pioneered a new biosolids management system in 1997 that led to them becoming the first agency certified by the National Biosolids Partnership in 2003. They work to collect, treat wastewater, and recycle approximately 250,000 tons of biosolids per year for the 2.6 million residents they serve. They strive to use sustainable biosolids recycling options while protecting public health and the environment.
2011_Final_BMPP_web
- 1. In 1997, the Orange County Sanitation District set out to do something different. We worked with other wastewater treatment plants across the country and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to pioneer a new program— a biosolids management system. Six years later, we became the first agency in the nation certified by the National Biosolids Partnership. Today, over 30 other agencies join us. We are proud of our accomplishment, proud of our team, and proud to say this is just the beginning. Orange County Sanitation District staff and affiliated contractors work hard every day for the 2.6 million residents we serve by collecting and treating wastewater and recycling approximately 250,000 tons of biosolids a year. This is a review of how we work to protect the environment and public health by balancing our fiscal responsibility with our goal of recycling our biosolids using sustainable options. Quality insists onQuality insists on good communicationgood communication Biosolids management Orange County Sanitation District inside and out Quality counts, April 2011Quality counts, inside and out © OCSD 2011 Orange County Sanitation District • 10844 Ellis Avenue, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 • (714) 962-2411 • www.ocsd.com Face-to-face communication remains the best way to hear and be heard; however, the way people relate to each other continues to change. With more than half of all United States adults regularly participating in social networking, this new method of communication increases our interaction with the public in positive ways and enables more people to participate in the conversation. It is a very powerful way for government agencies to connect with citizens. We welcome the change and participate in social networking using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. These social network sites allow us to disseminate information in a transparent and rapid fashion to a much broader segment of the public than we could have imagined five years ago. Our biosolids policy OCSD strives to recycle its biosolids using sustainable options while protecting public health and the environment. Certified Biosolids Program Since 2003 More OCSD biosolids information, including our annual compliance reports, audits, and factsheets are available on www.ocsd.com. Sign up for e-mail updates of the latest biosolids news under E-Notify. Follow OCSD on @ OCSanitationDistrict @ OCSD_PIO on Channel 2OCSD
- 2. Quality Team Quality counts, inside and out quality of solids, save time and transportation costs, and increase maintenance safety. Truck driver Gilberto Bernabe passed three consecutive OCSD inspections over two years making the District's honor roll. Gilberto is a model driver who follows safety protocols. He makes certain his truck is clean, well maintained, and on time. The drivers are a key part of the biosolids program. We are leading the industry by setting high standards for our contracted biosolids haulers. Senior Environmental Specialist Leyla Perez is our biosolids inspector. She inspects and trains the truck drivers on our requirements and serves as the liaison between the operators and contractors. She audits the preventive maintenance programs required for all contractors and Quality counts on commitment and oversight performs inspections to ensure contractors Recently, Shaen was struggling to make ends meet with an operational slump in solids production. We worked closely with him to set a fair minimum biosolids tonnage that would keep his operation viable. Working out a solution with Shaen was good for our bottom-line too. We maintained a low-cost, high quality, and reliable contractor, saving about $300,000 in the process. Building strong relationships is a vital part of our biosolids program. We firmly believe that we must consider input from our neighbors, regulators, contractors, field personnel, and any other interested parties and communicate openly and honestly. Michael Wardell is a KEMA Registered Quality certification environmental auditor. KEMA Registered Quality has a worldwide reputation and more than 80 years of experience with Quality mandates validation independent approval testing and the award of certificates. He spends three to five days annually at our treatment plants and at our contractor sites interviewing, checking, and verifying all the various aspects involved in our biosolids program. His goal is to determine that our program conforms to all the expectations and requirements of the National Biosolids Partnership. Michael verifies we are doing what we said we would do, when we said we would do it and how we said we would do it. We are extremely proud of the rigorous work we’ve put into our program over the last decade and a half. Close oversight of our contractors paid off and set us apart from other organizations. meet these standards. Leyla conducts periodic safety checks and one-on-one training of drivers in both English and Spanish to help ensure our biosolids safely reach their final destination. We insist that our contractors minimize the odor and reduce the impacts on neighbors near our sites. It is critical that our contractors hold our same values. Leyla is our eyes, ears, and nose on the ground to help prevent and resolve problems. Shaen Magan is another critical part of our team. He owns Tule Ranch, a biosolids management company that farms with our biosolids in Arizona. Shaen has always been extremely reliable, flexible and accommodating during OCSD’s peaks and lows in biosolids production and through wet weather events. Quality requires strong relationships Mike Zedek OCSD source control engineer Jeff “Woody” Woodward OCSD senior plant operator Gilberto Bernabe biosolids truckdriver Leyla Perez OCSD senior environmental specialist Shaen Magan Tule Ranch owner Michael Wardell KEMA environmental auditor Quality thrives with passion and commitment We believe that the services we provide must exceed the public’s expectation to ensure quality. Wastewater treatment is an industry that usually flies under the public’s radar until something goes wrong. That means it is even more necessary to do it right even if it seems no one is looking. We built flexibility into our long-range biosolids management plan. We applied the same practices that good investors use to minimize risk through their diverse portfolios. To ensure good diversity in our end-use portfolio, we strive to employ at least three Quality calls for a flexible plan Quality begins with our team – the men and women who strive for perfection in all areas of our operation. We require the highest passion and commitment to excellence from each critical link in our biosolids quality control process, from our talented operators, licensed laboratory scientists, trained drivers, and dedicated inspectors to our contractors in California and Arizona. We keep a close eye on our biosolids, inside our treatment plants and outside on the streets and highways. We care about how contractors transport and use our materials from our plants to their facilities and fields. We take great care beginning to end. Meet our technologies (synthetic coal production technology, aerated static pile and windrow composting, and farmland application); three markets (synthetic coal, compost in Central Valley, compost in Arizona, and farming with biosolids in Arizona); and three contractors (EnerTech, Synagro, and Tule Ranch). We also have four biosolids management sites (San Bernardino and Kern counties in California, and La Paz and Yuma counties in Arizona). Quality begins at the source The cleaner the water is when it comes to our facilities, the less it costs to treat. Therefore, our quality control starts before the wastewater enters the sewer system. As a result, the water coming into our treatment plants meets drinking water standards for heavy metals. Our source control engineers and inspectors issue and enforce industrial discharge permits by routinely inspecting businesses and sampling industrial discharges. All of our permit holders must frequently submit certified laboratory data to us to prove they meet our stringent requirements. Mike Zedek, a 21-year District employee and source control engineer, explains why we utilize the latest geographic information system technologies for sewer flow, demographics and sampling data to track down violators. Quality demands the right skills Our highly trained operators oversee the treatment plants and are a critical link in our quality control process. Jeff “Woody” Woodward, a 20-year District employee and senior plant operator, is always amazed by the amount of work that gets done on a daily basis. “There is so much to do from planning scheduled maintenance, coordinating isolations and construction projects, to running digesters in manual mode for research projects,” smiles Woody. Operating equipment, keeping the biosolids trucks loading safely, providing input to facility design teams, and imparting knowledge to the next generation of operators are all essential elements of his daily job. Woody is currently experimenting with a new polymer feed system that could improve the We can target problem areas, and then work with industry to eliminate discharge violations and provide complete training courses for industrial pretreatment operators. I have a great team, including maintenance and instrumentation. They give me the flexibility I need, and I try hard to accommodate their preventive maintenance schedules. We have a shared goal—keep the equipment running well. The Sanitation District is much more involved in my day-to-day operations than any of my other customers. They check in to see how things are going. When I need something, they are very responsive. They have helped improve how I do business. The Orange County Sanitation District’s biosolids contractor oversight program is the best I have seen nationwide. We demand that our contractors strive to be good neighbors and build relationships with the local community. They recognize my hard work and how serious I take my job. I appreciate them caring about us guys out hauling the biosolids from here to there every day. My job is important.
- 3. In 1997, the Orange County Sanitation District set out to do something different. We worked with other wastewater treatment plants across the country and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to pioneer a new program— a biosolids management system. Six years later, we became the first agency in the nation certified by the National Biosolids Partnership. Today, over 30 other agencies join us. We are proud of our accomplishment, proud of our team, and proud to say this is just the beginning. Orange County Sanitation District staff and affiliated contractors work hard every day for the 2.6 million residents we serve by collecting and treating wastewater and recycling approximately 250,000 tons of biosolids a year. This is a review of how we work to protect the environment and public health by balancing our fiscal responsibility with our goal of recycling our biosolids using sustainable options. Quality insists onQuality insists on good communicationgood communication Biosolids management Orange County Sanitation District inside and out Quality counts, April 2011Quality counts, inside and out © OCSD 2011 Orange County Sanitation District • 10844 Ellis Avenue, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 • (714) 962-2411 • www.ocsd.com Face-to-face communication remains the best way to hear and be heard; however, the way people relate to each other continues to change. With more than half of all United States adults regularly participating in social networking, this new method of communication increases our interaction with the public in positive ways and enables more people to participate in the conversation. It is a very powerful way for government agencies to connect with citizens. We welcome the change and participate in social networking using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. These social network sites allow us to disseminate information in a transparent and rapid fashion to a much broader segment of the public than we could have imagined five years ago. Our biosolids policy OCSD strives to recycle its biosolids using sustainable options while protecting public health and the environment. Certified Biosolids Program Since 2003 More OCSD biosolids information, including our annual compliance reports, audits, and factsheets are available on www.ocsd.com. Sign up for e-mail updates of the latest biosolids news under E-Notify. Follow OCSD on @ OCSanitationDistrict @ OCSD_PIO on Channel 2OCSD
- 4. Where does it all go? Diversity in products, markets, locations, and contractors is key to OCSD’s biosolids sustainability formula. As a precaution, we maintain fail-safe back-up options equal to 14 times (1400%) our daily production. The ups and downs of cleaner water p e r f o r m a n c e r e p o r t 2011 April 2012 Biosolids Management Program 1 of 2 Farmland Application 29% Compost 38% 33% Synthetic Coal Exceeding our goals Our goal this past year was to recycle 95% of our biosolids; we recycled 100%. In November, our Board revised that goal to 88% to allow us more flexibility during peak solids production (through 2017). This year, we plan to test landfill options by sending one load (up to 4 max) a day to a local Orange County landfill. Lower costs translate to more savings This year, we came in under budget by 3%. We saved approximately $870,000 thanks to a negotiated price reduction with our existing EnerTech contract. The reduction occurred because EnerTech did not meet required benchmarks during their commissioning process. Operational changes and new construction will produce cleaner water and change the amount of biosolids we produce each day. 26% diverted to farm land application 2011 2013 2017 h h h h Biosolids Recycled: 268,000 tons 735 tons per day 29 truckloads per day Annual Costs: $17.8 million (fiscal year 2010-11) $67.80 per wet ton (average) Peak solids production adds 1,000 more trucks on the road per year. More details in Annual Compliance Report on ocsewers.com/503 or ocsewers.com/biosolids
- 5. *Based on an informal review of OCSD biosolids production and recycling calculated (using published BEAM model PN 1432 Canadian Council of Ministry and Environment). Recycling our biosolids (putting carbon back into soil, so plants can grow) equals taking almost 2000 cars off the road or over 1 million gallons of gas per year!* OCSD Graduates Drivers to Honor Roll A select group of 13 drivers (11% of active drivers) graduated to OCSD’s new “honor roll.” These drivers sucessfully passed at least three OCSD hauler inspections. “The haulers are the face of our program. We see them every day on our local streets and highways. We ensure public safety by verifying the drivers and trucks are knowledgeable and prepared,” explains biosolids truck inspector Leyla Perez. She performs at least 20 inspections per quarter. The national average for motor vehicle accidents is 1 in 100. Our average is 1 in 5000. 8,600 unique visits/mo., ocsd.com 165 “Like” us on Facebook 619 Twitter Followers, 400 Tweets 19 Biosolids Articles (web) 23 Biosolids Inquiries 1 Public Opinion Survey - Responses: 34 5 Stakeholder Newsletters 430 Subscribers Avg. % Open: 27% (industry avg. 25%) Avg. % Click: 25% (industry avg. 15%) Responses: 17 Building new and better relationships 21 OCSD Contractor Facilities Inspections Resulted in 20 findings which were all resolved by contractors. Certified Compliance makes Quality Product! Metals average 90% under regulatory limits. 404 different constituents monitored. Digester holding time is 15 days at 95° F to remove pathogens. Biosolids Contractor Facilities Oversight Looking forward Contracts: In February 2012, OCSD issued a request for proposal for land application and landfill to replace an existing contract that will expire in December 2012. 2 of 2 Building a better way State plant of the year In April 2011, we received the prestigious 2010 California Water Environment Association (CWEA) “Plant of the Year” award for our Fountain Valley Reclamation Plant No. 1. The award recognizes our facility for permit compliance, innovative practices, cost effectiveness, and superior plant operations. The new headwork’s facility at Plant 2 is improving trash removal by 50%. Resulting in cost savings and better quality biosolids. Supported our highest and lowest ranked biosolids priorities. Complaints Regulatory Violations South Kern Composting 13 2 Arizona Soils Composting 14 0 Tule Ranch Arizona 0 0 EnerTech (including farm) 0 0 Not all complaints can be verified as facility-related.