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Author: Bob Frank, Water/Wastewater Director

Water Lines

The Water Distribution Crew continues to retire redundant water mains within the distribution system.  The most recent main retired was 400’ of 6” cast iron water main on Beverly Ave.  This particular main only fed one fire hydrant which was inaccessible to the Fire Department.  Removing the hydrant did not effect fire protection in the area.

Retiring these types of outdated water mains improves water quality by eliminating dead ends and removing the potential for stagnant water in the distribution system.  To date, the Distribution Crew has retired 4365’ of redundant and dead end water mains in 2009.

Other tasks completed by the Water Lines Crew in August include:

• Repairing a 12” water main leak at 624 High School St. This repair required water to be shut down and a boil order issued to 11 homes.
• Repairing/rebuilding a 10” valve that was leaking at Lebanon Rd. and Branch St. This repair required water to be shut down and a boil order issued to 17 homes.
• Repairing a 4” water main break at Prospect and Vine. Only 1 home was affected by the repair.
• Replacing a fire hydrant at Johnson Hill Rd and Alpha Dr.
• Replacing a fire hydrant at Horse Shoe Lake Rd.
• Replacing 8 water services.
• Retiring 3 water services.

Water Plant

The beginning of August has kept Staff on its toes. Wells #7 and #11 have been cleaned and now production is back to more than 1000 gallons per minute for each well. The Water Plant is producing an average daily flow of 3 million gallons.

Cleaning of the lime sludge lagoons have been completed resulting in 2 ½ lagoons being emptied and ready for use.

Repairs were made to a large conduit on the side of the Plant that was recently broken by a transport truck. The Water Plant has continued to experience numerous electrical problems since a lightning strike back in May. Plant Staff feels the main problem has finally been located and repaired. A bad circuit board was found on Sunday, August 16th in the generator transfer switch. The switch, which was not needed until recently, ended up putting the Water Plant in the dark for about 4 hours after recent storms.

Additional repairs made include the Clay St. Water Tower level signal to the Plant. Until repairs were completed, Staff had been going to the Tower to get a reading from inside twice a day to check water levels.

Staff has run numerous special samples on Well #14 to allow it to be added to a sampling waiver like the rest of the wells. This waiver will permit the City to sample less often because the quality of the water is good. In turn, this saves the City sampling fees. Staff is anticipating the waiver to be approved as soon as the Environmental Protection Agency receives the results from the laboratories.

Staff would like to wish everyone a safe and happy completion to their summer.

Wastewater Department

Over the past two weeks, the Wastewater Department has been performing various tasks in addition to their day-to-day activities. They have been cleaning and maintaining lift stations, raising manholes, mowing easements, and flushing and cleaning the main sewer lines.

Expansion of the Wastewater Treatment Plant continues to move forward. The Post Aeration Basin structure has been completed, but is not currently online.

Author: Bob Frank, Water/Wastewater Director

Water Plant News

The Water Plant underwent significant repair completed by the Water Lines Crew. Over the past few years, Well #9 was not producing as well as staff knew it should and suspected a broken valve was the culprit. The Water Lines Crew dug up the suspect valve to replace it only to find the valve in good condition. The Crew dismantled the valve and found the water line itself had a thick layer of iron in it. The Crew chiseled the iron free, cleaning the pipe. Staff is pleased to announce, thanks to the efforts of the Lines Crew, Well #9 now produces the “designed” amount of water which is 900 gallon per minute! Thank you Lines Crew!

Last month’s severe storms had an unfortunate impact on our Water Plant. A lightning strike damaged our emergency generator transfer switch gear, our computer system, our filter control panel and an alarm annunciator.

The switch gear for the generator automatically switches power from the Ameren line to our emergency generator when power is lost. This will now have to be done manually until parts are received and changed.

The filter control panel controls the influent flow to the Plant, the rate at which the water goes through the filtering process, as well as the backwash cleaning of the filters. Operations staff was able to switch this from auto to manual until it could be repaired. The repairs have been completed but the programming has not yet been corrected. All process-critical repairs have been completed and emergency procedures have been implemented until parts are acquired for full repair completion.

 

Staff replaced a valve inside the Water Plant that proved to be a major undertaking.  In order to change the leaking valve, the entire water production operation came to a halt because the water flow to the Plant had to be shut down.  This water is essential to mix chemicals.  Staff was forced to initiate emergency procedures to get the plant up and running.  Fortunately these complications had no effect on the water produced for residents.
 
Dan Clark of the Street Department has partnered with Steve Petroff of Petroff Trucking to begin the annual cleaning of the lime sludge lagoons.  The Water Plant byproduct is being hauled to the Peabody Coal land reclamation project in Coulterville, IL.  This process should take around a month depending on weather.
 
The cleaning of various wells is underway.  Well #7 being completed and production is back to 1000 gallons per minute.  Well #11 cleaning is scheduled to begin the week of July 27th.
 
Wastewater Department Update
 
Over the past 2 weeks, the Wastewater Department has been busy cleaning easements and raising manholes in addition to their everyday responsibilities.
 
Construction continues on the Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion.  The Excess Flow Secondary Vault has been built.  Work has begun on the housing and the vault for the Post Aeration System that adds dissolved oxygen to the effluent before it is discharged to the receiving stream.
 
Water Lines Report
 
 Since the last update, the Water Distribution Crew has retired 200 feet of water main on Johnson Hill Road, replacing one fire hydrant and switching two services which were connected to the old main.  Retiring old mains in areas where newer, larger main exist improves water quality for residents and reduces operating costs.  This year to date, the Water Lines Crew has retired 3,965 feet of old water main.
 
In addition to retiring the old main on Johnson Hill Road, the Water Lines Crew has:

• Installed new water services at 315 N. Hesperia and 205 Westview;
• Replaced twelve water services;
• Repaired a water main break at 816 Kneedler;
• Serviced/rebuilt twelve fire hydrants in need of repairs as reported by the Collinsville Fire Department;
• Installed a new fire hydrant at 699 S. Bluff Rd.;
• Coordinated the purchase and delivery of materials for water main replacement on Vandalia St.;
• Completed recording of GPS coordinates and maintenance information of fire hydrants maintained by the Water Department;
• Color coded approximately 220 fire hydrants identified as low flow (<500 gallons per minute); and
• Replaced 300 feet of 2-inch galvanized water service line on the north end of Frederick Street.

Author: Dennis Kress, Water Lines Foreman

Since the last blog, the Water Distribution Crew has completed the following:

• Retired 1900 feet of water main on Rose Ave, Johann, and Red Rose where newer, larger mains existed in the same section of roadway.  Retiring the water mains required 17 water services to be switched to the newer main.  Retiring these mains reduces future operating cost by eliminating water breaks that were sure to occur on these old, redundant mains.
• Installed 8 new water services on Parkside Commons.
• Replaced fire hydrants at 613 North Combs and 11 Oakleaf.
• Serviced/rebuilt 8 fire hydrants.
• Poured a concrete foundation and pad around the new well at the Collinsville Water Plant.
• Rebuilt a 10” valve and cleaned the supply line from Well # 9 to the water plant.  Prior to cleaning the line, the well was only producing 400 gallons per minute, but after cleaning the line, production increased to 900 gallons per minute.  (Our sincere apologies to our neighbors and citizens who used the Jaycee’s Sports Complex and may have had contact with the mess caused by cleaning the well line.  Creating the mess was unfortunately unavoidable.)  Since the cleanup has been completed, everything is back to normal.
• Rerouted 200 feet of 3” process water pipe for the Wastewater Plant for their expansion project.
• Repaired a 12” water main break at 505 High School St. on June 7th.  The leak was reported to the Water Department by the Collinsville Police Department (along with this photograph taken by Officer Kyrouac).  The Water Crew was able to isolate the leak, make the repairs, and restore water service in 4 hours. It was estimated that the water was spraying 100 feet into the air.

The construction contract for the expansion of the Wastewater Plant has been awarded, and construction trailers have moved in.  This marks the beginning of Phase III of the Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion.

In the last two weeks, the Sewer Lines Crew has been busy cleaning and vacuuming lines in our identified problem areas.

While conducting routine television camera inspections of the City’s sewer lines, a bad spot in a line was found under Spring Street.  This particular section poses a unique challenge due to its placement.  The Department is currently attempting to determine the best course of action.

Author:  Bob Frank, Water/Wastewater Director

Water Plant Staff would like to announce that the replacement for Well #13 is finally online and producing at a flow rate of 1.2 million gallons per day!  This is greater than we had anticipated.  The bacteria analysis was completed on the new well and we received the operation permit.  This new well will allow the City to have another resource to draw from during the hot summer months ahead.

The new Mixed Oxidant (MIOX) System start up was Tuesday, May 19th, and everything went according to our expectations.  The Treatment Plant now has full redundancy in the disinfection of finished water.  This will also allow Staff to perform needed maintenance on the old units.

Water Plant Staff are reporting that we are averaging production of about 2.9 million gallons of water per day, but are expecting that to increase with the onset of the warm weather and City residents filling swimming pools.

Once again, in cooperation with the Environmental Resource Training Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, the Water Plant is hosting an intern.  This program allows the student to receive training in the field of their choice.  We would all like to welcome Intern John Smiley to the Water Plant!  He will be performing the same duties as our operators as he learns exactly how the Water Plant functions and what Operators go through on a daily basis.  We anticipate John will be with us for 5 weeks.

Author:  Bob Frank, Water/Sewer Director

The Water Maintenance Crew has made the final electrical and piping connections to the new Well #14 and the well is currently flowing for the necessary testing before being put online to the plant.  Once testing is completed, the Maintenance Crew will pour a concrete pad around the wellhead and have the security fence installed.

The Water Maintenance Crew started making permanent repairs to paved roads that were dug up over the winter months.  All repairs should be done by the end of April.  Please use caution when traveling through the work zones.

In addition, in the past two weeks, the Maintenance Crew has repaired a water main break on Emilie, installed two new services, and replaced three existing water services.

Author:  Bob Frank, Water/Sewer Director

The Water Plant has been busy with the flow testing of the wells, the installation of the new well, and the installation of the Miox (mixed oxidant) unit.

To date, the flow testing is complete and Staff is going over the reports to see how each well is performing and if any cleaning is needed.  The “new” well, that replaces well #13 is installed and flowing to waste to allow Staff to perform bacteria sampling.  As soon as we get two bacteria free samples in 24 hours, we can get the operating permit and begin using it.

The Mixed Oxidant system is going in with minimal concerns.  The unit arrived on the promised date, most of the plumbing is in, and the electrical work is finished.  Small jobs are still being done to finish the project.

Author:  Bob Frank, Water/Sewer Director

Recently the Water Department Maintenance crew has been busy repairing concrete roads, sidewalks, and curbs from this past winter’s water main breaks. 

Asphalt work has been delayed due to scheduling of the necessary equipment and lack of availability of asphalt due to weather; however, the work will start very soon.  Please use caution when traveling through these work zones.

The maintenance crew has also been busy replacing six water services since April 1st. Other tasks completed since the last Blog has been installation of a new fire hydrant on South Bluff Road, the replacement of the fire hydrant at 11 Oak Leaf Circle, and installation of electrical service to the new well being constructed for the water plant.

Designs for water main replacement for this year are being engineered and permits from the IEPA are being obtained.  Water mains scheduled to be replaced are as follows:
• Madison Avenue from Center Street east to alley, scheduled to start the week of April 13th.
• Alamo Drive currently waiting for construction permit from IEPA, scheduled for beginning of May.
• Par Drive currently waiting for construction permit from IEPA, scheduled to begin at the completion of Alamo Drive.
• Jeri-Lynn currently waiting for construction permit from IEPA, scheduled to begin at the completion of Par Drive.
• Vandalia Street from Gaylord north to E. Country Lane, currently being designed – scheduled to start at the completion of Par Drive, pending permits form IEPA and IDOT.

 The replacement of the above water mains is in line with the goals of the Strategic Plan adopted by the City Council.  All projects will be constructed by City employees, saving money, and meeting the goal of being a financially sustainable city providing superior service.  Increased fire protection meets the goal of safest City in the region, and upgrading the water distribution system is in line with the goal of providing top quality infrastructure and facilities.

Author:  Bob Frank, Water/Sewer Director

The Water Plant has been averaging 2.9-million gallons of water produced per day.

The Water Plant would like to acknowledge Water Plant Operator, Tim Pickel, for his idea of moving a piece of equipment to make better use of an area in the water plant basement.

The idea involved moving a large air compressor to allow a better place for the installation of the new Miox (mixed oxidant) unit going in this month.  Operator Tim Pickel and Maintenance Operator Emil Lienard planned out the move of the industrial air compressor, re-plumbed the air piping, ran new conduit and wiring and moved the compressor.  They were asked to complete this task in 2 days so the construction firm would not be delayed in pouring footings for the miox unit.  The men completed the task as requested on time and without incident.

Korte / Luitjohn has been working on installing a new Miox, mixed oxidant system.  This new unit has been in the works for quite some time and it is finally coming to fruition. This will give the plant another resource for disinfecting the water while also serving as a backup unit for our existing unit. With the new unit in place, the City will be able to satisfy the Environmental Protection Agencies guidelines for years to come.

Layne Christensen Inc. flow tested wells 8,9,11 and 12 and we are awaiting the report on their findings. This will let the City know which wells, if any, need to be cleaned at this time.

Author:  Bob Frank, Water/Sewer Director

The Water Plant has been averaging 2.9-million gallons of water produced per day.

The drilling of the new well has proven to be a better yielding well than anticipated.  The test pumping showed it will pump 1,125-gallons per minute and will enhance the plants capabilities of producing water.  The completion date of this well is yet to be determined.  There are still quite a few steps to go before it will be usable.

The City will be having the wells flow tested in the next two weeks in preparation of the summer demand.  This is done on a yearly basis to let us know the condition of the well system and if any wells are in need of cleaning.  This will not hinder the production of water or cause any problems for the consumers.
 
Bids were opened for the third phase of the Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion on March13.  Korte & Luitjohn was the lowest bid at 7-million dollars.  Staff is anticipating on making a recommendation at the April 13 Council meeting.
 
Water and Wastewater crews have been working mostly on cleaning up areas that were disturbed by water and wastewater main breaks this past winter.  Crews have also been performing maintenance on equipment in preparation of the upcoming construction season.

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