WASTE WATER TREATMENT

PLANT FLOW DIVERSION

EVENTReport-January 29, 2020

Rollins Center, Lewes DE.

Appendix D

1

This should never have happened

We are sorry that it did

We are doing all we can to make

sure it never happens again

Appendix D

2

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.

Appendix D

3

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

4

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

5

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

6

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

7

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

8

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

9

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

10

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

11

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

12

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

13

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

14

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

15

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

16

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BPW AND

WHITE MARSH

Appendix D

17

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

Appendix D

18

HOW DOES IT

WORK

Pretreatment- screening

and solids removal

Bioreactor

Microfiltration

Disinfection- U.V.

Appendix D

19

Appendix D

20

Appendix D

21

Appendix D

22

Appendix D

23

Appendix D

24

Appendix D

25

Appendix D

26

Appendix D

27

Appendix D

28

Zeeweed Filtration

Appendix D

29

Appendix D

30

Appendix D

31

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

Appendix D

32

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.

Appendix D

33

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.

Appendix D

34

Clarifier tank

Appendix D

35

Pretreatment- screening and solids removal

Grit Removal

5MM Screen

2MM Screen

Disinfection

Hydrogen Peroxide

Calcium Hypochlorite

DNREC approved

Appendix D

36

Appendix D

37

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.

Appendix D

38

Fecal Coliform

Fecal Enterococcus

Total Suspended Solids

Total Nitrogen

TKN

Ammonia

Nitrite + Nitrate

Total Phosphorus

BOD

Waiting for DNREC interpretation

Appendix D

39

WHAT HAPPEN

DETAIL

DEC 20

AM.- trains #1 & #4 attempted to

put into operation. Failed. Cartridges for #4 were pulled and

manual cleaning begun.

Appendix D

40

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.

Appendix D

41

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

Appendix D

42

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

Appendix D

43

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

Appendix D

44

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.

Appendix D

45

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.

Appendix D

46

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.

Appendix D

47

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.

Appendix D

48

WHAT HAPPEN

DETAIL

DEC 29 & 30

Cleaning continued on the

remaining trains.

Filters working to meet demand.

Appendix D

49

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.

Appendix D

50

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.

Appendix D

51

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.

Appendix D

52

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.

Appendix D

53

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.

Appendix D

54

WHAT HAPPEN

DETAIL

JAN 7

Received new filters.

Began installation

Appendix D

55

WHAT HAPPEN

DETAIL

JAN 8

Continued installation

Appendix D

56

WHAT HAPPEN

DETAIL

JAN 9

3 trains working

1000 GPM

Normal operation

Appendix D

57

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.

Appendix D

58

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

Appendix D

59

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

Appendix D

60

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

Appendix D

61

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.

Appendix D

62

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.

Appendix D

63

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

Appendix D

64

Thank you

Questions• BPW Board

• Mayor and City Council

• Public

Appendix D

65

Appendix D

66