water quality and system

Page 257

Contractors

Water system contractors include a broad range of peoplehow-ever, the three most important are mentioned here.

The owner of the contracting company owns the shops, equipment, materials and tools. He decides which jobs the company will bid and usually has the final say in what the bid is. He is well rewarded for his effort and is usually an entrepreneur. Training can have been obtained through university or trade study or it can be the result of years of experience. As an owner, he is the manager of one or more of the company job elements.

The superintendent is usually hired by the owner to run a job at a facility. Sometimes, the owner is the superintendent and rare is the company where the owner has never been a superintendent on one or more jobs. The superintendent manages the individual fore-men on the job and manages resources at the jobsite. The superintendent will handle construction planning of his company's portion of the work and will coordinate material deliveries, storage, billing, materials and tool control. The superintendent is responsible for jobsite safety, cost and damage control.

The foreman manages one element of the job or one crew. The foreman is usually one of the more experienced of the craft who functions as a leader of the crew. Depending upon the size of the task, the foreman can supervise from one to 10 crewmen and a few elements of equipment. The facility inspector will inspect work at the foreman level.

Plant Operators

Water supply and wastewater treatment plant operators have similar training backgrounds and education. Most have two years of college education beyond high school and senior operators will have a four-year degree. For utility plants, the plant manager will often have an engineering degree but it is not always a requirement. Many plant operators will have a trade background as a plumber or machinist.

Tools used are similar to plumbers' tools. In addition, a large utility plant sometimes uses the skills of an employee with an electronics background to service and troubleshoot the instruments used to control the plant's equipment. As electrical operating components become more sophisticated, there may be a need for a computer programmer familiar with instrumentation and automatic controls.

Page 258

Equipment Vendors

With the rapid changing of the state of water system equipment, it is a good idea to allow the staff some access to vendors. In this way, they have the opportunity to see new products and tools that have the potential to make the work go more smoothly.

Equipment vendors, however, perceive sometimes that a commitment is being made to purchase the equipment and this can pose a difficult problem. For example, if the vendor offers use of a tool and it gets broken during the course of use, who will pay for it? In addition, craft sometimes try out a new tool and become convinced of its usefulness but, when the order comes in to purchase it, the facility manager decides not to buy it because he did not know the craft was using it. This leads to a loss of morale because the staff used the equipment to save money but were not told of the cost of the item. The facility manager, on the other hand, knows how much the item costs but really does not know what it can or will do.

In recent years, equipment vendors have become more service-oriented. They have learned that just making a sale is not as much of a success in business as repeat business and therefore try to concentrate on repeat business as well as the initial sale. By and large, equipment vendors, while familiar with the product, are not as technically trained as engineers. Some have a four-year college degree but others have less schooling.

The facility manager, recognizing what has been said here, should establish a clear policy relative to contact and use of vendor-supplied products. Whatever the policy is, he should make sure all of the facility employees stick to it and make sure the employees notify the vendors of the policy as well.

Safety

One of the roles of the facility manager is to assure worker safety. The law requires that certain requirements for worker safety be met. Worker safety and the Workers Right To Know Law were touched on briefly in connection with Chapter 10 where there was a discussion of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).

Discussed here will be three of the main elements in OSHA 1910 Worker Safety Laws. These three elements are the Workers Right To Know Law (MSDS), personal protective equipment and confined space entry requirements. The three discussed below are typical elements encountered by employees working on water systems.

Page 259

Material Safety Data Sheets

Incorporated in the body of OSHA 1910 is the Workers Right To Know Law. This requirement basically states that the worker has the right to know what chemicals are in the workplace, what the hazards of working with those chemicals are, and what he can do to protect himself from their hazards.

Every chemical manufacturer is required to supply an MSDS with the chemicals. The MSDS indicates what the chemicals are, what the hazards are, and what the workers can do to protect themselves from the chemical. A sample MSDS for chlorine, a common chemical used in water treatment, is included in Chapter 10.

Personal Protective Equipment

The employer, in this case a facility manager, has the obligation to supply the necessary personal protective equipment whether or not it is identified in the MSDS. For employees working with water supply or wastewater systems, personal protective equipment includes face shields, gloves, respirators, boots, hard hats, ear plugs and all types of wet weather gear. These items are intended to prevent eye, hand and respiratory injury.

In general terms, management or the employee should identify the hazard and provide the necessary equipment to mitigate the hazards. Hazards can be physicalsuch as a pinch point working with heavy equipment; chemicalsuch as working around chlorine or other disinfectant; electrical, such as working around pump motors; or biologicalsuch as microorganisms in raw water supplies.

Finally, if there is a hazard identified with a confined space such as a tank, where the employee gets inside the vessel, to perform some type of maintenance, the facility should have a written procedure for confined space entry (see the questionnaire in the sidebar). Confined space entry procedures require in essence that the worker have a plan for rescuing someone before they enter the confined space. Usually this means there is a spotter who watches them from outside the confined space and that the space is adequately ventilated to make sure there is no asphyxiation risk.

Managing Shift Work

For the facility manager in charge of round-the-clock operations, shift work poses a unique set of problems. Perhaps one of the most difficult problems is knowing when and what decisions to delegate

Page 261

general, this scheduling is at least five to seven days and more commonly it is two weeks to 30 days.

In spite of the manager's effort to schedule, there will be times when one of the staff is not able to come in due to illness, death in the family, etc. Since the odd shifts are usually thinly covered anyway, it will be necessary for one or more to work late or to come in early to pick up the balance. The shift manager should recognize this in the staffing budget. There are 8,760 man-hours in a year (24 hours per day x 7 days per week). If the facility manager has been successful in inspiring a strong sense of loyalty to the system in the work force, the staff will help keep the system covered as needed.

Keeping Abreast of Technology

Magazines

For a water manager, several magazines are available to keep informed on issues and technology. The American Water Works Association (AWWA) has several publications that serve to keep the facility manager abreast of issues relative to water supplies. With a membership in the organization, the facility manager receives Journal, a professionally written and prepared magazine that provides legislative information and four or five technical articles in each issue. The technical articles may be too complex for the facility manager's needs since these are usually scientific papers discussing state of the art technology. In addition, AWWA publishes OpFlow, a newsletter for water supply system operators which discusses some of the recent legislation along with operational tips for water system managers.

Another commercial publication is the Water and Wastes Digest which is dedicated primarily to vendors of new items of equipment. The magazine usually publishes semi-technical articles of interest about new technology.

The American Society of Civil Engineers publishes Civil Engineering, which is primarily geared toward design with some emphasis on large construction projects.

Each of these organizations are referenced in Chapter 16.

Page 262

Associations

Listed in Chapter 16 are a number of trade groups and associations that represent numerous interests within the water management spectrum. Contact with one or more of these associations will provide the facility manager with information about new products, rules, codes and standards. In addition, several associations provide information on costs of equipment and staffs. Associations also hold quarterly and annual meetings to discuss association business. Most associations try to coordinate these annual meetings with a small amount of recreation, such as golf and sightseeing to break up the intensity of the work conducted at association meetings.

Teleconferencing

Still relatively new and somewhat highly specialized, teleconferencing is a way to be informed of association business and water management techniques. Teleconferencing is often sponsored by one or more of the associations and consists of a panel discussion with call in questions. The problem with a teleconference is that they usually require the meeting to be held at a central site, sometimes a large hotel or host facility. It may be inconvenient for the facility manager to leave his place of work to go to the teleconference. Usually, the presenters of the teleconference tape the discussion. This way, the facility manager can rent or purchase the videotape and watch it at his leisure. However, it takes some discipline to watch a teleconference videotape because the speed at which the information is distributed is rather slow. A book such as this one is usually a much better source of information.

Correspondence

The facility manager, if he makes himself known that he is available to others, will discover a huge amount of correspondence, some of which may actually prove useful. There is a number of seminars, classes, home study courses and consultants that offer services to the facility manager because he is the decision-maker who has the authority to disburse funds.

Other Sources

Finally, there are a few other ways in which the facility manager can keep abreast of technology. This would include personal contacts which is probably one of the most valuable. The facility manager may run across a problem which he does not see every day,

Page 263

but which one of his business associates sees often. A phone call, well timed, can provide an excellent source of. information, and for the facility manager, it will be timely and accurate. It takes time and energy for the facility manager to remain current in today's rapidly changing world but the rewards are plentiful. Quite often the right information at the right time can save the facility a considerable amount of money.

Page 265

Chapter 16

Trade Groups and Associations

As water management is a complex field of engineering, the facility manager needs to rely upon the advice of specialists. The trade associations listed in this chapter provide information in a wide variety of areas, including magazines and newsletters, training and sample specifications.

Trade Associations

The below list is not all-inclusive; if any association has not been mentioned here, please write to the publisher and the appropriate information will be included in future editions of the book.

American Fire Sprinkler Association

12959 Jupiter Road, Suite 142

Dallas, TX 75238-3200

Phone (214) 349-5965

Fax (214) 343-8898

A non-profit international association representing open-shop fire sprinkler contractors dedicated to the educational advancement of members and the promotion of the use of automatic fire sprinklers.

Page 266

American Institute Of Architects

1735 New York Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20006

Phone (202) 626-7526

Toll Free (800) 365-2724

American National Standards Institute 11 W. 42nd Street

New York, NY 10036

Phone (212) 642-4900 Fax (212) 302-1286

Internet: http://www.ansi.org email: JRichard@ANSI.ORG

American Society Of Civil Engineers 345 E. 47th Street

New York, NY 1 O017-7300 Phone (212) 705-7496

Toll Free (800) 548-2723 Fax (212) 705-7300

Internet: http://www.asce.org/asce

One of the oldest of the professional engineering societies, ASCE publishes journals and technical publications subject to peer review about water supply, water resources, water planning and water and wastewater quality management.

American Society Of Mechanical Engineers 345 E. 47th Street

New York, NY 10017

Phone (212) 705-7722 Toll Free (800) 843-2763

Internet: http://www.asme.org/asme

Publications are ordered from:

ASME

22 Law Drive, P.O. Box 2300

Fairfield, NJ 07007-2300

Page 267

Similar in organization to the American society of civil Engineers, the ASME promotes the efforts of mechanical engineers in the design of pumps, machinery, and in boiler and pressure vessels. ASME publishes standards for piping and for heating equipment.

American Society Of Heating, Refrigerating And Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. 1791 Tullie Circle, NE

Atlanta, GA 30329 Phone (404) 636-8400 Fax (404) 321-5478

Internet: http://www.ashrae.org email: bparsons@ashrae.org

ASHRAE is the professional society for air conditioning. Its standards are nationally recognized and ASHRAE also publishes standards for hot water sizing and heating.

American Society For Testing And Materials 100 Barr Harbor Drive

West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959 Phone (61 o) 832-9500

Fax (610) 832-9555

email: infoctr@local.astm.org

American Water Works Association

6666 W. Quincy Ave

Denver, CO 80235

Phone (303) 794-7711

Publications (800) 926-7737

AWWA is a non-profit organization that promotes standards for water quality, plumbing and piping. AWWA is the principal associaton of utility water managers for large and small communities.

Building Officals And Code Administrators International

4051 W. Flossmoor Rd

Country Club Hills, IL 60478

Phone (708) 799-2300

Fax (708) 799-4891