CFE minutes 091117 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The Partnership for Safe Water is a voluntary EPA program to go above and beyond and OWASA was the first in the state to achieve the highest level and 9th in the nation. So this preparation, their interconnections, and their commitment to excellence encouraged them to take plant offline. No water with elevated fluoride left the treatment plant. 1.5 million gallons of over-fluoridated water needed to be diluted and pumped in a controlled manner from the water treatment plant into the wastewater system. The fluoride system has been off since February and is expected to be turned back on this month (Sept 2017). The water connection from Durham would have kept the plant operating at a moderate level, but then there was a water main break in the Foxcroft drive area of Chapel Hill. Only 2-3 breaks of this magnitude in the past 40 years, and they’d never had a fluoride overfeed. The source of the water main break was an incorrectly–installed water main pipe that was installed 42 years ago before OWASA was created. Over ½ of all OWASA’s pipes are less than 20 years old. With the water supply having dropped so low, OWASA requested Orange County activate the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to help manage the response. The EOC could focus on meeting all resident needs so that OWASA could focus on getting the plant back online. OWASA had recently undergone a water emergency simulation to practice this very type of scenario, and they were able to put that training into practice. Drinking water is used for firefighting and sanitation as well as for drinking water, so it is often unsafe to turn off water supply. Instead, OWASA customers were asked not to use the water. The OC Health Director also issued a “Do Not Use, Do Not Drink” to help with water conservation and out of an abundance of caution to help maintain pressure so that there would not be inflow of contaminated groundwater. 20psi is the state minimum. Water tests revealed that there was not contamination just under 24 hours later and the “Do Not Use, Do Not Drink” order was lifted. Post-Emergency Actions: OWASA hired two independent consultants to figure out why the fluoride was overfed and why the break happened. They were posted on their website before OWASA could read them in an effort to reinforce their objectivity and transparency. They have also instituted internal After-Action Reviews (AARs) to look into what happened in this emergency and also elsewhere. OWASA is currently doing a detailed risk assessment in both plants based on ISO 31000 standards. The results should be in next June. Results of the after action review for this event show that OWASA customers saved 37% of their normal usage while the “Do Not Use, Do Not Drink” order was in place. This was not all the essential use from hospitals. While this is a significant portion of the total demand, there is still a long way to go to ensure that non-essential water usage is curtailed when necessary. A parallel project to move to Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) will help to pinpoint who is using water during those emergencies. A Note on Climate Change: Based on the available data, OWASA is expecting that future rainfall should be around the same, but climate change will make it more likely to happen in bigger bursts. This is much harder to manage productively. Lands Legacy Program – Kim Livingston This 17 year old program was borne out of a County Commissioners initiative 1998 (along with the CFE) to protect important lands: parkland, nature preserves, historic/cultural lands, etc. This program leverages a strong