Daniel Hardin, P.E.
Milwaukee Thinks Outside the Box for Stormwater Control
-September 8, 2014
Milwaukee has a combined sewer system where stormwater runoff and sewage is collected in the same pipe. Milwaukee has evaluated the feasibility of using uninhabited houses to temporarily store combined sewage and stormwater in the basement following rain events. The basement locations will be empty houses already scheduled to be razed. City officials were looking […]
West Virginia’s Deadline for Registering ASTs is Approaching
-August 28, 2014
Several months ago, we highlighted the new aboveground storage tank rule that would take affect in West Virginia. Click here for that update. Deadlines for the rule are quickly approaching. Tank owners in West Virginia are reminded to register their aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) prior to October […]
Municipal Wastewater Planning for Prolonged Rainfall Events
-July 14, 2014
Prolonged rainfall and flooding recently forced a Fountain City (WI) to take drastic measures to prevent treatment bypasses to the Mississippi. Residents were asked to limit water usage as much as possible by “taking sponge baths” and “only flushing the toilet if absolutely necessary”. Reportedly, the treatment plant was operating at six times the normal […]
Permeable Pavement: a Tool for Low Impact Development
-April 22, 2014
Low impact development or (LID) is an approach to development of land that works to preserve existing natural conditions as much as possible in an effort to minimize imperviousness while retaining functional site drainage of stormwater. Popular LID practices include the use of rain gardens, rain barrels, vegetated rooftops, and permeable pavements. The design of […]
New Requirements for Wastewater Plants
-March 10, 2014
The KY Division of Water has added new management requirements to KPDES permits for municipal wastewater plants with design flows above 1 MGD. The new requirement is to implement a Sewer Overflow Response Protocol, or SORP. Components of the SORP shall include: 1) an overflow response procedure, 2) a public advisory procedure, 3) a regulatory […]
Floodplain mapping and flood insurance rates
-December 13, 2013
The federal government has requested that flood insurance be self-sufficient. New changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) will increase insurance rates as much as 25% per year. Houses built in a floodplain and constructed before 1978 are subject to the federal insurance policies. These changes are the result of the Biggert-Waters Flood Reform […]
CMOM Self-Assessment
-October 16, 2013
A CMOM Self-Assessment is an existing tool that has been helpful for wastewater utilities to evaluate the performance of the sanitary collection system and reduce the occurrence of sanitary sewer overflows. CMOM stands for Capacity, Management, Operation, and Maintenance. Overflows that occur in separate sanitary sewers are considered bypasses of the collection system and are […]
Stormwater Asset Management
-October 15, 2013
Achieving stormwater compliance can be a tedious challenge, particularly for communities with less than 100,000 people. More stringent water quality requirements are forcing regulated communities to evaluate their asset management strategy. Regulatory agencies are pushing municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4’s) to be more proactive to respond to replacement or repair of aging infrastructure now […]
It’s Summer! Time to think about Picnics, Mosquitos, and STORMWATER
-July 3, 2013
The 4th of July is popular day for cookouts with family and friends. Fireworks and backyard barbecues will hopefully bring everybody outside for the afternoon and evening. With all the rain we have had lately – it would be no surprise to me that one topic of conversation may be mosquitoes. A relatively new invasive species […]
Fraidy Cat Frack
-May 9, 2013
Just say “boo” to tame the wastewater from hydraulic fracturing. Actually, it isn’t quite that simple, but available technology has helped demonstrate that frack water contaminants do exhibit hydrophobic characteristics when electricity is introduced into the waste stream. Western states are taking advantage of a wastewater treatment process called electrocoagulation (EC) technology. EC works like […]