Stormwater runoff from urban and suburban areas can damage the environmental health of
receiving streams from increased flow rates during rain events, reduced base flow, and increased
loading of pollutants associated with the runoff. Low-impact or green infrastructure techniques
that are decentralized or dispersed throughout the watershed can mitigate these impacts. The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Sustainable
Environments Branch (EPA) developed a field research project to measure the effects of green
practices on stream hydrology and quality on a watershed scale.
The suburban watershed selected for this study includes both single-family residential land use
and a forested park. The hydrology and water quality of Shepherd Creek have been monitored by
EPA and some reaches were found to be affected by urbanization. The use of dispersed Best
Management Practices (BMPs) that infiltrate or detain runoff were planned and implemented for
this area, with continued monitoring during and after the implementation to measure the effects
on Shepherd Creek.
In 2007, Tetra Tech, as contractor to EPA, implemented a reverse auction to solicit participation
by area residents and then installed 50 rain gardens and 100 rain barrels on the selected
residential sites. This presentation summarizes the methods and results of both the site selection
and construction activities to date.
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Posted: August 24th, 2010 | Filed under: Stormwater | Tags: Environmental Impact, Reduced Carbon Footprint, Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Sustainable Infrastructure, Water Conservation | No Comments »
Most wastewater administrators, managers and operators are unaware of their energy
consumption and, therefore, are managing energy by cost control and not through energy
efficiency awareness and knowledge. Utility energy bills are typically received by the utility
clerk or treasurer, and are directly paid, without a copy being forwarded to the responsible
administrative or operations personnel for review and assessment.
To address this ever-present procedure of not reviewing energy bills, which is being repeated
nationally at small, medium and many large facilities, Focus on Energy, an energy efficiency
(EE) program in the state of Wisconsin, recognized this inconsistency and developed a separate
energy efficient program to address the water/wastewater (W/WW) industry.
The W/WW program has been delivering services to the public and private wastewater treatment
facilities in the state of Wisconsin since 2001. The WW industry has been very accepting of
learning about EE and the value it brings to their utility. The majority of facilities served to date,
nearly 200, have been municipal facilities.
As an initial program research effort, the program decided it was necessary to define, support
and fund a research project that would provide insight into identifying EE values that could be
considered as baseline energy consumptive values that facilities should target for energyefficient
operation. The consultant team that was retained to provide these services blended the
knowledge and insight of team members from both the United Kingdom and the United States.
This composition of expertise proved to be valuable. Not only did the team fulfill the contract,
but they brought knowledge from both continents together to show the differences in energy
consumption to provide the insight that energy consumption in both continents could be
equalized. This combination of values, energy consumption in Wisconsin, United States, and
Europe provided us with the added opportunity to assess how the values between these regions
compared. It was interesting to observe that the European energy consumption was less than that
of the United States on the existing operating conditions. Nevertheless, what was more valuable
was that the United States’ consumption values could be reduced through applying energy
efficiency best practices that were reported in Europe.
The paper presents this information and provides insight into the modifications that could be
made to the existing United States’ facilities to achieve energy consumption levels equivalent to
their European counterparts.
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Posted: August 24th, 2010 | Filed under: Waste Water Treatment, Water Treatment | Tags: Cost Savings, Energy Savings, Increased Plant Efficiency, Reduced Carbon Footprint, Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Sustainable Infrastructure | No Comments »