Video
Solid waste and recycling collection services are broad and vary from community to community. Local governments across the United States often contract with private haulers to provide all or part…
Read MoreCity leaders embarked on an ambitious $13M Watershed Master Plan program in 2019 to better understand the magnitude and severity of flooding across the entire city and proactively develop flood…
Read MoreThe supply chain crisis has compelled fleet managers across the country to get creative to solve certain problems that they may have taken for granted in the past. The nationwide…
Read MoreDue to the continuous rise of chlorides being detected in the drinking waters in the Northern Virginia region, salt reduction is needed as soon as possible. The speaker will present details of Fairfax County’s journey to successful salt reduction program development and implementation, along with best management practices.
Read MoreWith everyone’s budgets getting tighter and public expectations at an all-time high, an effective and efficient method of tracking and communicating winter operations is needed. Every agency has performance measures whether they know it or not as agencies typically track staff hours, material usage, road network level-of-service, operational response time, collisions, and much more. In this session, the speaker will discuss how the City of St. Paul has developed formal performance measures to help manage and improve work, safety, budget, performance, and sustainability.
Read MoreBuilding a truck can be a complicated process. Specifying the “right” truck can require hundreds of decisions and choices that can potentially impact each other. This session is designed to help your organization identify what you actually need, successfully manage, and sustain a long-term plow truck program.
Read MoreColumbus Department of Public Utilities (DPU) implemented the business case evaluation (BCE) process and avoided over $70 million in costs after seven years. The added social and environmental value of conducting BCE’s brings the cost avoidance to $100 million, and service levels, safety, and risk exposure improved. The BCE process received international recognition from the Water Services Association of Australia. It was featured in a McGraw-Hill Report, “Water Infrastructure Asset Management: Adopting Best Practices to Enable Better Investments.” A case study, which will show how BCEs are conducted and the savings that can be realized, includes examples of monetizing social and environmental factors that have no market-driven value. At PWX21, agencies discussed the difficulties of monetizing these factors. Implementation lessons will be shared, including establishing BCE policy and avoiding common implementation problems.
Read MoreTo provide accessibility under ADA guidelines, state and local government agencies are required to perform self-evaluations of their existing facilities relative to the accessibility requirements of the ADA. The public entities are then required to develop a transition plan to address any deficiencies. With 5,000 lane miles over 500 square miles in the City of Phoenix, developing a city-wide ADA Transition Plan is a significant undertaking requiring several months and millions of dollars. To understand the amount of effort needed to create a comprehensive ADA Transition Plan, the City performed a pilot project. The Title II compliant project included data collection using a vehicle-mounted, ground-based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) instrument; extraction of data into a usable geographic information system (GIS) database; and compliance analysis to identify areas for improvement. Additionally, the study defined potential options to perform ADA self-evaluation and develop a comprehensive ADA Transition Plan for the entire city.
Read MoreWith per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in wastewater, concern and regulations put pressure on utilities, disrupt biosolids disposal, and have led to escalating costs and few options. What should we do to address this, and how? PFAS have been used in industrial processes for years, and they persist in the environment. Many are still confused about PFAS and how they ended up in wastewater. The presentation will begin with an overview that provides that perspective. Once in our biosolids, what’s next, and what are our options? How do we mitigate the cost increase of PFAS-containing biosolids? We will discuss the impacts we’re experiencing and how the biosolids market is responding. The presenters will share the process to identify and implement improvements at our treatment facility. Everyone’s wastewater and biosolids differ, and thus it’s critical to pilot-test to select equipment to complement your treatment process. The presenters will close with a discussion of their approach to ensure the attainment of solids goals through equipment selection and pre-procurement.
Read MoreOver the past three years, the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, with support from consultant Brown and Caldwell, prepared for an audit of the City’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Phase I municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permit by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ). In 2020, the City completed a year-long self-audit and rewrote its stormwater management plan (SWMP). In 2021, the City and consultant staff focused on resolving potential program gaps before the actual audit that occurred in early 2022. In this presentation, the speakers will share how they structured the self-audit, prepared for the NCDEQ audit, and realized successes and lessons learned over this three-year process. This discussion will interest Phase I and Phase II MS4 municipal staff, stormwater regulators, and consultants to municipalities subject to NPDES MS4 compliance and audits.
Read More