Public pressure to address discoloured water

For 20 years, the Town of Kirkland Lake in Timiskaming District has experienced increasing levels of manganese and iron in its source water, Gull Lake. Recently, the problems had been worsening, especially during recent winters, due to the changing climate and an aging distribution system.

Each time the distribution system was disturbed during the winter months — for instance, from flushing after fighting a fire — many customers would complain of brown water. Brown water is caused by the oxidation of manganese, and the water treatment plant was not originally designed to remove iron and manganese.

In 2016, the problem became widespread and persistent. “We had constant reports of brown and sometimes smelly water, and the problem wasn’t localized to one area of town or another,” says Wilfred Hass, Interim Chief Administrative Officer at the Town of Kirkland Lake.

The northeastern Ontario town’s community began to share their concern on social media, and municipal staff brought forward the issue to council.

“It got to the point where something had to be done,” says Hass.

Affordable, sustainable disinfection

As Kirkland Lake’s water treatment plant operator, OCWA looked at several options to manage the water quality issues. After taking some depth samples at Gull Lake, the OCWA team found a high concentration of manganese throughout the water. That eliminated the option of changing the elevation of the water intake. The OCWA team also considered treating the water with potassium permanganate, which is commonly used to remove magnesium and iron, but that solution would require an additional layer of media, which is why this option was not selected.

Ultimately, OCWA and municipal staff recommended a chlorine dioxide system to remove manganese and iron from the raw water. In early 2017, the Town agreed to implement a pilot system and selected OCWA to provide the solution.

“OCWA has a long and good working relationship with the local community,” says Hass. “Our municipal staff handles the distribution system and OCWA does the processing, so there was a natural overlap, which made it easy to share information.”

Working together to solve and save

Chlorine dioxide turned out to be a winning solution. Installed in January 2018, the pilot system garnered positive results. Throughout the winter, the Town received only six calls from the public regarding the water, compared to more than one hundred in 2017. Operators working on the spring flush remarked on the noticeable difference in water quality over the previous year.

Due to the pilot’s success, the Kirkland Lake council agreed to install the system on a permanent basis.

OCWA’s solution not only addressed public concern, it also translated to outcomes with cost savings and environmental benefits. At a total cost of $200,000, the chlorine dioxide option meant that the Town would not have to install expensive new intake or immediately replace distribution piping. Aside from the unit’s installation, there is no long-term operational increase to the client.

“We are seeing the impacts of the changing climate on our town,” says Hass. “There is a need for an interdisciplinary approach to solving these issues. While our local staff is fantastic, in this case we also needed access to engineering,chemical analysis, and project management skills. OCWA was a natural choice for us, and Kirkland Lake is very happy with OCWA’s services.”

Costly, aging equipment

For several years, the Town of Aylmer had been experiencing maintenance challenges with aging equipment in its Lagoon Wastewater Facility. Due to the demand on the hydro grid, operators had to run the blowers every 20 minutes and cycle both cells on and off. And, for the small town, the plant’s energy costs were becoming unsustainable — in particular, the average monthly hydro bill for four positive displacement blowers was $10,600.

“For a small facility, the cost and energy waste was unacceptable,” says Rod Tapp, Interim Director of Operations at the Town of Aylmer. “We knew there were better ways to aerate the lagoon and wanted to take an innovative approach to solving the problem.”

Selecting the best solution for an impact on energy use

“For many wastewater treatment plants in small towns in Ontario, managing energy consumption is a challenge,” says Indra Maharjan, Director, Innovation, Technology and Alternate Delivery at OCWA. “However, there is almost always an opportunity to improve efficiency and save on costs.”

As Aylmer’s trusted operator for more than 20 years, OCWA had thorough knowledge of the wastewater system and was invited to propose a solution. By performing an energy audit, OCWA identified the opportunity to improve efficiency. After completing a technology assessment in 2016, the team

The Town approved the purchase of two high efficiency turbo blowers and awarded the supply and install project to OCWA. To help manage the project costs, the Town and OCWA worked together to secure funding from the Independent Electricity System Operator’s (IESO) pay-for-performance program.

Operating to realize complete savings

From identifying the solution to installing the new high-efficiency turbo blowers at the plant, OCWA’s multidisciplinary team was involved in every aspect of the project. As the operator, OCWA’s team could also ensure that the solution works as proposed, and that it achieves the expected results.

“The OCWA team’s familiarity with the plant was a huge bonus,” says Tapp.

The new turbo blowers run efficiently for 24 hours a day, and seven days per week, saving about 40% on the cost to operate the lagoon. The blowers have led to a lower volume of effluent and discharge, and they have halved the footprint required to operate the facility.

“This project was an overwhelming success. The impact has been positive in all senses,” says Tapp. “We have a higher level of efficiency at a lower cost, and we’ve achieved a lower energy footprint. With the money this project has saved the Town, we are looking into upgrading our SCADA system and considering the future expansion of the plant.”

The blower upgrade project resulted in significant savings for the Town.

The search for a new technology to reduce boil water advisories

A lack of continuous monitoring of water quality poses a serious challenge for many communities with aging treatment plants. Such was the case for the Ochiichagewe’babigo’ining Water Treatment Plant and Eagle Lake Water Treatment Plant in northwestern Ontario, which were not equipped with remote monitoring technology and were unable to provide round-the-clock operations staff at the facilities.

“Since operators were not always onsite, there were some water quality issues that went unnoticed until an operator went to the plant in person,” says Barry Strachan, Technical Services Officer at Bimose Tribal Council. “For this reason, we knew that having good, consistent information about the plant operations could help us continually provide good quality water to our customers.”

As the public health risks grew, the Chiefs from the Bimose Tribal Council collectively decided that a solution was needed to better manage the water treatment plants in Ochiichagwe’Babigo’Ining Ojibway Nation and Eagle Lake First Nation.

Innovative, cloud-based remote monitoring

After the Bimose Tribal Council secured funding through Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), it reached out to OCWA to assess the two water treatment plants and recommend a solution that would help operators remotely monitor water quality.

Based on its assessment, OCWA recommended a mobile monitoring system that connects to the existing supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and uploads data to a cloud-based application. This “Internet of Things” (IoT)-based solution enables operators to access data remotely and track changes in plant operations so that they can identify and respond to issues more quickly.

“We have had a great experience working with OCWA’s staff,” Strachan says. “They did a great job at understanding our needs for the project and worked collaboratively with us to develop customized solutions for each water treatment plant.”

In the first phase of the project, OCWA led the installation and set-up of the IoT solution at the water treatment plants in Ochiichagwe’Babigo’Ining Ojibway Nation and Eagle Lake First Nation. OCWA also worked with the communities to optimize the systems after they went live in September 2017 and trained the operators until they were comfortable using the new technology independently.

“We’re very happy with OCWA’s solution. The user interface provides our operators with data in a consistent way for multiple water treatment plants,” Strachan says. “This is valuable for us since our staff manage 11 water treatment plants. Within just a few months of starting the pilot project, we decided to install the remote monitoring system at four more treatment plants located in Iskatewizaagegan First Nation, Wabaseemoong Independent First Nation, Wabauskang First Nation and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation.”

Proactive risk management

“The technology is powerful because its real-time data helps our operators anticipate water quality issues before they become a problem,” Strachan says. “We’re using the information it provides to make better operational decisions, like making sure that the reservoirs are at optimal levels and ensuring that plant process controls are running smoothly.”

The remote monitoring system installed by OCWA tracks chlorine levels, turbidity, and reservoir levels for each water treatment plant and uploads the data in real time. The data logging also produces trends that help operators make adjustments to each water treatment process and ensure that the treatment plants consistently provide clean, safe water.

“We’ve noticed that OCWA’s solution has had a positive impact on water quality over the last few months,” Strachan says. “The number of boil water advisories has gone down overall in the communities where the technology has been installed. We’re looking forward to understanding more about how this solution can help First Nations communities permanently end boil water advisories.”

Once this pilot project is complete, the Bimose Tribal Council will pursue funding to install OCWA’s IoT solution in four more water and wastewater facilities: Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation, Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation, Obashkaandagaang First Nation and Shoal Lake #40 First Nation.