Tag Archives: FILTRATION

Waste Lake Chronicles

31 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by in Baltimore, Hiking, water history

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Checking on the contractors the other day, I saw that they had pretty much cleared most of the shoreline…nice day for a hike around the lake.

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Started on the SW side looking towards Morgan State University.

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Headed up to the far end, closest to Hillen Road. The old surge shaft from Loch Raven is to the right. The dredge and barges could not get this far up.

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Looking down from on top – the sludge. This is a by-product of what goes on in the filtration plant. Lots of sand at this point. The sand is used to filter the drinking water and when the filter becomes clogged, we backwash it. Unfortunately the pressure from backwashing pushes sand into the drain and ends up here.

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More sand and sludge.

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Since I was up here, I figured I would look down the hatch. The contractor had some concerns about getting too close to this structure. He said they could see a pipe that I told them to stay away from.

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The pipe coming thru the wall at the top, is laid in the waste lake bed. It is about 10′ under the water surface. Although capped off, it would still cause problems if broken. I was supposed to climb out of this shaft a while ago…after an inspection of the old 1880 Loch Raven tunnel. (5-1/2 mile hike). Cancelled due to safety concerns.

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Heading down the NE side. Watching the small barge and excavator get as close as he can.

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The large excavator and barges. These barges are only about 5 feet tall. They displace only 2 feet of water. That just amazes me.

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Soon, we will be testing pumps up on Deer Creek. This will be water from the Susquehanna River. It is very dirty water so we will just dump it instead of letting it go into the plant. See that tower in the background? That is the Susquehanna Surge shaft. When the DC pumps come on and the water flows 36 miles to this point, closing the valves to not let it in, well, the water has to go somewhere. It goes up that shaft and then out thru the drain you see to the left of the boat. 50-60mgd. The dredging should be done by then and their equipment removed. If not, they better tie that stuff down!

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Continuing my hike down the shoreline.

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Some spots were a little rough to navigate across.

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Here is that cove I mentioned in an earlier post. Deer tracks everywhere.

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The 4 million dollar problem – already rearing its head in the warm sun!

Roland Water Tower

24 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by in Baltimore, engineering, HISTORY, water history

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Received an email – you know the kind – a city resident has a complaint, goes to their City Council Person, goes to the Director of Public Works, goes to my boss – who sends it to me to investigate: The area around the Roland Water Tower is the site of 24/7 drug dealing activity. Shouldn’t this complaint have gone to the police? Being the good employee that I am, I went to investigate. For a 24/7 drug spot, the grounds looked clean and I saw only 2 people, walking their dogs. My mission was to see if there was any available electricity for new lighting? There are already 5 street lights surrounding the property. I could not get inside the tower itself to see if there was electric. I doubt it.

Time for a history lesson: The Tower was built, according to the bronze tablets, between 1904 and 1905. According to my records the contract was awarded to two contractors – one for the steel tower and one for the brick enclosure. Then later, another contractor for the concrete pool and steps.

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The steel stand pipe being built by Tippett and Wood.

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The brick enclosure by John Stack. The steps and pool by the Andrew Co.

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The finished tower.

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As it looked this morning. There is a fence around it, which I was able to go through.

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Pieces of the tower are falling down. This is the purpose of the fence – to keep people out and to keep people away from the falling pieces.

The tower held about 213,000 gallons of water that it received from Druid Lake. The design was by William Fizone, who also designed the Montebello Filters. The pool has been filled in. In 1939 the Water Board turned the property over to the City Comptroller. In 2009 and again in 2011 consultants were hired to figure out what to do with this abandoned tower. It had a couple times been turned over to the Roland Park Community Association, who tried to raise funds to restore it. And it still sits – a magnet for the druggies and dog walkers.

Almost Done

19 Wednesday Oct 2016

Posted by in engineering, filtration, water history

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Construction Management sent me this photo and asked if I know what lake this is! If you ever need a pond or lake dredged, these guys do it right. And ahead of schedule.

That cove on the right hasn’t been cleared in about 40 years! I need to bring my kayak to work! For inspection purposes of course!

Waste Lake Progress

17 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by in Baltimore, water history

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The downtown consultants for the dredging of the waste lake at Montebello had underestimated the amount of material that could be possibly dredged from our waste lake – so they asked if it would be alright to remove the phragmites. A big OK to that.

Back in July I posted an aerial of the lake filled with sludge. This view shows most removed. The phrags were attached to the outfall structure and the contractor cut by hand. (At end of catwalk, lower center of lake). At lower right of lake more sludge accumulated due to a polymer added to belt presses, dumping back into this area.

Barge and excavator removing phragmites. The one shore is completed. Would be nice to have enough budgeted money to remove growth along shoreline.

Within one month the phragmites have grown a couple feet around outfall. Because the growth mat is attached to the structure, pulling away the growth will damage the wall. This outfall leads directly to Herring Run and we can not have this water going there.

What the waste lake by the outfall structure use to look like. Those houses are long gone.

Another view of the lake from years past. This is looking towards the NW corner where the surge pipe from Loch Raven is located. It was nice and clear of growth, inside and out. Those houses are also gone.

The waste lake shoreline was so clear that kids would come in and sail their model boats. This is looking towards the outfall structure.

Fullerton WTP or Show Me The Money

11 Tuesday Oct 2016

Posted by in Baltimore, POLITICS, Reservoir, water history

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I was asked last week about a new filtration plant to be built at Fullerton, Baltimore County. Here is what I found:

1955 – Dr. John C. Geyer, Consultant for Baltimore City, and Mr. Jerome B. Wolff, Consultant for Baltimore County Metropolitan District, having concluded their study of the entire distribution system submitted their report on July 1, 1955. According to the Fullerton Reservoir Study Preliminary Design Report of 2000, the 1955 Geyer-Wolff Report recommended purchasing a tract of land in the Fullerton area – which the City of Baltimore did purchase – for the future construction of a water treatment facility, a water storage reservoir, and a water pumping station.
1962 – On November 23, the sinking of shafts for the Fullerton Tunnel began. Both shafts were completed but no Fullerton Tunnel had been driven to date. (Project, Section #6 Susquehanna conduit) Tunnel completed for Fullerton in 1963.
1993 – Design of the Fullerton Pumping Station. PS completed in 1999
1997 – Design for Fullerton Reservoir
1999 – The design of the reservoir would be based on receiving 120 MGD from the future filtration plant. The study showed that the system could not support a 160 MGD reservoir. The reservoir was to be designed to elevation 226. The design proposed two reservoirs to be built, each with baffles. The reservoirs would have separate influent and effluent chlorination provided. As of December, 1999, the study was 75% completed. (Same report info in 2003)
2006 – A two year study began on May 2006. Approval was given to construct a pilot plant to test the operation of the membrane technology.
2007 – Reason contract on-hold is due to financial constraints caused by the artificial 9% rate cap; studies on the construction of the Fullerton Filtration Plant; continuation of the hypochlorite conversion project; and, the federal requirement to cover finished water reservoirs.
2008 – The draft of the Project Development Report for Fullerton, dated May 2008, was submitted for review and returned with comments. There were 4 alternatives in the review. As of October no method has been selected from the alternatives selected. Due to the economy at the time, the cost for each of these alternatives was in excess of $400M. The study had been extended to March 28, 2009. The cost proposal, received on June 23, was not accepted. The cost allocations to all concerned is still being worked on.
2009 – The Fullerton Filtration Plant construction had been delayed until 2017. If this project is ever resurrected, a new consultant agreement will need to be executed.
2010 – The contract for designing the facility could not be advertised until the cost allocation had been agreed upon.
2011 – The contract for designing the facility (Treatment Plant) could not be advertised until the cost allocation had been agreed upon. Also this year, repairs to the Montebello filters were initiated – “The filters were needed to be kept in service for another decade until the Fullerton Facility had been built and the new Montebello Facility was released for construction.” (New Montebello Filters never happened – Band-Aid after Band-Aid)
2012 – Fullerton Water Filtration Study: The contract for designing the facility could not be advertised until the cost allocation had been agreed upon. The Fullerton construction had been delayed originally until 2017. The Fullerton Reservoir would need to be constructed first. The design contract was expected to be released for bid in 2013 under the Fiscal Year 2014 budget, with a design completion date set for 2016. Construction was expected to begin in 2017 and was to be completed by 2021.
2014 – The Office of Environmental Compliance and Laboratory Services began gathering information in preparation of the contracts’ future pending design release. In 5-years the DPW of Baltimore expected the Fullerton Filtration Plant to be built and online thus clearing the path to fully renovate one of the two Plants at Montebello and shutting down operation of the second Montebello Plant.

Readers Digest version: The 100 year old Montebello Filters keeps being patched up while the City and Counties fight over who is going to pay what, for a new filter treatment plant at Fullerton. Status of Fullerton – it will be built, sometime in the future.

Somedays…

02 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by in Photography, Reservoir, water history, Work

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…I just love my job. I love that I get to see and do the things I do – research! Headed up to Liberty Dam to look for some shaft openings, to do a possible tunnel inspection sometime in the future. While waiting for my tour guides, I roamed around a bit and took some photographs of the property.

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 This looks like the old hut the engineers used when building the Ashburton plant.

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Blue highlights on this contraption.

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Ha! A charm of finches. (Why aren’t seagulls really a flock? They are a colony. And what about turkeys? A rafter??)

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Getting a little bored here.

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Yes! First stop, the intake structure!

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Liberty Road bridge. I asked about kayaking here – need a permit and a 12′ kayak. Mine is 10′.

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I like the glass block.

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The valves. Looking for an opening to enter the conduit to Baltimore, for the inspection.

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Done at the intake, headed to the dam.

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Art deco?

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Damn! I thought there was going to be an escalator or an elevator to get to the bottom!

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Heading down. Does anyone else have a problem photographing with LED lights?

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Looking up from the bottom. No matter if I used a flash or not, the LEDs were too bright.

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Another view. Different light.

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This is dead center at the bottom. It was a relief opening when they built the dam.

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As can be seen here during construction – the relief opening.

Dam Jam II

23 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by in HISTORY, Reservoir, water history

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Nice day for a hike thru Cromwell Valley Park. Always like listening to these guys speak on the history. Learn something new every time. The volunteers here are a great group of people who deserve a lot more credit than they get.

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View from the observation deck on top of the dam. Water level is dropping again.

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First stop was the restored lime kilns. Big difference since 2006. Nice turnout for a history talk.

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The balancing reservoir. See last post for when it was still in use…

Dam Jam 2016

19 Friday Aug 2016

Posted by in Baltimore, Hiking, water history

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Happening tomorrow! Loch Raven is nice but I liked the one at Prettyboy Dam a couple years ago, only because I got to go to the bottom-insides of that dam.

 

You will get to walk out here. This use to be open all the time, now only open to the public on special occasions.

Ask your tour guide who is responsible for closing these gates during the 100 year storm?? Enquiring minds want to know!

Looking upstreams from the old dam to the new.

This is what it looked like after the storm of 2011. Lots of water going over the crest.

This is the 1880 dam during the same storm.

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There will be tours of the lime kilns by Jim Kelly, who will be giving away copies of my book (Might as well give them away – nobody buys them anymore!) (That’s ok, a good cause) This photo was from 2006

Volunteers started clearing the weeds back in 2011.

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Jim and company have had a lot of work done to the kilns. He will be giving a presentation on the 3 different kilns, talking about their history.

He will also be talking about this house, which has been restored.

PP236.1693A Loch Raven. Balancing reservoir. Throwing shaft over

Thom Grizzard will be giving a tour of this area. Where the old balancing reservoir and shaft are. No sense in bringing your bathing suit – it no longer looks like this. It is grown over. The volunteers have cleared a lot of the trails around here – making exploration of Cromwell Valley Park a lot of fun!

A Dumpster Fire by any other name….

10 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by in Baltimore, water history

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…is not just a fire, especially when there are historic records involved…or HAZMAT…or combustibles, like lime.

We are used to having dumpster fires here at work. Over the years they have become few and far between. Most people know not to throw unslaked pebble lime into the dumpster. We have a special area for that. But, every once in a while a new employee or some one forgets and viola! Fire. For those who don’t know, lime will heat up when mixed with water. It gets very hot – hot enough to melt plastic and then cause paper items to ignite. Lime is used in water treatment for ph and it coats the pipes throughout the system, so things like lead don’t leach into your drinking water. It was originally used as a disinfectant in the water system, replaced by chlorine.

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Anyway, back to the title of this post – maybe a dumpster fire should be a felony? Or at least be considered criminal negligence? As the firemen were pulling out the burning debris, I couldn’t help but notice some brown folders thrown into the mix. As the folders looked familiar, like historical records, I pulled a couple out. Shit!!! They are ‘As Built Drawings’ from the mid 1920’s! Drawings of one of the two water filtration plants! Shit!! It is unbelievable that someone would throw this stuff into a dumpster!

The City has a policy on what to do with old records. You send them to the City Archives. A couple months ago an employee from the Finance Dept. downtown called me and said that as he was walking by the recycle bin he noticed an old rolled up drawing. He wanted to know if I wanted it? Sure! Well when I received it, it turned out to be a profile drawing of the work schedule during the building of the Loch Raven Tunnel – dated 1875 – 1881! It is about 20 feet long on cloth paper, drawn in color. Unbelievable!! (I know, I keep saying ‘unbelievable’ but actually it is not. After 35 years here, every stupid thing people do is very much believable!)

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Not only were there historical documents in the dumpster, someone threw in some air cylinders, aerosol cans (2 of which exploded) and God only knows what else! And to top it all off, one of the employees wanted to climb up on the dumpster and try to put the fire out with an extinguisher! Really? Another wanted to stand on the front end loader bucket, hold a fire hose and try to extinguish it. God created firemen for a reason – let them do their job!