| Home | Backups and Backflows | Your Sewer Connection | Is Your Home at Risk? | Emergency Instructions | Prevention Tips | Contact us |
2009 Be Sewer Smart SummitHeld Tuesday, October 27, 2009Below are some of the PowerPoint presentations given during our 2009 Sewer Smart Summit
Sewer Smart Summit 2009 Summary:Mark Green, ABAG Vice President and Mayor of Union City opened up the fifth annual Sewer Smart Summit with how important it is for ABAG to continue hosting these summits to reach our goal of reducing sewer backups and backflows in the greater Bay Area.Jim Fischer with the State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Quality & the Statewide SSO Program updated the group on SSMP regulations noting that the focus for the next year will be on compliance with the SSO reduction program through a plan of progressive enforcement. About thirty agencies have yet to enroll and of those already in the program, 20% are not doing anything to comply. David Patzer with the California Sanitation Risk Management Authority (CSRMA) shared four best practices of risk management for sewer system management: 1) Administrative oversight; 2) Operational efficiency - especially precise Standard Operating Procedures; 3) Staff training of core competencies and proficiency-testing; and, 4) Emergency response plan and procedures. Traci Dorsey and Mark Lombardi with Restoration Management Company urged us to pre-screen first responder vendors and establish a working relationship with those vendors before the crisis happens. Art O'Brien with the City of Roseville Wastewater utility identified that all their FOG (fats, oils and grease) issues are attributed to Food Service Establishments (FSEs). Roseville took proactive steps to engage FSEs and ask for feedback prior to establishing its FOG ordinance. One year after the FOG plan was established, they had more than 95% participation by 280 FSEs in Roseville. Currently, Waste Discharge Permits carry no fees. In the Clean Water Act lawsuits session E.J. Shalaby, GM of West County Wastewater District and Chad Davisson, City of Richmond Wastewater Manager, shared their financial perspective on the impact of the lawsuits on infrastructure improvements. They suggested that we may be able to avoid being a target for environmental litigation if we pay attention to Capital Improvements, System & Capacity Evaluations and the Zero SSO Goal. Bill Toci, City of Burlingame Wastewater Manager (Veolia) provided an update on Veolia Water System improvements, their aggressive community outreach and its root foaming program to prevent Clean Water Act violations. Justin Hobbs with Hadronex, Inc. spoke about the value of real time remote monitoring of sewer systems in preventing SSOs, quoting statistics from the City of Hawthorne that went from one spill per month to zero spills in three years using the SmartCover® Backflow Sewer Monitoring System. Jeanne Perkins, ABAG Earthquake and Hazards Program Consultant, warned us about documenting existing conditions in the sewer infrastructure now to ensure eligibility for FEMA and State Public Assistance Funds, should disaster strike. She reminded us that the Hayward Fault is overdue for a major earthquake and that next time it's estimated that there will be over 8,000 water pipeline leaks/ruptures and the aging sewer systems will be even more impacted, though the extent is not known. Interim Risk Manager Darrell Dearborn wrapped up the summit with a summary of our 2009-2010 Sewer Smart Education Campaign. Topics covered included:
|
 Darrell Dearborn, Interim Risk Manager  Mark Green, ABAG Vice President and Mayor of Union City welcomes moderator Martha DeBry, Alternate ABAG PLAN board member and Public Works Director, Town of Hillsborough  Jim Fischer, State Water Resources Board, Division of Water & Statewide SSO Program, focuses on SSO program compliance  David Patzer, CSRMA, explains exactly how systems fail  Art O'Brien, City of Roseville, explains the model of their successful FOG program |