Published July 2007

Learning Curve

By Scottie Dayton (page 14)

The Greater Cincinnati Water Works excels at water main rehabilitation and in the community relations skills that ensure success.

The Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW) has some impressive firsts in its 168-year history, all driven by the utility’s mission: To provide a plentiful supply of the highest quality water and outstanding services in a financially responsible manner.

Achieving the mission’s engineering aspects is the responsibility of chief engineer Carel Vandermeyden, supervising engineer Russ Weber, and the staff of the GCWW Engineering Division, supported by various engineering firms. The utility’s aggressive goal, to rehabilitate or replace one percent of the region’s 3,097 miles of water mains each year, is a 100-year project that will restore the entire system.

Open trench replacement by contractors remains typical, but the utility also ventured into cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) in the early 1960s. The technology was new, the cement mortar linings used at the time failed prematurely, and the utility abandoned the approach until the cost of replacing mains began to reach oppressive levels in the 1990s.

A series of pilot CIPP projects revitalized the utility’s commitment to trenchless technology, enabling GCWW to meet its demanding restoration schedule. The journey, however, was an adventure in mass communication, customer expectations, and rapid- response planning.

Surface and groundwater

GCWW is a regional metropolitan utility owned and operated by the City of Cincinnati. When founded in 1839, it was the first publicly owned water system in Ohio. The utility supplies about 48 billion gallons of water per year to some 240,000 residential and commercial accounts representing more than 1.2 million people. Its 800-square-mile service area includes the cities of Cincinnati and Mason, most of Hamilton County, part of Butler and Warren counties, and parts of northern Kentucky.

About 88 percent of the water is drawn from the Ohio River and purified at the Richard Miller Treatment Plant. When constructed in 1908, it was the second rapid-sand filtration facility in the United States, and continues in operation today.

In 1992, GCWW installed a granular activated carbon (GAC) treatment process at Miller to remove the most common chemicals found in spills on the Ohio River, and to substantially reduce chlorine in drinking water. It is one of the largest GAC facilities in the nation.

The remaining 12 percent of drinking water comes from 10 wells in the Great Miami Aquifer and is purified at the Bolton Treatment Plant in southern Butler County.

Water from both facilities is delivered to customers through a common distribution system (water from both sources is mixed in the mains).

Working well

Although old — about 40 percent was installed before 1940, and unlined cast-iron pipes comprise 40 percent of the system — it functions very well. Larger-diameter pipes have 5 to 10 percent tuberculation, and smaller mains average 30 percent. Pipes that break frequently in the same area, or those with insufficient stock remaining are automatic replacement candidates.

As the cost of replacing pipe continued to rise in the 1990s, GCWW created a group in the Engineering Division to evaluate other cities’ rehabilitation programs and develop a test project. In 2000, the group selected 2,000 feet of 24-inch cast-iron transmission main for CIPP, which the Water Quality & Treatment Division had approved as a safe and reliable technology.

Generally, CIPP refers to rehabilitation in which a resin-impregnated liner is forced into the host pipe, pressed against the pipe wall, and cured to form a new surface. GCWW uses the term to define its process of cement lining.

The job, a performance-based contract, included coefficient of friction (C-factor) specifications to produce a product with hydraulic qualities similar to new pipe. While the Engineering Division watched, the contractor potholed every 500 feet, isolated the main, dragged various scrubbers to scrape off the tubercles, and used a trowel and cone system to apply a lean cement mortar mix. GCWW video-inspected the finished line.

Once tests verified the correct C-factors, GCWW replaced valves, fire hydrants, and other appurtenances. The success of the pilot program led to identical projects in 2002 and 2003 involving 36- and 60-inch mains and longer runs. Work on transmission mains is always done in late fall or winter when water demands are lower.

Developing specifications

The Engineering Division, which does the planning and inspection work, oversees a $50-million-per-year capital improvement program. Of that, 80 percent is spent on rehabilitation and replacement of distribution assets. GCWW has 650 employees and an annual operating budget of $80 million.

Water quality criteria partially determine CIPP candidates. The Water Quality Division, based on customer complaints and testing in the field, tells Vandermeyden which areas are having problems. If tests indicate that fire flows are subnormal or the main has excessive repairs, it becomes a candidate.

“The Cincinnati Area Geographic Information System (CAGIS) is a consortium that tells us what utilities are near our suspect pipes,” says Vandermeyden. “We then send our survey crews to pothole and verify those utilities, check how occluded the pipe is and, if necessary, bring back a sample for metallurgical testing.”

Buoyed by success, the Engineering Division bridged into distribution mains with the Price Hill Rehabilitation in 2003. “We use eight engineering firms in the Cincinnati area to design 60 to 70 percent of our projects,” says Weber. “This neighborhood project required temporary, above-ground bypass piping, which was a concern because we were directly affecting the water service of our customers.”

This project helped GCWW better understand what communications its customers needed during a rehabilitation project. The division had under-estimated the length of the work. Customers expecting crews to be in front of their homes for one or two weeks were inconvenienced for a month or two. Homeowners, who didn’t understand the nuances of bypass piping and were unaccustomed to drinking warm water, complained about the temperature and taste.

“We had unanticipated delays that extended the project to five months,” says Weber. “Occasionally, we did not do a good enough job of letting our customers know what was happening or what to expect. The project was successful, but our public relations skills were found wanting.”

Outreach and education

The Engineering Division took the communication lessons it learned and applied them to the 2004 Mariemont Project. This undertaking rehabilitated 28,000 feet of 6- to 12-inch distribution mains and affected more than 400 service connections equaling 75 percent of the community. Built in the 1930s to resemble 16th-century English villages with half-timbered Elizabethan architecture, the tightly quartered neighborhood was undergoing the National Historic Registry process the same year.

“The first thing we did was meet with the village engineer, police chief, and mayor to explain our project,” says Weber. “They were thrilled to hear that we were not going to dig up their streets, but unhappy about Historic Registry people arriving from Washington, D.C., to access their village and seeing all the construction work.”

Public meetings at the village hall alerted the Engineering Division to festival and parade dates, enabling them to avoid those streets in the planning stage. The division developed brochures and pamphlets, which were left at businesses where people gather. The information also was mailed to all affected residents, along with a letter explaining what CIPP rehabilitation was, the length of construction, and inconveniences they should expect. Even Mariemont’s local newspaper published articles about the project.

Rapid response

Work started in July 2004, stopped in late fall, restarted the following spring, and finished in June. Because of customer service requirements and security in general, Water Works employees from the Commercial Services Division entered homes to access water meters. “We worked more with homeowners than anticipated because someone had to be there to let us in, and most residents worked days,” says Weber.

Developing a rapid response plan proved crucial. “When phone calls came in during the Price Hill project, we didn’t always respond to them correctly,” says Weber. “For Mariemont, we established a 24-hour number manned by representatives of our call center. They had a script to answer anticipated questions. If a service problem arose, they dispatched a Water Works representative to the home within an hour of the call.”

Some surprises were provided by the bypass lines. Some froze during unusually cold fall nights. One Saturday, a storm sent a tree limb crashing through a line. “The key was that customers knew who to contact when service was interrupted, and we knew how to resolve the problem,” says Weber. “We learned that solid outreach and public education programs build customer trust because they know what to expect.”

To measure the success of the outreach program, a four-question survey card was mailed to Mariemont customers. In 2004, the response was 39 percent, and 85 percent was positive. In 2005, the return was 30 percent and the response was 77 percent positive. One satisfied customer commented, “I received absolutely superb service. The workers were kind, informative, responsive, and did what they said they were going to do.”

On the horizon

The division started the State and Gest Streets Project in February, with Utilicon Corp. from Cleveland using CIPP to rehabilitate a 36-inch, cast-iron transmission main 5,000 feet long. The work concluded successfully and without incident in late April.

A massive public outreach program wasn’t necessary, as the area is primarily industrial. However, for the first time the division mailed project information and the rapid-response number to businesses.

The division’s major CIPP project for 2007-08, Wardall-Epworth-Ferguson, is still being designed. The subject is a 30-inch, cast-iron transmission main 12,000 feet long. “We re-evaluate our CIPP program every year and plan projects five years in advance,” says Vandermeyden. “Financially, we have a 10-year capital improvement program that is updated annually.”

To serve customers in the most cost-efficient manner, Engineering and Water Quality are looking at epoxy, polyure--thane, and structural resin linings. “What intrigues us about epoxies are the application methods, thinness of the material, and faster cure rates,” says Weber. “We are committed to overall customer service, and the quicker we get them off bypass piping, the faster we eliminate temporary inconveniences for our customers.”

GCWW’s rehabilitation-replacement program is solidly in alignment with its mission statement, and close to its performance measure of restoring 31 miles of mains per year.