Walking through ankle-deep sewage backed up in a restaurant convinced Jim Faulkner, who was spending his first week as supervisor of the Cottonwood Improvement District in Salt Lake City, Utah, that its maintenance program had serious flaws. He swore an oath that wastewater would leave patrons’ homes and businesses forever, instead of visiting neighbors two or three times per week.
The trustees of the district, which operates and maintains the collection system, charged Faulkner to reorganize and gave him permission to handpick his staff, replace people if needed, and purchase equipment.
His efforts produced a massive manhole inspection campaign and sewer-cleaning program that became a model for other districts. Under Faulkner’s guidance, asset mapping jumped from crosses on aerial photographs and 25 sheets of paper to the digital world. Today, his crews inspect 4,500 feet of sewer pipe per day per truck using equipment from Cobra Technologies. More typical production for inspec-tion crews is 2,000 to 2,500 feet per day per unit.
With Faulkner’s in-depth preventive maintenance program, the collection system has seen zero backups since 2000. The achievement has won the district numerous awards from the Water Environment Association of Utah for best-operated collection system. The last came in 2007, only because Faulkner did not apply in 2008 and 2009.
Yankee ingenuity
The Cottonwood Improvement District, population 125,000, contracts to maintain the sanitary sewers of two ski resorts, an unincorporated county, sections of four cities, and 50 private lines from gated communities. Six main collection lines send 10 mgd to the Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility. One-fourth of the concrete pipes are older than 50 years, and one-third are older than 30 years.
When Faulkner transferred to the collection system area, he asked to see the cleaning records and received 25 pieces of paper covering 300 miles of sewer mains. His first order of business was dedicating a technician to pull all 8,000 manhole covers and look inside to determine sewer conditions. It took two years, but it revealed that dustpans falling into the invert from the weight of collected dirt were causing many backups. Faulkner ordered them removed.
His program to locate and bring every manhole up to grade was rough on crews. Mapping was poor, forcing them to measure off and use a metal detector. Many manholes, often buried 3 feet under asphalt, were excavated with picks and shovels. Faulkner ordered a jackhammer and air compressor, then marked the locations of uncovered manholes on aerial photographs.
“Raising manholes meant driving 20 miles to the asphalt batch plant for a load,” says Faulkner. “By the time the guys returned, the asphalt was cooling and didn’t adhere well.” A chance meeting with a Wiley asphalt-recycling machine (Martec Recycling Corp.) changed all that. Crews now jack- hammered out the asphalt and threw it in the machine. By the time they raised the manhole, the recycled asphalt was ready to shovel. They tamped it down with a gasoline-powered compactor. Today, the district has three Wiley machines and four men in two crews dedicated to maintaining manholes.
When the city resurfaces streets, Faulkner’s crews follow, raising the manholes with concrete grade rings. But at $26 each, the expense was consuming the district’s budget. Faulkner told the maintenance shop to make a mold for a 6-inch grade ring. During inclement weather, the manhole crews pour rings for $3.50 each. Faulkner added 2-, 3- and 4-inch molds. “We stockpile each size, “he says. “I don’t know if you can even buy the little ones.”
Meanwhile, Faulkner noticed the men suffering from numerous back injuries and strains. On his suggestion, the district hired a health provider and physical therapist to ride with the crews, evaluate the jobs, and develop a solution. “They came up with stretching exercises,” says Faulkner. “Every morning, we give our people 15 minutes to loosen and warm up their muscles. Since then, we haven’t had one back injury.”
Old meets new
The district’s cleaning policy had been to focus only on problem areas. Faulkner’s policy was to attack the neglected collection system. He replaced the old sewer-cleaning truck with four new 9-cubic-yard combination sewer cleaners from Vac-Con Inc.
Many districts flush a dozen line segments, sending material to one manhole for removal. Faulkner believed that left too much debris and ordered his crews to clean manhole to manhole. “Some may call that overkill, since EPA statistics state that 50 backups a year are an acceptable number for a district our size,” says Faulkner. “Our annual cleaning program ensures that we don’t have any.”
Faulkner also noticed that the cleaning crews were losing up to three hours a day returning for water. “Various cities wanted to meter the water the men drew, and that meant carrying six different meters,” says Faulkner. “So, I bought a 4,000-gallon water tanker to service the trucks. It increased our cleaning production dramatically.”
The collection system includes Solitude Ski Resort in Big Cotton- wood Canyon and Brighton Ski Resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon. During heavy snows, the highway department closes the roads to all vehicles except those with four-wheel drive or tire chains. Faulkner ordered a custom Vac-Con HotShot hydrojetter mounted on a four-wheel drive Ford F-600 so crews could respond more easily during weather emergencies in the canyons.
Faulkner’s fleet maintenance program replaces the heavy trucks every five years and smaller vehicles at 50,000 miles. “I want my guys to always have top-notch equipment,” he says. “Budget-wise, the vehicles don’t cost much money to operate because they’re still under warranty, and rotating tires every other oil change usually eliminates buying replacements.”
Endless documentation
To collect data on the cleaning program, Faulkner had Data Equipment Co. Inc. in Houston, Texas, create a data logger program for the combination trucks.
“It records if the vacuum is on and for how long, when the truck takes on water and how many gallons, when the truck is up to pressure during cleaning or if only the water is on, and how far the hose goes out and back,” he says. “The trucks also have GPS. When they return to the shop, the data downloads to a computer. Now I have irrefutable proof that the lines are cleaned annually.”
Although not responsible for lateral maintenance, Faulkner developed a field report that televising crews leave at homes where they spot potential problems. When customers call to ask what the report means, Faulkner takes the opportunity to recommend that they remove roots or repair cracks.
Another field report Faulkner created covers service calls. It includes the date, time, technician’s name, his evaluation, and a copy for the customer. Both are successful public relations tools.
After his promotion to manager, Faulkner asked for an in-house engineer. “I told the board of trustees that we can’t operate as if we’re still in the 1950s,” he says. “We were doing today’s work with yesterday’s equipment. For example, nothing about our limited camera inspections was organized. Information on paper or videotape was difficult to find, and storage space was at a premium.”
Faulkner hired Greg Neff and charged him with modeling the district. “I had to know how development would affect flows to the treatment plant and if lines needed enlarging to prevent surcharging,” says Faulkner.
He also contacted Alan Grant of Cobra Technologies. “Compared with what we had, his equipment is so user-friendly and reliable,” says Faulkner. “We bought a straight-line and a pan-tilt-zoom camera on 8-inch mainline crawlers. They run problem-free five days a week all day long.”
Two Ford Super Duty cutaway vans house Cobra’s inspection equipment, CIMS software, and a CDL 9000 data logger with an industrial touch screen running the NASSCO Pipeline Assessment and Certification Program system. “My guys aren’t typists,” says Faulkner. “The touch screen increased the time they spend working instead of hunting and pecking at the keyboard. The system also eliminates typos.”
Data and digital video files, stored on a portable hard drive, are uploaded daily to the CIMS office software on the district’s server. Neff uses the information to populate the GIS mapping system that includes pipe details and the depths of manholes. Anyone on the network can access the inspection information and related MPEG videos to answer questions. The integrated CIMS data management system enables the district to make informed decisions about managing the collection system.
Record setters
Crews inspect 4,500 feet of sewer pipe per day per truck by analyzing the area, spotting where they can set up on key manholes, and televising in three or four directions. Cobra’s data collection system enables them to focus on just inspections, and leave management and analysis information to those with specialized expertise.
Faulkner attributes the record-breaking pace to organization and quality personnel. “They aren’t sitting in those vans reading magazines,” he says. “They’re out working. Pruning deadwood produces positive results.”
Besides overseeing manhole cleaning and sewer inspection crews, Faulkner manages a three-person inspection department that inspects pipe repairs and new installations, and handles Utah’s Blue Stakes call-before-you-dig notifications. All crews are cross-trained.
Faulkner’s policy of involving his supervisors improved communication between the departments and the system’s overall operation and maintenance. He holds staff meetings three times a week and employee meetings monthly to discuss safety and operational issues.
While organization comes naturally to Faulkner, he believes it is driven by two questions: Where are you going and how will you get there?
“My objective was to have zero backups, and everything we’ve done has been to that end,” he says. “Our success is a team effort between me, our board, supervisors and dedicated, hard-working employees.”
