Orenco Septic Tanks for Mound Systems

Hello Savvy Septic Fans,

Just a quick note to clear up some confusion we've been hearing here at City Hall today. Some of you have been seeing giant green tanks that look like AdvanTex systems going into the ground out by the Whispering Spruce / Wilderness construction side and Alder way. These are actually just regular old Orenco septic tanks- there is no pod or insulation because they are being put in with the mound systems. King Bee and Lanning Engineering decided to use the same manufacturer of the AdvanTex systems (Orenco) to supply them with regular septic tanks. I know how similar they look! I did a double take the first time I saw them too, because we are all used to the giant green septic tanks being AdvanTex systems. Fear not, we delivered the notice to proceed to Rockwell Engineering today, and they shall be down to put in the insulated AdvanTex systems as soon as possible. For now though, the only green tanks going in the ground are being put there by King Bee and they are for the Mound Systems. Please refer to pictures below. Give us a call if anything else comes up.


Mound System Tanks Before Insulation




AdvanTex systems Last Year




AdvanTex systems This Year (with insulation)



Have a great weekend and think sun!

Laura

Ebb and Flow

The Septic Blog has been quiet lately because things have been quiet in City Hall lately. Some of you may have noticed King Bee’s workers finished grading & hydroseeding the Phase I installations and then packed up and headed back to Fairbanks for a week. They needed DEC’s approval to construct and Lanning to stake out property lines and important things at their various mound sites. The site engineer, Dave Lanning, had to be at a conference in the lower 48 for the last week, so construction on the mounds began a week later than anticipated. Indeed, even the temperature monitoring data collection was put on hold to give the hydroseeded grass a chance to establish without being trampled and messed up.

Finally, with the rain and fog came a go ahead from DEC and a notice to proceed for King Bee’s men, who left Valdez in a sunny state of mind and returned to a more typical type of construction weather for Prince William Sound (but we aren’t complaining, we needed the rain). Hopefully we still have some warm sunny days left to help construction along. They have been working steadily on the first true mound system of the program on the corner of Wilderness and Whispering Spruce. They plan to move down Whispering Spruce toward Alder for their next construction site. Their schedule has changed since it was last posted, because they need homeowners to move some things in their yards in order to gain access to sites. They are generally going to wherever is most prepared for their arrival. The last we heard they would try to do the two sites on Alder after their first and finish up on Whispering Spruce before heading westward toward Nordic.

Rockwell has their contract documents in order and have asserted they are ready to come to Valdez. We are waiting on DEC’s approval to construct before issuing Rockwell their notice to proceed. We been assured it will be issued very soon. We are as anxious as Phase II residents to see Rockwell down here and working.

On another note, ADEC has decided to do their own effluent testing of all Phase I systems. The city was informed that the state is working with Phase I residents for access to property and expects to be pulling effluent samples this next Monday and Tuesday. Mike Congel, the local AdvanTex maintenance man, has asked that care be taken with the newly graded / hydroseeded areas. He will accompany the DEC on their rounds.

Community Development was not able to get an Option 2 revision on the table for Council to approve this week, we will work hard to have something for them by August 3rd. We also have an Oversight Group meeting scheduled for this Monday, the 27th of July, in Council Chambers. We are discussing the end of Phase I, the progress of Phase II, reviewing the Option 2 details we talked about last Oversight Group Meeting, and the success of the subdivision wide plan.

In any case, the King Bee mound action is picking up again and we expect to have Rockwell down here shortly. We’ll keep you in the loop. Till next time :).

Contracts A & B Awarded

City Council approved the Rockwell Engineering bid for Group A and Group B last Monday, July 6th, with a 4-2 vote. We have been issuing notices of intent to award and expect the contract documents to be fully signed by the end of today. Dave Lanning has met with Rockwell Engineering to discuss their schedule and timeline for septic installations in Valdez.

Several things have to happen before Rockwell engineering can actually break ground. The DEC has to issue approval to construct. They apologized for the length of time it was taking for them to review the materials but they are dotting every i and crossing every t to see this program reaches its fullest potential. Rockwell engineering has to submit their Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan(SWPPP) to the federal government and get their approval for excavation and dewatering procedures. Rockwell is a SWPPP pro though, so we are hoping that won’t take too long. And Rockwell has to get all their training and personnel in order. With a little luck all the paperwork and mobilization can happen simultaneously and we can see ground breaking within a few weeks. We will track this progress and report all our findings faithfully to the Savvy Septic readers.

The DEC has asked Lanning Engineering for some clarification on the mound system construction requirements before issuing final approval to construct. Dave Lanning is addressing them this week and hopes to have approval wrapped up for mound systems by this weekend.

Phase I homeowners have seen a flurry of activity in their yards. Final grading & topsoil has been placed on the majority of Phase I installations. It is our understanding that the hydroseeders have been moving from site to site as well. Because of the heat and lack of rain, the City recommends Phase I homeowners water the recently seeded areas. We expect to see the majority of Phase I installations completed by the end of this week. Again, as a reminder, Phase I pods were not insulated with blue board because of the risk of damaging the systems during excavation and the fact that the systems are working fine without it. The city will continue monitoring these systems closely to make sure everything is in order.

In the meantime, City staff has been working with some possible last-minute additions / substitutions to Phase II system replacements (due to imminent septic failure) and has been working through some individual homeowner construction issues. Additionally, we have been adding spring construction details to Phase I homeowner files and updating Phase II homeowner files. Making sure each file is up to date and has all relevant information for each homeowner is a surprisingly complex endeavor...

Well, that’s all for today. We’ll keep trying for the best, swiftest and most painless septic installations we can manage :).

A Septic Summit in Valdez

Good morning Savvy Septic readers. Monday night’s Septic Summit work session was reasonably well attended. There were Alpine Wood representatives from Phase I and Phase II, Oversight Group members, ACAT members, residents from Alpine woods who were thinking about enrolling in the program, a local radio station and news reporter, and city staff. Of the guests the City specifically invited, Dr. Mark Gross, an Orenco engineer from Oregon attended; Tom Varney, an Anchorage Tank representative attended; Oran Woolley from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) attended; as well as Bob Tsigonis (a well respected package treatment plant engineer) and the City’s contract engineer from Lanning Engineering, Dave Lanning. King Bee attempted to send their representative, Sheldon Shaw to the meeting but the plane malfunctioned in Fairbanks. Erik Williamson, the author of the University of Anchorage and Jeff Garness, the engineer of the Quanics systems, as well as a variety of other Alaskan Septic Installers were invited but were unfortunately unable to attend. Mike Congel, the local AdvanTex maintenance man, was there to answer any specific maintenance questions.

And now for the numbers we’ve all been waiting for: The effluent results were great! All 6 of the systems tested passed with flying colors. The DEC was very pleased with their performance. Much of the meeting was still spent discussing the temperature of the tanks and whether or not insulation would still be needed but in the end, the DEC and the Orenco Engineer both felt insulation would not be technically necessary although it wouldn’t hurt the program. The City has already purchased the Phase II AdvanTex tanks with insulation but, after a long discussion with the City engineers and the DEC, it was determined that the risk of damaging the pods by installing retrofit blue board insulation was not worth it for Phase I residents. Instead of blue board insulation, the city will continue monitoring the Phase I pods and take several more effluent samples (at different times of the year) to confirm and add to these field results.

Some of the positive notes of the septic summit were:

Valdez systems have had extremely low numbers of alerts, alarms and unscheduled maintenance visits. Tom Varney indicated this was one of the smoothest start-ups he has ever seen and that Mike Congel was as busy as the Maytag Repair man.

The DEC made a chart to compare the AdvanTex effluent with a standard septic system effluent and the City’s Sewer Treatment Plant limits (which are extremely strict because they discharge into the Prince William Sound). The AdvanTex results show the systems performing better than even the Sewer Treatment Plant limits (the lower the numbers, the cleaner the water).












For a copy of the full SGS laboratory report, click here.

Oversight Group member and ACAT board member Gary Minish pointed out that Alyeska’s ballast water treatment system has been operating at about 38 degrees Fahrenheit for many years and it is a biological system which has worked quite well in Valdez. He made this comparison because of the high AdvanTex effluent quality despite the low temperatures and cool groundwater.

Dr. Mark Gross and his fellow Orenco engineers have been running heat sink models simulating Valdez field conditions for the last two weeks and can provide anyone who is interested with the math and results. Just contact him at (541) 459-4449 or email him at mgross@orenco.com. He is also available for any other technical questions or requests. He spent two weeks reading everything posted on the City website pertaining to the septic project and he listened to the last several Council Meetings on tape prior to his arrival here so that he would be prepared to answer any type of questions we had.

Statistically, to accurately represent the number of systems in Valdez, the City would have only had to test 3 systems. We tested six. Taking into account the samples variability and the margin of error, the City can be confident of the sample results representing a typical system to within 5 mg/L.

As reported in these pages before, Anchorage Tank’s own test results confirmed the independent laboratory results shown here, and Anchorage Tank tested all of the systems (to see a copy of these results click here).

Bob Tsigonis brought information on his Lifewater package treatment plant systems and made himself available to Alpine Woods residents for questions. We have copies of his information available at City Hall and you can contact him at (907) 458-7024 or email bob@lifewaterengineering.com. Lifewater treatment plants are a great option for anyone who would like to explore alternative to the AdvanTex systems. Although Jeff Garness couldn’t make it to the Septic Summit, several residents picked up his information packets (which we also have available at City hall). These systems are an excellent alternative to AdvanTex systems as well. You can contact him at (907) 337-6179 or email jeff@garnessengineering.com. As the City staff works through its revisions to Option 2 they will bring them forth to the City Council, who can review and approve reimbursement amounts and outlined steps for Option 2. Providing they are approved we will, of course, immediately post the guidelines on the website.

In conclusion
After the Council asked the DEC and the engineers their own questions (mainly were the systems working properly [yes] and does the DEC approve of their installation and operation [yes]) the mayor was kind enough to open up the work session to public input and allow any of the residents present to ask their own questions. By 10 pm most of the questions had wrapped up and when the City Manager asked the Council for direction on how to move forward, the City Council told him to ask Rockwell Engineering (the low bidder for the AdvanTex systems Group A & B) if they would still honor their bid (after 45 days they no longer have to honor it). If they would honor it, the Council requested the City Manager to bring the Rockwell bid back to the Monday City Council Session (July 6th) for action. Lisa spoke with Rockwell Engineering yesterday and they are willing to honor their bid.

Whew! That was a long one. There is a lot of sewage sentiment flowing from City Hall this week. Hopefully it was spellbinding. If you still want more you can listen to the full meeting audio tape on the City Website here. Thanks to all the readers that attended the Septic Summit. We hope this gave those of you who couldn’t make it a good idea of the meeting highlights. We’ll keep you posted!

A Week in Review

Well, this week of Septic Replacement Program work certainly flew by. Monday we were busy getting notifications to all Alpine Woods residents in the mail as quickly as possible for the City Council Work Session Septic Summit Monday, June 29th, at 6:30 pm (everyone is welcome). Phase I, Phase II, and remaining residents each got their own letter. Tuesday we met with the City Engineer Alan Minish to bring him up to speed on the project. Wednesday was spent on temperature data collection and analysis and Alpine Woods paperwork organization, as well as a new ACAT letter. Thursday we began preparing materials to bring to the Septic Summit and making lots of copies. Today we will continue to promote attendance to the Septic Summit and (hopefully) finish the paperwork and copying. By the end of today or early on Monday we should have a pretty good Agenda put together. It sure makes for a fast week!

King Bee Equipment has been preparing some of their Phase I sites for finish up work and begun piling up topsoil in the City snow lots, but Sheldon Shaw, the site manager and engineer for King Bee Equipment, has said King Bee is still waiting on their Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) approval and a DEC permit before they can begin. This has pushed the preliminary schedule posted on Monday the 22nd back by at least a week. Throw in the 4th of July holiday and most people are probably looking at a week and a half later than their posted schedule at best. We will keep everyone as updated as we can.

Well that’s it from our neck of the woods today. We’re all hoping for more sunshine and good construction weather. Hope to see you all at the Septic Summit!

An Update and An Apology

Hello Everyone :). The effluent testing of Phase I systems has been completed. The results are in but cannot be released until all the involved homeowners give their permission. We expect to release them publically at the Septic Summit.

The Septic Summit the Council Requested is scheduled for June 29th, 2009 at 6:30pm in the City Council Chambers. Please tell your neighbors, your friends, your families, your family’s families, anyone you can think of where and when the summit will be and bring them all along. The more the merrier, that’s our motto!

For anyone who is curious, the SGS sampling process is a formal Quality Assurance/Quality Control Program as required by the state of Alaska and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). A copy of their Quality Assurance Plan is available upon request. All the samples and sampling methods were laboratory certified and the lab report is in conformance with the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program. For more information about their process, contact SGS labs directly at (907) 562-2343 or visit their website: http://www.us.sgs.com.

King Bee Equipment, the Phase I finishing up and Phase II mound system contractor, met with Lanning Engineering and the City of Valdez on Thursday June 18th to look at sites and propose a schedule. The preliminary schedule document is only for planning and will likely change as soon as they start construction (based on King Bee’s experiences here). King Bee is working on both a construction schedule and a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP). Both documents are intended to be “living documents” updated weekly or whenever there is a need. The preliminary schedule discussed is as follows:

Proposed Schedule
June 16-21 begin stock piling materials in snow lots
June 22 Begin Phase I
June 23: BK 5 LT 13
June 24: BK 5 LT 13
June 25: BK 5 LT 11 & BK 5 LT 13
June 26: BK 5 LT 2
June 27: BK 1 LT 5, BK 1 LT 2A & USS 5625 LT 3
June 28: USS 3939 LT 1A & USS 3939 LT 4
June 29: BK 9 18 and BK 9 LT 20
June 30: BK 8 LT 21 & BK 9 LT 4
July 1: BK 7 LT 15, BK 8 LT 3 & BK 8 LT 7
July 2: BK 4 LT 6 & BK 4 LT 8
July 3: BK 7 LT 11
July 3rd Finish Phase I work

July 5th Begin Phase II work
July 6-9: BK 9 LT 1
July 9-14: LT 3 Nordic
July 12-16: LT 2 Nordic
July 17-21: BK 7 LT 8
July 21-25: BK 5 LT 17A
July 25-30: BK 5 LT 10
August 1-5: BK 3 LT 9
August 2-7: BK 3 LT 8

King Bee has told us they already have a few small changes to this proposed schedule before construction begins. We will post the revisions as soon as they are sent to us.

Finally, a concern was voiced at the June 15th City Council Meeting about the tone of some of the things written in this blog. The City of Valdez apologizes whole heartedly to anyone who took offense to anything written in the blog. It is intended to function as a communication tool and to give homeowners and Valdez residents insight into the daily and weekly processes that come from implementing a program as large and, paradoxically, as deeply personal as this one is. Sometimes we light heartedly poke fun at things to break the tension and show our side to some of the issues, but our intent in these paragraphs has always been to make people smile. We have never intended to insult anyone or cause offense. Please accept our apology and give us another chance. In the future we will try harder to keep communication at a maximum and side comment to a minimum.

And as always, we invite all Savvy Septic readers to add comments to whatever we post here. A symposium should be many voices, not just one or two. You can post your thoughts and ideas by scrolling to the bottom of each blog and clicking on the number of comments listed in italics. You can also navigate on the right-hand side bar to just above the picture of the AdvanTex tanks on a truck, where the Blog Archive lists each blog posted by month. Click on the blog you want to comment on and if you scroll down to the bottom, there is a text box you can write your comments in and post them. We look forward to hearing from you. Until next time, Savvy Septic readers, keep the Septic Sentiment flowing!

PS. Please take an moment to read through all the documents posted to the City of Valdez website concerning Phase I, Phase II, City Council agenda statements, Oversight Group meeting notes, Lesson’s Learned, etc. This documentation provides a much more solid base of information to which the Savvy Septic Blog details compliment.

Effluent Testing & Maintenance Reports

Hello Savvy Septic Fans! This last week has been jam packed with happenings. Last Friday three spray– foamed AdvanTex systems arrived and were unloaded at the Bailer. We just got word that five more tanks are coming today. It’s always quite a sight to see them all lined up along the road out there.

The paperwork with King Bee equipment hasn’t cleared up as fast as either of us wanted but it appears things are finally ready and they expect to be here this Thursday or Friday gearing up for Phase I finishing touches and Phase II mound systems. The contract with Rockwell construction is still on hold until the City Council makes its decision about the AdvanTex effluent quality.

Two residents appeared before City Council June 1st with concerns about the AdvanTex systems. In order to ensure they were in possession of all the facts to respond to each individual concern the City Council decided to organize a “Septic Summit” along with the results of the effluent testing. The Septic Summit will be a meeting involving all interested parties, including the AdvanTex Manufacturer Orenco, Anchorage Tank’s AdvanTex coordinator, the Quanics system designer and installer, the local AdvanTex maintenance man, and hopefully also the DEC. It is our hope that with a mountain of positive evidence presented to back them up, the City Council and any other concerned residents will feel comfortable moving forward with AdvanTex systems. If any Savvy Septic fans out there would like to attend I will get the time and location to you as soon as it is available. The City will also send out mail notifications to all the Alpine Area residents.

The AdvanTex effluent tests were conducted last Wednesday, June 3rd. Dave Toomey, a former SGS labs employee who now works for the City of Valdez, was asked by SGS to collect the samples because he had all the proper training and was still in good relations with his former company. In order to reduce impact to the systems and their owners, Dave and the Valdez AdvanTex Service Provider, Mike Congel, went as one group to each septic system. Mike Congel has to be present to open up the systems anyway and he had scheduled his spring check-ups for the same time. The two were joined by Allen Crume, a member of the Oversight Group following to ensure proper effluent collection methods. Tom Varney and the Anchorage AdvanTex Service Provider were also on hand to train Mike Congel with his first round of spring check-ups and verify that the AdvanTex systems were in good shape and working well. It is our understanding that a few other people trickled in and out of the effluent testing sites too. Together they were quite a gang and unfortunately there was a miscommunication between the City, Anchorage Tank and Dave over who was calling all the residents. In some cases when the train of five cars showed up at their house some people were very surprised and had no idea what was going on. The City takes the private property out at Alpine Woods very seriously and we sincerely apologize to anyone who was inconvenienced by the lack of our communication. Anchorage Tank has also printed an official apology to homeowners in the beginning of their 1 year maintenance report. We expect notification to residents will come much more swiftly the next time there is a need.

Effluent tests generally take 7-10 days for results. SGS, the independent laboratory hired to collect and analyze samples, is testing for fecal coli form, Dissolved Oxygen and TSS. We will get those results to you as soon as possible.

Anchorage Tank’s spring check-up on the AdvanTex systems was very encouraging. They took their own tests and samples to analyze how well the systems were working. On site they measured turbidity, pH and Dissolved Oxygen. Everyone’s system was within the acceptable ranges. Anchorage tank checked all the system components and did not find any significant breaks or damage. All in all they were very satisfied with the over-wintering of the systems. To see a copy of this report click here or visit the City website Septic Replacement Program, Phase I.

The City had a meeting with the Oversight Group last Thursday to go over the effluent testing process and work on revising Option 2 (the homeowners who opt to pay for the installation up front themselves and get reimbursed once the approval to operate has been issued by the DEC). The Oversight Group, as always, offered a lot of excellent insight into the process. The City is currently writing up a “Guide to Option 2” that will be available on the website and at the Community Development Office as soon as it approved by City Council.

That’s all the updates we have for now. We hope the Septic Summit will be informative and helpful to everyone and are eager to present as much information as possible to the public and to the City Council. Please check back often. Like the weather in Valdez, you never really know what will happen next.