Technical capacity and institutional knowledge within communities' water and wastewater utilities are ever-changing. With the current trend of retirements, the evolving workforce, and operators transitioning into careers away from our utilities, the need for technical assistance has increased. MPUA was awarded a technical assistance grant provided by EPA and managed by Wichita State University. Staff have been providing technical assistance for communities to better prepare for State Revolving Funds in the areas of capital improvement planning, operator training, capacity development, and asset management. Providing these services has become essential for small Missouri communities to have information gathered and work done prior to completing more costly engineering work.
One community that has recently received Technical Assistance through MPUA is the City of Norborne, Missouri. Norborne faced a difficult situation when new staff who did not have a background in utilities were charged with operating the drinking water treatment plant, wastewater lagoon, and the distribution and collection systems alongside other duties that come with operating a municipality. MPUA staff met with the City Clerk and the two City operators to discuss the issues and areas in need of assistance. The drinking water treatment plant was built seven years ago and had pending approval for an engineering grant from the Department of Natural Resources. City staff found it difficult to answer their counsel as to why they needed to spend the money on the plant. The city knew they needed repairs and increased maintenance to the facility, but didn’t believe there needed to be a complete engineering study.
MPUA Staff provided a comprehensive site asset assessment and identified several areas of maintenance and repair. Primary areas of concern included the main scrapers bearing on the contact clarifier. This is an expensive fix that would require an outside contractor to fix. Other notable items were maintenance and repair to the high-pressure pump packing seals, gathering and creation of the operation and maintenance manuals, and permit compliance, such as operator training on compliance with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. MPUA staff provided legwork to identify various engineering companies and vendors to provide Norborne with all of the factory operation and maintenance manuals so the operators could have information at hand. MPUA staff also provided a list of known issues, the repair times, and estimated costs. After this documentation was created, MPUA Staff delivered the findings to the city. All items totaled came back with an estimated cost of around $20,000. This was in line with the overage amount that would not be covered by the engineering grant. With this information at their disposal, the council decided to pass on the grant opportunity and invest those funds into repairs for the water treatment plant.
For the City of Norborne’s Wastewater Treatment Lagoon, MPUA Staff made a site visit to assess its condition. It was noted that two aerator motors in the preliminary cell did not work, a walkway out to the discharge valves and sample collection point was in major disrepair, and the discharge valves were corroded to the point of being non-functional. This left the lagoon to constantly discharge with no control of the water levels. MPUA Staff performed electrical diagnostics on the control panel of the aerators. Upon inspection, it was found that the breakers within the panel would erroneously fault, preventing a complete test. MPUA staff sourced the correct replacements, provided the installation, and completed testing. The motors needed to be overhauled due to internal winding issues with use of a Meg Meter. This service saved the city over $2,000 in testing and installation. MPUA staff also spent time with the operators going through their lagoon system and the NPDES permit, providing best practices, compliance processes, and specific answers to the operator’s questions. This ensured the City of Norborne will remain in compliance with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
MPUA continues to provide Technical Assistance to the City of Norborne. If your community is interested in receiving Technical Assistance from MPUA, please contact Josh Youngblood for more information.
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