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When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the nation, leading to understandable confusion and concern, the public immediately began hoarding bottled water as a panicked, knee-jerk reaction. It was understandable to a degree, the actions being recommended to reduce the impact of the virus were the first of their kind. Being told you shouldn't leave the house and that you should minimize trips for basic necessities will lead you to stuff your cart with everything you can find. Of course, what we discovered very early on was that COVID-19 did not impact the quality of our drinking water. In fact, the worst potential impacts from the virus on our water and wastewater services were not its threats to public health, they were the threats to staffing levels at our plants. Dozens of utilities sheltered their staffs at their plants, rotating them out after days at a time, to make sure the water and wastewater systems kept running. During the earliest days of the crisis, the press and the public were looking for any good news to reassure themselves that life would be turned upside down just a little less. And that's where proactive communications about public water's response to COVID-19 perfectly fit the bill. Here was a positive story, no impact on drinking water, that attached to EVERY viewer or reader of a news outlet covering their service area. If customers questioned or didn't think about the value of their water before COVID-19, there was a new opportunity to drive home that point during the pandemic response. After all, imagine if COVID infected our drinking water? Our lives would have been very different. Hundreds of positive stories ran across the nation by public water's higher value. References to our water's value during COVID-19 don't have to stop once we get a vaccine; we should mention it at every turn for years to come. The staffing response during COVID-19 also served as a tremendously positive story from several utilities.
Read MoreA wastewater utility’s customers are receiving information that they believe is important without having to ask for it; they’re sent notifications dozens of times a day. As a result, expectations have risen with service providers, especially those people who pay every month, every other month, or every quarter to ensure their quality of life. When emergencies occur, especially those that make news throughout an entire area, like with a significant sewer spill, a utility must quickly act to assure the public that the crisis is being responded to and that the potential for any long-term impacts are being mitigated. What many people don’t realize is that successful crisis communications responses are actually rooted in a utility’s efforts to proactively inform their customers about their services before an emergency occurs. Regular releases of information to the press, the public, and key stakeholders about the good work you do 24/7/365 or communications that provide helpful tips to say, keep FOG out of a customer’s pipes, goes a long way to building trust and respect for the utility’s work. And that trust is important, because it will be called upon in a crisis. This presentation will discuss how to handle internal and external communications during a wastewater crisis, in this case, a 500,000-gallon SSO alongside a commuter route during rush hour that flowed into a creek known for its wildlife and boating activity. WaterPIO will show the tactics used to help diffuse the initial negative reaction and turn the actions of the utility into a positive, not only by showcasing the response but continuing to provide information after the immediate crisis has passed. Utilities can actually IMPROVE their standing with the public after a major SSO by regularly providing information about the improvement of the waterway involved day after day.
Read MoreWe all inherit infrastructure designed and built by someone else. What happens when a city pops up out of nowhere and you are in charge of creating it? How should we plan for the right infrastructure of the right size, in the right place, at the right time? How can we leverage economic development, private development, organizational partnerships, and unique funding options to achieve the right kind of development which will be sustainable? This presentation focuses on how to build a city from the ground up, with special attention to the infrastructure master planning and capital improvement plan processes. Presenters will discuss the challenge of making decisions which meet the needs of the development community right now while also meeting the long-term needs of the city once the developer is gone.
Read MoreThe use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the construction industry is growing. It is the face of a new industrial revolution and represents the next great technology that will change construction. Contractors are already using it to prepare schedules to better optimize time and costs. Owners and consultants are leveraging AI to produce budgets and cost estimates for their programs and projects. But with the opportunities and benefits of AI come genuine risks, especially as it relates to the preparation, auditing, and negotiating of change orders. If construction owners fail to address AI in their contracts, the playing field may become unlevel. And contractors are not without risk. They will have to adopt AI or fall behind their competition. They will also have to revise their typical project management practices to limit their liabilities to damages. In this presentation, John Armstrong will demystify AI and help separate the buzz from reality. John will discuss how owners, contractors, and consultants can avoid the risks AI presents in the change management process. This presentation will also include an overview of what AI is, how it is currently being used in construction, how it could be used in the future, and discrete and actionable steps that can be taken to avoid these risks.
Read MoreAsset managers know there’s a disconnect between the asset data in their Asset Management Software/GIS and the assets in the field. This disconnect makes efficient asset management difficult because there’s no assurance that the desktop view reflects the reality in the field. To resolve this data gap, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is increasingly being used to connect field assets directly to their records in GIS. This session demonstrates how RFID-enabled marking products linked to mobile data collection systems provide accurate, real time field asset data and the ability to update asset records in the field. Real-world use of RFID for field asset management case studies will be presented and reviewed. Adam Schleicher, Director of Public Services for the City of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin will provide an overview of the deployment in that city.
Read MoreWhat happens when CNN, The New York Times, and 12 candidates for President of the United States come to town? A lot. Now, imagine having four weeks to plan for public safety for large crowds, prepare infrastructure to support a major international broadcast, and help 10,000 visitors have a free-speech experience within a two-block radius. When Otterbein and Westerville were announced as the host site for the debate, the eyes of the world were upon them. This had an immediate impact on public programs and services. Staff had to get organized, partner in teams and figure out logistics, including public safety, citizen communication, and infrastructure adjustments. The three prior debates resulted in arrests and injuries, and sections in each community were overwhelmed with traffic, protests, and demonstrations. Public works staff were critical in helping devise a plan that would assure Westerville’s name would not be associated with a disastrous event. Partnerships with a number of agencies helped us stage dozens of trucks, mobile light towers, crowd fencing, parking, ride-share and traffic plans, secure bus routes, and much more. Westerville activated an Emergency Operations Center capable of accommodating multiple agencies, an inspections team to monitor compliance, and surveillance systems to protect property and people. Signals, sidewalks, and signage were inspected for working order. Hydrants were checked. Emergency and detour routes established. Turn-by-turn transportation plans were created. Road closures, equipment deployment, and use of staff plans were developed. Service and engineering helped coordinate with public safety professionals who had to manage crowds. A massive event clean-up returned the area to normal, with trash, barricades, and fencing removed overnight. While millions of eyes were on Westerville, we did not miss our opportunity to shine. The event outcome was zero arrests, zero injuries, and a successful show for Otterbein and this community.
Read MoreThis “EV Workshop” guide is intended to promote understanding of public EVs fleets by providing an overview of their various types, the infrastructure needed, how they are charged or fueled,…
Read MoreThe City of Waconia is an expanding west metro community within the seven county region of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota. The City while partnering with the Minnesota Department of Transportation on a corridor expansion and frontage road improvement project were challenged with meeting storm water volume and water quality rules imposed by the watershed. The City chose storm water reuse as a management strategy to meet the requirements. Storm water irrigation isn’t a new science, golf courses have utilized this practice for years. What makes this interesting is the City is selling storm water to businesses and irrigating City parcels within the watershed in effort to meet their volume and water quality requirements. Knowledge of chloride impacts to receiving waters including storm water ponds were of concern, however the City has been vigilant in reducing winter chemical applications. Research after the fact through testing, we have found the challenge in excess of previous sampling efforts in other watersheds in the community. A second challenge is the multiple agencies providing winter services to impervious surfaces outside of the City operational control. As a result the City is taking the higher than desired chloride testing results to the next level through efforts of public and staff education, watershed winter chemical application tracking and route optimization through its AVL system. A new State of Minnesota Chloride Management Plan will require and enhance the City efforts to reduce the found chloride levels in the storm water, and assist the city in education efforts to reduce chloride impacts from an outside perspective. This presentation is tied to a Reporter Article being published in October of 2020
Read MoreCarson City’s Pavement Management Plan for Fiscal Year 2019-2023 was approved by the Regional Transportation Commission in April 2018. The Plan formalized and established an efficient and effective strategy for preserving and maintaining the City’s 676 lane-miles of roadway and established five performance districts within the City with a five-year rotating work schedule. The Plan was designed to provide a predictable use of roadway funding while maintaining flexibility for unplanned city projects and “match” for grant funding opportunities, as needed. Now in its third fiscal year of implementation, city staff has implemented lessons learned from implementation in the first two years and has transformed the transportation capital improvement program from one focused on pavement to one that evaluates each project for opportunities to coordinate with water, wastewater, and stormwater projects to reduce overall Public Works Department costs, streamline work efforts, and improve transparency of local decision-making regarding limited infrastructure dollars.
Read MoreBenefit-cost analysis can be a powerful tool for informing infrastructure investment decisions. New York City’s Department of Transportation has been using this tool in the early stages of funding and design for select projects to identify alternatives that provide the greatest benefit to the public at the lowest cost. This talk demonstrates how the agency applied benefit-cost analysis on a major street redesign and on several bridge rehabilitation projects to save tens of millions of dollars while maximizing safety, mobility, and infrastructural benefits for the public. It also includes a discussion on how this benefit-cost analysis helped city government leadership select and fund the alternative that best advanced the city’s strategic objectives. The presenters will include senior executive management and the department’s policy office.
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