Strategic, Scalable Outreach for Non-Dispersible Products

The popularity of flushable products with consumers is growing at a rapid pace, and so is consumer confusion. Often products that are not marketed as flushable are being confused with products that are, and are being flushed down toilets. However Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (the District) is finding success in a budget friendly strategic outreach program.The Districts collection system comprises approximately 30,000 manhole structures, and around 1,500 miles of pipe. With the rapidly growing market for products that are marketed as flushable, there is an equally growing concern for their contribution to sanitary sewer overflows (SSO’s) within our service area, not to mention their potential effect on the treatment process and long term effect on the environment. In response to this concern the District embarked on a strategic outreach program.The District has been practicing continuous improvement methodologies for many years, and its numerous awards from the California Water Environment Association and the National Association of Clean Water Agencies are testament to that, however in recent years the concern for the effect of non-dispersible products on the collection system and the associated pump stations was growing and a responsive, cost effective solution was needed.In 2012 the Collection System Planning group came up with a tactical, scalable outreach program to target the specific neighborhoods where non-dispersible products were causing concern. With the aid of the organizations geospatial information system (GIS) and hydraulic model, the District was able to readily identify trouble spots with the help of the Operations staff and quickly respond to the associated residents with an eye-grabbing, educational postcard detailing potential effects non-dispersible products can have on the public sewer and privately owned sewer laterals.As soon as non-dispersibles are discovered in the collection system sewers by Operations staff, the Operations department contacts the Planning workgroup to ascertain the upstream sewershed using GIS and identify properties that could have contributed to the issue. A mailing list is then generated from the GIS Attribute Table and checked for accuracy with property data software prior to forwarding to the Reprographics Group for mailing the outreach material. This effective, low cost outreach can be turned around the same day a concern is raised by the Operations staff.Engineering and Communications Department staff worked together to create an innovative postcard that was going to grab the immediate attention of the homeowner, so they would hopefully read it before discarding it with the recipients other junk mail. The end product was so effective it even engaged the response of school age children.During the past 2 years the District has mailed out over 3,000 postcards to strategic locations within its service area. The number of postcards mailed out may not seem to be significant in terms of outreach, however when that outreach is focused on specific neighborhoods of concern it has been proven effective. At one particular pump station the District now only needs to de-rag pump impellors once a month, compared to once a day prior to the targeted outreach.It is going to take a coordinated effort by all stakeholders to find a long term solution to this emerging issue of concern for the wastewater industry; however in the interim the District has created a cost effective process for mitigating the severity of the problem in its Collection System. This strategic outreach program is scalable and affordable for most utilities.This paper presents the project with a broad perspective to provide agencies with an understanding of why the outreach was initiated, an outline of the process and important lessons the District learned along the way.