Developing and Implementing a WRRF Computerized Operation and Maintenance Manual

The Niagara Falls Water Board (NFWB) water resource recovery facility (WRRF) is unique, being the largest municipal physical-chemical activated carbon treatment plant in the country. As was common at the time it went online in 1977, the WRRF was provided with a series of paper operation and maintenance manuals, which were useful but inconvenient to revise, and thus, not frequently updated. Forty years later the NFWB entered into an Order on Consent with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for a variety of facility improvement evaluations and actions. One of those items required updating of the plant operation and maintenance procedures. Instead of reworking the 30 and 40-year old paper volumes, the utility decided to develop an all-electronic version to both satisfy regulatory requirements and provide the staff with a truly useful resource. The NFWB moved forward with a web-based computerized operation and maintenance manual (COMM), providing access to the manual for staff working from any utility computer or mobile device. This paper documents the development of the COMM, including contents and organization, enhanced features, and interaction with the WRRF’s Computerized Maintenance Management System. The COMM also links to 3D images and 3D scans that allow anyone to travel virtually to a specific area of the plant without leaving their workstation. The integration of all of these resources into the COMM provides a valuable benefit to the existing WRRF personnel and a training resource for incoming personnel.