Owner Derived Tools for Collection System Asset Management; (1) Capacity and Condition ranking, (2) Remote Pump Station Monitoring, and (3) Probability and Severity Analysis.

A presentation on how a medium sized municipal wastewater collection system owner has implemented tools to increase existing wastewater collection system capacity.The Town of Blacksburg, Virginia, is located on the eastern continental divide in the Appalachian mountains of southwestern Virginia, about a 4 hours drive south of Washington, D.C. It has a growing population of approximately 40,000 people, is home to the largest University in the Commonwealth (Virginia Tech), and is experiencing continued growth with several service, retail, commercial, and high tech industries in the area. The Town owns and operates a diverse wastewater collection system (producing approximately 5.5 million gallons per day) that serves approximately 20 square miles and includes: 135 linear miles of gravity lines, 22 conventional sewer pump stations, and approximately 150 alternative low pressure small diameter (Septic Tank Effluent Pump (STEP)/Septic Tank Effluent Gravity (STEG)) collection units.In recent years continued development has created additional pressure on the Town's aging infrastructure and required a more aggressive approach by the Engineering and Public Works Departments to maximize capacity in the existing system. The presentation will highlight three simple tools that the Town has employed to gain system capacity in the wastewater collection system and assist decision makers in prioritizing improvement projects. First, a GIS and modeling tool that the Town has employed to establish an Owner defined capacity and condition ranking system for gravity lines, manholes, and pumping stations. Secondly a remote data acquisition system from which system flow data and pumping station performance is monitored on a more real time basis and transferred to a remote computer server system installed by the Town Information and Technology Department. Thirdly, a project prioritizing matrix defined by the probability and severity of a predefined “undesired event” adapted from the Department of Justice Method to Assess the Vulnerability of U.S. Chemical Facilities (Special Report, NCJ 195171, November, 2002)