Tank Awards Recognize Distinctive Design
Two tanks recently received commendation in the 27th annual Concrete Tank Awards presented by the Portland Cement Association (PCA). The tanks were recognized in two areas: Distinguished Environmental Consideration and Distinguished Architectural Treatment.
The Portland Cement Association awarded the Distinguished Environmental Consideration Tank Award to the Metropolitan Wastewater Department of San Diego, Calif. Designed for seismic zone 4 criteria, the Miramar reclaimed water storage tank incorporates base and top seismic connections to provide maximum ductility under earthquake loading.
The 9 million gallon tank is 260 feet in diameter, with a wall height of 23 feet. The reservoir floor, core wall, and roof are cast-in-place concrete. The tank core wall is 15 inches thick and is cast full height in 46-foot-wide consecutive panels, using 5000-psi concrete. The prime contractor for the project was Berryman & Henigar of San Diego; Simon Wong Engineering was the subcontractor. DYK Inc. built the tank.
Coral Springs, Florida?s 1.35 million gallon water storage reservoir tank won the distinguished architectural treatment award. The tank has columns and horizontal bands made with conventional shotcrete construction. Capitals were precast and installed with stainless steel rods. A contrasting paint color was used on the horizontal bands to achieve a unique visual presence. The tank is 95 feet in diameter and has 25-foot, 7-inch high walls. Camp, Dresser & McKee performed the engineering, and the Crom Corporation built the tank.
Girl Scouts Honor Philadelphia Water Official
Susan K. Lior, Philadelphia Water Department Deputy Commissioner, was among the six women honored at the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Pennsylvania?s 14th annual Take the Lead Awards ceremony. This year?s event, ?Mothers of Invention, Women Achieving in Science and Technology,? was held March 7 in Philadelphia.
Each year, Girl Scouts of Southeastern Pennsylvania honors women who have demonstrated exemplary achievement in their profession or field of expertise. At the start of a new millennium, the Take the Lead 2000 Awards celebrate women in science and technology. The moderators and presenters of the awards were Girl Scouts who interviewed the honorees to learn more about their background and accomplishments. These interviews provided an opportunity for girls to interact with successful, dynamic women role models.
Girl Scouts selected Lior because of the way she responded to the challenges of a deteriorating infrastructure and shrinking tax base faced by America?s industrial cities. Lior has been a pioneer in the use of geographic information systems to assess the condition of municipal water systems and respond to environmental challenges.
Lior joined the Philadelphia Water Department in 1996, and with her staff developed the country?s largest integrated, municipal geographic information system, which provides complete, timely information to anticipate and monitor infrastructure problems, increase work force productivity, control costs, and protect the environment. Thanks in large part to Lior?s leadership, the Philadelphia Water Department is a national leader and model for other water utilities.
Florida Water Services Grants Scholarships to Children
Florida Water Services, for the fourth consecutive year, is awarding 18 $500 academic scholarships to children of its customers.
?At Florida Water Services, one of our primary concerns is education. These scholarships are a way of showing our commitment to our customers and their children?s educational needs,? said John Cirello, Ph.D., president and CEO of Florida Water Services.
Students age 17 or older and scheduled to enroll next fall in a full-time undergraduate course of study at an accredited four-year college or university in Florida are eligible. Each year, applicants are judged by an independent organization, Citizens Scholarship Foundation of America, on academic performance, leadership, participation in school and community activities, statement of career goals and unusual personal or family circumstances.
The program is funded solely by Florida Water?s shareholders. Florida Water Services serves more than 500,000 Floridians in 25 counties, making it the largest investor-owned water and wastewater service company in the state.
District To Offer Bottled ?Break Fluid?
The Community Water System of Greers Ferry, Ark., is offering 20 ounce bottles of water as a public relations tool. Using the name ?Break Fluid,? these bottles contain the exact same water the system provides for approximately 17,000 households and businesses throughout north central Arkansas.
With the increasing popularity of bottled water, the district felt this would be an ideal method of improving company visibility and creating a greater awareness of the exceptional water quality it offers, according to Greg Smith, System General Manager.
?Break Fluid? will be used by CWS in a variety of ways, but in all cases it will be offered to customers free of charge. Local schools and charitable organizations will be provided the free water which they can sell or distribute as they see fit. All proceeds from the sales will be theirs to keep.
The bottled water also will be passed out at civic club meetings, used to alert customers of upcoming service stoppages, offered as hand outs at special events, and generally used to promote the area of Greers Ferry Lake and the Community Water System.
Intergraph and BYU Integrate Civil SelectCAD Technology with WMS Software
Intergraph Corporation and Brigham Young University (BYU) have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly pursue the interaction of Intergraphs Civil SelectCAD&trade: civil engineering technology with BYUs Watershed Modeling System (WMS) software.
Intergraph is donating five license of Civil Workgroup software to BYU?s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Environmental Modeling & Research Lab (EMRL). The donation will allow EMRL to develop data integration functionality between WMS and Civil SelectCAD while also providing BYU?s civil engineering students the opportunity to gain practical experience using the software.
Civil SelectCAD technology provides a Microsoft Windows?-compliant application on the user?s choice of Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) platforms. The Civil Workgroup consists of InRoads? SelectCAD for road design, Bridge SelectCAD for 3D layout of bridge geometry, Storm & Sanitary SelectCAD for storm and sewer modeling and analysis, and Survey SelectCAD for field survey data collection and reduction.
San Jose Plans CIS Upgrade
San Jose Water Company has plans to implement Orcom Solutions? Enterprise Customer Information System (E-CIS) to serve the utility?s 220,000 customers in Silicon Valley.
SJW Corp., San Jose Water Company?s parent company, recently announced its intention to merge with American Water Works Company, Inc., the largest investor-owned water supply company in the U.S. and an Orcom E-CIS client. American Water Works operations serve more than 3 million customers nationwide.
According to Dana Drysdale, San Jose?s Vice President of Information Systems, the system will satisfy San Jose Water Company?s goals in several areas: improved group billing capabilities, enhanced customer communications including the ability to customize delinquency communications, and the ability to route work to specialized maintenance crews for increased efficiency.