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Quailemotles Albany weathers the storm by Carolyn Hardy Olsen,a com- After heavy rains flooded por- pany vice president,last year Lions of Georgia this summer, when she assisted the city of Des Brown and Caldwell helped the Moines when its treatment plant city of Albany get its wastewater flooded.Electrical and mechani- treatment plant and the con- cal engineering staff from the struction of the plant's expansion company's Atlanta office also back up to speed. provided support. When the deluge started Although the floodwater has July 4,the city was in the middle receded and both the plant and of a wastewater treatment plant construction are back on track, expansion with Brown and the effects of the flood still Caldwell as the construction linger. "The neighborhood of manager and Alcon Associates the plant is like a ghost town;' Inc.as the contractor.As the rain says Brown and Caldwell project increased,it became clear that manager Linda Danco in Atlanta. the Flint River,normally 1,600 "Nobody lives there anymore. feet east of the plant,would The devastation to the communi- overtake its banks with the crest ty was incredible." -- expected to occur July 9. To prepare for the pending Regulators waive flood,Brown and Caldwell's $100,000 in fines - Herman Alford oversaw the When the city of Colorado contractor's effort to secure the Springs,Colo.,was about to be _ site.This effort included filling hit with over$100,000 in fines _ - concrete structures under bemuse its wastewater treatment construction(piping and a plant had exceeded National chlorine-contact facility)with Pollutant Discharge Elimination water hoping the additional System(NPDES)permit limits weight would prevent them for silver,Brown and Caldwell _ from floating away in the flood- acted fast to help the city avoid water.The contractor also the penalty. moved stored materials and The city was notified by the trailers out of the flood's path, state that it would be cited for and the city and its maintenance discharging too much silver into • .n• contractor removed motors from Fountain Creek,exceeding the existing wastewater facilities to NPDES limit of 1.2 parts per bil- --_ prevent them from being lion.The city requested and won damaged. a 30-day delay from the state reg- Meanwhile,several people ulators to collect data necessary _ from Brown and Caldwell's to support its case.Then the city - Atlanta office attempted to travel turned to Brown and Caldwell to Albany to help the efforts,but for help. Brovin and Caldwelleregulatorsto roads were closed and they were During that 30-day period, ' ' s'metals limits. prevented from making the trip. engineers worked with the city When the river crested,it to design an intensive plant was thrilled with the outcome; guidance from the U.S. reached as many as two miles monitoring program which the says Cynthia Paulson,project Environmental Protection to the west of the treatment city staff worked around the manager."We met with the state Agency,which accounts for plant.By that time,Alford,the clock to implement. that morning,and they called the metal bioavailability.By showing city,and the construction and Brown and Caldwell evaluat- city that afternoon to say they that silver discharges to the maintenance contractors bad ed the data,did some modeling had reversed their position.Both creek were not affecting aquatic secured the site as much as pos- using TOXCHEM,and pulled the state and the EPA were life(only a fraction of the silver sible.Two days after the crest, together a presentation that incredibly responsive on this is available to the organisms), when Alford surveyed the site for showed regulators the violations issue.They[state officials] said Brown and Caldwell and the city flood damage,he spent most of were temporary:They were the technical work was very per- convinced regulators to consider the day in a boat. caused by a partial plant shut- suasive and made it an easy deci- a future increase in the silver About five days after the river down to allow for construction. sion.It was very rewarding to limit by a factor of over three. crested,the city was able to Since the plant was being work together with city staff on The increase could be imple- return the motors to the plant upgraded,and Brown and this project—we joined forces to mented by Jan. 1,1995. and start primary treatment Caldwell could show that the meet a very demanding deadline This project marks the fust again.Brown and Caldwell plant wouldn't have exceeded the and achieved all our goakP time in Colorado that the new helped by providing information limits otherwise,the city quali- Brown and Caldwell also metals guidance from EPA had on areas of the plant to bring up fied for a bypass exemption from helped the city perform some been applied,and EPA Region first and where to look for prob- the NPDES limits and all fines related work which showed state VIII officials are planning to use lems.Much of the flood recovery were dropped. regulators the city's metals limits the approach as a prototype, information was first developed "The city of Colorado Springs were too low,based on new says Paulson. 8