2022 PNWS-AWWA Conference Lineup

At this year’s Pacific Northwest Section-American Water Works Association Conference—the Northwest’s largest conference and trade show for drinking water professionals—you can find many Murraysmith leaders in water planning and design. Connect with us in Tacoma, Washington, on April 27-29. Below is a lineup of our team members who will be presenting.

Find more information about the conference on the PNWS-AWWA website.

Timeslot

Presenters

Topic

Thursday, 4/28, 9:45am

Daniel Mosiman, PhD – Engineering Designer, Murraysmith

Evaluating Options for Taste and Odor Problems (Umpqua Indian Utility Coop)

The Umpqua Indian Utility Cooperative’s (UIUC’s) water treatment plant in Canyonville, Oregon, has experienced increasingly exacerbated seasonal Taste and Odor (T&O) issues resulting from algal blooms in its raw water reservoir. This presentation will highlight the relevance and difficulty of T&O removal and summarize the evaluation process and implementation of treatment technologies.

Thursday, 4/28, 9:45am

Maricris “Mari” Orama, EdD, PE – Professional Engineer, Murraysmith

Puna Clarke, PE – Utility Engineer, City of Lacey

Elevating the City of Lacey’s Water System with the Terry Cargil Reservoir

How does a City address a growing population with an increased water demand that contributes to a system storage deficiency and temporary pressure sags? The solution—an elevated tank—required a creative approach to work within the constrained site adjacent to a residential neighborhood while balancing the City’s key criteria: cost-efficiency, safety, and ease of operations and maintenance. This presentation will discuss how the City-Consultant design team focused on the big picture and balanced the sometimes competing requirements from City interests, system operation needs, and outside stakeholders.

Thursday, 4/28, 10:150am

Sage Ebel – Engineering Designer, Murraysmith

Nathan Rostad, PE, PMP – Senior Engineer, Murraysmith

Not Just a Day at the Beach: Balancing Competing Priorities While Upgrading an Inlet Station

Located in the popular Enatai Beach Park, the City of Bellevue’s aging inlet station presents operational and maintenance challenges including being undersized and not having safe access for City employees. This presentation will discuss how the project team balanced competing stakeholder priorities to design a safe, modern, and operator-friendly water supply facility. Discussion of lessons learned during construction will be included.

Thursday, 4/28, 11:00am

Dennis Galinato, PE – Principal Engineer, Murraysmith

Mike Caccavano, City Engineer, City of Redmond

Brian Vinson, Project Manager, Emery & Sons Construction Group

South Redmond Water Facilities: Using Alternative Delivery to Fast-Track Critical Infrastructure to Serve a New Pressure Zone

Construction is underway on the South Redmond Water Facility, designed to provide water supply and storage for the City’s pressure zones. The $16 million construction project includes a 4 MG Type 1 concrete reservoir and a pump house with a 3,500 gpm well pump and booster pumps with 7,600 gpm capacity. This presentation will discuss the process and challenges of delivering this project from conception during master planning to implementation during construction. It will also address the advantages of the construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC) delivery method when faced with a tight construction timeline and challenging construction conditions.

Thursday, 4/28, 2:45pm

Nathan Rostad, PE, PMP – Senior Engineer, Murraysmith

Greg Lewis, PE – Associate, Peterson Structural Engineers

Aging Water Storage Reservoir Evaluations: Where Do I Begin?

This presentation will discuss general considerations for developing a program of potable water storage tank evaluations, approaches in developing detailed scoring and assessment rubrics, and the field evaluations of potable water storage tanks of various construction types and capacities. Attendees will learn specific considerations including in-service versus off-line inspection, evaluation of the condition of each reservoir to establish a baseline, and prioritization of repairs and upgrades to ensure safe and reliable potable water for the communities.

Friday, 4/29, 8:30am

Aaron Gress, PE – Civil Engineer, Murraysmith

Lee Odell, PE – Principal Engineer, Murraysmith

Jay Breen – Water Operations Specialist, Rockwood Water People’s Utility District

Pilot Testing for Iron and Manganese Removal: Successes and Challenges for Two Water Districts

Pilot testing provides a unique opportunity for utilities to determine cost-effective treatment solutions for water quality concerns prior to facility design and construction. Facing elevated iron and manganese concentrations, two water districts—Rockwood Water People’s Utility District (RWPUD) and Thurston Public Utility District (TPUD)— conducted pilot scale studies at various sites using manganese dioxide filter media. This presentation will review troubleshooting techniques used and the lessons learned from pilot testing multiple groundwater sources.

Friday, 4/29, 8:30am

David Stangel, PE – Director of Water, Murraysmith

Kim Marshall – Senior Associate, Barney & Worth (Murraysmith)

What You and Your Community Need to Know About WIFIA

Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Infrastructure Finance & Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan program has outsized benefits for utilities and the community they serve. These benefits can have generational impact and should be communicated strategically, throughout a project’s life cycle to community members, elected officials, and utility staff. Our staff has supported more than $1.6B in WIFIA loan Letters of Interest, subsequent applications, and ratepayer communications. This presentation covers what utilities and their community should know about WIFIA.

Friday, 4/29, 9:00am

Brendan O’Sullivan, PE – Principal Engineer, Murraysmith

Restoring Water System Confidence with CIPP

The City of Salem, Oregon, recently completed the rehabilitation and replacement of a critical water main in their distribution system. Utilizing CIPP lining technology and open cut construction methods, the City rehabilitated and replaced the ageing 560-foot-long section of existing 30-inch diameter welded steel water main. This presentation discusses how the team overcame challenges during design, permitting, and construction to return system confidence while minimizing project footprint and reducing environmental impacts.

Friday, 4/29, 10:15am

Joe Foote, PE, PMP – Senior Engineer, Murraysmith

Heather Piña, PE – Professional Engineer, Murraysmith

Nathan Black, PE – Assistant Utility Engineer, City of Walla Walla

Keep the Water Flowing: Staying Ahead of the Water Demand Curve in a Multi-Source System

The rapidly growing City of Walla Walla provides water service to just over 35,000 customers. The City owns and maintains seven municipal water wells that supplement its primary Mill Creek surface water supply. The Well Master Plan project defines a supply strategy to increase the City’s water supply resiliency by providing dependable operation for all wells. As part of the project, site visits were conducted at each of the well facilities to assess existing conditions of the pumping system, wellhead, facility security, and facility structure. A list of recommended improvements was developed for continued operation of the well facilities.

Friday, 4/29, 10:15am

Kristy Warren, PE – Senior Engineer, Murraysmith

Nate Morgan, PE – Public Works Director, City of Sultan

Jefferson Moss, PE – Civil Engineer, Murraysmith

City of Sultan Water Treatment Plant: Improvements to Expand Capacity and Enhance Plant and System Safety, Reliability, and Resiliency for a Two-MGD Treatment System

The rapidly growing City of Sultan provides water service to just over 5,000 customers and currently owns and operates a one-MGD surface water treatment plant, constructed in 1978, that treats water from the City-owned Lake 16 Dam. The Murraysmith design team is currently working with the City to design a two-MGD plant, with plans to expand to 2,000 GPM to utilize the City’s water rights. The presentation will describe how the team approached the design to accomplish these goals, emphasizing how decisions were made to supply for future growth with greater reliability and resiliency.

Friday, 4/29, 11:00am

Matt Hickey, PE – Principal Engineer, Murraysmith

Alex Bargmeyer, PE – Civil Engineer, Murraysmith

Whack-A-Mole: Waterproofing a 100-year-old Clear Well

Albany, Oregon’s Vine Street Water Treatment Plant, built in 1912, is a registered Oregon Historic Site. The City identified leakage through the 100-year-old concrete clear well—it leaked when filled, and infiltrate when empty, prompting structural and water quality concerns. The solution involved fiber-reinforced shotcrete walls and a poured-in-place floor. The repair also included epoxy injection and other methods to stop leaks. The project required close collaboration with the City, treatment plant operators, contractor, and design team to restore operation before the critical summer months.

Friday, 4/29, 11:00am

Brian Rowbotham, PE – Civil Engineer, Murraysmith

Pilot Testing Membrane Filtration to Treat Surface Water for Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR)

The City of Othello’s industrial growth has caused a surge in water demand, raising concerns over the long-term health of the aquifer. To demonstrate the feasibility of using irrigation water as a source for injection, Murraysmith provided guidance and specifications for deployment, startup, and operations of a mobile microfiltration trailer to treat 500 acre-feet of irrigation water. This presentation will discuss the feasibility of using a surface water source for Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) and the challenges associated with the startup and operation of a large-scale (1 MGD) pilot membrane filtration system.

Friday, 4/29, 2:45pm

Chris Young, PE – Client Service Manager, Murraysmith

Wendy Andaya, PE  – Civil Engineer II, City of Gresham

Optimizing Use of FEMA Funding: Gresham Grant Butte 10 MG Seismic Upgrades

This reservoir upgrade and pipeline replacement project completed by the City of Gresham was identified in their Seismic Resiliency Plan—the first project that will get them closer toward their goal of achieving an overall seismically resilient water system. This presentation will cover alternatives evaluation and facility analysis to upgrade the City’s 30-year-old, 10 MG prestressed concrete reservoir, which helped determined the most cost-effective approach and optimization of the funding provided through FEMA.