Piloting During a Pandemic

Key Takeaways

Four pilot teams shared experiences with piloting during the COVID‐19 pandemic, emphasizing that thoughtful planning streamlines the piloting process while mitigating the risk of transmitting illness.

Remote access to and control of pilot equipment, along with the use of virtual communication platforms, enabled teams to successfully perform pilot‐scale studies.

Operating pilot systems through the pandemic allowed teams to respond to drastic changes on a small scale to mitigate risks around full‐scale processes at the treatment plant.

Aron Griffin of Hazen and Sawyer stands in front of a pilot system at the George R. Sweeney Water Treatment Plant, operated by Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County, New Stanton, Pa. © 2021 Jim DeWolf. Printed with permission.

Water systems normally provide essential services, but especially during times of crisis, customers and communities rely on water professionals to stay healthy so they can provide safe drinking water and reliable wastewater services. Even during a pandemic, utilities aim to provide the same levels of service their customers have come to expect. So, it's not surprising that the novel coronavirus (which became known as COVID‐19) in 2020 drove the water industry to rapidly adjust health and safety norms.

Figure 1.

Overview of the Teams That Piloted During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Conducting pilot‐scale tests (“piloting”) is a microcosm of the water industry, existing at the nexus of operations, research, and design. Pilot‐scale tests mimic full‐scale treatment processes, so, operationally, both include the continuous production of water, sampling, chemical dosing, and equipment maintenance.

As research, piloting relies on the scientific method and includes experiments designed to generate data that test hypotheses, so the results must be significant, and their quality must be high. For design, piloting tests parameters and assumptions, answering critical questions that will lead to design decisions, and pilot results can be important for regulatory approval.

When the COVID‐19 pandemic was declared a public health emergency, many pilot studies were underway across North America at utilities, greenfield sites, and in research laboratories. To capture some of these experiences, I interviewed four pilot teams, each conducting unique studies in different parts of the United States. Each research team starts by introducing their pilot study, then discusses the impacts of the pandemic and outlines how things have changed moving forward. It was clear that while the studies were different, there were similar lessons learned. Remotely monitoring the equipment and meeting virtually allowed each team to redistribute their work, adapting new means to successfully pilot during the pandemic.

Editor's note: Participant responses that follow have been edited for length and clarity.

The Four Pilot Teams

Please introduce your team and your pilot study. What treatment technologies are you evaluating and what are the goals of your study?

Jordanelle Team

Our team in Heber City, Utah, consists of members from the Jordanelle Special Service District (JSSD), design engineers from Bowen Collins & Associates, and water treatment consultants from Water Quality & Treatment Solutions.

Our onsite pilot work began in May 2020 and ran until September 2020. Using a skid‐mounted system, the pilot evaluated conventional water treatment for a surface water that hadn't been used previously as a potential supply source for municipal drinking water. The pilot investigated two different primary coagulants for flocculation and sedimentation and four different media filter configurations using anthracite and granular activated carbon.

The main goals of the pilot study were to confirm that a skid‐mounted conventional water treatment system could reduce total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations below the maximum contaminant level, as well as to gather additional information on how the four different filter configurations removed TOC. An additional goal was to determine full‐scale operating parameters, including the amount of each chemical required for operation, the amount of sludge the system generated, and filter run times. These operating parameters will inform the design of the full‐scale treatment plant.

Westmoreland Team

Our team in Saltsburg, Pa., included piloting experts from Hazen and Sawyer and staff from the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County (MAWC). Our pilot program tested high‐rate filtration to expand the capacity of the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant. Data obtained from the pilot will be used to optimize operation and maintenance of Sweeney's existing filters, avoiding the need to build additional units.

Portland Team

The Portland Water Bureau (PWB) has served drinking water to nearly one million customers in the Portland, Ore., area from the Bull Run watershed under a filtration exemption for more than a century. After recent detections of low levels of Cryptosporidium in the source water, PWB now has a historic opportunity to build a modern 145‐mgd greenfield filtration facility. One of the first major undertakings in the program, the Bull Run Filtration Pilot has three main goals:

• Demonstrate treatment for regulatory approval

• Inform process selection and detailed design

• Train treatment staff

The pilot operations team is led by PWB staff, including treatment operators, engineers, and environmental technicians from PWB's operations and engineering departments. Pilot planning and reporting are conducted by program consultant firm Brown and Caldwell. Vital guidance is given from PWB's executive oversight team, an external technical advisory committee, and a full‐scale facility design team.

The Bull Run Filtration Pilot includes conventional surface water treatment processes, including ozone/ oxidation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration. As it treats 20 gpm of raw water through two parallel trains, the pilot study is designed to explore such issues as

• which processes to include at full scale;

• the value of oxidation;

• how to optimize coagulation in our cold, low‐alkalinity, and low‐turbidity water;

• how to size the filters and at what rate(s) should they be operated; and

• how to meet future water quality goals.

Westminster Team

CDM Smith is supporting the City of Westminster, Colo., with the design of a new 30‐mgd water treatment plant as part of the city's Water 2025 initiative. Westminster is pursuing a new treatment plant to cost‐effectively replace an existing plant near the end of its useful life, one that will improve resilience in challenges in the local watershed, such as drought and wildfires, and will have greater flexibility to adapt to changing regulatory standards.

The pilot program's short‐term goal is to evaluate a variance request for filter loading rates greater than 5 gpm/ft², but the next phase entails an expansive evaluation of various configurations of media and ozone to provide resilient process treatment when challenged with runoff affected by wildfires in the watershed. This past summer, the unfortunate magnitude of fires in the western United States made this research very timely. The impacts of wildfires can result in immediate and long‐term water quality deterioration, and we're exploring different scenarios by spiking source water with ash and burnt materials collected at the pilot facility to mimic these effects.

The Pandemic Hits

A piloting campaign typically consists of planning, onsite operations, and reporting. Where were you in the piloting process in March 2020? What were the conversations you had when the pandemic declaration was made?

Jordanelle Team

In March 2020, our project team was finalizing its plans and preparing to have the equipment shipped to the pilot location to begin operations. Toward the end of the month, we were in the process of scheduling personnel to travel to the site to set up the equipment, and we were working with the pilot manufacturer to schedule training on the pilot equipment.

When the pandemic declaration was made, we first looked at the program schedule to see what wiggle room existed for pilot operation. The goal was to begin operating the pilot in the spring to have an accurate representation of spring runoff from melting snow on nearby mountains. With the source coming from directly below a large reservoir, we wanted to evaluate whether the spring runoff would cause significant changes in the incoming water quality or if the reservoir was large enough to keep the water quality consistent with what is observed in summer months. We made sure that all the equipment, parts, and media were accounted for before finalizing the pilot startup schedule. Fortunately, with the pilot program starting shortly after the pandemic had been declared, we were not adversely affected by any shipment delays.

Westmoreland Team

The year‐long pilot program commenced in January 2020 and was well underway when the pandemic was declared. While we had already established sampling and data management protocols, site visits were still required to check equipment and to set up and perform periodic specialty tests. Throughout this process, we made sure all COVID‐19 health and safety protocols were understood and followed.

Portland Team

The PWB team was approximately halfway through the one‐year operations phase of piloting when shelter‐in‐place restrictions went into effect in March 2020. Rapid and drastic changes were made throughout PWB to mitigate the risk of transmitting illness, including halting all nonessential work and requiring most staff members to work from home. However, the regulatory deadlines associated with the filtration program did not change, and the final pilot report documenting treatment proficiency was due to the state regulator in November 2020. In addition, the window to inform process selection and detailed design of the full‐scale facility was closing, with the basis of a design report and 30% plans due by early 2021. Difficult decisions had to be made, balancing full‐scale system requirements with those of piloting, and evaluating how essential each aspect of our work was. We developed a three‐tier prioritization system in which serving clean water in the full‐scale system was first priority, other work with regulatory requirements (such as piloting) was second priority, other essential work was third priority, and all nonessential work was put on hold.

Westminster Team

Just weeks before the pandemic declaration was made, members of our pilot operation team traveled to Utah for factory testing of the pilot equipment. Not long after, the manufacturer's field engineer traveled to Colorado for field commissioning. While he was onsite in Colorado, many state governors recommended avoiding travel, and the city prohibited outside contractors at drinking water facilities in order to protect local essential workers. We were fortunate to have set up the remote viewing and control systems just before physical constraints were implemented to prevent disease transmission.

The project engineers were clear that our work was deemed essential. Indeed, peak demands were likely experienced this year by most water providers because of the populace staying at home, tending to gardens, and cooking more regularly. Our pilot study was essential to help the city provide reliable drinking water by meeting the plant implementation schedule for selecting a treatment process. Quickly identifying a way to safely continue the project, while minimizing additional risk for the city operations staff, we canceled all in‐person meetings and immediately transitioned to full remote support for the city operations staff.

Portland Water Bureau staff members work on the pilot‐scale project with special precautions to protect them from transmitting illness. Shown (left to right) are Tom Krause, Mojtaba Azadiaghdam, Humberto Piedra‐Ruiz, and Melanie Roy. © 2021 Yone Akagi. Printed with permission.

Making Adjustments

Your pilot was deemed essential work and continued operating. How did your original plans change to keep the pilot study moving forward?

Jordanelle Team

While we decided to delay the pilot start by a few weeks, we were fortunate that the personnel required to set up the pilot were willing to drive to the test site rather than fly, given travel restrictions and concerns. We were also fortunate that the pilot manufacturer was based nearby and still able to provide onsite training.

Once the pilot was operating, the pilot plan was followed without interruption. Weekly pilot updates were reported through conference calls, and periodic visits from the design engineer were still possible given the proximity of the pilot location.

Westmoreland Team

In addition to the COVID‐19 safety protocols established by our team and MAWC, equipment modifications and routine maintenance adjustments were required to keep the pilot program going. Luckily, substantial effort had been put into the planning stage months before the pandemic, so there was minimal impact on piloting overall.

Portland Team

Even though operating the pilot was deemed essential work, we evaluated all tasks within the project to prioritize how essential each one was. The test plan, sampling and analytical schedule, and staffing schedule were reevaluated to mitigate pandemic risk. The experiments included in the test plan were first evaluated to prioritize those required for regulatory approval and informing design, with experimental efforts meant to improve pilot operations and staff training delayed to subsequent years. The sampling schedule was reduced to capture only major trends. Even then, the monitoring shifted to prioritize field analytes that could be run by the pilot operations team (e.g., ultraviolet light absorbance, color) and reduced samples that required a laboratory analyst to process (e.g., organic carbon, metals).

In addition, the staffing approach was drastically overhauled. Whereas the full‐scale treatment system operators had previously participated in piloting efforts, they were removed from the project to prevent transmitting illness to staff vital to producing and delivering safe water. Within the remaining pilot operations team, cohorts were created so that the same pair of people would report together on any given day separate from any other pair. That way, if any team member became ill and the cohort needed to be quarantined, the other pair could continue to work and cover operations.

Westminster Team

From mid‐March until late August 2020, the city operations staff performed all in‐person activities and were able to continue stable operation with no interruptions. Technical support was provided through conference calls and messaging threads with the operations staff to keep working through the nine‐month pilot protocol. The city water quality staff collected and analyzed adenosine triphosphate samples in‐house weekly through much of the early piloting to monitor the biological activity of the various filters.

Moving Forward

What do you feel the lasting impacts of the pandemic will be on your pilot campaign?

Jordanelle Team

Other than the slight delay in getting the pilot set up and running, we did not feel that there were any lasting impacts from the pandemic on this particular pilot.

Westmoreland Team

Our protocol called for periodic updates to the pilot results for both the client and the state regulatory agency, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). Because COVID‐19 required a shift to remote communications and virtual meetings, sending emails and waiting for responses was less common. In fact, the familiarity gained with virtual platforms made communications more real‐time. In this way, the pandemic benefited the program by streamlining communications between our team, the client, and PADEP.

Portland Team

A likely impact of the pandemic will be the reduction of the overall pace of future tests. Pilot efforts became focused on answering questions that had to be addressed immediately. Questions concerning experimental setup, analytics, and reporting were largely taken on one at a time. Other questions regarding optimization, research, and equipment improvement, which might have been undertaken simultaneously, were put on hold to address later. However, the opportunity created by a reduced pace of operations is more capacity for reporting. Working from home, the pilot team was able to analyze data, write reports, and disseminate results concurrently.

Westminster Team

Remote access to the pilot equipment was achieved with a cellular modem that had remote access and control capabilities. These capabilities were critical to monitoring performance and troubleshooting alarms. Without these systems, we likely would have suspended operations, which may have ultimately led to difficult decisions for the entire Water 2025 implementation schedule. The pandemic elevated our investment in remote access and control from nice‐to‐have to essential.

What advice do you have for a reader who is planning on piloting in the next year?

Jordanelle Team

We recommend planning for schedule contingency in case of delays related to travel or equipment delivery. Parts and equipment lead times were significantly affected by the pandemic, so we also recommend that all equipment be accounted for onsite prior to scheduling pilot startup.

Westmoreland Team

Plan, plan, plan. In‐depth planning of the pilot before tests began allowed our team to stay on schedule and successfully complete the program, even with the adjustments that were made because of COVID‐19. Plan for the equipment setup to ensure a complete system is in place. Take into consideration hydraulics, power, plant service water availability, and the setup of special sampling requirements. Confirm all the parameters and metrics that are required to meet the goals of the study, and that data management systems can reliably assist in recording and communicating results. Finally, plan for routine communications with stakeholders and regulatory agencies so that those involved can stay up to date on pilot status and milestones.

Portland Team

Piloting is meant to be a small‐scale trial of a larger system, one that is traditionally applied to process demonstration and quantifiable, scalable results, but piloting is similarly applicable to operations. Just as a full‐scale treatment system would have had to respond to new work paradigms under rapidly and drastically changing conditions, operating the pilot system through the pandemic provided opportunity to practice those responses at a smaller scale. Continuing to pilot during the pandemic let us prioritize our efforts, try different staffing approaches, practice emergency communication protocols, and rehearse a small‐scale disaster response. Pandemic restrictions are in place for the foreseeable future, and continuing to pilot in our new world still provides great value in meeting project goals and developing internal response processes.

In‐depth planning of the pilot before tests began allowed the team to stay on schedule and successfully complete the program, even with the adjustments that were made because of COVID‐19.

Westminster Team

Pilot programs can be improved through partnering, so consider ways to augment your pilot team. Our program's pilot includes academic collaboration with the University of Colorado Boulder, input from our Water 2025 design partner, and direction from a broad steering committee at the city. When many support staff carry the distributed load of maintaining and guiding a pilot, preventive maintenance is easier, data are more reliable, and a wider group of water professionals can learn and share more than they may have otherwise.

Biography

Brock Emerson is chief executive officer at Intuitech Inc. (www.intuitech.com), Salt Lake City, Utah; bemerson@intuitech.com.