Category: Newsworthy

Lead and Copper Rule Revision

An EPA mandate under section §141.84 of the Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR) requires all municipalities to develop and submit for review a lead service line (LSL) inventory plan, including public and private side, by October 16, 2024.

Over time, lead in drinking water builds up in the body, causing damage to the brain, red blood cells, and kidneys. The most significant risk is to young children and pregnant women, as lead in the body can slow the normal mental and physical development of growing bodies.

With the EPA’s October mandate rolling out in 2024, municipalities across America are working on developing or refining an LSL inventory tracking system to quickly identify and replace lead service lines for public and private water connections.

T&H’s Justine Carroll, Vice President, published an article titled “How to Start an LSL Inventory Tracking System,” which provides guidance on the necessary information that should be collected for a complete database. You may review the full article here. 

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LSL Projects

How to Start an LSL Inventory Tracking System

by Justine Carroll, Vice President, Tata & Howard, Inc., October, 2022

For the first time since the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency has mandated all municipalities, under section §141.84 of the Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR), to develop and submit for review a lead service line (LSL) inventory plan including both public and private side. Municipalities’ inventories servicing 50,000+ populations must be available on the municipality’s website, allowing residents and business owners to access information online to determine if the line on public or private land contains lead. The EPA administration is encouraging early plan submissions allowing review and revision time to meet the October 16, 2024, deadline.

The following planning structure serves as a guideline for an LSL inventory plan. The shared information provided is not all-encompassing, allowing individual municipalities to customize their inventory plan to their needs.

Start preparing an LSL Inventory

Find and organize internal data such as metered accounts, assessors’ data, record files, service cards, building permit records, work orders, and field excavations. Create a customer survey using mailings or mobile applications to help identify LSL materials for homes or businesses. Develop public education programs to notify private owners and residents through invoicing, email, and notices.

Structuring the database – Categories, Subcategories, and Service Indicators

The next step in developing an LSL plan is to assign categories and subcategories to identify and report quickly. Data fields can include sampling locations, connection material, current and past service line material, installation date, classification, building type, building installation year, plumbing material, and service line replacement status. Template spreadsheets are available at the state level; using them allows for universal fields and drop-down menus for continuous data input.

The inventory will identify services with service lines categorized as lead, galvanized requiring replacement, or lead status unknown; consider installation and home construction dates, service line size, and water-main installation year when actual dates are unavailable.

Base your starting point with the 1986 EPA Lead Ban and local ordinances to determine when lead installations were not allowed in the public water system. Services with unknown materials should be ranked for verification by indicating high priority of lead, medium priority of lead, or low priority of lead.

Create a public LSL replacement program to eliminate known lead service lines and work with private owners to replace necessary lines; often, monetary incentivized programs are available. Next, develop a verification process consisting of customer surveys, home inspections, water quality sampling, or mechanical excavation.

Lastly, internally link the database to a shapefile in your GIS or other mapping software to identify service line materials quickly; data can be made public for communities with more than 50,000 people.

To contact Justine M. Carroll, Vice President, Tata & Howard, Inc.
jcarroll@tataandhoward.com  |  Direct ((508) 219-4018
Let’s Connect on LinkedIn 

Article featured: MWWA H20 Pump Newsletter, October 2022, Edition N0. 224, featured sponsor, page 9.

T&H Engineers Participate in “Fight For Air Climb” 2022

Team Unum Montis Champions "Fight For Air Climb" Competition With
Overall Lowest Time and Second Highest Fundraising Efforts!

Kudos to Team Unum Montis!

On Saturday, May 7th, Tata & Howard team members Robert Sims and Matt O’Dowd participated in the “Fight For Air Climb” at Pierce Memorial Stadium, Providence, RI. The “Unum Montis Team,” which included Robert and Matt, alongside Meagan Heslin, Shawn Giatas, and Wiktor Tomkiewicz, won the team competition (lowest total time of 5) by over 5 minutes.

In the eighth year of fundraising for the American Lung Association’s (ALA) “Fight for Air Climb,” the Unum Montis Team increased fundraising efforts finishing at $4,630. Congrats Team!

Robert Sims

Matt O'Dowd

For more than 115 years, the American Lung Association (ALA) has been the champion of lung health. The fundraising monies contribute 90 cents of every dollar to program services, impacting more than 20 million Americans each year.

  • Defeating lung disease
  • Championing clean air for all
  • Improving the quality of life for those with lung disease and their families
  • Creating a tobacco-free future.

Let’s Connect

Robert P. Sims, P.E.
Project Manager
rsims@tataandhoward.com
Direct: (508) 219-4017
Cell: (508) 320-4767

Matt O'Dowd

Let’s Connect

Matt O’Dowd
Assistant Project Engineer
modowd@tataandhoward.com
Direct: (508) 386-9352

Employee Spotlight: David Lombardo

Employee Spotlight #7 – It is our pleasure to shine the spotlight on David J. Lombardo, P.E., Associate.

David’s career in engineering began in 1994. Directly out of college, he started a job with Roald Haestad, Inc., learning the water and wastewater aspects of civil engineering with a specific emphasis on Pump Station designs and construction oversight. In 2014, Tata & Howard acquired Roald Haestad, Inc., and David joined the Tata & Howard team.

His experience with Pump Station designs has been extensive, ranging from small to very large and complex. David summed up his experience by saying, “the unique challenges of the modern-day pump station design always comes down to the fact that no two pump station designs are identical; each has its own parameters and challenges.”

He shared that project considerations are many when designing a pump station beyond the water demands and pump capacities; other factors such as space availability, safe access, durability, low maintenance, upgradeability, etc., while balancing the client needs and staying on budget.

David shared that one pump station design project was particularly challenging due to limited land availability; Eventually, a house foreclosure in the area allowed the project to move forward. The design maintained the outer façade of the house with interior modifications that included gutting the inside and casting concrete floors to convert the interior into a potable water pumping station complete with four pumps, associated piping, electrical equipment, instrumentation, and controls.

The design included converting an attached garage into a standby power generator room equipped with acoustic louvers in the walls for cooling and combustion and lined with sound deadening insulation to minimize generator noise from reaching the neighbors. This above-ground replacement pump station allows easy access and enhanced safety while blending in with the neighborhood aesthetics.

David’s passion and experience for pump station designs continue to expand, building upon what he shared at the beginning of this spotlight, “the unique challenges of the modern-day pump station design always comes down to the fact that no two pump station designs are identical.” Thanks for sharing David!

Let’s Connect:
David J. Lombardo, P.E., Associate
37 Brookside Road, Waterbury, CT 06708
E – dlomardo@tataandhoward.com     |     P – 203-528-0263  


 

 

T&H Flushing Plan Showcased in Municipal Water & Sewer Magazine

Daniel Rowley, Water and Sewer SuperintendentShrewsbury MA utility boosts water quality with a carefully executed treatment and flushing plan

To combat a long-standing water-quality problem, the Town of Shrewsbury Water and Sewer Division in Massachusetts recently completed a comprehensive unidirectional flushing project aimed at removing manganese from its water mains.

A local contractor performed the flushing using a plan developed by Tata & Howard, a firm that’s been the utility’s consultant since the 1990s. The water system features about 207 miles of mains, mostly made of asbestos cement, ductile iron and PVC pipes. It includes more than 11,000 service connections and serves about 38,000 people. Read more

Charles River Clean-Up 2022

Team Tata & Howard joined 3,000+ volunteers participating in the 23rd Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup! It was a beautiful Saturday to get out of the house and lend a helping hand to Mother Nature!

Our team picked, tugged, lugged, and hauled away litter around the Upper Falls Playground. We even made a new friend, neighbor Barry Soroka, who lives close to the park; looking forward to seeing you next year, Barry!

Location: Upper Falls Playground, Newton Upper Falls, MA

Patrick S. O’Neale, P.E. Scholarship

Patrick S. O’Neale, P.E. Engineering Scholarship Award

Tata & Howard, Inc. is pleased to co-sponsor the Patrick S. O’Neale, P.E. Engineering Scholarship Award through the Massachusetts Water Works Association (MWWA).

Patrick had a passion for quality control, quality assurance, and the development and protection of Massachusetts water supply and water infrastructure. He held a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Southeastern Massachusetts University and served as president of MWWA. His twenty-year career at Tata & Howard, Inc. served in many leadership roles, with his final position as Sr. Vice President. 

This award is open to students pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil or Environmental Engineering at an accredited academic institution in the United States,  with preference given to those candidates whose programs of study are related to waterworks practice. 

Click here to learn more about applying for the O’Neale Scholarship Application through MWWA. Deadline: June 1st of each year. 

Donations, if you wish to donate to this fund, please click here.  

A Few Projects Patrick Contributed to:
T&H- Falmouth Holds Dedication Ceremony for New Long Pond Water Filtration Facility
Scholarships.com

Meet Joseph Diaz – our first Awardee

Joseph Diaz
Merrimack College
Civil Engineering | 2022
Joseph is pursuing his master’s degree in engineering management. Scholarships In Motion – check out our interview with Joseph.

Check out more TH Scholarships in Motion…helping future engineers turn their dreams into a reality, One Scholarship At A Time!

Employee Spotlight: Paul Howard

Employee Spotlight #6: We are excited to shine this week’s employee spotlight on Senior Vice President, Paul Howard. Paul co-founded Tata & Howard nearly 30 years ago with the late Donald J. Tata, and has been dedicated to the company since day one, October 19, 1992.

Coming from a long line of engineers, Paul’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather owned Whitman & Howard, Inc., a prominent New England civil engineering firm founded in 1867. Growing up around engineers provided Paul the opportunity to be exposed to the field at a young age, and as early as 5-years-old, he could be found on construction sites with his father. By 14 he was working on a survey crew gaining even more experience before entering Worcester Polytechnic Institute to obtain a degree in civil engineering.

Paul’s favorite types of projects involve water treatment plants and water supply development. The most memorable project worked on, and the second official T&H project, was the Elm Bank Pump Station job, no. 1002. The Elm Bank Pump Station was the culmination of approximately 10 years of work to develop the water supply for the Towns of Natick, Wellesley, Needham, and Dover. Natick was the only Town to move forward with developing the source. At the time, the pump test for the supply was the largest pump test ever conducted in the state of Massachusetts. Four wells were pumped at 4 million gallons per day.  Seven thousand feet of discharge piping was used. The permitting for the project was extensive and in the end limited the Town to 2.2 mgd out of an approval yield of 7.0 mgd.

When he’s not at one of the T&H offices, Paul enjoys golfing and snowboarding, traveling, and spending time with family. A fond travel memory dates back to childhood when he went fishing at the Arctic Circle and the Northwest Territory of Canada. On this special trip he caught a 31.5 pound lake trout, an 11 pound arctic char, saw an albino wolverine, and piloted a six passenger airplane.

T&H Engineers Participate in ‘Fight For Air Climb’

Robert Sims, Project Manager, and Wiktor Tomkiewicz, Engineer recently participated in the American Lung Association’s (ALA) Annual ‘Fight For Air Climb”, an event dedicated to supporting the mission of the ALA.

The American Lung Association works to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease. Originally founded by volunteers 115 years ago with the end goal of eradicating the threat of tuberculosis, the ALA now focuses on defeating other respiratory diseases.

Their main strategic imperatives include:

  • Defeating lung disease
  • Championing clean air for all
  • Improving the quality of life for those with lung disease and their families
  • Creating a tobacco-free future.

By participating in the Fight For Air Climb, supporters are making a positive impact on those whose lives are affected by lung disease.

Robert and Wiktor created a team, Unum Montis, and raised $3,015 to support the ALA and to ‘climb for those who can’t.‘ Unum Montis was the 4th highest fundraising team, helping the organization to reach their $110,000 fundraising goal.

The Event

Team Unum Montis participated in the Providence, RI climb at Pierce Memorial Stadium on May 22, 2021. There were 350 stairs to climb (up and down) at the event, with ~ 700 steps in total, including the flat sections between stair sections, as well as the dash across the field.

The event times were logged by Racewire, and the results can be viewed here .

Training

  • Robert and Wiktor trained for three months leading up to the event. In addition to physical training, the two teammates engaged in some mental preparation – mainly some competitive trash talking as well as lots of conversations about race day strategy.
  • One of Robert’s secrets to preparation was to do a “natural blood doping”, which involved eating lots of red meat and staying away from leafy greens.
  • Although Wiktor was the overall winner, his initial goal was not to win the entire race, but to avoid losing to Robert. Looks like that motivation paid off!

Congratulations to Robert and Wiktor! Tata & Howard appreciates and supports such a great cause.

Employee Spotlight: Karen Gracey

Employee Spotlight #5: Karen Gracey. Over the last 25 years, she has held each role at the company, starting first as a summer intern, and working her way up to Co-President.

With a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Vermont, Karen is passionate about environmental engineering and fixing problems to make a positive impact with each project she is a part of. She enjoys hydraulic modeling and system analysis as each project offers an opportunity to figure out why certain issues are happening with a water system.

Karen’s favorite project at T&H to date was the company’s first Capital Efficiency Plan completed for the Connecticut Water Company for the Unionville System. Conducting research, collaborating on the various sections of the report, and then writing it from scratch was a fun and fulfilling task.

When she isn’t at T&H, Karen enjoys cooking, skiing, and relaxing at the beach. A trip to Napa Valley with her brother and sister a few years ago is one of her favorite travel memories. Driving in a limo to small vineyards in Sonoma Valley and Russian River provided lots of delicious wine, beautiful landscapes, and spending time with family.

Fun Fact: During the summer of her internship at T&H, Karen dove headfirst into hydraulic modeling and water main design. In addition, she also learned a lot about blueline machines. For those who are not familiar, blueline machines use black lights and ammonia to copy a drawing printed on vellum onto special paper. Copying one drawing would take a minute or two, so imagine making multiple copies of water treatment plant drawings! 

Thanks for all you do, Karen!