also inside Monitors Manage the Details Missouri River Treatment Plant Gets Greener A Watershed Moment for Watersheds

2010 No. 1

The Infrastructure of RelationshipsBurns & McDonnell Experience,

Historical Relationship with Municipalities Set Stage for Success

Burns & McDonnell

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Building Solid Client RelationshipsNow, more than ever, every dollar counts. It’s important to have reliable resources at your fingertips to ensure you’re getting the most out of your investments. One of the most important resources you can have is a partner who offers the talent and experience you don’t have — expecially when the history of a decades-long relationship makes that partner one you can trust.

Many firms are capable of doing the work you ask them to do. But simply checking off tasks on a to-do list won’t get you forward-thinking solutions that prepare you for a solid future. This is significant for municipalities in particular, because decisions on infrastructure, waste management, water services, power supplies and every other city service impact every resident. It can mean the difference between a dynamic, growing city and a status quo suburb.

Burns & McDonnell has a strong history of building these partnerships — read more in our cover story on page 9 — and focuses on making our clients successful by providing reliable, first-class service for every project. Our partnership can help make your community a place where people want to live.

Best Regards,

J. David Langford, PEAssociate Vice PresidentEnvironmental Group

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Technical Q&A: Greenhouse Gas Rules

How It Works Facility Assessment Program Technology

A: Although GHG reports are not required to be submitted until 2011, affected companies need to make sure they are

A third-party facility assessment defines a baseline of infrastructure conditions for facility operators. But a single assessment doesn’t provide a comparative database on potential risks and alternative solutions. A facility assessment program (FAP) can.

An FAP applies a team of technical engineers combing through a facility — or a group of facilities under the umbrella of one company — tracking potential trouble spots.

Armed with tablet PCs preloaded with a facility’s building plans, Burns & McDonnell engineers detect their exact location on the building plans document. Then, using advanced handwriting-detection software and customized data collection tools, they write directly on the screen of the PC to detail their discoveries. Additionally, the tablets are

equipped with built-in cameras used to take photos of any problems. All of the data is attached directly to the location on the preloaded building plans file.

Unlike simple facility assessments, the primary value of an FAP comes after the initial walkthrough, which typically takes less than a week for a single facility. FAP data is compiled into standard file types and tools that can be used directly by the client’s existing planning, operations, engineering and maintenance programs. Clients can immediately sort and massage data to help with safety planning, operations upgrades, capital planning or maintenance schedules. The client becomes the owner of the information, allowing full access to cross-reference data within a single facility or incorporate several by region, facility type or even companywide.

“It creates incredible efficiency. It can be applied to products, safety, energy use or any number of areas,” says Kerry Goforth, a Burns & McDonnell engineer in the Process & Industrial Group. “It’s a very high return on investment.”

For more information, contact Kerry Goforth, 816-822-4329, or Bryan Claxton, 816-822-4364.

collecting the required data for their calendar year 2010 report, due March 31, 2011.

Under the GHG rule, emissions quantities must be reported for carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrocarbons, perfluorocarbons and other specific fluoridated gases.

Facilities subject to the reporting rule must also have a written GHG monitoring plan, in accordance with 40 CFR Part 98.3 (g)(5). Monitoring plans are required to be in place effective April 2010.

If emissions can’t reasonably be measured according to the methods set out, the rule allows the use of best available monitoring

methods through March 31, 2010. If an extension request was submitted prior to Jan. 28, 2010, extensions of the use of best available methods may be granted, but not beyond Dec. 31, 2010.

Various methods are available for measuring emissions, including exhaust-gas flow meters and engineering calculations. The important thing is to determine, document and follow through on a plan. Reports for the 2010 calendar year will require a description of the method used to determine the quantities for each reportable.

For more information, contact Jerry Bauer, 816-822-3527.

Q: What should businesses subject to the new EPA Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Rule be doing now?

Jerry Bauer, PE, MS, is an associate engineer in the Burns & McDonnell Environmental Group.

Complete information on reporting requirements is available at www.regulations.gov.

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In-House NewsLaunching the New USS Missouri:Burns & McDonnell Design Cuts Costs, Shortens Schedule

The battleship USS Missouri, where the Japanese formally surrendered in 1945, now rests as a floating museum in Pearl Harbor. But on July 31, a new USS Missouri will be commissioned as the newest vessel in the U.S. fleet of Virginia-class attack submarines.

Thanks to two 300-foot, steel-and-concrete construction platforms designed and built by Burns & McDonnell, the General Dynamics Electric Boat Division in Groton, Conn., was able to complete the new USS Missouri six months ahead of schedule at a cost savings of approximately $80 million. Those savings will multiply as the Navy updates its fleet with a total of 30 Virginia-class submarines, saving $80 million and six months construction time each.

The platforms provide safer, more efficient access for workers assembling components of the sophisticated submarines. The two-deck design more than doubles the amount of work space available by permanently housing utilities and equipment on the upper deck. Utility routing to the submarine was designed to eliminate jumbles of cables. A lower-level walkway gives crews access to movable gangways for top-side access to the submarine.

In honor of the latest ship to bear the name Missouri, Burns & McDonnell is helping raise funds for the commissioning ceremonies, which by law must be paid for from non-governmental sources.

“We are extremely proud to have played a role in working with Electric Boat to launch the new USS Missouri,” said Greg Graves, chairman and CEO of Burns & McDonnell. “We hope other Missouri businesses and individuals will join us in raising at least $500,000 to let the commander and crew of the USS Missouri know we are proud of them, their service and the incredible vessel they will serve on.”

For more information, contact Ron Coker, 816-822-3082.

News in Brief

Burns & McDonnell often receives awards for engineering excellence from American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) chapters across the country. Projects winning accolades recently:

For more information about Burns & McDonnell, visit www.burnsmcd.com/news.

• Boschert Greenway, St. Charles County, Mo. | Great Rivers Greenway | 2010 Engineering Excellence Award, ACEC of Missouri• Buckeye Armed Forces Reserve Center, Buckeye, Ariz. | State of Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs | 2009 Engineering Excellence Honor Award, ACEC of Arizona• Craig Station Unit 3 Increased Generation Capacity, Steamboat Springs, Colo. | Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association | 2010 Merit Award, ACEC of Colorado

• Fairplay Wastewater Treatment Plant, Fairplay, Colo. | Fairplay Sanitation District | 2010 Merit Award, ACEC of Colorado• Goodman Energy Center, Hays, Kan. | Midwest Energy Inc. | 2010 Engineering Excellence Honor Award, ACEC of Illinois• Ineeda Cleaners Granulated Activated Carbon Remediation System, Hutchinson, Kan. | Kansas Department of Health and Environment | 2010 Engineering Excellence Award, ACEC of Kansas

• Lake City Army Ammunition Plant Explosive Waste Incinerator, Independence, Mo. | Alliant Techsystems | 2010 Engineering Excellence Grand Conceptor Award, ACEC of Missouri• Transmission Technology: McClain to 134th/Penn, Oklahoma City | Oklahoma Gas & Electric | 2010 Gold Medal Winner, Texas Council of Engineering Companies• Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel Project, Canton, Ohio | Marathon Oil Corp. | 2010 Engineering Excellence Award, ACEC of Ohio

ACEC Awards Honor Projects and Clients

To learn more about the USS Missouri, visit www.USSMissourisubmarine.org.

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Tom Miller likes to stay busy.

After a workday that starts at 6 a.m. and ends after 6 p.m., Miller heads home and immediately tears into do-it-yourself improvement projects. His latest: restoring a 1924-vintage Prairie-style home, top to bottom.

By day, Miller manages complex air quality control system (AQCS) projects, such as the recent engineer-procure-construct (EPC) job that reduced sulfur dioxide, particulate and mercury emissions for units 3 and 4 at Arizona Public Service’s Cholla Power Plant. The four-year project, which involved converting an existing dry stack to a wet-stack operation during a tight, six-week outage, won an American Council of Engineering Companies Grand Award in the Arizona state competition.

“Tom did a good job. He was always on the go,” says Cholla Plant Manager Conrad Spencer. “He wasn’t one to stand and let grass grow under his feet. He was always energetic and followed up.”

“Tom is extremely energetic and enthusiastic,” says Ray Kowalik, Burns & McDonnell Energy Group president. “It’s obvious why he’s really good at getting work done. He’s intense, hard-working, thorough, direct and honest — and he’s a good communicator.”

Miller’s energy comes naturally — from grade school on, he’s loved playing drums, loved the way it keeps his whole body in motion and the release from other concerns — but acquiring the communication skills that help make him a successful project manager took work.

Nature Plus NurtureAfter receiving a degree from Manchester College, a liberal arts school in Indiana, Miller went on to Purdue University for his bachelor’s

Putting It All TogetherPersonal Qualities Plus Lessons Learned Make Tom Miller a Standout

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and master’s degrees in structural engineering. He joined Burns & McDonnell in 1991 and spent more than four years in the field as a site structural engineer on AQCS projects. Eventually, he served as construction manager on an EPC project. The field experience gave him a strong base of technical knowledge. And it helped him develop an even more valuable skill — the ability to listen. “In the field, you’re not just an engineer, you’re a communicator,” Miller says. “You have to be the point of contact between the engineers, the contractors and the client. Learning to understand someone else’s point of view is critical. You need to learn to listen, and make their perspective part of the project.”

Miller also credits time spent working in the Burns & McDonnell energy-project development group for sharpening his project management skills.

“I’m certain my experience in that group made me a better project manager,” he says. “Developing a conceptual design to achieve the needed financials was a whole new way to look at a project. Because of that I have a better understanding of the financial aspects.”

“He’s a very good project manager,” says Brent Gifford, manager of major environmental projects at Arizona Public Service. “I appreciate his thoroughness and his capacity to grasp and balance both the commercial side and the technical side.”

Taking the LeadPerhaps the ultimate compliment to Miller came from Zachry, the nation’s largest open-shop contractor. Zachry was a joint-venture partner with Burns & McDonnell on the Cholla project.

“I’d been asking Zachry to alternate being the lead with us on our joint-venture projects,” Kowalik says. “Tom Miller was the first project

manager they trusted enough to do that. During the Cholla project, he went from being Burns & McDonnell lead to being the project executive and the joint venture lead.

Miller says he was always interested in becoming a project manager — it seemed a way to bring all the skills he’d learned together. He embraces the responsibilities that come with directing full EPC projects.

“As project manager, you’re the end game,” he says. “You take responsibility for outcomes. If someone makes a mistake, you think about how you could have communicated better to avoid that mistake.”

Today, Miller is managing an ACQS project in Delaware on an aggressive schedule, with a tight deadline. And he’s starting work on another house.

Contact Tom Miller at 816-822-3903.

“You have to be the point of contact between the engineers, the contractors and the client. Learning to understand someone else’s point of view is critical. You need to learn to listen, and make their perspective part of the project.”

New air quality controls at Cholla Station Units 3 and 4 dramatically reduced emissions of sulfur dioxide and particulate. Tom Miller coordinated the complex project, including a critical portion of the work performed during a tight six-week outage.

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The smallest things can bring a massive construction project to a grinding halt.Before construction began on a major electrical transmission project in Southern California, environmental monitors surveyed the site for sensitive plant and wildlife habitat and archaeological sites. A particular concern was the desert tortoise, a state and federally protected species. The good news: Pre-construction survey teams found no desert tortoises along the route.

“But when construction started, that’s when someone saw a tortoise crossing the road,”

says Sean Daly, one of the Burns & McDonnell segment lead monitors on Southern California Edison’s Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project (SCE’s TRTP).

Monitors followed protocol and notified regulatory authorities. To protect the tortoise, the construction contractor was asked to suspend work in potential desert tortoise habitat for a couple of days until new protection measures could be put in place. These measures included having crews install exclusionary fencing at certain tower sites to prevent tortoises from entering a work area and falling into construction holes. Magnetic signs were developed so they could be placed on trucks and other equipment to remind workers to look under vehicles so they didn’t accidentally drive over a tortoise.

“The tortoise story illustrates how environmental monitors, construction managers and contractors can work within regulations and still keep projects moving forward,” Daly says. “Violations of state and federal regulations, even unintentional ones, can result in financial penalties or even shut a project down.”

Getting Out FrontThe National Environmental Policy Act, known as NEPA, and other federal and state regulations govern construction activities that can impact the habitats of protected plants and wildlife or cultural resources sites. Burns & McDonnell provides teams of construction monitors who know the regulations, communicate them to contractors and work to find creative solutions to challenges that invariably arise.

Monitors Manage the DetailsMinding Environmental and Cultural Elements Keeps Construction on Track, in Compliance

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The TRTP, for example, is bringing electricity from wind turbines in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles to the Southern California grid along with resolving electrical system constraints in the Los Angeles Basin. In late 2009, the first three segments of the 11-segment project were completed. Burns & McDonnell had more than 15 environmental monitors on the job at any given time to make sure contractors followed the regulations. Burns & McDonnell monitors worked collaboratively with SCE’s cultural and paleontological monitors to address and mitigate any impacts on historical sites, including a crossing through a partially explored Native American Village.

“If you don’t have a high level of regulatory compliance, the project can’t move forward and won’t get done,” says Dan Pearson, the Burns & McDonnell environmental program manager for the TRTP. “Protection of breeding birds and endangered species was a primary component of the requirements governing progress on the TRTP. Extraordinary measures are required to keep crews working to erect transmission towers and string 500-kV conductor through mountains, deserts, forests and nearby residential areas.”

Extraordinary MeasuresSometimes environmental monitors must manage complex and detailed mitigation plans to keep a project in compliance. On the TRTP, measures range from the exclusionary fencing and vehicle checks to protect the

desert tortoise to the organized collection of every bolt and tiny piece of metal from the job site to make sure the endangered California condor doesn’t ingest the objects or carry them back to chicks in the nest.

“Flexibility in monitoring plans is essential,” Pearson says. “Monitors can’t predict when or where a finch might build a nest. But when the birds chose a million-dollar bulldozer, we had to be ready with a plan for keeping the project moving without that equipment until the fledglings left the nest.”

Keeping TabsConstruction monitoring also keeps workers from increasing project impacts. Daly spent many hours visiting a wetland mitigation site in Wichita, Kan., checking that design guidelines were followed on the project, which diverts flood waters from a creek to a manmade wetland.

At the Long Run Seep Nature Preserve in Lockport, Ill., workers were using heavy equipment to repair an underground crude oil pipeline.

“Special timber mats were placed on the ground to avoid creating ruts in important wetlands,” says Jack Finley, a senior environmental scientist. “But before the mats could be used, they had to be cleaned to prevent the transport of noxious weeds into the preserve.”

For more information, contact Dan Pearson, 858-790-5501, or Sean Daly, 816-823-7158.

The presence of protected species — like the desert tortoise — along the route of the TRTP required careful environmental monitoring and staff training.

Timber tracks were cleaned and placed through the Long Run Seep Nature Preserve to protect the wetlands during repair of a pipeline.

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Burns & McDonnell Experience, Historical Relationship with Municipalities Set Stage for Success

The Infrastructure of Relationships

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Lake Springfield supports several generating units, including the Dallman plant (pictured), which Burns & McDonnell

originally helped design in the 1960s.

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From the time Burns & McDonnell landed its first major contract — designing a waterworks, sewer system and electric generating plant for Iola, Kan. — cultivating and maintaining relationships has been a cornerstone of the firm’s operation.

Long-standing relationships with municipalities are particularly important. Knowledge of a city’s history — where it began, how far it has come and where it’s headed — brings efficiency and forward-thinking to projects and builds trust between client and contractor.

Laying the GroundworkSpringfield, Ill.With the final touches being put on the Dallman 4 power generating unit for the city of Springfield, Ill., Burns & McDonnell is helping do more than wrap up a nearly 10-year project. It’s offering proof that building relationships with municipalities beyond mere client-contractor status can go a long way to providing a city the right services.

The first link between Burns & McDonnell and Springfield dates back to 1924. It was then that Burns & McDonnell designed the dam to create Lake Springfield, which provides cooling water for the Lakeside Station power plant and potable water for Springfield and surrounding communities. The lake also serves as a recreational site.

The Lake Springfield project became a gateway to a decades-long relationship with the city, leading to 16 major projects over the next 26 years, including the Lakeside Station power plant, as well as the Dallman generating units beginning in the 1960s and continuing today.

“Knowing what the city likes and dislikes and how it operates allows it to get the level of service needed,” says Don Wolf, Burns & McDonnell project manager for the Dallman 4 generating unit. “If we know the client, we can anticipate their needs to some degree and ask the right questions and give them the right design from the start.”

The long history between Springfield and Burns & McDonnell creates confidence

— from knowing initial permitting work completed by the firm will translate to compliance in the end to having working knowledge of one project and how it’s impacted by a new one.

“Having the same people always coming back and available makes the kickoff for each new project that much easier because they already know our philosophy of how we operate and what we require,” says Doug Brown, major projects development director for City, Water, Light & Power of Springfield.

The forethought involved with that lays the groundwork not only for a successful job, but also for the city to control its own destiny through independence and ownership in the services it can provide.

“We have the capability to draw clean water and reliably distribute that to our residents and not depend on anyone else to meet our needs,” Brown says. “And the same goes with generating and distributing electricity — we can protect our customers from volatile prices in the power market.”

With secure footing in providing key services to residents and feeling confident projects will be completed ahead of schedule, Springfield leaders can look to the future and feel confident the city’s needs can be met.

“The less funding we spend on a project, the more we can move forward with other projects or maintenance activities — and you definitely don’t have to look at raising our customers’ rates,” Brown says.

The relationship between Burns & McDonnell and Springfield, Ill., dates back to the mid-1920s with the design and construction of the Lake Springfield Dam and continues

today with the Dallman generating units. TOP: The Lakeside Station power plant was erected in the mid-1930s to eliminate the city’s reliance on a competing system with higher rates.

MIDDLE: Springfield turned to Burns & McDonnell to grow the Lakeside Station from a 7,500-kw plant to a 33,000-kw plant by the 1960s. ABOVE: At one time, Springfield was

one of only a handful of large cities that owned and operated its own electricity supply.

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Moving A City ForwardColumbia, Mo.In Columbia, Mo., thousands of people count on their elected officials to make the right decision about how tax and bond money is spent and that it’s used in alignment with their vision for the city.

“Columbia is a very unique city. It’s a college town, its residents are highly educated and it’s marked by very active citizenry,” says Jim Foil, senior vice president of the Burns & McDonnell Infrastructure Group. “They are very open to pushing the envelope on environmental issues.”

There is no better example of that desire than Columbia’s current landfill bioreactor project for which Burns & McDonnell provides operational assistance, design and geographic information systems (GIS) services.

The bioreactor works by applying water to waste, which helps the waste decompose faster. The accelerated pace of decomposition consequently increases the rate at which the waste produces methane, resulting in a significant increase in landfill gas, which is used for electricity generation.

Considered by many as the next generation of solid waste landfills, the Columbia landfill bioreactor is the only one of its kind in Missouri — and one of only a few in the country owned and operated by a city rather than a private entity.

“It’s not easy to try this,” says J. David Langford, associate vice president of the Burns & McDonnell Environmental Group. “If the city had several landfills, it could perform comparative tests to optimize the bioreactor performance, but Columbia only has one. So for them to be attempting this is a real feat.”

In knowing that, Burns & McDonnell can begin to visualize the landfill’s long-term needs — particularly in terms of data collection and management — to help ease the burden of navigating new territory. Working with a firm that knows a city’s wants and needs has real value because the firm, which has historical perspective and future vision, can work with a city to help bring their goals to fruition.

Having permitted and designed the landfill and three of its cells — plus the infrastructure surrounding the landfill — Burns & McDonnell knew the operational requirements of the

bioreactor and the benefits the city could realize through the use of GIS to collect and store data. Engineers outlined that vision for the city from the outset and made sure those services were included in the initial bid.

“The new landfill GIS will immediately increase the availability of key landfill data without having to search through many different files and locations,” says Bryan Claxton, Burns & McDonnell associate project manager. “In the future, as the GIS is integrated into more of the landfill’s workflows, such as bioreactor operations, it will become an integral part of the data management and a powerful tool by which staff can quickly identify adjustments needed to optimize system performances.”

The GIS database development is under way, and the next bioreactor is already on the slate, with Burns & McDonnell serving as the owner’s engineer and providing construction documents.

“Through our knowledge of the city’s needs, goals and first-class leadership, we are able to offer services that will enable our shared vision to be realized,” says Chris Snider, Burns & McDonnell associate environmental engineer and project manager for the bioreactor.

Because of its long history with Burns & McDonnell, the city of Columbia, Mo., ultimately chose Burns & McDonnell to provide operational assistance, design and GIS services for its landfill bioreactor. The firm also will serve as the owner’s engineer and provide construction documents for the next landfill cell.

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policymaking and helps the city respond to tough questions and criticisms from its constituents.

“Our job is partly to create a progress-practical balance,” says Kiah Harris, a Burns & McDonnell principal in the Business & Technology Services Group. “We offer good support for policy justification, explaining if a constituent-suggested solution works and why it may or may not beeconomically viable.”

Doing the Job RightThe challenge of maintaining these types of long-standing relationships is that every job is a test. A firm intimately familiar with a city must prove it can think ahead for more efficient planning and the most viable solutions.

“Our expectations for Burns & McDonnell are much higher because of our long history together,” says Springfield’s Brown.

If those expectations are not met, not only is the contractor letting down its client, but it’s also impacting the faith a municipality’s stakeholders have in their leadership.

“One reason a city contracts work out is for expertise,” says Paula Hertwig Hopkins, assistant city manager for Columbia. “If the contractor cannot fulfill its obligations, then they’re really not being helpful.”

“Burns & McDonnell has been nimble enough to understand our challenges — that’s been great for us,” she says.

The Trust FactorA fundamental component of any relationship is trust. With it, a partnership can conquer any challenge. Without it, the relationship between client and contractor is tarnished, giving the client a negative impression of the firm, from distrusting it as an industry expert to removing virtually all potential as a future contractor for the client.

So when a firm objectively considers a client’s needs and offers advice for the best solution — regardless of whether the firm was hired — it speaks volumes about the firm’s work ethic.

“To have a consultant like Burns & McDonnell that’s knowledgeable about what you’re trying to do and know where you’ve been and know the mistakes that have been made is priceless,” says John Glascock, public works director for the city of Columbia. “Having the background knowledge of the city brings a lot of help to the table, and I feel comfortable enough to call for advice on projects whether we’re paying Burns & McDonnell or not.”

The impact of that trust is greater than dollars and cents. City officials must feel confident that the guidance provided by Burns & McDonnell appropriately backs up its

“To have a consultant like Burns & McDonnell that’s knowledgeable about what you’re trying to do and know where you’ve been and know the mistakes that have been made is priceless.”

For more information, contact Chris Snider, 816-822-3534, or Don Wolf, 314-682-1532.

Between 1924 and 1943, Burns & McDonnell helped Columbia, Mo., take advantage of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s federal initiatives aimed at lowering power costs to consumers by driving away private power companies.

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Project: Heart of DohaLocation: Doha, QatarClient: DOHALAND, a subsidiary of the Qatar Foundation

Cherishing Ancient Culture in a Modern OasisPositioned in the city’s historical center and adjacent to the state palace, Emiri Diwan, the 35-hectare Heart of Doha epitomizes DOHALAND’s five pillars — Heritage and Culture, Innovation, Sustainability, Enrichment, and Environment — in a dynamic district designed to preserve Qatari culture in a community setting where people can live, work and play.

Launched on March 3, 2009, DOHALAND is led by the progressive vision of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, who mandated the creation of leading-edge urban living concepts that build on traditional Qatari architecture and design.

As the executive architect of phase one of five, Burns & McDonnell leads this LEED® Platinum and Gold design. Heart of Doha’s architecture rediscovers Qatar’s heritage with an emphasis on proportion, simplicity, space, light, layering, ornament and response to climate.

The interconnected buildings are oriented to take advantage of off-shore northerly winds, while colonnades and green spaces shade streets. To combat urban sprawl and dependence on car travel, the Heart of Doha will feature up to five subterranean levels with underground lanes for service and delivery vehicles, dedicated cycling lanes and a tram connecting the district to the rest of Doha. Other sustainable designs include maximized water conservation, energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions.

For more information, contact Mike Roark, 816-822-3190.

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Project: Groundwater Remediation SystemLocation: Northern Illinois

Client: Confidential

Burns & McDonnell has operated an extensive groundwater remediation treatment facility since July 2008, removing ammonia, phenolics and arsenic from beneath a former manufactured gas and coke plant site. The 10-acre treatment zone includes extraction and reinjection wells that pump contaminated water to and from the bottom of the aquifer. “The treatment method and operation and maintenance requirements are atypical,” says Jeff Pope, manager of environmental services in the Burns & McDonnell Chicago office. “The process is an innovative application of sequenced batch reactors.” They reduce the level of ammonia in the influent from more than 1,000 parts per million (ppm) to less than 1 ppm and phenolics from over 100 ppm to virtually non-detect. Arsenic is removed as part of the biomass sludge wasting process. The treated water is reinjected into the aquifer to enhance natural attenuation. Contaminant concentrations in the plume can vary widely across the site. Groundwater is treated in 7,200-gallon batches for about 8 hours each, creating the flexibility to treat varying concentrations. The process also requires comparatively large overall capacity of 160,000 gallons of equalization tanks and two 100,000-gallon reaction tanks. Remediation will be complete after three to four years.

For more information, contact Jeff Pope, 630-724-3328.

Cleaning Water from the Ground Up

Slow, steady load growth in downtown Birmingham created the need for a new substation. Alabama Power turned to Burns & McDonnell and a joint venture partner for engineer-procure-construct services to bring greater electric reliability to the densely developed area. The team installed two 115-kV underground pipe-type line segments tied into an existing underground line; 15-kV ductbanks between the new substation and existing overhead lines; and two overhead fiber optic circuits. “The combined business and residential area required more than your standard substation perimeter fencing,” says Darin Penner, Burns & McDonnell project manager. “Because the neighborhood is near the University of Alabama-Birmingham, a decorative architectural wall helps screen the substation from public view.” Street closures in the area were minimized to a one-lane reduction on the north and temporary closure on the east. “This 10-month construction effort will lead to greater electric reliability for our downtown customers,” says Casey Allums, project coordinator for Alabama Power. “Taking elements underground and going the extra mile for the neighborhood resulted in a facility that meets our needs and the needs of nearby residents.”

For more information, contact Darin Penner, 816-822-3884.

Urban Power with a Pretty Face

Project: 18th Street SubstationLocation: Birmingham, Ala.

Client: Alabama Power

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People who live in northwestern St. Louis County in Missouri are finding that the air smells a little fresher these days. For that, they can thank the $40 million upgrade and expansion recently completed at the nearby Missouri River Treatment Plant, one of seven wastewater treatment plants operated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD).

Odor control, however, was just one of several challenges in recent years to test the 28 million-gallon-per-day (MGD) plant, which serves four watersheds in an expansive stretch of west and northwest St. Louis County since the 1980s. The MSD retained Burns & McDonnell to plan and design the plant replacements and upgrades, which were implemented in a three-year construction process that ended in early 2010.

ChallengesOperating for more than 20 years in a corrosive environment can take its toll on the concrete structures and equipment in a treatment plant’s headworks, where wastewater is diverted into the plant. Screens intended to block inorganic material were allowing significant amounts of trash and debris to enter the plant and its downstream treatment units.

Missouri River Treatment Plant Gets Greener in a $40 Million Makeover

Six high-efficiency bandscreens with washers and compactors are at the heart of the new headworks facilities. They are completely housed and the flow channels are covered to contain and collect odors for treatment. Flow channel concrete surfaces are coated to prevent corrosion.

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“A few years ago, maintenance costs were growing throughout the plant,” says Steve Yonker, Burns & McDonnell project manager. Everything from grit dewatering equipment to pre-aeration basins to on-site generators were experiencing age- and corrosion-related operational problems and substandard performance. And then there was the odor-causing hydrogen sulfide gas that formed as sewage turned septic on its often-long journey to the plant.

“The preliminary treatment operations at the plant had clearly reached the end of their useful life,” summarizes Ken Gambaro, the plant manager for MSD.

Solutions“Before the new construction, the treatment plant could accommodate peak flows of 80 MGD. Upstream expansions of the collection system increased anticipated peak flow rates to as much as 190 MGD,” says Curt Gentile, Burns & McDonnell project engineer.

To address that issue, Burns & McDonnell designed higher capacity headworks facilities and new peak flow storage basins at the plant site that can hold up to 30 million additional gallons of wastewater during high flows. When normal flow conditions return, the stored flows are returned to the plant for treatment.

Once arriving at the plant, the chances of debris damaging the processing equipment have been greatly reduced. That’s because the plant’s new 190 MGD headworks replaces older screening technology with fully automatic high-efficiency bandscreens that remove, clean and compact inorganic materials before the flow is sent to primary and secondary treatment.

The region’s fresher smell, meanwhile, can be attributed to new green odor control technology that uses biological organisms — rather than chemicals — to consume hydrogen sulfide in the system, neutralizing its odors. “It’s a much more environmentally friendly and effective approach to odor control than treatment plants have used historically,” Gentile says.

Operating for more than 20 years in a corrosive environment can take its toll on the concrete structures and equipment in a treatment plant’s headworks.The Burns & McDonnell design also included green solutions in the plant’s upgrade and expansion. For example, biogases produced during the waste treatment process have traditionally been used to fuel the plant’s on-site engine-generators. These generators provide more than half of the power needed to run the treatment plant.

“The problem was,” Yonker says, “those biogases contained siloxanes, which are chemicals that cause maintenance issues by forming deposits in the engines, resulting in frequent engine overhauls.” The plant upgrades included an advanced cleaning system that safely removes the siloxanes from the biogases before being consumed by the generators.

Results“These and other improvements — both large and small — have given the plant a new lease on life, modernizing operations and simplifying future maintenance needs,” Gentile says.

Placed into operation in late 2009 and early 2010, all are performing according to plan so far.

“We’re still early in our analysis,” said MSD’s Gambaro. “In the long term, we’re anticipating that these upgrades will not only benefit our customers and the environment, they will reduce our operating and maintenance costs while improving reliability. That’s the goal.”

For more information, contact Steve Yonker, 816-822-3102, or Curt Gentile, 314-682-1521.

Clarifier mechanisms were replaced, and aluminum covers were installed

above the clarifier launders as part of the odor control system.

2010 No. 1 17

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At first glance, the Chesapeake Bay Protection & Preservation Order seems limited in its ability to influence those outside of the Bay’s watershed. Issued by the president as Executive Order No. 13508 in May 2009, it authorizes the federal government to restore the water quality in the badly polluted Chesapeake Bay.

But it may also be a defining moment in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) history, broadly expanding the agency’s authority and revolutionizing the way it can enforce the Clean Water Act. “The Clean Water Act,” says John Mitchell, director of the Burns & McDonnell wastewater practice, “revolves around a single goal: to make waters of the U.S. both fishable and swimmable.” Traditionally, the EPA pursued that goal by regulating discharges from major point sources, such as wastewater treatment plants.

“Scientific evidence shows that you can remove all point sources of pollution, and it will have minimal impact on water quality,” Mitchell said. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the bigger culprits are nonpoint sources, such as agricultural and non-urban stormwater runoff.

The EPA’s regulatory authority has been limited in dealing with those forms of pollution. The executive order, however, changes that. The agency is now empowered to look at the entire watershed and consider all the factors that contribute to water quality. In the case of Chesapeake Bay, that encompasses parts of six states and the entire District of Columbia.

What it MeansThe implications — both inside and outside the Chesapeake Bay — are profound.

“Most importantly, it establishes a framework for the EPA to regulate nonpoint sources of pollution and establishes clear lines of accountability,” Mitchell says. “That can impact uses and management of land within the watershed and can establish water quality trading and offset programs. The door has been opened.”

What happens in the Chesapeake Bay could become the model that the EPA uses to manage water quality issues elsewhere that transcend state or regulatory boundaries, or that cross EPA regions.

“This could set the precedent for nutrient management in the Mississippi River Basin,” Mitchell says. Currently, individual states

develop their own strategies for water quality management, including the management of nutrients. Taking a watershed management approach, the EPA could use its authority to cross traditional boundaries and apply uniform standards.

The EPA also has opportunities for new enforcement strategies, such as withholding federal funds for noncompliance, including those unrelated to water quality.

A New MindsetThe challenge, of course, will be to find meaningful ways to regulate countless nonpoint sources of pollution. That will take new and different tactics, beginning with educating landowners on best management practices. Fertilizer and pesticide manufacturers, for example, may need to develop less water soluble products. Farmers may need new strategies for applying these products.

Best management practices may also include restoring land around streams to serve as natural soil buffers that capture and remove pollutants before they enter streams.

What it ultimately means is a more common sense approach to watershed management. “It makes ‘swimmable and fishable water’ a goal that can be reached,” Mitchell says.

For more information, contact John Mitchell, 816-822-3357.

A Watershed Moment for Watersheds

A 2009 executive order to protect and restore water quality in Chesapeake Bay is also empowering the EPA to look more broadly at all factors contributing to a decline in water quality.

Corn and soybean cropsOther cropsPasture and rangeUrban and population-related sourcesAtmospheric depositionNatural land

U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological Survey

Sources of Nutrients Delivered to the Gulf of Mexico

PHOSPHORUS

NITROGEN

25%

18%

37%

12% 8%

52%14%

5%9% 16% 4%

B U R N S & M c D O N N E L L

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18

When U.S. residents fill out their 2010 census forms, their answers will inform a multitude of policy decisions and update national population trends. Processing these critical data requires a streamlined network of people and computers.

Behind the scenes, Burns & McDonnell has helped make it happen by providing design-build services for three facilities to process the millions of census forms. The 30 team members on the project were selected to provide the critical experience in facilities design and construction services to accommodate the unique needs of a project of this scope.

“It’s fun to be a part of something this big,” says project manager Bob Hoisington. “It’s also historic to be part of the census. In fact, the Constitution requires the government to conduct a census every 10 years.”

This isn’t the first time Burns & McDonnell has been the design-build contractor for a Census Bureau project. It provided the same services for the 2000 census. This time around, the company worked in partnership with Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) to prepare data capture facilities in Baltimore, Phoenix and Jeffersonville, Ind.

The Jeffersonville center is a permanent Census Bureau location, and Burns & McDonnell provided help in upgrading the building. For the other two centers, Burns & McDonnell helped select the right buildings.

CSC leased 236,500 square feet of a warehouse in Baltimore and 210,500 square feet of a warehouse and manufacturing facility in Phoenix. Each location needed parking for more than 800 employees and easy access to public transportation.

Construction crews converted the buildings into offices, training rooms, conference rooms, restrooms, lunchrooms, work areas and storage areas.

The Constitution requires the government to conduct a census every 10 years“The accommodations are reasonable, comfortable and cost-effective,” Hoisington says. “They are a prudent use of the taxpayers’ dollars.”

Each facility is laid out to efficiently process census forms. At the loading docks, trucks will deliver the forms and then workers will send them through high-speed sorters and optical scanners. After computers store the results, the forms will be shredded and destroyed.

“It’s very much like an industrial process by moving the paper through the center and making a finished product — namely the census data,” Hoisington says.

Burns & McDonnell developed mechanical and electrical systems to maintain proper humidity and temperatures to protect the paper forms and computer systems. Both facilities have computer server rooms with raised access floor systems, dedicated air conditioning, power conditioning and emergency power backups. Contractors added internal and external security systems to meet the Census Bureau’s requirements.

Hoisington credits the design-build delivery method with helping complete the project on budget and on time. “Funding issues in Congress compressed the time frame for construction, but design-build meant we had the facilities up and running on schedule,” he says. “Intense coordination between all contractors, subcontractors and suppliers meant that key equipment — air conditioning units, for example — arrived on time.”

Burns & McDonnell used more than 100 subcontractors and vendors to perform the construction activities at the various sites. Approximately 83 percent of the subcontracted dollars were awarded to small or disadvantaged businesses. “Burns & McDonnell’s small business advocate and construction managers made this high percentage possible, a commendable achievement,” Hoisington says.

For more information, contact Bob Hoisington, 816-822-3868.

MAKING IT COUNTCensus Facilities Maximize Dollars and Spaces