Fiscal Year 2004 Proposed Budget

WATER POLLUTION CONTROL DIVISION SUMMARY

Program Mission: To safely and economically process wastewater and hazardous waste materials for a healthy environment.

The primary objective of the Water Pollution Control Division (WPCD) is to protect the public health and the environment through the cost-effective treatment and disposal of wastewater generated in Arlington County. The WPCD also treats a portion of the sewage from Fairfax County and the Cities of Falls Church and Alexandria, as well as sewage from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the Pentagon and other federal facilities. Virginia's Departments of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Health (VDH) and Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulate the activities of the WPCD.

In the WPCD's pursuit of becoming a high-performance organization it has adopted cutting-edge technological advances to improve its efficiency, automated and streamlined processes, and implemented cost-savings measures such as the automation of chemical feeding systems and the upgrading of equipment to meet new efficiency requirements. Process modifications have resulted in more efficient processing, a significant reduction of odors, and lower biosolids disposal costs.

The WPCD continues to focus on performing scheduled preventive and predictive maintenance to minimize costly, unplanned equipment failure and replacement, ensure the lowest net 20-year life-cycle costs and improve regulatory compliance. The WPCD has implemented several pay-for-skill pilot programs such as the Certified Control System Technicians, Licensed Electrical Power Technicians, Multi-skilled Wastewater Plant Operator Pilot program and the Wastewater Maintenance Technician pilot pay programs. These programs will address anticipated high employee turnover due to retirements over the next ten years, improve maintenance skill levels, stabilize long-term staffing requirements at the current levels and attract and retain quality staff.

The above initiatives coupled with the Master Plan 2001 Update (the long-range infrastructure plan) will bring the WPCD much closer to model facility status.

Household Hazardous Waste Program (HHW) is directly related to the WPCD's mission of protecting the public health and the environment. This program ensures the safe disposal of products that are flammable, corrosive, poisonous or potentially hazardous and should be discarded appropriately. Because these products should not be mixed with regular, non-hazardous household refuse, or disposed of in the sanitary or storm sewer systems, County residents may drop off HHW by appointment at the WPCD or at regularly scheduled special collection events.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS:

• Personnel increases include step adjustments, an increase in the overtime and special pay budget of $37,092, and funds to support five over strength positions ($148,790) for varying amounts of time during the year.

• Non-personnel increases of $394,215 are due largely to higher electricity and other utilities costs ($167,000); an increase of $66,000 in payment of operating costs to Blue Plains; increase of $27,198 in County vehicle rental charges, security guard contract for restoring one security guard not budgeted in FY 2004 ($37,000), telemetry data lines for lift stations ($35,059), and higher costs in biosolids hauling ($27,000).

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

• The total average flow measure is the total amount of sanitary sewage (actual) entering the Water Pollution Control Plant in million gallons per day (MGD). Rated flow capacity is 30 MGD according to design specifications.

• The cost per million gallons (MG) of capacity as measured by actual total average flow includes total personnel and operating costs minus the payment that the County makes to Fairfax County to treat part of Arlington's wastewater, per an inter-jurisdictional agreement.

• The cost per million gallons (MG) of total rated flow capacity includes total personnel and operating costs minus the payment that the Count makes to Fairfax County to treat part of Arlington's wastewater, per an inter-jurisdictional agreement.

• FY 2003 was one of the wettest years in the history of the state. The bulk of the bypasses occurred during two storms in February and March 2003. The temporary repair efforts for the lime reaction tanks also caused operational challenges that impacted the number and volume of bypasses.

• The installation of the equalization tank in FY 2001 and the addition of other process modifications significantly reduced the number of bypass events and gallons bypassed compared to making no improvements. While the Master Plan 2001 (when completed in 2009) should allow the WPCP to eliminate virtually all bypasses, the WPCD remains vulnerable to bypasses in the interim.

• Installation of infrastructure for odor control is an ongoing focus of the WPCD. The goal is to record no complaints throughout the year. The WPCD Master Plan 2001 Update will install additional odor control capability.

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)

• The HHW total pounds increased in FY 2002, and the trend continued in FY 2003. WPCD management is evaluating how to expand the program to increase the amount of harmful material channeled into safe disposal methods.

FUTURE BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS:

• The WPCD Master Plan 2001 Update final draft was completed in November 2002 concerning future capital requirements. The upgrade and expansion of the facility will have an impact on out-year operating budgets due to the pending requirements to meet lower total nitrogen in the effluent.

• There is potential for significant long-term impact on costs from the implementation, approximately within five to ten years, of the DEQ Potomac Tributary strategies.