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Category Archives: Water/Wastewater

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Very few home buyers ask for a sewer inspection before buying a home. Buyers know to get a home inspection, but sewer lines are usually an afterthought, if they cross a buyer’s mind at all. Yet it’s one of the most important inspections a buyer of older homes can conduct, and can save the buyer both headaches and money.

Municipalities are always looking for creative ways to reduce costs to their constituents. Wastewater treatment is a significant cost for municipalities and offers a great potential for savings. To this end, private property inspections of sanitary sewer systems can help to reduce cost by improving efficiency. Many of the Northeast’s sewer systems have been in place for more than 60 years, which is past or almost past their useful design life. Systems of this age have been constructed of clay pipe, which has typically deteriorated to a point where significant amounts of excess clear water, called Infiltration/Inflow (I/I), is entering the system. The term infiltration refers to clear water that enters the system from a groundwater source, while inflow refers to clear water that enters the system from above ground sources such as downspouts and sump pumps.

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Comments (1) | Permalink | Tags: home ownership, Savings, sewer inspection

Part of my job at Larson Design Group (LDG) involves TerrAqua Resource Management (TARM). This subsidiary of Larson Design Group is the first enterprise in PA that recycles water generated from Marcellus development under a permit from PADEP. You can learn more about TARM here: www.tarmsolutions.com.

TARM is a high compliance success story. Our company doesn’t discharge any water. Clients bring us flowback and produced waters, we run it through our treatment system, and the clients take the water back and reuse it in drilling operations again. TARM’s approach protects the environment in many ways. This best practice leads to a sustainable future for Marcellus. TARM has processed and recycled more than 38 million gallons of water in just over 11 months. Recently, TARM and LDG received a national award for engineering excellence.

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No comments yet | Permalink | Tags: DEP, Frac, Ian Urbina, Marcellus Shale, New York Times, NYT, PADEP, TARM, TerrAqua Resource Management

A couple of major media sources have tried their best to show the worst of the Marcellus. For what my view is worth, it’s been done on purpose. Most notable is the recent work by the New York Times (2/27/11) and an item carried by the Associated Press.

I’m an employee of Larson Design Group, and you would be correct to gauge my objectivity. But when it comes to the work by Ian Urbina of the New York Times, PA DEP Acting Secretary Krancer, and former PA DEP Secretary John Hanger offered up some major corrections. I know a bit about John and trust his rebuttal.

I have affection and respect for the media and I’ve worked with these folks for years, but I question the media’s action when they focus on historical practices, downplay increased compliance, use quotes that are out of context, and can’t get the facts correct or in the proper order. The diplomat in me would say the truth lies somewhere in middle. But in this situation, I think it’s closer to Krancer and Hanger than the New York Times. For a quick summary, see this letter to the Editor of the New York Times. Even Tim Gough’s graphic that accompanies this letter is misleading. Nice.

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Comments (3) | Permalink | Tags: DEP, Ian Urbino, John Hanger, Krancer, Natural Gas, New York Times, PA, PADEP, Pennsylvania, Rebuttal

Marcellus is a global topic. It is far stronger than any brand or presence we have in our region. When I first traveled on business for Larson Design Group, I would mention Little League Baseball in order to place Williamsport in the mind of the person or group I was talking with. Now I mention Marcellus and the geography becomes clear.

As our region tries to define the Marcellus experience, discussions are becoming more defined. The leaders, influencers, and citizens I spend time with are constantly searching for that single topic that makes their story, opinion, or set of facts superior. This is a necessary process, but it gets buried as the media races to publish more, quicker, and in some cases less accurately.

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Comments (3) | Permalink | Tags: DEP, Energy, EPA, Marcellus, Media, PA, Pennsylvania, Power, Press, Shale, Water

Our region will always try to define the Marcellus experience. Some think it’s good; some see an irreversible threat; some think of it as both. What we need is a commitment to make Marcellus development better and safer. While not everyone may be on board, there is a clear swing towards improving operations and technology to make development better and safer. I thought I would share two recent items.

Last week, I was involved in a conversation with some folks that weren’t convinced any improvements or progress are being made to reduce the impact of Marcellus Shale development. I thought I would share how this conversation went.

“There are still problems with gas companies destroying local roads. How are taxpayers going to handle that?”

No doubt that development activity is hammering local roads. There are lots of heavy trucks traveling on roads that were never built to handle the use. But there is a change underway to make this work better. This summer PennDOT issued guidelines primarily for the gas industry, but also for other heavy haulers. These guidelines included mandatory roadway maintenance and repair strategies. These strategies have to be submitted to PennDOT within 24 hours of a report of critical road condition. The strategies outline the contractor to be used, what materials will be used to repair to road, if the material will be replaced prior to June 30 following the winter, and so on. All actions relating to the strategies will be paid for by the gas companies. An article by John Beauge in the September edition of Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal describes how Chesapeake Energy has spent $15 million since spring repairing roads in Lycoming, Sullivan, Bradford, and Tioga counties and their plan is to spend another $15 million before the end of 2010. The inconvenience of a damaged road isn’t avoided; but the cost is being passed from the tax payer to the gas company. A good and necessary step I think.

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