City's Green Roof

Green Roof on the Effluent Filtration Building

The green roof on the top of the Effluent Filtration Building at the Wastewater Treatment Plant was installed in the fall of 2010. It cost $80,000 to install the plants on the 6,000 square foot roof.

The plants are sedum, alliums, and euphorbia, selected for their ability to withstand drought, wind and sun. They have shallow root structure, making them ideal for roof landscaping where a deep soil is not possible. The plants also provide many months of flowering blooms.

Green roofs reduce urban heat from roof top reflections, reduce stormwater run-off, absorb air pollution, protect the roof from UV ray degradation, provide a natural habitat for birds and small animals, reduce the heat load to the building in the summer and provide additional insulation in the winter.

The next goal is to install a green roof on the new Ultraviolet Disinfection Facility, a 2,000 square foot surface, for an estimated cost of $35,000. This project is scheduled for fall 2012. The project construction manager is Arcadis and engineers are Greeley and Hansen.

Meter Reading - It's All Done Electronically Now

Imagine driving by every single home, apartment and business in the city of Richmond, Henrico County all the way to the Goochland county line, and parts of Hanover every single month – at 20 mph?

That’s what the employees of the city of Richmond Department of Public Utilities’ Meter Reading Department do in order to electronically collect the data necessary to send out accurate water and gas bills to customers.

Years ago, it was an even more daunting task when meters were manually read by gas and water service technicians who had to walk into every yard to read the meter. With the advent of computers, a city vehicle equipped with a mobile data collector can record the readings transmitted by antennas on gas and water meters as the vehicle slowly passes the location.

As each neighborhood is scanned block by block, the computer shows the meters that were missed and each missed location is immediately revisited. If the meter still doesn’t register, a gas and water service technician visits the location the following day to investigate and fix the problem. Typical problems include old antenna batteries – they have an average lifespan of 7-10 years, the water meter well is flooded from a recent rain, or the customer has cut or damaged the wire to the antenna.

A typical day’s route might drive by anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 meters and take as long as 10 hours to complete. On some routes, it’s necessary to drive through alleyways behind houses or pull into driveways in order to pick up the signal.

Typical types of antennas found on water and gas meters.

A service technician loads a computer with the day's route on it into the data collector strapped to the passenger seat.

Instead of a service technician in your yard, you're more likely to catch a glimpse of a city vehicle driving slowly down your street on meter-reading day.

City Reduces Fluoride Levels in Drinking Water

The city of Richmond Department of Public Utilities has reduced the fluoride levels in the drinking water treatment process from 0.90 milligrams per liter (mg\l) to 0.70 mg\l of water, effective March 1, 2011.

This comes as a result of a January 2011 recommendation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In a joint press release, HHS proposed "that the recommended level of fluoride in drinking water can be set at the lowest end of the current optimal range to prevent tooth decay." This replaces the previous recommended range of 0.7 to 1.2 milligrams per liter. The reasons for the change include the increased access of Americans to more sources of fluoride. The new guidance updates and replaces recommendations provided in 1962 by the U.S. Public Health Service.

"Reducing the fluoride dose will not require a change in the city's drinking water treatment process and comes at no increase in cost," said Bob Steidel, director of the Richmond Department of Public Utilities. "Based upon the EPA and HHS recommendation, we want to ensure that we are doing everything we can to maximize the health benefits of our city's drinking water fluoridation process."

Dr. Donald Stern, Richmond City director of Public Health, noted that "the U.S. Centers for Disease Control considers water fluoridation one of the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th century due to its contribution to improved dental health. Extensive literature review has shown that the new fluoridation standard is best to prevent disease while avoiding excess fluoride exposure."

For more information about national and state drinking water regulations for fluoride, visit the EPA website, the Center for Disease Control, or the Virginia Office of Drinking Water.

DPU Receives NBP EMS Certification

The city of Richmond's Department of Public Utilities received National Biosolids Partnership (NBP) certification of its environmental management system following a verification audit report by NSF International Strategic Registrations on Jan. 14, 2011. DPU is the 32nd organization and second in Virginia to achieve NBP certification.

To learn more about the city's biosolids program, visit our web page.

Help Stop Basin Lid Thefts

The city of Richmond is losing up to $1,000 a day from the theft of metal stormwater inlet basin tops. The thefts are becoming a safety hazard as well.

On Friday, Oct. 1, 2010, 16 tops were stolen from Castlewood Road on the Southside. Police were able to recover some of the tops from Smith Iron and Metal Company on Bells Road. A suspect was arrested as a result.

Missing basin tops are continually being reported. This is developing into an expensive problem for the city, with the hardest hit areas on the Southside and Church Hill. On Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010, the Department of Public Utilities received notice of five more missing tops.

If you see a missing basin top, call the Department of Public Utilities at 646-4646 and leave a message with the location of the open basin. If you observe any suspicious activity around a stormwater basin, call the police at 646-5100, or 9-1-1 if the theft is in progress.

Some of the missing basin tops on Castlewood Road

Recovering some of the missing basin lids from a metal salvage.

Lead and Copper in Your Pipes - What You Should Know

Although it is unlikely there are sufficient quantities of lead and copper in your drinking water to cause health problems, your home's plumbing could be depositing lead and copper in your water.

When your water has been sitting in your pipes for several hours—for instance in the morning, or when you return from work or a trip away from home—you can minimize the potential for lead exposure by flushing your tap for 30 seconds to two minutes before using water for drinking or cooking. Run the tap until the water becomes noticeably colder.

Flushing tap water is a simple and inexpensive measure you can take to protect your family’s health. It uses less than one or two gallons of water and costs less than 42 cents per month. To conserve water while flushing, fill bottles for drinking water after you flush the tap and refrigerate. Use first-flush water to wash dishes or water plants.

Try not to cook with or drink water from the hot water tap. Hot water dissolves lead deposits in pipes faster than cold water. To heat water for cooking, draw it from the cold tap and heat it on the stove.

Lead soldering was banned in 1986.  If your copper pipes were joined illegally with lead solder, notify the plumber who did the work and request it be replaced with lead-free solder. Lead solder looks dull gray, and when scratched with a key, it appears shiny. If your home was built prior to 1986, have a licensed plumber or private home inspector inspect the lines, or have your water tested for lead and copper levels, and be sure to run your cold water tap for 30 seconds before using it for drinking or food preparation, and use hot water only for washing.

Consumer Confidence Reports on water quality are distributed annually to customers by the Richmond Department of Public Utilities and contain information on lead and copper levels.  Email dpuc@richmondgov.com to receive the latest copy.

Cleaning Catch Basins

One of the main tasks of the new Stormwater Division is to clean the catch basins. Basins get clogged with garbage that either sweeps into the basins during rainstorms or is thrown in by people. Vacuum trucks have to visit each catch basin in the city and vacuum the garbage and debris out to keep the stormwater water from backing up and flowing neighborhood streets.

Just beginning to fill up.

Full of trash (above). Vacuum truck cleaning catch basin (below).