Perspectives on the Shutdown: Stormwater Infrastructure
Perhaps like us, you’ve been wondering about how the coronavirus shutdown is affecting the natural world, water resources, infrastructure, and the work of environmental advocates. We reached out to a group of experts in the Finding the Flint Working Group to see what they are noticing during these weeks of cancelled meetings, work-from-home experimentation, and quiet time outdoors.
Kevin Osbey (far left in the photo) is the Stormwater Program Director for the Clayton County Water Authority. He’s held this position since 2006 when Clayton County’s Stormwater Utility was formed. Kevin graduated from California State University, Northridge in 1990 with a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering, but at this point, he’s an honorary southerner.
How are you? What are your days like at Clayton County Water Authority right now?
Personally, I’ve been able to set up a home office and perform my daily functions here. CCWA has gone into a mode of operation that has effectively minimized the amount of personnel that reports to work on a daily basis. This is a combination of allowing eligible staff to work from home, stagger shifts, minimize plant operations staff, allowing staff to report directly to construction projects, and placing individuals on stand-by status.
As a water utility provider, we can’t shut down. We have to continue operations as best as we can as we comply with Governor Kemp’s Shelter-In-Place declaration.
Unfortunately, we had to postpone our annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection day, a public involvement event we do every April. We collect paints, chemicals, fertilizer, all that stuff sitting around the house and dispose of it in an environmentally responsible way. And we’ve closed our reservoirs to the public. They are typically open to for fishing and recreation, but we didn’t want to put our staff at risk or end up policing social distance.
What have you noticed about how the coronavirus shutdown is affecting water quality/flows, litter, and stormwater infrastructure?
We have not been able to assess local waterways to observe changes in flow or quality. We currently have a small watershed improvement strategy in place in Jesters Creek but that is being outsourced to an engineering firm. They are working their way through the watershed collecting samples, but that information is not available yet.
Due to the social distancing recommendations, we’ve chosen to minimize our daily activities. The stormwater staff is only responding to emergency issues. The size of our department dictates this because having too many folks in at one time could cause a problem which may take out our entire workforce if someone is infected.
As for litter, when people dump gloves and litter on the side of the road, it will end up in the creeks. We are not yet seeing it out in the creeks, but regionally, wastewater plants are seeing an increase of “flushable” wipes at the plants. Although marketed as “flushable,” residents are sending these wipes down the drain, which ends up in our plants. That trash will bind up the screens at the headworks. We know it’s coming and we’re prepared for it. We’ve been educating our public about what’s flushable through mailers and social media. Not only do they cause problems at the plant, but can cause problems for the homeowners, and it could back up the sewer line in their house. That’s what gets customers’ attention.
Do you think these changes are temporary?
These changes will be temporary, but we can’t make a call on when we will go back to normal operations. Once the Governor ends the Shelter-In-Place order, we will re-assess our operations. If the state extends for 2 more weeks, we’ll probably fall in line.
Meanwhile, we’ve got a lot of existing work orders for repairs that need to be done. Obviously, when you’re only responding to emergencies, your backlog continues to grow. It’s not a good feeling— like we never catch up—but we just have to be patient and preserve safe working conditions. Hopefully, we don’t get too many gully-washers like we did in February. That’s when a lot of our problems with aging infrastructure appear.
Any silver linings that we should try to preserve?
We’ve learned that technology provides ways for organizations like ours to be able to work remotely. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. We have staff that can work from home, but there are others—field crews, inspectors, pipe repair crews—there’s no way they can work from home. Our plants have to be manned 24/7. Trying to create an equitable balance is a challenge. Lots of water utilities are considering hazard pay.
How can we help?
Comply with the Governor’s recommendation for shelter-in-place and minimize your activities out! This thing will wind up going on longer and longer if people keep having backyard parties.
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