Addressing PFAS and Water Agency Energy Infrastructure with Bob Patterson
On any given day if you use the search term ‘PFAS,’ you’ll be served multiple, recent news stories from around the country about a locality finding unsafe levels of the chemicals in their drinking water. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known more commonly as PFAS, are one of the most pressing issues facing water agencies around the U.S. These “forever chemicals” found their way into water and soil because of industries like manufacturing, chemical processing and more. Protecting consumers from ingesting quantities of these chemicals has become the chief priority for many water agencies.
The city of Burlington, N.C., is setting an example for localities throughout the country in responding to the PFAS crisis. After more than a century of textile manufacturing, which led to elevated PFAS levels in the city’s water supply, the local water resources department addressed the problem by piloting new technologies to make drinking water cleaner and their citizens safer. This expensive cleanup effort meant needing to find budget-conscious solutions to maintain critical infrastructure, like power supplies, around their facilities.
Burlington’s Executive Director of Water Resources Bob Patterson talks about addressing the PFAS situation and partnering with Duke Energy One to add energy resiliency to their water treatment plants in this interview.
When Burlington was faced with responding to the PFAS crisis, how did your department balance that critical need while also continuing standard operations?
Bob Patterson (BP): Our staff did a great job of picking up a lot of additional work – doing all this sampling in the field, sending samples to the commercial lab for analysis and responding to the various requirements of that whole investigation. In addition, they did their normal regular jobs – regulatory testing, sampling, treating wastewater. So, from that standpoint, we didn’t miss a beat adding this significant investigation.
But some things that were kind of put on the back burner or moved off the front burner were some major capital investments to replace equipment at the plants and in the field with our water and sewer collection system. That kind of slowed that whole process down. We wanted certainly to keep up with replacing our aging infrastructure to be able to provide reliable service to our customers.
What is influencing what water agencies prioritize with their limited budgets?
BP: I think that we’re all looking at the current and pending regulations for PFAS. There are proposed requirements that water plants will have to meet. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is supposed to release their final guidelines, maybe in the first quarter here 2024, and we’ll have three to five years to meet those requirements.
For many water providers, Burlington included, that’s going to involve major capital projects to install some sort of barrier technology that’s going to remove PFAS from our source waters. So that’s a priority. Just providing a clean, safe, dependable source of water for our customers, to maintain that level of trust with our customers is always the highest priority.
Replacing our infrastructure to provide that reliable service, and doing so in the most cost-efficient, affordable manner to keep our rates affordable for everybody. We’re all struggling with all these increased costs: increased chemical costs, inflation, contractors doing the work, driving up prices. So, it all rolls into a daily challenge of being able to provide water and sewer service, just like many other utilities and businesses across the country.
Why did the city of Burlington turn to Duke Energy One for a backup power solution?
BP: About four or five years ago, we started investigating some operations with one of our VFD drives on one of the large, finished water pumps and had some questions with Duke about some power quality issues. I really don’t remember what the result of that study was. I think it was more our VFD drive, but through that process, we asked about the transformer that was sitting right outside the plant which dated back to the late 1940s construction. It was my understanding that when Duke started looking for a replacement transformer, there was not one available on the East Coast and, maybe, in the U.S. But we had two separate electrical feeds. So, that was another reason why there was not a major movement for backup power at the Thomas Plant, since they were fed from two different Duke substations.
However, through that process, we started talking with Duke and actually worked with Duke’s engineers. Duke installed a brand-new service and new transformer, so we had a reliable feed to the plant. Then the other option was, do we want to replace that second feed or look at the backup power system?
That’s what led us to the discussions. Duke (Energy One) offered this program where they can supply backup power. That sounded appealing because our guys are great at treating water and working on water equipment. We have backup generators at other facilities, but there’s been lots of work just over the years. Since we aren’t generator people, we have to bring a contractor in to work on them. There seemed to be less and less available contractors, and we had more and more need as equipment aged. So that kind of led us to the discussion of Duke (Energy One)’s program.
We ran the numbers if the city did the traditional route – hire an engineer, design, bid, build and own the generator. Over the 10-year proposed lease agreement with Duke (Energy One), we look to be saving about $1.3 million between operations, maintenance and capital costs.
Why do you think energy as a managed service is beneficial for water agencies?
BP: We’re not in the energy business. We’re in the water and wastewater business. By working with Duke Energy (One) to provide these backup power systems, that relieves the burden from our staff to operate and maintain the generators or having to chase down a contractor to work on the generators.
It’s a turnkey service Duke (Energy One) has promised and so far has done a great job of providing the generator, providing the backup power, providing the monthly operations and testing. They will also provide service and fueling when they are needed and in use. And that is just one less thing that we have to worry about in those kinds of those emergency situations where we need to be focused on providing water and sewer service.
Conserve budget while achieving resiliency
Water agency budgets are already tight, and new concerns like addressing PFAS are making prioritizing and serving communities more difficult. Working with an energy reliability partner like Duke Energy One Energy Services gives water departments the ability to improve their infrastructure, continue addressing the needs of their customers and stay current with new regulations all while remaining budget conscious.
Check out the full interview with Bob Patterson to learn more about how the city of Burlington addressed the PFAS situation and why they chose Duke Energy One for infrastructure improvements. And contact us to find out more about how we can help ensure your water facilities remain ready when unexpected power outages occur.
