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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPipeline March & April March/April 2024 Winner is...And the YOUR SOURCE FOR OC SAN NEWS AND INFORMATION We are pleased to announce the winner of the Renaming of Pipeline! We had over 150 votes, and Pipeline is the winning name! We introduce to you the NEWLY DESIGNED Thank you to all who voted! The 2023 Safety Committee report underscores OC San's commitment to a safer environment. Through 12 regular meetings, the committee focused on strengthening safety policies, regulatory compliance, and innovative initiatives for facilities, workforce, and the community. A comprehensive safety and health audit ensured all Title 8 programs (CAL/OSHA - Division of Occupation Safety and Health regulations we follow) were current. Emergency preparedness was also a focus, with drills conducted for cyber and tsunami scenarios under Business Continuity Plans, (which contains critical information we need to continue operating during an unplanned event). These drills, led by the Risk Management team, identified valuable insights to further strengthen our response plans. Finally, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we maintained full permit compliance while prioritizing employee safety through Centers for Disease Control guidelines and adherence to employment and labor laws. Our commitment to continuous improvement is showcased by our achievements. Thank you to each and every one of you, we all contributed to a successful year. All four 2023 goals were achieved Strengthening safety protocols Finalizing Voluntary Protection Program actions and achieving California Voluntary Protection Program Star status in November Running cyber and tsunami simulations Effectively managing the COVID-19 pandemic PAGE TWO | MARCH/APRIL 2024 PAGE THREE | MARCH/APRIL 2024 2023 SafetyCommitteeREPORT PAGE FOUR | MARCH/APRIL 2024 PAGE FIVE | MARCH/APRIL 2024 Gerry Matthews 20 Years Roy Reynolds 22 Years Jagadish Oruganti 23 Years Darius Ghazi 24 Years Thomas Nguyen20 Years Jim Spears 32 Years Roger Herbst 13 Years Anantkumar Amin13 Years Bob Bell 30 Years 2024 Eros Yong 12 Years PAGE SIX | MARCH/APRIL 2024 The Gisler-Red Hill Interceptor and Baker Force Main Rehabilitation Project No. 7-65 is a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) project within the streets of Costa Mesa that is currently in construction. Because the project rehabilitates two different regional pipelines covering a large area of Costa Mesa impacting completely different areas, the project is separated into two subprojects when communicating with the public. In fact, when communicating with the public we use completely different names so its easier for them to understand and relate to the location. The Gisler-Red Hill Interceptor, publicly known as the Costa Mesa Sewer Rehab Along the 405, will rehabilitate or repair 30 manholes, almost three miles of gravity sewer including three pipelines that cross under the 405 freeway. Costa Mesa Construction A pre-measured liner was delivered in a refrigerated truck and then inserted through a tower and inverted into the pipe. After the liner was placed inside the pipe, it was filled with water and heated to a certain steady temperature for almost 2 days around-the-clock to cure the liner. After fully curing, the liner hardens and becomes a fully structural support within the existing pipe. The Baker Force Main, publicly known as Airway-Airport Loop Sewer Rehab, because it runs along Airway Ave and Airport Loop consists of rehabilitating approximately one mile each of two parallel 42-inch ductile iron pipes constructed in 1991 that conveys flows from the Main Street Pump Station. It will also replace supporting valves and piping at the Main Street Pump Station. This portion of the project began late last year and has already installed a liner in the pipe using the cured-in-place pipe method. Take a look at the photos below to see how it is done. PAGE SEVEN | MARCH/APRIL 2024 Access pits were excavated to access the top of the pipe. The $43.5 million project began construction in late 2023 and is anticipated to be completed in 2025. Visit www.ocsan.gov/ airwayairport or www.ocsan.gov/ alongthe405 for more information about the project. PAGE EIGHT | MARCH/APRIL 2024 PAGE NINE | MARCH/APRIL 2024 Division Profile In this issue of the Pipeline, we take a closer look at our Design Division (760) to learn a little bit more about their work at OC San. DESIGN DIVISION 760 Front row: Martin Dix, Madan Patel, Bob Tran, May Kyi, Jim Stewart and Andrew Cole Second row: Sterling Harris, Jason Lanning, Milind Wable, Ryan Houston, Natalia Bassett and Olga Prado Third row: Kevin Le, Reza Rezaei, Warren Liu, Cyril Davies and Jennifer Wein Top row: Quoc Tran, Brian Terrell, Matthew Killion, Charles Falzone and Allison McGuire 1. How does the Design group support OC San’s mission and goals? We provide technical leadership and design oversight for the Capital Improvement Program (CIP). With that in mind, our mission is to ensure all OC San facilities are designed to be maintainable, operable, reliable, and affordable. To do this we have to work closely with our stakeholders throughout OC San. Without them, we would not be successful. In fact, our success depends on building close working relationships with all our stakeholders so that together we scrutinize the designs that build the CIP. Also, our Process Control and Instrumentation (PCI) group works hard to ensure the mission critical real-time control systems is always online and serving the needs of Operations & Maintenance. 2. What is your division responsible for? What’s the day to day operations for your team? The Design division is responsible for technically leading projects from kick-off to closeout. We work closely with the Project Management Office, O&M, Construction Management, Planning and other divisions to ensure our projects are reliable, maintainable, operable, and cost effective for the lifetime of the facility. Our group also provides construction support, commissioning oversight during construction, and control systems for our facilities. In addition to project duties, our division is responsible for updating and maintaining OC San standards to ensure they are current, reflect best practices, and capture lessons learned. Day-to-day, the civil, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation groups work closely with consultants to make informed project decisions, enforce OC San standards, ensure design quality, oversee the design process, and obtain key stakeholder input. Our PCI group also works on designs, but day-to-day they work primarily with construction and operations to program and troubleshoot our control systems and ensure mission critical real-time control systems are online and available at least 99.9 percent of the time. Charles Falzone, May Kyi and Bob Tran (Div. 760). • Civil & Mechanical Design for Collections • Civil & Mechanical Design for Plants • Process Controls Integration • Electrical, Instrumentation & Control Design 3. How many people work in your division? There are 40 staff in our division, separated into four different groups:We are the second largest division within engineering, after Construction Management. (Continued on page ten) PAGE TEN | MARCH/APRIL 2024 PAGE ELEVEN | MARCH/APRIL 2024 4. What have been some challenging projects your group has worked on? Every project we work on has unique challenges, ranging from challenging decisions to scope creep to working with different personalities. Recently we faced challenges associated with inflation and the increase cost of projects P1-126, Primary Sedimentation Basins No. 3-5 Replacement at Plant No. 1; P1-140, Activated Sludge-1 and Secondary Clarifier Rehabilitation; 11-33, Edinger Pump Station Replacement; and P2-128, the project formerly known as Temperature Phase Anerobic Digester Facility at Plant No.2 (TPAD). The concurrent cost increase on many of our large projects in design led to some challenging decisions. TPAD faced an extraordinarily difficult decision of whether to continue with the project as-is or construct the facility in phases. OC San has a long-term goal to diversify our biosolids portfolio, which opens additional options for beneficial reuse. The TPAD process supported that goal by producing Class A biosolids at Plant No. 2. However, due to the increased capital and operational cost of the facility, the project no longer fit into OC San’s program as planned. The team coordinated with all internal stakeholders, met with different agencies in California and around the country, attended intense workshops and presented several times to our EMT to ultimately arrive at the decision to do the project in two phases. The two-phase approach has the benefit of addressing OC San’s immediate needs and providing flexibility on our future biosolids approach. This approach reduces cost and avoids the delay of other essential projects, such as P1-126, P1-140 and 11-33. A follow-on project will achieve our long-term goal of diversifying our biosolids portfolio with a Class A or other product. P2-128 is now named Digester Replacement at Plant No. 2. There will be more challenges to complete design and construction, but ultimately, P2-128 will provide OC San with a modern digester facility that is reliable, operable, and maintainable for years to come. (Continued from page nine) Division Profile 5. Are there any interesting or memorable experiences your division has had? An interest or memorable experience in the design group was the group’s participation in OC San’s 2018 Star- Studded Halloween Event. The 2018 Halloween celebration included door decoration and costume contests. The entire event was filled with fun, excitement, laughter, and genuine downtime away from our daily grind. Time spent together brainstorming, developing costume ideas, and dressing up as “Sewage Busters” left an indelible mark in our memories. 2018 Halloween Event. 7. What got you into Engineering? Warren Liu: Back in college, picking my college major was a big decision in my life. And, I’m glad that I made the right decision to be a civil engineer. I still remember that I wanted a job to help our community during my math class for the first year in college. Growing up with no paved street, no sewer system, and a broken house in China, I wanted to do something to make our society better in my career. Civil engineering is the perfect field for me. I worked at City of LA for 13 years, and now work at OC San. I’m very lucky, and happy to do what I love. I've found the dream job. Wendy Allison: That’s easy! The proud and astounded look on my dad’s face when I told him I was interested in being a civil engineer. I’ll never forget that look, to this day it continues to be a source of motivation for me. Marianne Kleine: I used to admire engineers, but never imagined I could be one. Then when I started junior college (age 28 or so), I went to the testing center to see if they could help me see my level of aptitude. I genuinely had no idea what the outcome would be. Lucy, the proctor, tabulated the results and told me that with a Critical Thinking score in the 96 percentile, I could be anything I wanted. I was so elated and excited that as I walked out that door I thought to myself “then I am going to be an engineer”. I had a long road ahead of me, but the reward was worth every effort I put into it. 6. Why is the Design group so important to OC San? To achieve its mission to protect public health and the environment, OC San spends a large portion of its budget each year on the CIP. For FY 23/24, the CIP was projected to be $270 million, or 48.3 percent of all expenditures. Our division is tasked with ensuring all CIP projects are designed to be reliable, maintainable, and operable at optimum lifecycle cost. We provide construction support services, including commissioning, to ensure that projects conform to the contract documents. We also provide control systems that are highly reliable, safe, and secure. 8. Fun Facts Natalia Basset: I like animals and have four rescued cats. Brian Terrell: I am a Scoutmaster and I like to cook (Elk Wellington that I made from an Elk Tenderloin that I harvested in December). May Kyi: I am an avid rock climber and do aerial silks. Charles Falzone: I was a former yo-yo champion and recently did a show for my son's kindergarten class. I also help lead a cub scout pack and help coach basketball. Andrew Cole: I used to do half/full marathons and road bike, but those days are over. I enjoy taking pictures of food and traveling with my wife. We have a husky and her name is Yuna. Majority of Division 760 employees are born in the months of October and November. Kevin Le, Abodia Mohaab, Reza Rezaei, Jason Lanning, Sterling Harris, Randy Inouye (on screen), Ryan Houston, Ian Curry (on screen), Matthew Killion, Steve Geel and Hemal Dhodia PAGE THIRTEEN | MARCH/APRIL 2024 Since 2005, OC San has sponsored the Orange County Science and Engineering Fair, which is a non-profit educational organization that promotes science and engineering in Orange County since 1955. Nine OC San employees volunteered to judge students’ projects in categories that included Chemistry, Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, Earth Science, and Energy Conversion & Alternative Energy Science. There were over 1,000 student projects from across Orange County which was a 22 percent increase from last year. The winners were announced in March during a ceremony held at Chapman University. OC San also provided a special award of $100 to one senior division project (grades 9-12) and one junior division project (grades 6-8). The special awards are awarded to projects aimed at improving the quality of life through improvement of water quality, water resource management, watershed protection or water and wastewater treatment, water reclamation, water conservation, and urban runoff pollution. OC San Employees Judge the Virtual OC Science and Engineering Fair OC San and the Orange County Water District (OCWD) were given the 2024 WateReuse Awards for Excellence — Community Water Champion award for the Final Expansion of the Groundwater Replenishment System. This award recognizes utilities and/ or government entities that ensure a safe, reliable, locally controlled water supply through the development of water recycling treatment facilities, infrastructure and/or other water reuse project. OCWD accepted this award on behalf of both agencies in early March. Congrats to everyone! Thomas Nguyen — OC San is the best agency that allowed me to raise my children and to buy my house. I would like to thank you my supervisor, Joe Manzella; manager, Sam Choi and director Lan Wiborg and all my colleagues at the OC San Laboratory for their support, patience and friendship over the past 20 years. I wish them all the best in the coming years. Thomas Retiree Reflections Jagadish Oruganti — It has been quite a journey starting as a contractor in Feb 1998 (we were called ‘CSDOC’ then) addressing the potential Y2K problem, joining the OC San employee family in June 2000, surviving pandemic in 2020, and retiring from OC San in March 2024. I had a great time and learned a lot while working with you all. Thanks for all your support, collaboration and sharing life lessons. I wish I could see the move to the new headquarters, which is very close. However, I am planning to attend future retirement celebrations. Jagadish And The Award Goes To PAGE TWELVE | MARCH/APRIL 2024 Thank you to our volunteers Cindy Murra, Jeff Brown, Yiping Cao, Dawn Myers, David Lo, Rachel Van Exel, Shawn Carman, Jenna Obenshain and Courtney Sakuma for representing OC San and encouraging these students to continue with their love of Science and Engineering. PAGE FOURTEEN | MARCH/APRIL 2024 PAGE FIFTHTEEN | MARCH/APRIL 2024 Wel come to the TEAM Kareem Nayfeh (Div. 770) Student Intern Wayne Wescott (Div. 250) Information Technology Technician Bryce Hindes (Div. 770) Cost Estimator Kevin Le (Div. 760) Information Technology Analyst II Isai Carrillo (Div. 140) Graphic Designer Sally Pederson (Div. 770) Senior Engineer MEET COCO — The most adventurous 7-year-old who enjoys long drives, walks, and pup cups. Her best trick is playing “dead” when she lies on the floor frozen. Vianey Sorto-Gaona (Div. 120) Danielle Alvarez (Div. 630) Scientist MEET CHEESE — I'm just as cute as a button. Julie Kardos (Div. 770) MEET COCO, GYPSY and JAX — Brian Huynh (Div. 161) MEET CANDY and LUCY — Candy the cat and Lucy the dog love to hang out on the cat tower. Jerome Jovenal (Div. 620) Sally Pederson, Kevin Le, Wayne Wescott, Isai Carrillo, Erik Cortez, Theresa Nguyen, Bryce Hindes and Rob Thompson (General Manager) Theresa Nguyen (Div. 610) Student Intern Garrett Jones (Div. 880) Mechanic Spring is a time of fresh starts, blooming flowers and warmer weather. What better time for a healthy reboot than springtime. Enjoy the following tips to help you on your spring reset: Move your body in ways you enjoy: Spring is a perfect time to ditch the gym and rediscover activities you love, like hiking, biking, or swimming. Eat simply and nutritiously: Focus on whole, unprocessed foods and cut back on added sugar and portion sizes. Colorful fruits and vegetables are abundant in spring, so aim for a rainbow on your plate! Make time for yourself: Don't underestimate the power of some quiet time for yourself. Choose an activity that helps you unwind and de-stress. You'll be amazed at how much better you feel! Take a break from technology: Spring is a time for renewal, so ditch the constant screen time! Explore new activities that spark joy — try a new sport, volunteer your time, or pick up a creative hobby. Clean out your medicine cabinet: During spring cleaning, don't forget to freshen up your medicine cabinet. Expired medications (over the counter or prescribed) should be safely discarded. The best way to dispose of most types of unused or expired medicines is to drop them off at a drug take back site. Don’t forget the toilet is not a trash can. Learn more about What 2 flush. OC San Pets SpringSpring into a into a New Employee Tour HealthierHealthier You!You!SpringSpring into a into aHealthierHealthier You!You! 3. What type of vehicle do you go off roading with? My three brothers and I all have off-road vehicles. • Three Trucks• Three Jeeps (including My Beast!) 4. Do you go with family/ friends? We go together as a family, and sometimes a couple of friends from Orange County (also born in Baja) will join us in their own vehicles and we travel together across the border. Once in Ensenada, we meet up with our childhood friends at my parent’s home [at “our block” like we call it]. At least half of our childhood friends have homes there and is an off- road enthusiast. The day of the race, all of us gather up around 4:30 a.m. / 5:00 a.m., and head out to the desert. 5. Do you have any exciting stories about your experience? Some of the best times we have is just gathering as a group with our childhood friends and catching up. It is always so much fun when the race cars get stuck in the dirt, get a flat tire, their car breaks down and they are not by their pit stop, etc. Our group of friends (85 percent male) will go out there and help change a tire, have helped flip cars over, have pulled race cars stuck in the dirt or in mud, give the drivers water, etc. There are so many things to do in Ensenada (just the Baja fish tacos alone are worth it). Again, this is not a sport for everybody, but it is so much fun! We all take food to share and after the motorcycles, trucks, Trophy trucks, and buggys pass our area (and we are waiting for them to come back around), we hang out, tell jokes, play games, play music, dance, and catch up with each other. We get to the races very early in the morning while it is still dark, and leave when it is dark again. Very tiring, long day, but very fun. If you can ever experience this, I highly recommend it. 6. How did you get interested in this activity? I became interested in off-roading because I was born and raised in Ensenada, BC, and it is just something we do. The SCORE International races started in Ensenada in 1969. Having a dad and three older brothers, it was kind of a given that my mom and I would go with them to the races, and my love for the races began. My mom did not enjoy them much. This is not a sport for many girls — it is dirty, and I mean dirty — so much dust. There are no restrooms, so as a girl you have to rough it out when you are out there in the middle of the desert (need to find a bush, if you know what I mean). Two of my sisters-in-law went once, and that was it for them — no more. PAGE SIXTEEN | MARCH/APRIL 2024 PAGE SEVENTEEN | MARCH/APRIL 2024 We are the BEST and we want to highlight you, our OC San SUPER STARS. This new(ish) section is a take on our previously known Hoot and Holler section. Think graduations, marathons, babies, marriages, pets, etc. This is our Pipeline! Send your fun pictures and a brief description to ForInformation@OCSan.gov to be included in one of the upcoming issues. There’s CALIFORNIA and then, there’s BAJA CALIFORNIA — That being said, I AM a CALIFORNIA Girl!!! 1. How often do you go off-roading? My brothers and I go to the Baja races NO LESS than four times a year, and sometimes we go to Laughlin/ Vegas for other races. We do not “race-race” but usually go with a large group of friends from Ensenada, Baja (maybe 8-10 cars tailgating each other). We drive an hour/two hours into the actual racecourse very early the morning of the race (so we are technically off-roading) to choose a spot where we can see the cars jump/or get stuck, that sort of thing. People from our group have gotten stuck, one of them got in an accident a few years back and flipped over. On another occasion, when raining, we were hanging on an edge of a hill and almost dropped/fell. Luckily, we go with a group so there is always someone there to assist. Scary, but SO MUCH fun! 2. Where do you go off-roading? We mostly go off-roading in Baja (Ensenada/San Felipe) — there are awesome places here in California too, but we go to those less. Going back to Baja is fun for us because we go to our childhood house, catch up with our childhood friends, eat great food, see family, etc. It’s just something that brings us back to our roots. FEATURE Olga Prado (Div. 760) PAGE EIGHTEEN | MARCH/APRIL 2024 PAGE NINETEEN | MARCH/APRIL 2024 CommunityConnections City of La Palma Community Conversation Children’s Water Festival Belen Carrillo and Gregg Deterding (Div. 140) Rachel Orejel (Div. 140), Victoria Pilko (Div 750), Kelly Newell (Div. 140), Sam Choi (Div. 620), Randa Abushaban (Div. 610), David Lo (Div. 620), Dawn Myers (Div 620), and Dindo Carrillo. Not pictured: Tom Mergillano (Div. 610) and Belen Carrillo (Div. 140). Costa Mesa Earth Day is an annual event hosted by the city to highlight this important day and how we can all be environmental stewards. The Children’s Water Festival is a two-day event teaching 3rd – 5th grade students across Orange County about the importance of water and the role they can play to protect it. La Palma Community Conversation is an event for the public to chat with their local elected officials and various public agencies about the essential service we all provide. Costa Mesa Earth Day (Continued from seventeen) Toastmasters is alive and well at OC San! Cortney Light won the Speech Evaluations Area Contest by giving 2-3 minutes of impromptu constructive feedback to a “test” speaker. Contestants were given just five minutes to prepare their response. She will move forward to the Division Contest later this month. If you are interested in improving your speaking or presentation skills, please reach out to Cortney. Watermeisters is a hybrid club that meets on Thursday in Conference Room C at Plant No. 1 and via Zoom. She was born October 2023. She’s a super happy baby, loves to play and she can’t wait to run around with her older sister! Congrats Trang on your beautiful baby girl. She was born October 2023. Congrats to Samir Patel. She’s beautiful. Cortney Light (Div. 830) Jackie Lerma and Christiana Richardson (Div 830) meet across the pond in Scotland at Edinburgh Castle. Toastmasters First Place Trang Doan (Div. 740) Meet Baby Luna Samir Patel (Div. 250) Meet Baby Sonali Giti Radvar (Div. 750), Enisha Matthews (Div 220), Hye Oh (Div. 750), and Greg Blakeley (Retiree). ServiceAwards PAGE TWENTY | MARCH/APRIL 2024 30 YEARS Cindy Ferry Paul Spassoff Mark Kawamoto 20 YEARS Robert Michaels Johnny Rocha Jacob Dalgoff 15 YEARS Randa AbuShaban 10 YEARS April Frost Reed Calvo 5 YEARS Aaron Arce Brian Bedard Lan Wiborg Lorraine Baltierra Ryan Gregory Nina Tran, from Information Tech Analyst III to Senior Info Tech Analyst Alex Duarte, from Plant Operator to Senior Plant Operator David Haug, from Maintenance Supervisor to Maintenance Superintendent Aurelio Jaime, from Senior Mechanic to Maintenance Specialist Tiffany Kieu, from Administrative Assistant to Contract/Purchasing Technician Dickie Fernandez, from Engineer to Senior Engineer Joel Finch, from Senior Environmental Specialist to Principal Environmental Specialist Bryce Hockensmith, from Senior Accountant to Principal Accountant Emily Tam, from Environmental Specialist to Senior Environmental Specialist Brendon Tran, from Electrical Tech I to Electrical Tech II JUNE 8, 2024 | 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. SAVE THE DATE Celebrating 70 Years of Environmental Excellence YOUR SOURCE FOR OC SAN NEWS AND INFORMATION Pipeline provides news and information to OC San employees, retirees, and the Board of Directors. Pipeline is published bi-monthly by the Public Affairs Division. Senior Editor: Daisy Corvarrubias Editor: Rebecca Long Writer: Kelly Newell Designers: Gregg Deterding Isai Carrillo Proofreader: Cheryl Scott Submit story ideas to forinformation@ocsan.gov.