Report - Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago

on areas of interest to the wastewater field. In 2010, 1,809 people attended these seminars. A
list of the seminar topics is shown in Appendix IV.
In addition to the overall administrative and supervisory functions performed by the
Administrative Section, the Experimental Design and Statistical Evaluation Group and the
Radiochemistry Group, which are a part of the Administrative Section, provided the following
support to the rest of the EM&RD.
Experimental Design and Statistical Evaluation Group. The Experimental Design
and Statistical Evaluation Group (EDSEG) is responsible for providing assistance in the design
of laboratory and full-scale experiments, collection of appropriate data, development of
guidelines for data collection methodology, and statistical analyses. Personnel in this Group also
develop multistage automation programs to interconnect different software programs such as
LATEX, Visual Basic, SAS, Access, Excel, Outlook, and Power Point. This computer
automation has enabled the section to produce reports, tables, and texts in suitable designs, and
to respond to many requests in a shorter period of time.
Statistical and Computing Support. During 2010, a biostatistician provided statistical and
computing support to various projects. The following is a description of some of the activities.
1. Statistical support was provided to the Analytical Microbiology and
Biomonitoring Section (AMBS) to study antibiotic resistant bacteria in
wastewater. This work is published in Water Science & Technology in
2009.
2. Extensive statistical analyses support was provided on the reduction of
sampling frequencies in the District's drying sites.
3. EDSEG provided data management support to the Biosolids Utilization and
Soil Science Section to produce quarterly reports on biosolids management
at the District's Biosolids Management Areas in accordance with IEP A
permit requirements. Solids Management Area reports were produced for
Harlem Avenue Solids Management Area (HASMA), Lawndale Avenue
Solids Management Area (LASMA), Ridgeland A venue Solids
Management Area (RASMA), Stony Island Solids Management Area
(SMA), Calumet East SMA, Calumet West SMA and Hanover Park Fisher
Farm fourth quarter of 2009 and for the first, second, and third quarter of
2010.
5. Statistical support was provided for research investigating the availability
of phosphorus in biosolids.
6. Statistical support was provided for centrifuge analyses on polymer dose
and the total solids of cake produced.
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