Budget Message / Highlights - Metropolitan Water Reclamation ...

METROPOLITAN WATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT OF GREATER CHICAGO
2009 BUDGET
MAINTENANCE & OPERATIONS – CALUMET SERVICE AREA
2009 BUDGET NARRATIVE
The 2009 appropriation request for the Calumet Service Area is $44,690,900, an increase of $2,205,400 or 5.2 percent more
than 2008. The staffing level of 238 represents an increase of three (3) positions, transferred, from the General Division, a
Management Analyst I and Management Analyst II, and one Electrical Mechanic returning to work. There are no positions
budgeted in the Stormwater Management Fund managed by this division.
HIGHLIGHTS/ACHIEVEMENTS/GOALS
The 2009 Calumet budget requests reflect efforts to address a number of important objectives:
• 100 percent NPDES permit compliance. Both the Calumet WRP and Lemont WRP met 100 percent of all permit
requirements in 2007 and in 2008;
• Continued implementation of the Engineering program consistent with the Master Plan;
• Continued emphasis on maintaining and improving security and emergency response capabilities;
• Continued rehabilitation and improvements to facilities and equipment. Calumet continues to address, in particular, the
digital control system and its performance and reliability issues, with Foxboro and local area network upgrades, and the
completion of phase three at Lemont WRP, 95 th Street Pump Station, and the 125 th Street Pump Station. This will complete
three of the total of five phases to replace obsolete and unreliable equipment. Improvements to our gas alarm annunciators
and evacuation alarm system will be undertaken;
• Continued emphasis in reducing fossil fuel energy consumption by controlling our natural gas usage/expenditures by
maintaining an aggressive control and monitoring program with continuous review and adjustments to meet current actual
needs. However, due to the new central boiler facility coming on line in 2009 and the fact that it will take some period of
time to fine tune the system for optimum operation, we anticipate gas usage will go up temporarily, until fine tuning is
complete. The ultimate goal has been, and continues to be, to reduce overall gas usage by 60 percent from our long-term
average of 500,000 therms per year. We anticipate that we will attain this goal by the year 2010. Calumet is exploring
various ways to reduce the use of coal generated electricity, possibly supplementing with solar energy, and also cutting
back on our usage of diesel and gasoline fuels by making adjustments to operations and replacing equipment with much
more environmentally responsible equipment, such as electric powered cars and trucks;
• Work is in progress to hire a Licensed Professional Farm Manager for the 5,334 acres of cropland on the Fulton County
property. Use of a Professional Farm Manager will allow the District to maximize revenue from this property.
BUDGET SUMMARY
Some of the major new M&O initiatives affecting our 2009 budget request are:
• $820,000 for phase three of the installation of new Foxboro equipment to replace the existing obsolete equipment which
no longer can be counted on to provide reliable process control data and information;
• $600,000 to overhaul one preliminary tank and rehabilitate two other preliminary tanks. Rehabilitating these tanks will
allow us to resume our schedule of rehabilitating two tanks per year. The bids for the current contract, 08-880-12, came in
higher than anticipated resulting in only one tank overhaul done per year. After completing the scheduled two tanks in
2009, partial rehabilitations will be done until the new preliminary tanks are on line. Although these tanks will eventually
be replaced under the Master Plan, they need to continue to provide reliable service to meet the NPDES permit until they
are actually replaced;
• $340,000 to replace the existing centrifuge conveyor assembly. The conveyor assembly is worn and is structurally
unsound and beyond repair;
• $250,000 for replacement of the variable frequency drives for the low level pumps and return sludge pumps. The existing
drives are obsolete and will no longer be supported by the manufacturer. This item is being funded by the Capital
Improvements Bond Fund;
• $250,000 to replace three existing sludge transfer pumps in digesters cluster #2, that are worn out, with new direct coupled
and mechanical seal pumps, and replace sections of sludge and effluent piping. This item is being funded by the Capital
Improvements Bond Fund;
• $140,000 to rebuild a centrifuge rotating element. The existing rotating element is beyond in-house repair and requires
repairs by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to return it to the original specifications. A complete rebuild by the
manufacturer is more cost effective than purchasing a replacement;
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