In 1997, the Orange County Sanitation District set out to do something different. We worked with other wastewater treatment plants across the country and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to pioneer a new program—a biosolids management system. Six years later, we became the first agency in the nation certified by the National Biosolids Partnership. Today, over 30 other agencies join us.

We are proud of our accomplishment, proud of our team, and proud to say this is just the beginning.

Orange County Sanitation District staff and affiliated contractors work hard every day for the 2.6 million residents we serve by collecting and treating wastewater and recycling approximately 250,000 tons of biosolids a year.

This is a review of how we work to protect the environment and public health by balancing our fiscal responsibility with our goal of recycling our biosolids using sustainable options.

Quality insists onQuality insists ongood communicationgood communication

Biosolids management

Orange County Sanitation District

inside and outQuality counts,

April 2011Quality counts, inside and out © OCSD 2011

Orange County Sanitation District • 10844 Ellis Avenue, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 • (714) 962-2411 • www.ocsd.com

Face-to-face communication remains the best way to hear and be heard; however, the way people relate to each other continues to change. With more than half of all United States adults regularly participating in social networking, this new method of communication increases our interaction with the public in positive ways and enables more people to participate in the conversation. It is a very powerful way for government agencies to connect with citizens.

We welcome the change and participate in social networking using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. These social network sites allow us to disseminate information in a transparent and rapid fashion to a much broader segment of the public than we could have imagined five years ago.

Our biosolids policyOCSD strives to recycle its biosolids

using sustainable options while protecting

public health and the environment.

CertifiedBiosolids ProgramSince 2003

More OCSD biosolids information, including our annual compliance reports, audits, and factsheets are available on www.ocsd.com.

Sign up for e-mail updates of the latest biosolids news under E-Notify.

Follow OCSD on@ OCSanitationDistrict

@ OCSD_PIO

on Channel 2OCSD

Quality Team

Quality counts, inside and out

quality of solids, save time and transportation costs, and increase maintenance safety.

Truck driver Gilberto Bernabe

passed three consecutive OCSD inspections over two years making the District's honor roll. Gilberto is a model driver who follows safety protocols. He makes certain his truck is clean, well maintained, and on time.

The drivers are a key part of the biosolids program. We are leading the industry by setting high standards for our contracted biosolids haulers. Senior Environmental Specialist Leyla Perez is our biosolids inspector. She inspects and trains the truck drivers on our requirements and serves as the liaison between the operators and contractors.

She audits the preventive maintenance programs required for all contractors and

Quality counts on commitment and oversight

performs inspections to ensure contractors

Recently, Shaen was struggling to make ends meet with an operational slump in solids production. We worked closely with him to set a fair minimum biosolids tonnage that would keep his operation viable. Working out a solution with Shaen was good for our bottom-line too. We maintained a low-cost, high quality, and reliable contractor, saving about $300,000 in the process.

Building strong relationships is a vital part of our biosolids program. We firmly believe that we must consider input from our neighbors, regulators, contractors, field personnel, and any other interested parties and communicate openly and honestly.

Michael Wardell is a KEMA Registered Quality certification environmental auditor. KEMA Registered Quality has a worldwide reputation and more than 80 years of experience with

Quality mandates validation

independent approval testing and the award of certificates. He spends three to five days annually at our treatment plants and at our contractor sites interviewing, checking, and verifying all the various aspects involved in our biosolids program. His goal is to determine that our program conforms to all the expectations and requirements of the National Biosolids Partnership. Michael verifies we are doing what we said we would do, when we said we would do it and how we said we would do it.

We are extremely proud of the rigorous work we’ve put into our program over the last decade and a half. Close oversight of our contractors paid off and set us apart from other organizations.

meet these standards. Leyla conducts periodic safety checks and one-on-one training of drivers in both English and Spanish to help ensure our biosolids safely reach their final destination.

We insist that our contractors minimize the odor and reduce the impacts on neighbors near our sites. It is critical that our contractors hold our same values. Leyla is our eyes, ears, and nose on the ground to help prevent and resolve problems.

Shaen Magan is another critical part of our team. He owns Tule Ranch, a biosolids management company that farms with our biosolids in Arizona.

Shaen has always been extremely reliable, flexible and accommodating during OCSD’s peaks and lows in biosolids production and through wet weather events.

Quality requires strong relationships

Mike ZedekOCSD source control engineer

Jeff “Woody” WoodwardOCSD senior plant operator

Gilberto Bernabebiosolids truckdriver

Leyla PerezOCSD senior environmental specialist

Shaen MaganTule Ranch owner

Michael WardellKEMA environmental auditor

Quality thrives with passion and commitmentWe believe that the services we provide

must exceed the public’s expectation to

ensure quality. Wastewater treatment is an

industry that usually flies under the public’s

radar until something goes wrong. That

means it is even more necessary to do it

right even if it seems no one is looking.

We built flexibility into our long-range

biosolids management plan. We applied

the same practices that good investors

use to minimize risk through their

diverse portfolios.

To ensure good diversity in our end-use

portfolio, we strive to employ at least three

Quality calls for a flexible plan

Quality begins with our team – the men

and women who strive for perfection in

all areas of our operation. We require

the highest passion and commitment to

excellence from each critical link in our

biosolids quality control process, from

our talented operators, licensed laboratory

scientists, trained drivers, and dedicated

inspectors to our contractors in California

and Arizona.

We keep a close eye on our biosolids, inside

our treatment plants and outside on the

streets and highways. We care about how

contractors transport and use our materials

from our plants to their facilities and fields.

We take great care beginning to end.

Meet ourtechnologies (synthetic coal production

technology, aerated static pile and windrow

composting, and farmland application);

three markets (synthetic coal, compost in

Central Valley, compost in Arizona, and

farming with biosolids in Arizona); and

three contractors (EnerTech, Synagro, and

Tule Ranch). We also have four biosolids

management sites (San Bernardino and

Kern counties in California, and La Paz

and Yuma counties in Arizona).

Quality begins at the source

The cleaner the water is when it comes to our facilities, the less it costs to treat. Therefore, our quality control starts before the wastewater enters the sewer system. As a result, the water coming into our treatment plants meets drinking water standards for heavy metals.

Our source control engineers and inspectors issue and enforce industrial discharge permits by routinely inspecting businesses and sampling industrial discharges. All of our permit holders must frequently submit certified laboratory data to us to prove they meet our stringent requirements.

Mike Zedek, a 21-year District employee and source control engineer, explains why we utilize the latest geographic information system technologies for sewer flow, demographics and sampling data to track down violators.

Quality demands the right skills

Our highly trained operators oversee the treatment plants and are a critical link in our quality control process.

Jeff “Woody” Woodward, a 20-year District employee and senior plant operator, is always amazed by the amount of work that gets done on a daily basis. “There is so much to do from planning scheduled maintenance, coordinating isolations and construction projects, to running digesters in manual mode for research projects,” smiles Woody.

Operating equipment, keeping the biosolids trucks loading safely, providing input to facility design teams, and imparting knowledge to the next generation of operators are all essential elements of his daily job.

Woody is currently experimenting with a new polymer feed system that could improve the

We can target problem areas, and then work with industry to eliminate discharge violations and provide complete training courses for industrial pretreatment operators.

I have a great team, including maintenance and instrumentation. They give me the flexibility I need, and I try hard to accommodate their preventive maintenance schedules. We have a shared goal—keep the equipment running well.

The Sanitation District is much more involved in my day-to-day operations than any of my other customers. They check in to see how things are going. When I need something, they are very responsive. They have helped improve how I do business.

The Orange County Sanitation District’s biosolids contractor oversight program is the best I have seen nationwide.

We demand that our contractors strive to be good neighbors and build relationships with the local community.

They recognize my hard work and how serious I take my job. I appreciate them caring about us guys out hauling the biosolids from here to there every day. My job is important.

In 1997, the Orange County Sanitation District set out to do something different. We worked with other wastewater treatment plants across the country and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to pioneer a new program—a biosolids management system. Six years later, we became the first agency in the nation certified by the National Biosolids Partnership. Today, over 30 other agencies join us.

We are proud of our accomplishment, proud of our team, and proud to say this is just the beginning.

Orange County Sanitation District staff and affiliated contractors work hard every day for the 2.6 million residents we serve by collecting and treating wastewater and recycling approximately 250,000 tons of biosolids a year.

This is a review of how we work to protect the environment and public health by balancing our fiscal responsibility with our goal of recycling our biosolids using sustainable options.

Quality insists onQuality insists ongood communicationgood communication

Biosolids management

Orange County Sanitation District

inside and outQuality counts,

April 2011Quality counts, inside and out © OCSD 2011

Orange County Sanitation District • 10844 Ellis Avenue, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 • (714) 962-2411 • www.ocsd.com

Face-to-face communication remains the best way to hear and be heard; however, the way people relate to each other continues to change. With more than half of all United States adults regularly participating in social networking, this new method of communication increases our interaction with the public in positive ways and enables more people to participate in the conversation. It is a very powerful way for government agencies to connect with citizens.

We welcome the change and participate in social networking using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. These social network sites allow us to disseminate information in a transparent and rapid fashion to a much broader segment of the public than we could have imagined five years ago.

Our biosolids policyOCSD strives to recycle its biosolids

using sustainable options while protecting

public health and the environment.

CertifiedBiosolids ProgramSince 2003

More OCSD biosolids information, including our annual compliance reports, audits, and factsheets are available on www.ocsd.com.

Sign up for e-mail updates of the latest biosolids news under E-Notify.

Follow OCSD on@ OCSanitationDistrict

@ OCSD_PIO

on Channel 2OCSD

Where does it all go?Diversity in products, markets, locations, and contractors

is key to OCSD’s biosolids sustainability formula. As a precaution, we maintain fail-safe back-up options

equal to 14 times (1400%) our daily production.

The ups and downs of cleaner water

p e r f o r m a n c er e p o r t

2011

A p r i l 2 01 2

BiosolidsManagementProgram

1 of 2

FarmlandApplication

29%Compost38%

33%Synthetic

Coal

Exceeding our goalsOur goal this past year was to recycle 95% of our biosolids; we recycled 100%. In November, our Board revised that goal to 88% to allow us more flexibility during peak solids production (through 2017).

This year, we plan to test landfill options by sending one load (up to 4 max) a day to a local Orange County landfill.

Lower costs translate to more savingsThis year, we came in under budget by 3%. We saved approximately $870,000 thanks to a negotiated price reduction with our existing EnerTech contract. The reduction occurred because EnerTech did not meet required benchmarks during their commissioning process.

Operational changes and new construction will produce cleaner water and change the amount of biosolids we produce each day.

26% diverted to farm land application

2011 2013 2017

hhhh

Biosolids Recycled:268,000 tons735 tons per day29 truckloads per day

Annual Costs:$17.8 million (fiscal year 2010-11)$67.80 per wet ton (average)

Peak solids production adds 1,000 more trucks on the road per year.

More details in Annual Compliance Report on ocsewers.com/503 or ocsewers.com/biosolids

*Based on an informal review of OCSD biosolids production and recycling calculated (using published BEAM model PN 1432 Canadian Council of Ministry and Environment).

Recycling our biosolids (putting carbon back into soil,

so plants can grow) equals taking almost 2000 cars off

the road or over 1 million gallons of gas per year!*

OCSD Graduates Drivers to Honor RollA select group of 13 drivers (11% of active drivers) graduated to OCSD’s new “honor roll.”These drivers sucessfully passed at least three OCSD hauler inspections.

“The haulers are the face of our program. We seethem every day on our local streets and highways. We ensure public safety by verifying the drivers and trucks are knowledgeable and prepared,” explains biosolids truck inspector Leyla Perez. She performs at least 20 inspections per quarter.

The national average for motor vehicle accidents is 1 in 100. Our average is 1 in 5000.

8,600 unique visits/mo., ocsd.com165 “Like” us on Facebook619 Twitter Followers, 400 Tweets19 Biosolids Articles (web)23 Biosolids Inquiries1 Public Opinion Survey - Responses: 34

5 Stakeholder Newsletters430 SubscribersAvg. % Open: 27% (industry avg. 25%)Avg. % Click: 25% (industry avg. 15%)Responses: 17

Building new and better relationships

21 OCSD Contractor Facilities InspectionsResulted in 20 findings which were all

resolved by contractors.

Certified Compliance makes Quality Product!

Metals average 90% under regulatory limits.404 different constituents monitored.

Digester holding time is 15 days at 95° F to remove pathogens.

Biosolids Contractor Facilities Oversight

Looking forward

Contracts: In February 2012, OCSD

issued a request for proposal for land application and landfill to

replace an existing contract that will expire in December 2012.

2 of 2

Building a better way

State plant of the yearIn April 2011, we received the prestigious 2010 California Water Environment Association (CWEA) “Plant of the Year” award for our Fountain Valley Reclamation Plant No. 1. The award recognizes our facility for permit compliance, innovative practices, cost effectiveness, and superior plant operations.

The new headwork’s facility at Plant 2 is improving trash removal by 50%. Resulting in cost savings and better quality biosolids.

Supported our highest and lowest ranked biosolids priorities.

Complaints Regulatory ViolationsSouth Kern Composting 13 2Arizona Soils Composting 14 0Tule Ranch Arizona 0 0EnerTech (including farm) 0 0

Not all complaints can be verified as facility-related.