CIPWO

CIPWO 2024 Summer Meeting Report 

by: Dave Collard

The 2024 CIPWO Summer Meeting was held July 31st in Atwood Illinois and was hosted there by Jeff Mercer the operator of the Atwood facility. The meeting and lunch portions of the activities took place at the American Legion Hall in Atwood, and was followed by a tour of the wastewater facilities a few blocks away. 

Registration took place between 9:00 and 10:00 as usual, with coffee and donuts supplied by the organization and time for meet and greet before the start of the meeting. The attendance was lighter than normal though we still had approximately two dozen present for the meeting. 

During registration we found out that one of the original scheduled presenters would be unable to make the meeting so before the start of the meeting it was decided by the officers and some of the attendees that we would fill that time slot with an Operator’s Roundtable Discussion. More on that later in this report. 

 The meeting was started promptly at 10:00 a.m. I was requested by President Tim Gorden to MC the meeting in his stead. We began with the standard business meeting prior to the presentations. The primary business topics discussed were to reiterate what was reported from the officers meeting earlier this year, that future winter meetings would start being held alternatively between Sanitary District of Decatur and the Urbana-Champaign Sanitary District facilities. It was reported to the members present that this new plan would help the organization maintain costs at reasonable levels since the facilities for the winter meeting would no longer have fees attached to them as our previous locations had. The next topic that was discussed was Dave Miller went over the financial statement for the group. And he reports that there is a slightly over $800 currently in the account. And finally, the organization offered thanks to Ashley Bailey for stepping in as a Coordinator, and the mention and thanks to Mike Ellsbury for his years of service as an officer.

With those items covered we turned to the presentations part of the meeting. Our first presenter was Wei Zhang from Chemscan/In-situ. Mr. Zhang presented on the topic of inline analyzers disinfection products and their control processes. While he addressed the idea that there are several companies that are involved in producing these items, he was able to give substantial details in the Chemscan product line as well. Some of the main points I took away from Mr. Zhang's presentation was the reinforcement that these types of devices reduce the workload on me operators and improve reliability and control of the process in a way that manual process control sampling and testing can never do. 

On a side note, Wei mention to me during the registration period that his retiring after this year. And that this was likely his last presentation. We appreciate again his time and interest in our group and wish him the best of a long happy retirement.

The second presentation portion of the meeting was there's previously mentioned an Operators Roundtable Discussion, officiated by Doug Armstrong of IAWPCO, with Wei Zhang and Hunter Hardesty lending their expertise on general industry subject matter. 

The topics cover were varied and covered such specifics as potential upcoming changes in regulations, how regulatory agencies are going to cope with the changes related to the SCOTUS Dobbs Case, updated information shared by attendees regarding PHOS/PFAS, and several others. Obviously no known resolutions were reached for reported on any of these items. But the discussion did spotlight some of the hot topics going on in the treatment industry today which gave the operators, administrators, and members of the Illinois EPA that were present additional perspective/knowledge on these items from colleagues that they don't get the opportunity to speak with on a frequent basis.

(Editor's note: both of these presentations have been approved by the Illinois EPA for dual credit CEUs.)

This completed the presentation portion of our meeting in the group broke for a lunch break at this time. Many thanks to the Chef, Dean Miller who again did a wonderful job cooking the brats and hamburgers! I can't express enough how lucky we are to have him willing to donate his time to our group as he has done many times in the past. Again, thank you Dean. 

Following the lunch break we had a drawing for several door prizes supplied by Municipal Equipment. Thank you Don Buerke & ME. 

Then following a brief description of the facility, its current state, and potential changes coming down the road presented by Andy Handfland of Farnsworth Engineering who is the Engineer for the facility; the group loaded up in their vehicles and went out to inspect the facilities. 

I would mention that the facilities were in good order, and that the group is very thankful to Jeff Mercer for hosting us that day. As well as thanks to the administration of the Village of Atwood for allowing us to meet there.

This concludes the report of the CIPWO 2024 Summer Meeting. I look forward to seeing everyone in January at the Winter Meeting.

CIPWO 2024 Summer Meeting Information:

Location: Atwood IL American Legion Hall, 323 N Missouri St, Atwood, IL 61913

Date: July 31, 2024

Time: Registration 9-10am, Meeting 10-3:00, 

1st Speaker: Wei Zhang, Chemscan/In-Situ   Topic: DCT-Wastewater Monitoring and Process Control  Technologies

2nd Speaker: Doug Armstrong, Wei Zhang, Hunter Hardesty   Topic: DCT-Operator's Roundtable Discussion

Lunch: Noon to 1pm

Note: Dual credit CEUs have been APPROVED for the both presentations.

Please remember to RSVP Dave Miller as soon as possible with your attendance numbers. dlm285@aol.com Thank you.

2024 CIPWO Spring Officer's Meeting Report

By; Dave Collard

(Note: Meeting minutes submitted by Dave Collard on behalf of Secretary Dave Miller)

The CIPWO Spring Officer’s Meeting was held today on Thursday, April 25th, at Pop’s Place in Decatur, IL. Present for the meeting was, President Tim Gordon, Vice President Dave Hermes, Secretary Treasurer Dave Miller, Information Coordinator Dave Collard, and (at the Officer’s request) Member Ashley Bailey.

 The meeting began promptly at noon as scheduled then started out with some administrative business matters that needed to be dealt with by the Board. Those items were as follow:

 1. In consideration of maintaining a quorum necessary to conduct business. The board has considered the replacement of a Coordinator who is no longer able to attend meetings. The coordinator is Jessi Baker who has been fortunate enough to find gainful employment with the University of Illinois. As many of you may know during her tenure with the board Jessi was very instrumental in assisting the organization to get in line with federal and state tax requirements. However, this new position does not afford her the ability to attend organizational meetings and Jessi has stepped aside for the betterment of the organization. A motion was offered by Dave Collard and seconded by Dave Hermes that Ashley Bailey be assigned the coordinator role to complete the final year of Jessi’s term. The motion passed unanimously.

1. 2. Additionally, Jessi Baker also filled the role of Auxiliary Treasurer for the organization. Dave Hermes has volunteered to step in and take up that role for the organization. David Collard made a motion seconded by Dave Miller that Dave Hermes be assigned the duties of Auxiliary Treasurer and this motion passed unanimously.
3. 3. The next item on the agenda was consideration for the next term of Secretary Treasurer position. Ashley Bailey made a motion that Dave Miller continue in this position for the next term, which was seconded by Tim Gordon, this motion also passed unanimously.
5. 4. The final item on the business agenda was consideration for the next term for Information Coordinator, Dave Hermes made a motion that Dave Collard continue in this position for the next term, which was seconded by Tim Gordon, this motion also passed unanimously.

 This completed the administrative business portion of the meeting and the board moved on to topics related to the upcoming summer meeting to be held in July.

 While no one brought to the meeting any concrete suggestions for the topic of location several ideas were raised. It was noted that this should be a year where a smaller facility is designated for the location. And the board members agreed to begin reaching out to various facilities in our area to see who might be able to host.

 Finally, the topic of presenters was raised and again no suggestions were brought to the meeting, however there are some ideas that the board will be looking into.

 This concludes the minutes of the Officer’s Meeting for Apr. 25, 2024.

Coordinator’s Notes:

 The 2024 CIPWO Summer Meeting is scheduled for July 31st, 2024. As information related to the location and presenters etc. becomes available, I will post that information on the organization’s website. And then send out notifications to the membership.

 The Officers welcome the members to submit suggestions for presenters to give talks as the upcoming meeting. The board also welcomes any of our venders who would like to submit ideas for presentations from their organization regarding anything related to wastewater treatment (and water treatment if it applies) please let us know immediately. Likewise, if any of our operations members would like to host the meeting at your facility, or give a presentation please let us know as well.

 Final note, we as a group owe a huge debt of gratitude to Jessi Baker. It cannot be understated that she put together everything that CIPWO needed to remain viable as an organization. The legalities involved in running a non-profit grows all the time. It even shows in the format of this officer’s report where we have to have more formal minutes of meetings to meet the financial requirements associated with officer duties (see Auxiliary Treasurer items above). And at one point we were on the brink of having to consider if the group could remain in operation, but Jessi walked us through all the necessary steps to become/remain legal. Jessi we wish you the best and offer a huge Thank You from all of CIPWO!

 Everyone get ready for the Summer Meeting, mark you calendars. I’ll update the info here as it becomes available and I’ll see you all there.

2024 CIPWO Winter Meeting Report

By: David Collard

The 2024 Winter Meeting of the CIPWO group took place in Rantoul IL on January 31st. In attendance were approximately 30-35 individuals including CIPWO members and officers, Presenters, and representatives from seven different Vendors. The meeting took place at the facilities of Ruger’s Bowling Center at 1568 E Grove Ave., Rantoul IL.

Upon arrival guests were welcomed with an assortment of donuts and fresh coffee supplied by the CIPWO Group, and the meeting started promptly on schedule at 10 AM. The officers in attendance consisted of Dave Miller, David Collard, and Mike Elsberry. In the absence of Past President Bruce Pride and incoming President Tim Gordon, David Collard was designated to conduct the meeting.

The meeting began with a brief business meeting in which Treasurer Dave Miller gave a brief presentation regarding the financial information related to the group. Following this David Collard asked for volunteers or nominations for the position of vice president at which time Dave Hermes offered himself as volunteer and was supported by the officers present. A vote was taken and Dave was unanimously elected to the Office of Vice President. Mr. Collard then extended the thanks of the organization to the outgoing president Mr. Pride. And additionally thanked Coordinator Mike Elsberry for his services as an officer to the organization which in this case had extended to a five-year term with an extra year as a coordinator to fill a vacancy. An inquiry was then made of the membership for any new or old business remaining and having none offered the business portion of the meeting was concluded.

At this time the presentations portion of the meeting began. The first presenter being Nicholas Rademacher P.E. of Clark Dietz Engineering who presented on the topic of the St Joseph IL Wastewater Facility Upgrade Project. The second presenter was Cora Fickinger, Environmental Scientist for Teklab Inc. Who presented on the topic of PFOS/PFAS Sampling and Testing. Both of the presentations were excellent in quality and offered a great deal of information to the group assembled. Evidence of this was the fact that the meal portion of the meeting was a few minutes late to start due to the presentations running a bit long, such was the interest of the members assembled. It is also noted that both of these presentations have been approved for dual water and wastewater certification credit CEU‘s by the Illinois EPA.

Following the lunch hour which was catered by Hickory River Smokehouse the door prizes, which were supplied by the vendors were passed out by the means of a random ticket drawing conducted by Dave Miller.

The CIPWO officers and membership cannot thank the vendors enough for the their participation and attendance, and especially the ongoing support they continually offer to our group! Therefore, I would like to list by name the vendors which were present for this meeting, they were in no particular order;

Pace

Metropolitan Industries Inc.

Illinois electric works

Municipal Equipment Company Inc.

Peterson and Matz Inc.

Gasvoda and Associates Inc.

Teklab Inc.

 This concludes the report of the 2024 CIPWO Winter Meeting. I hope to see you all present for the upcoming summer meeting which will take place on July 31st 2024

CIPWO 2024 Winter Meeting Information:

Location: Rugers Bowling Center 1568 E. Grove Ave., Rantoul IL

Date: January 31, 2024

Time: Registration 9-10am, Meeting 10-2:30, 

1st Speaker: Nicholas Rademacher, P.E. Clark Dietz Eng.     Topic: St. Joseph, IL Upgrade Project

2nd Speaker: Cora Fickinger, Teklabs Inc.    Topic: PFAS/PFOS Sampling and Testing

Lunch: Noon to 1pm

Price: $40.00 (Lunch catered by Hickory Rivers)

Dual credit CEUs have been applied for, and I will get any additional information out as it becomes available.

Please remember to RSVP Dave Miller as soon as possible with your attendance numbers. dlm285@aol.com Thank you.

2023 Fall Officer’s Meeting Report

by: Dave Collard

The Officers of CIPWO held a meeting in-person on November 21, 2023 to discuss matters related to organizations business. Consisting of the up-coming 2024 Winter Meeting,  financial business related issues, and other relative topics. Present for the meeting was Dave Miller, Dave Collard, and Tim Gorden (attended remotely). The meeting was held during the lunch hour at the Champaign at the Chili's restaurant on N. Prospect Ave. 

The first topic was to consider a location for the meeting to be held. Dave Miller reported that with the increase in costs of the previous few year's location of Hudson Farms of Urbana IL this venue was no longer going to be tenable given the group's typical resource levels. This had been discussed in previous meetings but was not implemented for change until this year. Where costs had been going up before, in the current economy of inflation these days is becomes necessary that we make a change. And with this in mind he had been researching potential sites as alternatives. Dave offered as his primary suggestion the Meeting Room at the Rugers Bowling Center in Rantoul IL. The officers present agreed that this change should be made and we would accept this location for the 2024 meeting. Depending on how this meeting goes and any other considerations presented in the future further changes could be made for future meetings as needed. Dave Miller reports that with the reduction in costs of the venue we will offset the other inflation driven cost increases and that the cost for attendance would remain at $40.00 for this meeting. This cost also covers the expenses related to the Summer Meeting and that would still be offered free of charge for the 2024 year. 

The second topic was regarding presenters for this meeting. We already had a previous offer from Nicholas Rademacher of Clark Dietz Engineering to present at the previous summer meeting but we had already filled those slots and Nicholas offered then to present at this upcoming meeting and all agreed to accept his kind offer. A second presenter was not offered by anyone present so that matter was tabled for further research into other potential speakers/topics.

With no additional topics of discussion were raised and this concluded the Officer’s Meeting for the fall of 2023.

Subsequent discussion covered after the meeting was potentially holding a Panel Discussion for PFAS regulations & Special Conditions in NPDES permits in lieu of a second presenter. I am looking into the details of this for the Officers and will report further if/as things develop.

Therefore in regard to the CIPWO 2024 Winter Meeting itself, I can report the following as the tentative plan:

Location: Rugers Bowling Center 1568 E. Grove Ave., Rantoul IL 

Date: 1/31/24    Time: 10am-2:30pm        Registration: 9am-10am

Presentations & Topics: TBA

Price: $40.00 (Lunch catered by Hickory Rivers)

Methods of payment: Cash, check, or card

I will update the details such as presentations, topics, etc. as they become available.

2023 Summer Meeting Report
By: Ashley Bailey

The 2023 CIPWO Summer meeting was recently hosted by the Sanitary District of Decatur on
Wednesday, July 26, 2023. The District welcomed approximately 40 members and venders in
attendance with donuts, muffins, fruit and coffee. The meeting began at 10 am by David Collard
since President Burce Pride could not be in attendance. The meeting began with discussions for a
brief business meeting with only one topic raised by Treasurer Dave Miller relating to the Group’s
finances. Mr. Miller mentioned that a small fee may start to come with the attendance of the
summer meeting due to inflation of food items.

Following the business meeting Mr. Collard introduced the first of the two presenters. Jim DelRio
with Cogent a Vandevanter Engineering company was the first to present on the topic of remote
station monitoring. Jim started the presentation by stating the benefits of having remote station
monitoring. It can help a plant avoid worst case scenarios or plan for situations in advance. He
also noted the expense levels of an alarm system can vary from modest to seriously expensive
based on a community’s need and financial situation. Mr. DelRio then explained the different
methods getting the data into a system, such as: hardwiring, ethernet, fiber optics and wireless.
With wireless, he explained the benefits of radio vs wifi and cellular. Once the data is all
gathered, Jim showed the GuardDog system that allows one to see the pump station data and
more.

Dan Pagano also with Vandevanter Engineering presented second on the topic of flygt concertor
intelligent pumping systems. Dan began the presentation by telling the room all the great
materials of construction for the pumps, from the high chrome hardened cast iron impeller and
insert ring standard, to the plug-in seal with active seal system and the high abrasion and tear
resistance cables. He then went into the great features of the pumps integrated controls and the
last and best feature for most in the room the unclogging feature. By the end of Mr. Pagano’s
presentation, I know most in the room would be happy to have these pumps in their lift stations.
Both presenters had great informative presentations about technology that would benefit any
plant and operator.

Once the presentations were over the meeting broke for lunch made up of burgers, brats, and
sides. A big thanks to Dean Miller (and others who helped) for being a great chef on such a hot
day.

Following the lunch, the members who wanted to stay due to the heat and the storm rolling in
were given a tour of the SDD Plant by Tim Gordon the Chief of Operations. The tour started with
very high temps and about halfway the sky opened up and rain began to pour.
Our next meeting will be the 2024 Winter Meeting on Wednesday January 24 th , 2023. We hope to
see you all there!

Reminder: October is the month for the Regional IAWPCO Meetings.

Editors Note: Yolasite is not allowing me to add pictures. I will keep working on them and get them posted to the website asap. - Dave

Location: Sanitary District of Decatur, 501 S Dipper Lane, Decatur IL

Date: July 26, 2023

Time: Registration 9-10am, Meeting 10-2:30, 

1st Speaker: Jim DelRio, Vandevanter Eng.     Topic: Remote Station Monitoring

2nd Speaker: Dan Pagano, Vandevanter Eng.    Topic: Flygt Concertor Pumps

Lunch: Noon to 1pm

SDD Tours 1-2:30pm (Approximate)

Dual credit CEUs have been applied for, and I will get the additional information out as it becomes available.

Please remember to RSVP Dave Miller as soon as possible with your attendance numbers. dlm285@aol.com Thank you.

2023 Spring Officer’s Meeting Report

by: Dave Collard

The Officers of CIPWO met at Chili's in Champaign IL on May 1st, 2023, to discuss planning for the 2023 Summer Meeting to be held on the last Wednesday in July. Present for the meeting was Jessi Baker, Mike Elsberry, Dave Miller, Dave Collard, and Tim Gorden (attended via phone). The meal was good, the company was better, and we took care of those things first.

Eventually, we did get around to discussing the business before us which at that time we only had the matter of planning for the upcoming Summer Meeting at the end of July.  Various members offered ideas and eventually we set in motion several of those ideas, such as potential location might be Monticello WW, or possibly the Sanitary District of Decatur (SDD) and having a presentation from Blue/Green on ozone side-channel injection. At this we had nothing concrete as no one had preemptively investigated anything except for some vague discussions back in the winter for having Blue/Green present.

With no other matters of business to discuss we broke up the meeting. Certain Officers going to take up the items that they had the ability to address and report back to the rest.

Note: This report is several weeks getting out because the plans were not working out. And this would be the rest of the story if Paul Harvey were telling it:

We do now have some results that we can report. First, Tim did secure permission to hold the meeting at SDD, which is very much appreciated. The tour likely will concentrate on the district's new headworks installation(s).

As for presenters; unfortunately, Blue/Green was unable to present at this time, so we scrambled to find other presenters. I am pleased to report that Vandevanter Engineering has offered to supply both presentations for the meeting. We do not have the topics locked down yet, but that info will be coming soon.

Therefore, here is the information regarding the 2023 CIPWO Summer Meeting:

Location: Sanitary District of Decatur, 501 S Dipper Lane, Decatur IL

Date: July 26, 2023

Time: Registration 9-10am, Meeting 10-2:30, 

1st Speaker: TBD     Topic: TBD

2nd Speaker: TBD    Topic: TBD

Lunch: Noon to 1pm

SDD Tours 1-2:30pm (Approximate)

I will get the additional information out as it becomes available.

Please remember to RSVP Dave Miller as soon as possible with your attendance numbers. dlm285@aol.com Thank you.

2023 CIPWO Winter Meeting Report 

By: Dave Collard

The 2023 CIPWO Winter Meeting was recently held on Wednesday, January 25th at Hudson Farms - Urbana, IL. Attendance was approximately 28 people in attendance, and I do believe that the winter storm that rolled in the night before adversely affected attendance. This was perhaps unfortunate, but to put it into scale we typically don’t have weather affect our meetings this was just one of those years.

The 2023 Meeting ran a bit different this year in that we delayed the business meeting until after lunch break. Bruce Pride was not able to make the meeting and, in his absence, the out-going President Jessi Baker MC’d the meeting during the presentation portion of the meeting and I was asked to conduct the Business Meeting portion latter in the day.

After a brief welcome and intro by Jessi the meeting began in earnest with the first presenter. The first speaker was Bret Callison, Midwest Regional Sales Manager for Vogleslang Inc. Bret's topic was on both rotary lobe pumps and grinder systems. Bret gave an in-depth presentation concerning rotary lobe pumps & grinders during which he gave examples of Vogleslang's designs and the designs of other manufacturers with similar equipment styles. In general, he spoke to the applications and utilization of the equipment and did, by request of the audience, point out some of the differences of his brand versus other more typical designs.  The presentation was very informative and CIPWO appreciates Bret’s availability. I would like to mention while thanking Bret’s for his help that he came in from Iowa to make the meeting for us that day. 

Our second presentation was given by Ilaria Azzarà, Area Sales Rep., Primozone Inc. Ilaria gave a wonderful presentation discussing the utilization of ozone disinfection in the treatment of water and/or wastewater, weighing the pros and cons of various applications. She also presented for consideration Primozone’s ozone generation unit which were originally designed for use on ocean-going freight ships. This presentation was also very informative, and useful to everyone there because ozone may well be needed for additional tertiary treatment beyond disinfection due to its ability to reduce CECs and pharmaceuticals in plant discharges. Ilaria traveled that day as well to attend our meeting all the way from Florida to give her presentation. CIPWO is very grateful that she could be there for us.

Again, on behalf of CIPWO and its membership I offer many thanks to both Bret and Ilaria!

The meeting then broke for lunch, which was catered by Hickory River SmokeHouse. There was plenty for all of our usual fare and I wish to thank Hickory River for their service and Dave Miller for setting up the accommodations.

Upon completion of lunch we began the Business Meeting. To start out Dave Miller gave a brief financial report to the membership and basically reported that the funds are currently adequate for the operations of the organization. 

The next topic discussed was that I explained that the two presentations were already approved for dual credit by the IEPA, and further mentioned that the officer’s whenever applicable try to find presenters to speak on dual-cert topics. I also asked if the members would like to carry forward presentation ideas for ozone feed systems which are the other half apart from the generation units. They agreed so we officers will attempt to fill that wish for the up-coming Summer Meeting.

The final business was filling officer vacancies. The members were informed that CIPWO was notified that Logan Kripple would no longer be active and could not finish his final year as a coordinator. Subsequently at the fall officer’s meeting the CIPWO had assigned the vacancy to be fulfilled by Mike Elsberry, who would have been the outgoing coordinator this year. And then the position of Vice-President was filled by a submission from the CIPWO Board for Tim Gorden of the Sanitary District of Decatur to which the vote was to accept unanimously. Thank you Tim and Mike for stepping up to help the group!   

Following the Business Meeting Dave Miller ran the raffle for the door prizes and after that the 2023 CIPWO Winter Meeting was adjourned.

I wish to thank all the members that attended the meeting. Thank the presenters for traveling so far to give so much to the group! And as always to thank the vendors for their support, in no particular order the vendors which were present; Municipal Equipment, Gasvoda & Associates, Peterson and Matz, and Metropolitan Industries. Thank you one and all!

This concludes the 2023 Winter Meeting report and I hope to see you all at the 2023 Sumer Meeting on July, 26th!

2023 Winter Meeting Information:

Location: Hudson Farms, Urbana IL

1341 County Road 1800 East
Urbana, IL 61802

Date: 1/25/23    Time: 10am-2:30pm        Registration: 9am-10am

Speakers & Topics:

1st Speaker: Bret Callison, Mid-West Regional Sales Manager, Vogleslang

Topic: Rotary Lobe Pump and Grinder Systems

2nd Speaker: Ilaria Azzarà, Area Sales Rep. Primozone Inc.

Topic: Primozone - Ozone Generation System

Price: $40.00    (Lunch catered by Hickory Rivers)

Methods of payment: Cash, check, or card

Note:The Presentations will be submitted for CEUs with the IEPA.

Please help Dave out by using the link below to RSVP as soon as you can. Thank you

2022 Fall Officer’s Meeting Report

by: Dave Collard

The Officers of CIPWO held a meeting in-person on November 14, 2022 to discuss matters related to organizations business. Consisting of the up-coming 2023 Winter Meeting,  financial business, and an officer vacancy. Present for the meeting was Mike Elsberry, Jessi Baker, Dave Miller, and Dave Collard. The meeting was held during the lunch hour at the Champaign Chili's restaurant. 

The first topic discussed was an update of the financial issues, Dave Miller reported that with the increase in costs of everything related to the CIPWO meetings that we would once again need to raise the price of the meeting and lunch another five dollars. After a run down of where the costs are coming from Jessi Baker suggested that her and Dave could do some more research to see if there might be a more economical site for the meeting to be held. They will be looking into this and report back with whatever they find. The primary goal is to keep the meeting costs affordable as much as is practical. 

As things stand if we maintain the current location at Hudson Farms Dave Miller reports that the cost of the Winter Meeting would need to be raised to $40.00 for members and small increase to our venders as well to cover the rising costs of the venue, catering, and other ancillary expenses. 

The next topic was to cover a Coordinator Officer position that has been left vacant by Logan Krippel. Mike Elsberry volunteered to stay on as a Coordinator for one additional year to finish out Logan's term and the Officers present voted unanimously to assign the position to Mike with our thanks.

This concluded the Officer’s Meeting .

As to the 2023 Winter Meeting itself, it is planned to be held as usual on the last Wednesday in January of 2022 (1/25/23) and the tentative plans are as follows:

Location: Hudson Farms, Urbana IL - TBD

Date: 1/25/23    Time: 10am-2:30pm        Registration: 9am-10am

Speakers & Topics: TBD

Price: $40.00 - also TBD      (Lunch catered by Hickory Rivers)

Methods of payment: Cash, check, or card

I will update the details such as speakers, topics etc. as they become available.

2022 Summer Meeting Report                     

By: David Collard 

The CIPWO 2022 Summer Meeting was held at the Urbana Champaign Sanitary District (U-CSD). There were approximately twenty-five in attendance. The meeting began promptly at 10am by President Jessi Baker opening discussions for a brief business meeting. The only topic raised was an update from Treasurer Dave Miller relating to the Group’s finances.

Following the business meeting Jessi introduced the first of two presentations. First up was Kelly Lockerbie P.E., Donohue & Associates (Via Zoom) with Wade Lagle, Director of Operations U-CSD; the topic was "UV System Design and Construction" and was centered around the installation of UV systems at the U-CSD’s Southwest Treatment Plant.  Kelly and Wade gave a excellent presentation explaining all of the needs and requirements for the system’s selection and many details of the installation itself. Naturally the particulars of the system and it’s installation were unique but the problems they encountered and overcame could help the membership should they ever need to install a similar system.   

The second presentation was given by Jeff Boeckler, Northwater Consulting which was titled "Anatomy of a NARP". Jeff presented the basic concepts, concerns, driving forces, and problems with efforts to complete and submit a NARP study to the IL EPA. Using specific facilities (namely, U-CSD, Rantoul, Mattoon, and Charleston WWTPs) and their receiving streams Jeff presented the work that was on-going. He related some problems that could be encountered and how to avoid the same. He spoke of the choices that were made at each of the facilities and the reasoning behind them. His presentation was very interesting and should prove to be helpful to many in attendance.

After the presentations the group had a great lunch of burgers and brats with all the trimmings. Many thanks to Dean Miller (and those that helped him) for his skills and time as the chef, the food was great!  

Following lunch, the members were given tours of the U-CSD’s Northeast Treatment Plant by Wade Lagle and members of his team. The plant was in excellent condition, clean, and presented very well. I unfortunately was so engrossed that I forgot to get pictures as we took the tour. My sincerest apologies. So that your information does not lack I have asked Wade to supply a few pictures for this article which I have added to the ones of the meeting itself.

On behalf of the CIPWO Group and it’s Officers I wish to thank U-CSD, the Presenters, Chefs, and everyone else involved who made the meeting a success.

Our next meeting will be the 2023 Winter Meeting on the last Wednesday of January 25th, 2023. I hope to see you all there!

One last item: I alsowant remind everyone that October is the month for the Regional IAWPCO Meetings.

2022 Spring Officer’s Meeting Report

by: Dave Collard

The Officers of CIPWO met at Chili's in Champaign IL on June 1st, 2021 to discuss matters related to organizations business and to begin planning for the 2022 Summer Meeting to be held on the last Wednesday in July. Present for the meeting was Jessi Baker, Mike Elsberry, Dave Miller, and Dave Collard.

The first topic discussed was to confirm that the officers did support holding an in-person meeting this summer and all present agreed that CIPWO should do so. Dave Miller then gave an update of the financial issues stating the funds for the group was doing well. Adding that as has been the practice there would be no cost to the members for the upcoming Summer Meeting.

There were several ideas passed around about a location and potential topics during the meeting but none of the officers had anything concrete to plan on at that time.  We agreed that as soon as possible following researching the issues we would inform the other officers as prospects came up.  Incidentally, the meal was very good and the company was excellent! It was very nice getting to hold an actual in-person officer meeting again.

After the meal and the discussion we then departed to go back to our respective jobs and to start work on finding speakers and a location. 

Before the meeting ended Dave Miller requested that I remind everyone that the IAWPCO Regional Conferences would take place on the 3rd week of October 2022.

This concluded the Officer’s Meeting and all parties left for home.

2022 CIPWO Summer Meeting Info:

The 2022 CIPWO Summer Meeting, it is planned to be held as usual on the last Wednesday in July of 2022 (7/27/22) and the particulars are as follows:

Location: U-CSD Northeast Plant, 1100 East University Ave., Urbana IL                                                                        Date: 7/27/22    Time: 10am-3:00pm        Registration: 9am-10am

Speakers & Topics: 

1st Speaker:  Kelly Lockerbie P.E., Donohue & Associates (Via Zoom)                                                                      TOPIC: "UV System Design and Construction"

2nd Speaker: Jeff Boeckler, Northwater Consulting                                                                                                    TOPIC: "Anatomy of a NARP"

NOTE: CEUs have been applied for, and dual credit is requested for the UV presentation.

Lunch catered by Dave Miller and helper(s)

Please help Dave out by using the link below to RSVP as soon as you can. Thank you.

2022 CIPWO Winter Meeting Report  By: Dave Collard

The the 2022 CIPWO Winter Meeting was recently held on Wednesday, January 26th, 2022 at Hudson Farms - Urbana, IL. Attendance was perhaps a little less that in past meetings but it was a good turn-out for a late Covid era meeting with about 25 to 30 in attendance.

The 2022 Meeting began as usual with a brief business meeting to handle topics of updates to the Constitution and By-laws, and Board Officer election(s). On the first topic the board was recently made aware of the need to add a new officer role that was best handled by means of an amendment to the CIPWO By-laws. The new role will be assigned to one of the existing officers on an annual basis. It is to assist Dave Miller in the financial needs of the group. This change was required by Illinois tax laws that there be two officers at all times with access to the CIPWO bank account(s). After an explanation to the membership and presentation of the language a vote was taken and passed unanimously to add Amendment 4 to the By-laws. I had also noticed while working on the new amendment that there were several typos in the existing Constitution and By-laws and a separate vote was taken to allow those to be corrected. That vote also passed unanimously. 

Finally, discussion was conducted about a new Vice-President. Bruce Pride a operator at Fairbury volunteered to accept the nomination and with no other candidates was voted in unanimously as well. A note related to this is topic is that Jessi Baker has now assumed the role of President of the Board, and Ian Magerl has completed his tenure (of 5 years) as an officer on the Board. CIPWO is very thankful to Ian for his work as an officer.

At this point the business meeting was concluded and we moved to the scheduled presentations. The first presentation was given by myself, and my topic was concerning "Compliance Tracking using ECHO & ICIS". This training was interactive and was conducted by accessing the US EPA's ECHO and ICIS websites.

Following that Cora Fickinger, Quality Training Officer - Teklabs presented on the topic of “How proper sampling and testing work together to produce quality data”. Cora gave a very good explanation of the details and steps one needs to follow to assure that the data from testing is accurate and reliable.

I will note that both of these presentations were issued pre-approval by IEPA for CEUs for both Water and Wastewater certifications.

Following the presentations we all joined together for a lunch catered by Hickory River. And that followed by a drawing for the door prizes supplied by CIPWO's ever reliable Associate Members/Venders. I wish to call out those present for the meeting and offer many thanks to them for the support of our group. In no particular order the venders present were Gasvoda & Associates, TekLabs, PDC Labs, and Municipal Equipment. Thank you one and all!

This concludes the 2022 Winter Meeting report and I hope to see you all at the 2022 Sumer Meeting on July, 27!

NOTE: A copy of the new Constitution and By-laws is available for download at the bottom of the "About" page of this website.

2022 CIPWO Winter Meeting Details:

The details for the upcoming 2022 CIPWO Winter Meeting are as follows:

Date: Wednesday, January 26th, 2022

Location: Hudson Farms - Urbana, IL

Lunch & Membership Fee: $35 (Cash, Check, or Card 'if available')

Agenda: The 2022 Winter Meeting will be held at the Hudson Farms, a Business Meeting is scheduled to start, to be followed by two Presentations. Following the presentations lunch will be served (catered by Hickory River) then  to door prizes will be drawn and any final announcements will be made. 

Schedule: Registration 9am-10am, Business Meeting & two Presentations 10am-12pm, Lunch 12pm-1pm, Door-prize drawings & meet and greet with the Venders 1-2:30pm.

First Presenter: David Collard, SDD      Topic: "Compliance Tracking using ECHO & ICIS"

Second Presenter: Cora Fickinger, Quality Training Officer - Teklabs     Topic: “How proper sampling and testing work together to produce quality data” 

Notes: CEU accreditation for both Water and Wastewater has been applied for the presentations to the IEPA.

It would be of great help if you would click the LINK below and RSVP the number of attendees you plan to attend the meeting- Thank you in advance for your help!

2021 Fall Officer’s Meeting Report

by: Dave Collard

The Officers of CIPWO convened a meeting via conference call on December 3, 2021 to discuss matters related to organizations business. Namely, financial business, constitution and by-laws, and the 2022 Winter Meeting. Present for the meeting was Mike Elsberry, Ian Magerl, Dave Miller, and Dave Collard.

The first topic discussed was an update of the financial issues that had recently been creating problems for the future operation of the organization. Dave Miller reported that he and Jessi Bake has resolved the issues and I’m sure they will give the details as needed during the Business Meeting portion of the Winter Meeting. Dave does report that he expects to be able to accept payments using cards for the upcoming meeting.

An additional topic of discussion related the finances is that the regulations require that two officers have access to the money so that if something happens to one then the group can still pay bills etc. by having a second person with access. This item will require an update to the By-laws to allow for the additional official duties involved. With this update to the Constitution and by-laws I intend to include a motion to correct errant language, typos, etc. that currently exists in those documents as well.

Dave Miller also reported to the Board that the cost of the Winter Meeting would need to be raised to cover the rising costs of the venue, catering, and other ancillary expenses. He requested and the Board approved that the price be raised to $35.00 (up from $30 for the 2019 Meeting).

This concluded the Officer’s Meeting and all parties left the call.

As to the 2022 Winter Meeting itself, it is planned to be held as usual on the last Wednesday in January of 2022 (1/26/22) and the particulars are as follows:

Location: Hudson Farms, Urbana IL

Date: 1/26/22    Time: 10am-2:30pm        Registration: 9am-10am

Speakers & Topics: TBD

Price: $35.00       (Lunch catered by Hickory Rivers)

Methods of payment: Cash, check, or card

I will update the details such as speakers, topics etc. as they become available.

Operator Certification Testing Application Addresses

 The Illinois EPA (IEPA) has provided for the electronic submissions of Testing Applications as described by Tatum DeMay the Certification Coordinator for IEPA at the previous Board of Certifications Meeting.

When any operator wishes to apply to attend an operator certification exam please send them electronically to the following email addresses.

             Email all applications to: Epa.operatorcertification@illinois.gov

2021 Summer Meeting Report                     

By: David Collard 

The CIPWO 2021 Summer Meeting was held at the Fairbury WWTP (the training and lunch was conducted at the North Park Pavilion in Fairbury) on July 28, 2021. We had approximately 30 members and venders in attendance. The meeting began promptly at 10am with a business meeting for the membership’s information and/or approval.

The main item of business was concerning how the organization handled money matters. Previously Dave Miller had been dealing with the collection of lunch fees etc. through his personal financial entity, albeit in a separate account. However, the way regulations and agencies have changed over time that is not possible as it is too burdensome and placed too much risk on one member of the organization. The Officers have decided that it is best if CIPWO acquires an EIN, and perhaps even a tax-exempt status, etc. to keep the organization capable of doing its business in compliance with modern financial standards. A vote of affirmation from the members was requested and all present voted to approve the necessary changes. Dave Miller and VP Jessi Baker will be moving forward on the paperwork to facilitate the needed changes.

Dave Miller also gave a brief financial report to the membership which then concluded the business meeting session.

Following the business meeting we went directly to the speakers. First up was Greg Schwartz of Aquafix. Greg spoke to the group concerning infestations of biomass which is not conducive to the effective operations of a treatment system. His prime example was from his work with the Fairbury treatment plant related to an outbreak of redworms in their system. The infestation was causing problems with DO levels and TSS in the plant discharge and therefore could not be tolerated. Greg developed a treatment regime utilizing several of the Aquafix products, and with some refining of the dosages was able to eradicate the redworms in very short order. Brad Duncan, Superintendent of Fairbury WWTP attested to the effectiveness of the process and was appreciative of Greg and Aquafix's help.

Our second presentation was given by Mike Lutz P.E. of Farnsworth who filled in for Zack Knight who was unable to make the meeting. Mike ran through the process of the decisions, design, and eventual construction that went into the upgrades at Fairbury WWTP. His discussions were a great lead into the plant tour which would take place later that afternoon and we appreciate him taking the time to come and present to our members.

As is the usual practice following the presentations we all enjoyed a meal of burgers and brats with the fixings served up by Dean Miller and his "assistant" Dave Miller. I would also mention the Brad Dunkin supplied the nice smoker/grill that was used. The meal was great and thanks to Dean and to all those that were involved!

Following lunch, we finished up at the pavilion with drawing for door prizes and then we loaded up to move to the treatment plant where Brad and his team of operators gave a tour of the facilities. The few pictures I took do not do this plant justice. It seems to be a well thought-out, designed, and operated plant. Which its operators are obviously and rightly very proud. CIPWO wishes the thank the Fairbury crew for hosting; it was a great day, and it was great to be able to get back together finally!

Below you can find a collage of some of the pictures taken, and on the "Gallery" page are the full-size pics.

Our next meeting will be the 2022 Winter Meeting on the last Wednesday of January 26th, 2022. I hope to see you all there!