Interim solutions update
Shen Huang, CWC Technical Analyst
3/25/13 - 3/29/13
Monson
 Patrick still doing water testing in Monson. One house (Dalla Patlee) has been found positive for
coliform and E. coli, after testing the second time (first time was positive for coliform).
 Patrick agreed it's a good idea to put TDS monitors on houses that have high exceedances of
nitrate MCL.
 My spreadsheet for Monson testing has been updated. 8 houses out of the 20ish tested so far
are positive for coliform. Most houses over nitrate MCL.
 Contacted Joyce Tuttle from EHS/CDPH for private well testing. She is available to come out mid
May-June for workshop. Maria says that she could help conduct the training if we need it
sooner. Idea: Have workshop in April and then follow-up in mid May-June.
 Patrick says 2-3 houses cannot get under the sink POU because of plumbing. Look into other
options, maybe Kinetico can help out? (Laurel has already mentioned some additional funding
support for monitoring in Monson/Seville to BPN). Rotary could help subsidize.
Seville
 Had call with Maria and Sue from SHE about status and leasing vending machine numbers for
Seville.
 Seville is still Paul's community. Sue is crunching VM numbers for Lanare.
 Emergency funding would be by reimbursement--Surprise to Maria.
 We came up with q's for Sue to talk to Paul about Seville status. Sue will talk to Paul today, get
back to us.
Schools
 Finally got some rough cost info from Kinetico. I need to refine my own numbers to get better
cost info.
 Kinetico was taking too long and being difficult, so I contacted Culligan. Rough POU/POE
numbers by this Fri. Will find out some other info like pH, peak usage, to help refine numbers.
Should get as many quotes as possible in general.
 Found EPA guidance document on small treatment systems for arsenic, has great decision tree.
Will share with Abi and highlight key info.
 Figure out filter technology and costs for water station--ask Abi for contact. Water stationsrepresentative sampling for monitoring if install POE.
 Ask Abi about water supply situation in Headstarts. Are they on bottled water? No running
water?
Evaluation
 BPN wants monitoring for 3 years after project ends (funding ends Dec 2013). Build into
evaluation that school needs to commit to testing 1-4 times a year (I think quarterly testing is
recommended by CDPH and manufacturers) and then report Y1, Y2, Y3 directly onto PWX.
Plan to train at least 3 people (decide who they are) at schools to make sure that this happens.
This will help the capacity development component.
 Check PWX capability to send reminders to users about testing water, uploading monitoring
information, etc.
 New metric for capacity development: # trainings run, # people attended (applies for Monson's
disinfection workshop too).
 BPN also wants stories and photos of sites and individuals impacted at the end of project. Maybe
can also do video--slideshow of pictures with audio? Incorporate this into eval plan.
 Follow-up with Caro about these changes next week to revise eval plans. Then schedule
meeting with Abi and Maria to get feedback.
Capacity Development
 Schedule meeting with Abi and Susana to brainstorm formal education aspect of projects in
schools. Water quality, technology, lesson plans, etc.
 Training to make sure schools can conduct and report 3 year monitoring post-project.
Water testing kits
 Hach's testing kit DR890 (about $1000) is colorimetric and can test for nitrate. Is more portable
than spectrophotometer, DR3900 ($4000).
 Need to dilute concentrates of nitrate for testing, but is reliable surrogate if there are no
interferences from nitrite or chloride (double check this).
 Any pricing options need to be directed to field sales team.
 30 business days return policy.
 Arsenic in field test kits is colorimetric, which is not the case in lab. Lab samples are distilled first-this process seems be involved. You would need to compare test and lab results to determine
if it's a reliable surrogate.
 Reading EPA document on test kits for arsenic, as well as Hach documents on specific
procedures.
Parternships
 EPA Region 9 gearing up for ORD RARE funding application cycle. Focus this year is
validation/testing methods and tools for EJ communities.
 CDPH may able to commit some lab testing for schools (Monson got rejected, says it's too labor
intensive).
 Prof. Yoram Cohen of UCLA has developed membrane RO treatment + sensing + IT
infrastructure to track and monitor operations and performance of treatment system in real-time.
Has talked to DWR and CDPH about his system already, looking for community partnership to
pilot this "approach" (technology + operations + community engagement). Economies of scale
for performance monitoring because sends data membrane performance and water quality data
to the cloud, can be remotely accessed. Takes burden off of communities to monitor
intensively. Is interested in working with us. Wants community ownership of system.
 State water board and CDPH are going to fund Prof. Cohen, state water board wants us to help
choose some communities in SJV for pilot projects.
Other
 Updated my roadmap notes. Will try to update once a week to get into the habit of it.
 Updating PWX platform with descriptions and field notes. Create "Resources" Section to post
links to useful docs or upload any helpful docs like disinfection of private wells.
 Laurel will get back to Shen about amount of detail/content required for PWX field notes.
To-do
 Priority:
o basic site info (# people served, sites, description, water use) to Laurel by 10am Fri.
water use can be later.
o get filter for water station contact info from Abi
o learn about water supply situation in Headstarts from Abi
o update eval plan with Caro
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Research TDS monitors and flow meters for Patrick by this Friday.
Work with Abi next week to talk more about workshop logistics in April.
Follow-up with Sue about Seville.
Menu of options for schools by end of next week with updated quotes.
Schedule conference call with Shen, Laurel, Susana, Prof. Cohen of UCLA to talk more next
week about pilot projects with sensing technology.
 Send info about CWC to Prof. Cohen.
 Update roadmap as needed
 intern job description