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Home My Public Portal AboutMSD_Pipeline_Fall2022The St. Louis region has gotten unpreacedented amounts of rain this summer. With three record breaking rain events in only 10 days, there was water just about everywhere. On July 26, St. Louis received 9” of rain in 24 hours, most of it accumulating overnight into a 500-year rain event. Within 48 hours of the storm, MSD crews had run 750 calls, working around the clock to address many blocked mains and backups due to overcharged mains in the central and northern service areas. Field crews were still responding to these service requests when the afternoon of July 28 saw another 3.5” of rain accu- mulate in just a few hours. Several more service areas suffered a 100-year rain- event and the problems compounded. Field crews picked up an extraordinary amount of voluntary over- time, working up to 16-hour days during that last week of July. Then, as if mother nature decided we weren’t quite wet enough, August 4th saw 7” of additional rain. A 500-year rain- event in the southern service areas overwhelmed the storm- water systems that are not designed to cope with such severe rain events. MSD’s other facilities continued to operate as expected while the teams got to work responding to the surge of customer problems. Three rain events in a row meant that not only were the field crews working overtime, but the customer service team was too. To keep up with the volume of customer concerns, staff from other departments came in to help process service requests as well. (Continued on page 2) MSD Responds to Historic Rainfall CLEAN WATER PLEDGE KEN GOINS RECEIVES A 2022 CORPORATE COUNSEL AWARD KINGSLAND TANK AND MALINE CREEK STORAGE FACILITY RECOGNIZED WITH OMI AWARDS MSD TEAM TAKES TO THE WATER FOR MR 340 RACE GRAVOIS TRUNK SANITARY STORAGE FACILITY AWARDS HR C.A.R.E.S. COMINGS & GOINGS 3 4 5 6 7 8 MSD RESPONDS TO HISTORIC RAINFALL PROJECT CLEAR IN THE WILD2 Inside this issue News for Present & Retired Employees FALL 2022 2 | PIPELINE Project Clear in the Wild Within the month following these three rain events, MSD has received 11,420 service requests. In comparison, after Hurricane Ike in 2008, MSD responded to 10,000 service calls. Field crews volunteered to work 12-hour shifts, witnessing firsthand the damage from the sequential storms. While they cleared blocked mains and other issues, they also responded with compassion and kindness towards our customers – often those with water in their homes and their belongings on the curb. MSD Responds to Historic Rainfall (Continued from page 1) “I appreciate the amazing work done by all MSD employees during the heavy rains during the last month, especially our field crews and customer service team who addressed the concerns of our customers while at the same time keeping our systems functioning. Thank you for going above and beyond to serve our customers when they needed us most.” - Bret Berthold, Director of Operations As a conservation partner of the St. Louis Aquarium Foundation, you can find our Project Clear fish on the sponsor wall. From a recent visit with his kids, Chris Patrick, Operations Manager, said “My wife took our boys to the aquarium today and they pointed out the MSD Project Clear fish and said ‘that’s where Dad works!’” MSD PROJECT CLEAR | 3 Clean Water Pledge MSD Project Clear launched the Clean Water Pledge in mid-August. The pledge aims to encourage the community to take small steps at a household level to improve water quality in the region. -Keep FOG (fats, oils, and grease) out of the sewer system. -Properly dispose of household chemicals. -Do not litter. -Always pick up after pets. -Reduce salt and chemical de-icer use during the winter. “Polluted or contaminated water sources are one of the greatest threats to public health and safety. Everyone needs to understand how their actions directly affect water quality.” - Jay Hoskins, Assistant Director of Engineering We encourage all employees to take the pledge and share with friends. msdprojectclear.org/ thepledge Ken Goins Corporate Counsel Award Honoree Congratulations www.msdprojectclear.org MSD Project Clear Corporate Counsel Ken Goins is one of only nine other honorees to receive a 2022 St. Louis Business Journal Corporate Counsel Award for his work at MSD. Goins left private practice 13 years ago to join MSD, and he’s had a significant impact here. Ken Goins Receives 2022 Corporate Counsel Award Asked by the Business Journal about his greatest professional accomplishments, Goins: said: “Creating a permanent employee recognition program and space — our employees aren’t always visible to the public, but they have an impact on everyday life; being instrumental in key changes in procedures that led to making our agency more effective and productive; and developing a first-of-its-kind agreement to build a pipe from the Bridgeton Landfill almost to the city, which protected water quality and eased residents’ concerns by ensuring that pollutants from the landfill were conveyed safely to a treatment facility rather than leaked into the environment.” Goins serves as an adjunct professor at Harris-Stowe State University School of Business. He is also an active member of the community committed to giving back to the north St. Louis neighborhood he grew up in. Congratulations, Ken! 4 | PIPELINE Kingsland Tank and Maline Creek Storage Facility Recognized with OMI Awards The Mechanical Contractors Association of Eastern Missouri honors excellence and achievement in Missouri’s construction industry. Haberberger Inc. was presented with two Outstanding Mechanical Installation (OMI) awards for their work on MSD’s Kingsland Sanitary Storage Facility and the Maline Creek Storage Facility in the category of Process Piping for Public Utility Instal- lations. The Kingsland Sanitary Storage facility is a below-ground sanitary sewer overflow relief storage tank, divided into two equal cells, with the capacity to hold 1 million gallons. The Maline Creek Storage Facility, located 175 ft. below ground, is a 12.5 MDG submersible pump station with a 28-ft diameter, half mile tunnel that is fed by a 580-ft long x 6-ft lined connecting tunnel. It is underneath Riverview Drive near Hall Street and runs from Chain of Rocks Drive to Church Road. Both are offline storage facilities that store excess flows after heavy rain events. As soon as capacity in the rest of the sanitary sewer system becomes available, the stored wastewater is released at a controlled rate, therefore minimizing the amount of time the wastewater is stored in the tanks. These facilities play a critical role in increasing the surge capacity of the sewer system in St. Louis and therefore prevent sewer backups during extremely wet weather. MSD PROJECT CLEAR | 5 The Missouri 340 endurance race starts in Kansas City and wraps up in St. Charles. Participants have only 85 hours to complete the course, battling 340 miles of Missouri’s waterways - and along with it the wind, heat, bugs and rain that mark our midwestern summers. The team completed the journey in 53 hours 21 minutes - with only 2.5 hours of sleep! Congratulations to The 4 Deuces MSD team, Jonathon Sprague, Sean Stone, John Strahlman, and Richard Kauffman, who took 6th in the Team Division and 32nd overall (out of 400)! MR 340 RACE MSD Team Takes to the Water 17th Annual MR340, July 12-15, 2022 6 | PIPELINE Gravois Trunk Sanitary Storage Facility Awards Concrete Council Quality Concrete Award ACEC/MO Engineering Excellence, Honor Award The Gravois Trunk Sanitary Storage Facility was recognized at two awards events. MSD received one of the Concrete Council’s six Quality Concrete Awards for outstanding concrete work in the St. Louis region. The facility was also one of fourteen projects applauded for engineering excellence by the American Council of Engineering Companies, Missouri Chapter. The Gravois Trunk facility received an Honor Award from ACEC/MO. Projects are judged by a panel of judges with the following criteria: • Uniqueness and/or Innovative Application of New or Existing Techniques; • Future Value to the Engineering Profession and Enhanced Public Awareness; • Social, Economic, and Sustainable Development; • Complexity; • and Successful Fulfillment of Owner Needs. The Gravois Trunk Sanitary Storage Facility helps MSD Project Clear achieve its clean water initiative goals by capturing sewage during heavy rains; preventing sewage backups into basements and overflows to streams and rivers; improving water quality and public health; avoiding replacement of downstream sewers and the associated impacts to Gravois Creek and disturbances to properties along the creek; and storing sewage during heavy rains. MSD PROJECT CLEAR | 7 from your Well-Being Coordinator Exercise can have a positive impact on more than just our physical well-being. A few physical benefits of regular exercise include improvements in overall strength, reduced risk of injury, and exercise can make completing daily activities easier. Among the physical benefits, those who exercise regularly have also noticed improvements in their mental/emotional health such as elevated mood, better sleep patterns, and a boost in overall energy. Many wonder where to start when it comes to exercise. I encourage anyone to start with walking. Even just five minutes a day is a great way to start forming the habit of fitting exercise into your routine. The American Heart Association is a great resource to find not only fitness and general health and wellness education, but free exercise videos as well. MSD employees, your Well-Being Coordinator encourages you to take advantage of our partnership with Wellbeats - a platform that houses 1,000+ exercise videos as well as nutrition and mindfulness videos. MSD Employees can create an account at wellbeats.com. To create an account, use your full MSD email address for the username and temporary pass- word: WBMSD. Please only use personal time and devices to participate in this program. Current employees can tune in to Wellness Wednesday emails from our Wellbeing Coordi- nator, Angela Tiedemann, to review wellness education and resources throughout the year. HR C.A.R.E.S WELLNESS TIP 8 | PIPELINE JUNE Kimberly Murray Lab Operations Manager Tracey Ryan-Smith Office Associate Micheal Stewart Maintenance Mechanic Helper I Sandy Cejvanovic Maintenance Mechanic Helper I Sharnae Parker Administrative Support Represen-tative JUNE Ronald Gartner Collection Systems Team Leader II Shermaine Madison Office Associate Senior Portia Rowland Maintenance Mechanic Helper I JULY Timothy A. Bird Collection Systems Team Leader II 37 years Michael C. Kinder GIS/CAD Technician 36 years Mark W. Sloan Operations Supervisor 36 years COMINGS & GOINGS New Hires Retirees Promotions Chase Cochran IT Specialist I - Support Analyst Lynn Spencer Human Resources Generalist Jacob Henzler Associate Engineer JULY Meredith Johnson Office Associate Kameryn Sabino Treatment Plant Oper- ator Trainee III Jay Kniker Operations Division Manager Marcie Campbell Account Associate Senior JULY Joe Eddings Collection Systems Team Leader I Alan V. Tucker Information Tech- nology Program Manager 16 years Edward J. Wahoff Maintenance Mechanic III 25 years Nicole Miller Laboratory Technician Robert Adams Treatment Plant Oper- ator Trainee III AUGUST Ryan Sibley Collection Systems Technician Trainee I Miguel Aguayo Collection Systems Technician Trainee I Brandon Henderson Collection Systems Technician Trainee I Debra Aylsworth Assistant Dir of Oper- ations Sylvia Ryker Financial Analyst Brian Rothlisberger Collection Systems Team Leader II AUGUST Paul Giedinghagen Planner/Scheduler 40 years Darryl Grant Collection Systems Technician 24 years Jill Greene Office Assistant – Permits 30 years Norman Thomas Collection Systems Technician Trainee I Robert Chalk Collection Systems Technician Trainee I Karmonn Jackson Collection Systems Technician Trainee I Tommie Childs Collection Systems Technician Trainee I Cody Collins Collection Systems Technician Trainee I Neal Wallace Collection Systems Team Leader II Marcie Sneed-Kinchen Account Associate Senior Jacque Lewis Account Associate Senior Earl S. Harris Collections Systems Operator 29 years Scot A. Heatherly Treatment Plant Operator A 29 years Sandra Nydahl Associate Engi- neer-Operations 14 years Markus Gray Collection Systems Technician Trainee I Michael Campbell Collection Systems Technician Trainee I Taylor Scott Collection Systems Technician Trainee I Jessie Osby Collection Systems Technician Trainee I Adriane Robinson Administrative Support Representative AUGUST Hope Young HR Specialist - Training Steven Casey Accountant I Susan Owens Accountant I SEPTEMBER Kenneth Boyd Utility Locator 18 years Risha Collins Account Associate 20 years Robert Mosby Treatment Plant Oper- ator Senior 14 years