Kevin Earl Dayhoff Art One-half Banana Stems

Kevin Earl Dayhoff Art One-half Banana Stems - www.kevindayhoff.com Address: PO Box 124, Westminster MD 21158 410-259-6403 kevindayhoff@gmail.com Runner, writer, artist, fire & police chaplain Mindless ramblings of a runner, journalist & artist: Travel, art, artists, authors, books, newspapers, media, writers and writing, journalists and journalism, reporters and reporting, technology, music, culture, opera... National & International politics www.kevindayhoff.net For community: www.kevindayhoff.org For art, technology, writing, & travel: www.kevindayhoff.com

Showing posts with label Water Sewer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Water Sewer. Show all posts

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Deep Below, Oceans Of Water May Be Trapped In A Crystal 'Sponge' : The Two-Way : NPR

Deep Below, Oceans Of Water May Be Trapped In A Crystal 'Sponge' : The Two-Way : NPR: "by L. CAROL RITCHIE
June 15, 2014"Science teachers may have to add a whole new layer to the water cycle.


Read more: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/15/322246690/deep-below-oceans-of-water-may-be-trapped-in-a-crystal-sponge

Scientists have discovered evidence of a vast reservoir of water hiding up to 400 miles beneath the surface.
The discovery could transform our understanding of how the planet was formed, suggesting that Earth's water may have come from within, rather than from collisions with large, icy comets.
The water is trapped in a blue mineral called ringwoodite that sits in the mantle, a hot, rocky layer between the Earth's crust and outer core. That means the water was neither the familiar liquid, vapor or ice, but a fourth, mineral form. We reported earlier this year on a rare diamond containing a microscopic piece of ringwoodite that bolstered evidence for the vast wet zone.
It is likely the largest reservoir of water on the planet, and could be the source of the oceans' liquid. The study was published in the journal Science.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/15/322246690/deep-below-oceans-of-water-may-be-trapped-in-a-crystal-sponge


 Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ (http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff

Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/ “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10

Friday, September 24, 2010

Westminster MD experiences water main break http://t.co/yyYIQyt by Kevin Dayhoff


Westminster MD experiences water main break http://t.co/yyYIQyt by Kevin Dayhoff

City officials say water safe to drink.  System was quickly repaired by mid-afternoon.


By Kevin Dayhoff

A 12-inch water main cracked in the city of Westminster water system around 10:15 a.m. Sunday morning, according to Westminster Mayor Kevin Utz.

The break took place in the 300 block of North Cranberry Road near the city’s water treatment plant and occurred just as townsfolk and city workers were returning from church; but perhaps just as bad, it happened just as workers from the city’s utilities maintenance department were preparing for an afternoon of Ravens’ football… 

“Glad to see the (city) workers got here quickly knowing there were going to miss the Ravens’ game,” said Utz as he picked-up his phone and ordered pizzas and drinks for those working on the water line…


[20100919 sdosm SCE pubver Wster exps water main break.doc]

Explore Carroll: Westminster experiences water main break http://t.co/yyYIQyt By Kevin Dayhoff

*****

Sunday, October 04, 2009

“A Third Thing About Water”

“A Third Thing About Water”

Sept. 30, 2009 Kevin Dayhoff

Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/k7qq1

“Water is H2O, hydrogen two parts, oxygen one, but there is also a third thing, that makes water and nobody knows what that is.” D.H. LAWRENCE (1885-1930), Pansies, 1929

20090930 UBWWTP (51)e

Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/10/third-thing-about-water.html http://tinyurl.com/yapcdc7

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/search/label/Dayhoff%20photos http://tinyurl.com/y9qocau

http://twitpic.com/k7qq1 “A Third Thing About Water” by Kevin Dayhoff http://tinyurl.com/yapcdc7 http://tinyurl.com/y9qocau

Friday, May 15, 2009

DAYHOFF: Cutting a ribbon on history at the Westminster Water Treatment Plant




DAYHOFF: Cutting a ribbon on history at the Westminster Water Treatment Plant

Bottom photo: April 24, 2008 Westminster, state, county and industry officials cut the ribbon at grand opening ceremonies for the new Westminster Cranberry Water Treatment Plant. From right to left: Ben Movahed from Watek Engineering, Westminster Common Council president Roy Chiavacci, Dr. Robert M. Summers, deputy secretary from the State Department of the Environment, Westminster mayor Tom Ferguson, Carroll County commissioners’ president Julia Gouge, Westminster Common Council members Dr. Robert Wack and Kevin Utz. Photo by Kevin Dayhoff (20090424 NewWTPribbon (18)b and 20090424 NewWTPribbon (24)b)

(c) Kevin Dayhoff, Posted on http://www.explorecarroll.com/ 4/29/09 photos by Kevin Dayhoff picture dates: April 24, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/pcae4f

DAYHOFF: Cutting a ribbon on history at the Westminster Water Treatment Plant Published April 29, 2009 by Westminster Eagle ... prosper. Note: next week's column will review a more in-depth history of the story of the early Westminster water systems. Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster, where he served as mayor from 2001 to 2005. When he is not enjoying a great glass of Westminster ... ...

Dayhoff: How water drove the growth Westminster ... and still does Published May 4, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle ... 200 years after our community banded together to maintain a steady and reliable water supply.

*****

Last week’s ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Westminster water treatment plant put the city on the cutting edge of water.

Carroll and Westminster officials gathered for a ribbon-cutting April 24 at the Westminster Cranberry Water Treatment Plant, on Lucabaugh Mill Road just north of Westminster.

Mayor Tom Ferguson and Dr. Robert M. Summers, deputy secretary from the State Department of the Environment, shared remarks and recognized folks in attendance for working hard to make the state-of-the-art facility a reality.

Westminster council president Roy Chiavacci, councilmembers Kevin Utz and Dr. Robert Wack and Board of County Commissioners President Julia Gouge watched with well-deserved pride.

Among the folks recognized were Westminster city administrator Marge Wolf, engineer Mike Matov, representatives from Watek Engineering Corporation (who designed the facility), Conewago Enterprises and Siemens Water Technologies.

According to Kelly Martin, the city's information and communications specialist, the design of the plant, by Watek Engineering Corporation, took into account future growth capacity, while minimizing operation and maintenance costs.

“The Plant is designed to currently supply 2.75 million gallons per day (MGD) of potable water into the City's distribution system,” said data provided by Martin.

Simply increasing the number of membrane modules — part of the technology noted as “best available” by regulatory agencies — could increase the plant's capacity to 5 million gallons per day.

Although construction of the new treatment facility started May 2007, the story of water in Carroll and Westminster has its beginnings in the 1700s.

Indeed, the very spot upon which the new water facility is now located has a history that dates back to 1795.

According to information researched at the Historical Society of Carroll County by historian Richard Hyson, one of the earliest references to Winter's Mill — which now also lends its name to the high school — can be found as early as 1795 when it a grain mill and sawmill operated by Ledwick Wampler.

Airhart Winters took possession around 1860 and the mill can be located on the Lake, Griffing & Stevenson 1877 “Illustrated Atlas of Carroll County, Maryland.”

The property is described as being that of “Airhart Winters, Farmer and Manufacturer of Flour, Feed &c. Custom Sawing and Grinding done promptly. One and a half miles east of Westminster.”

Unfortunately, a fire around 1960 destroyed the adjacent mill master's home and all the records of the early days of the mill and the water company perished.

The mill master's house was located on the exact spot where the new treatment plant is now situated.

In 1920, the old Cranberry Water Pumping Station was constructed by Westminster Consolidated Utilities Company at the Old Winter's Mill, taking advantage of a millrace there to bring water into the plant from a millpond upstream.

Water in Westminster was supplied by a private company from 1883 to 1964. The city purchased the Maryland Water Company, a successor to the Westminster Consolidated Utilities Company, in 1964 for $961,792 and sold approximately $1.45 million worth of 2.5 percent bonds to pay for the system and improvements and expansions.

Compare that to the $12.3 million cost of the new water treatment plant; most of which was borrowed from the Maryland Water Quality Bond Fund through the Maryland Department of the Environment at 1 percent for 29 years.

When the water system was purchased 45 years ago, Westminster consisted of 477 acres and had a population of 6,123 compared to approximately 4,000 acres and 17,000 folks today.

Today, the water system supplies more than 33,000 people with water when you include the households it serves outside the city limits.

Over the past decade, community leaders have been grappling with how to continue to supply fresh drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities for a growing population and meet increased (and unfunded) federal and state water quality mandates.

The history of the new water treatment plant really began in the 1990s when Ken Yowan was the mayor of Westminster.

Jeff Glass, the Westminster director of public works, recently helped refresh my memory about the early discussions about the need to build a new facility.

“Well, it all started a long long time ago” with a quality control process called a CPE, comprehensive performance evaluation, recalled Glass. The purpose of the CPE is “to find weaknesses and areas for potential improvement.”

The city's first CPE was completed by by Lenny Gold in conjunction with MCET, the Maryland Center for Environmental Training.

“Jake Bair was running (MCET) at the time,” said Glass.

Bair has since retired but Gold is still in the consulting business, based in Easton. Glass said “both are really good guys. ... Lenny is the one who taught me how to operate a treatment plant.”

In approximately 1998, the CPE identified that the city would one day need to upgrade its water treatment process to provide additional barriers to guard against Cryptosporidium, Giardia, bacteria, turbidity and suspended solids in the water system.

Discussions and long range planning continued for years. When I took office as the mayor in May 2001, my predecessor, Mayor Yowan, and I had a series of transition discussions and the need for improvements to the then-80-year-old treatment plant was one of the many items reviewed.

In January 2002, $565,000 was included in the capital budget for design and construction of the filter re-bedding and preliminary plant design.

As challenges were identified, “it was then that we went out to bid for an evaluation of the current plant. The concept was to decide what was the best option(s) available to us, to take us into the future,” recalled Glass.

Enter Ben Movahed from Watek Engineering.

Movahed, along with Sophia Liskovitch, also with Watek, and a team of city officials including Glass, then-water treatment plant superintendent Paula Martin and her successor Bret Grossnickle, Tom Owens, all the water treatment plant operators, Tom Beyard, then the city's planning and public works director, and (Westminster engineer Mike) Matov , checked through the old plant with the concept of upgrading.

An additional $300.000 was allocated in February 2003 and another $300,000 in March 2004 as complications and challenges were identified in the complicated process of replacing an old water treatment system that dated back to the 1920s.

It was ultimately determined that upgrading the old plant was not a cost effective way to move forward and the idea to build a new plant firmly took root.

However, to further complicate the matter, it was also determined that the existing sand filtration media in the old plant needed to the re-bedded — changed-out — before a new plant could be constructed and brought on-line.

Another complication was researching what membrane filtering system to use. Since this technology is cutting edge, few existing examples could be studied.

This required research trips to several of the few existing facilities in the world. One was in England. Another in California and yet a third was in Toronto.

It was the facility above Toronto that proved especially trying as Glass recalls that the trip coincided with weather which saw the temperatures plummet to 40 degrees below zero.

Yet even more complicating was determining whether to use the “Zenon” filter or the “MEMCOR” filter.

When the investigation and research began, both were manufactured by stand-alone companies.

Then MEMCOR was purchased by U.S. Filter, which was subsequently purchased by Siemens.

Zenon was purchased by GE.

By 2007 drawings and planning process were complete and the city was able to begin construction of the new facility in May 2007.

The ribbon cutting ceremony last Friday witnessed the completion of the first full scale membrane filtering water treatment plant in Maryland.

The story of the plant is like much of the history of Westminster — a story of teamwork, careful planning, thinking outside of the box and adapting to change.

Perhaps the only thing more important than water in Carroll County history is how the community has always come together to meet hardships and challenges and adapt to the changes.

By working together we can easily meet the current water challenges and prosper.

Note: next week's column will review a more in-depth history of the story of the early Westminster water systems.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster, where he served as mayor from 2001 to 2005.

When he is not enjoying a great glass of Westminster water, he may be reached at kevindayhoff AT gmail.com.

http://explorecarroll.com/opinion/2863/dayhoff-cutting-ribbon-history-westminster-water-treatment-plant/

http://tinyurl.com/pcae4f

20090429 Cutting the ribbon on the new treatment plant weked

Kevin Dayhoff: http://www.westgov.net/ Westminster Maryland Online http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/ http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/

Friday, March 09, 2007

20070308 Winchester Report: “A Sordid Saga.”



Winchester Report: “A Sordid Saga.”

“Union Mills reservoir and the pumpkin patch”

As appeared in my “Winchester Report” blog on the Westminster Eagle web site:

A sordid saga of communists, reservoirs, congressman, and pumpkins

Note: see also, “20070307 A sordid saga of communists, reservoirs, congressman, and pumpkins ” on “Soundtrack.”

By Kevin Dayhoff March 8th, 2007

Contrary to what is being circulated; the Union Mills reservoir project in Carroll County will add another layer of protection to the site of the “pumpkin papers,” and this national treasure is not threatened.

Recently the old Whittaker Chambers “pumpkin patch&...[Read full story]

_____

A sordid saga of communists, reservoirs, congressman, and pumpkins

03/08/07

By Kevin Dayhoff

Respond to this story

Email this story to a friend

Contrary to what is being circulated; the Union Mills reservoir project in Carroll County will add another layer of protection to the site of the “pumpkin papers,” and this national treasure is not threatened.

Recently the old Whittaker Chambers “pumpkin patch” farm just north of Westminster, in Carroll County Maryland has resurfaced in the news.

The Chambers’ Pipe Creek Farm was the scene of the “pumpkin papers” incident in which a former communist spy; Whittaker Chambers, defected to become a champion of the anti-communist cause at the beginnings of the cold war in 1948.

Mr. Chambers hid U.S. State Department documents in hollowed-out pumpkins on his Carroll County farm. Once he gave the documents to then- Congressman Richard Nixon, the entire issue of communists and communism in the United States gripped the nation for many years in what has become known as the “McCarthy era.”

The “pumpkin papers” named a local Baltimorean and Baltimore City High School and Johns Hopkins University graduate, Alger Hiss, as a communist spy.

The national, if not international story of intrigue, spies, and the beginnings of the cold war all took place in Carroll County with roles played by Carroll County and Baltimore citizens.

It is now almost 60 years later and intrigue and conspiracy continue to abound.

Since January, Carroll County officials have been plagued with persistent rumors and conspiracy theories, some of which have been published in local newspapers, that Carroll County wants to “seize” the old Chambers “pumpkin patch” farm. Good folks, good journalists and conspiratorialists alike have been “had” by this misinformation.

The misinformation seems to continue to grow legs and is about as far from the position of Carroll County officials as one could get. Carroll County is not trying to take the farm.

I attended what appears to be the genesis of the misinformation; the December 14th, 2006 “Public Hearing ~ Carroll County Water & Sewerage Master Plan.”

The public hearing was poorly attended except for a couple of gentleman who politely and eloquently expressed concern for their property which seemed to be involved in the proposed reservoir. Anyone can understand that. However, assurances were made by county officials that they were sensitive to the concerns of the citizens.

Somehow, from there, the alarm was quickly spread that the county was about to begin “seizing” land for the project even though that has not been the practice and policy of past commissioners and there seems to be no indication by the present Carroll County Board of Commissioners to go in that direction.

But, the casual reader and any person seriously interested in this aspect of our national history could read certain news accounts and walk away with the impression that the pumpkin patch will cease to exist as a result of the reservoir project. This is not true.

In the Internet age, where news is 24/seven, there is an epidemic of misinformation getting legs and if it is repeated often enough “it becomes true.”

Folks who have been “had” by the great “seizing” conspiracy are in good company - with ah, count them, 12 members of Congress who wrote to the Carroll County Board of Commissioners on January 12th, 2007.

They wrote, in part;

“We are writing to express our support for continued preservation of an important National Historic Landmark located within Carroll County, known as Pipe Creek Farm. All steps must be taken to preserve the integrity of this property, having served as the home of a great patriot and noted author, Whittaker Chambers.”

So far – so good. From what I am aware of the attitude of Carroll County officials, they are also interested in “preserve(ing) the integrity of this property.”

So what is the problem?

It’s in the next paragraph:

“We understand that the Carroll County Commissioners are considering a water plan that includes the creation of a Union Mills reservoir which, if completed, would destroy a significant portion of this national treasure…”

The letter is signed by Members of Congress, Ros-Lehtine, Bartlett, Gilchrest, Mario Diaz-Balart, Wolf, Wilson, King, Bordallo (from Guam,) Feeney, Boozman, McCotter and Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

Well, it is true that the Commissioners are considering the creation of a Union Mills Reservoir. As has been considered since the mid 1970s when the City of Westminster first proposed the reservoir.

As I wrote on February 28th, 2007 in my Westminster Eagle column titled, “Recalling when B's Coffee Shoppe was all abuzz:”

In line with expanding the city's water supplies, in the mid-1970s, plans were made for Westminster to build another reservoir, this one to be located on Big Pipe Creek in Union Mills.

When the $5 million dollar reservoir was presented to the public, the public rose up in arms saying the city did not need the water and that the project was a waste of ratepayer money.

By September 1976, the project was shelved.

History, of course, has proven that the council was correct in pursuing the project and we would be in a lot different position today if it had been allowed to go forward.

However, fast forwarding to today, the waters of the proposed reservoir will hardly come within a mile of the present day unmarked location of the “pumpkin patch” which now rests in an otherwise nondescript field.

The Carroll County officials who are in a decision making role in this matter are keenly, and personally, interested in preserving the integrity of the site of the “pumpkin papers” – so it is simply baffling as to how this matter got all wound around the axles of misinformation.

Why didn’t the gang of 12 Congressmen contact Carroll County officials before they sent the letter? Every member of Congress who did contact Carroll County officials did NOT send a letter.

Unfortunately another one of the Congressman who has been “had” in this saga was Congressman Roscoe Bartlett who wrote to the Carroll County Board of Commissioners on January 3rd, 2007.

Congressman Bartlett wrote in part:

“It is my hope that the Commissioners of Carroll County will value, even treasure, this very special farm, that you will do all in your power to keep it whole, and protect its integrity for this and future generations to study and know.”

And here lies the really bizarre part of the story. Contrary to what is being circulated, the Union Mills reservoir project will add another layer of historic protection to the site of the “pumpkin papers,” which is already in agricultural preservation -- and preserve the site in perpetuity.

This is a good thing. The county wants a watershed protection easement which will concurrently give the site addition historic protection.

Click Here to See a PDF of a County Map Depicting the Historic Chambers Farm in Relation to the Proposed Union Mills Reservoir

The “lake” area of the Union Mills reservoir will only encompass approximately 325 acres. The balance of the 2,200 acres needed by the County that surround the “lake” are for the purposes of watershed protection. The county commissioners have reported that the county already owns 1500 acres of the needed watershed protection area – to be preserved in perpetuity.

Nevertheless, in situations like the Chambers Pipe Creek Farm, where the county can get a watershed protection easement on the property, rather than purchasing it, this is a good thing.

This watershed protection will add an additional layer of protection for the historic “pumpkin papers” site, which again, is almost a mile from the waterline.

In a response to Congressman Bartlett’s January 3rd, 2007 letter, which he penned in addition to the gang of twelve Congressmen’s January 12, 2007 letter, the Carroll County Board of Commissioners wrote on January 18th, 2007:

“With regard to the Pipe Creek Farm specifically, Carroll County has no intention of negatively impacting the field identified as the location of the famed “pumpkin patch” and has designed the reservoir in a way that minimizes impacts on the balance of the farm. Indeed, the impact anticipated by the planned reservoir… is limited to the northeastern edge of the farm where the Pipe Creek stream crosses the property.

The Pipe Creek farm is already protected from future residential development by easement sold to the Maryland Agricultural land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) in 2001. Carroll County has no interest in acquiring Pipe Creek Farm land for the purpose of constructing the reservoir beyond… the ‘normal pool level.’ We estimate this direct impact on the Pipe Creek farm to equal roughly 15.5 acres. The balance of the farm, approximately 346.5 acres, remains undisturbed and under the full control and ownership of its present owner…”

On a final note, the Union Mills reservoir was needed and should have been built in the 1970s. The need for water in Carroll County has been a basic health, safety, and welfare concern for public officials in Carroll County since the terrible drought of 2002.

To not go forward with the Union Mills reservoir would be an abrogation of one of the basic responsibilities of elected officials to Carroll County’s citizens. NIMBYism and misinformation cannot prevail.

In their January 18th, 2007 letter, the Carroll County Board of commissioners wrote:

“The need for a surface water supply for communities in northern Carroll County is real. We also believe that protecting and preserving nationally recognized sites of historic significance and irreplaceable farmland is equally important to our local, state and national well being.

Our reservoir concept, with minimal impact to the Pipe Creek Farm, satisfies both of these fundamental principles of government: protecting our past while planning for our future.”

####