NEW YORK CITY POLICE TAKE EXTRA STEPS TO AVOID SECURITY THREAT BY GAS CHLORINE

Following at least 10 attacks in Iraq involving explosives attached to liquid chlorine canisters and the listing of liquid chlorine as a Chemical of Concern by the United States government on November 20, 2007, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and police are stressing the importance of chlorine vendors verifying the legitimacy of their customers before accepting orders or shipping product.  This warning to vendors is in addition to DHS’s earlier requirement that facilities which use or store liquid chlorine register with DHS for a mandatory on-site inspection and risk assessment.

As concern mounts over the transport, storage and use of hazardous chemicals, such as liquid chlorine for disinfection and sulfur dioxide gas for dechlorination, several sewer districts have installed Norweco tablet chlorination and dechlorination systems.  Norweco tablet technologies do not employ hazardous liquids or gas and are exempt from all current and pending Department of Homeland Security reporting and inspection requirements.

The relevant excerpt from the DHS report is as follows:

The newspaper article is as follows:

Bio-Dynamic Potable Water System Protects Schools and Hospitals

"We are surprised at how effective the chlorinators are and how simply

and efficiently they work. Please do one more installation... at our house

for handicapped children."  Kenscoff Orphanage

Kenscoff Children

With the support of studies conducted by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, the Washington, DC based non-profit organization International Action continues their quest to provide affordable, safe drinking water to struggling nations.  Grim statistics from Haiti’s health agencies make this area a top priority.  Without intervention, up to one-third of their children will die before the age of five due to intestinal disorders from dirty water sources.  They recently shared exciting information and new photos regarding their progress utilizing easily installed and operated Bio-Dynamic chlorine disinfection tablet dispensers.  All are from the Kenscoff area outside Port-au-Prince where their crew has been working while civil unrest cools down in the capital.  These photos of the proud team were taken at the hospital Fermathe with Community Organizer Dalebrun Esther in front and local plumber Joanes Bastin behind him.  The young man in the first photo is Dimitri from their partner group.  The second photo shows Laurie Knop, International Action’s partner in Haiti, directing the work.  The chlorinator behind them is used to protect the Hospital Fermathe’s patients.  The word of decline in illnesses has spread and the Hospital Fermathe staff has requested that the organization protect 350 schools they run throughout Haiti.  International Action, along with assistance from the Haitian Minister of Agriculture, is working rapidly to plot out an education campaign including training local residents as Bio-Dynamic Potable Water System installers to speed the availability of sanitized drinking water.  The campaign is titled “Miracle in Haiti” because some residents of the poor neighborhoods call the chlorine system and resulting clean water a miracle and travel long distances to carry away safe water.  They recently surveyed 10 community water tanks in the Kenscoff area that were recipients of chlorinators.  A Haitian mother standing in line for water asked them to share the news that, “It’s a miracle that your organization has brought us clean water.  We are so grateful that our children don’t get sick…as they used to.”  Over the course of the next year, 500,000 people will gain access to these “miracle” systems.  To learn more about International Action's current and future humanitarian efforts in Haiti, click on the following link: www.haitiwater.org.

SINGULAIR SYSTEM APPROVED FOR EPA NPDES GENERAL PERMIT

Designed for sites where wastewater disposal options are severely limited, the Singulair NPDES system utilizes advanced treatment technologies to meet EPA performance criteria.  EPA General Permits are issued for systems that treat wastewater and discharge effluent to surface waters.  NPDES permits require strict compliance with watershed based performance limits and failsafe operational controls.  The operation and performance of the Singulair NPDES system meets EPA’s General Permit criteria and allows economical land utilization while protecting environmentally sensitive areas.  The primary treatment platform of the NPDES system is the Singulair Model TNT wastewater treatment plant which has successfully completed NSF International’s most demanding evaluation protocol, Standard 245.  Treatment of domestic wastewater is accomplished by the extended aeration process with non-mechanical flow equalization, gravitational settling, tertiary filtration, UV disinfection and effluent re-aeration.

To assure compliance with EPA’s stringent permit limits the electro-mechanical components of the NPDES system providing aeration, filtration and disinfection are monitored 24/7 by Norweco’s exclusive Service Pro telemetry.  Should a system component require maintenance Service Pro immediately notifies the Singulair service provider.  In addition to providing notification of the need for service, the Service Pro system manages operating data and maintenance records with a password protected website for online performance accountability.  Access to the website records of each Singulair NPDES system can be granted to regulatory agencies responsible for operational oversight.  The system owner is provided READ ONLY access to the maintenance records which can be used to demonstrate compliance with permit requirements when renewal of the EPA General Permit is requested.  With performance that rivals the most advanced treatment systems in the world, coupled with Service Pro remote monitoring, the Singulair NPDES wastewater treatment system is another example of how Norweco is engineering the future of water and wastewater to provide today's answer for the protection of tomorrow's environment.

ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND SOLUTIONS

John and Monica Kubena and their seven children celebrate their new house protected by the Singulair system from Norweco, courtesy of ABC Television’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”  The problem of providing new living quarters for the Kubena family in East Bernard, Texas was solved with the help of a Singulair Bio-Kinetic wastewater treatment system. Norweco's local, licensed Singulair distributor and the design team at ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition installed a Singulair Bio-Kinetic system that was capable of providing the environment the Kubena family needed for their twin girls Tara and Sara who are recovering from Leukemia.  For more information, view the entire Extreme Makeover story on our website.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF "PROGRESS THROUGH SERVICE"

The year 2006 marked the 100th Anniversary of the founding of Norweco and our original parent company. Based on a patent for a burial vault originally issued in 1902, Norwalk Vault Company was incorporated in 1906 to build and eventually license the manufacture of the unique design. Over the years, the burial vault design evolved into designs for septic tanks, bomb shelters, utility vaults and wastewater treatment plants. The company developed into a leading manufacturer of precast concrete, steel molds and wastewater treatment products, which would subsequently become Norweco. The Norwalk Vault Company produced three independent companies and hundreds of distributors who used the word "Norwalk" in their company name. Throughout the history of all the affiliated corporations and their successors, the combination of a deep commitment to the customer coupled with fundamentally sound design, engineering and manufacture has been the common bond.

We celebrated our Centennial with a four-day series of distributor meetings that featured a look back at our history and the introduction of several new products for the future. Distributors from throughout North America attended the event, which was themed "100 Years of Integrity, Reliability and Innovation." New product introductions, new listings and increasing acceptance of advanced treatment technology continues to position Norweco and our distributors on the forefront of the water and wastewater treatment industry. We understand that our continued success, and the success of our distributors, is dependent upon our ability to consistently deliver quality service and products to our customers. The Centennial Celebration was an opportunity to reflect on our past, envision our future and set our sights on growth and opportunity. With a renewed commitment to the partnerships we have forged with our distributors, dealers and customers, we look forward to our next century of "Progress Through Service."

NORWECO DISTRIBUTORS ENJOY CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

The Service Pro "Big Red" service truck traveled throughout North America this past year helping Norweco distributors promote their products and celebrate our Centennial.  Big Red is an International Truck and Engine Corporation Model CXT with a nine foot tall cab, 310 horsepower MaxxForce engine and six tons of hauling power that was customized especially for the Norweco Centennial.  Towering over everything else on the street, the International Model CXT is the largest production pickup truck in the world and demands attention wherever it goes.

While visiting Waco, Texas in March, to participate in the annual Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Conference and the Hanson Concrete Products Company Singulair Training Seminar, Big Red may have received a little too much attention.  The Hanson seminar was well attended by installing contractors and the TCEQ conference drew big crowds.  However, the day before the conference when Hanson’s Sales Manager, Chris Davis, and Big Red went missing, the Norweco sales team who were waiting for the truck to arrive in Waco, got a little nervous.  Chris claims he was having Big Red washed and detailed at the local truck wash but this photograph provides proof positive that the detailing job wasn’t the only project Chris was working on that day.  It’s obvious Chris used Big Red’s horsepower to his advantage as he was able to convince an entire staff of waitresses from a local Hooters restaurant to leave their work stations and join him for a joy ride.  Sales of wings, Singulair systems and Blue Crystal chlorine tablets may have suffered briefly, but it looks like everyone had a good time.  Chris claims that he took the truck to a mall that has the only combination truck wash/Hooters restaurant in the state of Texas.  However, when members of the Norweco sales team tried to find the alleged truck wash/restaurant no such facility could be located.
 

We've mounted a Singulair Model 206C aerator into a clear display cylinder to demonstrate its powerful mixing action and air delivery.  The aerator, designed specifically for use in the Singulair Bio-Kinetic wastewater treatment system, turns a four-pronged aspirator at a speed of 1725 RPM.  As the aspirator turns within the contents of the Singulair tank, a vortex is created and air bubbles are released into the aeration chamber.  Air injection provides just the right environment for biological oxidation of the wastewater.  The aerator generates the tank mixing action necessary for complete biological treatment and the mixing also operates the Singulair clarification chamber's sludge return system.  Notice that the mixing action continues even after the aerator is turned off.  The hydraulic currents that are created continue through the Bio-Static sludge return and the sludge return zone of the clarification chamber continues to function even when the aerator is in an off cycle.  Simply click on the image to the right to view the demonstration.

Another reason to worry about global warming: more and itchier poison ivy.  The noxious vine grows faster and bigger as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise, researchers report.  And a CO2-driven vine also produces more of its rash-causing chemical, urushiol, according to experiments conducted by Duke University where scientists increased the carbon dioxide levels of a nearby forest to those expected in 2050.  Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that’s considered a major contributor to global warming.  Compared to poison ivy grown in usual atmospheric conditions, those exposed to the extra-high carbon dioxide grew about three times larger and produced more allergenic form urushiol, scientists from Duke and Harvard University reported.  Their study appears in a recent Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  “The fertilization effect of rising CO2 on poison ivy… and the shift toward a more allergenic form of urushiol have important implications for the future health of both humans and forests,” the study concludes.  (Reprinted from Washington AP, June, 2006)

On August 5, 2005 Norweco, Inc. was honored with the 2005 Governor’s Excellence Award in Workers’ Compensation recognized by The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC).  This prestigious award acknowledges Ohio businesses and public employers that provide a safe, cost-effective workplace for their employees, while supporting their injured workers.  The criteria cited by the bureau for this award are: exemplary commitment to creating a safe workplace, an outstanding cost-containment program, active leadership by senior management, employee involvement and measurable results.  With zero recordable injuries for nearly 3 years, Norweco recognizes that employee efforts were key to achieving this goal.  Norweco’s commitment to a safe and healthy workplace earned them this mark of distinction.  Out of 150 applicants, Norweco is honored to be one of only six Ohio businesses to receive the Governor’s Excellence Award in Workers’ Compensation.  For more information on the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and the safety programs and services that they offer, visit www.ohiobwc.com.

On February 4, 2004 Norweco, Inc. was notified by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that the company has achieved SHARP certification.  SHARP stands for Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program and is a highly selective certification that recognizes employers who have partnered with OSHA on-site consultants to establish and maintain an exemplary safety program in the workplace. Norweco’s program meets and exceeds all of the major elements of the Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines outlined by OSHA, including: management leadership, employee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard prevention, and safety and health training. Once safety standards were identified, Norweco was graded on a number of attributes relating to hazard anticipation, detection, prevention and control, safety planning, evaluation and training, management commitment, and employee participation.  To complete the program, Norweco worked with OSHA consultants over a period of two years and in 2003, achieved the number one goal of obtaining a record of zero accidents or injuries. The OSHA on-site consulting team conducts nearly 1000 consultations in Ohio each year, and Norweco is proud to be one of only 5 companies to successfully achieve SHARP status.  If you would like more information on the SHARP program, visit OSHA’s website at www.osha.gov/dcsp/smallbusiness/sharp.html

On January 10, 2003 the USEPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced two actions to clarify their enforcement of the Clean Water Act. The first action was to issue updated guidance language to assist the two agencies with their enforcement efforts. The second action was to announce the USEPA’s intention to publish an Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making, which notifies the public that regulations are slated for review and asks for public comment.  The USEPA decided that clarification of the guidance language was necessary following a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. In January 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that the Corps of Engineers had exceeded its authority when it blocked the construction of a landfill outside of Chicago in the mid-1990’s.  The guidance language reaffirms federal jurisdiction over traditional navigable waters and their adjacent wetlands, but not if they are contained within one state and non-navigable, where the sole basis for jurisdiction would be the Migratory Bird Rule.  The language also encouraged field staff to seek formal, project-specific approval prior to asserting jurisdiction over non-navigable, intrastate waters based on current regulatory definitions of "waters of the U.S."

In December 2002, the EPA and the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Board (LARWQCB) took serious action against one frequent violator of the Clean Water Act.  The City of Los Angeles admitted liability for more than 3,600 spills dating back to 1994 that resulted in the discharge of millions of gallons of untreated sewage.  The city’s admission of these violations could force them to pay the maximum penalties with fines totaling over $90 million.  In a separate Federal lawsuit filed by the EPA and state water officials, Los Angeles could be forced to commit to making repairs to about half of it’s 6,500 miles of sewer lines, many of which are a half-century old.  Similar suits have been brought against Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, Baltimore and others that would require them to make up to $100 billion in improvements.  However, such an investment may not be enough to keep pace with aging infrastructures.  Some municipalities are offsetting the cost of these improvements and repairs by increasing residential sewer fees assessed to their citizens.  Ultimately, each of us will pay the price or reap the rewards of protecting our water resources for future generations.

Microsoft has created what it calls “the world’s first internet outhouse.”  The iLoo incorporates an internal flat-screen plasma display, wireless keyboard and 802.11b broadband access, as well as 6-channel surround sound.  The keyboard is independently mounted and can be held on the user’s lap.  To address the long lines that could develop if patrons linger too long inside, the unit also has an external plasma screen and a waterproof external silicone keyboard for those who are waiting.  The toilet and sink use vacuum suction to dispose of the waste.  To add reading material, the company is negotiating with toilet paper manufacturers for special rolls with web addresses printed on them.  Security is also of utmost importance for the new device; Microsoft plans to post a guard to protect the hardware.  “If we didn’t post a guard, somebody would probably just lift the whole thing up and walk away with it,” a spokesman said.

The USEPA has published the 2002 update to their Design Manual: Onsite Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Systems, commonly known as the "Purple Manual." This update is meant to provide a more focused approach to onsite wastewater treatment than the last edition which was published in 1980. The 2002 update is not intended to replace the 1980 version, but rather to provide supplemental information about recent developments in treatment technologies, designs and system management.  Information contained in this publication includes an abundance of technical data on traditional and new systems with a performance-based approach to selection and design. A team of experts from public agencies, private groups, professional associations and academic organizations supplied the information for the updated design manual. Norweco is cited in the acknowledgements as making a significant contribution to the development of this important training and reference publication.

The EPA, in an effort to rid drinking water of the microbial pathogen Cryptosporidium, is requiring public water systems which service fewer than 10,000 persons to add tighter filtration system controls. Cryptosporidium is considered by many to be a harbinger of a new type of microbiological risk for the future. Able to survive dormant in the soil for years, Cryptosporidium and similar microorganisms illustrate a potential weakness in traditional sub-surface waste disposal methods. Concern that other pathogenic microorganisms may also survive underground disposal is causing some authorities to require disinfection for both surface and subsurface disposal. Although this is a controversial subject, experimental systems have proven that pathogenic organisms in wastewater can be eliminated without residual chlorine being detrimental to naturally occurring bacteria.

A privately owned wastewater treatment plant in Hillard, OH was closed after 10 years of complaints. According to environmental officials the smell from the plant caused burning eyes, noses and throats and occasionally resulted in canceled recesses at a nearby elementary school.  Norweco’s Singulair, Modulair and Travalair wastewater treatment systems can eliminate the problems of malfunctioning plants and protect the health and quality of life of the citizens they serve.  Reuse of the high quality effluent our systems provide is particularly beneficial to people in areas where potable water supplies are limited.

What do you have in common with a dinosaur? ... The same drinking water. We have about the same amount of water as when the earth was formed. The same water is used over and over again. Try not to think about it too much.

The Chicago Tunnels and Reservoir Plan are noted in the Guinness World Records as the largest sewage tunnel, extending 93 miles with diameter of 9 to 33 feet. In 2004, a total of 109 miles were scheduled to be complete.