What’s a former police officer doing at the Howard H. Seymour Water Reclamation Facility in Lewes, Del.?
He’s getting the drop on technical and regulatory challenges, skillfully managing a three-person staff and keeping the 1.5-mgd plant in compliance. Walter Baumer’s focus, energy and commitment as project manager earned him recognition from the Delaware House of Representatives as 2008 Wastewater Operator of the Year.
The award cited Baumer for demonstrating “outstanding technical excellence and an exemplary work ethic, contributing to the high level of water quality in Delaware.” That’s not to mention hisyeoman’s work in 2005-07 on construction of the community’s new wastewater treatment facility, incorporating membrane bioreactor (MBR) and biological nutrient removal technologies.
That project tested his team’s ability to keep the water flowing in this ocean resort town of more than 3,100 full-time and 10,000 seasonal residents. He’s also responsible for maintaining 32 lift and pump stations throughout the area.
“I was somewhat surprised to get the award, especially since a lot of good people were nominated,” says Baumer. “The whole concept of working at a treatment plant has changed. It’s much more technologically sophisticated, and this award recognizes the effort and study that goes into running a modern, highly complex operation like ours.”
Winding road
An 18-year water treatment plant veteran, Baumer has been manager of the Lewes facility since his employer, Severn Trent Services, entered a successful public-private partnership with Lewes in 2002.
Baumer’s path to Operator of the Year has been twisty. A New Jersey native, he worked early in his career as a construction contractor and as a park ranger at Cape Henlopen State Park. Then he got into law enforcement, serving as a guard at the Delaware State Prison. From there, he became a police officer in Georgetown, but he hurt his back after only a year and had to resign.
Fortunately, his father-in-law heard of an opening at the wastewater treatment plant, and in 1992, Baumer signed on, starting in the plant.
“This has been a great experience,” Baumer says. “It took me 10 years to earn my Level 4 operator’s license, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of the learning experience. There is always something new to figure out, whether it’s a piece of high-tech equipment or environmental and OSHA regulations. You never get bored, that’s for sure.”
To illustrate his point, Baumer cites the plant’s decade-long evolution. When Baumer joined, it was a newly upgraded secondary treatment facility. Today, it is an MBR plant with a micro-filtration system that routinely exceeds permit requirements for BOD, nitrogen, TSS and phosphorous. Baumer lists three main reasons for the plant’s success: technological, governmental and human.
Advanced technology
The plant’s Zenon membrane filtration system (GE Water & Process Technologies), UV disinfection system (Trojan Technologies), pre-thickened aerobic digestion membrane thickener (PAD-K) from Enviroquip – A Division of Eimco Water Technologies, and nutrient removal processes have played a big role in allowing the plant to reduce BOD and TSS load to the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal by about 2,500 pounds per month.
At the same time, these advances have achieved effluent concentration levels of less than 3 mg/l total nitrogen and less than 0.5 mg/l total phosphorous. The nutrient load reduction in the canal totals 3,200 pounds per month.
Although the plant has been upgraded to 1.5 mgd from 750,000 gpd, it is expandable to 2.2 mgd. It hasn’t approached that level “because the town government has done a good job of cutting down infiltration,” Baumer says. Lewes officials hired a Severn Trent division to smoke-test the sewer system.
“The Lewes Board of Public Works has been very efficient in maintaining its sewers, which makes it a lot easier for us to do our jobs,” says Baumer, who also served for 17 years on the Lewes Volunteer Fire Department. “I’ve had good relations with the local government. It has been cooperative every step of the way.”
Strong praise
So has Baumer’s staff: Lori Brown, assistant project manager; Charles Simpson, maintenance supervisor; and Dave Dunstan, operator. “I have a good team, that has been here a while, knows the issues and gets the job done no matter how challenging it gets,” Baumer says.
Undoubtedly the biggest challenge Baumer and his staff faced was the upgrade of the treatment facility. The two-year, $11.7 million project doubled the plant’s capacity and provided capabilities to improve the health of the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal and inland bays and meet new NPDES permit requirements.
The groundbreaking facility, designed by George, Miles & Buhr LLC, represents the first time membrane bioreactor and biological nutrient removal technologies have been combined by a Delaware municipality. GMB won the 2009 Grand Conceptor Award from the Delaware American Council of Engineering Companies for the project.
“Despite the award-winning design and advanced technologies, we still had half of the plant off line during construction and had to accept the usual flow,” Baumer says. “Essentially, our capacity doubled and we had to do the best we could to keep in compliance. It was a big job that pushed everyone — me included. To expand the plant, we had to shut down half of our bioreactor and the digester and headworks so they could build half of the new plant while the same flow was coming in. We were over capacity before the upgrade began.”
Brown credits Baumer with keeping the plant on an even keel during the renovation. “Frankly, we couldn’t have done as well as we did without Walt’s expertise and calm guidance,” she says. “Maybe it was his training as a guard or police officer, but he never got excited or lost his cool even when we’d have problems. That’s the way he does everything — with quiet confidence.”
Brown has worked with Baumer for almost eight years, joining the plant team after earning an associate degree in environmental engineering from Delaware Technical College. “I was new to wastewater treatment and had to get up to speed quickly,” she says. “Fortunately, Walt took me under his wing and taught me so much. I would never have made assistant project manager without Walt’s tremendous expertise and excellent teaching capabilities. I consider him an excellent boss and a good friend.”
‘Very committed’
As for Baumer’s work ethic, Brown is equally complimentary. “We’re on call 24/7, and if I have to call Walt at two in the morning, I know he’ll answer the phone and not sound angry,” she says. “One time I had an electrical problem at the plant and needed to do some testing. So I called Walt at 4:30 a.m. and he tried to walk me through the procedure. When that didn’t work, he got in his car and drove to the plant and we did the test. Not every supervisor would handle a situation so patiently.”
Baumer’s boss, Dave Fink, area manager for Severn Trent, agrees. “Walt is a very hard worker, very committed to the plant’s success,” he says. “He’s the kind of guy who takes his laptop with him on vacation, checks his e-mail every day, and even answers phone calls if there are problems.”
Fink, himself a 37-year industry veteran, praises Baumer for being “well rounded in all aspects of the business.” He points to Baumer’s hands-on management style and mentoring capabilities as well as his ability to rebuild pumps or fix equipment. And he, like Brown, believes Baumer was vital to the success of the plant expansion.
“Walt and his team had to overcome a lot of issues during the construction, and he did so without complaining,” says Fink. “When it was over, he was given a rebuilt facility with state-of-the-art processes and immediately brought it into compliance. That in itself is worthy of an award.”
Baumer, of course, downplays such praise, focusing on the job at hand: making sure he’s up on regulatory changes and quickly arresting problems. “I’m a lucky guy,” he says. “I’ve been a cop and a lot of other things, but I found a career that’s really satisfying — one that lets me help people and make a difference in my community.”
