Poster Contest Brings in
More than 500 Entries
New Ulm Treatment Plant Provides the
Main Ingredient for Schell’s Beer
A student from Bluffview Montessori School in Winona
submitted the winning entry (below) in a contest within
Minnesota Schools in which more than 500 students submitted posters about drinking water. Winning posters at the
grade-school, middle-school, and high-school levels were
also selected.
Opened in 1994, the New Ulm water treatment plant serves more
than 13,000 residents and provides water to Schell’s Brewery,
which performs additional treatment to make Schell’s Beer.
See page 4 for the story.
Funded by grants from the Minnesota Department of
Health (MDH) as well as H2O for Life, Dow Water and
Process Solutions, Bongard Corporation/Elkay, and the
Minnesota Section of American Water Works Association,
a bottle filling station will be awarded to the schools of the
students who produce the winning posters. In addition, a $50
check will be awarded to each of the four student winners.
The winners were announced in conjunction with World
Water Day on March 22.
All of the posters can be seen at http://www.h2oforlife
schools.org/index.php/resources/recent-blogs/entry/postercompetition-winners-announced.
Even if you are on the right track,
you’ll get run over if
you just sit there.
Water Operator Exam Dates
June 19, Wahkon
June 28, Baxter
July 9, Spring Grove
August 22, Pipestone
August 28, Warren
September 25, Zumbrota
October 9, Fairmont
October 17, St. Cloud
October 18, Owatonna
October 23, Collegeville
November 20, Clarks Grove
December 5, Bemidji
See calendar on back page for more information
Summer 2013 Volume Twenty/4
Inside: Water and Beer: A Special Relationship
Electronic Delivery Options for Consumer Confidence Reports
MDH Issues Annual Drinking Water Report
Compliance Corner
MDH Releases Annual Report
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has
revamped its annual drinking water report, which it has
released since 1995, into a more eye-catching, 22-page document, which is available at http://www.health.state.mn.us/
divs/eh/water/com/dwar/report2012.pdf.
By Mackenzie Hales, Minnesota Department of Health
30-hour holding time: Total Coliform samples should
arrive at the lab within 30 hours after sampling. Due to U.
S. Environmental Protection Agency requirements and studies pointing to significant bacteria die-off in water samples
between 30 to 48 hours old, the Minnesota Department
of Health must start moving towards upholding this limit.
Community systems will begin receiving calls when samples
are received more than 30 hours after they were taken.
Please discuss shipping options with your assigned lab, and
consider using another shipping method if your samples
are consistently late. Proper planning can also help avoid
exceeding the 30-hour limit. Check with local mail-service
options about pick-up times, as this may help you plan your
sampling schedule. For example, if the truck comes to pick
up packages at 4 p.m., sample in the early afternoon instead
of in the morning to reduce the amount of time the sample
sits around outside of transport. Thanks for your cooperation!
Please properly fill your total coliform sample bottles!
Make sure to fill sample bottles with the proper amount
of water. We have been receiving a lot of samples with
insufficient volume to run the required analysis. (See the
photo for proper water levels.)
The report covers the results of monitoring done in the past
year, and it also has more information on drinking water in
general, divided into the general themes of prevention, treatment, and monitoring.
The report, released during Safe Drinking Water Week
in early May, has pictures, graphs, and sidebar articles that
include success stories related to source water protection
and treatment.
The report can also be downloaded by people with Quick
Response (QR) code readers by scanning the image below:
Disinfection residual lab form: Fill out all required fields
on lab forms. If your system measures the chlorine residual,
make sure to write this in the proper field on the lab form.
The sampling time should be recorded, and the am/pm box
must be checked. Systems may use military time, and if no
am/pm is checked, the lab will assume that the time is written in military time.
Drinking Water Institute in Rochester
Water Works! A Drinking Water Institute for Educators will be held in Rochester this summer from Monday,
August 5 to Wednesday, August 7. Each year Minnesota science teachers attend the three-day Institute,
learning about drinking water and about ways to develop
inquiry-based activities that can be incorporated into their
existing science curriculum. The program is free to teachers,
who will receive college credit for their participation.
Water Works! is sponsored by the Minnesota Department of
Health and the Minnesota Section of AWWA and is conducted
through a partnership with Hamline University’s Center for
Global Environmental Education. More information is available on the MDH website at http://www.health.state.mn.us/
water/institute/index.htm.
2
Electronic Delivery Options for Consumer Confidence Reports
Community water systems must distribute their Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) by July 1 and can use a combination
of methods, including a new electronic delivery option, to deliver them. Electronic delivery can be done through the mail
with a postcard listing a direct link to the CCR and/or through an e-mail message that includes a direct link, the CCR as a
file attachment, or the CCR embedded in the e-mail message. In addition, systems must provide a paper copy of the report
to anyone who requests it.
In all cases, a link must take customers directly to the report rather than to a page (such as the city’s utility site) that requires
further navigating. In addition, efforts must be made to reach customers who do not receive a water bill, such as renters.
Water systems may get their CCR information from the Minnesota Department of Health’s web site at http://health.state.
mn.us/ccr (User ID: commccr and Password: CCRDraft!). Starting next year MDH will not be mailing the reports to water
systems. Water systems can get their report off the web site or make a specific request to MDH to receive the reports in the
mail.
For more information, contact Lih-in Rezania, 651-201-4661, [email protected] or Cindy Swanson, 651-2014656, [email protected].
More Good Thoughts to Gnaw On
Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you
have of trying to change others.
—Jacob M. Braude
The person who can’t figure out what to do with a Sunday afternoon is often the same
one who can’t wait for retirement.
The acid test of intelligence is its ability to cope with stupidity.
Basic research is what I am doing when I don’t know what I am doing.
—Wernher von Braun
Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.
—William James
Nostalgia is longing for a place you wouldn’t move back to.
Many Small Systems Continue to Face
Day-to-Day Challenges with System Management
By Lori Blair, Minnesota Rural Water Association
The software is structured through a series of modules
to collect information on a utility’s assets, operation and
management activities, and financial status for setting up an
asset management plan. You can download CUPSS at http://
www.epa.gov/cupss or order a copy by calling 800-490-9198
to request the EPA 816-K-08-002 user’s kit. CUPSS also has
technical support by e-mail at [email protected].
A series of conference calls is being held quarterly this
year for both new and experienced CUPSS users and trainers. The CUPSS Community Calls provide a forum for those
using, training, and learning about CUPSS to hear updates
and asset management strategies from CUPSS practitioners.
Upcoming CUPSS Community Calls (all calls will be held
1:00-2:00 p.m. Central time):
Wednesday, July 31
Thursday, October 31
The Check Up Program for Small Systems (CUPSS) is a
free, easy-to-use, asset management tool for small drinking
water and wastewater utilities. CUPSS provides a simple,
comprehensive approach to help you develop a record of your
assets, a schedule of required tasks, an understanding of your
financial situation, and a tailored asset management plan.
CUPSS software has four main goals:
1. Assist with communication between system staff and
decision makers.
2. Help move systems from crisis management to informed decision making.
3. Facilitate more efficient and focused utility
operations.
4. Improve financial management to make the best use
of limited resources.
3
Schell’s Starts with the Water
“The first thing you start out talking about is water
quality,” says Jace Marti. “It’s the main ingredient in beer.”
Marti is a brewmaster at Schell’s Brewery in New Ulm,
Minnesota, and a sixth-generation descendent of August
Schell, who co-founded the brewery in 1860. A native of
Durbach, Germany, Schell came to the United States in 1848
and found his way to New Ulm. Not finding any of the German beer he was fond of in the area, Schell started a brewery,
using an artesian spring as a water source and the nearby
Cottonwood River for transportation of the finished product.
At the time, most of the brewing was done in the winter,
and the beer was kept in caves—staying cool with blocks of
ice from the river—for aging and fermentation and to store
the product for the peak summer months.
Schell’s survived the Dakota War in southern and western
Minnesota in 1862 and expanded. The brewery and grounds
now cover 40 acres with scenic gardens, a deer park (in addition to a year-round residency of peacocks) and a mansion,
making it a popular tourist destination in the summer as well
as the site of the annual Bockfest event in the winter.
Eventually the springs were replaced by wells. In 1995
Schell’s switched to water provided by the city, which opened
its water treatment plant. City water comes from the quaternary buried artesian and undifferentiated cretaceous aquifers,
tapped by 13 wells, ranging in depth from 62 to 247 feet.
Joel Johnson, the chief operator for the New Ulm utility, said they feed potassium permanganate and chlorine
for manganese and iron removal and have five sand filters
at the city’s water treatment plant. New Ulm averages 2.5
million gallons per day (MGD) throughout the year with the
production reaching about 3.5 MGD during the summer. Of
that amount, Schell’s uses approximately 1.2 million gallons
per month in brewing 130,000 barrels of beer a year.
Marti says the brewery is still getting water from the same
aquifers as it had during the time it had its own wells. The
groundwater, with its iron and hardness, is more suited to
brewing English-style ales, Marti explained, adding that the
New Ulm water profile is similar to England’s Burton upon
Trent, a major brewing city.
The German lagers and Pilsners require softer water,
and the brewery performs its own water treatment, which
Jace and Ted Marti in the old brewhouse, built in the 1880s.
includes reverse-osmosis and an iron filter at the head of the
brewing. The water treated at the municipal plant is then
blended with more city water with the goal of reducing the
hardness to 50 parts per million.
“There are certain elements [of the water] good for
brewing and some that aren’t,” said Ted Marti, Jace’s dad
and the company president. Ted attended Siebel’s Institute of
Brewing in Chicago and has been a brewmaster since 1975.
Jace went to school in Berlin and became a brewmaster in
2011. Besides Ted and Jace Marti, Schell’s has two other
brewmasters, Jeremy Kral and Dave Berg, among its 57
full-time employees.
In addition to eight year-round specialty brands and
eight seasonal brands, Schell’s now brews Grain Belt Beer
with three different labels. Grain Belt used to have a large
brewery in northeast Minneapolis, but the facilities have been
converted to a library and space for other uses. The Twin
Cities also had Hamm’s and Schmidt breweries, but Jace
Marti notes that consumer preferences have been changing
with the craft-beer revolution.
Schell’s remains one of the few large breweries in the
state, along with Cold Spring in central Minnesota. Summit
Brewing in St. Paul has also risen in prominence.
From the micro-breweries to full-scale facilities for beer
production, it all starts with the water.
Equipment from 1885 and current equipment, the reverse-osmosis unit, at Schell’s.
4
More Schell’s Scenery
Peacocks are year-round residents on the grounds of Schell’s Brewery in New Ulm.
Vats in the brewing room are used to separate the grain from the liquid (left). Watermains from the 1800s, when a cistern was
used for water storage, are still visible (right).
The Water that Grew with the Great Northwest
A brewery for more than a century, a site along West
Seventh Street in St. Paul is continuing to produce an even
more precious product—drinking water. Schmidt Organic
Water has a pair of water dispensers on the outside of its
building, and people line up on a regular basis to fill their jugs.
Schmidt, “The Brew that Grew with the Great Northwest,”
is the most-remembered beer that has been made here since
Chistopher Stallman founded a brewery on the property in
1855. Now a well extends more than 1,000 feet into the
Mount Simon-Hinckley aquifer to draw water, which is
treated through aeration and filtration (for iron removal) but
with no chemical addition.
Site manager Phil Gagné says they increased the price of
water from 50 to 75 cents per gallon at the beginning of 2013
and continue to sell an average of 200 gallons a day.
The buildings are now being converted into other uses,
including artist lofts and a brew house, where beer under
a new label will be sold. The water vending along West
Seventh Street will remain and continued to be monitored
by the Minnesota Department of Health.
Minnesota Department of Health public health sanitarian
Ezekiel Mark takes an annual water quality monitoring sample
from Schmidt Organic Water.
5
High-Hazard Cross Connections as Significant Deficiencies
Cross Connection Control from a National Perspective
Seventh in a series by Minnesota Department of Health engineer David Rindal
Nobody likes to re-invent the wheel. One way to avoid this is to observe and build on successful tools related to your
goal. For instance, it might be helpful to those of you thinking about a cross connection control program to learn what has
worked (or at least what has been financed) at public water supplies (PWSs) across the nation.
A 1999 American Backflow Prevention Association survey of PWSs returned the following information about the most
commonly observed cross connections among 135 respondents:
Type of Cross Connection
Percent
Minnesota Plumbing Code
Requirements - 2013*
Irrigation
Fire systems
Garden/washdown hoses
Boilers
Carbonation systems
Cooling towers
Swimming pools
Tanks
Food equipment
62
43
43
38
32
25
25
23
21
Sewers/waste facilities
Spas
17
11
RPZ or SVB/PVB or AVB
RPZ or DCB/IAV or DCVA
AVB or Hose VB
RPZ or DCV/IAV
DCV/IAV
RPZ or DCV/IAV or SVB/PVB or AVB
RPZ or DCV/IAV or SVB/PVB or AVB
Varies
RPZ or DCV/IAV or DCVA or SVB/
PVB or AVB
RPZ or SVB/PVB or AVB
Varies
*where an air gap cannot be provided
Key to abbreviations: AVB - atmospheric vacuum breaker; PVB - pressure vacuum breaker; SVB - spill-proof vacuum breaker;
Hose VB - hose connection vacuum breaker; DCV/IAV - double-check valve with intermediate atmospheric vent; DCVA - doublecheck valve assembly; RPZ - reduced pressure zone backflow preventer assembly.
How are other PWSs prioritizing elements within their cross connection control programs? The U. S. Environmental
Protection Agency’s Community Water System Survey in 2000 asked this question and received the following results from
767 PWSs:
Percentage of PWSs with Each Element
in Their Cross Connection Control Program
Although community PWSs are encouraged to adopt comprehensive approaches, observation of national trends may help
inform prioritization throughout the development of a cross connection control program.
6
Which Standards Apply to Me?
By Todd Johnson, Minnesota Department of Health
The Fall 2012 issue of the Waterline contained an article
about new health-based guidance for manganese that the
Minnesota Department of Health had recently issued. This
begs the questions, “How exactly is health based guidance
different than a maximum contaminant level (MCL)?” and
“Which standard applies to my public water supply (PWS)?”
MCLs are health-based drinking water standards set by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and enforced
by MDH through a primacy agreement. MCLs are enforceable for PWSs only, not for private wells. EPA also develops
maximum contaminant level goals (MCLGs), which are the
levels at which no known or anticipated adverse effects occur
and which allows for an adequate margin of safety. MCLs
are set as close to the MCLG as possible but also take into
account other factors, such as the best available treatment
technology and the cost by PWSs across the country to meet
the standard. As a result, MCLs are set at a level that is equal
to or greater than MCLGs.
EPA also develops secondary MCLs, which are nonenforceable guidelines for contaminants that may cause
cosmetic effects (such as skin or tooth discoloration) or have
aesthetic effects (taste, odor, color). PWSs are not required
to comply with secondary MCLs. An example of a contaminant that has a secondary MCL is iron. The secondary MCL
for iron is 300 micrograms per liter; levels above this value
are not harmful to human health but can cause staining of
clothes and fixtures.
Health-based guidance values are also developed
by EPA as well as by MDH. These values differ
from MCLs in that they are just as the name
suggests—guidance values—and are not enforced by
MDH at PWSs. They are based solely on health and do not
take into account factors such as occurrence or cost to
treat.
An MDH Health Based Value (HBV) is the concentration of a chemical in groundwater that is unlikely to pose a
health risk to the general public and is designed to protect
vulnerable subpopulations, such as infants and children. Once
an HBV has been promulgated (through formal rulemaking),
it becomes a Health Risk Limit (HRL). At the request of state
agencies, MDH also develops Risk Assessment Advisory
(RAA) for chemicals that lack adequate data to develop an
HBV.
Health-based guidance values are used by some agencies
as a basis for determining whether or not water is considered
“safe” for consumption. An example would be in an area
where private wells are affected by a contamination source
(landfill, gas station, industry). They have also been applied
as guidance for PWSs when MCLs are not available. This
was the situation in 2004 when perfluorocompounds were
detected in the water supplies of several PWSs in the eastern
Twin Cities metropolitan area. Since MCLs had not been
developed for these compounds, MDH developed healthbased guidance, and PWSs used these values as a guideline
for determining whether treatment should be installed and
to what level.
Federal MCLs can be found at: http://water.epa.gov/drink/
contaminants/index.cfm.
MDH health base guidance values at: http://www.health.
state.mn.us/divs/eh/risk/guidance/gw/index.html.
Cool Web Sites
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov
Minnesota Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network
http://www.mnwarn.org
Minnesota History Center
http://www.minnesotahistorycenter.org
Risk Communication
http://petersandman.com
Minnesota Department of Health Drinking Water
http://health.state.mn.us/water
State Capitals and Largest Cities
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763765.html
Reminder to All Water Operators
When submitting water samples for analyses, remember to do the following:
- Take coliform samples on the distribution system, not at the wells or entry points.
- Write the Date Collected, Time Collected, and Collector’s Name on the laboratory request form.
- Write the Sample Point on the laboratory request form.
- Attach the label to each bottle (do not attach labels to the lab form).
- Include laboratory request forms with submitted samples; make sure the information on the bottle label
and the lab form is the same.
- Use something other than a rollerball or gel pen; the ink may run.
- Consult your monitoring plan(s) prior to collecting required compliance samples.
Notify your Minnesota Department of Health district engineer of any e-mail changes for contact people.
If you have questions, call the Minnesota Department of Health contact on the back of all sample instruction forms.
7
Presort Standard
US Postage
PAID
Permit No. 171
St. Paul, MN
Environmental Health Division
625 North Robert Street
P. O. Box 64975
St. Paul, Minnesota 55164-0975
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
CALENDAR
Minnesota Section, American Water Works Association
*June 26-28, Central Water Operators School, The
*October 9, Southwest Water Operators School, Fairmont,
Lodge at Brainerd Lakes, Baxter. Contact Bill Schluenz,
Contact Jeff Larson, 507-537-7005.
320-252-6822.
*October 18, Southeast Water Operators School, Cabela’s,
September 10-13, Annual Conference, Duluth EntertainOwatonna, Contact Bob Dunn 507-457-8272.
ment Convention Center. Contact Brian LeMon, 952-832*October 23, Central Water Operators School, St. John’s
2774.
University, Collegeville. Contact Bill Schluenz, 320-2526822.
Information for all district schools, including agendas:
*December 3-5, Northwest Water Operators School,
http://www.health.state.mn.us/water/wateroperator/trng/
Hampton
Inn, Bemidji. Contact Kris Knutson, 218-299-5470.
schoolagendas.html
*Includes a water certification exam.
Minnesota Rural Water Association (MRWA)
Contact Kyle Kedrowski, 800-367-6792
*June 19, Operation & Maintenance,
Wahkon
*July 9, Operation & Maintenance,
Spring Grove
*August 22, Operation & Maintenance, Pipestone
*August 28, Operation & Maintenance, Warren
The workshops listed above include
a certification exam. Other training
dates are available at http://mrwa.com/
trainingcalendar.htm.
MRWA Class D Training
*September 25, Operation & Maintenance, Zumbrota
September 10, Elbow Lake
*October 15-17, Certification Exam September 24, Maple Grove
Refresher, St. Cloud
*November 20, Operation & MainteMRWA Class E Training
nance, Clarks Grove
*December 11, Operation & Mainte- June 20, St. Peter
nance, Biwabik
July 25, Walker
August 22, Ridgeway
For an up-to-date list of events, see the training calendar on the MDH web site:
http://health.state.mn.us/water/wateroperator/trng/wat_op_sched.html