Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 21, 1993 TAG: 9308210093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Roanoke County Utilities Director Cliff Craig has given new meaning to the concept of "in-house engineering" with plans for the county's water-treatment facility.
Craig and his teen-age son cobbled the first model of the treatment plant in the kitchen of his Roanoke home. He later completed much of the design work in his living room, where a computer is propped in front of his couch.
"He's so proud of that plant. It's like his child," said Anne Marie Green, the county's information director.
Craig's efforts have paid off for Roanoke County, which is investing $73 million in the Spring Hollow reservoir, treatment plant and transmission lines.
The treatment plant is expected to come in $12 million under budget because Craig and his staff did the design work themselves and selected an economical water-treatment process that has never been used in Virginia.
His efforts have earned him high praise from the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors. Craig even won over Windsor Hills District Supervisor Lee Eddy, an electrical engineer who at first was skeptical about Craig's ability to design the treatment plant without the help of outside consultants.
"He's a brilliant man," Eddy said.
Craig, who has the rumpled look of an absent-minded professor, said there is nothing remarkable about what he and his staff have done.
"I don't take any personal credit for inventing anything," Craig said. "What we're doing here is putting together various components that are readily available off the shelf.
"We are just assembling a system in a very cost-effective way."
Planning for Spring Hollow had begun before Craig was hired as the county's utilities director in 1985.
Craig, 50, was an ideal match for the job. His background was in the design and construction of public water systems. And Roanoke County was looking for someone to help wean it from its mixed water supply, where some was bought from Roanoke and some came from its hodgepodge system of public wells.
"Roanoke County had the world's worst water system - you can quote me on that," Craig said. "That was fine with me, because I didn't want to go someplace where I would do nothing more than play administrator and collect water bills."
Craig was assigned to oversee Spring Hollow, believed to be the most expensive public utility project in Southwest Virginia history. The reservoir and treatment plant will provide enough water from the Roanoke River - up to 25 million gallons per day - to meet the county's needs for the next 50 years. The reservoir, located near Dixie Caverns, is scheduled to begin operation by December 1994.
The county hired the engineering firm of Hayes, Seay, Mattern & Mattern to design the reservoir.
But Craig insisted upon designing the water-treatment plant himself.
A consultant who did a feasibility study estimated that the water-treatment plant would cost $28 million. Craig was convinced he could design one that would cost less.
The feasibility estimate was based on a conventional design that called for giant settling tanks to remove dirt and sediment.
Craig thought conventional treatment methods would not work well at Spring Hollow. For starters, water from the reservoir will contain relatively little sediment. The treatment plant would have to add large amounts of chemicals to get the small particles of dirt to stick together and float to the top, where they could be skimmed off.
He decided to pursue a patented process - known as "solid contact adsorption clarifier" - that has been used in small treatment plants in other states.
The process works well with relatively clean water. Small particles of sediment are removed as water flows through two filters - one containing small plastic chips, and the other containing granulated coal.
That process would save several million dollars because the county would not have to build large holding tanks.
The catch was that, because the treatment process had never been used in Virginia, the state Health Department refused to accept data from other states.
"Fortunately, the construction of the dam was going to take long enough that we had time to set up a demonstration project," Craig said.
Two years ago, Craig went to work on a small-scale model in his kitchen. He and his son made one side out of plexiglass to make it easier to show how the process works. They attached a toilet-tank float to control the water level.
His next step was to persuade the Board of Supervisors to pay for a $150,000 demonstration project, which would generate data to satisfy the Health Department.
Supervisors approved the project on the condition that Craig hire a consultant to review the findings.
Last summer, the utilities department set up shop in an old barn located on riverfront property that the county bought for a pumping station.
"It's like something from `The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' " Green said. "From the outside, it just looks like an old barn with hay hanging out of the loft. Then you open up the door, and there's all this computer equipment."
For seven months, Craig's staff pumped water from the Roanoke River through a stainless steel tank made by CPC Engineering, a Massachusetts company that holds the patent to the solid contact adsorption clarifier process. Dozens of gauges analyzed the water for clarity and chemical content.
Craig said the water was cleaner than any other public water in the Roanoke Valley - cleaner even than many bottled brands sold in supermarkets.
The Health Department is still reviewing the data, but Craig said he anticipates no problems.
Meanwhile, Craig and his staff are putting the final touches on the design of the treatment plant, which will be located on Peaceful Drive near U.S. 460 west of Salem.
Designing the plant "in-house" has saved Roanoke County hundreds of thousands of dollars - perhaps more than a million - in engineering fees.
Hollins District Supervisor Bob Johnson said Craig has the rare combination of technical expertise and common sense. "He's probably one of the most brilliant people we've ever employed in the county."
Craig downplayed his work with the water-treatment plant, which he described as nothing more than a building constructed around water-treatment equipment.
"It's very commonplace," he said. "But there is a lot of personal satisfaction for our staff to know the Board of Supervisors has the confidence in us to do this our own way."
by CNB