e-News: Tue Apr 22 2014

The Jayden Lamb Memorial Foundation Wins $5,000 Non-Profit Giveaway

Team Elmer’s is excited to announce that the winner of the non-profit $5,000 giveaway in the Tri-Cities region is the Jayden Lamb Memorial Foundation (JLMF).

In addition to receiving a monetary donation, JLMF will be featured on a Team Elmer’s concrete mixer, which will be working throughout the region. JLMF will have items such as its name, logo, web address and additional Foundation information painted as a theme covering the entire vehicle, which will raise awareness wherever it rolls. The mixer will make its first appearance in May at Team Elmer's Midland plant.

“I was shocked and excited to know that so many people wrote us in,” stated Tom Lamb, president of the Jayden Lamb Memorial Foundation. “We are a new charity and to have so much support from people – it was exciting to us.”

The Jayden Lamb Memorial Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing time away for healing families who have suffered the loss of a child to pediatric cancer. The Foundation was started after Tom and Nicole Lamb lost their nine-year-old son, Jayden, to primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET) in late 2012. The Lambs saw an opportunity to honor Jayden and to “Pay it Forward Jayden Style” by performing random acts of kindness for strangers. The movement began with a toy drive, collecting toys for children during their treatment and recovery periods in the hospital. The toys were donated in honor of Jayden, who loved receiving toys during his time in the hospital. Pay it Forward Jayden Style generated a huge following, with more than 35,000 people sharing examples of their random acts of kindness over social media.

The first Pay it Forward time away for healing happened in October 2013, when the JLMF sent their first family on a trip to Hawaii. The second Pay it Forward vacation for a Sault Ste Marie family was to Disney World in February. Team Elmer’s monetary donation will be put toward sending more families on vacations like this in the future. 

Team Elmer's Removes Filter Media from the Traverse City Water Treatment Plant

Ever wonder where your drinking water comes from? Or what it takes to keep it clean? The Traverse City Eastern Avenue Water Treatment Plant, which supplies safe drinking water for the City of Traverse City and portions of Elmwood, Garfield, and Peninsula Townships, had two filter units that needed repairs. Harper Industrial Construction, Inc., an industrial contracting company that specializes in sewer and water plant maintenance, was hired to repair the underdrain systems in two of the five filter tanks at the Eastern Ave Facility. Harper Industrial subcontracted Team Elmer’s to remove the existing filter media in the two tanks at the water treatment facility.  

The existing filtration material, originally installed in 1994, required removal to allow access to the under drains for necessary repairs by Harper Industrial. Enter Team Elmer’s who can access those hard to reach places with professional respect. The cost of moving, storing, and reinstalling the existing filter media was the same cost to install new media. So the choice was made to upgrade to new media and restart its useful life. Team Elmer’s removed the filter media in two 700 square feet filter bays. Each bay, seperated in two sections approximately twelve feet deep, holds 18 inches of sand and 12 inches of Anthracite media (a carbon charged material used to filter incoming water set for distribution to the public). Using a Vacuum truck, the material, which was suspended in water, was suctioned through hose from the filter bays. Once contained in the Vac truck, it was properly disposed of at an off-site location.

In Step 1 of the filtration process, according to City of Traverse City Water Plant Superintendent Art Krueger, the plant intakes water from the surrounding water table. Step 2 of the process is disinfecting the water with chlorine and other materials. From this point, the City of Traverse City uses the Direct Filtration process. 

In Step 3, the water is then sent to the filtration tanks where it is sent through the sand and carbon media. In Step 4, water is stored in an underground reservoir for at least 24 hours of contact time, to allow the chlorine to thoroughly disinfect the water. The water is then drawn from that reservoir for distribution, through city water mains or the township systems. 

“The filter media’s porosity gets clogged over time through use. Requiring a backwashing cycle every 40 – 100 hours of operation,” stated Krueger. “This pressurized backwashing process reopens the porosity of the material, but slowly erodes the angular structure of the sand. Making it rounded in character which over time is less effective in filtration.” After backwashing, the water is transferred to a settling lagoon separate from the water supply. 

Capacity at a water plant depends on demand. The average daily rate at the Eastern Avenue facility is 6 million gallons per day, but that does not tell the entire story. The Water Treatment Plant is rated for up to 20 million gallons per day capacity. In the winter months there is a 3 to 4 million gallons per day demand. During summer months, demand balloons to 8 to 12 million gallons per day. The highest 24 hour draw? That was 14.7 million gallons per day. In the dry months during irrigation demand, a short 6 hour period may demand rates that equal up to 18 million gallons per day to meet the public’s need for water.  Production rates are determined by monitoring reservoir levels. The hope is to run at a steady rate of volume in that will equal volume out with the ability to ramp up production as demand requires. 

Team Elmer’s is proud to be a part of building better communities. And when you brush your teeth tonight or water your lawn this summer in the city, you now know all the steps it takes to get that water to your home. 

Watch a video about the project here.