Building a Smart City with 5G Technology

Posted on by Heidi Whitver

Technology has always been linked to the evolution of cities. As governments consider opportunities for Smart City deployments, 5G networks are creating both challenges and incredible opportunities. Progressive communities are evaluating what the connected city of the future will look like and how 5G and smart infrastructure can help them thrive.

What is 5G?

Offering a major step-up from today’s 4G networks, 5G will deliver speeds more than 100 times faster than today’s LTE networks with reductions in latency to near real-time. The communication industry and futurists expect 5G to impact nearly every sector of the economy by automating factory operations, enabling autonomous vehicles, and even powering remote healthcare.

This technology base is foundational to powering the upcoming Internet of Things (IoT), in which sensors and devices will become smarter and drive innovative solutions. On the ground, telecommunications companies will need almost a million tower locations to meet the 5G demand in just the next seven years. To put that number in perspective, a typical city may soon have nearly twice the number of small cell towers as they have streetlights.

5G Opportunities

Closing the digital divide

One of the challenges of rapid urbanization is making sure all residents have access to the same opportunities and access to services like broadband, education, and healthcare. In municipal areas, 5G services will give people access to education and rapid healthcare no matter their location.

Traffic and Transportation

Low-latency 5G will enable seamless communication to the sensors and devices that power transportation and traffic systems, automatically redirecting traffic, and alerting autonomous vehicle systems about current problems on the road. This will ultimately make the streets safer and less congested for both drivers and pedestrians.

Economic Development

Communities are not only taking steps to manage the deployment of infrastructure but proactively advancing 5G to differentiate their cities and attract technology-dependent businesses. This represents a real opportunity to change perspective and achieve an advantage by relying less on expensive tax incentives to attract those firms.

Becoming a Smart City

Becoming a connected city is the first step toward becoming a Smart City. This requires cooperation between local governments, utilities, businesses, and incumbent communication providers to implement solutions that benefit the community.

As the demand for data grows exponentially, finding solutions to deliver this data requires leveraging existing infrastructure and finding sensible solutions that are cost-effective. City assets including traffic signals, streetlights, and utility systems can be used to support the rollout of 5G and form a network “backbone”.

The convergence of 5G will create new challenges that need to be addressed, such as public right-of-way management and network densification caused by a myriad of small cell towers. Communities must create a multi-faceted strategy to focus on controlling their broadband and wireless future.

Your community can become a Smart City by:

  1. Collaborating with telecommunication providers, stakeholder agencies, and community groups to revisit permitting practices and obtain buy-in.
  2. Updating zoning, design standards, ordinances, cell tower, and other regulations.
  3. Standardizing aesthetic requirements, including pre-approval of antenna, equipment cabinet, and street furniture designs. This is especially crucial as small cell and 5G updates become mandated, as the plethora of small cell antennas will likely cause aesthetic concerns.
  4. A fiber master plan could capitalize on the opportunity to co-locate community fiber assets alongside incoming deployments. Communities need to be fiber dense to help drive AMR/AMI utility meters and public infrastructure while helping providers keep up with new demands for small cell and 5G deployments.

Women in Transportation: Supporting the First WTS Iowa Chapter

Posted on by Heidi Whitver

It’s official, the WTS Iowa Chapter received its charter in August 2019 after 10 months of planning and coordination. The chapter’s formation was initiated by the Iowa DOT’s goal of filling anticipated vacancies and supporting women interested in pursuing a career in transportation. After Iowa DOT shared their vision, HR Green’s Senior Transportation Project Manager, Stacy Woodson, PE, and Highway Project Engineer, Megan Anderson, PE were inspired to join the cause helping other women in transportation create meaningful connections.

Watch the video here >>

WTS International was founded in 1977 by a group of pioneering women in the field of transportation who realized that women’s careers would benefit from professional development, encouragement, and recognition to support their advancement in transportation professions. Now, after more than 40 years of growth and development, WTS is an international organization with more than 6500 members (including women and men) and 79 chapters.

“The driving mission behind WTS is to support women within transportation,” said Woodson. “Currently 47% of the US workforce is comprised of women, yet only 13% of the transportation industry is.”

The WTS Iowa Chapter held its kick-off meeting in June 2019 discussing the purpose of WTS, the benefits of an Iowa Chapter, the challenges women in the transportation profession face, and mentoring opportunities. Anderson reported a great turnout with over 120 people attending the event held in Ames, Iowa with attendees spanning a broad spectrum of professional backgrounds.

In addition to developing a new resource for women in transportation, Anderson and Woodson want to encourage greater participation in WTS Iowa and guide women to the many benefits and programs provided by the organization, including mentorship programs and networking opportunities.

Both women hope that WTS Iowa will better connect transportation professionals in the region. They believe the chapter will help to advance women in the transportation industry by reaching out to them early on in their careers.

Woodson and Anderson expressed appreciation to Iowa DOT Director Mark Lowe, InTrans Director Shauna Hallmark, as well as to the WTS Kansas Chapter for providing support and helping to navigate the WTS chapter formation process.

The WTS Iowa Chapter will hold its next event on October 21, 2019, in Ankeny, Iowa with the topic of developing your personal brand.

Right-of-Way Challenges from Fiber, 5G, and Small Cell

Posted on by Jim Hoover

Be prepared. There are several factors that have been built to create a real problem for managing your right-of-ways (ROW). These factors are related to broadband and even though they have developed in their own ecosystems, they are building and converging to make ROW management a real issue in many communities.

Read the full article >>

Posted with copyright permission from APWA Reporter publication. ROW Challenges from Fiber, 5G and Small Cell by HR Green’s Ken Demlow.

Top 5 Ways Electronic Plan Review Can Help Your Community

Posted on by Heidi Whitver

If “necessity is the mother of invention,” COVID-19 forced us to rethink our daily lives from work to school to entertainment. In response to travel bans, community closures, and recommendations to not gather in large groups to limit the spread of the virus, many people turned to digital tools, like electronic plan reviews, to keep communities running smoothly. It’s been imperative to digitally transform our places of work to be able to operate effectively.

Here are five ways your community can benefit from moving toward a paperless and more expeditious plan review process.

Top 5 benefits of electronic plan review:

  1. Save costs incurred for printing, scanning, and archiving paper plans
  2. Increases speed and ease of submission for residents, developers, and design professionals
  3. No community investment into software, licensing fees, or hardware – use free Adobe reader
  4. Increases collection of revenues owed to the jurisdiction
  5. Provides quicker turnaround times by reducing the number of submissions and shortening cycle times
Electronic plan review saves time and resources..
Electronic plan review saves time and resources.

Allowing your residents, developers, and design professionals the ability to simply submit an electronic plan for review to your municipality’s building department, saves time and money, eliminating the need for multiple paper copies (e.g., associated printing, shipping, and storage costs) and transportation costs and time associated with the delivery of plans. Your customers can save a significant amount of money on reproduction costs alone by submitting their plans electronically. In addition, your municipality will be taking great strides at reducing waste, and needed storage space, while promoting a green, paper-free environment.

For many municipalities, the process of managing traditional hard-copy submitted plans and utilizing a dated plan review workflow, can cause delays, errors, and inefficiencies. By using a paperless process, efficiencies are realized and collaboration enhanced, as multiple plan reviewers can perform the review concurrently rather than sequentially.  Allowing multiple reviewers to review plans at the same time makes the review process faster and more accurate. Additional cost savings can be realized from the increased productivity of municipal staff as a result of faster review cycles and the elimination of unexpected setbacks. This use of technology should be seen as a way to help the team involved work better and more efficiently.

Some municipalities may be concerned that there will be a need to purchase new software, computer equipment, pay licensing fees, and have to spend hours training their staff. With many electronic plan review services, the municipality, customers, and designers simply have to upload or email a PDF file for easy transmission. The municipality only needs a free Adobe Reader to view the PDF files. This allows plan reviewers the ability to add their comments, markups, and digital stamps onto plans saved as a PDF.

These improved efficiencies and decreased review times may help your community’s developers finish their projects earlier and with fewer delays. Electronic plan review can be another way that your municipality can optimize service, save time, and reduce costs for your constituents.

Goodbye, Parking Garages. Hello, Dedicated Driverless Lanes.

Posted on by Heidi Whitver

Parking garages will become obsolete. Cars will park themselves. The density of cars in structures will increase since driverless cars will discharge passengers before entering the structure and can park inches apart—no need to open doors. Plan now to repurpose your garages in 20 years. Redesign them with higher ceilings and flat, not sloped, surfaces to repurpose them into retail or residential structures when the demand drops.

Transportation technologies are evolving at an unprecedented pace and will have profound effects. Engineers and public officials must start preparing today for an inevitable, vastly different future.

Read the full story by The Magazine for Professional Engineers – July/August 2019*

*Goodbye, Parking Garages. Hello, Dedicated Driverless Lanes. Is published with permission by the National Society of Professional Engineers.

Is Additional Broadband Capacity Needed in Your Community?

Posted on by Heidi Whitver

How do you make your community future-proof? Poised to succeed in the turbulent environment of businesses and citizens demanding better, faster, and cheaper internet services? In just the past five years, technological giants such as Google have dramatically changed the community landscape and customer expectations to increase their broadband capacity. For some, broadband is now considered an expected utility, alongside water, power, and gas, and that belief is expected to grow.

The challenges poised to communities are very real. Across the country, large incumbent providers fail to make upgrades necessary to bring true, high-speed broadband to residents and businesses. Vague promises of future upgrades are far too often unfulfilled, leaving communities exposed and unable to attract and retain businesses, and exposed to the loss of talented workers who choose to live and work in communities where high-speed internet is available.

Broadband Capacity Infographic

The benefits of charting a community’s own broadband path are also very real. Improving the speed and reliability of broadband service in your community spurs growth and economic development drives the quality of life in education and medical delivery and improves municipal service delivery.

Broadband Capacity quote from Steve Jobs

However, too many municipalities begin their broadband capacity journeys without a clear direction. The temptation may be to solicit an expensive broadband feasibility study, which often leads to an unsuccessful RFI process and then to a dead end. Most studies offer similar and highly optimistic projections and end up on the shelf, never put into practice.

This approach fails because communities haven’t first crafted strong visions supported by community will. Navigating the complex communications landscape, understanding ownership, and operational risks, and creating functional business models always test the resolve of community leaders. It is important to generate buy-in before embarking on this monumental task.

Communities need to be proactive and consider their approach with the end in mind. They must clearly articulate desired goals to shepherd the process from study to action. Complexity will give way to clarity when you spend enough time with the problem.

The same can be said for community broadband. If you start with the proper visioning and problem analysis framework, it enables the community to move quickly to planning, design, and, if desired, operation of its preferred alternatives.

PHASE I – VISIONING

As with any journey, you need your starting point and destination. This visioning process begins with community engagement. It is essential that citizens, business owners, political bodies, and anchor institutions (education, public safety, healthcare) are actively engaged in the visioning process to understand the community’s will and its tolerance for risk.

When you take a holistic approach to community needs, you better understand community demand:

  • Right audiences; right questions:  Combining statistically relevant surveys with on-site interviews with key contributors is a must in this process.
  • Leave no stone unturned: You must evaluate current fiber resources, analyze incumbent offerings, determine market demand, and understand public interest to establish a municipal broadband program.
  • Look beyond the city limits: Creating economies of scale can make broadband deployment both economically and politically more viable. Consider regional partnerships.
  • Consider the now and the next:  Effective model development requires a complex assessment of technologies, partnering opportunities, and your community’s goals which range from your own operations and economic development objectives to issues affecting residents and businesses.

Developing this roadmap will help your community navigate complex technical, financial, and administrative problems, as well as uncover opportunities. For example, the city of Centennial, Colorado, with the help of HR Green’s David Zelenok, PE, discovered ways to creatively use existing broadband-related infrastructure such as street lighting, fiber optics, and utilities, to create new revenue streams and enhance economic development efforts.

Make sure to consider your utility-related assets, like underground conduits or your traffic signal backbone, for potential upgrades to serve a wide variety of new purposes that were unforeseen until recent years. Through visioning, you can unlock your infrastructure’s hidden value.

  PHASE II – PLANNING

The establishment of a community vision provides the groundwork for the completion of more comprehensive planning, financial modeling, and necessary engineering design work. Your eventual direction is dependent on your vision.

As you enter this next phase it is imperative that you’ve clarified your community’s vision and goals, you’ve achieved buy-in and established partnerships with key stakeholders, and you’ve tapped economic development advocates. Once your community champions are on board, start to formulate teams from both the private sector and public departments, including IT, utilities, streets and traffic, and public works to complete key, technical next steps:

  • Create network design alternatives:  As you investigate all alternatives for your network, you must get the technology right in order to get the budget right. Software-designed networks can create unique opportunities. And, it pays to utilize the accuracy of GIS mapping over simpler tools such as Google Maps.
  • Thumbs up; thumbs down:  To develop a network for potential broadband services you must assess the regulatory environment from your town hall to the state capital. Make sure your vision is aligned to city council priorities.  Pull in legal and technical consultation that can help you traverse the telecommunications regulatory environment associated with municipal broadband capacity issues.
  • Develop sound business models:  In the end, will this be public policy only?  Are public/private partnerships the better option? Your models must include all funding opportunities and look at options that may generate revenue immediately. By this point, you should understand the community’s appetite for service and its willingness to take on costs and risks in the pursuit of improved broadband services.

Community core assets must evolve to meet the future, diverse needs of your community. This helps attract and grow the workforce, provides the framework for an entrepreneurial ecosystem, and is a game-changer for your economic developers. You advance broader community goals and increase property values when you integrate public works, public safety, and community requirements through broadband.

Posted with permission from the Alliance For Innovation, June 2017. Read the original article here.

Download a PDF

America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018

Posted on by Heidi Whitver

Per America’s Water Infrastructure Act, these utilities must:

  1. Conduct a Risk and Resilience Assessment (RRA)
  2. Prepare or revise an Emergency Response Plan (ERP)
  3. Submit a certification letter upon completion to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) for each (RRA and ERP)
  4. Review, update, revise as necessary and submit recertification for both at least every 5 years thereafter
  5. Maintain records (keep copies of RRA and ERP and any updates for 5 years after certification submittal)

AWIA Compliance Deadlines

America’s Water Infrastructure Act Chart

What must the certification letter contain?

The Director or another leader of the utility must send a letter to EPA certifying compliance with AWIA by the above-specified dates. The letter should contain:

  1. Water system name and Public Water System Identification (PWSID) Number
  2. Date the RRA/ERP was completed (certification date)
  3. A statement that the utility has conducted, reviewed, or revised, as applicable, their RRA and ERP

What happens if a certification letter is not submitted?

There are consequences if a utility does not certify that they have complied with America’s Water Infrastructure Act.  EPA can initiate enforcement action and assess a penalty of up to $25,000 per day for non-compliance.

What is the difference between the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 and the AWIA of 2018?

The Bioterrorism Act of 2002 is the basis for America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018.  However, there are some notable differences:

  1. Under the Bioterrorism Act, the threat focus was on malevolent acts of terrorism or other intentional threats.  Under AWIA, the focus includes an all-hazards approach, considering cyber and natural hazards as well as malevolent threats.
  2. Vulnerability Assessments are now called Risk and Resilience Assessments and include increased emphasis on cybersecurity and natural hazards.
  3. Formerly, utilities had to submit actual Vulnerability Assessments to EPA; under AWIA, utilities will now submit a letter certifying that they have conducted RRAs and updated their ERP.

What must a utility assess under AWIA?

The utility must consider all potentially critical components of the water system, including:

  1. Pipes and constructed conveyances
  2. Physical barriers
  3. Source water
  4. Water collection and intake
  5. Pretreatment, treatment, storage, and distribution facilities
  6. Electronic, computer, or other automated systems

In addition to assessing the physical parts of the system, the utility must also assess:

  1. Any Monitoring practices – physical security, water quality
  2. Financial infrastructure – accounting, billing, and ability to do payroll when facing a threat, including cyber-attack or destruction of the administration buildings housing these systems
  3. Use, storage, or handling of various chemicals by the water system
  4. Operation and maintenance of the system
  5. May include evaluation of capital and operational needs for risk and resilience management

What must the ERP include to comply with AWIA?

The ERP must include:

  1. Strategies and resources to improve resilience, including physical and cyber security
  2. Plans and procedures that can be implemented and identification of equipment that can be utilized in the event of a malevolent act or natural hazard that threatens the ability of the utility to deliver safe drinking water
  3. Actions, procedures, and equipment to lessen the impact on public health and safety and supply of drinking water from a malevolent act or natural hazards, including the development of alternative source water options, relocation of water intakes, and construction of flood protection barriers
  4. Strategies that can be used to aid in the detection of malevolent acts or natural hazards that threaten the security of the water system.

Are there tools available to conduct the RRA and develop the ERP?

Yes. American Water Works Association has tools that may be helpful as you conduct the assessment and develop your plans.

  1. AWWA J-100: Risk and Resilience Management of Water and Wastewater Systems. This includes a 7-Step process for data collection and interpretation, analysis, and decision-making valuable for understanding and managing risk and reliance.
  2. AWWA G440-17: Emergency Preparedness Practices and AWWA M-19: Emergency Planning for Water and Wastewater Utilities. These standards cover the minimum requirements to establish and maintain an acceptable level of preparedness based on perceived risks.
  3. AWWA Cybersecurity Guidance and Use Case Tools. Free online tool available at AWWA website https://www.awwa.org/Resources-Tools/Toolbox/Cybersecurity-Tool. The use case tools are intended to reflect the configuration and/or the utilization of a utility’s process control system. The operational characteristics associated with each use case represent different types and degrees of cybersecurity risk. The Use-Case Tools determine the appropriate cybersecurity controls and priorities based on the use cases selected by the user.
  4. AWWA G430-14: Security Practices for Operation and Management. This covers the minimum requirements for a security program for water, wastewater, or reuse utility.

How can HR Green help?

You do not have to tackle this alone. HR Green professionals have completed the requirements for the AWWA Utility Risk and Resilience Certificate Program for potable water treatment plants and distribution systems. Contact us today for assistance in meeting the requirements of America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018.

Andrew Marsh, PE
Iowa Regional Contact
Direct: 319.841.4393
amarsh@hrgreen.com

Mark Hardie, PE
South Dakota Regional Contact
Direct: 605-221-2647
mhardie@hrgreen.com

Josiah Holst, PE, CFM
Missouri Regional Contact
Direct: 636.812.4207
jholst@hrgreen.com

Greg Panza, PE, PMP
Colorado Regional Contact
Direct: 720.602.4939
gpanza@hrgreen.com

Ravi Jayaraman, PE, ENV SP
Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin Regional Contact
Direct: 815.759.8312
rjayaraman@hrgreen.com

Tim Korby, PE, LEED AP
Minnesota Regional Contact
Direct: 651.659.7706
kborby@hrgreen.com

Mike Halde, PE
Texas Regional Contact
Direct: 713.338.8015
mhalde@hrgreen.com

 

The Wide-Ranging Role of GIS

Posted on by Heidi Whitver

Co-Authors: Pete Lovell, GISP, GIS Practice Advisor & Mike Liska, GISP, Project GIS Specialist, GIS Practice Advisor

What is GIS?

Chances are your perception of GIS – or Geographic Information Systems – is that it is a simple, computer-based mapping system. While that is true, it is not the whole story. Its utility and versatility extend well beyond this functionality. Communities are beginning to leverage GIS to keep an inventory of public asset information via its mapping interface. Further demand for GIS solutions is growing, as it has become an integral tool for managing information and establishing a data-driven basis for intelligent planning and decision-making. The organizational and analytical capabilities of GIS can help communities work more efficiently and make well-informed operational and planning decisions.

Asset management, prioritizing redevelopment, code compliance, and transit studies are a few of GIS’s incredible variety of solutions that allow for intelligent planning and decision-making.

Asset Management

Many communities struggle to maintain a current and comprehensive inventory of their public assets.  Once established, this can be incredibly beneficial for day-to-day operations and capital planning.

A few years after developing a GIS database and mobile data collection application, the City of Oskaloosa, Iowa’s Municipal Water Department wanted to expand the database to accommodate its sanitary sewer and stormwater system assets.  In addition to collecting high-accuracy locations, NASSCO-certified GIS specialists examined and recorded detailed structural information, assigned manhole conditions, and attached asset and site photos.  The sanitary sewer asset inventory included inspections of all accessible manholes in the system.  This additional inventory has assisted City staff in system operations, maintenance, and improvements planning.

Prioritizing Redevelopment

Blighted properties, known as “brownfields,” can receive a boost toward redevelopment when they qualify for EPA funding for assessment and cleanup. Community leaders often overlook some properties that are not easily identifiable for revitalization. HR Green’s environmental specialists recognized a need for a systematic approach for evaluating community properties for blight and redevelopment potential.

To meet this need, HR Green GIS specialists developed a Prioritization Model that identifies potential brownfield properties and scores them based on environmental risk and redevelopment potential. It is robust enough to provide full and equal consideration to every parcel in a community while easily accommodating new data or priorities. This automated model performs a consistent, thorough analysis while remaining efficient.

Property Maintenance Code Compliance

The City of Thornton, Colorado, adopted a new maintenance code with the purpose to remediate blighted properties by requiring owners and tenants to maintain the exterior and interior features. Mandated inspections assessed the impact of the ordinance and provided cost estimates to remedy all violations. A GIS database facilitated efficient and comprehensive data inventory, and smartphone collection forms allowed inspectors to input violation location, category, photos, and other pertinent information. The database sorted violations by categorizing them in accordance with the City’s code, allowing for data integrity and efficient field collection. Database report standardization allowed staff to expedite reports in order to share violation information. Automated reports and single data entry points collectively saved the City and inspectors considerable time and increased data accuracy.

Transit Studies

As part of a transit study in Minnesota’s Twin Cities area, all bus stops in Metropolitan Council communities were assessed using GIS.  GIS modeling played a critical role in systematically ranking bus stops based on deficiencies and improvement potential for accommodating the needs of pedestrians and cyclists.  Planners and engineers collaborated with Council officials to assign weights to different evaluation criteria related to ADA access, safety, and amenities. A mobile GIS data collection application gathered site-specific amenity data for selected routes where minimal existing data was present. The Council used the GIS data report to prioritize bus stop improvements.

Thinking “outside of the box” to utilize GIS well beyond its conventional mapping purposes is creating efficiencies for many community projects.  More than just a pretty map, GIS also plays a critical behind-the-scenes role, offering data organization and analysis that help deliver services more efficiently and comprehensively.

View more examples of GIS uses and success stories below:

Collection System Improvements – LIBERTY, TX

Utilities GIS Services – ANAMOSA, IA

2017-2018 On-Call Stormwater Engineering Services – JEFFERSON COUNTY, MO

NPDES Compliance – CITY OF JURUPA VALLEY, CA

Northwestern University – Campus Site Survey EVANSTON, IL

Asset Management – SHELBY, IA

Autonomous Vehicles: The Transportation Planning Evolution is Upon Us

Posted on by Heidi Whitver

The future isn’t what it used to be.

Technology is evolving rapidly and will have profound effects on our autonomous vehicles and transportation options, networks, and spending habits within the next few decades. Public officials need to start preparing today for an inevitable, vastly different infrastructure future due to a variety of technologies that are emerging and changing the ways we plan and develop our future roads, parking, transportation networks, and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).

Autonomous vehicles (AV), “BIG data,” high-speed communications, and preferences in transportation, such as ride-sharing and micro-transit, are a few things that will affect how we live, work, and play. Many of these new ideas have been referred to as disruptive technologies as they have the potential to drastically change land use planning and the transportation needs of the future.

New Types of Communication

[right-image]

Automated Vehicles using Dedicated Short Range Communications
Vehicles using Dedicated Short Range Communications

[/right-image]For the past decade, the U.S. Department of Transportation has been researching and testing a system of vehicles that can sense the environment around them and communicate with other vehicles and infrastructure. These vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications are promoted to enable safety, mobility, and environmental advancements that current technologies are unable to provide. The key to the success of these V2V and V2I technologies is a robust communications network.

Another strategy that permits very high data transmission, critical for communications-based active safety applications, is Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) which is a two-way short-to-medium-range wireless communications technology. In other words, our vehicles will talk to each other and to our transportation infrastructure to improve safety and efficiency. Planning agencies will soon need to consider how their local transportation systems will function in a connected vehicle environment.

The Need for High-Speed Communication Infrastructure

[right-image]

Autonomous Vehicle “Platoon” using V2V & V2I communications
Autonomous Vehicle “Platoon” using V2V & V2I communications

[/right-image]These communication systems will also need to have access to high-speed broadband data transmission driven by a community fiber-optic network. As these technologies advance, so will the need for high-speed connectivity.  Fiber is the backbone for the demands for high-speed, reliable data and smart

communication systems that also drive broader community goals in education, economic development, and citizen services. Some communities are facing challenges with bridging the digital divide in their rural and low-income regions, as many private sector incumbent carriers are not keeping up with the demand for high communication speeds in these areas. 

As our communities become “smart cities,” these communication systems will be utilized for many parts of our daily lives, including transportation. One thing that community leaders can begin today is to determine what infrastructure can be repurposed and what is destined to become obsolete. Identifying elements of currently underused utility and traffic signal infrastructure can be leveraged to provide broadband to communities. Similar to creating strategic master plans for roads, sanitary, or stormwater, community leaders need to create ITS and Fiber Master Plans to help them become fiber dense to accommodate future communication demands.

“BIG Data” and Autonomous Vehicles

Once our communication networks and technologies are up to par, what is next? New technologies such as “BIG data” and AVs may have some of the most drastic impacts on the future of transportation planning. Soon “BIG data” may be able to reduce accidents and congestion by predicting traffic jams and changing traffic routes, speeds, and signal coordination just in time to “harmonize” traffic flows. AVs driving in “platoons” mere inches away from each may also reduce traffic congestion. Car ownership may also decrease as people opt for shared vehicles, urban transport pods, and micro-transportation vehicles. These will all lead toward changes in the ways that we develop our urban and rural infrastructure.   

If our roads become less congested, will we need as many driving lanes? If we can send our AVs to park themselves or go home, will cities need as much public parking space? If AVs drastically reduce the number of accidents, will cities require fewer emergency vehicles, fire stations, and personnel? If they lower the amount of city parking needed or yield fewer speeding tickets, how will cities compensate for less revenue or land use impacts?

Our public officials must start changing how we’re planning for our nation’s infrastructure. Preparing for how we design and invest funds into our highways, traffic control networks, mass transit systems, and intermodal facilities will all need to be done differently than in the past. Now is the time for our community leaders to evolve transportation planning for our rapidly changing future.

Monitoring Manganese Levels in Drinking Water is Vital for Community Well-being

Posted on by Heidi Whitver

Manganese Level Monitoring - Drinking WaterIncreased levels of manganese in drinking water supplies have raised concern in some communities and increased speculation that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will make regulation changes. Manganese is a naturally occurring element found in groundwater, very acidic soil, and foods such as seeds, grains, nuts, legumes, green leafy vegetables, and in drinking water. Similar to iron, manganese is a plant micronutrient and is beneficial to human health in low concentrations. However, elevated manganese concentrations can cause health risks, issues for distribution systems, and taste and color issues in drinking water. Community leaders should determine current manganese levels to prepare for possible regulation changes, and if levels are found to be too high, treatment and removal measures will need to occur such as oxidation and filtration.

Manganese Guidelines

There are currently no enforceable federal drinking water standards for manganese; however, it is likely that regulations are under consideration. The EPA has a secondary standard of 0.05 mg/L, a standard established to address issues of aesthetics such as discoloration, which causes noticeable staining, and taste complaints. No measures are in place to address health concerns.

Health Risks

The EPA recommends that infants up to six months of age should not consume water, or formula made with water, with manganese concentrations higher than 0.3 mg/L for more than a total of 10 days per year. The EPA also recommends that people not ingest water with manganese concentrations higher than 1 mg/L for more than a total of 10 days per year. Long-term exposure can cause impacts to people’s nervous systems resulting in behavioral changes and movement issues. The elderly, young children, and pregnant women are especially vulnerable. Young children exposed to high levels of manganese have been shown to experience hyperactivity, Attention Deficit Disorder, Pervasive Development Disorder, and memory and brain development issues.

Impacts on Water Distribution Systems

Managing safe levels of manganese in drinking water is an essential step in preserving the valuable assets in a water distribution system. Manganese deposits can build up in various components in a community’s water distributions systems and residents’ water heaters and softeners, reducing the pressure in those systems. The benefits associated with treating manganese in drinking water significantly offset the long-term repair and rehabilitation costs needed to clear up the mineral deposits.

High manganese levels pose a problem for both utilities and a community’s constituents. Controlling manganese levels can help protect the health of the water system users and increase the lifespan of the water distribution system. If you are concerned about the levels of manganese in your community’s drinking water system, consider lab testing and an evaluation of the distribution system. While every water system is unique, a combination of oxidation and filtration methods may help alleviate high manganese levels in your drinking water. However, you may need to consult with a water system professional to determine the best solution. Seeking a professional evaluation can help your community prepare for upcoming regulations and identify the best approach and cost-effective methods for treatment.