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[Music]
happy industrial water week Nation Trace
Blackmore here the host of the scaling
up H2O podcast your official place to
celebrate industrial water week today is
Friday today we are celebrating careers
in this fabulous industry but this is
the fifth installment of industrial
water week celebrations as they go on
the scaling up H2O podcast we started
out with pre-treatment on Monday then we
celebrated boilers on Tuesday we had
cooling on Wednesday yesterday was waste
water and then unfortunately this is our
fifth and final day of industrial water
week and this is the sixth time we have
celebrated industrial water week and I
think it gets bigger and better each and
every year and without a doubt that is
because of you the scaling up nation
which has fully Bray celebrating
industrial water week and we need an
entire week because our industry is so
incredibly awesome and each and every
day you all have been wonderful in
sending pictures to your favorite social
media account and hashtagging
iww.23 today is careers Friday so if you
want to take a picture of yourself and
then write a brief story about how you
got into this industry that is one of my
favorite questions that I ask on this
podcast and as you know for listening to
over 300 episodes there are not very
many similar stories we all get into
this industry a little bit differently
and most of us have never heard of this
industry and until somebody told us
about it well folks that’s what I’m
asking you to do this entire week is to
make sure people know that industrial
water is a potential career for them to
explore as we all know it’s difficult to
find people in this day and age and it’s
even more difficult to find them when
they don’t even know to look for us well
we’re going to be part of that solution
and the scaling up Nation strong is
going to let people know about this
amazing industry that we are in and
maybe they can consider too now I’ve
also been talking all week about how
this is a special industrial water week
because not only are we celebrating
industrial water week we are celebrating
it at the association of water
Technologies annual conference and and
Convention we’ve been here all week
we’ve met many of you I want to thank
all the people that have been coming up
and introducing themselves to me all the
people that I’ve met before that say
they really enjoy this podcast so many
people have come up to me and they have
thanked me for something that they have
done in their career giving credit to me
or the podcast and I think that is
amazing I don’t think that credit is
completely due I’m glad that the podcast
that I might be a catalyst in that but
let’s face it you did all the heavy
lifting with that you got your cwt you
did whatever it was that you aspired to
do you were the driving force in that
I’m glad I could be a part of it I’m
glad this show could be a part of it but
I really think that that is a
celebration of your personal
accomplishments but for all of the
people that have come up and told me
whatever story it was thank you for that
that is one of my favorite things
because folks let’s face it this podcast
does not create itself and there are a
lot of steps that take place in order to
get this podcast to you each and every
week or if we’re talking about
industrial water week each and every day
and when you share stories like that it
definitely makes it worth it to me and
everybody on my amazing staff speaking
of that I really want to thank the staff
of the scaling up H2O podcast because
folks we did over A month’s worth of
episodes just in this one week because
we want to make sure that we are
celebrating industrial water week in
style so thank you to all of my amazing
staff we he definitely would not have
this podcast without you and we wouldn’t
have this podcast without all of our
listeners which we call the scaling up
nation and it is amazing to see how many
times our episodes are not only
downloaded but how many times they are
re-listened to that tells us that we are
on to something that everybody seems to
be enjoying this platform what we’re
talking about but I don’t want to take
that for granted because there’s going
to come a time where we are all going to
look at each other during a staff
meeting and we’re going to think what do
we talk about next and that is not going
to happen because you’re going to help
us so if you have a show idea if you
have somebody that you want us to
interview by all means go to our show
page at scalingup h2o.com go over to our
show ideas page and you who can tell us
all about that I cannot tell you what a
great resource that is and how many
wonderful guests we have had on this
podcast because of somebody in the
scaling up Nation letting us know who we
needed to speak to and that’s pretty
much where all of our pinks and blues
episodes come from they’re your
questions that we are answering so
please keep those coming it will ensure
that we have a scaling up H2O podcast
for years to come well Nation today is
careers Friday and I cannot think of a
better career that somebody could have
besides industrial water treatment so
many wonderful things have happened to
me because my father introduced me into
this field I got to be president of the
association of water Technologies the
very conference that we are at today
that would not have happened if my dad
did not share this career with me I got
to do so much with the education
committee within awt and I enjoy
teaching this industry more than
anything that I can imagine again if I
didn’t know about it I would not have
had that experience and of course this
podcast I would not have had this
podcast I would not realize how much I
enjoy being a podcaster and I probably
would not have met you had it not been
for somebody telling me about this
industry so my call to action for you
this entire week is for you to let
others know about this career and we are
really going to double down on that
message today here on careers Friday so
I’ve been asking you to do that for the
entire week but today we are going to
double down on on careers Friday and I
am asking you to post how wonderful this
community is how awesome this career is
take a picture of yourself and hashtag
it to
iww.23 we’re going to use some of those
in our social media outreach and
hopefully share how wonderful this job
is we can start sharing some of these
postings and we are really going to get
the word out about this industry and
just think if we had high quality
individuals that really want to get in
this industry contacting us about how to
do that I think that’s one of the
biggest issues that we have today is
finding people in this industry to work
in this industry and I’m hoping that
this industrial water week we are going
to move the needle on that one of the
biggest cheerleaders I can think of for
our industry is Chris Yee and we talked
to Chris on episodes 300 and 301 well
here is Chris talking about all of the
different Generations in this workplace
and how we can all succeed in one of the
best Industries in the world
[Music]
so in deference to the seniors let’s
start from the most experienced to the
least experience so these are the
general kind of names and age groups and
even in that there are some variation to
your point there’s some variation in
what they’re called sometimes and
there’s not a hundred percent consensus
in the quote World about these ages so
these are generalities so with that
being said Trace you know you start out
with the traditionalists right the
traditionalist generations are generally
76 years old and older so think of our
president
he is a traditionalist then you go to
the Boomers the Baby Boomers and they
are generally 57 ish to 75. so think of
um Oprah Winfrey or President Clinton
okay they are in that boomer generation
and then there’s below that uh younger
than the boomers are what are
traditionally called Generation X and
those are people around 40 41 ish to the
mid 50s 56-ish so think of former
President Obama
and Jennifer Lopez and then stepping
down in age their uh the Millennials and
I have one Millennial child Millennials
are generally thought of as 26 to 40. so
think of LeBron James for example
or representative AOC and then finally
Generation Z is 25 and below so think of
Kylie Jenner or a football basketball
player Trey young who plays for the
Atlanta basketball team so those are
folks 25 and Below these are all very
general and stereotypical so we all have
to you know that’s the big asterisk that
kind of
umbrellas this entire conversation but
generally speaking how do these various
Generations what is the work style they
are most comfortable with so let’s start
with the traditionalists right
traditionalists believe in a very
rule-based rule-oriented linear work
style traditionalists will say rules are
rules and we got to follow them period
end of story the rules are there for a
reason we gotta follow them
you switch to the Baby Boomers you know
57 to 75 they are they like structure
they like hierarchy they like looking at
an org chart and saying all right this
is who we are this is what we’re doing
this is our structure
there’s not a lot of Crossing Lines or
matrices but this is where I fit in the
structure and I’m comfortable with that
and that’s how I like to work then you
go to Generation X you know 40s to mid
50s they like a more flexible work style
you know they’re like a more flexible
work style about hey look you know for
this project we’re going to have this
reporting structure for that project
we’re going to have that reporting
structure and it’s okay right so
somewhat flexible and that flexibility
is taken to another higher Notch with
the Millennials they’re very fluid
they’re sitting here going okay look I
can be the leader of this project and on
this project I can be a minor minor
player right the Millennials being
mid-20s to 40 give or take
now the work styles for Generation Z 25
and below is very interesting not that
we’ve got a gajillion data points on
that but work styles for them is fluid
times two for that they’re saying look
work-life balance is the key right hey
work plays a role but I’m okay with
great uncertainty as a matter of fact
I’m very very comfortable with great
great uncertainty so when you compare
that to the Boomers and the
traditionalists who are very structured
linear rules are there for a reason
because rules should rule you know you
mix that with the Gen Z person going you
know a little bit about the Outback
Steakhouse tagline no rules just right
right they’re they’re very comfortable
with that most surprising thing I
learned is what draws us together I know
that initially I was talking about what
differentiates us right obviously our
birthday you know differentiates us for
sure right but what are our common needs
and I came up with four needs that all
employees in my humble opinion all
employees regardless of their age or
their station even if you’re the number
two person in the company we all need
this okay and those four things are
trust compassion stability and Hope
you know trust isn’t just Clarity and
honesty trust means that I can reliably
and accurately predict your behavior in
other words if you run hot one day and
cold one day by definition I can’t trust
you because I don’t know what I’m
getting right so trust is Big compassion
hey say it loud but back it up you know
please don’t insult people by just being
all talk or in Texas big hat no cattle
right you know again my Texas I’m sorry
you know and then stability there are
two dimensions of stability at least two
one of them is the Practical stability
but I would argue even more important
than the Practical stability is hey what
about my psychological stability from
working with you if I go to work for
Blackmore Enterprises okay yes I want to
be sure that when you say that I get a
truck that the truck actually runs okay
that’s cool that’s cool right but you
know how am I psychologically feeling
about my station here right that’s a
huge component and pillar of stability
and finally hope you know hope it’s your
company’s and it’s our personal most
precious asset in times of trouble and
turmoil
in the second and third quarter of 2020
hope is Zenith search partners and
Blackmore Enterprises and everyone
else’s it’s our most precious asset
and that’s what we need to lean into and
that’s what employees need to have and
that’s what we as Leaders need to give
have a clear corporate Vision clear
corporate values and make sure that
they’re not just talk or words or a
poster or tagline or part of your
signature block right so have a really
clear corporate vision and values engage
your employees you cannot over
communicate
just communicate communicate communicate
engage your employees act like you care
show them that you care by asking how
are you doing
[Music]
One Nation as I mentioned there was just
so much from episode 300 that we turned
it into episode
30301 without a doubt you can see
Chris’s passion for this industry and of
course as you heard we have so much
information to share today we went ahead
and used two clips for today’s career
Friday it is my hope that you take a
moment and you celebrate you being in
this industry there are several things
that I’ve been asking you to do all this
week of course the number one thing was
letting people know about this industry
if you’re at the awt make sure you come
find me so we can celebrate industrial
water week together I would love it if
you hashtagged a picture of you and a
story about how you got in this most
amazing profession to hash
iww.23 and the last call of action that
I have for you on this close of
industrial water week is to just
celebrate being in this industry now
there are lots of companies out there
that they like to have a cake so if
you’re one of those companies that has
an industrial water treatment cake go
ahead and hashtag that to
iww.23 of course the official cake of
industrial water week is George
Washington’s favorite cake which was the
water cake we introduced that and I
think four or five years ago so many
people have tried it a few people
actually liked it they didn’t have
refrigeration back then so you can
imagine the ingredients that were in
that they were all ingredients that
would not be perishable a lot of people
said they liked it and there was one
company I heard of that whenever they
brought somebody new in their industry
they did a Rites of Passage with them
and they made them eat a water cake so
however you are celebrating I want you
to celebrate being in this industry if
you haven’t heard each and every episode
this week by all means go back and
listen to all of those episodes It’s My
hope that you had the best industrial
water week yet and here to cap off
industrial water week our final Encore
story it’s detective h2o’s daughter Dr
H2O so get ready to solve problems in
Waterville here’s Dr H2O
[Music]
thank you welcome to Dr H2O the case of
hard diagnosis
Hilda Helen oxidine PhD cwt sat in her
immaculately white laboratory studying
the results of her latest skill
inhibition analysis of a new polymer she
had been developing it looked promising
she jumped a little when her smartphone
came to life in her lab coat pocket
ringing once twice no only once she was
too efficient to waste time
hello Dr H Joe here the best water
treater this out of the Ohio diagnosing
water problems for a healthier system
how may I help you wait a minute doesn’t
your father detective H2O say the exact
same thing how can you both be the best
water treater this side of the Ohio we
live on opposite sides of the Ohio River
now that we’ve gotten that cleared up
how may I help you well doc this is
Danny down at Waterton food and beverage
our softener is sick what are the
symptoms she’s not getting a full run
she produces hard water long before she
should we need your services doc we
heard you make house calls oh yes I make
house calls Powerhouse calls I will be
over shortly Dr H2O arrived at Waterton
food and beverage in her white late
model Mercedes
she removed her black test bag from the
trunk checked in with the front gate
guards and made her way to the
powerhouse
on her way to Saint Danny the PowerHouse
superintendent she stopped briefly to
peruse the PowerHouse logbook she saw
several notes of the water softeners
producing hard water prematurely with
the units manually placed into
regeneration there was definitely a
problem here doc you made it glad to see
you you too Danny let’s take a look at
this water softener of yours making
their way down the stairs to the
PowerHouse basement the water softener
loomed before them she’s actually two
twin alternating softeners but we see
her as one large piece of equipment
asking do you refer to all of your water
treatment
equal opportunity offender here he
chuckled I see smiled the water doctor
Dr H2O reviewed the water treatment logs
observing sub
s so both of them and not a mechanical
issue on an individual unit itself let’s
start at the beginning though by doing
an analysis of the incoming City Water I
want to know if anything has changed
opening her black bag she extracted her
water testing supplies and started
running her analysis on the city water
comparing it to her nodes from previous
Waterton City Water Analysis she
observed nothing is changed
Etc
the free chlorine is higher than many
areas around the city at greater than 1
PPM but still within the city’s control
parameters by my calculations your water
softener is producing only 85 percent of
the design softening capacity and
dropping wow doc I told you she was sick
yes our next step is to manually place
the online softener vessel into
regeneration observe the steps and
perform an illusion study to ensure
proper brine concentrations are being
reached Dr H2O Stood Beside the softer
drain line that opened to the floor
drain as Danny opened the control box
and initiated a manual regeneration
valves open and closed the standby
software unit came online and the online
unit went into regeneration
the first step was a backwash to expand
the resin bed and remove any debris or
broken beads on a smaller unit I could
use a bucket to measure the flow rates
out of the softener during each
regeneration step to ensure they meet
manufacture specifications or industry
standards with flow as large as this
where that is impossible one must fall
back upon observations instead of
absolute accuracy
while the backwash continued Dr H2O
inspected the brine tank and tested its
level of saturation with her sodium
chloride cylometer it was 100 saturated
as it should have been she also measured
the brain tank diameter and brine depth
the backwash went through its entire
cycle as expected for as long as
expected no College formality so far
with a slometer and graduated cylinder
in hand when the brine cycle started Dr
H2O started recording the salinity of
the water every three minutes
I find I get a much more detailed
illusion curve every three minutes
sometimes the enhanced data resolution
helps
at the end of the brine cycle the slow
rinse cycle started Dr H2O measure the
brine depth again while keeping an eye
on a slow ring cycle flow and duration
lastly the fast range cycle started as
she observed and timed as well
plotting the cilometer data points on
our tablet computer Danny watched over
her shoulder and asked well did you find
anything no this is a textbook example
of what an illusion curve should be it
shows just over 30 kilometer degrees for
30 minutes per industry standards I
calculated the prying usage from the
change in the brine tank level and that
is perfectly within industry standards
as well so far we have a healthy
specimen let me take a closer look at
the floor chain area
using the flashlight setting on our
smartphone Dr H2O made a close
inspection of the floor drain do you see
this Danny see what doc these little
broken resin beads there aren’t many but
there are a few you don’t have a resin
trap installed I see which could have
been helpful I think it is time for a
surgical approach let’s open the standby
softener up with the other unit online
we have several hours before that one is
due for regeneration sure whatever you
say Doc relieving the water pressure on
the standby softener Danny opened the
top maintenance hole on the softener
vessel after inspecting the ladder Dr
H2O climbed up and took a look the
surface of the resin bed was relatively
even no obvious signs of uneven flow or
channeling the surface also looked clean
and free of debris
next she measured how far the resin bed
started from the top of the vessel and
marked this level on the side of the
unit there were no previous markings so
it was not possible to see if there had
been any change what do you see up there
Dr H2O
so far so good now to take a core resin
sample improvising a resin Thief with
PVC piping she drove it into the resin
bed and obtained the best representative
sample that she could pulling out her
magnifying glass she took a look at the
resin the color looks typical although
without a sample of the original resin
it’s hard to tell what color it truly
was originally I do see some broken
beads in here the doctor observed then
she placed some resin beads between her
fingers and began to rub them around
Danny
asked Danny as he came running
watch this this we play doctor H2O and
she rubbed more resin beads between her
fingers they disintegrated that’s weird
What’s Happening Here we made our
diagnosis Danny that’s what’s happening
your resin is breaking down due to the
over 1 PPM free chlorine in your
incoming City Water the chlorine attacks
the polystyrene cross-linking in the
resin beads causing its moisture content
to rise in the beads to swell the beads
start to break and get washed out with
the backwash reducing overall capacity I
prescribe replacing the resin as soon as
possible I see is there anything we can
do to prevent the new resin from
degrading the same way that’s a great
question while there’s really no such
thing as a chlorine resistant softener
resin you can get resins with higher
cross linkings that will withstand the
chlorine oxidation for longer periods of
time you could also install
dechlorination technology Upstream of
the water softener such as a carbon
filter I’ll work up a report on a few
options our software so be on the men
running a full capacity soon because of
you thanks Dr H2O
dusting off her white lab coat and
picking up her black testing bag Dr H2O
replied it’s all all in a day’s work
Danny healing water treatment problems
is in my blood
industrial plants across sprawling
Waterton where boilers get upset and
cooling towers operate at fever pitch
one woman has needed her calling to
diagnose their ills to soothe corrosion
mitigate scale disinfect microbes and
save water drop by drop that woman is Dr
H2O best water treater this side of the
Ohio one doctor that still makes house
calls Powerhouse calls
scaling up Nation once again happy
industrial water week what an amazing
career to celebrate we of course are
going to have a celebration next year
and if you’re wondering what it is it is
always the first full week in October so
Nation happy industrial water week I am
so happy that you are in this career and
I can’t wait to meet all of the new
people that we created from this
industrial water week that are going to
join our fine profession happy
industrial water week everybody
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