The Living Document D.C. WASA’s Web-Based Plant-Wide Interactive Electronic Reference System (PIERS)

摘要

The Advanced WWTP at Blue Plains is operated by the District of Columbia’s Water and Sewer Authority (D.C. WASA), and is designed to process a dry weather flow of 370 MGD. As with most agencies of this size, creating, managing and distributing technical information, as well as day-to-day communications, is a never-ending challenge. Given today’s information overload, too often that information is “stored” on a bookshelf, “lost” in a file cabinet, “buried” on a hard drive, or perhaps even worse, that material is not kept current. D.C. WASA plant staff looked toward a technological solution to help find and extract information within the treatment plant. They have taken a proactive approach to tackle these concerns – a plant-wide interactive electronic reference system, which has as its basis the creation of a comprehensive “living document.” The basis of the “living document” starts with identification of the utility knowledge base, which comes in many forms – people, policies, drawings, standard procedures, equipment service manuals, etc. Management of technical information created within the knowledge base is a core activity for a successful utility. Traditional Operation and Maintenance information distribution methods have centered on O&M Manuals that were updated only when new plant Capital Improvements Projects were completed. Facility drawings and equipment service manuals were available in limited locations with restricted accessibility - business hours only. Additional challenges were incurred with the distribution of approved policies and procedures, and keeping current copies available and accessible. Probably the most important element of the knowledge base is people and communications. Knowledge is power. This paper presents recent experience in developing, and current experiences in implementing, a plant-wide interactive reference system to help overcome the limitations identified above, at the Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant for the District of Columbia at Blue Plains. The primary object of this endeavor has been to “provide technical information that is accurate and up-todate”. To accomplish this, the power of the Internet, backed up by an Oracle database, was tapped.