New Orleans Wastewater, Research Paper Example

Public Arrangement – How it was under public management, transition is explained in later paragraphs

Note- no arrangement for privatization is in place, but a discussion of how it will be decided is provided in the request for proposal argument. It is not privatized and no agreements have been made yet

Sewage treatment has been a hallmark of city development since its inception following the industrial revolution. The treatment of contaminated waters has significant public health implications, decreasing the spread and frequency of disease. New Orleans benefitted from the adoption of sewage treatment systems not only for these reasons, but because it frequently experienced floods due to overflow from the Mississippi River and other local waterways. As a consequence, contaminated water had a more significant opportunity to spread in this region, triggering the need for organizations and people that would be able to coordinate water treatment plans.

Currently the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans is responsible for overlooking this process. The facilities that they manage operate regularly, 24 hours per day 365 days per year. Furthermore, additional work it conducted during emergency situations in order to ensure that the water supply remains sterile. Decontamination efforts focus on several goals, including the removal of harmful microbes from the water using biological and chemical treatment (Fair et al., 1968). Furthermore, an additional goal of the organization is to separate physical human wastes from the water so that it could be reused.

After the New Orleans sewerage treatment system was established, it was subjected to many needs for improvement over the years. These needs were directly related to the amount of flooding that occurred during the area, and the local New Orleans Drainage Commission merged with the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans in 1903 in order to consolidate efforts to protect the city’s water. Today, the organization has maintained the name “Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans”, but it currently serves tasks that were assigned to the drainage commission alone prior to this partnership. In this manner, the sewerage board gained more power over local operations, allowing it to contribute to the cleanliness of the city more directly and thoroughly.

Currently, the Sewage and Water Board consists of the mayor, two members of the City Council, one district councilman, two members of the board of liquidation, City Debt, and seven members appointed by the mayor. Committee meetings are held each month, which has led to the decision that many wastewater treatment practices should become privatized in order to save the city funds (Kemmer, 1979). Overall, this indicates that while the committee is regulated by government elected officials, third party organizations have been contracted to implement many of their plans. This has important implications because the board is not in direct control over its operations.

The physical water treatment process implemented by the organization takes advantage of a variety of purification techniques. During this process, water is taken from the Mississippi River and brought to the Carrollton Water Purification Plant. Purification of the river is needed due to the large amount of solid materials present within it. The first step of the purification process is known as “coagulation”, in which the chemicals ferric sulfate and polyelectrolyte are added to the water. This helps remove physical solid waste from the water because it triggers a chemical reaction that allows the waste to clump together. In this manner, it is easier to filter these wastes out of the water through physical means. The next step of this process is entitled “flocculation”, which mixes the large solid wastes that have accrued in the water to come together to make even larger piles of waste. The third step of the process is known as “sedimentation”, in which the large clumps of waste are directed to basins that will collect them and prevent them from flowing into the reservoir. This can then be permanently removed using a variety of methods. Once the physical waste is removed from the water, there is a need to continue to disinfect the water due to the presence of small microorganisms that are potentially harmful (Patterson, 1980). To do so, the organization adds chlorine to the water, which is followed by the addition of ammonia. These two chemical combine to continue the disinfection process more effectively. Next, the pH of the water must be adjusted in a manner that creates a balance between basic and acidic components in the water. To do so, lime is added to make the water more basic, which is done to ultimately prevent the water from degrading the pipe systems. Furthermore, this will also allow the disinfectant chemicals to retain their nature, continuing to kill harmful microbes throughout this process. A chemical known as polyphosphate is added to the water to keep the lime from dissolving, therefore prolonging these beneficial effects. In one of the final steps of this process, a step called “fluoridation” is carried out, in which the water is treated with fluorosilicic acid. This is valuable because it puts fluoride into the water for the purpose of preventing dental cavities among the people that consume it. The last step of the process is known as “filtration”, which utilized gravity filters to remove any small particles that may still be contained within the water. At the end of this process, the water is brought to pumping stations where it is ultimately brought to homes and other facilities for use.

Political: Movement to Privatization/Government Failure and Is This a Worthy Good (Service is used instead because this is a service and not a good, goods are physical items)

Overall, this is a profitable service because it is essentially mandatory for those living there. Regardless of the privatization of these services, the government will continue to profit by through the taxes that the people are required to pay on their incomes and residences. Therefore, the move to privatization is a consequence of a desire for greater profit rather than failure because the city will perform less work to earn more funds. One argument for the privatization is that the government will no longer have to pay for these services. However, this is only true to an extent because operations costs will always be passed to the individuals that benefit from these services, members of the population. Currently, no privatization method has been decided upon, although there is much conversation pertaining how to go about this transition. Overall, it appears that this service is appropriate as either a public or privatized service, as the government can make many of the changes it needs to optimize these practices. However, privatization may allow these alterations to occur more quickly. Since this change has not yet happened, the utility of this transformation is not yet understood.

Social and Economic – These points explain relationship of service to market via supply and demand, basically there shouldn’t be a change whether this is privatized or not

A major concern for the privatization is the social aspect of the system is that it is necessary for the waste water treatment service to be constantly provided. Individuals believe that privatizing the system will ensure that this will be the case. However, others believe that this is currently being achieved optimally by the government, making privatization unnecessary. Since privatization has not occurred, it is not currently possible to predict whether this will be truthful. Furthermore, privatization would trigger many service changes that may or may not be beneficial.

While the physical process related to the filtering of river and rain water is expected to be relatively unaltered due to the establishment of privatization of the water systems, it is expected that there will be many administrative and service changes related to the process. It is expected that privatizing the system will allow the cost of services to depend on supply and demand, which is not necessarily beneficial for this system because there is only one service provider (Zera, 2008). Technically, to populace is paying for the service already with their taxes. The sewerage system has not become completely privatized at this point, as there are currently negotiations underway that would help determine the extent of these privatization operations in addition to the related benefit that these actions are expected to bring. The City of New Orleans attempted to begin these privatization operations in 2000, and 15 years later, many changes are expected to be brought about as a consequence. The primary reason for making this transition was financial in nature, as it appeared more financially practical to allow a private company to “operate, maintain and manage the systems” (Public Citizen 30, 2001).

As a consequence of the counsel, the city released requests for bids on the project and began the selection process that would privatize the system. There were many criticisms in place with regards to these privatization efforts, and many citizens were worried that the wording of these request for bids were vague and would contribute to the implementation of a company that was not adequately able to carry about the plans of the organization, thereby harming all individuals in the area as a consequence of the clear need for water across the system. Furthermore, when the city has contracted third party organizations to manage its affairs in the past, these systems have been found to be ineffective compared to the work and effort put in by the city employees responsible for taking care of this infrastructure.

Despite the government’s extensive efforts to hear the bids of third party companies, this situation has not panned out well. Unfortunately, the request for bid process has been extremely slow, which indicates that it does not appear that the city of New Orleans will be able to benefit in the manner in which it had intended. Currently, there is much debate over whether organization would be able to provide the city with adequate services. Furthermore, many critics of the plan are protesting this rationalization because they believe that privatizing the industry will contribute to diminished quality. These individuals contest that it is preferable for the city to maintain direct control over these processes so that they are able to step in and quickly rectify disaster if there are any problems with the system. In light of intense storms like Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy, residents of New Orleans are worried that it will be challenging to repair damaged infrastructure to the waterways if privatization is made prevalent. Overall, the city has experienced similar problems in the past when alterations to the current system has resulted in the prolonged duration of impure water systems, which is extremely detrimental in cases of large natural disasters, such as the many hurricanes that plague the area.

Improving Efficiency – Management argument

The city is a large proponent for the privatization of this system because they believe that investing in a privatized system will save the government money that could then be allocated to the establishment and maintenance of other infrastructure. This is expected to increase the efficiency of the system. Overall, privatizing the system will create a lesser need for government hired employees, which is expected to result in money savings due to not only the smaller amount of employees that will need to be accounted for, but also the minimized resources that the government will need for hiring and training purposes. All aspects of quality operation will be up to the organization, and it is expected that these processes will run more efficiently if they are taken over by a new group.

An additional consideration is the specialization of skill that privatization will allow. Ultimately, government employees are restricted to the roles that they are typically presented with when they are hired, and if there is not an appropriate individual to supervise their responsibilities, any additional skills will be considered out of the scope of the industry’s practice. Therefore, there is an opportunity for the wastewater plan to restructure itself in terms of the jobs and specialties needed for the successful operation of the plant. It is expected that this will be addressed by the company adopting new hiring practices that are affiliated with training programs that will ensure that all employees will be able to maximize their abilities and therefore utility within the plant (Reed et al., 1988).

Furthermore, triggering an advance in best practices is applicable for wastewater treatment plans in New Orleans, as this area is subject to a high number of natural disasters and contains a large population. Therefore, it is expected that the privatization of this industry will allow for the development of new research programs to help fix the practices that are currently being utilized within the organization. Optimization would be beneficial to the agency in two ways. First, it would help make administrative practices more efficient, and this organization will contribute to a more significant budget conservation than would be the case if these practices were not closely examined. In addition, it is important to consider that the actual methods used to treat wastewater are complex and incorporate many elements of chemistry, biology, and physics. Therefore, exploring these methods in practice is expected to contribute to an overall benefit of the organization, as they will be able to refine these techniques in a manner that allows them to determine what would work best for them.

Advantages of Privatization

Currently, many different techniques are being used by engineers around the world in a manner that have been established to improve current water purification practices. Of particular concern is the removal of wastes from the water using advanced filtration processes, which enhanced the physical removal of large particles. To make matters more complex, biologists have been employed to help reduce the wastes found within these environments by taking advantage of their knowledge of the food chain and special features of different microbes. In cities across the world, the wastewater treatment plants have established the use of these microorganisms as a primary means to remove more harmful microbes (Weber, 1972). While the goal of water treatment is to typically remove the microorganisms from the water system, it is important to understand that such efforts are not always necessary because only some types of bacteria are able to cause people to become sick (Hammer, 1975). For example, cyanobacteria have been used to add oxygen to the water supply, thereby killing anaerobic organisms (Metcalf, 1972). Since this species does not cause disease in humans, taking advantage of its characteristics is a reasonable way to promote the treatment of water.

An additional method that takes advantage of microorganism use focuses on the ability of certain microbes to digest certain forms of organic solid waste. While traditional treatment allows the clumping of these materials that are eventually filtered, saprophytic bacteria are able to convert these wastes directly into carbon dioxide and water through their metabolism of this product. As a result, this contributes to a more natural process of waste reduction. Considering the major impact that New Orleans has felt from oil spills in the past, it is also important to consider that this method can be used to rid water supplies of hydrocarbons, which are the materials that make up natural gas. In the same manner that the saprophytic bacteria digest other forms of organic waste, they are able to process these wastes in a manner that can remove it from the water when it is used on a large scale. Many scientists are cautious about these methods because they have not achieved widespread use. However, these studies have shown that the use of microbes is a less expensive process, which is beneficial because using such a method would help New Orleans save money (SWBNO, n.d.).

Privatization as an Advantage

Overall, it could be argued that privatization of the sewage treatment industry could be beneficial for New Orleans. As proposed, this plan would certainly reduce the costs of the sewage treatment for the city, and this enhanced regulation by a third party would allow the city to focus on other efforts that would benefit the population (Flexner et al., 1987). Since the government was involved with this plant for much of its history, it will be challenging to transfer the control of the system at first, but over a short period of time, it is expected that this process will become optimized. Once a private organization takes over and is able to efficiently establish itself, there will be room for significant improvements within this service provider that will ultimately please customers.

Over time, it is anticipated that private organizations have the ability to refine the practices that have been established within the organization. In particular, since these companies often have access to a large degree of funds and investments, they will be able to quickly put infrastructure in place that was not possible under the jurisdiction of the city. Therefore, it is expected that the organizational value of the service provider will increase, which will also enhance the speed with which the water is treated and could be sent to the homes of residents.

Individuals that do not want the privatization of this field believe that while it will save the city money at first, it will become more expensive in the long run. However, the main impact of expense is likely to be passed on to individuals that use the water system, and only if improvements are made that require further funding. At first, this seems like a negative approach because people will have to pay more money to access water. However, it is important to understand that very little money is paid for these services to begin with, and any price increase is likely to be very minimal and still affordable by all members of the public. Furthermore, it is important to consider that the price increase will likely be associated with more efficient and better practices than would have existed under the management of the city.

Ultimately, it is necessary to understand the benefits of privatization that have brought about improvements to the water treatment systems in other cities to be able to comprehend how privatizing this particular system will be beneficial. A majority of individuals living in these areas found that there was little difference between the qualities of services provided to them by their city prior to this agreement, indicating that a detriment of services was not seen. Furthermore, these individuals that sense these services are relatively new, they would be more likely to predict in an improvement of overall services than a decline in quality. Therefore, it would be beneficial for New Orleans to enter into a pilot program to determine how private organizations would run the treatment plant in addition to how this could occur at the lowest possible cost for the city. Furthermore, a thorough analysis of the response to bid proposals will help the city government understand which organization would be the best fit for this type of practice. It appears that the impacts of privatization are primarily positive and the fear of these transformation results from resistance to change. Therefore, it is helpful for critics of the plan to understand the potential advantages and only condemn the plan if they feel that it is not working after the company has settled and established its practice.

References

Fair, Gordon Maskew, Geyer, John Charles & Okun, Daniel Alexander. (1968). Water and Wastewater Engineering (Volume 2). John Wiley & Sons.

Flexner, S. Hauck, L. (1987). The Random House Unabridged Dictionary (Second ed.). New York City: Random House.

Funk & Wagnall’s Standard Dictionary (International Edition). (1960). New York.

Hammer, Mark J. (1975). Water and Waste-Water Technology John Wiley & Sons.

Kemmer, Frank N. (1979). The Nalco Water Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Metcalf, Eddy. (1972). Wastewater Engineering McGraw-Hill.

Patterson, James W. (1980). Wastewater Treatment Technology. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ann Arbor Science.

Reed, Sherwood C.; Middlebrooks, E. Joe; Crites, Ronald W. (1988). Natural Systems for Waste Management and Treatment. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Smith, A. (2013). Adam Smith: The Father Of Economics. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/adam-smith-economics.asp

SWBNO. (n.d.). The Water Purification Process. Retrieved from http://www.swbno.org/history_water_purification.asp

Weber, Walter J., Jr. (1972). Physicochemical Processes for Water Quality Control. New York: Wiley-Interscience.

Zera. (2008). Economic Theories. Retrieved from   http://www.economictheories.org/2008/10/aristotle-and-plato-economic-theory.html