Well, Councilman Livingston has posted several items on social media from Staff that are
misrepresentations and included an editorial that are potentially slanderous. The items are addressed in
the list below:

  

Adam A?fy ts at Binghamton Johnson City Waste Water Treatment
Plant.
July 10 at 5-45 Phi Vestal NY 

The project manager at the plant assures us that leaks like these in new
concrete are normal, and to be expected; they tell us that we're not engineers
and we should leave these things to the professionals.

Leading up to the wall collapse in 2011, it was plant personnel who sounded
the alarm repeatedly, and nobody listened. You know what they said to us
then? They said that leaks like that are normal and to be expected, and that
since we aren't engineers we don't know what we?re talking about.

Well, we may not be engineers, but we know this facility ?rst-hand and
everyone knows the cost of not listening to plant personnel at this point. The
real question is, have you learned your lesson yet?

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

 

 

v- aau..4.u-.u.l u-v-I-u? -- ivr-I'I-n-n 

 

Headworks leaking wall Picture with electrical panels. 
Alleged Condition STP Staff alleges that the wall is leaking and is shoddy construction.

Actual Condition - This photo appears to be several weeks old. The headworks was put into
service June 26 It does not show the completed work, and does not show that the leak has been
addressed. The wall that the panels are located on backs up to the north grit channel. See
attached drawing. The leak test on the channel was passed in January, 2019. All visible leaks
were sealed at that time. At the time of the photograph, there are no visible leaks, just past
leaks that were appropriately sealed during construction.

Alleged Condition - STP Staff also suggest that the control panels are covered in residue, and
implying that they could be damaged.

Actual Condition The issue is cosmetic, and it was addressed on the day that the picture was
provided. These panels are not damaged. The streaky appearance is from water from the core
drill process above the panels which ran down the wall. These panels have already been cleaned

up, and were not damaged in any way. The panels were inspected after the drilling process, and
it was confirmed that the panels did not have any intrusion of water into the panels.
Furthermore, the manufacturer certified the installation ofthe panels prior to putting the
Headworks on line on June 26, 2019, and they confirmed that there were no warranty concerns.

 . ?l 1.13.)m...1.
9.. v.7.
. 

.2. 
. .1. .. 1.3.,
rum?)

. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

. 
.Iiv H.

 

 

 

 

 

. J5. r..ll if}. .5311. as!

fix..I..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it .. it. ..I 91.4.523.
.5315:

 

 

 

 

 

. 3.3%..35 s. ..

 

 

 

 

I. 

Jo ?onrjcity WWTP

Headworks leaking wall Picture #2 with Insulated Hot Water Pipe. 

Alleged Condition The text indicates that the wall is leaking and is an example of shoddy
concrete work.

 

Actual Condition This wall picture is directly adjacent to the picture in item 1. It is not more
than a few feet away from the picture above. See attached photo. As we have said before, it is
not uncommon for concrete to leak water after it has been cast. That is the reason that we
specify that a leak test be performed for all water holding structures, and for all visible leaks to
be fixed on concrete structures. There are standard commonly accepted industry practices for
sealing leaks in concrete. A person knowledgeable of the industry would know about these
industry accepted leak sealing products. As stated above, any leaks in the wall were sealed
several weeks or even months ago. The leak in the wall could not be discovered until the leak
test of the grit channel. The leak test was passed in early winter.

Form Tie Hole 

Alleged Condition substandard concrete work not being addressed at the time of
construction.

 

 

 

Actual Condition - This leakage is from a form tie hole in the concrete wall that goes through the
entire thickness ofthe wall. It is not defective concrete work. At the time of the Video, the form
tie hole had not yet been repaired. Form tie holes are created when the contractor uses form
ties such as ?She Bolts?, or taper ties. These form ties go all the way through the concrete walls.
These are required as a part of the structural support to hold the applied load from the concrete
when it is placed. We believe that this tie hole was already sealed before Mr. Afify submitted his
video. It could have been fixed as much as a year ago. For what it is worth, this tie hole would
not have been left unsealed and would not represent a problem as a part of construction. At any
rate, the form tie hole would always have been sealed before we would consider the concrete
wall complete.


:Ju 11,201913

56

32

 

4. The light fixture at CN Cell No. 7. 

Alleged Condition Shoddy construction work is causing damage to the light fixture.

 

Actual Condition - This light fixture is in the CN Gallery near the expansion joint we previously
discussed. The leak is going to be repaired. The light was protected with plastic to keep the
water from getting onto or inside the light fixture. At any rate as soon as the leak is repaired, we
will fully inspect the light to see ifthere was any damage to the fixture. If there is any damage,
the light fixture will be replaced at the contractor?s expense.

5. Door at Lab Installation -

Alleged Condition The design 0fthe door at the new lab is backward as it has a panic bar
installed on the outside of the door, not on the inside as needed. STP staff suggests that that the
door swing should be reversed so that it swings outward with a panic bar on the inside.

Actual Condition The door is installed as designed. The door is installed with the swing inward
to the lab room to comply with fire code. The door cannot be installed with an outward swing
and comply with fire code as it would potentially obstruct the egress of a fire access path. The
assertion that there should be a panic bar to comply with the fire code is false. A panic bar with
an inward acting swing door would not be functional as you need to pull the door open inward
toward the room.

A late issue was brought up by STP Management that they wanted to be able to lock the door,
which the current door hardware would not allow. This was intended to prevent unauthorized
access to the room to safe guard equipment from theft. This issue was resolved with STP
Management in May, 2019. See email below from the Engineer.

Jerry,

Head House Lab door was specifically designed to sit-wring away from the main egress path in
order to avoid clearance issues. There is not a code issue with having a panic bar on the door that swings
into the non-exit corridor (HH?iOii),

During design, GHD coordinated with the plant?s lab manager to make sure these doors had mag stops
lnciuded. The plant staff requested mags stops to normally hold open these doors in order to allow for
the appearance of a more open space.

In addition, Gl?lD met with the plant managers a few months ago and it was determined that no further
action was required at the time.
Eric Dienst, PE

GHD

Proudly empioyee owned