Fast Action Keeps Treatment Plant in Compliance

THE PROBLEM — SITUATION CRITICAL

Blue-White’s Business Development Manager, Rich Hopkins, was on vacation when he received an urgent call from Diana at the Los Angeles County Sanitation District. LACSD’s chemical feed system was failing, and Diana needed someone to assess the situation and find a solution — fast.

Rich was out of the office but explained he would be working a trade show in her area early the following week and offered to visit the facility that Thursday. Diana explained that wouldn’t work, the situation was critical. If the treatment system wasn’t producing clean drinking water within days, LACSD would fall out of regulatory compliance. She needed the situation resolved quickly.

Rich was in the middle of a major project at his Northern California home — moving 50 yards of sand and preparing for winter — but when Diana explained the stakes, Rich didn’t hesitate. He finished his project ahead of schedule, loaded his truck that same evening, and made the fourhour drive in order to be at the LACSD facility first thing the next morning.

After evaluating the failing chemical feed system on-site, Rich and the LACSD team agreed: all of the existing pumps needed to be replaced, and the decision was reached to replace them with Blue-White FLEXFLO® peristaltic pumps. The district ideally wanted all 28 replaced, though they were uncertain how many they could procure immediately. Their one firm requirement — whatever pumps were ordered had to be delivered and installed before the district fell out of compliance.

Rich delivered a proposal that same afternoon. By the next business day, LACSD confirmed an order for 14 pumps. Within 24 hours of that, after additional failures in the existing system, they called back and expanded the order to all 28, with the requirement a hard installation deadline had to be met.

THE SOLUTION

Anticipating the possibility of a large emergency order with a tight deadline, Rich had kept the Blue-White factory closely informed throughout. The moment the purchase order arrived, the factory moved immediately, mobilizing skilled production staff who worked overtime to begin building all 28 pumps that weekend. Even Blue-White CEO Rob Gledhill was on the production floor that Saturday, supporting the team. With tremendous group effort, the entire order was completed in a single weekend.

That Monday members of Blue-White’s engineering team were on-site at LACSD at 7:00 a.m. They removed the failing pumps and installed and tested the new Blue-White peristaltic pumps. By the end of the day, 24 of the 28 pumps — prioritized by criticality — were fully operational. LACSD immediately began producing water that met permit requirements, and avoided any compliance violations. The remaining four pumps were installed and commissioned two days later.

THE RESULT

LACSD stayed in compliance. The district’s customers continued receiving safe, clean drinking water without interruption. The LACSD team were impressed and grateful — and Rich, along with the entire Blue-White team, was proud to have delivered not just a great product, but a public service under real pressure to ensure that safe, clean drinking water was provided to LACSD customers.

Written by:
Blue-White® Industries
714-893-8529