TLI Solutions News

To my good friends at TLI, on August 28, my office hosted a meeting to introduce the JBIC (Japanese Bank for International Cooperation) personal from the Japanese Embassy to the tribal leaders of the Doura area in South East Baghdad. JBIC has offered to issue a soft loan (low interest over 40 years) to design and build an expansion at the Karkh Waste Water Treatment Plant (KWwTP) next to the existing plant to match the flow of effluent that is being delivered to this facility. Currently there is over 400,000 m³/day flowing into this facility and the city has under construction two more trunk lines from additional neighborhoods, so the incoming effluent could increase to around 500,000 m³/day within the next several years. From the Iraq side, there were over 25 Sheikhs and Tribal leaders, Sons of Iraq (SOI) and Awakening Council representatives, an Iraq General and Colonel and a representative from the Iraq Vice President's Office. The meeting was very successful. It reminded me of an EPA RAB or Community meeting where we pulled the community together and reviewed the status of the Waste Water Treatment Plant and addressed their concerns on topics of security, new jobs to the community, and how the SOI and the Awakening Council deal with the Iraqi police and army.

The big deal here now is what happens to the tens of thousands of men from the communities that the U.S. have been paying to keep the neighborhoods safe and keep Al Qaida and the other terrorists organizations out of the neighborhoods. In this community the SOI fought and pushed Al Qaida out of the Doura area, not the Coalition and Iraqi Army, so from their perspective they do not need them. So we wanted to make sure this will not be a problem. Now that the U.S. no longer pays the SOI, there are many of the families now out of work and if the Army or some other organization does not absorb them, they could go the other way, and perhaps we would be fighting them next.

Hello, COL Jerome Stolinski checking in again from Baghdad. Just incase your not sick of the sewer systems in Baghdad yet, here is another good news story concerning the Coalition Forces here.

This first picture on the right gives an overview of the construction of a new sewer system to replace the open slit trenches in the New Baghdad District, which is one of ten districts in Baghdad and is located in the north east sector of the city. The project includes the construction of sewer trunk lines, manholes, lateral lines to homes and businesses, and 14 new pump stations. The project eliminates sewage pooling in the neighborhoods. Approximately 100,000 residents will benefit from this project which is now 99% complete with an Aug. 31^st estimated completion date. As the map shows, the raw sewage is diverted untreated straight into the Diyala River, which dumps into the Tigris River in the lower third of the city. The immediate goal of this $31M project is to get the sewage out of the neighborhoods, to avoid health problems, and eventually construct a Modular Waste Water Treatment plant in the vicinity to treat the waste with tertiary treatment. The Baghdad Sewage Authority has allocated in the FY08 budget $100M to construct two waste water treatment facilities capable of treating 100,000 m3/day each. One of these plants is planned to be located in this area. This project has had several ups and downs since it was first awarded in Feb. 2005 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Gulf Region Central (GRC) District. The project was stale mated earlier this year when three workers were killed by asphyxiation while being overcome by sewage gas. For various reasons (flagrant safety violations and others), USACE switched contractors. Now the project will be turned over to the Baghdad Sewer Authority at a ribbon cutting ceremony around Sept. 3^rd.

This is one of many large projects that the coalition forces are working together on to remove open sewage trenches and eliminate raw sewage from pooling in the neighborhoods in Baghdad. This city clean up effort targets the elimination of the health hazards associated with this problem. The countdown continues only four months left in beautiful downtown Baghdad.

Kamaliya – Obaidi Sewer System Construction

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	Contents Iraqi Tribes & Iragi Officials Uniting Coalition Good News Underground Iraq Today, In Iraq, Was Good August Word From Iraq July Word From Iraq June Word From Iraq Outstanding EMS Guidance Recognized The Word From Iraq TLI Solutions is Prime on EMS A TLI Solutions' Contract Expands		News Archives 2006 2007
	Iraqi Tribes & Iraqi Officials Uniting September, 2008 By Colonel Jerome Stolinski (JROC Director) To my good friends at TLI, on August 28, my office hosted a meeting to introduce the JBIC (Japanese Bank for International Cooperation) personal from the Japanese Embassy to the tribal leaders of the Doura area in South East Baghdad. JBIC has offered to issue a soft loan (low interest over 40 years) to design and build an expansion at the Karkh Waste Water Treatment Plant (KWwTP) next to the existing plant to match the flow of effluent that is being delivered to this facility. Currently there is over 400,000 m³/day flowing into this facility and the city has under construction two more trunk lines from additional neighborhoods, so the incoming effluent could increase to around 500,000 m³/day within the next several years. From the Iraq side, there were over 25 Sheikhs and Tribal leaders, Sons of Iraq (SOI) and Awakening Council representatives, an Iraq General and Colonel and a representative from the Iraq Vice President's Office. The meeting was very successful. It reminded me of an EPA RAB or Community meeting where we pulled the community together and reviewed the status of the Waste Water Treatment Plant and addressed their concerns on topics of security, new jobs to the community, and how the SOI and the Awakening Council deal with the Iraqi police and army. The big deal here now is what happens to the tens of thousands of men from the communities that the U.S. have been paying to keep the neighborhoods safe and keep Al Qaida and the other terrorists organizations out of the neighborhoods. In this community the SOI fought and pushed Al Qaida out of the Doura area, not the Coalition and Iraqi Army, so from their perspective they do not need them. So we wanted to make sure this will not be a problem. Now that the U.S. no longer pays the SOI, there are many of the families now out of work and if the Army or some other organization does not absorb them, they could go the other way, and perhaps we would be fighting them next.		Originally the Iraq Army was only going to absorb 20%, which left the rest in question, now to ensure there is not unrest there are plans in place to ensure they all have a job and do not have to resort to other means to survive. The VP representative assured them that they would employ 300 of the SOI personnel from this area for security (three shifts) of the WwTP. All went well and we are now planning a future site visit to the facility to take a party of Japanese JBIC personnel to the site and meet the folks of Doura and the Government of Iraq (GoI) at the WwTP. At the head of the table were myself, Mr. Ahmad (VP Office), Minister Counselor Kansuke Nagaoka (Japan Embassy), and Mr. Rabadi (JROC). Several points were brought up in the meeting. Such as the Doura tribes explained they have fought Al-Qaeda and other terrorists groups hard to purify the area from all terrorist cells. The Doura tribes explained they have lost 320 martyrs in the fight with Al-Qaeda terrorists. Their areas now are much quieter than most of Iraq. The Doura tribes explained the SoI program is the most successful security program the Coalition Forces (CF) has implemented so far. And the KWwTP project will not be successful if security is not available and the local SoI need to provide it. The Doura tribes explained the SoI and Iraqi Army/Police will cooperate and work together in providing the security to the people and property in the Doura area—emphasizing that without the help of the SoI the Iraqi Army/Police is not capable of protecting the area from terrorists. The main concerns from the residents were the need for large operations like this in their area to keep the locals employed. The sooner they get this going the better, for the residents and the environment (Tigris River). GRD/JROC role is to coordinate and facilitate the relationship between JBIC and GoI if necessary in an effort to successfully initiate and execute the JBIC KWwTP Expansion project for the people of Doura. The Doura people were very happy we had the meeting and invited us to come visit them in their areas; the plan is to have site tours the first week of Oct, after the Ramadan feast.

	Coalition Good News September, 2008 By Colonel Jerome Stolinski (JROC Director) Hello, COL Jerome Stolinski checking in again from Baghdad. Just incase your not sick of the sewer systems in Baghdad yet, here is another good news story concerning the Coalition Forces here. This first picture on the right gives an overview of the construction of a new sewer system to replace the open slit trenches in the New Baghdad District, which is one of ten districts in Baghdad and is located in the north east sector of the city. The project includes the construction of sewer trunk lines, manholes, lateral lines to homes and businesses, and 14 new pump stations. The project eliminates sewage pooling in the neighborhoods. Approximately 100,000 residents will benefit from this project which is now 99% complete with an Aug. 31^st estimated completion date. As the map shows, the raw sewage is diverted untreated straight into the Diyala River, which dumps into the Tigris River in the lower third of the city. The immediate goal of this $31M project is to get the sewage out of the neighborhoods, to avoid health problems, and eventually construct a Modular Waste Water Treatment plant in the vicinity to treat the waste with tertiary treatment. The Baghdad Sewage Authority has allocated in the FY08 budget $100M to construct two waste water treatment facilities capable of treating 100,000 m3/day each. One of these plants is planned to be located in this area. This project has had several ups and downs since it was first awarded in Feb. 2005 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Gulf Region Central (GRC) District. The project was stale mated earlier this year when three workers were killed by asphyxiation while being overcome by sewage gas. For various reasons (flagrant safety violations and others), USACE switched contractors. Now the project will be turned over to the Baghdad Sewer Authority at a ribbon cutting ceremony around Sept. 3^rd. This is one of many large projects that the coalition forces are working together on to remove open sewage trenches and eliminate raw sewage from pooling in the neighborhoods in Baghdad. This city clean up effort targets the elimination of the health hazards associated with this problem. The countdown continues only four months left in beautiful downtown Baghdad.		Kamaliya – Obaidi Sewer System Construction
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	Underground Iraq August, 2008 By Colonel Jerome Stolinski (JROC Director) For this story, we are going underground beneath Sadr City to get the real dirt on this country. The Zeblin Main Sewer Trunk Line collects sewage from the Eastern side of Baghdad—through Adamia, Sadr City and the 9 Nissan districts—and transports raw sewage to the Rustamiyah Waste Water Treatment Plants. The Zeblin Trunk Line is currently assessed at 40% operational. The major issues are blockage as follows: 50% due to grease and industrial waste buildup within the line 20% caused by residential trash As done in other parts of the city when trash collection was suspended due to civil unrest, people started removing the manhole covers and throwing the trash in the sewer. The cleaning of these trunk lines is paramount to increase the effectiveness of the sewer collection system and eliminate standing sewage in streets. This contract includes the following: Clean, repair, and remove sludge from the 25- kilometer long Zeblin Interceptor line in Baghdad as necessary, to eliminate sewage ponding in streets, homes and other areas in the city Rehabilitation of pump stations and repair of any major sewer collapses in any of the sewage networks that are connected to the trunk line The ultimate goal of this project is to increase effectiveness and improve the City of Baghdad sewer system with respect to public health, safety, and welfare of the people and to enhance the efficiency of Zeblin Interceptor Sewer Trunk Line. This project is budgeted at $7M and should take about 6 months to complete. The design drawings and specifications are currently being put together by the Baghdad Sewage Authority (BSA). The JROC has discussed this at the weekly Joint Planning Commission. Currently the project is allocated in the 2009 budget, but because of standing sewage in Sadr City and other areas, our office is urging the Government of Iraq to move this up to fund it in FY08. The large metal object in the lower right marked Type A is connected by a cable and literally pulled through the trunk line to clear out the line. It is estimated that there are over 2 million Dupa’s dumping into this line. As Mr Duba can tell you, that's a heavy load to contend with.		Sewers, Manholes, and Equipment

	Today, In Iraq, Was Good Aug, 2008 By Colonel Jerome Stolinski (JROC Director) If you have read my previous articles, then you know here at the Joint Reconstruction Operation Center (JROC) we work with a lot of high-ranking civilian and military personnel with the Government of Iraq (GoI). Several weeks ago our office received a call from the Chairman of the Baghdad Provincial Council, which is above the Mayor of Baghdad and holds and sets the budget for the Providence of Baghdad. I’ll leave out the names here, but the Chairman called in dire need of a favor. His nephew was in a terrible automobile accident leaving him impaled by a steel pole. The local hospital in Baghdad received him, removed his spleen and put him in a room. I've never been there, but the Chairman described it as unsanitary, and has terrible care. He said if he leaves his nephew there, he will die— pleading with us to get him admitted into our Military hospital here in the Green Zone. There was an HBO special on Baghdad ER—this is it. Any Coalition forces injured or deceased are flown to the hospital here, those that require more complex care are stabilized and then sent to Germany. We quickly made a few phone calls. To get a local Iraqi into a U.S. Hospital requires a U.S. Major General Officer to sign off on the paperwork. So we rapidly completed the paperwork, located a MG to do the signing-off, and proceeded to admit the Chairman's nephew into the hospital. His relatives brought him in a private vehicle. The young man was literally on his death bed and the doctors here were very up front. They gave him very little chance of recovery. We also obtained permission to have his brother stay with him day and night in the adjacent bed. Several weeks later the young man—having the proper care—made a miraculous recovery and went home the other day to the care of his family. He is expected to make a full recovery. Not all stories here in Iraq have a happy ending, but today was good. The family was extremely grateful and invited us to celebrate at their house. For security reasons we were unable to attend, but it was a nice gesture. That’s all for now.		The tall Major in this photo is the doctor. He is set to go back home in a few days. The young accident victim will be his last miracle of life here in Iraq before he redeploys. The female LTC is LTC Marisa Quintanilla of the JROC. She did most of the leg work to get the young man admitted, and worked all the clearances to get the family members into the hospital. On the far left of this photo is me. The family

	August Word From Iraq August, 2008 By Colonel Jerome Stolinski (JROC Director) Hello again, one of the missions we work on here at the Joint Reconstruction Operation Center (JROC) in downtown Baghdad is the coordination of the municipal wastewater treatment of the 7M people of Baghdad. Currently there are over 400,000 m³/day of untreated waste water being dumped into the Tigris River. The Government of Iraq (GoI) has recently contracted with a Swedish company for the delivery and installation of 13 self contained compact wastewater treatment units to be placed at various locations around Baghdad. Each CU serves 100.000 people; the 13 CUs will serve a total of 1.3M people. Design Capacity of each unit is 10.000 m³/day (equivalent to 2.6m GPD). Estimated cost < $4M US/each ($54M US for 13). The purpose of these units is the treatment of wastewater of small municipalities or towns without sewer systems. These CUs are intended for short term relief until additional permanent facilities can be constructed. These units will be installed and operate over the next several years and will help alleviate some of the pollution currently contaminating the Tigris River and relieve some of the concerns of the Iraqi citizens using the river south of Baghdad. As a side note, we have a number of other actions ongoing actions with the GoI to eliminate untreated effluent from being dumped into the Tigris river. The most major is the reconstruction and expansion of the Karkh WWTP in south Baghdad in the Doura District. When operational the Karkh plant will have the capacity to treat the 400,000 m³/day currently being dumped into the Tigris and much more to allow for future capacity as the population of Baghdad grows. Our office has been working this issue for the past year; we had a meeting with the Japanese Embassy yesterday to discuss this project. Japan is providing approximately 550M in loan to Iraq for this and several other projects across Iraq. Thanks all for now.		Back to top Wastewater Treatment Compact Units.
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	July Word From Iraq July, 2008 By Colonel Jerome Stolinski (JROC Director) Hello again from Baghdad. Last week, the Joint Reconstruction Operations Center (JROC) hosted a meeting to discuss on-going and future sewer projects in the Adhamiyah Security District. Co-chaired by the Baghdad Provincial Council and the GRC (Gulf Region Central) District, USACE, the meeting brought together the Amanat Baghdad, the Adhamiyah Beladiyah, and three GRC contractors in a successful effort to synchronize and de-conflict sewer projects within the yellow circle shown at right. The Baghdad Provincial Council, the GRC, and the JROC are currently working to schedule similar meetings for the Al Mansour, Al Bayaa, and Doura districts. Because of security problems the GRC Construction Representatives are only allowed to spend a minimal time on the job site, this has posed a significant QA/QC problem. Because of this, the contractors have been delivering less than satisfactory performance on the job sites, this problem is systemic of engineering projects all over Baghdad. The resolution to this problem is to have the Amanats office designate a few engineers to work on the jobsite and report issues to the USACE GRC Construction Representatives. Since these personnel have no COR contractual rights there are a few additional things to work out, and just getting all these people to the same table takes a monumental effort from our office. Thanks all for now from Baghdad, it's getting hot—120 degrees in the shade today!		Baghdad meeting, area map.

	June Word From Iraq June, 2008 By Colonel Jerome Stolinski (JROC Director) Hello again from Baghdad. A few weeks ago we had a meeting that marked the transition of the Baghdad Joint Planning Commission (JPC) from the GRD (Gulf Region Division, USACE) compound (in the Green Zone) to the Baghdad Provincial Council building in downtown Baghdad. At this meeting, the Baghdad Provincial Council announced that all unfunded projects of the Baghdad Integrated Project Priority List (BIPPL) will receive funding in 2008. This marks a huge accomplishment and a significant victory for the citizens of Baghdad, as you can see from some of the photos (at right) there are several parts of the city where sewage is over flowing in the streets of Baghdad. The BIPPL is a collaborative list of unfunded projects put together by JROC and the Amanat Baghdad, then prioritized by the operational status of the system and the impact the fully operational system will have on the Iraqi people. There are 63 sewer projects on the BIPPL that total $179M. JROC has requested a complete project list to confirm commitment and to have better fidelity on the Amanat Baghdad sewer plan for 2008.Part of the mission of the JROC is to hand over city planning processes to the Government of Iraq so they eventually become independent and manage the government without the aid of the coalition forces, so this transition of the JPC was hailed as a huge success and was well received when the JROC briefed General Petraeus.That’s all for now!		From Top: Baghdad meeting, sewage site problems.
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	Outstanding EMS Guidance Recognized June 2008 The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) was awarded the 2008 FHWA Transportation Planning Excellence Award on June 16, for the Practitioner’s Handbook series produced for AASHTO. Our own Dave Soltis was, "the primary author of the EMS Practitioner’s Handbook" as noted by Wayne Kober, of Wayne W. Kober, Inc. In offering his congratulations, Mr. Kober notes that, "Since 2003, you [Dave Soltis] have supplied some outstanding EMS guidance to the State DOT’s." The Handbook titled Developing and Implementing an Environmental Management System in a State Department of Transportation (DOT) can be viewed here. It is one in a series of ten handbooks. The Transportation Planning Excellence Awards Program is a biennial awards program developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to recognize outstanding initiatives across the country to develop, plan, and implement innovative transportation planning practices. The program is co-sponsored by the American Planning Association.		President of TLI Solutions, Inc., George Duba, remarks, “The timing for such recognition couldn't’t be better. With gas prices sharply increasing, the whole country is going green and we seem to be ahead of the curve. We have done projects and authored documents that are on the cutting edge of sustainability and environmental stewardship. Essentially, we've been green and now we can share that experience with an ever more interested public.”

	The Word From Iraq May 19, 2008 By Colonel Jerome Stolinski Currently, I'm deployed to Iraq for 12 months (Jan–Dec 2008) as the Director for the Joint Reconstruction Operations Center (JROC) located in the Green Zone in downtown Baghdad. As a civilian, I am an environmental project manager for the Omaha District Corps of Engineers in Omaha, Nebraska. For the past 15 years, the Omaha District has had the pleasure to work with many excellent firms in the Environmental and OE business—TLI Solutions is one of those companies. Many of our PMs and technical staff have enjoyed working with George Duba, Steve Swanson, Gene Barber, and other of their staff on many highly successful projects all over the United States. George tracked me down in Baghdad somehow; really good contractors can do that stuff. They must have had Intel Training from the KGB or something! In this first article, I'll explain what the JROC is. The JROC is an office that was created by General Petraeus in 2005. It was implemented to coordinate the reconstruction efforts of the Iraqi Government and the Coalition Forces in efforts to synchronize projects; therefore, they compliment the efforts of all. This way, the Iraqi Government can have a handle on all projects being completed within Baghdad. The JROC coordinates the reconstruction efforts of the ten central districts of Baghdad and surrounding Qadas (rural areas), a relatively daunting task. But there are approximately 30 personnel in the office: 20 Iraqi personnel for the different ministries, 5 contractors, 1 Iraqi colonel, and 7 U.S. uniform military officers.		Lunch buffet of Iraqi food in our Baghdad office Pictured—from right to left—is Shukri Rabaddi (a contractor from Jordan), Colonel Nasar (Iraq Army), me, and, in the background, some Iraq personnel in our office. The JROC works for several organizations and maneuver elements. I personally answer to approximately a half-dozen general officers. Like a contractor, everybody is my customer. That’s all for now!
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	TLI Solutions is Prime on EMS May 2008 TLI Solutions is the prime contractor for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U. S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program (US-VISIT), and Administration and Logistic Branch (ALB), on project called Environmental Management Support for US-VISIT, Administrative and Logistics Branch. Federal agencies are expected to perform their missions in an environmentally responsible manner without adversely affecting efficiency, productivity, safety, or health. Environmental stewardship has evolved from a best practice to a mandate. TLI Solutions will evaluate environmental practices, policies, and vision within US-VISIT.		The work also involves exploration of adopting a Comprehensive Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (EOSH) program, incorporating a best practice Environmental Management System (EMS), and metrics to measure the effectiveness of sustainability and conservation practices.

	A TLI Solutions' Contract Expands April 2008 TLI Solutions' Military Munitions Response Program (MMRP) contract with the U.S. Army Environmental Command (USAEC) has expanded to add new MMRP work. The expansion includes two new sites to TLI Solutions' contract to conduct Site Inspections and expands their geographic area into Texas. It also includes follow-on sampling, which enables TLI Solutions to conduct multi-incremental sampling at depth for some of their Hawaii sites.		The MMRP was established in 2001 to manage the environmental, health, and safety issues presented by unexploded ordnance (UXO), discarded military munitions (DMM), and munitions constituents (MC). The MMRP is an element of the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP), under which the Secretary of Defense carries out environmental restoration resulting from historical activities.

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