A Letter from Doug Kelley, President of IER

Hi Everyone!  It’s Christmastime!  I hope you all enjoyed Fall’s change of seasons, with Mother Nature giving us those glorious colors before going to sleep for a few months.  Now the snow is rapidly building in the Cascades, and the skiers are hitting the slopes!  Later this week we’ll have daytime highs of only 5oF in Spokane with overnight lows of -10oF – bbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!  

This is when we do our best to help our customers get through the cold weather months.  Please don’t ever hesitate to call on us if you’re struggling with the cold.  Nothing worse than frozen pumps and feed lines that can be avoided with a little proactive attention.

In this newsletter, we share a story about a customer that ran a trial of our new ALKA-Mag+ product right through the cold of last winter in an uninsulated thin-walled poly storage tank!  The quality of ALKA-Mag+ along with their proactive efforts definitely helped them make it through the winter without losing chemical feed.  The ability to maintain reliable feed of a slurry product regardless of the weather was critical, as wintertime in Washington state is the time of year when incoming flows are at a peak and alkalinity is at a minimum.

Since the terms “pH” and “alkalinity” are used so closely, we thought it would be good to include a short technical discussion on the difference between the two.  Hopefully it will help to better understand the importance of maintaining a strong buffer in your wastewater processes so that incoming “surprises” will not result in upset conditions.

Finally, in this newsletter you will be introduced to my better half, Theresa!  Being a relatively small company, members of our Administration Team need to “wear many hats” in order to keep the rest of us organized, and Theresa is amazing in her ability to manage our bookkeeping, accounting, and HR functions . . . not to mention helping to keep me pointed in the right direction!

A Letter from Doug Kelley, President of IER

Welcome to IER’s Summer 2022 Newsletter!  Hoping all are enjoying some much needed downtime with family and friends, either by taking the opportunity to further explore the mysteries and wonders of this incredible planet, or by relaxing quietly at home with a house or yard project, or simply enjoying a really good book that you can’t put down.  Whatever your inclination, I hope your summertime is exactly what you need!

IER is using this summer to roll out the formal name change from AMALGAM-60 to ALKA-Mag+ for our new and improved 60% magnesium hydroxide product.  Customers that currently use AMALGAM-60 will be getting an email describing this change and making the paperwork transition as simple as possible.  We are especially excited that one of IER’s municipal customers will be giving a regional seminar this Fall on the cost-saving benefits of ALKA-Mag+ in their membrane bioreactor treatment process.

We will also be sharing a short article on how the term “MagOx” gets thrown around loosely in the industry, providing a deeper understanding into the chemistry differences of magnesium oxide and various magnesium hydroxide products.

Finally, we introduce you to a key player in IER’s growth.  This person began as a Delivery Specialist at our Pasco, WA plant and developed into a Plant Manager now poised to leap into a new growth region!  He came to IER from a military background and expertise in diesel engine maintenance.  Now he is one of IER’s most highly trained experts in the manufacturing of our new ALKA-Mag+ slurry technology!  And he has the coolest last name ever!

A Letter from Doug Kelley, President of IER

Welcome to Spring of 2022, everybody!  I thought I’d begin this letter by sharing the core values of who we are as a company, and as a division of our global parent – Calix Limited.  We have defined our core values using the word SPIRIT, as described below:

Sense of urgency means we embrace the rate of change necessary to minimize the effects of climate change and are committed to making a sustainable future a reality for all.

Positive impact is what drives us to work every morning – driven to use our unique skills to repair, maintain, and prevent future harm to our planet.

Innovation reflects our ability to think outside the box, to challenge each other, and adapt quickly to new opportunities.

Resolute means we are a purpose-driven company and determined to make a positive difference for the long-term.

Inclusive means we are fostering a diverse and inclusive culture, which is not just a moral imperative but a foundation to driving innovation and business success.

Teamwork is at foundation of our SPIRIT. We are a down-to-earth, caring, honest, ingenious and dedicated team of people united to solve global challenges.

In this newsletter, you will be introduced to an IER team member who embodies our SPIRIT, who has been with us for many, many years, providing his expertise and overall handyman skills to lead our manufacturing growth, as well as helping to identify opportunities for improvement in product quality.  No one knows better than the Plant Manager about the day-to-day variations in product quality, interacting closely with Plant Operators and IER Truck Drivers for their feedback on “how things are running”.  He has shown a fantastic ability to get the most out of his team with his willingness to lead by example when times are tough, and to show respect for all each and every day.

We are also highlighting in this newsletter the development of our new magnesium hydroxide product formulation that was born from the synergy of IER and Calix expertise!  You will learn about the development and performance of ALKA-Mag⁺ – our new 60% Mg(OH)₂ formulation for addressing odor, corrosion, and FOG control in collection systems.  We are extremely excited about this achievement to provide dramatic cost and performance improvements for troublesome problems in the collection system, while simultaneously improving the nature of the sewage entering the treatment plant.

Enjoy!

A warm welcome to our fifth Newsletter.

A Letter from Doug Kelley, President of IER

“So, just a few months ago we thought we had COVID in the rear-view mirror, but along comes the Delta variant, and the battle goes on. Massive forest fires in the West and record-setting floods in the East. As this is likely our new normal, we’ll need everyone globally to pull together around the foundations of science to address these challenges.

My thoughts and prayers are particularly focused on those in communities most ravaged by the increasing power of nature.

In the midst of this battle, IER has added some troops! Joshua Howard and Scott Langner have joined IER’s team of regional experts, bringing their knowledge in wastewater operations and technical problem solving to serve IER’s customers. With Joshua in Houston and Scott in Sioux Falls, IER has dramatically expanded our resources to support our Midwestern customer base. Welcome to the team, Joshua and Scott!

As we expand our sales and service team, we know that we can always rely on tremendous support from the home front – our Administrative Team! In this newsletter you’ll be introduced to our long-standing Customer Service Manager, who cares deeply about each customer’s needs and strives to orchestrate the very best logistical solution even under emergency situations. In the world of wastewater treatment, especially for our industrial customers, there are times when the bacteria in the plant are behaving dramatically differently today than they were yesterday. This could be due to a seasonal upset, or perhaps someone up in the plant dumped a chemical down the drain that they shouldn’t have. It takes an extremely committed and capable administrative person to juggle all the internal and external resources in order to meet the fluctuating needs of our growing customer base.

We are also highlighting in this newsletter the tremendous benefits of IER’s Magnesium Hydroxide products for controlling odor and corrosion in sewer lines. We refer to this application as “killing two birds with one stone”, meaning that by feeding AMALGAM-60 (60% Mg(OH)_₂) into a lift station for collection system odor and corrosion control, the increased pH and alkalinity entering the treatment plant greatly minimizes or eliminates the need for added alkalinity in order to maintain effective nitrification. We hope you enjoy reading this technical story!

While the COVID battle continues, we encourage all to follow the guidance of science and to be as thoughtful as possible toward the health and safety of all those we encounter. This philosophy is identical to IER’s philosophy of providing sound scientific solutions while supporting our customer’s applications with world-class technical service. These times are still far from “normal”, but we can best reach a successful new normal by pulling together around the foundations of science.”