Category: Personal

The views stated in this material are my own and are not the policies of my employer, the nonprofit organizations that I volunteer with or those of my family.

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35 Years, Hanging Up the Blue Mantle

If you’d like to have access to my posts, send me an email, [email protected].

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/35-years-hanging-up-blue-mantle-john-berrigan/?trackingId=L3hof43DQVe6vkptpZF8yg%3D%3D

Thank you!

It’s a privilege to finish a career in water and have the opportunity to move on to the next chapter. As I do, I want to thank the people and organizations that came to me with challenges that we’ve solved together. Michigan Technological University opened a new world for me. There Dr., John C. Crittenden and Dr. David W. Hand saw my potential and, with funding from EPA, invited me to join in the challenge to take all the pollutants out of the environment that my chemical engineering peers had put into it. 35 years later, I am astounded how they set me on a path that would take me across the globe, across the periodic table, and through the list of most every synthetic organic contaminating our environment.

Minnesota Communities – Thank You!

I’d like to thank the Minnesota Cities of St. Louis Park, Hutchinson, Mankato, as well as the communities of Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center, Eden Prairie, Grand Rapids, Hibbing, Le Sueur, Northfield, New Ulm, Stillwater, St. Cloud and St. Peter and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (ML Wastewater Management) for purchasing technology through me or hiring me to improve the quality of life or improving the sustainability and resilience of your communities.

Minnesota, National and UK Agencies – Thank You!

I would like to thank the Minnesota agencies of the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services, Department of Transportation and Department of Military Affairs for their patronage, and thank the Department of Health, and Pollution Control Agency for decades of collaboration.

Nationally, the experience from serving the United States Departments of Air Force, Army, Navy, Energy, and EPA has been stellar, and I’ve valued the opportunity to serve the Department of Justice and to bring new technology to the United Kingdom with permission of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution.

Communities in Wisconsin, Florida, Connecticut,
across the United States, and overseas – Thank You!

My thanks goes out to other communities where I have had the opportunity to help deliver technology to solve their environmental problems or make them more efficient and resilient:

Aiken South Carolina, American Bottoms Treatment Plant Illinois, Ames Iowa, Augusta County Virginia, Bedford Heights Ohio, Boynton Beach Florida, Burlington North Carolina, Cape Fear North Carolina, Cedar Rapids Iowa, Chicago MWRD Illinois, Chocowinity North Carolina, Cincinnati Ohio, Clearwater Florida, Collier County Florida, Columbus Ohio, Council Bluffs Iowa, Creston Iowa, Cross City Florida, El Paso Texas, Davie Florida, Estes Park Colorado, Fayette County Georgia, Fountain Hills Arizona, Gautier Mississippi, Great Lakes Water Authority and it predecessors, Greenville North Carolina, Highland Park Illinois, Holland Michigan, Hollywood Florida, Indianapolis Indiana, Jessup Maryland, Kalamazoo Michigan, Lake Zurich Illinois, Lantana Florida, Lathrop California, Los Angeles County California, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Medina Ohio, Miami-Dade County Florida, Mobile County Alabama, Morehead City North Carolina, Mount Holly New Jersey, North Olmsted Ohio, Oakland County Michigan, Palm Beach County Florida, Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, Pembroke Pines Florida, Purcellville Virginia, Sarasota County Florida, Seminole County Florida, Sioux Falls South Dakota, Toho County Florida, Vernon Connecticut, Wayne Water Districts North Carolina, West Salem Ohio, White Pine Tennessee, Yorkshire Water UK.

Companies and Industries Served – Thank You!

I would also like to thank the companies and industries that came to me to improve their water management, sustainability and resilience: 3M, ABB Lummus Crest, Air Liquide, Alcan Canada, Alpha Cellulose, Amoco, Arco, Bharat Petroleum Corporation LTD India, Blandin Paper, BNSF, BOC Gasses, Boise Cascade, Bostik, BP America, C.S. McCrossan, Canadian Pacific, Cargill Foods, Champion, Chiquita, Computing Devices International, Dairyland Power, Dakota Barge, Darling Ingredients, Dead Sea Bromine, Deere, Doe Run Company, DOFASCO, Dupont, Eastman Kodak, Edward Kramer Sons, Esso Canada, Exxon, Fabricom Belgium, Flint Hills Resources and Koch Industries, Fort Howard Paper, Frigidaire, Froedtert Malt, GlaxoSmithKline, Graco, H B Fuller, Hach Company, Hawkins, Hennepin Paper, Hickson Welch UK, Honeywell, Hurd Millwork, ICI Americas, International Dioxide, Johnson Controls, Kennecott, Lake Superior Paper Industries, Larsen Toubro India, Lignotech, Lombardia Italy, Madison Gas Electric, Marathon Ashland, Merck, Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative, Minnesota Explosives, Minnesota Malting, Allete – Minnesota Power, Minntech, Monsanto, Mosaic, Nalco Div of Ecolab, Nature Energy, Niigata Japan, NKT Denmark, North Star Steel, Northshore Mining, Novartis, NRG Energy, Xcel Energy, Nucor Iron Carbide Trinidad, Outokumpu Ecoenergy Finland, Pall Gelman Sciences, Phillips 66, Rahr Malting, Rhône-Poulenc, Rockwell Automation, Rockwell Avionics, Rohm Haas Company, Sheldahl, Sterling Organics UK, Superior Recycled Fiber Industries, Taiwan Union Chemical Laboratories, Tampa Electric, Tenant Company, Tennessee Eastman, UOP, Upjohn Div. or Pfizer, Veolia, Virchow Krause, Vulcan Chemicals, Waste Management, Westinghouse Hanford, Westinghouse NSP Cottage Grove, WestRock, Wisconsin Electric.

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Innovation Moment – Your Sub Sandwich Fundraiser Becomes Way Too Successful.

We understood undergraduate hunger. Campus had 3,000 dormitory students normally up until 1 or 2 am and a food service that closed down tight at 6 pm. Hunger was going to happen. Eating was going to happen.

The sound of three thousand rumbling stomachs was the sound of opportunity.

My university club needed a fundraiser, and we convinced a local grocer to let us have his grocery store deli after hours. The grocer asked us to keep inventory of what we used and he would donate it to our cause.

We wanted to provide a fast food fix. We decided that the simplest approach was a sub sandwich. We chose ham and cheese, beef and cheese, turkey and cheese, no subsitutions. We could price it compellingly since our ingredients and labor were donated. We limited open hours from 9 pm to midnight, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We put up ads on Tuesday.

Thursday evening, we prepared a set of coolers filled with subs and stationed a car in a lot central to all the dorms. 9:00 pm came. The phones started ringing. The deli would take the call, radio town to the waiting car (yes a while back) and the dorm team would deliver subs to the doorstep.

Our delivery time was 2-4 minutes from the call. The customers were shocked, delighted…hooked.

Friday came and the business was four times Thursdays, we added people at the deli, added a runner car to do nothing but run coolers of subs down to campus.

Saturday came and we added a second runner car. We marked our count on a sheet but didn’t have time to look at it until it was over on Saturday.

350 subs on Weekend 1. Weekend 2 was 750 subs. Weekend 3 was 1,300. Weekend 4 hit almost 2,000 subs.

We had blown past our goal in Weekend 2, but kept going to see where it would go. We were tired, had seen way too much of each other, and with homework starting to suffer we decided that we were going to call it quits.

On Monday, following Weekend 4, walked into the student council office. Oh, I was also a sophomore representative in the student government. The student body president, we will call him Wayne, was on the phone with a rather angry vice president of finance and operations.

Wayne repeated the comments – the local sub shops and the local pizza shops were seeing a fraction of their normal business. Someone was running an unlicensed food business on campus and it had to stop.

The student body president held my eye as he was repeating this. I scribbled a note to him quickly with the words “WE QUIT ON SATURDAY.” Wayne confidently assured the VP of Finance and Operations that he would personally see to it that it was stopped immediately. The call ended and Wayne held out his hand and congratulated my club for singlehandedly wiping out the sub and pizza business in town. Wayne also asked me to assure him that we’d not start it up again.

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COVID-19 Health & Safety Moment


Note: Since this post, there are antiviral medications that are now available to treat you if you are infected. Test yourself if you have symptoms. Consult your physician immediately if you test positive for COVID-19.

Today, September 28th, I am freed from the quarantine the Minnesota Department of Health imposed on me on September 5th. Because I have reactive airways due to both heredity and industrial accidents, I was predisposed to complications. I was exceptionally fortunate to have some of the best advice in the world on COVID-19 and wanted to share my experience. This information has the potential to save your life or the life of someone you know.

On September 3rd, Minnesota Department of Health in collaboration with Mayo Clinic set up testing stations at Minnesota State University campuses, including the campus where my partner works. Over lunch, a group of my partner’s colleagues and students took a break from moving equipment into their new laboratory. As they walked across campus, one of the test site workers asked my partner’s group to take the screening test. My partner mentions the testing program that evening.

On September 5th, Saturday, the test lab notifies us that my partner had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. We were asked to answer the call from Minnesota Department of Health. In the next hour, we receive that call. My partner is to quarantine until September 14th and I am to quarantine for four weeks. If my partner had symptoms, they were indistinguishable from seasonal allergies. They ask a few personal questions about our proximity over the last several days. The Minnesota Department of Health representative simply states that if i don’t have it already, I will.

I go in for COVID-19 screening myself and tested negative as of September 5th. We presume that my partner likely was exposed to the virus on campus. It also meant that I had no people to report to Minnesota Department of Health for tracing.

September 8th, Minnesota Department of Health sends me a letter quarantining September until 29th. Consistent with company policy and my Client policies, that I have to cancel my field work – I work exclusively with essential service providers.

September 11th, Friday, I feel exhausted. The dry cough starts. Friday evening I have a sudden hot flash. I go to bed that night with “the sweats.”

September 12th, Saturday, my asthma is triggered. Consistent with my control strategy, I go on the maximum dose of steroid inhaler at the first sign of viral infection. I call into the pharmacy, they find a prescription on file with a refill remaining. I begin my treatment with a fresh albuterol inhaler.

I call my parents that I am under quarantine and have symptoms. My brother calls back in an hour. He is one of a dozen principal scientists at a global multinational company studying COVID-19 exposure control. Part of that work involved quantifying the viral output of infected people to map the infectious period. He explains that exposure to lower viral loads doesn’t prevent infection, but it can reduce the virulence of the illness. He indicates that the Minnesota Department of Health quarantine period is more than double the actual contagious period. If I am symptom-free for 4 days, then I would (likely) not be exhaling a potentially lethal viral load. I am fortunate to have his advice.

He asks me if I have a room air cleaner. I indicate that I have three running and they are, of course, his company branded hepa filters. My brother indicates that the room air cleaners dramatically reduce viral air concentrations and that gives him confidence that my exposure was lower as a result of having good quality room filters.

My brother urges me to get a digital pulse oximeter to track my lung function. It had been his observation that the worst complications occur when lung function decreases. An oxygen starved body may have any number of complications, including confusion and cognitive impairment. He urges me to go in if the lung functions drop. I schedule a remote appointment with my physician, in case I need it. He has an opening on Tuesday.

That evening, a neighbor calls. He’s distressed that he came home to find his bike stolen and he felt like the management company wasn’t taking his loss seriously. They refuse to walk the garage to look for signs of other thefts. Ugh. Should I break quarantine? I carefully prepare to go out. Touching nothing, I go out to the garage. Sure enough there is another theft – one of my bikes. I was glad I broke quarantine to determine that we had multiple thefts in the building going undetected. (That’s another story.)

September 13th, Sunday, I rest as much as I can. The coughing and asthma symptoms subside with rest. My blood oxygen improves through the day and I continue the albuterol through the day.

September 14th, my partner is released from quarantine and resumes in-person teaching. I work an especially long work day, take an hour rest, then host a homeowner forum and board meeting for my local community. I am able to suppress my cough until after the meeting, when the board members are unwinding. Someone tells a joke and I suppress my coughing fit, perhaps not well enough.

September 15, I wake up coughing at 3 am and can’t get back to sleep. I have a low fever still. I take the inhaler, assess my symptoms and realize this virus is going to take me down unless I get really still until it passes. I talk with my physician at 7:00 am. He is glad that I have a digital pulse oximeter and we agree that if I cannot maintain 90% of normal blood oxygen levels, I am to go directly to the COVID-19 unit at the the local hospital (well not the close one, the one in my network).

September 16th, my blood oxygen levels are nearly (my) normal and the fever is gone. I feel better after having rested and do not get out off the sofa to take the half dozen urgent calls from work.

September 17th, I feel normal again. I keep my work-day to 8 hours. The next day, I feel even better. Compared to the previous weeks, it has felt like a vacation. Because I had broken my hand and foot on August 2nd, I had a follow-up (and hopefully final) set of x-rays. I call the orthopedist, and they require ten days symptom-free and we reschedule for the 28th.

September 28th and I leave my home for the orthopedist. He clears me to bike and lift weights and continue walking slowly working up to running. He suggests Runners World using the beginners program. I go home a free man.

The takeaways here are:

– When you get COVID-19, take it seriously. It’s not like a cold or flu that you can drug down and keep performing. Stop what you are doing and rest until it passes. Otherwise, you may work yourself to death.

– Mask wearing and and room hepa-filtration air cleaners work. They don’t eliminate exposure, but they reduce the possibility that your illness will have complications.

– Buy a digital pulse oximeter and use it to monitor the respiratory illness. Use the readings as an objective quantitative measure to identify when you, or a loved one, needs help. Many respiratory conditions can be monitored – asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia. With extra time on my hands, I found that the digital oximeter works on fingers, toes and ear lobes. (I did stop there!) This means, if you are concerned about circulation in in a foot, use the digital oximeter.

– Talk with your doctor and set up a plan for respiratory illnesses and action points. Steroids help on COVID-19 as they do on other respiratory illnesses. My symptoms did not require Prednisone or the more powerful therapies, but they are available. If you are offered them, take them.