As he stood looking out the rain-spattered windows of his office in downtown Waterville, Herbert Henry Oxidane, P.I., CWT, cracked a sideways smile when his black rotary phone sprang to life. One the third ring, he answered, “Detective H2O here. The best water treater this side of the Ohio, solving water problems drop by drop. Whatcha got?”

“Mr. Oxidane…I mean Detective Oxidane…or H2O…whatever your moniker is…this is Charlie Bexter from Carlisle Industrial Inc. I got your name from a friend, and thought I’d drop a dime on you.”

“I see,” replied the detective. “Well, since you’ve got me on the blower, why don’t you spit it out. I charge by the minute.”

“Paying cabbage is no problem if you can solve our dilemma. We have this process loop, you see, and it keeps getting loaded up with those microbiological critters, I tell you, despite our best defenses. Why don’t you come on down, and I’ll give you the full scoop,” said Mr. Bexter.

“Alright, you’ve hooked me. I’ll get my rust bucket started and be out your way within the hour. I might have to fill up the old mare first since you’re uphill most of the way, and she gets mighty thirsty in her old age.”

“Fantastic, Detective H2O, we’ll be ready,” replied Mr. Bexter.

* * *

As if on demand, the deluge of rain slowed to a light drizzle as Detective H2O pulled to a stop in his rusty, blue Ford. Water was in his blood, and weather like this always soothed his soul. Charlie Bexter met him at the front gate and escorted him to his office in the middle of the plant. The detective had never been here before. A multinational water treatment company had this account buttoned up for years. It was telling that he was being invited here now. Something had them perplexed, and solutions weren’t forthcoming.

“This is quite the complex operation you have here, Mr. Bexter. Pipes running everywhere from every direction, it seems. Some water and some not,” noted Detective H2O.

“Oh please, call me Charlie, and what should I call you?” asked Charlie.

“Detective H2O,” was the bland reply.

“Oh, of course,” Charlie quickly recovered. “You are quite right, Detective H2O. This facility is like a bowl of spaghetti. Every nook and cranny has a purpose to get the final product out the door, but it ain’t no easy task keeping it all going, and you can take that to the bank.”

“Tell me about this process loop that’s giving you the headache that you mentioned on the phone,” said the detective.

Charlie looked out at the facility and said, “The Main Process loop provides cooling water to several critical processes in the plant. It’s a completely closed loop, all clammed up with no water open to the atmosphere. We had some failures in piping and even a heat exchanger. Upon inspection, all the reports said MIC or microbiologically induce corrosion, that is. That came as no surprise since the metal samples we took even felt a little slimy as well.”

“I see,” said Detective H2O. “What did you do next? You mentioned taking action on the phone earlier.”

“First, we tested the system for microbiological activity and boy did we find them! Then we added a nonoxidizing biocide. That seemed to ward them off for a little while, but soon they were back! We tried a few more times, but the same old story. It was like a broken record. Then we moved to an oxidizing biocide with a pre- and post drain and flush. That’s not an easy task with a loop this large, plus we had to add fresh water treatment chemicals into it. The critters came back again! Sometimes, you can even smell them in the water. Just over a month and a half ago, we repeated the oxidizer, drain, and flush again. You can probably guess what happened next. They seemingly returned from beyond the grave to resurrect themselves once more. That’s where you come in. Our experts are out of ideas,” Charlie said, dropping his head.

The Detective eyed the poor sap and replied, “Well, you've got quite the story to tell there. There’s a lot to take in, but I’ll do my best to get this canary to sing. First, what is the chemical treatment program you use in the Main Process Loop?”

“Nitrite. Now I know where you’re going with this because we continually see our nitrite levels drop as the bug counts go up. That’s also why we did the preflush prior to adding the oxidizer, since we didn’t want the reaction between the two becoming part of the oxidizer demand.”

“Yes, very good," replied the detective. “Nitrite can be bug food, and we’ll take that into consideration. Nitrite is an excellent corrosion inhibitor and is used successfully in all kinds of applications without the issues you are experiencing. We won’t discount its impact, but let’s get the lay of the land first. I’ll need to see your testing logs, disinfection reports, and whatever other details you can show me regarding the actions you have taken.”

“We’re an open book, Detective. It’s already all laid out on that table over there. Help yourself.”

As Detective H2O perused through the files, he took notes, pulled out his near-abacus calculator to confirm a few things, and peppered Charlie with questions. Anything Charlie didn’t know, he pulled his guys in to answer.

“Charlie, procedurally I can’t poke holes in your story. It does appear the disinfections were by the book with enough oxidizer for enough time throughout a multitude of check points in the system to be effective. In most applications, it would have worked. There’s more to find out though. Can you walk me through the system next? I want to see everything from where the makeup water comes in to the pumps, heat exchangers, sidestream filters, chemical addition points, vents, and drains,” said Detective H2O.

“Not a problem, and I know just where to start this little trip. Follow me.”

Charlie took Detective H2O through a maze of piping, stairs, and aisle ways. All the time, the detective kept his eye on the Main Process Loop piping and sketched a process flow diagram as they went along. They tracked down every tee, opened the pot feeder, inspected the bag filters, etc.

As they stood at what Charlie said was the end of the road, Detective H2O glared at his hand-sketched process flow diagram and said, “Ok, this is the last jump off point from the main line just above our heads. It’s the same diameter as the primary flow of the Main Process Loop…quite large. Where does it go?”

“Oh, that’s there for future expansion plans so we can connect those operations to the Main Process Loop. It ends just beyond that wall there,” Charlie said.

“It ends, you say. Can you show me?”

Charlie led the way through a door into the next room where the piping simply ended with a blind flange.

Peering up at the stunted piping, Detective H2O knew he’d found what he had been looking for all along. “So tell me, Charlie. When you did your disinfection, draining, and flushing of the system, did you do anything special with this part of the piping?” asked the detective.

“Ummmm…well, no, we didn’t. As a matter of fact, I really had not even thought much about it until now. I’m sure it drained with the rest of the system,” Charlie replied.

Detective H2O gave his trademark, sideways, slightly unsettling smile and proclaimed, “That is a dead leg, my good fellow.”

“A what?” asked Charlie in confusion. “A dead what?”

“A dead leg. Not a zombie apocalypse, but an area within a system with low-to-no flow. It can be a leg of piping dead ended like this one or even an offline system, such as a chiller. Not only can sediment slowly collect in these areas, but so can microbiological activity such as biofilms. Because of the lack of sufficient flow, water treatment chemicals cannot reach far enough into them to be effective. The bugs set up home in these dead legs, safe from your biocides and disinfection activities. Each time you tried to clean the system, they simply waited and inoculated the bulk water all over again. I believe this is our smoking gun,” observed the detective.

“Wow. A dead leg. Who’d have thunk, but what you say makes sense. I’m tired of taking the fall for these little guys. What can we do about it, Detective?”

“In your case, I think you need to disinfect the system one more time, unfortunately, but this time the ENTIRE system. If you can’t remove the whole dead leg, you’ll at the very least need to install a drain line on the end that you’ll have to open on a regular basis to establish flow, remove any sediment, and expose the piping to the water treatment. Plus, I’m curious to see what’s inside that pipe. It will need to be cleaned out. Let’s walk the system again to make sure we’re not missing any other such dead legs, and then I’ll work with you to develop a plan for a thorough disinfection this time,” said Detective H2O.

“Alright, then! Let’s get started! We’ll have those critters sleepin’ with the fishes before we know it!”

One month, two months, six months, and a year later, Charlie Bexter called Detective H2O to give him an update on the Main Process Loop. There was no noted microbiological activity. Detective H2O had saved the day once again, and was paid all the cabbage he was due.

* * *

In the underbelly and penthouses of the metropolis of Waterville, where the boilers percolate and cooling towers fog, there is one man who works tirelessly to end corrosion, stop scale, fight lowlife microbes, and conserve water. That man is Detective H2O. Best water treater this side of the Ohio. Solving water problems drop by drop.