10 Apps For Water And Wastewater Professionals
By Laura Martin
With a multitude of new technologies and tools coming to the market each year, it can be hard for water industry professionals to decide what they need.
But there is one tool that every wastewater and water treatment operator, engineer, and facility manager should have — and it’s small enough to fit in your pocket. Smartphones, when programmed with the right apps, can serve important functions at wastewater and water treatment facilities. These 10 apps make it easier to do everything from calculating chemical dosages to installing the right size sewage pipes. (See also: "10 (More) Apps For Water And Wastewater Professionals")
Developer: The Missouri Rural Water Association
Platforms: Android 2.0.1 and up
Cost: Free
Heavy rain or storm events can sometimes catch a wastewater facility off guard, leading to sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) and combined sewer overflows (CSOs). This inflow calculator app makes it easy for the operator to estimate just how much the expected rainfall will impact their facility. Simply enter the drainage area in square feet and the rainfall amount in inches, and the app estimates the inflow into the sewer from rainfall in gallons. The app also includes a companion exceedence calculator, which uses the facility design flow in gallons per day (GDP), the facility average dry weather flow in GDP, and the sum of all estimated added inflow (determined in the inflow calculator) to estimate the flow exceeding design flow in GDP.
Water And Waste Management Engineer
Developer: Multieducator Inc.
Platforms: iPhone or iPad
Cost: $4.99
This one-stop app for engineers contains over 200 specialized formulas and 600 conversion formulas commonly used by water and wastewater management professionals. The formulas can be used for facility operations, sewer pipeline, sewage treatment, sludge, stormwater runoff, water flow, and more.
Dosage Calculations For Water Treatment
Developer: The Missouri Rural Water Association
Platforms: Android or Apple devices 2.0 and up
Cost: Free
The ability to determine the correct chemical dosages is essential for a water treatment specialist. This app assists with all the basic calculations needed to make necessary changes in treatment including dosage using dry chemicals, liquid chemicals, and chlorine gas. It also includes a specific gravity calculator and a solution strength mix calculator to further assist the water operator.
Developer: THInc.
Platforms: Android 2.2 and up
Cost: Free
This basic app is designed to calculate and record mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS), return activated sludge (RAS), and waste activated sludge (WAS) for water reclamation/wastewater treatment facilities. The app allows the user to simply shake the device to clear.
Developer: Transparent Blue
Platforms: Requires Android 1.6 and up
Cost: $1.89
This app is designed for those involved in building or maintaining sewer infrastructure. The app uses “The Manning Equation” to calculate the necessary pipe diameter and slope for a given project. The user inputs the desired flow, length, initial ground elevation, and final ground elevation, and the app uses this data to calculate the slope, diameter, depth, and tractive force needed. The user has the option of working in U.S. units or SI units.
Developer: Wateropolis Inc.
Platforms: iOS 4.3 or later or iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
Cost: Free, some features require additional cost
A group of seasoned water treatment professionals with over 20 years of experience got together to create this app, designed for the water plant operator. The app features a variety of formulas, convertors, and look-up tables that make the day-day job of operating a water treatment plant simpler. Calculators include volume conversion, flow conversion, pressure conversion, tank capacity estimator, tank media calculator, liquid feed rate, solid chemical dosing, and more. An email feature is available to share data with colleagues or save for later use.
Developer: Envirogen Group
Platforms: Android 2.3.3 and up
Cost: Free
Designed for the water treatment service engineer, this app calculates softener sizing, reverse osmosis performance and normalization, and silt density (fouling) index. It is currently set up for UK units, but the app will soon be developed to include additional calculations, conversions, and unit systems.
Developer: G-Ware
Platforms: Android 1.5 and up
Cost: $.99
Keep track of critical tank levels with this app. Simply input starting levels and feed rate, and the app will calculate the current tank level every 60 seconds. The app is designed to monitor a variety of chemicals including peroxide, caustic soda, fluoride, hypochlorite, sulfuric acid, and ethylene, and will display both starting level and current level for each substance. A low level alert will appear when any tank is at or below low level setpoint and allow the user to update the levels when a tank is filled. The app can be used to monitor multiple tanks. Each tank’s level can be emailed to anyone directly from the app. Designed for large and small water and wastewater treatment plants.
Developer: Sensorex
Platforms: IOS, Android version is coming soon
Cost: App is free
This app turns smart devices into pH, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), conductivity/ total dissolved solids (TDS), and temperature measuring meters that not only measure, but also communicate collected data via instant and error-free email. Users can simply plug the SAM-1 into the audio jack of their smartphone or tablet then plug in the smart sensor to take accurate readings. Samples can be measured in the lab, field, or plant and the readings can be shared via email.
Developer: Thermo Fisher Scientific
Platforms: iOS 4.3 or later
Cost: Free
Not sure what product will do the job? This app makes it easy to find the product that matches each individual application need, including pure water analysis, power plant water analysis, drinking water analysis, wastewater analysis, pulp and paper manufacturing, and general processing.
These 10 apps are just a sampling of available apps for water and wastewater industry professionals (see 10 more apps here). Have you ever used an app at work? Which one? Tell us your experience in the comments.