Biggest Challenges For Public Water Systems Over The Next Decade

Tim Wolfe, Americas Water Practice Leader for MWH, discusses many of the challenges facing public water systems including EPA regulations, aging water distribution systems, funding options, changing consumers’ perceptions about water and more.

The following is an excerpt from a Q&A with Water Online Radio. Click on the Radio Player above to hear the full interview.

Water Online Radio: What are some of the EPA regulations that are creating headaches for municipalities?

Tim Wolfe: I think for the last decade or so, we've been dealing with the balancing act between disinfection byproducts and microbials that cause pathogenic issues. Stage II is out and what it's doing is making sure that no matter where you live in a water system, in a distribution system, you're getting water quality that's equal. That creates some issues for water treatment plants around the country.

On the flip side of that, we've got cryptosporidium, which is a disease-causing pathogenic organism -- a protozoan -- and there's no quick, inexpensive or accurate way to measure it. Like many regulations, it revolves around a treatment technique. That treatment technique is combined filtered water turbidity. The challenge with that regulation is that if you violate or exceed your combined filter water turbidity, you've got to find some way of disinfecting cryptosporidium.

Water Online Radio: Aside from regulations, what other factors are driving water treatment plant upgrades?

Tim Wolfe: Regulations drove upgrades for the last two decades. Today, the thing that is driving a lot of water treatment plant upgrades is aging infrastructure. The difficulty for the public water systems is you can't go to your council or your board and say, “Hey, EPA's making me do it.”

Aging infrastructure needs to be replaced, but it's more difficult to sell. The old saying, if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Well, in many cases, it is broke; we're just not acknowledging it yet…

Click on the Radio Player above to hear the full interview.