DRINKING WATER

testing-for-yesterday's-water Testing For Yesterday's Water In A PFAS World

Relying on assumptions when designing water treatment systems creates unnecessary financial and operational risks. Adopting predictive modeling and data-driven testing provides the precise, actionable insights required to optimize performance, manage costs, and ensure compliance.

DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS

  • Inside The Technology: 3M Liqui-Cel Membrane Contactors

    While dissolved gas can give beverages distinctive flavors and fizz, it can also corrode boiler equipment and cause problems in microelectronics. With 3M’s advanced gas transfer membrane technology, you have the power to control dissolved gases with precision. Dive in to learn the ins and outs of 3M Liqui-Cel technology.

  • Understanding Options When Selecting An Effective, Low-Cost PFAS Solution

    Municipal water utilities throughout the U.S. are increasingly grappling with the need to address PFAS once they are detected in source water. Because standards are a moving target while treatment options are limited and can represent a massive expense, addressing PFAS can be especially challenging for small water systems. The key to finding an optimal solution requires a thorough investigation of the available options.

  • Making It Work: 174 Hydrants And 280 Valves Installed In 120 Days

    A timeline of 120 days. Construction in the middle of winter, when temperatures were frigid and snow covered the ground. Despite these challenges, Elite Excavating Company of Ohio, Inc., was able to install 174 AMERICAN Flow Control American-Darling MK 73 fire hydrants and 280 resilient wedge gate valves in sizes 6 to 18 inches in three months.

  • Water Quality Real-Time Analysis: Corrosion And Contaminant Detection Before It's Too Late

    This article will explain the benefits of process analytical technology (PAT), including how it can be used to detect and prevent corrosion and contamination.

  • The Chemistry Of A Bloom: What Water Tests Reveal About Toxic Algae

    Understanding the chemistry behind algal blooms is key to early detection, effective monitoring, and mitigating their impacts. Fortunately, water testing technologies are revealing powerful insights into what’s really happening below the surface. 

  • Climate Change And Nutrients: Forewarned Is Forearmed

    Rising temperatures and precipitation combined with increasing nutrient runoff from human activity are elevating challenges in water treatment efforts. In some cases, that means increased threats to drinking water quality. In others, it means increasingly stringent nutrient discharge levels. Either way, taking the nutrient monitoring battle out to the field can help in waging a better fight at the treatment plant.

  • Automation Of Wastewater Treatment Plants For Cape Whale Coast

    Hermanus on South Africa’s Cape Whale Coast is a tourist hotspot. Just two hours outside of Cape Town, the number of holiday complexes being built along this idyllic coast is increasing. The problem is that the city is in a water scarce area. The answer lies in an upgrade of the Preekstoel water treatment plant.

  • Cutting-Edge Solutions For Coking Wastewater Reuse To Meet The Standard Of Circulation Cooling Systems

    Coking wastewater generated from the processes of coking, coke gas purification, and recovery of coking products, is highly toxic and carcinogenic. The wastewater usually contains phenolic, aromatic, heterocyclic, and polycyclic organics, and some inorganics, such as cyanides, sulfides, ammonium, ammonia, and so on, which makes it hardly degradable. By Jenny Zhang ,Scientist, Dow Water & Process Solution,  Dow Chemical (China) Investment Ltd. and Juno Chen, Business Communications Manager,  Dow Chemical (China) Investment Ltd.

  • Finding A More Affordable Migration Path To Net Zero Leakage

    Whether decision-makers consider it ultimately attainable or not, there is something positive to be said about striving toward ‘net zero leakage’ in water distribution systems saddled with high non-revenue-water (NRW) losses. The key is taking affordable steps — like those described below — toward identifying and mitigating the most egregious water loss locations in a distribution system, based on readily accessible data.

  • How To Get Accurate Flow Measurements Despite Flow Disturbers

    Flow meter accuracy is critical for process control but can be hampered by upstream and downstream flow disturbers. This problem may be addressed during the design process, though in some circumstances it’s impossible to eliminate disturbers.

DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES

  • Waterworks Joints 101
    10/30/2025

    There are many different joints that can be found on waterworks pipeline components. This paper focuses on the three most common joints.

  • A New Way Of Designing With Reverse Osmosis Membranes
    7/23/2015

    Process design in water treatment is historically confined to proprietary or user-defined spreadsheets on a unit operation basis, with users manually adding results from each unit process upstream into the next operation.

  • Application Note: YSI Water Quality Monitoring Buoys Help Connecticut DOT Protect The Housatonic River
    12/27/2005
    When replacement of the Sikorski Bridge spanning the Housatonic River was authorized, Paul Corrente and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CT-DOT) set about the design and development of a water quality monitoring program to monitor the contractor’s in-water activities to insure full protection of the river from perturbation
  • TOC Analysis: The Best Tool In A Drinking Water Facility's Toolbox
    5/3/2019

    SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions designs and manufactures Sievers Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Analyzers that enable near real-time reporting of organic carbon levels for treatment optimization, quality control & regulatory compliance. TOC has a wide range of applicability at a drinking water plant, and therefore any drinking water utility — large or small — can measure TOC in their laboratory or online in their treatment process.

  • Take Control Of Your Water Distribution Network With Digitalization And Remote Monitoring
    5/19/2022

    Any process plant constantly generates a high volume of status data. Today, this data can be extracted from the plant, stored, analyzed, and prepared to meet operator needs and lower marginal costs.

  • The Basics: ORP and Free Chlorine Monitoring
    5/13/2014

    Oxidation Reduction Potential or Redox is the activity or strength of oxidizers and reducers in relation to their concentration. Oxidizers accept electrons, reducers lose electrons. Examples of oxidizers are: chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, bromine, ozone, and chlorine dioxide. Examples of reducers are sodium sulfite, sodium bisulfate and hydrogen sulfide. Like acidity and alkalinity, the increase of one is at the expense of the other.

  • The Basics: Keeping Our Water Clean Requires Monitoring
    4/30/2014

    Keeping the water in our lakes, rivers, and streams clean requires monitoring of water quality at many points as it gradually makes its way from its source to our oceans. Over the years ever increasing environmental concerns and regulations have heightened the need for increased diligence and tighter restrictions on wastewater quality.

  • Background And Summary Of Tests For The 2000PV Restraint
    4/13/2021

    The 2000PV is a restraint for PVC pipe and the standardized mechanical joint. This product is the result of years of testing and evaluation and its performance has been proven by thousands of hours of proof tests, as well as third-party evaluations. This report describes the 2000PV through the 12" size.

  • Determination Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons In Seafood
    4/20/2015

    Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a large group of organic compounds found naturally in the environment. PAHs are monitored by the US Environmental Protection Agency due to their carcinogenic characteristics.

  • Advances In Paper-Based Devices For Water Quality Analysis
    2/22/2017

    Water quality test strips have been around for decades. They are usually constructed from a porous media, including different types of paper, and undergo a color change when dipped into water containing the analyte of interest. These test strips have seen application in swimming pools, aquariums, hot tubs, remediation sites, and other commercial/environmental areas.

DRINKING WATER PRODUCTS

Ion exchange, often abbreviated IX, is an effective technology for removing dissolved ionic compounds
from liquid solutions, primarily drinking water sources. IX is most commonly known for removing nitrate but is also
effective at removing contaminants such as perchlorate, arsenic, Chrome-6, and more recently, PFAS (Per- and
Polyfluorinated Substances).

In municipal drinking water applications or pre-treatment for desalination plants using gravity filters, the filter underdrain is one of the most important components contributing to overall system performance and operation — whether a new filter design or retrofitting an existing filter.

The SoundPrint® AFO Continuous Remote Monitoring Platform is a proactive pipeline monitoring solution that uses acoustic fiber optic (AFO) technology to detect structural deterioration in prestressed concrete cylinder pipelines (PCCP). By continuously listening for wire breaks and other anomalies, the system enables utilities to assess pipeline health in real time, reducing the risk of catastrophic failures and extending asset life. Data is securely transmitted to a cloud-based dashboard, providing operators with actionable insights for maintenance and capital planning.

The AMI SAC254 is an online monitor for continuous measurements of UV-absorption (a surrogate parameter, which is correlated to various carbon-based parameters such as DOC and TOC) at a wavelength of 254nm.

Designed to transform mechanical meters into communication data points, Itron's Cyble communication modules enable remote reading and monitoring of water meters on-site events. 

The Sentryx software enabled Super Centurion hydrant brings together the infrastructure platform you trust with the data intelligence to make informed, actionable decisions. 

LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER

DRINKING WATER VIDEOS

A group of Congressional Democratic lawmakers from Michigan has proposed legislation to provide $600 million in financial assistance to help Flint deal with its current water crisis.

In this episode of Ozone Talks, host Sannel Patel takes viewers deep inside Pinnacle Ozone Solutions’ cutting-edge ozone generation technology. Joined by senior engineer Eric Francis and technician Dayton Julius, the discussion centers around the Quad Block ozone cell—a patented, modular system redefining ozone production through innovation, precision, and durability.

V-Bio Polyethylene Encasement is the latest scientific advancement in corrosion control for ductile iron pipe.  In this interview with Water Online, Maury Gaston of American Ductile Iron Pipe and American SpiralWeld Pipe talks about the many benefits of iron pipe and the company’s improved polyethylene encasement, including how its revolutionary formulation allows for complete confidence on the part of the owner, engineer and municipality that no matter how aggressive the soils, the rugged iron pipe installed will last for generations. 

North Carolina’s Cape Fear River is a massive water system. It stretches across the lower half of the state, collecting runoff from 29 counties and providing water to millions of people. But in the city of Wilmington, where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean, the water has residents worried.

Water scarcity challenges are growing. Manufacturing the products used in our daily lives consumes a large amount of water. Reusing treated wastewater provides the most sustainable source of clean water.

ABOUT DRINKING WATER

In most developed countries, drinking water is regulated to ensure that it meets drinking water quality standards. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers these standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

Drinking water considerations can be divided into three core areas of concern:

  1. Source water for a community’s drinking water supply
  2. Drinking water treatment of source water
  3. Distribution of treated drinking water to consumers

Drinking Water Sources

Source water access is imperative to human survival. Sources may include groundwater from aquifers, surface water from rivers and streams and seawater through a desalination process. Direct or indirect water reuse is also growing in popularity in communities with limited access to sources of traditional surface or groundwater. 

Source water scarcity is a growing concern as populations grow and move to warmer, less aqueous climates; climatic changes take place and industrial and agricultural processes compete with the public’s need for water. The scarcity of water supply and water conservation are major focuses of the American Water Works Association.

Drinking Water Treatment

Drinking Water Treatment involves the removal of pathogens and other contaminants from source water in order to make it safe for humans to consume. Treatment of public drinking water is mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. Common examples of contaminants that need to be treated and removed from water before it is considered potable are microorganisms, disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals and radionuclides.

There are a variety of technologies and processes that can be used for contaminant removal and the removal of pathogens to decontaminate or treat water in a drinking water treatment plant before the clean water is pumped into the water distribution system for consumption.

The first stage in treating drinking water is often called pretreatment and involves screens to remove large debris and objects from the water supply. Aeration can also be used in the pretreatment phase. By mixing air and water, unwanted gases and minerals are removed and the water improves in color, taste and odor.

The second stage in the drinking water treatment process involves coagulation and flocculation. A coagulating agent is added to the water which causes suspended particles to stick together into clumps of material called floc. In sedimentation basins, the heavier floc separates from the water supply and sinks to form sludge, allowing the less turbid water to continue through the process.

During the filtration stage, smaller particles not removed by flocculation are removed from the treated water by running the water through a series of filters. Filter media can include sand, granulated carbon or manufactured membranes. Filtration using reverse osmosis membranes is a critical component of removing salt particles where desalination is being used to treat brackish water or seawater into drinking water.

Following filtration, the water is disinfected to kill or disable any microbes or viruses that could make the consumer sick. The most traditional disinfection method for treating drinking water uses chlorine or chloramines. However, new drinking water disinfection methods are constantly coming to market. Two disinfection methods that have been gaining traction use ozone and ultra-violet (UV) light to disinfect the water supply.

Drinking Water Distribution

Drinking water distribution involves the management of flow of the treated water to the consumer. By some estimates, up to 30% of treated water fails to reach the consumer. This water, often called non-revenue water, escapes from the distribution system through leaks in pipelines and joints, and in extreme cases through water main breaks.

A public water authority manages drinking water distribution through a network of pipes, pumps and valves and monitors that flow using flow, level and pressure measurement sensors and equipment.

Water meters and metering systems such as automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) allows a water utility to assess a consumer’s water use and charge them for the correct amount of water they have consumed.