DRINKING WATER

GettyImages-598091682 piepline control main valve Empowering Smarter Decisions With Pipeline Data

Through case studies and technical insights, this paper demonstrates how utilities can use inspection tools, valve assessments, structural modeling, and predictive analytics to make informed decisions.

DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS

  • Mountain Regional Water District Deploys Next Generation On-Site Hypochlorite And Tank Mixing Technology To Meet Expanding Water Management Needs

    The Mountain Regional Water District is a Special Service District of the county that was established by the Summit County Commission in 2000 to regionalize water service by consolidating several public and private water companies.

  • Wastewater Recycling Project At Mumbai International Airport

    As a part of a massive expansion plan for Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport located in Mumbai, India, a wastewater recycle project was contracted in 2011 to cater to the growing requirements of the expanded airport.

  • Maximizing ROI With Water Loss Management Systems: A Smart Investment For U.S. Cities

    This article will explore how a typical US city can save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually by adopting WLM systems and the importance of reinvesting these savings into improving water networks.

  • Overcome The Supply Chain Disruptions

    The water utility industry is transitioning to wireless smart meters, creating opportunities for small to medium-sized utilities. Cloud-based applications offer automation, data management, and remote access, providing billing solutions, water usage monitoring, and safety tools.

  • What Is A Purple Pipe?

    For the city of Beaverton, Oregon, the “Beaverton Purple Pipe” is a new water system that routes treated stormwater to irrigate green spaces like parks, school grounds and residential yards.

  • Condition Assessment At Spring Creek Ranch

    Learn why Spring Creek Ranch chose Echologics to survey 1.7 miles of 12-inch ductile iron pipe, utilizing the ePulse® method to assess the condition of the over 40-year-old pipes.

  • Case Study: Continuous Monitoring Safeguards Malaysia's Water Quality

    Well on the way to becoming a total environmental monitoring solutions provider, Alam Sekitar Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. has applied its expertise in air and water quality monitoring to aid the Malaysian government in safeguarding the nation's water supply. A broad contract between ASMA and Malaysia's Department of the Environment partners the two entities in a highly efficient system that gathers long-term trend data on water quality while also maintaining an early warning system to alert officials and water treatment operators of pollution discharges in key reaches of the country's river system

  • Choosing pH Instrumentation — Digital, Analog, Inline, Or Handheld?

    With the importance of accurate pH measurement well established in the water industry, the next logical step comes down to choosing the best option for acquiring accurate readings in the application. Here is a series of considerations for selecting the right pH instrumentation for the application and obtaining optimal performance from it.

  • How To Get Acoustic Leak Detection For The Price Of An AMI Meter

    Whatever number a utility estimates as its non-revenue-water (NRW) loss rate — 20 percent, 30 percent, or more — the willingness to address it is often inversely proportional to the cost of doing so. Now, leak detection options that include acoustic monitoring as a built-in feature of residential water meter replacement are cutting the costs and complexity of identifying NRW losses and recapturing lost revenues.

  • The History Of Water Infrastructure And What We Can Learn From It

    This article is in support of the Imagine a Day Without Water campaign –- a national online movement to raise awareness about the value of water and water infrastructure. See more articles on AMERICAN’s Imagine a Day Without Water home page.

DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES

DRINKING WATER PRODUCTS

At Master Meter, we believe that a combination of different underlying communication technologies, which share a common endpoint design is a highly efficient and cost-effective approach. That’s why we’ve developed a a flexible smart water technology solution for advanced water utility management.

Allegro Technology addresses issues that utilities often face when implementing AMI, regardless of a particular utility’s nuances and deployment needs. Allegro’s end-to-end solid-state technology optimizes project outcomes and business deliverables to help utilities solve their toughest water management challenges. 

The ULTRAPEN™ PTBT3 ORP & Temperature Pen is Bluetooth Enabled for use with your mobile devices.

ECT2’s SORBIX™ L Series is designed for projects requiring flow rates of 35 GPM or less. For optimum performance, two vessels should be installed in a lead/lag configuration.

Automatic self-cleaning Arkal Spin Klin disc filter, designed as a highly efficient solution for high flow rate applications and for all types of water, including seawater.

Efficiently service and maintain intelligent field devices
Field devices are the eyes and ears of automation. The failure of a valve positioner, temperature, flow or pressure sensor can quickly lead to serious malfunction of the process. With SIMATIC PDM Maintenance Station V3.0, Siemens offers the right solution for efficiently monitoring the condition of smart field devices, irrespective of the automation and control systems used

Proprietary Composite Spiral Element. Available in Fiberglass and Netting Wrap configurations. Anti-Telescoping Device (ATD) both ends. Brine seal (one end) - Fiberglass Wrap only.

LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER

DRINKING WATER VIDEOS

RIP Kitty Hach-Darrow (October 20, 1922 - June 4, 2020), co-founder of Hach Company

Rather drink sewage water than LA tap water any day.

Bluefield Research analyst, Erin Bonney Casey, presents on water reuse markets in the U.S. during the WateReuse Association's One Water Innovations Press Workshop at WEFTEC 2014 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

More than 100 beers were on tap during the Xylem beer tasting event in New Orleans. While each beer had it’s own flavor, every beer was brewed with one special ingredient… reuse water. Watch the video to learn more.

See how SIWA MDM Event and Data Action Management (EDAM) helps utilities detect anomalies and identify service points with potential issues. With EDAM, utilities can define a set of conditions or rules that SIWA MDM meter data management uses to analyze data and events such as water leaks and missing reads.

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.