DRINKING WATER
Why Planning Is The Hero Of AMI Deployment
Thorough planning, accurate data, and strong communication are the keys to successful AMI deployments, preventing costly disruptions and ensuring technology delivers long-term operational and customer service value.
DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS
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Ozone And PFAS: The Overlooked Tool In A National Water Crisis
Ozone is a vital pre-treatment for PFAS mitigation. It oxidizes precursors and co-contaminants, significantly extending the service life of downstream GAC and membrane systems.
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Putting Your Sustainability Objectives Into Practice
Organizations don’t earn Wall Street Journal recognition for being ranked ninth among the world’s most sustainably managed companies without a companywide commitment to embrace substantial operational changes. Here are examples of sustainability opportunities available in water treatment applications and how those opportunities can benefit utilities, water-consuming industries, consulting engineers, and construction contractors.
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Achieving Better Balance In The Water-Energy-Climate Nexus
Trying to balance urban population growth against water scarcity, energy consumption, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) can feel like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Fortunately, a recent report quantifying that delicate balance offers new perspective on solutions for water professionals.
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Water System Operator Is Cutting NRW Losses Down To Size
When the aging water distribution infrastructure in Araguaína, Brazil, (pop. 183,000) reached a level of 47 percent non-revenue-water (NRW) loss, the contracted utility operator knew that something needed to change.
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American SpiralWeld Supports The Road To Local And Regional Progress In South Carolina
When the Hugh K. Leatherman Sr. Terminal opens in North Charleston in 2021, container traffic traveling to and from it will use the new Port Access Road, a direct route from I-26 that will reduce the need for commercial trucks to use local roads. Supporting the mainline road’s foundation piers will be South Carolina made spiral-welded structural steel pipe installed as vertical piles driven 60 to 90 feet into the ground. Spiral-welded steel will also be used in the subfoundations of associated new bridges and roads.
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PWSA Reduces Customer Request Fulfillment From 4 Months To 14 Days
Due to recent LCR exceedances, PWSA faced skyrocketing customer requests on top of the order to replace 7% of their roughly 18,000-33,000 lead service lines every year. In addition, their Lead and Copper Compliance (LCR) and Lead Service Line Replacement testing program (LSLR) required immense amounts of manpower. These two events combined to require thousands of point-of-use kits to be collected and tested every year. They looked to 120WA to solve the challenges of siloed data sources, kit delivery and pickup, lab coordination, and distribution of results.
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City Of Lodi Employs GAC To Remove Contaminants From Groundwater
In this case study, read about AV's unique Concept to Commission approach which enabled a team to design, manufacture, and install GAC systems and interconnecting site pipe in just 10 working hours.
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Case Study: Seawater Desalination At Rabigh Refinery Saudi Aramco’s RABIGH Refinery in Saudi Arabia wanted to install facility for 10000 TPD Seawater Desalination for the industrial use. The facility was supposed to be a BOOT (Build Own Operate Transfer) basis. By Aquatech International Corporation
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Asset Management And The Age Of Infrastructure
Water is our most precious resource but with some systems dating back a hundred years or more in the United States, our water infrastructure is in dire need of repair.
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Membrane Module Pilot Test In North Dakota
Toray UF membrane modules were piloted over a fifteen-week period to help service the growing demand for clean water in southwest North Dakota. The outcome, as part of the Southwest Pipeline Project (SWPP), would be construction of the Oliver-Mercer-North Dunn (OMND) Water Treatment Plant.
DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES
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Analysis Of Pesticide Residue In Spinach Using The AutoMate-Q40 An Automated QuEChERS Solution10/16/2014
QuEChERS is a Quick-Easy-Cheap-Effective-Rugged-Safe extraction method that has been developed for the determination of pesticide residues in agricultural commodities.
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The Process Of Deionizing Water10/29/2021
Years ago, high purity water was used only in limited applications. Today, deionized (Dl) water has become an essential ingredient in hundreds of applications including: medical, laboratory, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, electronics manufacturing, food processing, plating, countless industrial processes, and even the final rinse at the local car wash.
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Advances In Paper-Based Devices For Water Quality Analysis2/22/2017
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.
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HOD™ (Hydro-Optic Disinfection) UV Water Treatment For Bottled Water3/27/2025
The HOD™ (Hydro-Optic Disinfection) UV water treatment system by Atlantium Technologies represents a groundbreaking advancement in drinking water disinfection, particularly for the bottled water industry.
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Free Chlorine Measurement In Drinking Water Treatment12/21/2005
Before water can be used as a safe and reliable source for drinking water, it must be properly treated. Since water is a universal solvent, it comes in contact with several different pathogens, some of which are potentially lethal, and inactivation is accomplished through chemical disinfection and mechanical filtration treatment. This treatment consists of coarse filtration to remove large objects and pre-treatment which includes disinfection using chlorine or ozone
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How To Install A Submersible Pump In Discharge Tubes11/28/2012
In the fields of water and waste water technology, submersible pumps represent a viable economic and technical alternative to conventional, dry-installed pumps. In particular, they offer a number of handling advantages during maintenance and installation work.
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LC-MS Analysis Of PFAS Compounds In EPA Methods 537.1, 533 And 832711/4/2021
The Ascentis Express PFAS HPLC column is designed for the separation of novel and legacy PFAS as per recent EPA methods. A specific PFAS delay column prevents background PFAS contamination from interfering with sample results in quantitative LC-MS methods.
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LC-MS Analysis Of 33 PFAS Compounds In 5 Minutes11/4/2021
In response to environmental testing demands for faster LC-MS analyses, the new Ascentis® Express PFAS HPLC and delay columns allow the highly efficient separation of 33 PFAS compounds in 5 minutes with reduced background contamination.
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Application Note: Ozone Measurement In Potable Water3/1/2010
Ozone is a powerful oxidizing agent that can be used to destroy the organic compounds that affect the taste and odor of potable water. Environmental concerns have led to increased use of ozone because, unlike chlorine, it does not form hazardous by-products.
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Groundwater Remediation12/1/2020
Good quality groundwater is an important natural resource. It provides drinking water for the public as well as process water for industrial applications. Groundwater can become contaminated through a number of ways including improper handling of process chemicals or disposal of wastes.
LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER
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Setting Global Standards: Inside North America's Only Full-Scale UV Disinfection Validation Facility
Portland's industry-leading facility reaches 100 reactor validations in 23 years.
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Given the maturation of sensor technology, the scientific and operational hurdles to portable lead analysis are somewhat surprising — but surmountable.
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Bathymetric modeling maps underwater terrain. It also helps guide planning, prevent hazards, and build climate-resilient infrastructure.
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The data center industry stands at a critical juncture. As facilities scale to meet exponential computing demands, water consumption has emerged as a defining operational challenge. Traditional approaches focused on water efficiency are no longer sufficient.
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When pregnant women drink water that comes from wells downstream of sites contaminated with PFAS, known as “forever chemicals,” the risks to their babies’ health substantially increase, a new study found. These risks include the chance of low birth weight, preterm birth, and infant mortality.
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Beaverton Water Division’s transition to Kamstrup AMI and acoustic leak detection is modernizing meter reading, reducing infrastructure costs, improving leak identification, and streamlining operations as deployment progresses.
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:
- Source water for a community’s drinking water supply
- Drinking water treatment of source water
- 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.