DRINKING WATER
Why Multi‑Commodity Utilities Need Smart Meter Data Management
Breaking down data silos allows multi-commodity utilities to improve operational efficiency and infrastructure visibility. By managing water and electric data on a shared platform, providers can detect leaks faster and support long-term conservation goals.
DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS
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Preparing For Increased Sampling Frequency Mandated By LCR Revisions
The proposed Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) announced by the U.S. EPA offer new hope for identifying and reducing sources of lead contamination in drinking water, albeit with new levels of testing required to pinpoint problem areas. Preparing for the new rules means taking active steps toward identifying both the technicalities and logistics of meeting them, as outlined in the links and bullet points below.
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EPA Researching The Impacts Of Freshwater Salinization Syndrome
Freshwater contains natural salts and minerals. However, dramatic increases in salt concentrations are occurring in freshwaters globally due to human activities including road salt application, water softening, mining and oil production, commercial and industrial processes, weathering of concrete, sea level rise, and fertilizer application. EPA scientists are studying the effects of increasing salinity on environmental health and water quality.
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QUA UF Membranes Provide Pretreatment for Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) System
Hinduja National Power Corporation Ltd. (HNPCL) constructed a 1040 MW coal fired power plant at Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. The power generated from the plant is intended to supply to Andhra Pradesh, as well as to other states through interstate transmission system.
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5 Tips On Avoiding Murphy's Law With Big Pipe Repairs
Here is one example of how challenging a 36”-line repair can become, plus five guidelines to help decision-makers minimize the risks of the same happening to them.
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Meeting The Challenge For Remote Leak Pinpointing
Ranhill SAJ Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Ranhill Holdings Berhad, is an integrated water supply company in Malaysia, involved in the process of water treatment and distribution of treated water to consumers right up to billing and collection. It serves around 3.1 million population and manages 22,175 km of pipes over an area of approximately 19,000k m².
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Reducing Water Loss With Continuous Monitoring Sensors
In this case study, discover how continuous monitoring provided holistic network visibility, enabling proactive maintenance and preventing potential water pressure issues.
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Indiana American Water Eliminates Gaseous Chlorine At Hidden Lake WTP In Warsaw, Indiana
In 2000, Indiana American Water, a subsidiary of American Water Company, purchased the Warsaw Indiana system which serves a population of over 16,000. Indiana American then completed a Comprehensive Planning Study that included a number of upgrades and improvements to enhance the reliability, safety and water quality of the system.
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Recognized Results Based On Quality Assurance And Quality Control
Responsibility for analysis results lies with the users themselves or their supervisors. Both are therefore liable for any incorrect interpretations and decisions that are made as a consequence of incorrect data.
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AMERICAN Helps Quench Music City's Thirst In 24/7 Water Main Project
Crews in Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, at times have worked around the clock – 24 hours a day, seven days a week – to complete Metro Water Services’ Cumberland City Low Transmission Water Main project. There is good reason for this full-throttle approach. It minimizes traffic issues and allows for more scheduling flexibility.
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Source Water Monitoring Case Studies And Solutions Protecting the sources of drinking water is a key concern among water professionals. We rely on water for our most basic needs. As we have observed since the beginning of the industrial revolution, there are many threats to the quality of this water.
DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES
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Waste Technologies Transform Problems To Profit9/8/2015
Anaerobic digestion processes that radically improve the quality of wastewater while delivering green energy extracted from biological waste streams are emerging as a profitable way for agricultural and food processing industries cope with the twin impact of drought and pollution challenges.
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(E)-2-Nonenal In Beer4/5/2015
Numerous compounds contribute to changes in beer flavor as it becomes stale. One of these compounds, (E)-2-nonenal, has been investigated as a major source of the papery/cardboard flavor that develops in aged beer.
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The Basics: ORP and Free Chlorine Monitoring5/13/2014
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.
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Waterworks Joints 10110/30/2025
There are many different joints that can be found on waterworks pipeline components. This paper focuses on the three most common joints.
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Bringing Efficiency And New Confidence To BOD₅ Analysis2/4/2013
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) analysis is the test everyone loves to hate—and for compelling reasons.
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Best Practices In Moist And Wet Gas Flow12/20/2021
The Wet Gas MASSter sensor is for use in applications that have a high level of moisture or condensation present in the gas flow stream that cannot otherwise be removed.
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Active Energy Control – Energy Reductions Of Up To 10% Above Standard Drives4/1/2017
Energy costs continue to increase. At the same time, there is increased pressure to reduce utility bills without sacrificing operations or comfort.
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Network Monitors Water Quality In Shale Gas Drilling Region9/2/2011High-pressure injection of water, sand, and chemicals that fracture shale deposits deep underground to free trapped natural gas is employed by drillers tapping the Marcellus shale beds, a geologic deposit that stretches from central New York to Virginia and contains gas believed to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. By YSI
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Water Treatment In Boilers And Cooling Towers10/29/2021
Most people recognize problems associated with corrosion. Effects from scale deposits, however, are equally important. For example, as little as 1/8" of scale can reduce the efficiency of a boiler by 18% or a cooling tower heat exchanger by 40%!
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Why Should We Care About NSF/ANSI 61 Certification?3/17/2021
According to National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), it's a set of standards relating to water treatment and establishes criteria for the control of equipment that comes in contact with either potable water or products that support the production of water.
LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER
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While most of us are routinely exposed to low levels of PFAS, some communities are exposed to far higher levels from nearby pollution sources. A new study shows that in one of these at-risk communities, children were more likely to develop asthma if their mothers were exposed to very high PFAS levels during pregnancy.
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A shift in how we approach source water protection is long overdue. Currently, we are trapped in a cycle of escalating costs, forced to treat symptoms like algae and invasive weeds expediently with chemicals while the underlying risk in the reservoir compounds. True risk management requires breaking this cycle.
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Einstein once said of compound interest, "He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn't, pays it." The same logic of compounding applies to the organic sediment accumulating on the floor of your drinking water reservoir. The longer you wait to address it, the more exponentially expensive it becomes to fix.
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The April 1 snowpack measurement has long been the single most important number in western water management, considered a strong proxy for how much water the mountains are holding in reserve. But in 2026, that savings account has been woefully deficient.
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Why Colorado River Negotiations Stalled, And How They Could Resume With The Possibility Of AgreementThe five most common sources of conflict between people are values, data, relationships, interests, and structure. The current Colorado River negotiations include all five.
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Water agencies across the U.S. are facing a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that poses a conundrum: Should they take a cautious or aggressive approach to treating PFAS contamination in their water system?
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.