DRINKING WATER
Quick-Lock Saves Contractor $225,000
Mechanical point repair offers a cost-effective, efficient alternative to traditional lining for fixing pipe defects. These thin-profile stainless-steel sleeves restore structural integrity and seal leaks quickly, significantly reducing project costs while maintaining optimal flow.
DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS
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Keeping Track Of Your Control Valve Information
Water production and distribution in the City of Redlands, California, is managed by the Municipal Utilities & Engineering Department and is supplied from two water supplies, Mill Creek and the Santa Anna River. Treatment is provided at two conventional water treatment plants, Tate WTP and Hinckley WTP, each capable of producing approximately 14 MGD. Water is then fed into 7 different pressure zones due to elevation changes through a series of pump stations.
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AVT™ EZ VALVE® And R2M Site Services Ensured The Hot Water Kept Running At UK Hospital
When a leak and burst was identified on LTHW (low temperature, hot water) 10” pipes in a UK hospital, turning off the water to fix the issue was not an option. The hospital needed its water supply to remain on to ensure it could continue to treat patients. Following an 18-month investigation into the issue, the hospital’s contractor Morris Mechanical Services, contacted AVT’s UK installer R2M Site Services who suggested installing a number of AVT EZ Valves to create control points enabling repairs to be made.
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BNR + MBR Equals Success At Water Reclamation Facility
Biological Nutrient Removal is allowing many wastewater treatment plants to achieve extremely high effluent quality. Still, for some applications even the most advanced BNR processes can’t address all concerns.
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Embracing An Evolved Maintenance Strategy
Learn how you can find a permanent, cost-effective solution that offers flexibility, improved safety, and more.
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Enhancing Water Loss Analysis and Reduction Through Water Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Systems
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems have emerged as a transformative technology in the water industry, offering real-time data collection, analysis, and management capabilities.
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Why Innovative Uses For Pile Cloth Media Filters Are Multiplying
Learn about the unique ways wastewater and drinking water operations are employing pile cloth media (PCM) to tackle new and complex challenges.
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Municipality Looks To Expand Plant Capacity While Reusing Existing Systems
Sharjah Municipality of the Untied Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) was requiring to treat more and more flow despite having very little space for new treatment systems. They were looking at wanting to expand their plants No. 4 & No. 5 plants to meet new total nitrogen limits and try to do so by having to reuse the existing systems. This type of upgrade would save on cost as well as space at the plant.
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Why Electromag Meters Are Transforming Residential Water Metering
Electromagnetic meters are changing residential metering by capturing every drop, improving low-flow accuracy, and delivering long-term reliability that supports revenue recovery and smarter utility operations.
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Dow Achieves Maximum Efficiency With Glass-Lined Storage Tank
Every morning when you pour a cup of coffee or tear open a package of frozen waffles, the science of Dow Chemical is there to help make your breakfast convenient and fresh. Dow makes high-performance materials that go into food packaging, personal care products, medications, and clothing — to name a few.
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Designing For Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) In Surface Water Treatment Plants
The Toledo water crisis exposed treatment gaps, highlighting harmful algal blooms as a core design challenge requiring flexible, multi-barrier systems and scenario-based planning.
DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES
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Application Note: Simultaneous Determination Of Total Bound Nitrogen (TNb) And Total Organic Carbon (TOC) In Aqueous Samples5/31/2011Total bound nitrogen (TNb) consists of dissolved ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, amines, and other organic nitrogen-containing compounds. TNb measurements represent an alternative to Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN) analysis for rapid screening of industrial wastewater, drinking water,agricultural run-off, and surface waters. By OI Analytical
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Ultrapure Water For Determination of Toxic Elements In Environmental Analyses4/10/2018
In this paper the importance of reagent water quality for toxic element environmental analyses is discussed, and the suitability of fresh ultrapure water produced using MilliporeSigma water purification systems for ICP-OES and ICP-MS trace element analyses in environmental laboratories is demonstrated.
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The Active Control Program For Advanced UV Oxidation12/1/2025
This application note will explore how active control programs lower operational costs of compliant contaminant removal.
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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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(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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ASM-10-HP Application Note3/12/2026
ResinTech ASM-10-HP is a strongly basic hybrid anion exchange resin specially formulated to selectively remove arsenic.
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Optimizing Brine Flow In A Geothermal Power Plant1/27/2022
Different flow meter technologies were used in this geothermal power plant to monitor and measure brine. However, these traditional technologies failed. That’s where Panametrics PT900 Portable Ultrasonic Flowmeter was able to help.
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Application Note: YSI Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring And The IPSWATCH-EMPACT Program12/28/2005The Ipswich and Parker Rivers watersheds lie only a short distance north of Boston, MA. The first settlements in these watersheds began in the early 1600s. Since that time, residents have relied heavily on the natural resources of the Parker and Ipswich Rivers, their coastal estuaries and Plum Island Sound, which is known as the Great Marsh. This ecosystem has been designated and protected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC).
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Remote Monitoring And Maintenance Through Digitalization3/17/2020
Siemens offers to our customers the ability to make both process measurements, and to remotely monitor the activity and health of instrumentation, whether you have a SCADA, PLC or DCS system, or not. By utilizing Siemens’ ability to offer unparalleled flow, level, pressure, temperature, and weight measurement we can provide a broad range of process measurements and offer unequaled monitoring of the health and performance of those products.
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Lab Gas Sub-Metering Accuracy Improves With Thermal Flow Meters To Save Money12/1/2017
Facility administrators will find the advanced ST100 Series Thermal Mass Air/Gas Flow Meter from Fluid Components International (FCI) helps them improve the accuracy of specialty gas point of use and sub-metering operations to achieve accurate billing in their labs for better cost tracking and control.
LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER
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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?
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The U.S. EPA’s 2026 trichloroethylene (TCE) compliance deadlines are now forcing a concrete shift toward source-zone destruction. In situ chemical oxidation (ISCO), sequenced with enhanced bioremediation, is proving to be the most credible path to groundwater contaminant rebound mitigation.
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Generative design strengthens PR29 investment cases by enabling rigorous optioneering, accurate cost estimates, and clear outcome alignment, helping water companies meet rising regulatory expectations.
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.