DRINKING 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
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Taste and Odor Treatment with UV-Oxidation - Mississauga, Ontario
To meet the projected population increase from 1,160,000 people currently to an estimated 1,571,000 people in 2031, the Region of Peel decided to upgrade and expand its water treatment plant.
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Florida County Aims for Full Usage Of Reclaimed Water
In 2016 Hillsborough County Public Utilities, a forward thinking organization, initiated the first direct potable reuse pilot project in Florida. In its efforts to utilize 100 percent of its reclaimed water, the progressive utility created a successful program to effectively suspend surface water discharges. The pilot project validated direct potable reuse, which is now a key initiative for many central Florida utilities due to the implementation of the Central Florida Water Initiative requiring the additional utilization of reuse water resources.
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East Bay Municipal Utility District Successfully Manages Chloramine Residual In Ten Million Gallon Reservoir With The Process Solutions, Inc. Monoclor® RCS Chloramine Management System
Located on the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay, the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) treats and distributes water to over 1.3 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
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Eliminate CIP And Cut Wastewater Disposal In Half With CCD
A high water recovery rate is essential for this well-known soy protein manufacturer.
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Identifying And Estimating The Value Of SCADA And Smart Metering Systems In Water Distribution Networks
Considering the invaluable service provided to the society by the water companies, it is imperative to ensure their sustainability. To achieve this objective, these organizations must be allowed to fulfill their mission with effectiveness and efficiency. Information and communication technologies are especially important tools in this pursuit of enhanced performance.
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From Challenge & Prize Competition To Test Prototype: The Nitrogen Sensor That Could Change Residential Onsite Wastewater Treatment
More than one in five households in the United States depend on septic or onsite systems to treat their wastewater. These systems provide critical water quality infrastructure, but they usually are not designed to remove nitrogen to the point that sufficiently protects coastal marine ecosystems. As a result, septic systems are known to contribute to eutrophication (excess nutrients), hypoxia (low levels of oxygen), and harmful algal blooms in marine and estuarine waters.
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Medium Pressure UV: A Sustainable Solution For Water Disinfection And Dechlorination
Take a closer look at medium-pressure UV systems, which offer a 2-in-1 solution with simultaneous disinfection and dechlorination for greater environmental savings.
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An Alternative Mathematical Model For Oxygen Transfer Evaluation In Clean Water
Energy consumption from aeration system is a biggest part of the total energy cost in wastewater treatment plant and account for as much as 60% of the energy consumption for the activated sludge process. Therefore, it is very important to know how effective the aeration system and significant attention has been paid to development and upgrade of standard method for quantifying oxygen transfer efficiency of the aeration system. By Yanjun (John) He, PE, BCEE, Kruger Inc.
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Case Study: Chemplast Chooses Aquatech's HERO™ & ZLD The Chemplast Mettur plant uses the Cauvery River as their main fresh water source. A strong industrial growth in recent years has resulted in water scarcity in the region. Industries are also required to follow strict environmental norms for discharging effluents. The intent of a Waste Water Treatment Plant was to have complete treatment, recycle and reuse of the combined waste water streams to reduce intake from the Cauvery River while not discharging any liquid waste streams. By Aquatech International Corporation
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Here's To Microbrews And POTWs
As local breweries grow in popularity, their initial focus on hand-crafted recipes can quickly shift to business realities such as the costs and logistics of process wastewater treatment. Publicly owned treatment works (POTWs), brewery owners, and consulting engineers all have roles to play in making that trajectory smoother for up-and-coming craft and microbrewers.
DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES
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Automatic Rinse Tank Controls10/29/2021
Proper rinsing is one of the most important steps in quality manufacturing or metal finishing. Plenty of low cost, good quality water for rinsing has been available in the past, so rinse water conservation has been largely ignored.
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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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VFD Energy Savings For Pumping Applications4/6/2017
In the early days of variable frequency drive (VFD) technology, the typical application was in process control for manufacturing synthetic fiber, steel bars, and aluminum foil.
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Application Note: Troubleshooting A pH Electrode1/26/2011
Many factors affect performance of a pH electrode. When performance degrades, it is always a challenge for the analyst to identify the cause. Common troubleshooting procedures, which include evaluation of slope, electrode drift, time response, and accuracy, take considerable time. By Thermo Fisher Scientific
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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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Analyzing Total Organic Carbon In Sea Water4/2/2015
The analysis of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) in seawater can be both challenging and expensive. The concentration of organic carbon in seawater is of considerable interest. The effect this matrix can have on TOC analyzers can lead to rapid consumable turnover, costly maintenance and repairs.
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Application Bulletin: Reverse Osmosis3/19/2008
Osmosis is the phenomenon of lower dissolved solids in water passing through a semi-permeable membrane into higher dissolved solids water until a near equilibrium is reached
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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.
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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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Take Control Of Your Water Distribution Network With Digitalization And Remote Monitoring5/19/2022
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.
LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER
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A new study linking certain groundwater sources to higher Parkinson’s risk underscores a broader question for the water sector: how environmental exposures in drinking water may influence long-term health.
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The growing demand for water across a variety of sectors combined with the increasingly understood complexity of emerging contaminants is creating a dynamic marketplace for filtration media. The goal of selecting the right filtration media is not to meet minimum standards but to achieve the right balance of performance, durability, and operational simplicity to ensure long-term compliance and cost-effective operation.
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Learn key ozone formulas, unit conversions, and measurement standards to accurately calculate generator output, concentration, and dosage for effective system design, performance verification, and safe operation.
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Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf region use the fossil fuels under their desert lands not only to make money, but also to make drinking water. The petroleum they produce powers more than 400 desalination plants, which turn seawater into drinkable water.
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In an industrial landscape increasingly shaped by lifecycle accountability, material traceability, and rising disposal costs, chromium recovery is not merely a technical alternative — it is a strategic upgrade, where wastewater can become a resource stream.
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Around the world, rivers are no longer changing gradually. Rather, they are being increasingly transformed by extreme climatic events such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves. A newly published global review finds these events are pushing ecosystems beyond their limits and eroding biodiversity and core functions.
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.