DRINKING WATER
UV, Ozone, Or Chlorine: Which Solution Is Best For Your Treatment Plant?
No single disinfection method does it all. Utilities are combining chlorine, UV, and ozone to build more effective, flexible treatment strategies for today’s water challenges.
DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS
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What Is PFAS?
PFOA (perfluorooctanic acid) and PFOS (perflurooctane sulfonate) are organic synthetic chemicals that have been used in manufacturing a multitude of industrial and consumer-based products including coatings, carpeting, and fire-fighting foams. Over several decades, they have contaminated the environment, specifically our drinking water sources, causing significant health concerns that recently prompted the EPA to take action.
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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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Efficient Carbon And Ion Exchange Media Exchange
This document outlines the essential steps required to exchange spent media, including disposal of spent media.
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Pembroke Desalination Plant: Malta
LG Chem NanoH2O™ membranes delivered excellent water quality water at low energy costs at the largest RO desalination facility in Malta
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Optimizing Leak Detection Using Virtual District Metering Areas (vDMAs)
Today, progressive utilities are using digital technologies to create virtual district metering areas (vDMAs), eliminating the limitations of the physical DMA by utilizing data to provide actionable insights into the condition of their networks.
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Modern Solutions For Aging Water Systems: AMI And Beyond
Lessons from two communities on the benefits of advanced metering infrastructure.
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Smart Meters With Integrated Valves Promote Long-Term Savings
Picture this common scenario for a water utility: A past due account triggers multiple notices to a home, but with no response from the customer, a crew is sent to shut off service. Throughout the process, the municipality racks up other labor costs, including personnel needed to create the work order and a return visit by a crew to restore service once the account is current.
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Electromagnetic Meters And Ultrasonic Meters — A Comparison
Water and wastewater professionals rely on accurate flow measurements for process operation and regulatory compliance. Selecting the best flow meter for each application is essential to obtaining accurate flow data.
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Reassessing The Value Of Water Reuse In Process Efficiency
In many industrial applications, water is not part of the final product but an important process facilitator — for cooling, cleaning, etc. Like energy, it can quickly become a major expense and, therefore, an important target for cost control. As potable water supplies tighten or become increasingly expensive, reuse is becoming a more attractive alternative. Here is some of the information needed to evaluate the opportunities it offers.
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LCRI: A Shift To Mandatory Service Line Replacement Within 10 Years
Mandatory LSL replacement is a fundamental shift from the LCR in its approach to service line replacement, moving from a trigger-based approach to a mandatory, system-wide replacement mandate.
DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES
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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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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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Recording & Control: In Coagulant Dosage Applications For Potable Water Treatment7/1/2019
Potable water or drinking water as it is also known, is water that is safe to drink or to be used in food preparation. Typically, in developed countries, tap water meets the required drinking water standards, although only a small proportion is actually drank or used in food preparation.
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Application Note: YSI 600 Optical Monitoring System Used To Protect Lake Oconee, Georgia Water Quality12/27/2005Northern Georgia is experiencing unprecedented development; consequently, water quality in many of its watersheds is in jeopardy of severe degradation. The State of Georgia, Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has implemented an NPDES monitoring and enforcement program designed to prevent construction activities from impacting water quality
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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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SensyMaster Thermal Mass Flowmeter8/3/2021
SensyMaster helps to improve the operating costs of the most cost intensive process in sewage plants: Aeration. High-measuring performance and state of the art technology helps customers increase plant efficiency.
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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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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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LC-MS/MS Analysis Of PFAS Extractables In Polyethersulfone Syringe Filters Using EPA 537.15/18/2022
A key consideration for any PFAS method is to avoid contamination that can impact the accuracy of data, including those coming from sample preparation techniques such as filtration.
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Application Note: Busseron Creek Watershed Partnership Addresses Concerns In A Rural Watershed1/20/2010As with other watershed organizations, the Busseron Creek Watershed Partnership (BCWP) exists because of surface water quality degradation. In this case, those waters drain 163,231 acres of a watershed that crosses the boundaries of Vigo, Clay, Green, and Sullivan counties in West- Central Indiana. By YSI
LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER
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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.
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Our infrastructure systems have operated in managed deterioration for decades. And not surprisingly, once they deteriorate badly enough and cross over into active failure, all cost discipline disappears.
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.