Latest news, insights, and discussion on US and global drinking water regulations.

WATER INDUSTRY FEATURES, INSIGHTS, AND ANALYSIS

Pretreatment Systems Enable Complete And More Economical PFAS Solutions
For operators looking to optimize their PFAS removal systems, controlling the presence of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) offers an approach to minimizing operational costs due to granular activated carbon (GAC) reactivation and ion exchange media change-out.
What Utilities Don't Know About GAC Reuse For PFAS For utilities building PFAS treatment systems, thermal reactivation of spent granular activated carbon (GAC) may sound like the obvious answer. However, service provider availability and location, specific media acceptance criteria including quantity thresholds, restrictions on GAC type and condition, and regulatory uncertainty can all determine whether reuse is a viable option.
PFAS Funding Is Flowing — But Does The Water Sector Have Enough People To Deliver It? For several years, the PFAS conversation has centered on treatment options, testing, and funding. Those factors still matter, but they are no longer the primary constraint. Most utilities already understand the treatment routes available to them; the real challenge now is moving from technical possibility to operational performance, and that depends entirely on people.
The Cost Of Waiting: Utilities Face A Narrowing PFAS Compliance Window For years, the water industry's PFAS conversation centered on monitoring, testing, and regulatory anticipation. Today, that phase is largely over.
D.C. Circuit Upholds EPA's Hazardous Substance Designation For PFOA, PFOS
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently rejected industry challenges to the EPA's designation of PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA, leaving the agency's April 2024 rule fully intact. While the case centered on the EPA's authority to make the designation, its practical significance for water utilities is simpler: the liability concerns that have accompanied the rule since its adoption remain unresolved.
How Donner Summit PUD Cut Backwash Water Use By 45% With Ultrasonic Algae Control
Recurring algal blooms severely compromise water treatment efficiency, clogging filters and wasting finished water through frequent backwashing. Targeted ultrasonic suppression controls raw water algae growth at the source, significantly improving influent turbidity and lowering operational costs.
SRP-Funded Technology Provides Affordable PFAS Testing For Homeowners
Widespread chemical contamination leaves many small water systems without viable testing options.Discover how an innovative, plant-based extraction method delivers affordable, highly accurate screening to identify complex contaminants and protect public health.
The Enzyme Bottleneck: Why Conventional Lake Management Is Failing — And What The Science Says About Genuine Bio-Dredging For decades, the dominant framework for assessing and managing lake health has been built around surface water measurements: chlorophyll-a, total phosphorus, water clarity, and the composite Trophic State Index derived from them. These metrics are familiar, standardized, and widely accepted. They are also, according to a growing body of peer-reviewed literature, measuring the wrong part of the lake.
Ozone Off-Gas: What It Reveals About System Efficiency, Safety, and Design
Learn how ozone off-gas impacts system efficiency, safety, and performance, and why monitoring and management are critical for optimized water treatment operations.
UK Reservoirs, Water Shortages, And Legionella Risks Is there a clear link between a less plentiful water supply and an increase in Legionella in our domestic water systems?

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Highly effective against bacteria and viruses, the Advanced Oxidation System (AOS) is also well-suited for the decontamination of hard-to-treat organic contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and other micropollutants The AOS can be configured to deliver optimized performance for most water or wastewater treatment applications.

ReFleX™ Efficiency

For both disinfection and TOC-reduction applications, NeoTech Aqua Solutions’ patented ReFleX™ UV chamber technology represents the state-of-the-art in high-efficiency UV systems by reflecting over 99% of the UV we generate back into the water.

Waste Technologies Transform Problems To Profit

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.

ETS-UV™ For Water Reuse

Given the critical shortage of drinking water in many regions, advanced treatment and reuse of wastewater is becoming increasingly common as municipalities address water demands and shrinking supplies.

Water Reuse Is No Longer A Choice. It's A Necessity.

Water reuse is no longer a choice. It’s a necessity. Orenco’s AdvanTex Treatment Systems consistently produce clear effluent that meets the most stringent permit limits.

UV Advanced Oxidation For Surface Water Remediation

Surface water contamination demands advanced treatment solutions. Learn how UV advanced oxidation simultaneously destroys complex micropollutants and inactivates pathogens in a single step, offering a scalable, cost-effective alternative that eliminates chemical residuals and reduces seasonal operating expenses.

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What Utilities Should Know About School Lead Data

The Cost Of Waiting: Utilities Face A Narrowing PFAS Compliance Window

For years, the water industry's PFAS conversation centered on monitoring, testing, and regulatory anticipation. Today, that phase is largely over.
EPA Seeks Court‑Ordered Removal Of 4 PFAS Limits

The U.S. EPA is testing a new procedural strategy to remove four PFAS drinking‑water limits from ongoing litigation, asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to invalidate those limits on the grounds that the EPA itself committed a procedural misstep when issuing the 2024 PFAS rule.
Putting The National Toxicology Program's Fluoride Review In Context

Despite renewed public concern over fluoride and cognition, the National Toxicology Program’s findings focus on high‑fluoride groundwater conditions — not the controlled levels used in U.S. drinking water systems. Understanding that distinction is critical for utilities navigating policy questions and community expectations.
HAAs In The EU: Monitoring For Haloacetic Acids Under The Drinking Water Directive

In this Q&A, Dr. Elke Süss of Metrohm addresses the urgent need for haloacetic acid testing in response to “one of the most significant updates to EU drinking water monitoring in recent years.”
PFAS Unpacked: Experts Answer Questions On EPA Rules, Funding, Treatment, And More

With the U.S. EPA's PFAS rules now in place, utilities are finding themselves with a growing number of questions regarding how to treat these chemicals, the potential costs, and much more. For answers, Water Online's chief editor, Kevin Westerling, hosted an Ask Me Anything session featuring Ken Sansone, Senior Partner at SL Environmental Law Group; Kyle Thompson, National PFAS Lead at Carollo Engineers; and Lauren Weinrich, Principal Scientist at American Water.

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Optimization And Scale-Up Of A Plasmid DNA Production Process

Optimizing pDNA production in E. coli requires strategic media selection and scale-up planning. Explore a study that identifies ideal conditions for high-yield manufacturing.
Chlorine Sensors Waste An Estimated 6.1 Billion Gallons Of Non-Revenue Water Every Year

Chlorine sensor waste streams cause massive water loss and costs. The Halogen MP-5 sensor eliminates waste, reduces maintenance, and improves efficiency—offering a breakthrough in sustainable water monitoring.
Racibórz Waterworks Reduces Costs With Unified Enterprise SCADA

Unifying fragmented industrial control platforms streamlines operational oversight across municipal water networks. Standardized graphic displays and redundant architectures cut hardware overhead, simplify compliance reporting, and ensure continuous visibility during critical process shifts.
Improving API Solubility With Mesoporous Silica

Poor solubility of active pharmaceutical ingredients can hinder drug effectiveness. Learn how innovative formulation strategies enhance solubility and bioavailability to improve therapeutic outcomes for challenging drug candidates.
Wideband RF In Electronic Warfare: Balancing Power, Bandwidth And Real-Time Performance

Modern electronic warfare demands wideband RF systems that balance gain, linearity, efficiency, and power—enabling real-time detection, response, and reliable performance across an increasingly complex spectrum.
Keeping mAb Aggregation Low During The Final UF/DF Step

mAb aggregation can arise from molecular properties, process conditions, and equipment‑driven stress. Learn where aggregation risk increases across downstream processing and formulation.
Sample Manager: Modernizing Operations

See how one utility moved off spreadsheets and onto a real system.
Office Of Naval Research Contract Leads To New Chlorine Sensor Technology

Developed from U.S. Office of Naval Research requirements, this multiparameter chlorine sensor offers extended maintenance-free operation, flow-independence, and automatic compensation for reliable, in-pipe monitoring.
Village Of Lombard's Success Story: Proactively Managing Community Response With Customer Request Sampling

How one utility got ahead of customer request sampling instead of falling behind on it.
How Regulatory Pressure Is Driving Innovation In Surface Water Facilities

What does it take to stay ahead of tightening drinking water standards? See how utilities are turning regulatory pressure into smarter infrastructure investment.
Lentiviral Vector Upstream Process

Scalable lentiviral vector production is moving beyond adherent systems. Learn how streamlined workflows enable linear scale-up in stirred-tank bioreactors for cost-effective gene therapy manufacturing.
PFAS Pilots: Strategic Planning To Reduce Risk And Optimize Costs

Learn why piloting PFAS treatment is essential to reduce risk, optimize costs, and ensure compliance—plus the seven key steps to design a pilot that delivers reliable, real-world results.
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.
Florida Utility Saves 2,080 Man-Hours With Just 5 Sensors

Continuous water quality monitoring helps utilities offset workforce shortages, reclaim thousands of labor hours, improve compliance, and gain real-time insights that enhance system performance and reliability.

Martin County Saves Millions With leadCAST's Automated Workflows And Statistical Analysis To Tackle LCRR

With the LCRR deadline fast approaching and over 59% of its service lines unverified, Martin County recognized the significant work ahead in preparing to meet the LCRR requirements. The county needed to establish a clear strategy for its compliance program, and to support this effort, it needed an engineering consulting partner with extensive expertise in LCRR.
EDL, MDL And LOQ: Understanding Detection Limits In Water Analysis

Understanding the distinct boundaries between theoretical detection, laboratory capabilities, and reliable quantification ensures defensible water-quality reporting. Master these analytical metrics to select appropriate methods and avoid overstating data certainty in compliance reporting.
Removal Of Naturally Occurring Uranium With Purolite™ A300E

Discover how ion exchange technology effectively removes radioactive uranium isotopes from municipal wastewater. This case study explores the transition from pilot studies to full-scale remediation, highlighting the importance of technical support in meeting stringent local water quality standards.
A True PFAS Solution Is About More Than Removal

Engineers and project managers must take a complete cradle-to-grave approach when considering which technologies to implement as well as which vendors to partner with for their PFAS solution.

WATER INDUSTRY FEATURES, INSIGHTS, AND ANALYSIS

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