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?

DRINKING WATER PRODUCTS

SuperDisc™ Disc Filter

WesTech’s SuperDisc™ Disc Filter from Nordic Water is a Title 22 approved inside-out disc filter.The SuperDisc provides easy access for maintenance and has an efficient high pressure cleaning system. The small footprint and low head required for the filter provides an excellent option for tertiary retrofits, such as travelling bridge sand filters. The SuperDisc can produce reuse-quality effluent and total effluent phosphorus concentrations of less than 0.1 mg/L. Other applications include primary and secondary treatment, as well as a wide range of industrial applications. The SuperDisc filter is available as a freestanding unit with filter discs contained in a stainless steel tank and a version for installation in a concrete basin.

TrojanUVFlex -- Water Reuse & Drinking Water Disinfection System

TrojanUVFlex – Drinking Water Disinfection System

The TrojanUVFlex is designed with features to make installation and operation simpler, faster, and more cost-effective than ever before. Built on the proven TrojanUV Solo Lamp Technology platform, TrojanUVFlex allows for energy-efficient high-intensity delivery of UV light in an extremely compact footprint.

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.

OPUS® Technology - Optimized Pretreatment and Unique Separation Technology

OPUS technology combines a proprietary high rate chemical softening process, MULTIFLO, with filtration, ion exchange, and reverse osmosis operated at an elevated pH in single-pass or double-pass mode to generate high effluent water quality suitable for discharge, recycle or reuse.

NeoTech D322™

The NeoTech D322™ is specially designed to disinfect water and is an essential component in advanced oxidation processes.

Water Reuse: Solutions For Sustainability, Efficiency, And Resilient Water Systems

What is water reuse?

Water reuse is the process of treating and reclaiming water from various sources for practical purposes, including groundwater recharge, industrial applications, wetland restoration, agricultural irrigation, public access area uses, as well as drinking water applications. By reusing water, communities can reduce dependence on traditional water supplies, avoid costly imported water from 3rd party providers, and improve resilience in water systems. Thanks to progress in water treatment technology, along with economic and regulatory incentives, water recycling has become a cost-effective and sustainable solution to meet the growing demand for highly treated water and overcome supply shortages during droughts.

There are three primary types of water reuse: Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR), Direct Potable Reuse (DPR), and Non-Potable. In IPR reuse systems, advanced treated water is either injected into an environmental buffer (groundwater, river, or reservoir) before being extracted again for use, whereas DPR is directly blended into the drinking water treatment plant or distribution system. Non-potable water is not intended for human consumption and can be used for irrigation, industrial processes, laundry, or toilet flushing.

Advanced treatment technologies, such as membrane filtration, reverse osmosis, ultraviolet disinfection, ozonation, and advanced oxidation processes (AOP), play a crucial role in ensuring the quality and safety of reclaimed water.

Why reuse water?

As water scarcity continues to rise, water reuse is an essential strategy for creating a more sustainable future. The use of recycled water reduces the demand for freshwater sources, which are becoming increasingly scarce due to population growth, climate change, and other factors.

Here are some key benefits of water reuse:

Safeguard quality and resilience: Reused water is purified well beyond drinking water standards, improving resilience and ensuring quality for both potable and even non-potable purposes.
Uphold safety: Treatment processes like ozone and ultraviolet light can be used to disinfect or break down complex contaminants, ensuring water is pathogen-free and concentrations are below maximum contaminant levels (MCL).
Ensure cost savings and efficiency: After treating a waste stream to discharge level, it may require less treatment to bring it to reuse standards, making reuse not only environmentally responsible but also cost-effective in many scenarios and locations.
Conserve traditional water supplies: By reusing water, we can lessen our reliance on conventional water resources like rivers, lakes, and aquifers, thereby conserving them for future generations.
Reduce carbon footprint: Water reclamation is often more efficient than treating a raw water resource, which can lessen environmental impact.
Enable versatility and customization: Advanced treatment systems are tailored to meet specific needs for a variety of sectors, including industrial, urban, agricultural, and public access area uses.

How to reuse water

The major aim of every reuse project is to minimize human health risk associated with the use or consumption of reclaimed water. While the exact treatment requirements depend upon the source water quality and the reuse purpose, to be cost-effective, the treatment must be energy efficient and have a high-water yield.

An adequate treatment design plan depends on the application the water will be used in. In non-potable applications, normally filtration and disinfection will suffice, while potable reuse generally requires a combination of advanced treatment processes such as membrane filtration, reverse osmosis, disinfection, and/or advanced oxidation.

Xylem has brands and solutions to fit every stage of the water reuse process:

beginning with the transport of raw sewage and wastewater with Xylem brands like Flygt
to secondary treatment to remove most dissolved and suspended organic matter and nutrients with brands like Sanitaire and Envirex
to tertiary stages that remove residual particulate matter, nutrients, TDS, and nematode eggs with brands like Leopold and Davco
along with disinfection and advanced oxidation that inactivates pathogens, and breaks down trace constituents and emerging contaminants of concern with brands like Wedeco, ETS-UV, ATG UV Systems, Pacific Ozone, and Wallace & Tiernan
and finally, digital solutions like YSI, OI Analytical, Xylem Vue that leverage remote monitoring, alerts, and data analytics for proactive and predictive maintenance

Based on practical knowledge from decades of combined brand experience, thousands of installations worldwide, and strengths in powerful R&D innovation, our team looks at the entire wastewater process at your plant. We will work with your consulting engineer and State regulators to integrate the right technologies to meet your intended targets. Modular design makes it easy to fit your requirements now and easily expand to meet your future needs.

Water reuse partnership

Though Xylem has teams of specialists, years of expertise, deep understanding of water regulations, and a broad solutions portfolio, we understand the complexities of water systems and the potential to partner with various water treatment experts. Xylem has partnered with hundreds of different firms around the globe to ensure the most efficient and viable water systems for communities and municipalities.

Our goal is to thoroughly understand each project, determine the best methods, and customize optimal solutions that meet local regulations and requirements while delivering resiliency, quality, and cost savings.

Let us be your partner in making every drop count. Contact us today to discuss your project needs.

VIEWS ON THE LATEST REGS

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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.

MORE WATER INDUSTRY FEATURES

Your Backflow Program Is More Vulnerable Than You Think

Managing municipal backflow prevention programs requires tracking thousands of assemblies, test notices, and certifications. Replacing manual recordkeeping with automated digital tracking eliminates backlogs, ensuring timely enforcement and protecting public drinking water systems from contamination.
Covalent Warhead Reactivity: A New Look At GSH Reactivity Assays

Understanding covalent warhead kinetics is key to reducing safety risks early in discovery. Learn about a new approach to GSH‑based measurements that offers clearer predictors of toxicity.
Selecting A Platform Filter For High Concentration mAbs

Read more about how Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies evaluated a prime filter with challenging simulant solutions and how the experimental data confirmed superior performance, which demonstrated twice the throughput.
5 Misconceptions About PFAS Removal Technologies

This article will explore five common misconceptions about GAC and IX technologies for PFAS removal, helping utilities choose effective, site-specific treatment strategies for contaminated drinking water.
4 Essential Truths About Carbon Reactivation

Long-standing myths about GAC reactivation are being increasingly challenged, revealing performance, cost, and sustainability benefits many utilities may have overlooked.
The Active Control Program For Advanced UV Oxidation

This application note will explore how active control programs lower operational costs of compliant contaminant removal.
Nitrosamines: Assessing The Risk To Pharma Products

Nitrosamines are a serious risk in drug products, driven by the presence of secondary amines, conducive conditions, and nitrosating agents. Understanding these factors is key to risk mitigation and patient safety.
Surface Water vs. Groundwater: Strategic Infrastructure Tradeoffs For Growing Communities

What's really at stake when choosing between surface water and groundwater? The answer shapes water security for decades.
PFAS Treatment: Tackling "Forever Chemicals" In Our Environment

This guide delves into the history, widespread applications, and evolving strategies to understand and mitigate the impacts of PFAS on health and ecosystems.
New Monochloramine Sensor Technology Measures Free Chlorine And Total Chlorine On The Same Sensor

Traditional chloramine monitoring methods have drawbacks that complicate water treatment. A new sensor can measure multiple parameters, offering operators better process control.
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.
Sustainability Is Part Of Our Daily Business

Climate targets are only the beginning. Real progress depends on operational efficiency, supply chain collaboration, and accountability.
Achieving Best Outcomes With TMF Document Processing

TMF document processing requires a delicate balancing act. Sponsors strive for accuracy and completeness, but timeliness is crucial. How can teams achieve all three? Here are some practical strategies.
The Future Of Surface Water Treatment In Critical Infrastructure: Why Digital Planning Is No Longer Optional

Surface water supplies most urban drinking water, but rising variability and contamination are straining ageing infrastructure—making digital planning tools essential for resilient, future-ready treatment systems.

Déjà vu? A Decade At AAIC, And The Endpoints Haven't Moved

Cognitive endpoints in Alzheimer's trials haven't kept pace with the shift to earlier-stage treatment. Modern trials need tools built to catch subtle change.
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.
Preparing Water Infrastructure For The Future

The current state of the water infrastructure in the U.S. is in need of critical attention. Aging and underfunded systems, increasing demand, and the impacts of climate change are putting immense pressure on the nation’s ability to deliver this essential resource.
Engineered For Impact: The Carbon That Stands Out In PFAS Treatment

Filtrasorb 400’s agglomerated pore structure and high volumetric capacity deliver unmatched PFAS removal, longer run times, and lower lifecycle costs — outperforming direct-activated carbons in real-world and lab testing.

WATER INDUSTRY FEATURES, INSIGHTS, AND ANALYSIS

DRINKING WATER PRODUCTS

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