WATER INDUSTRY FEATURES, INSIGHTS, AND ANALYSIS
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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The Devastating Legacy Of Algaecides: Why The Quick Fix Is Failing Our Lakes As warmer months approach, water management professionals must confront the compounding consequences of biocidal algae treatments.
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What Is The Future Of Source Water Protection? Water utility managers and municipal leaders have long struggled amid the convergence of several threats to public water supplies. During a recent Water Online Live event, I sat with a panel of industry experts to examine the transition from reactive crisis management to a proactive, adaptive resilience framework.
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Drinking Water Contaminated With 'Forever Chemicals' During Pregnancy Linked To An Increased Risk Of Childhood Asthma
While most of us are routinely exposed to low levels of PFAS, some communities are exposed to far higher levels from nearby pollution sources. A new study shows that in one of these at-risk communities, children were more likely to develop asthma if their mothers were exposed to very high PFAS levels during pregnancy.
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The Pragmatic Shift In Source Water Protection: Moving From Symptom Management To Root-Cause Accountability A shift in how we approach source water protection is long overdue. Currently, we are trapped in a cycle of escalating costs, forced to treat symptoms like algae and invasive weeds expediently with chemicals while the underlying risk in the reservoir compounds. True risk management requires breaking this cycle.
VIEWS ON THE LATEST REGS
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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.
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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.”
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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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A Q&A to explain and resolve issues confronting water suppliers as they endeavor to comply with the monitoring requirements of federal PFAS regulations.
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Assessing what lies ahead in the 10-year race to go lead-free, otherwise known as the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI).
MORE WATER INDUSTRY FEATURES
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Learn how utilities can control bromate formation, optimize ozone treatment performance, and achieve regulatory compliance through improved monitoring, hydraulics, and system design.
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As utilities prepare for the pending 4-ppt PFAS drinking water MCL, many are discovering that legacy lead/lag designs — workhorses for decades when treating contaminants in the ppm and ppb range — simply are not optimized for the parts per trillion-level (ppt) precision PFAS demands.
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PFAS rules are shifting fast. Learn how utilities can futureproof treatment strategies with flexible designs, smart staging, and emerging technologies — avoiding stranded assets and staying ahead of tomorrow’s regulations.
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Managing persistent water contaminants requires shifting from temporary removal to complete lifecycle destruction. Sustainable remediation strategies target upstream industrial discharge and concentrate waste streams to permanently safeguard drinking water sources from re-contamination.
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Explore the tax implications for individuals who received compensation for participating in clinical trials, specifically focusing on the issuance of the 1099-MISC.
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Founded in 1982, Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority supplies drinking water to a region of approximately one million people. Its surface water treatment plant draws water from the Peace River to a reservoir and treats it to drinking water standards at the rate of about 31 million gallons a day.
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A growing infrastructure funding gap requires utilities to maximize every capital dollar. Relying on continuous, trustworthy monitoring data allows systems to shift away from age-based asset replacement and target maintenance precisely where water quality degrades.
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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.
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As regulatory standards for PFAS become more stringent, specialized ion exchange resins provide a more efficient, high-capacity alternative to traditional carbon media, ultimately lowering long-term operational costs and improving overall system throughput and performance.
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Drought conditions force utilities to seek new water sources, yet reducing non-revenue water offers an immediate supply boost. Eliminating sample waste and targeting line flushing recovers fully treated water without expensive capital projects.
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The World Medical Association (WMA) has announced a significant, rare update to its cornerstone ethical document, the Declaration of Helsinki, which guides medical research involving human participants.
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A CDMO guide to implementing EU Annex 1 for modern sterile fill/finish facilities, covering cleanroom design, contamination control, utilities, personnel, monitoring, and audit essentials.
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Explore how rapid equipment replacement and peristaltic pump technology prevented regulatory violations at a major sanitation district. Learn how high-stakes infrastructure failures were resolved through strategic engineering support to ensure continuous delivery of safe water.
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Las Vegas Valley Water District is modernizing conservation efforts with Temetra, using high-resolution meter data to detect leaks sooner, engage customers, and secure water resources amid extreme drought conditions.
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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.
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Discover a robust, evaporation-free method for analyzing liraglutide in human plasma using LC-MS/MS to ensure high sensitivity, reproducibility, and improved analyte recovery.
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Orlando Drum & Container eliminates hazardous 1,4 Dioxane from groundwater using Pinnacle Ozone Solutions’ Advanced Oxidation Process, restoring water quality sustainably and ensuring regulatory compliance.
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This resource will help you navigate the complexities of industrial and municipal wastewater treatment, understand the latest technology, and see how Aria Filtra® technology addresses the needs of modern wastewater management.