WATER INDUSTRY FEATURES, INSIGHTS, AND ANALYSIS
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
VIEWS ON THE LATEST REGS
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For years, the water industry's PFAS conversation centered on monitoring, testing, and regulatory anticipation. Today, that phase is largely over.
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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.
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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.
MORE WATER INDUSTRY FEATURES
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Manual grab sampling for chlorine residual compliance burdens operators with excessive drive time and laboratory costs. Adopting continuous, certified online monitoring satisfies regulatory reporting requirements while freeing technical staff for higher-priority operational tasks.
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High refolding yields aren’t enough. Learn how analytical characterization, structural equivalence testing, and optimized fermentation reduce scale-up risk and improve quality.
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EPA’s proposed perchlorate regulation challenges utilities to integrate advanced oxidation and separation technologies, enabling reliable removal, regulatory compliance, and flexible treatment for emerging contaminants.
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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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Ozone output doesn’t guarantee performance. Learn how mass transfer efficiency determines how much ozone dissolves, drives treatment results, and impacts energy use and system design.
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Ozone system performance hinges on reactor design, not generator size. Efficient mass transfer, hydraulic integrity, and contact time ensure consistent oxidation, reduced energy use, and reliable treatment results.
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A tailored LC–MS approach enables sensitive detection and tracking of monoclonal antibody variants, supporting deeper product characterization and better control of quality‑impacting changes.
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Perfluoro compounds (PFCs), which are suspected carcinogens, are a growing concern for communities and a challenge that many water utilities need to address. When the Stratmoor Hills Water District detected PFCs in a seasonal well, the utility partnered with Evoqua, a Xylem company, to find a cost-effective solution.
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This case study demonstrates the effectiveness of a new technology for removing PFAS from well water to below the EPA’s detection limits.
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Explore how ozone-based treatment supports data center water reuse by controlling biofilm, organics, metals, and microbial risks while reducing freshwater demand.
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Explore how manufacturers can turn sustainability challenges into strategic advantages through smarter energy use, regulatory insight, and emerging innovations.
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Discover how science-based bio-decontamination strategies effectively eliminate invisible pathogens and rapidly restore facilities to operational safety following major infrastructure disruptions.
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Advanced X-ray inspection, metal detection, and checkweighing technologies ensure fill accuracy, eliminate contaminants, and protect nutraceutical brands.
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Filtration removes contaminants to ensure safety and is essential in various applications, from lab-scale tasks to GMP production. Explore how its simplicity and reliability make it indispensable.
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Transitioning to a hybrid-cloud architecture allows municipal utilities to securely centralize operational data. This structure gives engineering teams and consultants safe, self-serve access to near real-time insights, streamlining regulatory reporting and optimizing chemical usage.
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Learn why GAC alone may fall short in PFAS treatment — and how utilities can future-proof performance with multi-barrier strategies that tackle short-chain compounds, regulatory shifts, and rising operational risks.
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Learn how real-time monitoring with PAT enhances process control, shortens development timelines, and supports the shift toward continuous manufacturing in biopharmaceutical production.
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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.