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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In response to insufficient traditional dose-escalation methods, regulatory initiatives like the FDA’s Project Optimus advocate for identifying optimal biological doses rather than relying solely on maximum tolerated doses (MTD).
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Advanced acoustic sensors help growing utilities identify hidden leaks and prevent costly pipe bursts. By shifting from reactive to planned repairs, municipalities can significantly reduce non-revenue water loss and recoup technology investments through operational savings.
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Legacy oilfield contamination requires advanced strategies to protect vital groundwater. Explore the technical challenges of subsurface remediation and how advanced oxidation processes provide a more effective pathway for destroying persistent hydrocarbons and restoring aquifer quality.
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Gain sponsor approval by positioning technology as key to streamlined workflows, compliance, and patient safety — reducing risk and improving collaboration. Explore strategies now.
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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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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.
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When industrial plumes compromise critical aquifers, advanced UV-oxidation processes permanently destroy highly carcinogenic NDMA and resilient 1,4-dioxane, restoring millions of gallons of daily drinking water while reducing facility energy consumption by over eighty percent.
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Explore how Fc engineering transforms antibodies into precise therapeutic tools by modulating immune effector functions and extending half-life to improve patient outcomes and overcome complex clinical challenges.
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Critical water tunnels require efficient structural renewal to meet strict shutdown schedules. Certified geopolymer mortar provides a cost-effective, high-strength solution that eliminates groundwater infiltration and improves water quality while ensuring a 70-year service life for essential aqueduct systems.
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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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Navigate the complexities of pharmaceutical safety with a guide to tailored inspection systems. Match the right technology to your specific product format for total compliance and quality.
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Balancing robust analytics and clinical readiness is key for early-phase pDNA and mRNA therapeutics amid structural complexity and regulatory challenges.
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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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Read this article for an overview of key advantages, as well as examples of how communities have achieved cost savings by moving towards above-ground systems.
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Beaverton Water Division’s transition to Kamstrup AMI and acoustic leak detection is modernizing meter reading, reducing infrastructure costs, improving leak identification, and streamlining operations as deployment progresses.
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Advanced side stream filtration protects sensitive cooling infrastructure in data centers, extending membrane life, reducing water and energy use, and preventing costly downtime caused by particulate-loaded cooling water.
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Filter fouling has limited exosome therapeutic scalability—until now. Explore how a breakthrough reagent achieves 50% particle recovery versus 5% traditionally, enabling affordable clinical manufacturing.
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Understanding how to fine-tune pH and ionic strength allows for the detection of truncated sequences and single-nucleotide variants, turning complex purification challenges into reproducible data.