The term “carbon footprint” has been on everyone’s lips since the start of the climate change discussion. Very few industries can claim that they play no part in impacting the carbon footprint — either for good or bad. This is also true for the water and wastewater industry that will have to take a closer look at increasing the efficiency of their facilities to reduce their carbon footprint.
Having to repair old, worn, broken, or leaking pipes is bad enough. Having to revisit the repair location a second time to refurbish the original fix is doubly frustrating. Here are some guidelines for getting the best results from pipeline repair efforts and enhancing the durability of the repair effort to match the anticipated service life of the pipeline itself.
Warming weather can be a cause for concern at drinking water utilities around the country where summer temperatures mean the return of toxic algal blooms.
When developers of a condominium complex sourced wastewater treatment systems, it did so with two primary requirements: efficient land utilization and high effluent quality to meet stringent guidelines. State regulators advised the developers to discuss combining its wastewater system with the owner’s association of an adjacent housing development, whose existing wastewater treatment system was aging and required augmentation.
Environmental Health Assessments (EHAs) are used to better understand the range of possible effects of environmental factors on a community’s health and wellbeing. These assessments are defined by EPA researchers as “methodical evaluations of air, water, and soil pollution impacts on human health and the environment.”
Americans should feel confident that the water delivered to their homes by a public water system is safe to drink. But when residents of Martin County, Kentucky turn on their taps, the water may be discolored, smell like bleach, and make children itch after bathing.
In the face of rising sea levels, structures near source water bodies are increasingly under threat of flood damage. Now, an ambitious plan in Washington, D.C. will be the first of its kind to take major steps to protect against that danger.
As with any industrial process, the right tool for the job depends on the nature of the task at hand. In aerobic wastewater treatment, that optimal choice often comes down to a balance between the biological and financial demands of the application. Either way, here are several performance comparisons of how multiple aeration methods and locations stack up in industrial wastewater treatment applications.
Aeration for industrial and municipal wastewater treatment involves more than simply moving volumes of air through a treatment basin. It really comes down to creating and sustaining an optimal oxygenated environment for microorganisms to convert oxygen consuming compounds into CO2 and water. Here are some key considerations for making better retrofit decisions about upgrading existing basin capacity and efficiency with jet aeration.
In water and wastewater operations, optimizing energy use plays a huge role in cost efficiency, but how can you know if pumping equipment and other motors are running as efficiently as possible? Analytics systems that interpret performance from a variety of data points — pump curves, run time, flow rates, vibration, temperature, energy consumption, etc. — can quantify pump operation to keep performance efficiency on an upward track.
The same scenario plays out daily at water utilities across the country. Water pressure begins to drop during morning hours as customers wake to prepare for their day. As demand decreases throughout the evening hours, system pressures creep up, hitting their highest levels in the early morning hours. This often leads to main breaks. Advanced control valves can be engineered to address this as well as many other problems faced by distribution system managers.
Unlike most municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) applications, industrial wastewater can vary widely from one application to another, even within the same plant, depending on the process being run. Industrial wastewater professionals — especially those facing specific challenges or planned volume increases — can benefit from comparing key points of differentiation in jet aeration system options before making any upgrade.
A maintenance check turned surprisingly grim last week at a Birmingham Water Works facility in Alabama.
The biggest obstacle to investing in natural infrastructure, such as wetlands and reefs, often is that experts have not figured out how to value the protection that these habitats provide in economic terms. But a new report, published by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Coastal Hazards Program, solves that problem for one of our planet’s most biodiverse ecosystems: coral reefs.
Across America, our infrastructure is often failing to deliver, giving way to a growing consensus that more investment is a good idea. Economists tend to be more specific, with particular emphasis on the economic returns from maintenance spending. As the country debates the next great wave of infrastructure investment, it’s important to take stock of spending patterns from the recent past.
In today’s competitive business environment, which focuses on increased throughput, economies of scale and a healthy bottom line, accurate and reliable measurement is a key component. Monitoring production processes by installing a wide range of sensors including flow, level, temperature, and pressure is common and crucial to be competitive. Although there are many reasons why plant managers decide to install monitoring devices in their process, environmental and regulatory reasons dominate one side of the spectrum, whereas quality, process control and monitoring govern the other.
The Frisco Bay Marina at Dillon Reservoir will be safer for boaters and look a lot different this summer, following a massive makeover during the spring months that Denver Water helped pay for.
The hardest aspects of comparing efficiencies among submerged aeration technologies are the many variables in capital expense (CAPEX), operating expense (OPEX), and complexity of wastewater makeup. Instead, consider comparing the physics of different aeration technologies and the relative costs associated with them. Here are five major categories for evaluating industrial wastewater aeration efficiency.
This month, Pennsylvania will begin sampling more than 350 public water systems in an effort mandated by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to curb per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) contamination.
This video focuses on leading water and wastewater utilities use cases that have embraced and leveraged digital technologies such as smart sensors/devices, IoT, better connectivity, and software. You'll see examples from utilities that have created a data strategy and are using real-time data that is driving smarter decisions to reduce opex and capex, increase asset life, meet environmental compliance, etc. while reducing risk.
Control of dissolved organics has been one of the highest priority concerns for most water treatment plants for over 20 years. Organics monitoring is an even more critical issue today in the face of more stringent regulations and concerns around trace organics, emerging contaminants, and even counter-terrorism or water security. Despite the critical need, many plants still rely primarily on turbidity for monitoring and process control.
A car struck a fire hydrant in the middle of the night in California, creating a massive water leak. Even before first responders were notified, a pressure sensor sent a text alert to the water utility manager, who was able to dispatch a crew to the scene within minutes. What’s significant is that the utility responded long before receiving a call from emergency crews or an alert from its SCADA system installed in a nearby pump station.
Fewer things are more aggravating to commuters than being told they’ll need to take a detour because of a water main break. Those breaks also leave water utilities with a hefty, unplanned bill. Smart fire hydrants, however, offer water managers the ability to get ahead of these problems by providing more insight than ever into their distribution systems.
Air release valves play a critical role in maintaining pipeline integrity, but most don’t seal properly at lower pressures without changing to a softer seat, when the system is most at risk. The key to avoiding problems, while achieving optimal performance, is selecting air release valves that work in low- and high-pressure applications. The good news is that there are some advanced valve products on the market that seal over a much wider range.
Though the elephant in the room (Texas v. New Mexico court case) loomed large, hundreds of water researchers and experts who converged for the second annual Two Nations One Water summit in Las Cruces, NM, quickly went to work to explore water strategies for managing shared water resources amidst drought, climate uncertainties, and population growth.
Some New Yorkers will soon be utilizing their own personal byproducts as fuel thanks to an innovative wastewater reuse project in the city.
The City of Flint, Michigan — the country’s most visible victim of lead contamination in drinking water brought on by outdated infrastructure — has recently run into trouble financing much needed improvements on the wastewater side.
Combined and sanitary sewer overflows are natural hazards for wastewater collection systems. Without a comprehensive solution to monitor troublesome conditions, overflows can be triggered with little warning and lead to expensive and embarrassing situations. Fortunately, versatile analytical systems that capitalize on existing wastewater collection infrastructure hold promise for avoiding such negative impacts.
A combination of water scarcity and the desire to provide exceptional service has driven water utility managers to be focused more than ever on acquiring accurate, real-time insight into their distribution systems. Operators face a natural hurdle, however, when using traditional center-line electromagnetic flow meters, which don’t account for velocities that vary across a pipe. Fortunately, a solution has emerged to address the issue.
Nestled in the Finger Lakes region in upstate New York, the town of Owasco is a popular vacation spot. With about 4,000 residents, the town, along with the nearby community of Auburn, relies on Owasco Lake for its drinking water. In 2016, Owasco and Auburn detected algal toxins in their finished water for the first time. With the busy summer tourist season quickly approaching, GHD contacted Calgon Carbon.
ATP testing can rapidly detect harmful algae blooms, reducing the time required to implement a Red Alert and, consequently, the risk to public health. Read about how a regional water authority experiencing an algae bloom investigated the use of ATP (dQGO-M) as a method of rapidly quantifying algae biovolume, which is typically measured using microscopy.
Water quite literally flows through every facet of life, being the key element for everyone and everything on Earth. The world’s population is increasing at 1.1 percent (roughly 83 million) every year, an incredible and alarming rate straining the world’s fresh water supply. The increasing pressures between what humanity demands and what is currently available emphasizes the importance of conservation.
Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, has a scarce and precious water supply. In 2013, Santa Fe’s Water Division became aware its drive-by meter reading system was failing. The Water Division implemented the BEACON Advanced Metering Analytics (AMA) managed solution with ORION Cellular endpoints and E-Series Ultrasonic meters from Badger Meter.
Digital transformation of the water sector is continuing to grow in 2019. Climate change, urban population growth, tightening regulations, aging infrastructure, and water scarcity are some of the many global challenges water utilities will be forced to address in creative and cost-effective ways. To meet these needs, utilities are deploying an array of technologies that significantly alter operations and customer engagement.
Purissima Hills Water District (PHWD), a county water district, provides chloraminated water service to two-thirds of the town of Los Altos Hills, adjacent to the city of Palo Alto in Northern California. With remote tank locations, low population density (6,800 people) and low water demand (1.61MGD), PHWD is constantly challenged to maintain consistent disinfectant residual levels while simultaneously balancing the safe delivery of chemicals to its tank site at an affordable cost.
To ensure informed chemical safety decisions can be made about thousands of chemicals, scientists and decision makers need a constantly evolving set of tools for quickly and efficiently evaluating chemicals of interest. EPA scientists have recently released an update to the online Computational Toxicology (CompTox) Chemicals Dashboard to help advance these efforts. The website has been updated with new data and functionality every six months for the past three years.
Water is essential to life. And it is a very precious commodity in Israel, home to 9 million people living in a rocky desert that receives about 10 inches of rain a year. By comparison, Denver, considered semi-arid, gets about 15 inches of rain a year, which is about a fourth of the precipitation a tropical city such as Miami receives.
This video focuses on leading water and wastewater utilities who have embraced and leveraged digital technologies such as smart sensors/devices, IoT, better connectivity, and software. You'll discover that by creating a data strategy and using real-time data your water utility will drive smarter decisions to reduce opex and capex, increase asset life, meet environmental compliance, etc. while reducing risk.
Emerson was selected to modernize PLC-based controls for power and water plants and remote sites operated by the City of Fremont Department of Utilities. One of the oldest municipal utilities in Nebraska, the organization operates and manages water/wastewater collection, treatment and distribution, as well as coal and natural gas power generation, transmission and distribution systems that serve customers in a 60-square-mile area.
The NSF International joint committee of stakeholders that maintains the American National Standards for drinking water treatment and reverse osmosis (RO) devices recently updated two standards to include test methods and other requirements for the reduction of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS).
After 6 successful years in Toronto, the World Water-Tech North America organizers have announced a strategic relocation for its next edition, to be held in Santa Monica, Los Angeles on October 29-30, 2019.
In solving a scientific mystery, researchers from the University of Houston and the nation’s national laboratories also discovered a new avenue for clearing toxins from water, including wastewater produced by hydraulic fracturing.
Today the International Code Council and the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance the partnership between the two organizations, recognizing the mission code officials and floodplain managers share in protecting communities and the environment.
The House Appropriations Committee today approved the fiscal year 2020 Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies bill on a vote of 31 to 21. The legislation funds the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Interior programs, the Department of Energy, and other related agencies.
Research is being conducted everywhere we look, with curiosity and the pursuit of new knowledge offering an endless array of opportunities to generate important information and expand horizons.
The Water Environment Federation (WEF) proudly announces that 53 high school students have been selected as 2019 state winners of the U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize, the nation’s most prestigious youth award for a water-related science project.
Today BCR announced that its Neutralizer treatment technology will play a key role in the production of Class AA biosolids for CCUA’s recently upgraded and expanded Mid-Clay County wastewater treatment plant.
Trench and excavation work represent some of the most dangerous jobs in the construction industry. Maintaining up-to-date training on safety regulations and equipment solutions is essential to not only keeping employees safe but also leads to improved project productivity.
TaKaDu today announced its first deployment of its integration with Esri ArcGIS at Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB) in the US, the first since joining the Esri Partner Network.
Watergen, an Israel-based innovative company that creates clean water out of air is now providing a source of freshwater for over 120 children living in an orphanage in Uzbekistan’s city of Bukhara.
For more than a century, AMERICAN has been committed to doing things the right way – exceeding customer expectations, caring for our employees and building strong communities. Taking pride in our work means taking the time to do it right. And that commitment to excellence is reflected in each of the products we proudly produce.
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Amit Pramanik, Chief Innovation and Development Officer
Water Research Foundation
Visit the Water Intelligence Panel page.
A real-time operational performance monitoring and reporting dashboard, SCADAWatch brings business intelligence into interaction processes in the control room. It enables water utilities to conduct zonal mass balance and water audits to determine non-revenue water and monitor everything from uptime to analytics, access timely information to make better decisions, react faster to important events and identify opportunities to drive operational efficiencies as they happen. It positions operators as a major force for system improvement, regulatory compliance, and financial planning.
The device with genuine two-wire technology and for minimized cost of ownership.
Genuine loop-powered technology for seamless 2-wire integration and robustness in standard process applications.
One Nirobox FW unit can transform freshwater sources to drinking water or industrial process water.
The Singer models 106-2SC-PCO and 206-2SC-PCO dual solenoid electronic valves are based on the Singer model 106-PG or 206-PG main valve.
AdEdge-ROTEC’s Flow Reversal technology is designed to be implemented in new and existing reverse osmosis desalination facilities for water purification, brackish water, process water, and other industrial applications. This high recovery technology addresses concerns often associated with desalination and enables significant system performance improvements, leading to higher profitability, reduced operating costs, and a lower environmental impact.
Endress+Hauser launched E-direct, an online store that allows customers to easily and securely order high quality measurement products at competitive prices.
The highly efficient submersible sewage pump type ABS XFP range is designed for use in terminal and engineered pumping stations. With Premium Efficiency IE3 motors as standard and a versatile range of Contrablock plus impellers, the pumps vouch for highly efficient and reliable operation.
Ideal Usage for Safety Vapor Tanks: Refineries, chemical facilities and wastewater treatment plants. Volatile organic liquids, spent acids and caustics.
This video focuses on leading water and wastewater utilities use cases that have embraced and leveraged digital technologies such as smart sensors/devices, IoT, better connectivity, and software. You'll see examples from utilities that have created a data strategy and are using real-time data that is driving smarter decisions to reduce opex and capex, increase asset life, meet environmental compliance, etc. while reducing risk.
This video focuses on leading water and wastewater utilities who have embraced and leveraged digital technologies such as smart sensors/devices, IoT, better connectivity, and software. You'll discover that by creating a data strategy and using real-time data your water utility will drive smarter decisions to reduce opex and capex, increase asset life, meet environmental compliance, etc. while reducing risk.
This video focuses on leading water and wastewater utilities use cases that have embraced and leveraged digital technologies such as smart sensors/devices, IoT, better connectivity, and software. You'll see examples from utilities that have created a data strategy and are using real-time data that is driving smarter decisions to reduce opex and capex, increase asset life, meet environmental compliance, etc. while reducing risk.
Customers want to know that our chemical pumps are actually pumping chemical. This is going to ensure that the chemical is getting into these critical drinking water systems very, very quickly. We listened to our customers, they told us all the problems that they had, and we designed the new MS-6 to meet all those challenges.
At De Nora Water Technologies we make water treatment easy. That’s why we offer a range of innovative treatment technologies used the world over, to help protect and preserve the world’s most precious resource. Learn more.
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