Articles by Jim Lauria

71. What's In An Underdrain? More Than You Might Think 7/30/2014

    Media filtration is employed for a variety of treatment applications — drinking water, wastewater recycle/reuse, and pretreatment for desalination among them — but practitioners may be missing out on a key opportunity for savings.

72. Behind The Screen: When Protecting MBRs, There's More To Pre-Screening Technology Than Just Screens 5/21/2014

    There’s no doubt that effective pretreatment enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) plant — removing hair, fibers, and inorganic solids from influent at the very start creates benefits that resonate throughout the entire process.  The heart of pretreatment is a good screen — but good screening technology goes well beyond the screen itself to include seals, cleaning mechanisms, and logic controls as well.

73. Future Trends In Financing Water Projects 11/29/2012

    The American water treatment industry is facing dramatic operational challenges, maintenance challenges, and funding challenges.  Our task is to seek out learning opportunities — from the world of water as well as from other industries — to find new models that will help us meet those challenges.  It’s time for “just-in-time learning,” a phrase coined by management consultant John Kauke.  That’s learning that is fast, flexible and delivered in the right dose, at the right time, to the right people.

74. Performance Contracts: Shaking Up The Municipal Water Market? 6/19/2012

    Performance contracts promise to shake up the municipal water market — and to open the drinking water and wastewater sectors to new heights of innovation, efficiency, and funding opportunities.  As Steve Hoffman wrote in Planet Water: Investing in the World’s Most Valuable Resource, “the water industry is being rationalized from a delivery-based approach to a solution-based system.”

75. Economy, Efficiency Drive Trend Toward Decentralized Water Treatment 5/7/2012

    The next big thing may be smaller than ever. As urban areas continue to grow, many will outreach and outpace the capacity of their centralized municipal water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities, and, thus stretching the limits of cities’ crumbling infrastructure.

76. Water Colors: Scanning The Spectrum To Address Scarcity 3/2/2012

    Water scarcity is a growing challenge worldwide — even in countries graced with decent rainfall and a relatively robust system of dams and reservoirs. And it’s only going to get worse as populations and standards of living continue to increase.

77. Rethinking Water Reuse: Models For Future Success 2/16/2012

    As water supplies tighten and competition for shrinking supplies intensifies, we need to consider the source of water, the quality of water, the cost of water, and its intended use — and we need to learn how to manage and pay for it accordingly. That understanding, and the creative re-envisioning of water — such as that in Singapore, Israel, Utah, and California — is the key to effective water policy for the future.