Kevin Westerling Articles

41. Understanding New PFAS Rules For Water 12/20/2022

    A flurry of proposed PFAS rules, combined with ongoing legal challenges and uncertainties, have left many in the drinking water community confused about what it all means for the industry. To answer some common questions, I sat down with two experts: Craig Butt of SCIEX and Christopher Higgins of the Colorado School of Mines.

42. Going Digital: Celebrating Achievement In Water And Wastewater Infrastructure Development 12/1/2022

    Following two years of hosting remotely, Bentley Systems returned to a live setting for its annual Year in Infrastructure and Going Digital Awards event, held November 14-15 in London, England. Bentley welcomed 114 press members from 23 countries to celebrate some of the most impressive infrastructure projects of the past year, including those from the water/wastewater sector.

43. Celebrating 50 Years Of (Mostly) Clean Water 11/3/2022
    October 18, 1972, the day the Clean Water Act (CWA) became law, was undeniably a pivotal moment for the state of water quality in America. From where we stand now, 50 years later, it's hard to imagine a time when polluters were dumping contaminants freely into environmental waters — enough to set a river on fire! Here we recall the six key 1972 amendments that defined the CWA, accompanied by some recent themes related to each one.
44. Does Your Waterbody Need A Doctor? 10/26/2022

    Just as you go to the doctor in the case of a bacterial infection — typically resolved with a round of antibiotics along with monitoring to assess symptoms and tests to prove good health — your lake or waterbody must be treated similarly for its bacteria problem. It’s not one pill and then you’re cured.

45. All For One And One For All — For Water's Sake 9/9/2022

    Societal well-being is hugely dependent on a clean and available water supply, which is becoming increasingly dependent on community engagement and education.

46. Addressing Water Scarcity Through Innovation 7/22/2022

    Conduct a search for “hydropanels” and you’ll find many references to one source — or SOURCE, actually, as this is the company spearheading the revolutionary technology, which uses solar energy to provide a safe and consistent supply of drinking water by drawing water vapor out of the sky.

47. Water We Talking About? Smart Irrigation Month 7/18/2022

    Among other celebrated fare this month, July is National Blueberry Month, National Peach Month, National Baked Bean Month, National Picnic Month, and National Grilling Month. But none of these acknowledgements could be possible without irrigation, so we here at Water Online find July most notable for being Smart Irrigation Month.

48. Water Utilities vs. Climate Change: A Plan For Securing Our Future 7/15/2022

    The U.N.’s Intergovern-mental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is widely considered to be the world’s foremost authority on what may be humankind’s most existential threat, and this year The Working Group II of the IPCC released its Sixth Assessment Report on the state of the crisis. It reviewed not only the impacts of climate change throughout ecosystems and communities, but also the “capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt.”

49. Calling On Utilities To Combat Legionella 5/5/2022

    The risk level linked to delivered drinking water from municipal utilities is very small, even if some high-profile examples of failure (see Flint, MI) have degraded public confidence to a degree. Our treatment professionals usually hit their targets, so the onus then shifts to the research and guidance that determines the safe level of various constituents through U.S. EPA protocols. But there is one contaminant that rulemaking hasn’t quite caught up to and which is downright deadly — Legionella pneumophila.

50. Reconsidering 'Environmental Racism' 3/23/2022

    Water Online recently published an article for Water Innovations on environmental racism — Environmental Racism In America: How It's Affecting Vulnerable Communities — and I paused during the editing process to consider watering down the key phrase to "environmental injustice" before ultimately deciding that I might also be watering down the transgression itself. However, the very consideration made me wonder why I had the instinct to tone it down in the first place.