LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER DISTRIBUTION
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What's The Value Of Non-Revenue Water?
2/17/2023
Not all water loss, more correctly nonrevenue water, has the same cost to the water utility, and not all reduction is worth the same. First, it’s important to distinguish between the two main categories of water loss, apparent loss and real loss.
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How Many Isolation Valves Are Enough?
2/17/2023
Without isolation valves, repairing a pipe break or performing other maintenance would require shutting down the entire water distribution system. But how many isolation valves are actually needed?
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Understanding The White House's Get The Lead Out Partnership, With One Of Its Participants
2/13/2023
In late January, the White House welcomed over 100 organizations for the launch of the Biden-Harris Get the Lead Out Partnership, which seeks replacement of 100% of the nation’s lead service lines (LSLs) in 10 years. The organizations that were on hand come from various sectors, but all have a vested interest in ‘getting the lead out’ and improving water quality for consumers, and all have partnered with the Administration to achieve the lofty goal of complete LSL removal.
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Cheap Sewer Pipe Repairs Can Push Toxic Fumes Into Homes And Schools — Here’s How To Lower The Risk
1/23/2023
Across the U.S., children and adults are increasingly exposed to harmful chemicals from a source few people are even aware of. It begins on a street outside a home or school, where a worker in a manhole is repairing a sewer pipe. The contractor inserts a resin-soaked sleeve into the buried pipe, then heats it, transforming the resin into a hard plastic pipe.
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A 2023 Road Map To Replacing The Nation’s Toxic Lead Pipes
1/11/2023
One of the great water-management and societal challenges of our time is to get the lead out of our nation's drinking water — a daunting but achievable task, if approached correctly.
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How EPA Can Help Utilities Be More Climate Change Resilient
1/6/2023
As global climate conditions change, water utilities face a variety of stressors, including drought, flooding, rising sea levels, saltwater intrusion, and more. These changing conditions put increasing amounts of pressure on utilities to upgrade and adapt their operations and infrastructure. Unfortunately, many utilities lack two key things needed to become more climate change resilient: the expertise to determine the most critical projects to invest in, and the funding needed to implement them.
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Digital Transformation Drives Customer Satisfaction, Improved Processes
11/3/2022
Digital payment platforms improve the efficiency of collections and related labor practices, but their greatest benefit may be enhancing utility-customer relations.
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Myths We’ve Heard About Lead Service Line Inventory, Replacement, And Funding
10/12/2022
The U.S. EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Revision requires that utilities report their Service Line Materials Inventory and prepare Lead Service Line Replacement Plans by October 16, 2024. At the same time, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will allocate $15 billion for pipe replacement over the next five years. As communities across the country work toward compliance and position themselves for funding, some common questions and some misperceptions are surfacing. Here are some of the top myths we are hearing about lead service line inventory (LSLI) and lead service line replacement (LSLR).
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Understanding The Safety Of Using Plastic Pipes In The U.S. Service Line Replacement Project
9/13/2022
The U.S. Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan will help fund the service line replacement in states, tribes, and territories across the U.S. The service line replacement materials chosen for this project include copper, polyethylene (PE), crosslinked polyethylene (PEX), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Even though the pipes and fittings made of these materials are required to comply with NSF standards to ensure the materials will not contribute harmful levels of contaminants to the drinking water, some wonder about the safety of the materials chosen for use.
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New-Generation AI Overcomes Barriers To Proactive Leak Detection Adoption
9/9/2022
An estimated 90% of leakage never shows above ground, but adoptable technologies are challenging our accepted wisdom on economic levels of leakage (ELL).