Did you know that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had a published Contingency Plan in anticipation of the current government shutdown? I guess in hindsight, you would have expected it for an agency with 134 facilities dotted across the country. And in fact, it’s required by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Circular A-11, Section 124 that all government agencies have plans for an orderly shutdown “in the event of an absence of appropriations.”
Did you ever have a paper route or go door-to-door selling items to your neighbors for a charitable cause in your younger years? Remember the house with the big dog? Or the overgrown yard? Maybe even the dark house at the end of the lane that the spooky old woman known to all as “the witch” lived in?
Most people understand the inherent benefits of plastic piping — chemical resistance, installation speed, ease of assembly, cost efficiency, longevity in corrosive, harsh exterior or underground environments, etc. Not everyone, however, fully appreciates the nuances of plastic piping design that help to maximize those benefits most efficiently.
Outsourcing water management at industrial plants is not a simple all-or-nothing decision. Instead, when looking to outsource, industrial plant managers have a variety of models to choose from to meet their needs, each with its own benefits as well as trade-offs. Here is what to consider when deciding what and how to outsource.
Identifying the correct pace for digitizing water management at the industrial plant has many managers ready to “pull the plug.” Most would agree that the digital transformation wave promises to provide significant efficiency to their operations. However, in the rush to compete with others along the new digital frontier, many vendors seem to be glossing over the plant managers’ legitimate concerns about data security, mixing new and legacy systems, and ongoing service and support.
Water doesn’t directly drive profits at industrial plants, but it’s a crucial component of plant operations. Since properly treated water is required, plants must operate and maintain equipment to process their influent and effluent. There are a few options for handling water treatment onsite: hiring and delegating to employees, outsourcing to third-party vendors, or a combination of both. Here are some of the reasons why you might consider outsourcing your water management rather than hiring your own employees for it.
Water is becoming more complex for industry. Its cost as a component of production is on the rise, and greater regulatory scrutiny continues to expand post-process wastewater treatment. Against a backdrop of growing water scarcity, industrial leaders are focusing more time and energy into leveraging water acquisition and usage to their competitive advantage. The days when access to water was taken for granted are over. In fact, by 2030 global water demand is projected to exceed available water by 40 percent.
The 38th Annual Esri User Conference in San Diego was another great success, and an opportunity for us to showcase our integration technology. This year OSIsoft has received the Esri Partner Award for “Delivering in Real-Time”, marking a major milestone in our common journey to deliver real-time data inside Esri's maps. Award winners were chosen based on demonstrated best practices in their advanced use of Esri technology, and their contribution to taking the ArcGIS Platform's latest features and geographic visualization to the next level.
The water burbling down the rural hillside, nurturing the thick foliage, certainly looked like a stream.
As water utilities migrate toward remote system monitoring and real-time control, the risks associated with cybersecurity tick upward as well. While the rewards of digitalization offer real promise, the associated complexity and security concerns pose corresponding risks. That is why it is important to have an overall risk-management process for the organizational level, the business process level, and for the information system and data levels as well.
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