Over the past 10 years, DC Water has become the harbinger of the modern water utility. It’s often unconventional approach to tackling age-old problems usually elicits one of two responses from other utility professionals. The first response is one of resignation — if only I had the budget that size permits, I’d be able to do similar things. And the second is one of awe — there’s no way I have the amount of gumption to convince regulators or customers that I have a better way.
If forewarned is forearmed, then monitoring risk, resilience assessment, and emergency planning are essential to keeping water flowing in the face of surprise developments. At ACE19, Bentley Systems’ Senior Product Manager Tom Walski shared how the company’s modeling software running as a “digital twin” for water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure systems is helping utilities improve daily operation resilience, noting “a little bit of work has a lot of payback.”
From the largest metropolitan utilities to the smallest water systems, leaks are a problem everywhere. Because it’s difficult to raise consumer prices to offset the losses, non-revenue water has a direct impact on the bottom line of municipal water systems. However, utility managers now have an opportunity to reverse the problem with advanced flow meter technology that combines multiple measurements.
A couple of weeks ago, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt called PFAS groundwater contamination “a national priority” and pledged action at an EPA national PFAS leadership summit.
Corrosion control has always been a priority for distributing safe drinking water throughout the world’s networks of pipeline. This has become all the more critical following the outrageous lead poisoning revelations in Flint, MI — an incident caused directly by corrosion of the city’s lead-based infrastructure.
It’s common to see “BPA Free” labels on water bottles and other containers, a response to consumers who have grown increasingly wary of the contaminant. However, testing for BPAs that may have found their way into drinking water sources has traditionally been cumbersome and expensive, so municipalities could be exposing their customers to unsafe levels. The good news is that newer advancements are making it easier to use existing technologies to monitor for the pollutant.
Affordability and maintainability are two of the greatest challenges small municipalities face when constructing and managing sewer infrastructure. With these challenges in mind, it’s important for small cities to choose wisely when investing in a wastewater system that needs to last for 30-60 years.
Over the past decade, there has been a considerable effort in the water sector to address industry shortcomings through collaboration. And perhaps there’s been no greater initiative to try to help water utility managers in their day-to-day and future planning than the Effective Utility Management (EUM) Initiative.
Among water treatment industry professionals, consensus is growing that small- to medium-scale decentralized desalination and wastewater treatment plants are the way forward in a water-stressed future. But governments continue to announce new water mega-infrastructure projects at an alarming rate. Because the public policy debate appears to have simply not caught up with current technology, many companies and NGOs with a focus on small- to medium-scale water treatment or renewable energy have begun to see the Caribbean as something of a new frontier.
On the banks of Puget Sound and in the shadow of Mount Rainier exists Tacoma, Washington. The city is home to approximately 211,000 residents, making it the third largest in the state of Washington. Tacoma’s vision is one focused on stewardship and resiliency, as outlined the Environmental Services Department strategic plan: “We believe everything we do supports healthy neighborhoods and a thriving Puget Sound, leaving a better Tacoma for all.”
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