For water utilities, it can be hard enough to keep up with day-to-day demands — given the poor state of infrastructure, lack of funding, a retiring workforce, et al. — let alone prepare for events that have yet to happen. But building resiliency for "what if" scenarios is extremely important, says Dr. Zeynep Erdal, Integrated Solutions Leader for Black & Veatch’s water business. In this Water Talk interview, Dr.  Continue Reading..

If you're not benefiting from the analytics readily available to your utility operation, you're missing out on efficiency and cost savings. For  the curious and for skeptics, or if you want to advance your smart water journey, this Water Talk interview with Kevin Stively, Vice President and Smart Utility Services Leader at Brown and Caldwell, is a must-listen. Stively notes how the investment in smart technologies can be small...  Continue Reading..

Water reuse has long been trending up, but where do we stand in 2019 and beyond, particularly with respect to potable reuse, which has been more difficult to implement? Andrew Salveson, Water Reuse Practice Director at Carollo Engineers, talked about adoption rates, national and regional activity, and what's on tap for water reuse in this Water Talk interview. While the West and Southwest parts of the U.S. have been faster to embrace the...  Continue Reading..

Leon Downing, Principal Process Engineer and Innovation Leader at Black & Veatch, sat down with Water Talk's Todd Schnick and Kevin Westerling to discuss the exciting developments taking place with sidestream enhanced biological phosphorous removal, or S2EBPR. Black & Veatch is co-leading a Water Research Foundation (WRF) study conducted to establish a standard research approach for S2EBPR, which Downing calls "the evolution of...  Continue Reading..

There are many reasons for a utility to rent a blower for wastewater aeration. Besides the obvious — an emergency — plant operators may need a rental to bridge the gap during upgrade projects, supply seasonal need to supplement air, or perform testing.  Continue Reading..

Recently appointed Water Environment Federation (WEF) President Jackie Jarrell understands the trials and tribulations of WEF members, and not just from afar. As the deputy director of Charlotte Water, a utility with about 1,000 employees and 800,000 customers, she has firsthand experience with common industry challenges, including aging infrastructure, a retiring workforce, and emerging contaminants of concern such as PFOS. As president of WEF,...  Continue Reading..

Two VPs from Brown and Caldwell stopped by Water Talk to share leading-edge insight on topics important to just about every American utility — doing more with less and innovating for the future. Jose Jimenez, VP of Water Technology and Innovation, notes how "process intensification" can be achieved through gains in energy efficiency, among other ways, and illustrates the impact by sharing real-world results from a Pueblo, CO,...  Continue Reading..

The Water Environment Federation (WEF) has long led the way for water and wastewater professionals, but now the 35,000-member organization has a new leader of its own — Water Talk guest Walt Marlowe. Fresh off his initiation as executive director on Sept. 9, the executive director sat down to discuss his varied background, his views on the state of the water industry, and his plans for WEF moving forward. He also shares lessons learned...  Continue Reading..

Installing flow meters in new piping is one thing. Replacing a 20-year-old meter or adding new metering to piping where it never existed before is quite another. In this Water Talk interview, Cheryl Ades Anspach, marketing manager with Badger Meter, offers a non-invasive alternative using easily retrofittable clamp-on ultrasonic meters offering accuracy to + 0.5 percent and flow rates to 33,000 gpm in pipes up to 48” diameter. Two...  Continue Reading..