Water bills sometimes force families out of their homes — a problem that has afflicted people across the country.
A nonprofit says it is making water utility data more accessible and transparent for ratepayers by providing a contamination database that highlights which chemicals cause cancer.
A suburb south of Chicago will lose control of its water operation because of what a judge called “years of illegal conduct” by city officials.
A powerful figure in the New Orleans government is going after the city water utility for allegedly failing to warn residents about the potential threat of lead in their drinking water.
Critics are alleging that Modesto, CA, violated state law by "hiding a secret storm water fee" in a water rate increase, according to The Modesto Bee.
Can a water meter upgrade mean higher bills for customers?
Just about a year ago I posted a blog that addressed a disturbing trend — thieves impersonating water and other utility workers to gain access to individuals’ homes and credit card information. Discouragingly, this type of criminal activity seems to be growing and “scammers” are getting more sophisticated in their methods for victimizing unsuspecting utility customers. However, there has also been a very encouraging development over the past year as well, that being the formation and growth of Utilities United against Scams (UUAS).
With infrastructure reliability on the brink, utilities are forced to raise rates to fund improvements. It’s not a move that is undertaken lightly, nor should it be. The latest AWWA rate survey, produced with Raftelis Financial Consultants, highlights the plight of both utilities and consumers.
Advancements in submetering and cloud-based data analytics help reduce consumption, lower costs, and improve operational efficiency.
On January 1st 2017, Philadelphia’s controversial “soda tax” went into effect, adding a 1.5-cents-per-ounce on sugary beverages sold in the city. Several cities across the U.S. have enacted similar taxes in a bid to battle diet-related diseases such as obesity and fund more healthy activities within their communities.
The Flint water crisis brought long overdue attention to the state of U.S. water infrastructure. Repair and development costs, north of a trillion dollars by some measures, are jaw-dropping. And water management is being scrutinized — from the top-down — to figure out how these costs are going to be paid for.
When searching for a service provider, you want what’s best for your company. But what does best mean when it comes to service?
Water utilities are tasked with ensuring a sustainable and safe supply in addition to achieving business and service excellence goals. These goals are typically based on criteria that measure operational performance, meeting bond covenants, and customer satisfaction.
Big Data is often characterized by the large volume of data, the wide variety of data types and the velocity at which the data must be processed. Data can come from many different sources, such as social media use, online purchases, licensed twitter data streams or sensors used in the Internet of Things (IoT).
Rocky Craley of Raftelis Financial Consultants, the firm that conducted the 2016 Water and Wastewater Rate Survey along with the American Water Works Association (AWWA), discussed the takeaways of the annual survey in this edition of Water Talk.
The 85th Texas Regular Legislative Session has drawn to a close. Now that we've had some time to digest what went down (and get some sleep), we can reflect. There is no doubt: This was a very hard Session. Emotions were high and lives were at stake.
What’s the best way to fight odors in the wastewater industry? Add a little oxygen. Adding Praxair’s pure oxygen to your existing process can raise the level of dissolved oxygen enough to reduce odors without further action. Even better, the use of a Praxair oxygen acetates treatment system will lower costs and help you meet your environmental goals. Our systems help you manage peak demand and increase capacity while reducing Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions.
Calgon Carbon brings more than 70 years of experience in producing powdered activated carbons (PAC) specifically engineered to meet the demands of individual industrial applications. Today, Calgon Carbon is still leading the way, offering an exceptional range of powdered activated carbons that help make pure water and clean air for a better world.
The Sensus OMNI™ Verification (V²) portable test meter gives you a fast and efficient solution to test the accuracy and performance of your large meters. The test meter will quickly become an important part of your water system’s maintenance operation. Piping and flow pattern irregularities can influence your meters’ accuracy and testing them in-line provides a truer indication of in-service accuracy. With OMNI V² you no longer have to take your meters out of service to test them.
Off-the-shelf solutions just won’t cut it. You want consistent, custom, world-class service that is both affordable and uncompromising. Each year, hundreds of chemical, food, oil and pharmaceutical manufacturers, municipalities, remediation contractors, government agencies and many others turn to Calgon Carbon for their service needs.
Calgon Carbon’s ion exchange technology is designed to remove dissolved ionic compounds from water or other liquids. Calgon Carbon offers media, fixed bed and continuous systems for a variety of applications.
Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation is used for multifunctional purposes. UV is most commonly used as an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical disinfection. It’s one of the most effective methods for inactivating harmful pathogens such as Listeria, E.coli, Giardia and chlorine tolerant pathogens like Cryptosporidium. UV is also used for removal of organic and inorganic contaminants, including chlorine, ozone and Total Organic Carbon (TOC). UV used in conjunction with an Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) will remove Compounds of Emerging Concerns (CEC's), Synthetic Organics (SO's), Endocrine Disruptor Compounds (EDC's) and Personal and Pharmaceutical Care Products (PPCP's), as well as various taste and odor compounds from water.
Small-footprint, containerized solutions to treat water from any source- at any scale.
Calgon Carbon created the first granular activated carbon (GAC) from bituminous coal in the 1940s and has staked a position of global industry leadership ever since.
Social media engagement has for too long been a missed opportunity for drinking water utilities. A new research project seeks to convince them that they need to change that.
Rocky Craley of Raftelis Financial Consultants, the firm that conducted the 2016 Water and Wastewater Rate Survey along with the American Water Works Association (AWWA), discussed the takeaways of the annual survey in this edition of Water Talk.
The American Water Works Association’s annual State of the Water Industry (SOTWI) study reveals declining confidence compared to recent years.
A recent presentation dedicated to maintaining and improving drinking water and wastewater utility workforces provided answers for employee obstacles.
Odor issues continue to plague wastewater treatment plants all over the country. With a range of foul smells caused by varied contributors, one research project sought to provide a breath of fresh air.
Since chlorine technology was first used to disinfect drinking water in Jersey City, NJ, in 1908, most waterborne diseases have been eliminated in the U.S. Chlorine is still the most common disinfectant for drinking water and wastewater. Chlorine is also used for disinfection and as a biocide in numerous industries.
Chemical, petrochemical, and oil-refining plants are process-intensive operations with regulatory requirements to protect the surrounding water and air from the effects of industrial pollution. These external demands are matched by equally compelling internal pressures to address product purification needs, find alternatives to utilizing costly fresh water in production processes, reduce the carbon footprint, and operate efficiently and profitably.
At the end of The Big Short, a postscript stated that one of the story's protagonists, Dr. Michael Burry (played by Christian Bale), was now focused on investing in only one commodity: water. That got my attention.
There have been many publications lately that claim universal appeal of the ORP sensors and their applicability across the board. This concerns me, because the authors sometimes forget to mention some well-known practical limitations of the method, let alone the realities of water treatment applications potentially influencing the sensor performance.
Water is the lifeblood of electrical power plants, whether they are water-cooled steam plants or turbine-spinning hydroelectric installations. Regardless of how the facility generates electricity, there is a growing awareness that each power plant is part of its own, unique industrial watershed — drawing water from the environment, altering its contents and temperature, releasing some to the atmosphere as steam, and returning the rest to receiving waters.
High levels of radionuclides (uranium/radium/etc.) in drinking water aren’t very common, but they are very dangerous. If you’ve long dealt with radionuclides, you’re familiar with the treatment requirements — but are you treating as cost effectively as possible?
We all hope that the Flint Water Crisis – where cost-cutting measures led to the drinking water supply to become severely tainted with lead – was an isolated incident. However, it is not impossible that a similar event could happen again, especially in a similarly desperate city with limited financial resources. Here are a few key points that should be considered to avoid repeating such a tragedy.
For years, I’ve been standing on my deck in San Francisco, looking south to Silicon Valley for innovation in water efficiency. But I’m starting to realize that I might have been gazing in the wrong direction. Maybe I need to turn around and look north, over the spires of the Golden Gate Bridge, toward the Emerald Triangle in Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties, the hotbed of California’s newly legalized commercial cannabis production.
When Flint Michigan discontinued purchasing water from the Detroit Water Authority and began using the Flint River as their raw water source they unfortunately did not consider the potential impact on lead and copper corrosion and the impact on the public.
