Water delivery in Austin, TX, was challenged by historic flooding in October, prompting an unusual turn of events for a major city.
New York American Water is under scrutiny for what public officials see as questionable charges on customer bills.
Did New York City officials fail to report evidence of water contamination?
Single-family homes in San Diego were overbilled by the city water department by more than $2 million last year, according to a new analysis.
In the age of water filters and pricey bottled water options, consumers may get confused about the best way to access drinking water.
New York state’s utility regulator is investigating New York American Water after around 100 customers alleged their bills had spiked after new water meters were installed.
There’s been talk lately about empathy, its components and its general decline. A decline in empathy concerns me as an assistant professor in the University of Saskatchewan’s School of Environment and Sustainability: I study how people cope with water problems or learn to share scarce resources, like water, gas, oil, and energy.
If a water utility is going to use digital communication to enhance the customer experience, it needs to ensure that it does so as seamlessly as possible.
Finding new ways to capture and utilize data is important for utilities looking to improve operating efficiency and customer service. This interview with Frank Brooks and Dave Rubin from Aclara — a smart-infrastructure solutions partner for water, gas, and/or electric utilities — outlines ways to do both within a common infrastructure.
Smart meters offer a wealth of benefits for water utilities and their customers, but anyone performing an online search will quickly feel there is a sense of uproar over their use. The truth, however, is that public health officials around the world have deemed smart meters safe. Understanding what’s behind the objections and knowing how to respond is a key to winning support for the implementation of smart meter technology.
Environmental Health Assessments (EHAs) are used to better understand the range of possible effects of environmental factors on a community’s health and wellbeing. These assessments are defined by EPA researchers as “methodical evaluations of air, water, and soil pollution impacts on human health and the environment.”
It all started with Mark Twain. Or someone who actually wasn't Mark Twain after all.
Remember when Legos were introduced as simple rectangular and square plastic bricks you used to build walls and towers?
“How can a coastal city that is flanked by an almost endless bank of water have water scarcity problems?”
Rosy-cheeked children and romantic-eyed couples bundled up and laughing as they enjoy a skate around the frozen pond. It’s an iconic and idyllic vision every winter. But this fairytale-like scene “frosts over” significant issues faced by water companies and conservationists, not to mention homeowners and other types of service providers.
Wastewater service charges vary considerably across EPA regions and States. That’s one of the key findings from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies’ (NACWA) Cost of Clean Water Index. If you live in Montana, Wyoming or the Dakotas (EPA Region 8), your average service charge of $261 a year is considerably less than the $884 your fellow Americans up in New England (EPA Region 1) are paying. As you can imagine, much of the difference is to do with population size and geography.
The Aqua Guard® is a rugged and proven self-cleaning in-channel screen that uses a unique filter element system designed to automatically remove a wide range of floating and suspended solids from a wastewater stream.
Electrostatic discharge testing is utilized worldwide by electronics manufacturers to determine the ESD susceptibility of their devices. It is extremely difficult to estimate the exact cost of ESD loss annually, but it can safely be stated that ESD requires the development and testing of many hardware prototypes and contributes to a high number of warranty claims and loss of consumer confidence if failure occurs in the hands of the customer. Given the high cost in time and materials associated with ESD hardware testing, the ability to simulate the ESD testing process in XFdtd is extremely valuable, allowing engineers to pinpoint locations susceptible to ESD damage and optimize ESD mitigation during the concept and design stage of product development.
DEMON® is the continuous or SBR deammonification process utilizing granular anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria (anammox) biomass for aiding in reduction of high strength ammonia from side stream solids dewatering facilities reject flows. World Water Works’ DEMON process can solve the problem of returning high concentrations of ammonia to the plant influent. The true key to the success of the technology is the patented advanced biological process controls and the physical separation used to facilitate the growth and retention of the anammox bacteria.
The NuTouch Electronic Control System (ECS) is a color 5x7inch (127x178 mm) touchscreen that allows users to easily view and control the system with the touch of a finger. Designed after smart-phone technology, NuTouch has ROM for software, RAM for storage and EEROM for controlling parameters.
HUBER+SUHNER’s SMP-SL (Self-Lock) mechanism is designed to ensure reliable electrical and mechanical performance in even the most extreme aerospace and defense environments. The unique combination of a MIL-STD-348 SMP interface together with a low-profile self-locking design provides an integral connector solution with exceptional electrical and mechanical performance.
AR’s 500A250D is a solid-sate amplifier covering the 10 kHz – 250 MHz frequency range. When used with a sweep generator, it provides a minimum of 500 watts of RF power. Like most of AR’s amplifiers, this model is ideal for applications that call for instantaneous bandwidth and high gain.
Developed for a wide range of applications, ViscoQC 300 ensures the quality of your substance – from almost any fluid to semi-solid samples – by delivering fully traceable viscosity results right at your fingertip. The system is upgradeable with compliance (21 CFR Part 11) and/or additional analysis software to also meet all future needs.
Qorvo offers the TGA2224 wideband power amplifier MMIC covering the 32-38 GHz frequency range for radar, SatCom, EW, space, and point-to-point communications applications. Fabricated on Qorvo’s production 0.15 um GaN on SiC process, the TGA2224 provides greater than 37 dBm (5 W) of saturated output power and 16 dB of large-signal gain while achieving > 20% power-added efficiency.
Finding new ways to capture and utilize data is important for utilities looking to improve operating efficiency and customer service. This interview with Frank Brooks and Dave Rubin from Aclara — a smart-infrastructure solutions partner for water, gas, and/or electric utilities — outlines ways to do both within a common infrastructure.
No utility wants to issue a Boil Water Notice, but if it does happen, it’s important to get it right. Even if your utility has had a long, unblemished record of delivering high-quality water, a mishandled contamination event will leave a bad taste in your customers’ mouths (so to speak).
Wastewater service charges vary considerably across EPA regions and States. That’s one of the key findings from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies’ (NACWA) Cost of Clean Water Index. If you live in Montana, Wyoming or the Dakotas (EPA Region 8), your average service charge of $261 a year is considerably less than the $884 your fellow Americans up in New England (EPA Region 1) are paying. As you can imagine, much of the difference is to do with population size and geography.
It has been 32 years since the amended Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) banned the installation of lead pipes in water systems nationwide. Unfortunately, that decision has not yet translated into action for every lead service line (LSL) installed before that point. Fortunately, someone has done a lot of legwork toward getting a handle on that process. Here is a preview of the help they have to offer.
Eileen O’Neill, Executive Director of the Water Environment Federation (WEF), joined Water Talk from WEFTEC — the world's largest annual water quality event — to discuss WEF initiatives, the state of the water/wastewater industry, and challenges and opportunities for the future.
Advances in metal detection technology are enabling more accurate and reliable detection of hard-to-detect metal contaminants in foods. Continue reading to learn more about these advancements.
Industrial companies need reliable water treatment technology, since failure of a water system may result in downtime for production, with significant financial impacts. Ultraviolet (UV) technology is used for water treatment in various industries such as microelectronics, food & beverage, pharmaceuticals, and many other industry segments.
The use of chlorine to treat and disinfect drinking water and wastewater has been in practice for decades, with the earliest recorded attempt dating all the way back to 1893. Since then, it has come a long way.
Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) has received a lot of attention in recent years, typically regarding customer account billing. Other AMI uses within water distribution networks, however, can play equally important roles in reducing non-revenue water (NRW). Consider these contributions of networked flow meter use for automating better insights into water distribution efficiency.
In recent years, hollow fiber membrane degassing modules have become an ideal option for CO2 removal when compared to harmful, costly chemicals and bulky deaerating towers.
Inspecting for foreign body contaminants in 25 and 50 lbs bags of sugar presents many challenges. This application note explains how x-ray inspection and the right software simplifies the process.
Evidence indicates that manganese (Mn) is more than a nuisance: it's a threat to health. It's time to get serious about removing it from drinking water.
Water utilities with highly successful monitoring programs tend to share a common trait: they have a well-defined plan for calibration that emphasizes frequency and tracking. However, when done properly, this process is time-consuming and often leads to unnecessary labor and downtime. The good news is that advanced metering technology is available for plants to get a better handle on the instrument’s performance with significantly less effort.
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.
You may have read recently that Orange County Water District (OCWD) and Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) set a Guinness World Record for the most wastewater recycled to drinking water in 24 hours. The record attempt kicked off on February 15th 2018 to mark the 10th anniversary since the districts’ Groundwater Replenishment System was launched and culminated with more than 100 million gallons per day (MGD) being produced.
A biotechnology plant was struggling with the management of the calibration of the more than 100 reference standards covered about 20 calibration service providers. Endress+Hauser took the responsibility to manage the whole calibration process of the reference standards resulting in a reduction of non-conformities achieved has led to better operational quality.
The City of Riverdale was running into issues with arsenic, color and iron treatment system at their Well 4 site, so they conducted a pilot test with the help of Loprest.
This is the fourth article in a five-part series on better investigation and problem-solving methods and principles in the life sciences. In writing this one, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about Sherlock Holmes. Not only his exquisite methods, but also flaws in the metacognition and metaphilosophy about how the fictitious detective underwent his work.
With properly cleaned and maintained tooling, tablet manufacturers can expect the highest quality of tablets and a longer production life from their tooling.
When water and wastewater plant operators can’t get accurate flow measurements or analytical readings — or lack confidence in their instruments’ readings — it creates challenges with the process. When substandard water goes to homes and causes a boil order, or discharge pollutes a lake or reservoir, the resulting bad press, fines, and potential lawsuits erode public confidence. Avoiding these kinds of problems is rooted in good preventive maintenance habits.
Water utilities rely on accurate and dependable flow measurement for critical process controls. Regulatory agencies also require flow monitoring and reporting, with specific accuracy limits.
Debate about regulating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances is heating up across the country as the extent of known contamination continues to grow at an alarming rate. Also known as PFAS, this large group of toxic fluorinated compounds was used widely in industrial and consumer applications. Progressive water utilities are trying to quickly get a handle on the problem to better protect their customers from even further exposure.
You’re in the business to offer exceptional service and help your clients operate smoothly. Effectively managing every ticket for every client issue can be time consuming and tough—especially without the proper best practices in place to help.
Electromagnetic meters (mag meters) are well established in terms of highly accurate performance for a variety of municipal and industrial water applications. Differences in their construction formats, however, dictate how easy they can be to install, maintain, and calibrate. Compare these three options to see the value of full-profile-insertion (FPI) mag meters and their associated advantages in real-world use.
