In water testing, readings that we believe to be reliable indicators are not always what they seem. Water that exhibits certain chemical or electrical characteristics at laboratory temperatures can provide entirely different readings in the field. Here is a quick review of what to look for in common water tests and why to consider automatic temperature compensation in the instruments used to collect them.
Measuring the level of tanks used to hold fluids for custody transfer can be expensive. This is not due to the cost of the measurement instrumentation, but to what inaccurate measurements can cost the company. Picking the right instrumentation for applications is important. Which radar level technology should you choose for tank gauging in custody transfer applications? Frequency Modulated Continuous Waveform (FMCW) or pulsed Time-of-Flight (ToF or PToF).
Many water quality plants are using flow controls to help achieve critical operational goals. This recent case study shows how thermal dispersion flow meters can help your plant ensure compliance with stringent government regulations.
GF Piping Systems technology and its unique approach to business are an integral part of Akron’s plant improvement plans.
Starting in 2010, the drinking water plant in Wellsboro, PA, began experiencing high turbidity and algae in the water which caused emergency notices for citizens to boil their water before use.
For many years, ultrasonic metering has been utilized for large scale liquid and gas measurement. However, it is a relatively new technology for small meter applications — particularly those designed for potable water.
A steam generating plant requires very clean water and carefully controlled chemistry for proper operation of a boiler that runs at high temperatures and pressures.
In today’s economic climate, it’s tempting to want to buy the cheapest test equipment you can now. But, how can you tell what the true cost of test equipment is? You have to consider how widely your water and chemical consumption will vary as the readings on your instrumentation does. By Heather Rekalske, Myron L Company
With the ongoing concern about water quality in Alaska, Philip Downing, the Remote Maintenance Worker for South East Alaska Regional Health Consortium, offered a new approach to a plant’s ability to continuously monitor and adjust treatment processes in response to changes in raw water quality.
“You can’t manage what you don’t monitor”, an adage first attributed to Lord Kelvin applies to practically everything including water distribution systems.
Control of dissolved organics has been one of the highest priority concerns for most water treatment plants for over 20 years. Organics monitoring is an even more critical issue today in the face of more stringent regulations and concerns around trace organics, emerging contaminants, and even counter-terrorism or water security. Despite the critical need, many plants still rely primarily on turbidity for monitoring and process control.
SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions designs and manufactures Sievers Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Analyzers that enable near real-time reporting of organic carbon levels for treatment optimization, quality control & regulatory compliance. TOC has a wide range of applicability at a drinking water plant, and therefore any drinking water utility — large or small — can measure TOC in their laboratory or online in their treatment process.
As the world’s population continues to increase at a fast pace, more food and water will be needed to sustain humanity. In the past 50 years, we have tripled our need for water and food, and there are no signs of this trend slowing down. As a result of these conditions, smart, innovative agricultural practices are needed now more than ever. Technology can, and already does, aid agriculture in innumerable ways. One prominent part of agriculture that can use technological innovation to increase efficiency and effectiveness is irrigation.
Water in petrochemical feedstocks can cause problems for processors. Freezing of pipe lines and valves and poisoning of expensive catalysts are just a few examples.
The analysis of water for volatile organic compounds is important due to their toxicity. The current methods for this determination lack of sensitivity, selectivity or capability for automation. This paper presents the new ISO 17943 Standard using Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME) and GC/MS. The sample preparation by SPME enables limits of detection and easy automation of the whole method. GC/MS provides the required sensitivity and selectivity. This ISO Standard was validated by an interlaboratory trial, which results confirm the outstanding performance for this method.
In this paper the importance of reagent water quality for toxic element environmental analyses is discussed, and the suitability of fresh ultrapure water produced using MilliporeSigma water purification systems for ICP-OES and ICP-MS trace element analyses in environmental laboratories is demonstrated.
One of the most common processes in wastewater treatment is the activated sludge method, which biologically treats the wastewater through the use of large aeration basins. This process requires the pumping of compressed air into the aeration basins where a diffuser system ensures the air is distributed evenly for optimum treatment. The energy needed to provide compressed air is a significant cost in the operation of a wastewater treatment plant.
The water municipality at a mid-size city in the Western region of the U.S. serving a population of about 180,000 people needed to address a chlorine disinfection system problem at one of its water treatment plants.
Facility administrators will find the advanced ST100 Series Thermal Mass Air/Gas Flow Meter from Fluid Components International (FCI) helps them improve the accuracy of specialty gas point of use and sub-metering operations to achieve accurate billing in their labs for better cost tracking and control.
The task of managing the quantity and quality of potable water is unimaginable without online instrumentation to help water utilities to measure, treat and deliver drinking water to consumers. ABB’s Aztec 600 colorimetric and ion-selective electrode (ISE) analyzers have been designed to measure the key parameters that affect water quality – aluminium, iron, manganese, phosphate, color, ammonia and fluoride.
Static headspace is one of the most popular techniques due to its versatility for analyzing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in a complex variety of matrices. This is due to the elimination of tedious sample preparation steps and prevents contamination problems that are common to other sample introduction techniques. Teledyne Tekmar draws on our experience as a leader in low-level VOC analysis with the introduction of this companion autosampler to the Headspace product line.
Continuing the tradition of ground breaking products that add exciting new capabilities for smart, remote monitoring in water and wastewater networks.
McCrometer’s ExactSteam V-Cone System is a complete flowmeter for steam metering, factory configured for energy metering or mass flow. The meter accurately measures steam across the entire range with technology-leading low flow cut off. In addition, V-Cone technology enables the lowest permanent pressure loss to maximize plant efficiency.
The new Hach SL1000 Portable Parallel Analyzer (PPA) performs the same tests with less than half the manual steps. Get highly accurate results, with less opportunity for errors, in a fraction of the time. Up to six parameters, tested simultaneously.
Digital devices provide two-way communication, so they can be programmed from the control room. However, the bigger benefit is that they can be part of a system offering assured interoperability to provide a seamless flow of information. This type of integration between key components of the water treatment and distribution process improves decision-making and overall equipment optimization.
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 and wastewater utility operators work diligently to operate within strict guidelines, ensuring their facilities are producing the best drinking water and highest quality effluent possible. Despite all their efforts, however, it can be easy to fall outside of regulatory compliance without even being aware. The key to avoiding problems like these is to understand how silent noncompliance can happen and knowing when to raise a red flag.
Water scarcity. Aging infrastructure. Uncertainty due to climate change. Experts from across the water sector agree that water challenges are intensifying, and that action and public awareness is a necessity. Now we have the need — and the opportunity — for those same voices to raise the volume on one of the most powerful ways to address increasing water threats: digital innovation.
Proficiency Testing (PT) is the name used by the International Standards Organization for a procedure also known as “inter-laboratory study” or “external quality assessment” or “ring test”. Proficiency testing, in simple terms, comprises a sample sent to a group of laboratories for measurement. The labs know what might be in the sample, but they don’t know exactly what is there or the concentration. Their results are compared with the known or true value and the lab is assigned a “Z” score to show how closely their result came to the target.
Appearing on The Weather Channel's "Wake Up With Al" morning show, water expert Dan Theobald puts drinking water to the test by measuring total dissolved solids (TDS) in tap water samples from Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New Jersey, as well as bottled water samples.
"Wastewater Dan” talks with FOX 4 News Kansas City about drought conditions in California and procedures to conserve water in the home. He also demonstrates the use of a total dissolved solids (TDS) meter to test drinking water quality, and interprets the results.
EXO, a state-of-the art water quality monitoring platform, is designed to address the many challenges of collecting accurate field data in the natural environment.
