A new report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce blasts the U.S. EPA and the Executive Branch for imposing environmental mandates without giving voice or financial consideration to the states’ plight.
Wastewater treatment plants, while critically important, often go unrecognized, even when they do exceptional work.
A water technology expert tackles high-profile and important topics currently affecting municipalities, industry, and the community at large.
This year's Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE16), held by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) from June 19 to 22, was the first following the tragedy of Flint — a time when the drinking water industry is under intense scrutiny.
Here in the post-Flint era of municipal water operations, and for the foreseeable future, the loudest mandate for utilities will be to "get the lead out" of our distribution systems. Until such time that all lead lines are replaced, control strategies will need to be employed.
In the midst of this U.S. presidential race, a thought about Ronald Reagan (apolitical, I promise): Known as the “Great Communicator,” it’s certainly no coincidence that Reagan was an actor before becoming president; and honed communication skills, especially in times of trouble, are vital to effective leadership.
1,4-Dioxane is a synthetic industrial chemical which is completely miscible in water. It is highly mobile in groundwater and is not shown to be readily biodegradable in the environment.
Since it was first settled in 1841, California's San Gabriel Valley has hosted a wide variety of industries. However, industrial development has left a significant portion of the Valley’s groundwater contaminated with various organic contaminants, including N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and 1,4-dioxane.
Recently, cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins have become a high profile drinking water quality concern in both the United States and abroad. The combination of weather conditions, agricultural phosphate runoff, and other factors has produced water conditions that have favored the formation of cyanobacteria in surface water supplies.
Our environment is rife with testimonials to the law of unintended consequences. When it comes to water treatment, the compound 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP) is the latest surprise making its way through the remediation lifecycle.
New technology helps utilities meet the challenges of maintaining a safe and adequate public water supply.
In the fall of 2015, a small village on the border of Vermont in New York State, tested positive for Perfluorinated Compounds (PFCs), specifically Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA), in the municipal drinking water. The influent levels of PFOA in the water were above 600 ng/L, and thus considered harmful to village residents. Realizing that PFOA was on the U.S. EPA Contaminant Candidate List, the Village solicited the services of engineering firm CT Male Associates to investigate treatment options and provide a treatment system.
PFOS and PFOA are on the EPA’s Contaminant Candidate List 4 (CCL-4). Recently, to provide Americans with a margin of protection from exposure to PFOA and PFOS, the EPA established a health advisory with levels at 70 parts per trillion.
PFCS are manmade fully fluorinated compounds which are not naturally found in the environment, are used in a variety of products such as fire fighting foams, coating additives as a surface-activeagent. PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) and PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid) are the most commonly produced PFCs, and large amounts of PFCs have been produced during past manufacturing processes and released to the air, soil and water.
In drinking water treatment’s ongoing battle between disinfection and disinfection byproducts (DBPs), most water utility customers are oblivious to the process. One thing they do notice, however, is when their water smells or tastes bad. Here are some insights that can help water treatment plant (WTP) operators deal with their internal concerns about DBPs and residual chlorine or ammonia levels, as well as their external concerns about customer perceptions of water quality.
New York City is home to more than 8 million people, making it the most populous city in the United States. The majority of New York's drinking water is supplied by the Catskill/Delaware watershed, located approximately 100 miles outside the city. Historically, NYC has not filtered the water from this system, nor did they require any additional barriers to microbial contaminants due to the pristine nature of the watershed.
ABB uses digital solutions to drive outcomes. Engaging customers to demonstrate tangible results that scale.
The new generation of ABB’s total plant automation: DCS and SCADA for the power and water industries.
Reduced operational costs and downtime through seamless distributed control system integration.
Real-time control of a 360km water distribution system through an advanced distributed control system.
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Jon Loveland, Global Practice Leader - Alternative Water Supply at Black & Veatch, shares insight on a major development for membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems and potable reuse.
Staying on top of new regulations is a never-ending responsibility for water professionals. Each new rule may require huge dollars in capital and operating costs. Operators and technicians may need training on new technologies, sampling, and testing methods.
O’Brien, Texas is just one of thousands of small communities in the United States that struggle to find the resources to ensure that the water coming out of the tap is safe to drink. The recent budget proposal by the Trump administration will only make matters worse. Watch this documentary short produced by Tom Rosenberg and Earth Institute fellow Madison Condon details one shrinking town’s drinking water crisis.
The U.S. EPA’s Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2) was adopted in 2006 to modify the Safe Drinking Water Act and more tightly control the spread of Cryptosporidium, a microorganism that can cause gastrointestinal infection if ingested. Since its inception, the rule has posed a treatment challenge to utilities that are susceptible to the tiny contaminant. But which utilities are at risk? And how should they approach treatment?
The Eclipse i-Series model #9800i-GENESIS is the newest Intelligent Flushing & Monitoring Station Kupferle offers to maintain safe residual levels and remove DBPs from consumers' water. This permanently installed station incorporates a built-in chlorine analyzer to measure and record disinfectant residual levels based on a programmed sampling schedule.
For over 40 years, the Clean Water Act (CWA) has been a primary force protecting our waters and dictating the work of treatment professionals. And, for just as long, samplers have been the tools that allow this work to be carried out. Many plants, however, have yet to embrace the advances in technology that are transforming one of their most fundamental tools. To help usher those plants into the modern age, Water Online spoke with Endress+Hauser about how samplers have evolved to meet changing needs,
Recently, cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins have become a high profile drinking water quality concern in both the United States and abroad. The combination of weather conditions, agricultural phosphate runoff, and other factors has produced water conditions that have favored the formation of cyanobacteria in surface water supplies.
A $92-million expansion completed earlier this year (2012) at the Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant (LPWRP) in Savage, MD, presents a model integration of bellwether aeration, disinfection and enhanced nutrient removal (ENR) systems added in tandem with other infrastructure upgrades, that have significantly improved the plant’s effluent and reduced harmful nutrients from reaching Chesapeake Bay.
Frank Rebori, president of Smith & Loveless, sat down with Water Online Radio for this live interview from the show floor at WEFTEC 2011 in Los Angeles. Rebori discussed the company's 65-year history, its current successes, and the main products it sells: wastewater pumping and treatment equipment, as well as headworks (grit removal) equipment.
As technology improves, contaminants can be measured in ever-smaller quantities. Pollutants formerly undetected are now becoming emerging contaminants of concern. Water utility managers must stay abreast of potential new regulations and plan for ways to address these contaminants.
What concerns drinking water municipalities the most? Is it regulations, emerging contaminants, or a crisp, clear product? To a degree, it’s all of the above. Jim Knepper of Jacobi Carbons explains.
The 34 MGD Otay Water Treatment Plant in San Diego, California serves a population of approximately 200,000. It is a conventional treatment plant that uses coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection. The plant receives raw water from two different sources — imported water from the Colorado River and runoff water from three local reservoirs.
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?
Adam Festger, Market Manager, Drinking Water and Environmental Contaminant Treatment for TrojanUV, highlights some of advances in UV technology over the last few years including UV groundwater treatment, UV chemical contamination treatment and UV lamp efficiency.
As our ability to measure contaminants at ever smaller concentrations improves, “emerging contaminants” are on the rise. Per the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), emerging contaminants are chemicals or materials characterized by a perceived, potential, or real threat to human health or the environment.
Staying on top of new regulations is a never-ending responsibility for water professionals. Each new rule may require huge dollars in capital and operating costs. Operators and technicians may need training on new technologies, sampling, and testing methods.
When Vinny Gupta, the president and CEO of InNow LLC, met Rich Cavagnaro, the CEO of AdEdge Water Technologies, he saw an opportunity to help 40 million people get clean water.
Just a decade or so old, blogging has become a powerful tool for marketing in the water industry—particularly the kind of content marketing that grows from thought leadership rather than flogging features and benefits. Water technology is particularly well-suited to blogging because it touches on some of the magic ingredients of a great blog: timely topics, big ideas and technology.
