Hurricane Dorian has left a trail of devastation over the last few days, but an onslaught of destructive floods have hit communities all across the country this summer. From small towns in the Midwest and Southeast to large cities like Washington and New York, torrential rains have inundated homes, cut power, and disrupted lives.
With so many different safety concerns — government-mandated or self-imposed — municipal and industrial wastewater treatment operators have a lot on their plates. Maintaining aerators used in open-basin treatment applications is just one source of those safety concerns. That is why a new approach to safeguarding worker well-being in the process of aerator maintenance activities is worth a closer look.
Isn’t it ironic that our beautiful blue planet, covered 70 percent with water, is struggling to meet citizens’ water needs? Yes, and the reasons are obvious. Out of the Earth’s total water, less than 3 percent is available as freshwater, and a portion of it is actually accessible. Uneven distribution of fresh waterbodies and population across the globe further skew water supply and demand ratios. Also, climate change, deforestation, desertification, droughts, floods, and depletion of natural waterbodies resulting from anthropogenic and natural activities add to these miseries.
As Midwest states struggled with record spring flooding this year, the Southwest was wrestling with the opposite problem: not enough water. On May 20, 2019, federal officials and leaders from seven states signed the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan, a sweeping new water management agreement for this arid region.
As digitalization continues to grow in the water and wastewater industry, cybersecurity becomes an increasingly important responsibility.
Efficiently service and maintain intelligent field devices
Field devices are the eyes and ears of automation. The failure of a valve positioner, temperature, flow or pressure sensor can quickly lead to serious malfunction of the process. With SIMATIC PDM Maintenance Station V3.0, Siemens offers the right solution for efficiently monitoring the condition of smart field devices, irrespective of the automation and control systems used
From data to knowledge to transformation
Move from complexity to simplicity, from asset and process intelligence to operational intelligence with the PI System. Its highly scalable, open data infrastructure empowers enterprises in real time, transforming operational data into actionable knowledge and business transformation.
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.
Improved water reliability and lifecycle costs through total control of a one hundred mile transfer system.
100% available water in the driest of deserts through highly efficient desalination.
Reasons for changing water or wastewater asset management practices include unacceptable process downtime, statutory requirements for documenting infrastructure integrity, or the desire to refine process cost-effectiveness and maintenance-budget ROI. Here are examples of strategic approaches that can better match desirable asset management outcomes to the real needs of water utility operations.
A variety of research indicates that industry loses 3 percent to 5 percent (and in some cases more) of its productivity annually to unplanned shutdowns due to equipment failure. With all the data and connectivity available through today’s Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology and SCADA systems, water and wastewater treatment operations can reduce those losses significantly…if management is willing to consider and adopt proven strategic approaches.
The cost of water delivered to customers is as much about the energy needed to move it as the chemicals required to treat it. Balancing water chemistry, infrastructure costs, and energy consumption is key to optimizing the overall cost of operation. Experience shows that some astute water suppliers are closer to achieving their ideal outcomes than most people realize. Here are some insights into how that works.
For most water or wastewater system operators, engineers, and repair crews, the only thing worse than facing a 24”-main emergency repair is facing an even larger one. To those who have never performed an emergency line stop and bypass, the idea of completing repairs with no service outage, no long-term shutdown, and no ‘boil water’ notice is almost beyond belief. To those who have, it’s a sigh of relief.
The term “cellular” often calls to mind certain assumptions and limitations based on prior experience with consumer cellphone networks. Don’t confuse cellular-based Internet of Things (IoT) applications with past cellular experiences, though. The relatively new Long Term Evolution for Machines (LTE-M) standard represents a whole new ballgame. In short, “This is not your father’s cellular network.”
The Department of Public Works, Bureau of Engineering (Engineering) is taking the lead on the revision of the City of Los Angeles' 5-yearly Floodplain Management Plan (FMP).
Thompson Pump and Manufacturing Company is proud to announce it is the winner of the 2019 Engineering News-Record (ENR) Award of Merit in the Water/Environment category for its work in Puerto Rico during the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which made landfall in September 2017.
With warming temperatures, average snowfall frequency is estimated to decline across the Pacific Northwest by 2100 — and at a faster rate if greenhouse emissions are not reduced, according to a new Portland State University study.
Global water technology company, Xylem, has been included on Fortune’s 2019 "Change the World" list, for a second year running. The Change the World list is a ranking of 50 companies that have made a significant social impact through their core business strategy.
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) joined the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and federal partners, in close coordination with experts across governmental agencies, academia and non-governmental organizations, to announce the agency’s participation in the National Mitigation Investment Strategy (NMIS).
NOAA recently announced a total of $2.7M in grants supporting 14 projects to address the harmful effects of marine debris on wildlife, navigation safety, economic activity, and ecosystem health. With the addition of non-federal matching contributions, the total investment in these marine debris projects is more than $5.2M.
The Mitigation Framework Leadership Group (MitFLG), chaired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), released the National Mitigation Investment Strategy (NMIS), a unified national strategy on mitigation investment that reduces risks posed by natural hazards and increases the nation’s resilience to disasters.
The Erftverband is an organization that includes municipalities, counties, industry and utilities, and as a public corporation it is responsible for cleaning private and industrial wastewater along the river Erft between Bonn and Düsseldorf.
Radical change is needed if the water industry is to meet the serious challenges it is now facing, a British Water event heard.
Recently, senior administration officials participated in the Second National Drought Forum where they announced Priority Actions Supporting Long-Term Drought Resilience.
