Thanks to a manufacturing plant formerly operated in part by the U.S. Navy, a toxic plume is now approaching drinking water wells in Long Island. Fighting the problem will require a new water treatment facility costing millions of dollars.
The first blood tests results were released since water contamination in the Philadelphia suburbs came to light, and they provide a glimpse at potential health effects for residents.
In the Louisiana community of Enterprise, tap water is so unappealing that one woman drives 20 miles each way to do her laundry in another town, according to CNN.
Irrigation water used by farmers appears to be making people sick.
The so-called "brain-eating" amoeba, a water-based threat that poses a risk to water utilities, has taken another life.
Flushing contact lenses is contributing to water pollution because lenses do not break down entirely in wastewater treatment systems, according to a new study.
No technology innovations have received as much coverage over the past year as virtual (VR) and augmented realities (AR). Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Google’s Assistant have us all talking to our devices and interacting with non-humans on a regular basis.
Located at the mouth of the Big Cottonwood Canyon, the Big Cottonwood WTP is one of three water treatment facilities providing treated water to Salt Lake City (SLC), Utah. The utility distributes water through about 1,300 miles of transmission and distribution pipe to over 90,500 connections. Recently, the Big Cottonwood WTP was recognized for delivering 16 years of high quality water and received the Directors Award from the EPA & AWWA Partnership for Safe Water.
After addressing the business, financial, and operating benefits of segregated ethylene spent caustic treatment in Water Recycling Efficiency In Ethylene Facilities Producing Spent Caustic, Part I: Cost, this conclusion to the story delves deeper into the process involved.
Since the launch of myTI—TransPerfect’s mobile experience for the Trial Interactive eTMF—I have heard rave reviews from clinical operations leaders and CRAs. The advantages of mobile technology for clinical operations are generating a lot of excitement, and rightfully so. In my collaboration with study teams during the development, release, and ongoing evolution of myTI, we encountered many thematic pain points that were ripe for a mobile solution.
Water utilities throughout the world must deal with the issue of non-revenue water (NRW), which can seem like a never ending battle. One of the largest contributors to NRW are leaks from pipes and other assets such as valves or hydrants, that can be caused by aging infrastructure, cold weather, and soil erosion. Water main breaks are not only a waste of water as a precious resource, but can also be dangerous and life threatening.
Sniffer dogs have been used for a while in the oil and gas industry to find leaks. But recently, dogs have begun to be used to find leaks in water mains.
Over the last several years the wastewater reuse segment of the water industry has experienced both rapid growth and tremendous change. Global demand for increased water supplies fuels the development of alternative water sources, including reclaimed wastewater.
Water quite literally flows through every facet of life, being the key element for everyone and everything on Earth. The world’s population is increasing at 1.1 percent (roughly 83 million) every year, an incredible and alarming rate straining the world’s fresh water supply. The increasing pressures between what humanity demands and what is currently available emphasizes the importance of conservation.
By recognizing the limitations of today’s production processes, the industry may be able to overcome the challenges, complexity, and high cost of manufacturing vaccines and viral vector-based therapies.
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.
Almost 30 years ago, Calgon Carbon introduced one of the first advanced ultraviolet (UV) oxidation processes to remediate contaminated groundwater. Then soon after, Calgon Carbon became the first company to adapt the technology to cost-effectively inactivate pathogens in surface water. These breakthroughs have established Calgon Carbon as a world leader in the use of UV technology for disinfection and oxidation to treat drinking water, wastewater, groundwater, process water and ballast water.
For both disinfection and TOC-reduction applications, NeoTech Aqua Solutions’ patented ReFleX™ UV chamber technology represents the state-of-the-art in high-efficiency UV systems by reflecting over 99% of the UV we generate back into the water.
The NeoTech Aqua Disinfection Series is specially designed to disinfect water and is an essential component in advanced oxidation processes.
NeoTech Aqua Solutions’ Patriot Series utilizes D438 chamber technology in a stacked and manifolded configuration to support larger flow volumes. By integrating NeoTech Aqua’s patented ReFleX chamber technology, Patriot systems provide the most efficient and versatile UV water treatment equipment available for large volume users. Further, when configured as an n+1 design, the NeoTech Aqua’s Patriot systems meet most redundancy requirements.
NeoTech Aqua Solutions provides the most efficient and cost-effective UV systems for destroying Total Organic Carbons (TOC’s) in water. Whether your destroying NDMA, 1,4-dioxane, TCE, MTBE, urea, endocrine disruptors or other organics, only NeoTech Aqua provides ultraviolet TOC reduction with a treatment chamber optimized for low pressure mercury lamps. As a result, NeoTech Aqua’s UV systems achieve a three times greater TOC reduction per kilowatt compared to standard UV systems, reducing our clients’ costs and energy consumption. In addition to efficiently generating ample 185 nm UV for TOC reduction, NeoTech Aqua’s TOC reduction systems also generate significant levels of 254 nm UV which serve as a powerful disinfectant, providing you both TOC-free and organism-free product water.
The NeoTech CU4-X™ UV Water Treatment Control Interface is a remote and compact master controller capable of managing up to four NeoTech ultraviolet water treatment chambers independently and simultaneously.
Nick Burns, director of water treatment technology for (the Americas region of) Black & Veatch, discusses the health concerns, current regulatory status, and documented presence of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), also sometimes called perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in drinking water supplies — as determined by sampling under the U.S. EPA's Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule 3 (UCMR3).
By now, just about everyone in the U.S. has heard about Flint, Michigan’s water woes. Despite the many issues raised by that incident, urban water systems are not the sole reason the 2017 Report Card from the American Society of Civil Engineers gives the U.S. drinking water infrastructure an overall “D” grade. Hidden within that disheartening rating are the harsh realities faced by rural water systems.
It’s no secret that the U.S. EPA has changed course in the last year. But how have those changes affected local water and wastewater treatment operations? And how are those operations going to evolve along with the federal agency?
PFC contamination is the number one drinking water issue today. So how are local and federal leaders working to put an end to it?
Last year was full of twists and turns for the drinking water and wastewater treatment industries. What can 2017’s biggest stories tell us about what’s to come this year?
A demonstration of the development of a robust, high-quality, and automated Multi-D chromatography purification utilizing both tandem and multi-column configurations using ChromLab™ Software on an NGC Chromatography System.
Basic construction activities today are more complex than ever when it comes to environmental concerns. Dewatering is a common necessity for contractors and developers today. In addition to ensuring a safe construction site, contractors must be aware of groundwater disposal constraints and regulations.
The Mountain Regional Water District is a Special Service District of the county that was established by the Summit County Commission in 2000 to regionalize water service by consolidating several public and private water companies.
For many MSPs, integrating their security solution with their remote monitoring and management (RMM) and professional service automation (PSA) platforms is essential for doing business. Together, these platforms help lower the cost of keeping up with each client, ensuring profitable margins for a healthy, growing business.
Last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recorded the largest hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico since monitoring began 32 years ago. Hypoxic waters, often referred to as dead zones, have dissolved oxygen concentrations of less than 2-3 ppm. They are caused by eutrophication or excess nutrients that promote algal growth in water bodies. As algae decompose, they consume oxygen creating dead zones.
Mohawk Valley Water Authority (MVWA) in New York State is a progressive supplier of potable water. With source water from the Adirondack Mountains, MVWA works to improve on nature and provide superior water quality, always striving to meet or exceed drinking water standards.
The water industry has made progress in developing numerical values for screen-capture ratings under specific conditions. One such example is the UK Water Industry Research (UK WIR) standard. Its methodology is sound in measuring capture rate for a specific screen in a channel for a specific time and set of conditions. However, the measurements provided in these studies cannot be assumed to represent the performance of that screen in any other wastewater treatment plant or even in the same channel in a different time or season.
Ozone disinfection has long been a critical process in the wastewater treatment industry. And, because ozone is relied on so heavily to oxidize a wide variety of potential wastewater contaminants, water quality analysis during the disinfection process is paramount. Once the ozone process itself is understood, its water quality ramifications and the quality parameters that offer insight into its efficacy can be analyzed and taken into account.
There are many options for ensuring accurate billing of water used at established industrial customer locations. But how do municipalities or businesses keep track of water availability and use for intermittent applications or movable access points? We spoke with McCrometer, Inc.’s Marc Bennett for insight into how water utilities and industries can efficiently track and allocate water use for billing or internal accounting purposes in such ad hoc applications.
Total nitrogen (TN) has become a compound of concern because of its impact on eutrophication on water sources. And as more states begin to set limits for TN, accurate testing becomes paramount. Unfortunately, multiple labs and variable test procedures can lead to disparities in final results. Many of today’s test methods are also time consuming, expensive, and even unsafe for lab technicians to use.
Automated metering systems (AMSs) or “smart meters” can provide valuable data for electric and water utilities. Data analytics can be used to improve customer service, boost conservation, monitor the system, and even forecast demand. An ultimate goal might be to eventually monitor everything from streetlight intensity to fire hydrants.
A lot has changed over the past 15 years. Back in the early 2000s, many utilities weren’t interested in understanding what was in their water beyond the contaminant and disinfection byproduct levels they were regulated to comply with. But as Pat Whalen, President and CEO of LuminUltra, explains in this ACE 2018 Water Talk interview, a steady stream of ongoing education and the modern data storage and analytics that cloud computing provides, has developed some rabid fans eager to explore the microbiology of their water systems.
Recently, Ohio Governor John Kasich issued an executive order allowing the Ohio Department of Agriculture to set requirements for storing, handling and applying manure as well as nutrient management plans in an effort to reduce nutrient pollution and algal bloom growth in Lake Erie. The order is set to affect 7,000 farms across 2 million acres.
Water professionals must plan and budget to meet new regulations on the horizon. They must find the best technology for removing emerging contaminants, such as perfluorinated compounds. Above all, they want to ensure the health and safety of their customers.
When you think about areas of the world where people have limited access to clean water, I’m guessing hot, sunny, arid climates come to mind. In an interesting twist, a couple of innovations are using those exact conditions to create potable water.
Material Discrimination X-ray (MDX) inspects all cartons of bone-in and boneless meats, on a single line, according to their unique specifications ensuring a safe product, maximized efficiency and product yield.
In the wastewater treatment industry, coagulation has become one of the most widespread processes for effectively separating contaminants and effluent. But coagulation is a complicated and sensitive process, one that alters the chemical balance of the wastewater in order to strip it of unwanted constituents. As in many such processes, pH plays a critical role, and treatment professionals must analyze it closely if they want to properly coagulate their product.
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.
