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.
United Utilities is responsible for providing the water and sewerage services for over 3 million customers in Northwest England, and a population of 7 million, making it the largest listed utility in the United Kingdom (U.K.).
District Sales Engineer Andy Singer has spent enough time troubleshooting problems in the field that not much surprises him anymore. When it comes to dry barrel fire hydrants, though, he still gets a chuckle out of some of his more outrageous experiences. Here is his educational and entertaining take on the care and maintenance of fire hydrants, and ways to maximize a utility’s return on what potentially can be a 50+-year infrastructure investment.
Pump clogs cause sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) and backed up lift stations that damage the environment. They also put the public health at risk and lead to regulatory fines for the utility.
Choosing the right communication network is crucial to building a successful, smart utility. The quality of the communication technology selected determines whether the data will be transmitted efficiently, securely, and reliably over the long haul. It’s not a decision to be taken lightly.
The Leopold brand of Xylem has been providing the most efficient water and wastewater treatment filtration systems available since 1922. The Leopold difference – effectively backwashing 100 percent of the media.
If it feels like we’ve been talking about account based marketing (ABM) forever at this point, well, it’s because WE HAVE. You have vague memories of your 4th grade teacher going over the concept in class. You and your fellow classmates had confused looks on your faces as you turned to each other and whispered “If demand generation tactics have been successful for so long, then why do we need ABM? Oh, by the way, want to trade lunches?”
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.
In today’s changing industry, it is critical we consider several factors about cell culture bioprocessing and the impact they will have on the future of patient treatment.
As water distribution infrastructure ages, the potential for leaks grows and the need for condition-driven asset management increases proportionally. As with so many other aspects of water operations, planning ahead is key. Good system diagnosis using noninvasive procedures provides an accurate and cost-effective assessment of distribution system integrity, just as noninvasive monitoring of heartbeat, pulse, and blood pressure plays an important role in human health.
The key to high rate clarifiers such as inclined plate settlers is flow distribution says Tom Grubb, Regional Manager with Meurer Research. “Each inclined plate is like a miniature little sedimentation basin,” Grubb told Water Online in a recent Water Talk interview at AWWA’s ACE 2018. “To get good effluent quality, it’s critical that you have the same flow to each plate.”
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?
Food regulations are deepening and so is the authority regulators have in the marketplace. However, the right X-ray inspection system can help you achieve compliance and exceed retailer requirements.
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.
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.
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.
Recent advancements are making it more appealing than ever for the dairy industry to replace heat pasteurization in favor of ultraviolet disinfection to sterilize water for its production needs.
The city of Buhl, Idaho, obtains all of its drinking water from groundwater sources through multiple wells. Prior to 2009, the city did not treat the groundwater but only added chlorine in the form of bulk 12.5% sodium hypochlorite to provide a disinfectant residual. A combination of factors including: changes in EPA and state DEQ regulatory requirements, growth of the residential population and growth of the industrial food processing customers forced the City to build a new water treatment plant to provide filtration to address the naturally occurring arsenic present in the groundwater.
Upper Deerfield Township, NJ relies on groundwater from four wells measuring 120 to 160 feet deep. The water is treated at two treatment plants with a capacity of 2.2 MGD and then pumped out to the distribution system with approximately 750,000 gallons of storage. Since the deep groundwater is hard, operators add lime to the finished water to raise the pH to reduce hardness.
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.
In water plant operations, there’s no such thing as simply maintaining the status quo. Any utility that is not moving forward is falling behind. Whether a water treatment or wastewater treatment plant (WTP/WWTP) chooses to rely on in-house resources or outside specialists, here are some lifecycle management approaches they can use to upgrade control capabilities without compromising performance or return on investment.
Microfiltration and ultrafiltration have become mainstays in the water treatment arena. These processes remove contaminants from water by passing it through a low-pressure membrane. Membrane filters are constructed with a variety of materials with various pore sizes. The challenge is determining which best suits the application with regard to performance, cost, and ease of operation.
This guide will help lab managers understand risks and best practices as they develop training for CO2 incubator users and establish a preventive maintenance program and setup criteria.
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.
The X3735 x-ray system is a high detection sensitivity solution, with an integrated conveyor designed to inspect tall, rigid packaged products in a wide range of applications.
Wet weather events are a growing concern for wastewater treatment plant operators, but a new twist on cloth media filtration may provide the answer to their peak flow management problems.
When sizing a compressed air dryer, it’s important to understand how temperature and pressure affect humidity. This article provides guidance for selecting an air dryer for conditions and factors of your facility.
A couple of weeks ago, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt called PFAS groundwater contamination “a national priority” and pledged action at an EPA national PFAS leadership summit.
Optical gas imaging with infrared cameras excels at detecting gas leaks, but some businesses that might find it useful are put off by the cost. Now a new generation of cameras that rely on uncooled detectors is bringing OGI to more users.
The fallout from Flint, Michigan’s lead-contaminated drinking water has been far-flung and long-lasting.
