Wastewater utilities face difficult operational challenges when timely decisions are needed for events associated with a range of conditions, from normal operation to sewer overflows, blockages, and network power outages. You not only need a good sense of what is happening in your network right now, but also the ability to accurately predict what is about to happen, and how to respond to achieve the best possible outcome.

The AquaStorm™ cloth media filtration system is designed as an economical and efficient solution for the treatment of wet weather applications. This system utilizes a disk configuration and the exclusive OptiFiber PF-14® pile cloth filtration media to effectively filter high solids waste streams with and without the use of chemicals as determined necessary for application-specific water quality. This system is ideal for wet weather applications due to its proven removal efficiencies and high quality effluent, even under varying influent conditions.

Wastewater Collection System

Orenco Sewer™ (effluent-only sewer) is a cost-effective, environmentally sound wastewater collection system. With an Orenco Sewer, raw sewage flows from a house or business to a watertight underground tank. Only the filtered liquid portion is discharged (by either pump or gravity) to shallow, small-diameter collection lines that follow the contour of the land. Solids remain in the underground tank for passive, natural treatment and only need to be pumped every 10 to 12 years (depending on the number of residents and the tank volume).

Orenco Sewers take significantly less time to install than conventional sewers. And in an Orenco Sewer, material and excavation costs are reduced because the inexpensive collection lines are shallowly buried just below the frost line. Because only liquid is being pumped, system designers don’t need to worry about minimum velocities and associated grades. This simpler installation process causes less disruption to communities and allows businesses to operate normally during construction.

StormTEE® litter control screens are ideally suited for the simple, affordable removal of trash/litter/debris and associated pollutants from stormwater flows in a variety of applications. These patented, self-cleaning deflector screens can be used alone or in conjunction with other devices, including the combination fine- particle separation and oil/water coalescing modular unit as part of a complete BioSTORM® stormwater treatment system. StormTEE® deflector screens are easy to install in both new construction projects and is perfect for retrofits too.

As a Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS), the d-Rain Joint™ is a simple, low-cost, and robust onsite storm water management alternative compared to other permeable, pervious surface options and can be used wherever a permeable, pervious driveway, parking lot, street or walkway is needed. The use of traditional pavement with the d-Rain Joint™ provides both permeability AND filtration at a lower installed cost!  

The WWETCO FlexFilter™ from WesTech uses compressible media to provide an efficient new solution for CSO, Primary Treatment, Tertiary Treatment and Industrial Water Pretreatment. The FlexFilter™ is a simple gravity system with a robust design requiring no moving parts. The combination of tapered media compression, porosity gradient within the media bed and a low flow backwash system make the WWETCO FlexFilter™ one of the most versatile and efficient filters on the market.

Designed to increase chlorine residual consistency in potable water systems, Mueller® has added the HG-8 model to the expanding line of Hydro-Guard® Automatic Flushing Systems. Hydro-Guard HG-8 is installed below the frost-line, with all components easily accessible from the ground surface in the Mueller Thermal-Coil® Box. Dechlorinated discharge water is directed to the storm water drainage system or local retention pond. In addition, the product is designed to accept a 1-inch meter.

The 5000s model of pH control systems from Fortrans features a full size utility building with lockable steel door, lights and shelving. The 5000s offers similar process water and stormwater treatment capabilities as the 5000b system.

When low population density and troublesome topography make traditional gravity sewers cost-prohibitive, septic-tank effluent-pumping (STEP) technology offers an affordable alternative. In this Water Talk discussion, Mike Saunders, market segment leader for engineered systems at Orenco Systems, outlines how to match the right technology to the need. Orenco’s new decentralized liquid-only sewer systems treat septic effluent that is reduced by about 80 percent of its strength. Its smaller-diameter pressure mains run for 10 miles without supplemental pumps and install at just a fraction of the depth of traditional sewers. The approach minimizes biosolids, runs on little pumping power, and requires no blowers, so it minimizes energy requirements and keeps both installation and maintenance costs lower than those of conventional sewer systems.

Joe Vesey, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Xylem, is a believer in approaching water challenges holistically to create economic value and social value for water treatment operators and the communities they serve. At WEFTEC 2019, he entertained Water Talk’s moderators with his company’s involvement in confronting increasing stresses on water’s supply-and-demand equation. The discussion ranged from saving one municipality $500 million by solving a combined-sewer-overflow (CSO) challenge with more innovative technology to recycling rainwater into a beer celebrating Manchester City’s Premier League championship, and beyond. Throughout it all, he cited the importance of raising awareness, educating, and enabling people to do something better through a mix of technology, sustainability, and innovative digital technology partners.

As storm activity continues to grow, utilities are under increasing pressure to mitigate sewer overflows. Building enough storage to handle the excess runoff until it can be treated is no longer practical — in most places, it’s not even feasible to create a large enough space — and the issue will only get worse as storms continue to intensify. Meanwhile, most settling technologies that address overflows require chemicals and a complex process to start up, shut down, and store through off-peak times.

Partnering with the Water Research Foundation, Brown and Caldwell has developed the Blueprint for One Water — a user-friendly document for the practical application of 'One Water' planning. According to Lisa Skutecki, Brown and Caldwell's Southern California Water Resources Group Manager, 'One Water' is the concept of breaking down barriers across the water sector.