Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is known for its picturesque villages, sandy beaches, and seafood. But these iconic coastal waters, and the communities and ecosystems they support, are under an increasing threat from nutrient pollution.

Ross Valley Sanitary District in San Rafael, California services approximately 47,000 mostly residential customers over a 27 square mile service area. They have 5 major pump stations, which is where Ross Valley found themselves having the most trouble. The existing channel grinders were simply not reliable. “It was a constant headache,” said Philip Marcantonio, Senior Collection System Worker. “The pumps were ragging up sometimes twice a week and sometimes twice a day.” The plant reported that the machines were not efficient at all. “It was a lot of extra work on us to keep the stations going,” Marcantonio said. On top of that, the constant downtime was causing even more than extra work; it was costing the district a lot of money. They knew this was not a sustainable system to keep their plant and stations running.

Responsibility for analysis results lies with the users themselves or their supervisors. Both are therefore liable for any incorrect interpretations and decisions that are made as a consequence of incorrect data.

If modernizations in wastewater treatment plants are due, as a rule the permanently reducing limit values of ammonium, nitrate and phosphate are pushing the investment decisions.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is the fastest growing city in Tennessee, and one of the fastest growing cities in the United States with its population more than doubling since 2000. To manage this growth, the city’s Water and Sewer Board recently embarked on an $8.2 million project to construct the Southwest Regional Force Main.

Special precast box culverts were used for one of the most significant segments of the $25.8 million emergency water restoration project, designated by the NRCS, known as the Cache Water Restoration Project (CWRP). The CWRP project involved the reconstruction and improvement of approximately six miles of mostly open, unlined channels that make up the Logan and Northern, as well as the Hyde Park and Smithfield canals. The project incorporated new precast pipeline, box culverts, a section of pressurized pipe, metering systems, turn-outs, head gates, and improved maintenance access.

The paper and pulp industry is among the largest industrial users of water resources operating across the world. Typically, pulp and paper industry operations require on average about 54-70 m3 (18,000 gallons) of water per metric ton (2200 pounds) of processed paper goods. This water usage is staggering, and water is used in almost every single part of the pulp and paper manufacturing process. This paper mill wastewater is produced in significant quantities in addition to residual sludge waste from initial pulp digestion to pulp slurry operations and washing the paper-making machinery.

In an effort to lower operational costs and extend the life of the dewatering centrifuge, operators in Springboro, OH, began to look at the polymer activation equipment in use at the plant. The Polyblend® M-Series emulsion polymer activation systems had been in steady operation for over 10 years. The equipment still performed reliably, but operators were interested in ways to achieve greater efficiency. They were aware of the new Polyblend® Magnum mix chamber, with its enhanced two-zone mixing energy.

This article will cover the different types of byproducts that can occur, along with specific examples, and what is needed to reduce their presence in the final effluent.

As flooding increases along coastal and river-adjacent communities, the need for low-cost, reliable monitoring and warning systems has become a critical factor for managing these issues in real time, without requiring major infrastructure overhauls.

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) gas in wastewater environments is a familiar concern. But waiting until its odor is detected can be too late to exert as much control over it as desired. Fortunately, a new ability to monitor H₂S concentrations — in the liquid wastewater stream, in real time — is advantageous for wastewater professionals in terms of safety, cost, and consumer complaints. Here are four ways to capitalize on that capability.

Energy costs continue to increase. At the same time, there is increased pressure to reduce utility bills without sacrificing operations or comfort.

As old gas & oil fields play out, newer methods must be used to extract resources from areas where they are locked in layers of shale. One current technique is known as “fraccing,” in which high pressure water is pumped into the well shaft to “fracture” the rock layers, allowing more natural gas to escape and be collected. However, this technique poses a number of environmental problems, including contamination of water with hydrocarbons, solid particulates, and scale producing ions — making it unsuitable for reuse.

Many are turning to UV as an effective barrier to enable the reuse of wastewater, for indirect reuse, and aquifer recharge.

Microbial contamination of food and beverage products is a potentially catastrophic occurrence resulting in foodborne illness or food spoilage. The same nutritive properties that render cheese and dairy products such a valuable food also provide an ideal growth medium for microbes if contamination occurs.

There are several basic methods for reducing harmonic voltage and current distortion from nonlinear distribution loads such as adjustable frequency drives (AFDs). Following is a description of each method, along with each method’s advantages and disadvantages.

A water purveyor was in urgent need of a chemically resistant flow instrumentation with a long life of service that allowed reliable and long-term stable dosing of the sodium hypochlorite solution.

As interest in biogas grows, more attention is being paid to measuring biogas flow, which has long been a problem area in process measuring technology.

Of particular interest when it comes to bridges is the locating of pressurized water lines on and under bridge structures. Pressurized pipelines can present a number of unique challenges to the design engineer and utility owner.