In laying out the U.S. EPA’s agenda for 2018, Administrator Scott Pruitt indicated that the agency would focus on scaling back Obama-era clean water regulations while ramping up the fight against lead contamination in public drinking water.
Massachusetts faces a deep problem with raw sewage.
Though the current U.S. EPA administration is boasting about its action to clean up the nation’s Superfund sites, it appears that it has not done as much as implied.
With cuts being made to the budget of the federal EPA, individual states are having to step up and take matters of protecting drinking and source water into their own hands. Last year, none were more forceful with this change than Ohio.
As the U.S. EPA is reshaped under President Trump, some are concerned over what has been reported as an “exodus” of employees from the agency.
One of the nation’s most high-profile water contamination cases has drawn federal interest, as the U.S. EPA joined an investigation into perfluorinated compound (PFC) pollution in Michigan.
Water and wastewater professionals rely on accurate flow measurements for process operation and regulatory compliance. Selecting the best flow meter for each application is essential to obtaining accurate flow data.
Our planet continues to become increasingly more crowded. Pollution and waste are showing irreversible impact on a global scale, and it has become necessary to come up with solutions in all industries. It is widely known, though perhaps not publicly thought of, that the process of purifying water creates waste. As we remove the minerals and impurities from water, we inherently condense those impurities into a smaller body of water. This waste affects the environment in various adverse ways. The solution lies in a concept known as Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD).
Applied successfully in thousands of water and sewage treatment schemes on all continents, the PISTA® Sand Removal Chamber serves as an efficient choice for sand removal at power generation facility water intakes. In many conventional arrangements, large sedimention basins require significant space and additional chemical usage to help maintain proper settling. The PISTA® Sand Removal Chamber significantly lessens space requirements, while removing 95 percent of surface water intake particles from 300+ microns down to 100 microns. The technology is proven in more than 2,700+ Installations, including at Power Generation Plants.
The advanced oxidation process removes contaminants in water and wastewater by oxidation through reactions with highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (.OH). This chemical process uses ozone (O3), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and/or UV light.
The success of a new reverse osmosis (RO) membrane system is often directly related to its pretreatment. The previous section of this article discussed RO design issues and introduced how a pilot study should include a study of its probable pretreatment equipment since the pretreatment performance will directly affect the performance of the RO system. However, piloting the upstream processes can be challenging in sizing these components for the pilot RO unit’s low flow rate.
In the past several years, Aquarion Water Company had been monitoring their system’s THM formation and attempting to lower them through treatment and distribution system changes. Aquarion engineers decided that reducing THM formation in the Laurel High Service Clearwell at the Stamford Water Treatment Plant (WTP) would eliminate concerns of elevated THM formation in the distribution system served by the WTP.
With time, labor, and money at a premium, state-of-the-art controls on filtration equipment can ease the burden on operators while improving uptime and lowering costs.
There are several accepted methodologies for testing stormwater treatment devices in the lab, but what works best? A comparison study gets us closer to the goal of optimal sediment removal efficiency.
These robots aren’t taking jobs — they’re simply making the job of utility workers safer and easier.
A Chicago stormwater diversion tunnel designed to correct a chronic flooding problem that has plagued the city’s Albany Park neighborhood over the past decade has been recognized for its effectiveness and ingenuity.
Continuing the tradition of ground breaking products that add exciting new capabilities for smart, remote monitoring in water and wastewater networks.
The Model R OXIGEST® treatment system provides stable operation and flexible process options for sanitary and industrial/process wastewater applications with concentric tankage that maximizes space efficiency in its footprint.
$40 million cost reduction through real-time water distribution control.
The HUBER Drum Screen LIQUID is available in different designs and suitable for numerous applications of solids-liquid separation.
Whether your needs are pre-planned or require emergency response, Aria™ FAST mobile water solutions provide reliable treatment with intelligent controls to keep your water, and business, flowing. Our global footprint ensures that we can respond with a plug and-play, fully equipped water treatment unit within 24 hours. Single units can produce quality filtrate of 400 gpm to 1400 gpm (73 to 320 m3/hr), while multiple units can be configured for larger capacities.
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.
The AquaSBR can treat a wide range of domestic and industrial wastewaters, at flows ranging fromm a few thousand gallons to millions of gallons per day.
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?
Though some preliminary regulations have taken place to curb the presence of microplastics in the environment, more research is needed to determine what role wastewater treatment plants can and will play in solving the problem for good.
With water treatment plant operators around the country relying on paper and pen to record critical quality data, there is an opportunity to make life easier online.
As excess nutrients continue to pollute source water, bringing dead zones and toxic chemicals, it’s time for the disparate agencies that can make a difference to band together.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has compiled a report on the world’s leading stormwater management solutions and challenges. Reviewing its contents can be an opportunity for communities to build stormwater strength together.
Over the past 10 years, DC Water has become the harbinger of the modern water utility. It’s often unconventional approach to tackling age-old problems usually elicits one of two responses from other utility professionals. The first response is one of resignation — if only I had the budget that size permits, I’d be able to do similar things. And the second is one of awe — there’s no way I have the amount of gumption to convince regulators or customers that I have a better way.
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.
Over the past decade, there has been a considerable effort in the water sector to address industry shortcomings through collaboration. And perhaps there’s been no greater initiative to try to help water utility managers in their day-to-day and future planning than the Effective Utility Management (EUM) Initiative.
Corrosion control has always been a priority for distributing safe drinking water throughout the world’s networks of pipeline. This has become all the more critical following the outrageous lead poisoning revelations in Flint, MI — an incident caused directly by corrosion of the city’s lead-based infrastructure.
Affordability and maintainability are two of the greatest challenges small municipalities face when constructing and managing sewer infrastructure. With these challenges in mind, it’s important for small cities to choose wisely when investing in a wastewater system that needs to last for 30-60 years.
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.
Among water treatment industry professionals, consensus is growing that small- to medium-scale decentralized desalination and wastewater treatment plants are the way forward in a water-stressed future. But governments continue to announce new water mega-infrastructure projects at an alarming rate. Because the public policy debate appears to have simply not caught up with current technology, many companies and NGOs with a focus on small- to medium-scale water treatment or renewable energy have begun to see the Caribbean as something of a new frontier.
One of the great turnaround stories in the history of our nation’s water bodies is that of the Chesapeake Bay. Since 1976 when the Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) first undertook a comprehensive study of the Bay, efforts to address excessive nitrogen and phosphorous degradation of water quality have steadily improved the Bay’s complex ecosystem.
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.
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.
Salvator Mundi sold for nearly half a billion dollars. Walter Isaacson’s latest biography is a breakaway hit. Management guru Michael Gelb’s book accessing the thought techniques of history’s most accomplished Renaissance Man — in every literal and figurative sense of the word — is still a bestseller. Almost 500 years after his death, Leonardo da Vinci is still a superstar.
Did you know that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had a published Contingency Plan in anticipation of the current government shutdown? I guess in hindsight, you would have expected it for an agency with 134 facilities dotted across the country. And in fact, it’s required by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Circular A-11, Section 124 that all government agencies have plans for an orderly shutdown “in the event of an absence of appropriations.”
For most of the United States, we’ve reached the time of year where Americans desire to maintain a perfectly green lawn starts to be tested by the warmer and dryer summer months. From the water industry’s perspective, it’s staggering just how many billions of gallons of treated water ends up being sprayed across our hallowed front and back yards in maintaining a full and aesthetically-pleasing lawn.
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.
In the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the World Bank held a high-level meeting on recovery and resilience in the Caribbean on October 13, 2017, at its Washington, D.C., headquarters.
Lani Good, P.E., is an Asset Management Practice Leader. During her 5 years at West Yost Associates, she has specialized in Utility Asset Management. Her organization exclusively focuses on water, wastewater, and stormwater systems to ensure longevity for typical water infrastructure assets – pipes, pumps, storage and treatment plants.
In a recent keynote speech at Wharton’s Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL), Innovyze CEO Colby Manwaring took the stage to address the current state of flood modeling techniques. The story? We can do better.
For decades, wastewater management has been a growing problem for the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR), a problem that regional governments have long understood as a threat to the economy, the environment, and to public health. In the Caribbean, most wastewater from cities, industry, and agriculture pours directly into surface water or into the sea completely untreated, degrading residents’ quality of life, as well as the region’s biodiversity, pristine blue waters, and reefs, which are the lifeblood of the vital tourism industry.
