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.
Wastewater pros are using diet soda to track down pollution.
As perflourinated compound (PFC) contamination continues to raise concerns all over the nation, one Michigan community has decided to take action to combat it.
Nearly every industry requires water and wastewater treatment to some degree. From food and beverage to pulp and paper operations, influent and effluent must meet certain conditions to adhere to regulatory and/or performance requirements, and water used during the process must conform as well.
Most of us don’t have to think about the vital infrastructure that supports our society. Water is delivered to our homes and businesses 24/7, and wastewater is efficiently and cleanly whisked away. The ability of our utilities to manage these services means we only take notice at times of inconvenience: water outages, sewer blockages, or stormwater overflows.
Central district heating systems have gained attention in recent years because they can be more efficient than localized boiler units. The efficiency of district heating is usually due to power generation plants being able to produce heat and electricity simultaneously. District heating also helps prevent pollution by using advanced flue gas cleaning techniques.
A major power plant in Thailand is using 3M™ Liqui-Cel™ Membrane Contactors to remove carbon dioxide from a DI water system. The system is an expansion project and will be used to feed a high pressure boiler. Liqui-Cel membrane contactors are being used to lower the CO2 inlet into an Ionpure Electrodeionization (EDI) system. Carbon dioxide adds an ionic load to the EDI system, which can reduce the performance of the system. Manufactures of the EDI equipment suggest lowering the inlet CO2 to reduce the load on the equipment and improve the water quality.
For any drinking water or wastewater treatment operation, pH neutralization is never far from top-of-mind. The regulatory standards for pH to which effluent must adhere, also known as “pH neutralization,” are central to ensuring that treatment is performed accurately and that the water or wastewater leaving a plant is safe.
The Hagerstown Wastewater Treatment Plant in Maryland incorporated several plant modifications, one of which was the conversion of their disinfection process from the use of ozone to UV.
The Lariana Depur wastewater treatment plant in Fino Mornasco, Italy, treats wastewater from multiple textile manufacturers in the Como region, known as the heart of the textile industry. Since 1994, ozone has been used effectively as a polisher to remove the dark blue-purple color — the result of the dyes used in the textile dyeing and printing process — from the water.
It is no secret that the number of landfills has been steadily decreasing across the United States. As more and more cities adopt ‘zero waste to landfill’ sustainability goals, the number of landfills has shrunk from 6,326 in 1990 to 1,738 in 2015. Decreasing landfills has meant increased waste hauling costs for wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as sludge travels farther distances to reach landfills.
In this video, we discuss the curious science that is the inclined plate settler (also known as a Lamella). The process is a bit counter-intuitive, but through an interesting experiment, this video shows how they work. Inclined plate settlers can reduce required footprint by 80% compared to traditional gravity settling.
Despite the destruction of Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, Duperon® wastewater screening systems in the cities of Cuero and Refugio, Texas – approximately 150 miles southwest of Houston – were virtually unaffected by the storm. Duperon’s FlexRake® bar screens, installed at both locations as well as dozens of other sites in and around Houston, remove objects like rags, paper, plastics, and metals to prevent damage and clogging of downstream treatment equipment. Both communities found essentially no damage to their wastewater screening equipment.
Designed with the dairy market in mind, the Dampier membrane is optimized to withstand long-term exposure to fats, oils, greases, phosphorus, chlorines and other readily present chemicals. Its silicone elastomers possess inherently low intermolecular forces, providing excellent resistance to hot and cold temperatures. Our Dampier membranes are hydrophobic, and do not react with the unique chemicals present in dairy wastewater. Heat stable (up to 365°F) and flexible at low temperatures, these custom formulated membranes provide durable, chemically-correct solutions for dairy wastewater treatment.
The AquaMB Process® is a multiple barrier system that integrates biological treatment with dual barrier filtration consisting of cloth media and external membrane separation.
The Swan AMI DIST series offers three options for measuring chlorine, pH, conductivity and Turbidity on one easy to install, easy to maintain panel.
Proven to dramatically increase biological treatment capacity and help meet ENR limits.
The AURORA product combines the operating system of a conventional float-based magnetic level indicator (MLI) with the leading-edge Eclipse® guided wave radar transmitter developed for level measurement applications by Magnetrol®.
With more than 1,000 installations, Rotoshear® is a proven high-capacity fine screening technology for municipal wastewater treatment plants and many industries for various applications.
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.
Cities all over the country have been prioritizing clean water through a variety of different programs and the City of Brotherly Love is among the ranks.
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.
It may seem farfetched, but the reality is that many Americans don’t have regular access to clean drinking water.
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.
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.
California is home to some of the world’s most creative minds, top universities, productive farmland, groundbreaking industries — and one of the most epic droughts. The state has endured five years of drained reservoirs and groundwater reserves tapped so aggressively that the land subsidence caused by pumping has been literally seen from space. This indicates in no uncertain terms that it’s time to get all hands on deck. Private companies, universities, irrigation and drainage districts, municipalities — it’s time to pull together into public-private partnerships to address water challenges that face California and so many other regions of the world.
More than 20 years ago I wrote a Master’s Thesis about software tools that could be put together with EPA SWMM to create a toolbox for very long term continuous simulation for stormwater and watershed simulations. I was inspired at the time by Dr. William James who was my advisor for that research.
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.
It’s no secret that municipalities across the country are facing budget constraints.
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.
A Request for Startups post on January 3rd on the Y Combinator Blog caught my eye. The blogger talked about the need to prepare for things to get worse with regard to climate change, and called for applications for funding from those working on new technologies that could inexpensively produce clean water.
Now that you have returned to the role of private citizen — though, admittedly you are a private citizen with millions of eyes focused on you — I want to encourage you to continue your great work promoting the health of our nation’s children. Your emphasis on exercise and nutrition, jobs and support for veterans, and education have touched millions of Americans of all ages and all backgrounds. Now it’s time to bring in the most common denominator and the first step toward good health — access to clean water.
New York City treats 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater a day across its 14 wastewater treatment plants. The city has seen a precipitous drop in fecal coliforms, with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) reporting that fecal coliforms per 100 mL of water has fallen from 1,000 in 1972 when the Clean Water Act was passed to closer to 10 as of 2009.
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.
This blog is a summary of a presentation I gave at the Water Quality Association’s annual convention in Orlando.
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.
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.
Talk about making waves. Cryptocurrency — digital “tokens” or “coins” rooted in computer code and valued for the very fact that they are disconnected from governments and banks — have experienced spectacular rises and falls in recent months. The crypto-economy is already worth hundreds of billions of dollars (REAL dollars!), and it’s anyone’s guess how fast it will grow after that.
