WATER INSTRUMENTATION RESOURCES

• 2020 Industry Forecast: Treatment Moves Down The Line

  It’s no secret that safe and readily available water is important for public health, can boost economic growth and help reduce poverty. But factors such as climate change, growing populations, natural disasters, increasing water scarcity, and urbanization continue to challenge water systems around the world. 

• Preparing To Tackle The Hydra Of LCR Revisions

  As a journalist serving the water industry — but not yet a seasoned technical veteran — I attended a recent Lead In Drinking Water Forum sponsored by AWWA NJ to learn about the challenges of complying with the proposed Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR). What I heard impressed upon me the technical, administrative, and logistical challenges of delivering safe, lead-free drinking water all the way to user taps. Here are my takeaways.

• Improve Your Plant Efficiency With Accurate Water And Wastewater Monitoring

  A West Coast wastewater management facility provides design, management, and maintenance of the sanitary sewer system for an entire county, including the conveyance system and treatment system. The wastewater treatment plant has been established for over 50 years and has the capacity to treat 41 million gallons of sanitary sewage per day (mgd).value chain. Siemens suggested that the customer try the Siemens HydroRanger 200 controller. The HydroRanger 200 uses proven, continuous, ultrasonic echo ranging technology to monitor water and wastewater of any consistency up to 15 m (50 ft) in depth.

• The Drive Towards Digital Transformation

  It seems that everywhere that you go in the water industry at the current time, somebody is talking about digital transformation…or if we go back five minutes, it was Water 4.0…and 10 minutes ago (it seems), it was “smart water.” These are all very well used buzzwords that the industry is destined to think about for a short-term and then promptly forget about. In reality, though, we as an industry have been hit by a number of different concepts for a number of different technological aspects for a good number of years now. For almost as long we have had a term for all of this — “widgets.”

• Remote Monitoring Provides Water Resilience During Crisis

  Managing three drinking water treatment facilities, multiple pump stations, more than 350 miles of pipelines, and a wastewater treatment facility is challenging even in normal conditions for a small city where agriculture is an economic driver and water demand can exceed 22 MGD.

• Moneyball For Water And Wastewater Treatment

  The movie and sports term has infiltrated the business world and has important implications for the water/wastewater industry.

• Calibrating Success: Improved Tools To Maintain Flowmeter Accuracy

  Water utilities with highly successful monitoring programs tend to share a common trait: they have a well-defined plan for calibration that emphasizes frequency and tracking. However, when done properly, this process is time-consuming and often leads to unnecessary labor and downtime. The good news is that advanced metering technology is available for plants to get a better handle on the instrument’s performance with significantly less effort.

• Do Your Plant Instruments Play Nice With Others? The Benefits Of Integrated Technologies

  Digital devices provide two-way communication, so they can be programmed from the control room. However, the bigger benefit is that they can be part of a system offering assured interoperability to provide a seamless flow of information. This type of integration between key components of the water treatment and distribution process improves decision-making and overall equipment optimization.

• Water Monitoring's Triple Threat: Bad Habits, Bad Readings, Bad Results

  When water and wastewater plant operators can’t get accurate flow measurements or analytical readings — or lack confidence in their instruments’ readings — it creates challenges with the process. When substandard water goes to homes and causes a boil order, or discharge pollutes a lake or reservoir, the resulting bad press, fines, and potential lawsuits erode public confidence. Avoiding these kinds of problems is rooted in good preventive maintenance habits.

• Sounding The Alarm On Silent Noncompliance

  Water and wastewater utility operators work diligently to operate within strict guidelines, ensuring their facilities are producing the best drinking water and highest quality effluent possible. Despite all their efforts, however, it can be easy to fall outside of regulatory compliance without even being aware. The key to avoiding problems like these is to understand how silent noncompliance can happen and knowing when to raise a red flag.