Water & Wastewater News Logo

Poll

Feature

A Watertight Design

May 1, 2005By Jason Goodman

Engineering firm enters security market, guards drinking water

There was a time when Wunderlich-Malec, a Minnesota-based engineering, process control, and system integration firm, focused primarily on making sure production lines ran as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

Improving with Age

May 1, 2005By Tony Kobilnyk

Aging or underperforming conventional water treatment plants are retrofitting with UF membranes and benefiting from improvements in performance and operational cost savings

Too much chlorine. That's what the residents of two Tennessee cities said about their drinking water following a recent upgrade to their water treatment plant (WTP). As part of the upgrade, granular filter media from the conventional plant were removed and immersed, hollow-fiber ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were added to the plants treatment processes.

Telemetry Takes Over

May 1, 2005By Scott South

New wireless communications technology is increasingly being used for water data reporting

Unlike government bodies in the recent past, which specialized in collecting and storing data, government agencies today seek to actively use water data for improved understanding and management of environmental conditions -- for example, through modeling and projection work. For this reason, it is imperative that monitoring agencies, scientists, and researchers receive water data in a reliable, timely, and easy-to-understand manner.

The Heat is On

May 1, 2005By Mike Studer

Finding the resources to secure our most precious resource -- using thermal imaging cameras to guard water treatment plants

The lack of attacks launched against water treatment plants is by no means an indication that they are invincible. While treatment plants aren't typically seen as high profile targets, they are at risk of infiltration and/or sabotage. Plants, many of which are based in or near residential areas, purify water for vast regions. Destroying or disabling a single facility could devastate an entire national region for an indefinite amount of time and create a real sense of uneasiness among those forced to suffer without water for a long time to come.

The Price Is Right

May 1, 2005By S. David Ross

Magnetic flowmeters aid accurate billing for customers of wastewater treatment facilities

The City of Orlando in Florida treats up to 40 million gallons a day (mgd) of wastewater at its Iron Bridge Regional Water Reclamation Facility. The city bills one major upstream source based on the amount of wastewater treated. Both parties want accurate flow measurements to ensure a fair assessment of costs. A few percentage points of error can quickly add up to thousands of dollars in questionable billings.

Water: Australia's Long-running Problem

May 1, 2005By Patrick J. Cornish

The Land Down Under continues its search for solutions to its chronic problem of water distribution

Water is Australia's most pressing problem, a century after the bunch of British colonies became a nation that was a magnet for settlers from less fortunate parts of London's empire.

A Tailor Made Solution

March 1, 2005By James R. Graham, PhD

Using tailored activated carbons to treat perchlorate-contaminated water

In 1997, researchers first used newly developed contaminant analytical capabilities to detect low concentrations of the perchlorate ions in groundwaters and surface waters.¹ These tools helped substantiate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) assertion that perchlorate is leaching into the drinking water supplies of approximately 15 million to 18 million Americans.

Submerge and Conquer

March 1, 2005By Klaus Vossenkaul, PhD

With the help of submerged membrane modules, a malting company in Antwerp overcomes the disadvantages of membrane bioreactor technology use in large-scale applications, becoming the largest industrial membrane bioreactor plant in Belgium

Since the late 1990s membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology has rapidly entered the wastewater treatment market. The technology is a simple combination of an activated sludge process and a membrane filtration step. The separation of activated sludge and effluent is achieved by using porous membranes that are able to remove all the suspended solids from the biologically cleaned water.

A Change for the Better

January 1, 2005By Steve Thompson

A new disinfection systems is ensuring safe, all-vacuum liquid chemical feed at Middletown, Ohio's wastewater treatment plant

When the staff at Middletown, Ohio's wastewater treatment plant decided two years ago to switch from gaseous chlorine to sodium hypochlorite for disinfection, they also wanted to find an alternative to using a pressurized liquid chemical delivery system.

On the Right Track

January 1, 2005By Daniel J. Fiorino

EPA's National Environmental Performance Track program provides incentives and opportunities to facilities that go beyond mere regulatory compliance

Facilities in the United States and Puerto Rico that consistently achieve outstanding environmental results may be eligible for recognition and regulatory incentives through a voluntary program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The National Environmental Performance Track, launched by EPA in June, 2000, recognizes and rewards top environmental performers and is designed to encourage continual improvement.

Stemming the Tide of Terrorism

January 1, 2005By Robert M. Anderson, Esq., Paul C. Freeman, Esq.

Significant efforts are being undertaken at the federal level to protect the nation's drinking water resources from becoming a primary medium for terrorist attacks

Immediately following the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the city of New York and a group of federal, state, and local authorities took steps to secure and maintain the city's lifeline: its drinking water supply system.

Stormwater Control Takes Off

January 1, 2005By Thomas Schoendorf

After recent expansions, Capital City Airport in Harrisburg, Pa., successfully upgrades its stormwater drainage system to accommodate increased flow rates

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania constructed Capital City Airport in the 1930s as the Harrisburg regional commercial airport. Today it is one of the major general aviation airports for the city of Harrisburg, Pa. Averaging more than 67,000 corporate, charter, and aircraft operations every year, Capital City Airport has earned its place as the airport of choice for general aviation pilots and their passengers.

A Crystal Clear Vision

December 1, 2004By Gerry D. Rector, CE

A patented recycling process that allows paper companies to convert wastewater sludge into glass aggregate and power exemplifies the growing movement to lessen adverse environmental impacts

Benjamin Franklin once said, "When the well's dry, we know the worth of water." With that in mind, paper companies recognize it is not a question of whether they should treat and recycle their spent water -- the question is "How?" Some paper companies are not only finding environmentally friendly ways to take care of spent water, they are going a step further by putting the sludge from their wastewater treatment plants to beneficial use by converting it to glass aggregate, steam, and electricity. In fact, paper companies are leading the charge in using practices that reduce the consumption of resources and related emissions for themselves and their customers.

Beyond Process Control

December 1, 2004By Douglas Johnson

Today's integrated monitoring and control technologies provide operational and economic benefits for municipalities of all sizes

The environment in which the water and wastewater industries operate has never been more challenging. Increasingly complex financial and environmental regulations, security concerns, and shrinking budgets are just a few of the realities keeping managers up at night. Simultaneously addressing these sometimes conflicting demands may seem overwhelming on the surface, but it doesn't have to be. Experience shows that integrating information -- both horizontally and vertically throughout an organization -- can make it easier to satisfy these competing concerns, while at the same time producing additional measurable benefits.

Joining the Mainstream

December 1, 2004By T. David Chinn, PE

As effluent discharge standards become more stringent, advanced treatment alternatives such as membrane bioreactor technology are gaining acceptance with municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants

For more than 30 years the Clean Water Act (CWA) has established programs and requirements to protect the quality of U.S. rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. In that time, this regulatory framework has succeeded in doubling the number of water bodies in the United State that are considered swimmable and fishable. Today, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) more than two thirds of water bodies are regarded as healthy compared to only one third in 1972 when the CWA was first created by Congress.