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Water

A More Natural Approach

April 1, 2005By Jon E. Kallen

Low impact development finds a place in local government stormwater ordinances

Low Impact Development (LID) is an environmentally sustainable approach to stormwater management that offers an attractive alternative to conventional management techniques. Local and state planners and government officials are becoming more receptive to incorporating LID approaches into stormwater, zoning, and site development ordinances. In 2003, two Virginia jurisdictions in the Chesapeake Bay watershed incorporated LID approaches into their local zoning ordinances, signaling a new trend in overall stormwater management.

Fortifying the Last Line of Defense

April 1, 2005By James P. Zeigler, Susan Lovasic

By learning more about chemical protective clothing selection, users can better protect themselves against chemical exposure and flashfire hazards

What factors should you consider when faced with the dual hazards of chemical exposure and flash fire? The simple answer is barrier -- both chemical and thermal barrier. However, as much as we wish that personal protective equipment (PPE) selection could be a simple process, this one word '"barrier'" encompasses a number of both chemical-protective and flash-fire-protective properties that need to be considered during the protective clothing selection process.

A Time Saving Tool

March 1, 2005By William A. Timmons

Water system modeling can be enhanced by the use of spreadsheets

Computer spreadsheet software provides a powerful means for the planning, preparation, calibration, and use of a water distribution, pumping, or storage system computer model.

The Water Front

January 1, 2005By Joe Dischinger

2005's top water-quality issues

With one party in charge of all three branches of the federal government, there have been no dramatic announcements of radical changes in water quality policy. At the time of this writing, it appears recent issues and trends in water quality will remain the hot issues for 2005.

Safeguarding Our Water

November 1, 2004By C. Russell Davis

Membrane filtration protects Great Lakes' drinking water from Cryptosporidium microbes

Beautiful and blue, vast, and sometimes violent, the Great Lakes are truly "Nature's Reservoir." They contain 20 percent of the earth's fresh surface water, spanning nearly 900 miles from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River in Kingston, Ontario, in the east to their western fingertip at Duluth, Minnesota.

Tackling Tough Contaminants

November 1, 2004By Russell A. Schuck, PG

Successful remediation of recalcitrant compounds starts with comprehensive site characterization

There are numerous case studies of failed remedial systems, which in turn can be linked to the remedial design team not fully understanding the site conditions. Often the most effective way to clean up these recalcitrant sites is source/migration control rather than intrusive remediation. The best solution can only be determined if the site is properly understood.

Industrial Water Reuse Makes Cents

October 1, 2004By Anthony M. Wachinski

Stricter standards and the increasing demand for water is raising water treatment costs and making wastewater recycling more attractive to industry

Until just recently, water was viewed as a low-cost commodity. This perception has changed as communities across the United States face water supply limitations and plant managers look for ways to cut their process water treatment cost.

When Bigger is Better

October 1, 2004By Rex Hansen, PE

A large-scale rental car facility at BWI airport uses an innovative treatment system to surpass stormwater regulations

Daily, an average of 52,089 people travel on flights in and out of Maryland's Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) Airport. To support this amount of passenger traffic, the 3,596-acre airport site must provide parking for departing passengers and access to an ample supply of rental cars for arriving passengers.

Going with the Flow

September 1, 2004By James E. Gallagher

Learning more about the effects of flow conditioning on water measurement can enhance water and wastewater treatment performance and cut costs

The full cost of ownership related to operating a water or wastewater treatment facility consists of the initial capital, commissioning, training, spare parts, maintenance, and calibration costs for the lifetime of the equipment.

Lighting the Way to Better Disinfection

September 1, 2004By Eugen Nisipeanu, Muhammad Sami, PhD

By improving flow measurement, computer simulation optimizes the design of ultraviolet reactors used to destroy disease pathogens in water and wastewater

Computer simulation can substantially improve the design of ultraviolet (UV) light technology used to disinfect water and wastewater. In UV disinfection design, bacteria and viruses must flow in close proximity to a UV lamp for a sufficient period of time to dimerize their DNA.

Microbial Massacre

July 1, 2004By Bipin R. Ranade, Robert D. Sproull, PhD, PE

By manipulating the oxygen levels in the industrial wastewater treatment process, a new breakthrough technology prompts bacteria to consume each other and thereby greatly reduces the amounts of biosolids generated

The majority of industrial manufacturers discharge their wastewater to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) after some form of pretreatment. However, approximately one-third of industrial facilities operate their own wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).

Checkmate

June 1, 2004By Shannon D. Spence, Wendelyn S. Stoveland

A master strategy for securing your water treatment facility

At the American Water Works Association (AWWA) Security Congress, which was held in Charlotte, N.C., from April 25 to April 27, 2004, it was evident that public water and wastewater utilities were no longer novices in the security arena. The events of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent mandates for the water industry contained in the Bioterrorism Act, have greatly affected the way we do business. Consequently, utilities are starting to approach security the way they approach safety -- as an integral part of day-to-day facility management and operations.

Remediation Marathon Style

June 1, 2004By Scott D. Wallace

Constructed wetlands are an economical way of cleaning up petroleum-contaminated sites that require treatment over long periods of time

In-situ biological treatment (bioremediation) systems have now gained widespread acceptance for dealing with sites impacted by petroleum hydrocarbons. However, at many remediation sites, the need to pump groundwater to maintain gradient control still generates a stream of contaminated water requiring treatment, even if in-situ technologies are being employed.

Demystifying Membranes - Part II

May 1, 2004By Peter S. Cartwright, P.E.

This overview helps separate the facts from the fallacies related to membrane technologies used in wastewater treatment

This is the second article in a two-part series on membrane elements and treatment systems. "Demystifying Membranes - Part I" was published in Environmental Protection's July-August 2003 issue and is accessible online at no charge under "Archives" at www.eponline.com. The first article compares the advantages and disadvantages of four types of membrane separation technologies. Part II clears up some common misunderstandings about the properties of membrane technologies.

Persistence Pays Off

May 1, 2004By David Laughlin

Persistent bio-oxidation is an innovative remediation strategy for achieving successful site closure for low-level contaminated sites

Most companies that deal with environmental liabilities usually manage a broad array of projects and sites with varying degrees of contamination. While the remediation and cleanup options for many properties can be readily identified, environmental decisions for some sites can be somewhat difficult.