ATI has developed a completely new approach to on-line monitoring of ammonia that is far less expensive and much simpler than conventional monitoring equipment. The Q45N Dissolved Ammonia Monitor uses reaction chemistry that converts ammonia in solution to a stable monochloramine compound equivalent in concentration to the original ammonia level. The chloramine concentration is then measured with a unique amperometric sensor that responds linearly to chloramines while eliminating interference from excess free chlorine in solution.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Q45N Dissolved Ammonia Monitor
Continuous monitoring of ammonia in water and wastewater streams is becoming increasingly important for plant operations and process control. Unfortunately, on-line ammonia monitors are generally very expensive, complex, and labor intensive instruments. Most are automated versions of ammonia selective ion electrodes methods better suited to laboratory measurements. Others are automated colorimetric devices or instrumental methods that are difficult to justify on a cost basis.
Hurricane Sandy speeds towards landfall
A superstorm threatening 50 million people in the most heavily populated corridor in the nation gained strength Monday, packing winds of 90 mph and picking up considerable speed just hours before it is expected to make landfall, forecasters said.
The National Hurricane Center said Monday morning that the Category 1 hurricane is moving northwest at 28 mph - up from 18 mph a few hours earlier. At 2:00 p.m. ET the storm was centered about 175 miles south-southeast of New York City, or about 110 miles southeast of Atlantic City, N.J. Hurricane-force winds extend up to 175 miles from the storm's center, with tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 485 miles.
Maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, with higher gusts, were measured.
Gale/tropical storm-force force winds were reported from North Carolina to southern New England.
Hours before the storm made landfall, high winds had already knocked out power to more than 100,000 customers in several states by mid-day Monday.
Sandy is expected to hook inland Monday, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic. Forecasters say the storm's center will make landfall along or just south of the Southern New Jersey coast Monday evening.
CBS News hurricane consultant David Bernard reports that wind gusts of 38 mph and 41 mph have already been reported in New York City and Boston, respectively.
Sandy is likely going to strengthen even more as it approaches the East Coast, Bernard reports, with hurricane-force winds reaching land by Monday afternoon. The storm's pressure is dropping, which means it's growing in strength.
Flooding will be a huge threat, with many areas potentially seeing rainfall amounts between 5 and 8 inches over a 48-hour period.
The full moon will make storm surges worse, as high tides along the Eastern Seaboard will rise about 20 percent higher than normal.
Correspondent Chip Reid reports from Ocean City, Md., that sea levels could rise 8 feet above normal - enough to flood much of the city.
In addition to rains and flooding, about 2 to 3 feet of snow is forecast for mountainous parts of West Virginia.
The tempest could endanger up to 50 million people for days. "This is the worst-case scenario," said Louis Uccellini, environmental prediction chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
President Barack Obama delivered a sober warning to millions in the path of the storm on Monday, appealing to those who have not evacuated to do so.
"Please listen to what your state and local officials are saying. When they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate. Don't delay, don't pause, don't question the instructions that are being given, because this is a powerful storm."
From Washington to Boston, big cities and small towns were buttoned up against the onslaught of Sandy, with forecasters warning that the New York area could get the worst of it -- an 11-foot wall of water.
"There's a lot of people that are going to be under the impacts of this," Federal Emergency Management Administrator Craig Fugate said on "CBS This Morning" Monday.
"You know, we've got blizzard warnings as far west as West Virginia, Appalachian Mountains, but I think the biggest concern right now are the people in the evacuation areas. They're going to face the most immediate threats with the storm surge."
"The biggest challenge is going to be not knowing exactly where the heaviest-hit areas are going to be," said Fugate, "and the fact the storm's going to take several days to move through the area with heavy rain and wind, so that's going to slow down recovery activities like utility crews getting out and putting power back up."
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 14 members of a crew forced to abandon a tall shipabout 90 miles off the North Carolina coast and continued to search for two other crew members. The storm lashed barrier islands and rendered several homes and businesses nearly inaccessible.
Forecasters said the hurricane could blow ashore Monday night along the New Jersey coast, then cut across into Pennsylvania and travel up through New York State on Wednesday.
Forecasters said the combination of Sandy with the storm from the west and the cold air from the Arctic could bring close to a foot of rain in places, a potentially lethal storm surge of 4 to 11 feet across much of the region, and punishing winds that could cause widespread power outages that last for days. The storm could also dump up to 2 feet of snow in Kentucky, North Carolina and West Virginia.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Water Funding May Help Avoid Drought Losses, Analyst Says
The worst U.S. drought in more than five decades shows a global need to improve water management to prevent crop disasters, university researchers and policy experts said.
Governments should encourage investment in irrigation, which is more costly than the improved seeds and fertilizers often advocated to increase food production, Roberto Lenton, a professor of water management and head of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska, said today at the World Food Prize Conference.
“Those farmers who were already using conservation techniques to conserve water, they fared best in the drought,” Lenton said during a panel discussion at the conference in Des Moines, Iowa. “One of the clear lessons is the importance of irrigation.” Farming without tilling, which keeps more water in the soil, drought-resistant crops, and technology that irrigates plants with less water all preserved yields this year, he said.
Competition for increasingly scarce water in the next decade will fuel instability in regions such as South Asia and the Middle East that are important to American national security, according to a U.S. intelligence report released this year. As nations increase water-related projects to gain influence, vulnerable dams, irrigation projects and reservoirs could become targets for terrorists or military strikes, the authors of the report said.
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-18/water-funding-may-ease-drought-losses-analyst-says
Thursday, October 25, 2012
What We Really Save by Recycling
1. Americans use billions of aluminum beverage cans every year. The good news is that aluminum can be infinitely recycled back into new cans, and a great deal of energy and other resources can be saved by recycling it.
Last year, Americans recycled 61 billion aluminum cans, saving the energy equivalent of 17 million barrels of crude oil. That's a whole lot of recovered resources!
So, how was all that energy saved? To put it simply, manufacturing cans from recycled aluminum consumes 95 percent less energy than using virgin materials.
To put those figures in perspective, recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to keep a 100-watt bulb burning for almost four hours or run your television for three hours.
2. Producing new plastic from recycled material uses only two-thirds of the energy required to manufacture it from raw materials, meaning we can save a whole lot of energy by recycling plastic.
The energy conserved by tossing just one plastic bottle in the blue bin can light a 60-watt light bulb for six hours or power a computer for 25 minutes, according to the EPA.
3. According to the American Petroleum Institute, more than 600 million gallons of motor oil is purchased in the U.S. each year. Most auto shops recycle used motor oil, but about half of all motor oil sold is to "do-it-yourself" car owners.
If you change your own oil, don't forget to recycle the leftovers when you're finished. Recycling a mere 2 gallons of used motor oil can:
- Power an average home for one day
- Cook 48 meals in a microwave oven
- Blow dry a person’s hair at least 216 times
- Vacuum a house for 15 months
- Power a television for more than seven days straight
4. The environmental footprint of clothing and textiles is substantial. Americans throw away a whopping 68 pounds of clothes on average each year, and we only buy 10 pounds of recycled clothes annually.
But on the brighter side of things, reclaiming clothing and textiles for reuse and recycling saves staggering amount of energy and natural resources.
Remanufacturing or reusing textiles can save up to 85 percent of the energy required to produce the same product from virgin materials, according to a study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ideally, clothing that is still wearable should be donated or "freecycled" to a friend so the product can achieve the longest life-cycle possible.
5. On average, each person in the U.S. discards eight dry-cell batteries per year. Recycling both rechargeable and single-use batteries saves water, energy and natural resources. But the No. 1 reason to avoid tossing batteries in the trash is to prevent potentially toxic metals from contaminating local ecosystems.
Batteries that are thrown in the trash produce most of the heavy metals that are found in household waste, including lead, arsenic, zinc, cadmium, copper and mercury. If discarded batteries end up in landfills, these metals can seep into the ground water and harm local plants, animals and even humans.
For this reason, both rechargeable and single-use batteries should be taken to your local household hazardous waste (HHW) facility or recycled through available mail-in and take-back programs.
6. Like aluminum, glass can be infinitely recycled back into new containers. An estimated 80 percent of reclaimed glass is processed through bottle-to-bottle recycling, and it can take as little as 30 days for a glass bottle to go from the recycling bin to a supermarket shelf.
Recycled glass is substituted for up to 70 percent of raw materials in manufacturing. Bottle-makers benefit from recycling in several ways - it reduces emissions and consumption of raw materials, extends the life of plant equipment, such as furnaces, and saves energy.
Recycling just one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours, power a computer for 30 minutes or a television for 20 minutes, according to the Glass Packaging Institute.
7. According to the EPA, approximately 33 percent of the municipal solid waste stream is paper and paperboard products. Paper makes up the largest portion of the municipal waste stream and is also one of the most recovered materials in the nation.
Producing recycled paper requires about 60 percent of the energy used to make paper from virgin wood pulp, but energy isn't the only thing we save through paper recycling.
By recycling 1 ton of paper, we save: 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil, 3 cubic yards of landfill space and enough energy to heat an average home for 6 months.
8. Americans dispose of more than 200 million tires every year, adding up to a whole lot of trashed rubber - not to mention wasted energy. But we can change all that simply by recycling.
On average, 22 gallons of oil are required to create one new truck tire. However, to retread a tire (a process in which a new tread is applied to a used tire casing), only seven gallons of oil are required.
Retreading a tire also costs anywhere from 30 to 70 percent less than manufacturing a new tire, reducing the cost to the consumer.
9. Americans use 100 million steel cans every day, amounting to a whole lot of potential landfill waste. Luckily, steel is one of the nation's most recycled materials, with more than 65 percent of steel produced in the states recycled into new steel each year.
Recycling steel saves 75 percent of the energy that would be used to create steel from raw materials, meaning the steel we recycle saves enough energy to power 18 million homes annually.
Recycling 1 ton of steel also saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone.
10. Electronics are made from valuable natural resources, including metals, plastics and glass - all of which require loads of energy to mine and manufacture.
For example, if the 100 million cell phones ready for end-of-life management in 2006 were recycled, we would have saved enough energy to power approximately 194,000 U.S. households for a year.
Like batteries, electronics also contain heavy metals that are potentially hazardous if leached into the environment. Although e-waste only accounts for about 4 percent of municipal waste, it may be responsible for as much as 70 percent of the heavy metals in landfills, including 40 percent of all lead.
To save energy and natural resources - and prevent potentially hazardous metals from entering local ecosystems - be sure to donate, reuse or recycle your unwanted electronics every time.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Chlorine Leak at La Grange Pumping Station Tuesday Morning
A Hazmat team responded to a chlorine leak at the La Grange pumping station at 5038 East Ave. on Tuesday morning between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.
La Grange personnel said that elevated chlorine levels came from a leak on one of the fittings on the chlorine gas system.
“The reason to initiate a box alarm was just to manpower in just to make sure everything was safe,” said La Grange fire chief Bill Bryzgalski. “There was no harm to any residents; no need for evacuation. This was just a small, minor leak.”
Bryzgalski said that only a trace amount of chlorine would have escaped the building, posing no danger, and that crews had repaired the problem before 9:00 a.m.
“There was no danger to anyone in the area,” Director of Public Works Ryan Williamson told the La Grange Suburban Life.
The Doings La Grange reported that traffic was rerouted around the corner of East Avenue and Plainfield Road for about two hours.
Ammonia leak poisons
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Legionnaires warning over cleaning of swimming pools and AC in the UAE
Swimming pools and air-conditioning systems are being treated with chemicals that could allow deadly diseases to persist and even thrive in the summer, experts warn.
Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/health/legionnaires-warning-over-cleaning-of-swimming-pools-and-ac-in-the-uae#ixzz2A8FIpX00
Many still use chlorine in liquid form, as sodium hypochlorite or calcium hypochlorite solution, rather than the safer powdered chlorine dioxide.
Chlorine cannot only fail to kill disease-causing bacteria but cause harmful side effects.
Hypochlorites react with any organic matter, especially in swimming pools or cooling systems, to form by-products, most notably carcinogenic trihalomethanes (THMs).
"Powdered chlorine dioxide is safer than [hypochlorite] chlorine in terms of generating less by-products," said Prof Walid El Shorbagy, the director of the water resources programme at UAE University.
"Chlorine has more by-products which are more hazardous."
For that reason, the chlorine dose is limited to stop it reaching the level where THMs form.
But at low doses it does not work as well as a disinfectant.
It also leaves room for more serious bacteria such as Legionella pneumophila, which causes Legionnaires disease. Legionellathrives in water and in humans is caught by inhaling its droplets.
Dormant in winter, the bacteria thrives at temperatures above 25°C, making it a hazard during summer.
And with the countless air-conditioning systems, the bug has more chance of growing in roof tanks, taps, pipes and showers.
In 2010, 80 of 100 samples from Dubai households where people had suffered unexplained health complaints tested positive for Legionella.
Chlorine dioxide can be used as a preventative measure against the bacteria.
"If the dosage of chlorine dioxide is enough, then it can definitely take care of Legionella," said Prof El Shorbagy.
"When it comes to cooling systems and fountains, it can be very useful and safer than chlorine. The UAE should really consider adopting it in the future."
But chlorine remains the disinfectant of choice for many, including the Wild Wadi Waterpark.
"Chlorine is the preferred and safest method of disinfectant for the rides at Wild Wadi Waterpark," said Gary Pogharian, its director of engineering.
"We can create what we need onsite when we need it. As long as the proper operating conditions and applications are adhered to, each will do the job well."
The Wonderland theme park still uses chlorine for its nine pools and nine slides, but plans to start testing chlorine dioxide within the next couple of months.
"Chlorine dioxide might be more expensive but it is better and safer," said Shaji Rajan, Wonderland's maintenance manager.
"Our plant is treated by Metito, [a wastewater company in Dubai], so if they switch to chlorine dioxide, then so will we."
Metito is pushing the switch on many of its clients.
"Using chlorine as a disinfectant is becoming increasingly difficult because there are many restrictions on its import, export and handling," said Bassem El Halabi, its group business development director.
"Being such an aggressive and dangerous material - chlorine gas by itself is poisonous - we had to look for alternatives."
Powdered chloride dioxide is sold as Metoxide, two powders that are mixed on-site. It avoids the harmful by-products of traditional chlorine and kills Legionella.
It can also be continuously applied at a single point in a water circuit, unlike chlorine, which has to be applied at several points to prevent microorganisms from building up throughout the whole system.
"Its handling is very easy," said Mr El Halabi. "It can be used anywhere needed for disinfection, from household to industries."
So far, its most common application is in district cooling, including chillers, coolers and cooling towers, which are the most exposed to the atmosphere and microorganisms.
"Metoxide will be very effective in treating that," said Mr El Halabi.
"It can also be used in aquaparks. It is not dangerous like normal chlorine products if swallowed."
Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/health/legionnaires-warning-over-cleaning-of-swimming-pools-and-ac-in-the-uae#ixzz2A8FIpX00
Friday, October 19, 2012
Happy Birthday, Clean Water Act
Thursday, Oct. 18, marks the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, a critical turning point in the nation’s efforts to rescue its rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands from centuries of industrial, municipal and agricultural pollution. But what should be a moment of celebration is also a moment of apprehension: Republicans in the House have spent the last two years trying to undercut the law, and should they gain control of the White House and Congress in next month’s elections, they could well succeed.
These same Republicans are either ignorant of their political heritage or have no use for it. Richard Nixon, a savvy Republican who appreciated the raw force behind an environmental movement that had coalesced only two years before around Earth Day, was among those pushing hardest for the law. Nixon sent a clean water bill to Congress, then vetoed the final product on Oct. 17 after it had nearly doubled in size, forcing Congress to override the next day. But he did so on budgetary grounds, not because he objected to its substance. “The pollution of our rivers, lakes and streams degrades the quality of American life,” he said. “Cleaning up the nation’s waterways is a matter of urgent concern to me.”
As it was to many others. Before Congress passed the bill, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio had repeatedly caught fire from oil slicks and other inflammables floating on its surface, 26 million fish died of contamination in a single Florida lake, raw sewage was dumped directly in great rivers like the Hudson and Mississippi, and two-thirds of America’s waters were regarded as unfit for fishing or swimming.
As it was to many others. Before Congress passed the bill, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio had repeatedly caught fire from oil slicks and other inflammables floating on its surface, 26 million fish died of contamination in a single Florida lake, raw sewage was dumped directly in great rivers like the Hudson and Mississippi, and two-thirds of America’s waters were regarded as unfit for fishing or swimming.
The law has done a fine job of stopping pollution from so-called “point sources”: direct discharges from industry and municipalities. Pollution from non-point sources – farm runoff, runoff from city streets and from destructive activities like mountaintop mining – have been more difficult to control. And big cities like New York and the nation’s capital have yet to make the investments necessary to handle sewage overflows during big storms, when treatment plants are frequently overwhelmed.
It’s highly unlikely that Congress will address these problems; instead they’re focused on dismantling the protections we already have. Of the 300-plus anti-environmental votes in the House during the 112th Congress, as toted up by Rep. Henry Waxman of California, perhaps three dozen were aimed in one way or another at undermining clean water protections or rejecting efforts to strengthen them. The most recent manifestation was the oddly-named “Stop the War on Coal Act,” a House-passed bill that would effectively strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to step in when state water quality standards are not strong enough to protect public health, as well as its authority to do something about mountaintop mining. The House has also cut funding for municipal water treatment plants and resisted efforts to strengthen protections for small streams and wetlands threatened by development.
What’s especially distressing is that over the last four decades few environmental laws have enjoyed as much bi-partisan support as this one. But bi-partisanship is becoming almost as faint a memory as the day when a Republican President and a Democratic Senate agreed on a whole series of laws protecting the air, water and endangered wildlife and, between them, constructed an environmental legacy of lasting value.
Carbon monoxide from running car kills East Stroudsburg woman
An 82-year-old woman was found dead in her East Stroudsburg home Thursday afternoon, the victim of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning.
Virginia Brecheisen was found on the upper floor of her South Kistler Street home by her caretaker just before 5 p.m. Exhaust fumes had filled the house and were believed to have originated from her car in a garage on the home's lower level, according to Stroud Area Regional Police.
Police said the death appears accidental, and that Brecheisen might not have realized she left the car running when she returned home from a trip to the grocery store Wednesday evening.
A cat was also found dead in the house.
Joanne Catlett of Tobyhanna, her caretaker, said Brecheisen called her when she returned from a trip to Giant in Bartonsville on Wednesday night. She said Brecheisen always called her when she was going somewhere and when she returned.
Normally Catlett would talk to Brecheisen around 8 every morning. This morning, she said, Brecheisen didn't answer. When she didn't answer throughout the day, Catlett and her husband drove to the house, according to Monroe County Coroner Bob Allen.
Catlett let herself into the condominium with a key Brecheisen had given her. She found Brecheisen in the bedroom, but the fumes were so strong she couldn't stay in the home.
She called 9-1-1, and East Stroudsburg Fire Department and police responded. Catlett was treated with oxygen at the scene, according to Allen.
Catlett said Brecheisen liked big band music and was active in the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Poconos. At one point she was president of the Crystal Court housing association, where her home was located.
Catlett described her as being in good health and good spirits. "We were just at the Chestnuthill Diner yesterday," Catlett said.
Allen said the toxicology tests from Pocono Medical Center's laboratory came back with high levels of carbon monoxide in her system.
Toxic gas leak from oil well sparks Kuwait alert
Health officials warned Kuwaitis to stay inside and seal doors and windows tightly on Wednesday after toxic gas leaked from an oil well north of Kuwait City.
Residents in areas as far as 100 kilometres (60 miles) away reported smelling the rotten-egg odour of potentially poisonous hydrogen sulphide gas.
Kuwait Oil Co said it had set fire to the well in the huge Rawdatin oilfield close to the border with Iraq, which had sharply reduced the leak.
KOC chairman Sami al-Rasheed told state television monitoring stations across Kuwait had found hydrogen sulphide concentrations far below danger levels.
The oil and gas leak happened in the afternoon due to a very high pressure of crude but the incident caused no casualties, KOC said earlier.
An industry source said KOC evacuated workers from near the well as a precautionary measure.
Kuwait pumps around three million barrels per day of crude oil whose income makes up more than 94 percent of the Gulf state's revenues.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
ATIs Model Q45WQ
ATIs Model Q45WQ Water Quality Panel is a flexible system designed for continuous, on-line monitoring of multiple parameters in municipal water distribution systems and potable water treatment facilities. The instrumentation contained in each Water Quality Panel is selected by the end user and customized to meet your individual monitoring requirements.
Water Quality Panels are used to establish baseline conditions of the final water and monitor to ensure each parameter is within acceptable limits. The panel can be used to continuously monitor residual disinfectant for compliance with the Surface Water Treatment Rule, and help identify possible contaminant to the water supply.
The Water Quality Monitors that are used on the panel were designed to provide long service life with minimal maintenance. The panel is easy to start up, as all components have no moving parts to break down, nor do they consume costly reagents. Many of the parameters can be configured as either loop-powered transmitters or line-powered analyzers.
The Q45WQ Water Quality Panel includes a 3/8" thick PVC mounting plate cut to the customers specified dimensions, integral stainless steel mounting inserts for all analyzers, flowcells, inlet pressure regulator and strainer. All sample delivery hardware is preplumbed and a 48 hour factory “wet test” of the complete system is preformed prior to delivery.
Parameters available for use on the Water Quality Panel include: Free Residual Chlorine Combined Residual Chlorine, pH, ORP, Conductivity, Temperature, Turbidity, Dissolved Oxygen, Particle Counter, Fluoride, Inlet Pressure, and Sample Flowrate.
More information can be found at: http://www.analyticaltechnology.com/public/product.aspx?ProductID=1038
Drinking Water and the Clean Water Act
The water that comes out of our tap is the most common interaction most of us have with water and is probably what most of us think about when we hear the words “clean water.” But, it’s a little more complicated in the world of laws and policy. Two main laws keep our water clean in the United States: the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. You might be thinking to yourself, “great, we have two laws to ensure my water is safe” and you’d be half right to think so. The reason for that is simple: these two laws don’t always play well with each other.
This is why. The Clean Water Act is concerned with limiting what we put into our nation’s water bodies and controlling what we do to disrupt them. The Safe Drinking Water Act concerns itself with our country’s Public Water Systems, which treat and provide the drinking water to the vast majority of us. Much of this water comes from the lakes, rivers, and other waterways that are protected by the Clean Water Act. While this seems like an intimate and commonsense connection, as these laws began to be implemented in the real world, just about everyone who had anything to do with making these two vital laws work started to “silo” them as we like to say in policy-speak. This separation of the two laws is understandable, but it doesn’t get us the clean water results we want. Plus, it allows for all sorts of problems to linger instead of being addressed.
But, there’s good news: As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, there are promising signs that our two key water-related laws and those that advocate for, implement, and follow them are working together to achieve the ultimate goal of the Acts – fishable, swimmable and drinkable water. Perhaps even more important is a growing interest in solving tomorrow’s drinking water problems today by preventing pollution, rather than solving them “tomorrow” at our drinking water treatment plants.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) implements both of these primary water laws and the Agency has recently ramped up its efforts to integrate these two programs. Taking a “watershed approach” and looking for synergies between Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act programs is fundamental to EPA’s current work. It’s also a key piece of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson’s Drinking Water Strategy, launched in 2010. These commonsense approaches will help us protect more water sooner, and do it more efficiently.
Another promising example of integrated thinking and activity is the Source Water Collaborative. Founded, in 2006, the Collaborative combines the strengths and tools of diverse member organizations to make drinking water source protection a more prominent focus – not only in policy but in real-word decisions made every day in our communities.
A cornerstone of Clean Water Action’s work on drinking water is promoting policies that truly put drinking water first. We would not be able to prevent tomorrow’s drinking water problems today without the Clean Water Act. There is much work to be done to fully implement the Act and to improve it. There are pollution problems that will have to be addressed in other ways, with other laws, since everything we do impacts our water – and no one law can solve every problem.
One thing we can’t do is allow the never-ceasing attacks on the idea of federal water pollution protections to prevail. No one will say they don’t care about clean drinking water, so they should care about the Clean Water Act too. Solving 21st century water challenges is a complicate business, but it includes integrating our landmark water laws, not tearing them down.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Gas Detection Solution that Exceeds Industry Standards
South West Water has recently implemented an Industrial Scientific iNet gas detection program supplied by Eolas Technology (UK). “iNet is a gas detection solution that exceeds the highest industry standards for monitoring gas hazards, maintaining gas detection equipment, and managing gas conditions in the workplace” said Chris Kennedy Managing Director of Eolas Technology.
With their historical focus on safety and continuous improvement South West Water has been one of the safest companies to work for in the water industry. “One of our biggest concerns was the management of our fleet and ensuring that all the detectors were fully operational and would alarm in the event of a gas exposure” said Sam Woollacott of South West Water.
The iNet program continually monitors for conditions such as low, empty or expired calibration gas, marginal or failed sensors, and days since last calibration. The system incorporates a fully automated daily bump (function) test to ensure each detector is operational before it is used. Weekly e-mail reports are sent on the status of the instrument fleet and immediate reports are sent when a problem is detected.
"The iNet solution will solve the issues we had related to maintenance and record-keeping of our gas monitoring equipment” said Sam Woollacott of South West Water.
Should a malfunction occur, iNet will initiate the delivery of a ready-to-use replacement monitor to the appropriate South West Water site. The original instrument is then sent back in a prepaid shipping package. iNet is a total-cost-of-ownership program that eliminates the most cost-intensive and time-consuming tasks involved with managing a gas detection fleet.
South West Water now have a gas detection program that places them at the forefront of their industry ensuring that the safety of their personnel is safeguarded and provides full visibility into the operation of their gas detection fleet.
Chlorine Safety Concerns Put Sodium Hypochlorite on Spot
In its most recent study, Intratec Solutions LLC (www.intratec.us), a Houston publisher and chemical process consulting firm, scrutinizes industrial sodium hypochlorite production through the chlorination of caustic soda by chlorine gas. A plant integrated upstream with a chlor-alkali facility and capable of producing 250 kta of bleach would present an internal rate of return of 25%.
Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) is the active constituent in chlorine bleach, a strong oxidizer and bleaching agent. It has been widely used since the 1930s because of its excellent disinfecting characteristic. Nowadays, bleach is used mainly in water treatment and laundry bleaching.
The report explains that transport and handling safety concerns are leading to the substitution of chlorine-based water treatment, which represents a significant market expansion potential. Additionally, increased consumption and shortage of fresh water resources will help to increase bleach importance.
According to an AWWA (American Water Works Association) survey, from 1978 to 2008, a reduction of near 30% in chlorine usage in water treatment plants occurred. From those, about 80% started buying sodium hypochlorite.
In this report, both the capital investment and the operating costs for plants erected on the US Gulf Coast, in Germany and in Brazil are presented. Included in the analysis is an overview of the technology and economics of a widely used process, similar to the employed by Solvay Chemicals, for example. The CAPEX for a plant on the US Gulf Coast reaches USD 33 million.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
40 patients evacuated from Sunderland Royal Hospital after ammonia leak
AROUND 40 patients and staff were evacuated from a hospital ward after an ammonia leak.
Firefighters were called to Sunderland Royal Hospital, Kayll Road, in Sunderland, at around 4.50am today after the ammonia was released.
Around 10ml of ammonia had leaked from a fridge in a drugs room on a ward on the sixth floor of the hospital.
The ward was evacuated. The drugs room was sealed and the fridge was disconnected by firefighters wearing gas-tight suits and it was placed in an over-sized protective drum.
The drum was then taken out of the hospital to safety. It was taken to a protective compound and was rinsed down by fire crews.
Firefighters spent around 40 minutes clearing ammonia gas from the ward, caused by the leak, before the patients were led back into the ward.
Source: http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/breaking-news/2012/10/16/40-patients-evacuated-from-sunderland-royal-hospital-after-ammonia-leak-72703-32042304/#ixzz29TOEMspk
No chlorine in water samples collected in four towns
While several deaths caused by waterborne amoeba have been reported in the city, a quality report released on Monday said that all 58 samples of drinking water collected in four towns were ‘non-chlorinated’.
A senior official of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation said that all the 58 samples — 30 from Baldia Town, 10 from Saddar, eight from Lyari and 10 from Bin Qasim Town — collected from main water lines of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board on Monday had been found unsatisfactory or with no level of chlorine.Also on Monday, the KWSB collected 81 water samples from 13 towns. Of the 81 samples, four — all collected from Gulberg Town — were termed unsatisfactory due to an absolute absence of chlorine in them.
According to laboratory details, 41 samples had traces, while the presence of chlorine ranging from 0.15 parts per million to 2ppm was confirmed in the remaining 36 samples.
The provincial health department was not satisfied with the results related to piped water chlorination and wanted the KWSB to improve its process of disinfecting water, a source said, adding that Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed clearly said that he did not accept results of the samples showing just traces of chlorine as any quality or chlorinated water.
Monday, October 15, 2012
How to Remove Chlorine from Water at Home
Since water is an essential part of your everyday life, you might wonder how to remove chlorine from water at home. You want the water that you drink to be safe and clean. It would be wonderful if all tap water were truly safe, but it does sometimes contain both chemicals and impurities. Chlorine is added to tap water to kill off harmful bacteria. Unfortunately, chlorine, even in the relatively small amounts used in tap water, can be unhealthy to consume. One solution to this problem is buying bottled water, but that can get expensive and it isn’t good for the environment. Here are some ways to remove chlorine from water at home.
Boil it. Boiling water before drinking it or cooking with it will remove the chlorine from it. Boil the water for 3-5 minutes. During that time, the chlorine will boil off making the water that is left behind safer for drinking. This process can be both inexpensive and a bit tedious.
Use water filters. There are many different brands of pitchers available on the market that have built in filters. These activated charcoal filters remove chlorine and other impurities from your drinking water. Some of these filters can be kind of expensive to replace, though they are still often cheaper over time than buying bottled water, and they are better for the environment.
Install a water treatment system. Better yet, install a water ionizer with treatment capabilities that include filtration and chlorine removal. Although the upfront cost of installing a water ionizer treatment system is greater than using the boiling method, or buying a water pitcher with a filter in it, over time this option can be very cost efficient. Not only do you get the benefits of removing the impurities and chemicals like chlorine from your water, you also end up with alkaline water which has many health benefits and uses that you won’t get from tap or water that has only been filtered.
Use Immediately. Chlorine is added to water to make it safer to store and transport. Once the chlorine has been removed, the water should be used as soon as possible. Having water that’s ready to use immediately is another good reason to install your own water treatment system. There’s no waiting for the water to seep through a pitcher filter or to boil then cool down enough to drink.
No matter which method you choose, you can be certain that your drinking water is safer because you chose to do something to reduce impurities and chemicals before consuming.
Source http://vollarajournal.com/2011/06/how-to-remove-chlorine-from-water-at-home/
Cities And Towns Still Struggle To Control Sewage 40 Years After The Clean Water Act
When a fire breaks out, Fire Chief Scott McGowan is on the call. He’s on the spot when a sewer line breaks and somebody has to fix it. He is in charge of the drinking water plant that serves the 420 people in the small Eastern Washington town.
And he doubles as the wastewater treatment operator, not as glamorous as being fire chief, but it’s part of his job description.
And he doubles as the wastewater treatment operator, not as glamorous as being fire chief, but it’s part of his job description.
McGowan’s backup at the wastewater plant? Until the city can hire another worker, that would be Mayor Paul Gilliland. He already handles most of the wastewater plant’s paperwork and is studying to earn an operator certification so he can be a full-service mayor.
Harrington is just one of many communities across the Pacific Northwest that is operating on a tight budget and trying not to violate it’s wastewater pollution permit.
One of the main goals of the 1972 Clean Water Act was to stop “point-source pollution.” That’s the sewage and industrial waste pumped out of pipes and into the nation’s waterways.
To help communities build and upgrade wastewater collection and treatment systems in the years after the Clean Water Act’s passage, the federal government handed out billions of dollars in grants. But most of those federal grants are gone, replaced by loans. At the same time, those federally subsidized municipal wastewater systems have aged.
When wastewater treatment plants fail, the environment takes the hit, and so do the people who want to use public waters for drinking water, food or recreation.
These days, local governments’ budgets won’t cover the improvements needed to control pollution discharges. Many are coping with:
- Aging sewer lines
- Aging or under-capacity wastewater treatment plants
- Proper plant operation and maintenance
- New water quality regulations
- A lack of financial resources
State and federal records show that Washington’s 223 cities racked up more than 1,500 pollution discharge violations in the past two years. Idaho’s 124 cities tallied more than 1,700 in the past three years. Comparable data are not readily available for Oregon, but its 49 largest cities had at least 150 discharge violations during the past three years.
Big city issues
Over the past several decades, metro areas like Portland and Seattle have spent billions of dollars trying to get their sewage under control. Many of their problems have been linked to combined sewer overflows, or CSOs.
The overflows are a function of sewers built decades ago to carry both sewage and stormwater. When heavy rains fall, the sudden surge of water can overpower the system and send raw sewage directly into the surface water. That worked well until about the 1950s, when people decided it wasn’t a good idea to send raw sewage into their rivers and streams.
Fixing CSOs has been an expensive undertaking.
Last year, Portland finished its state-mandated $1.4 billion Big Pipe Project, installing giant underground tunnels that can carry much larger volumes of sewage and stormwater to the city’s wastewater treatment plants.
That doesn’t mean Portland is trouble free. Sometimes clogged sewer pipes cause overflows, too. Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality fined Portland $450,000 in 2005 for allowing almost 2 billion gallons of raw sewage to flow into those waters over a five-year period.
Washington’s King County also has been improving its sewage treatment systems and combined sewer overflows, or CSOs. It spent about $2 billion recently to build the Brightwater wastewater treatment plant, which discharges into the Puget Sound.
The county also has built several treatment plants that handle stormwater. One of them, the Elliott West treatment facility, had some violations, including discharging too much fecal coliform and chlorine — both bad for fish and other aquatic life.
The county is working with Washington’s Department of Ecology to find ways to adjust the system, Elardo said.
Big cities must handle and control more pollution than small communities, but they also have more financial options to build and upgrade their infrastructure.
These towns are required to upgrade their facilities to meet new Clean Water Act requirements. But most have few options to pay those costs, other than big rate increases, Pedersen said.
Several towns, one river
Along Oregon’s South Umpqua River, several towns have been working to meet new regulations on nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen. Excess nutrients lead to algae blooms that use up the dissolved oxygen fish and other aquatic life need to live. Some algae also produce toxins that can harm humans and wildlife if they are ingested.
Riddle and Winston are upgrading their plants. Myrtle Creek and Roseburg have finished their upgrades. Glendale and Canyonville are planning to follow suit.
Roseburg had to look for a creative way to deal with its phosphorus discharge because the cost to upgrade its wastewater treatment plant was estimated at up to $80 million, said Gasik.
Instead of sending its treated wastewater to the river, it began to apply it to land. That took care of the large algae mat that used to be in the river outside Roseburg’s treatment plant, he said.
All the upgrades should have an impact on the South Umpqua River, where water quality varies from very poor to poor.
“In the South Umpqua it will make a big difference. That’s one of the, probably one of the few streams left that the point sources are really impacting the water body,” Gasik said.
Not every community needs to upgrade its wastewater treatment plant. Violations can be the result of poor operation or inadequate maintenance.
Poor plant operations
Those have been the problems for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, in Eastern Oregon, said Chae Park with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The tribes operates two wastewater treatment plants that together they have violated their permits 99 times in the last three years. One plant serves the town community of Warm Springs and the other the Kah-Nee-Tah resort. The two plants discharge into streams that provide spawning and rearing habitat for salmon, steelhead, trout and Pacific lamprey. People use those waters for kayaking, fishing and swimming.
Records show the plants have had violations for total suspended solids, e-coli andbiological oxygen demand, or BOD, which lowers the amount of oxygen available for fish and other aquatic life.
“In terms of their effect on the environment, I think there is definitely potential for adverse effects. For example, suspended solids are going to affect the fish. It may clog their gills. And certainly e-coli, that’s a pathogen. That could come in contact with recreational users, swimmers for example,” Park said.
Park says the tribes haves hired a new wastewater operator and more workers to help maintain the plants.
The Warm Springs Tribes did not respond to numerous requests for an interview.
Side effects of economic development
The town of Burley, Idaho’s pursuit of new businesses led to its wastewater treatment problems. When the city of 10,000 people couldn’t keep its old plant in compliance, officials knew they had to replace it.
Most residents supported putting in a new plant, said Mark Mitton, the city’s administrator.
So in 1998, the city began the engineering for the projects. It also issued bonds and raised sewer fees from $3.26 per household to $27.50.
It took about nine years to complete the plant, which came online in 2007. By then, the sewer rates had reached $45.50 per household.
“Was it hard on people with fixed incomes? Absolutely,” Mitton said.
But there’s another wastewater treatment plant in Burley’s story.
In 2003, the town inherited a second plant from the J.R. Simplot Co. and began using it to lure new businesses and jobs to the area. That worked. Two milk-processing companies, Gossner Foods and High Desert Milk, have been piping their wastes to the industrial plant. And Gem State Processing, which makes dehydrated potato flakes, also set up business in Burley. The state gave the city a $499,000 block grant to help add infrastructure for Gem State Processing. That included wastewater hookup.
The industrial treatment plant, however, is old and wasn’t built to handle milk waste, said Mary Lou Herbert, the supervisor for both plants. It couldn’t meet the pollution limits of its permit.
To make matters worse, parts of the plant had fallen into disrepair. Water has punched a hole in a wall that is supposed to separate two parts of the system. That has upset the balance of microbes that eat the waste, Herbert said.
The city tried to fix the problem by piping some of the industrial waste to the residential plant. But that backfired, causing both plants to violate their permits and sending too much pollution into the Snake River, which is important to the community for recreation and tourism.
“I get frustrated because I was always raised to meet compliance, and I’ve never been faced with these issues before,” Herbert said. “I mean occasionally anyone can have a whoops because something happened. But ours have been over and above normal.”
Now the town needs to borrow up to $6 million to upgrade the industrial plant, administrator Mitton said.
“It has been a good thing for us, and just like any infrastructure, we’ve got to make an investment in it to bring it back into compliance and mover forward,” Mitton said.
Infiltration and inflows
Several small towns in Eastern Washington have been dealing with a mix of problems and some have been violating their discharge permits.
Some of the towns, including Albion, Ione and St. John, have old wastewater treatment plants. All three towns also are dealing with sewer infiltration and inflow, known as I&I in the wastewater world.
Infiltration occurs when sewer pipes have cracks or holes or their joints have failed, allowing stormwater and groundwater to enter the system. Inflow is surface water entering the system through manhole covers, downspouts or by other routes. The extra water can overwhelm and disrupt the treatment plant.
The town has had trouble keeping that position filled and some of its violations are related to operator turnover, Washington said.
Financial burdens
The Eastern Washington town of Harrington, where the fire chief is the wastewater treatment plant operator, had to go in debt to build a new plant. The 420-resident town took out loans and still owes $1.5 million, Mayor Paul Gilliland said.
The new plant, which was completed in 2005, has not been trouble free. Breakdowns have led to violations and expenses. And it has operating costs, too, that have driven the monthly sewer fee rate to $65 per household. That’s $25 more than Seattle charges and $5 more than Portland.
Many other communities have received low-interest rate loans, some that originate with state agencies but that are partially bank-rolled by the federal government.
At one time, communities could fund building or improving their wastewater treatment plants with grants they didn’t have to repay. But in 1987, Congress changed the federal grant program to a loan program administered, in most cases, by states. The states add some money and charge interest on the loans to capitalize their programs, called Clean Water State Revolving Funds.
Some state and federal agencies continue to offer limited numbers of grants, but they don’t come close to meeting the needs of communities in the Pacific Northwest.
In 2012, the federal government gave states $1.5 billion to use in their loan programs. Oregon’s share was about $16 million, Watters said. The interest rate is 2.5 percent.
Tough economic times, however, can discourage borrowing. Local government bodies like city councils may be hesitant to accept a loan if it means raising sewer rates. Sewer rates become particularly dicey during election years.
In Oregon, officials accept applications for its loans three times a year, but during the last two application cycles not one Oregon city or town applied, Watters said.
The lack of borrowing isn’t a reflection of the wastewater treatment needs.
Every four years states ask communities to report how much money it would take to put their wastewater treatment systems in good working order so they could meet the terms of their pollution permits. They report their findings to Congress.
The latest survey, conducted in 2008, shows that it would take at least $10 billion dollars to meet the wastewater treatment needs in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
Regulators know those figures are understated because many communities don’t report their needs. Simply filling out the paperwork for the survey can be a financial burden, especially for small communities. The rules require communities to document their needs with reports, which can include hiring an engineer to study their facilities.
Federal level realities
The federal government recognized the problems small communities were having meeting their wastewater pollution permits long ago. In 1992, the U.S. General Accounting Office reviewed the outcomes of making the federal grant program a revolving loan program. The GAO report concluded that the loan program:
- “will not generate nearly enough funds to close the tremendous gap between wastewater treatment needs and available resources.”
- will pose particular problems for small communities, many of whom cannot repay loans at any interest rate and have difficulty competing with larger communities for loans.
In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated the gap between future needs and current spending on wastewater infrastructure of $150 billion to $400 billion for the entire country. The same year, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation a “D-“ for its wastewater infrastructure.
Congress has considered other funding solutions since then, including setting up aClean Water Trust Fund.
Most recently, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., introduced a legislation that would create that kind of fund.The Bill, calls for taxes on water-based beverages, water-disposal soaps and toilet tissue, cooking oil, toothpaste, prescription drugs –- lots of products that end up in sewer and wastewater treatment plants.
No one really knows how much it would cost to stop pollution from wastewater and sewage systems. But regulators do know it is still a problem that will require funding and finding less expensive, more innovative ways to manage the sewage flushed from homes and businesses every day.
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