Wetlands Protection Is an Essential and Often-Underrated Function of the US EPA

According to an EPA publication:

Natural wetlands are vital to protecting the integrity of our rivers and estuaries, and help to protect the health and safety of people and their communities by providing a natural filtration system for pollution before it gets into our rivers, lakes and ponds, and by preventing flooding after storms. Small streams and wetlands are the source of the nation’s fresh waters, and changes that degrade headwater systems can affect other rivers and lakes downstream. Wetlands also provide valuable wildlife habitat, offering breeding and feeding grounds for a broad array of fish, birds and other wildlife. Converting large areas of natural wetlands to other uses can profoundly alter flood flows, and reduce the pollutant-filtering abilities of wetlands.

Wetlands provide important ecological services such as protecting and improving water quality, providing fish and wildlife habitats, storing floodwaters, and maintaining surface water flow during dry period . . . . With each acre of wetlands destroyed, particularly in areas where many have already been lost, we are losing critical resources that feed the rivers, lakes and streams we depend on to provide sources of food, transportation, and recreational opportunities.

Protection of wetlands is an essential EPA function that seldom makes the headlines.  In a recent action (October, 2012), due to EPA action, the owners of Falls Creek Farm, a horse boarding and training facility and farm located in Sterling, Conn., have agreed to restore and create 11.3 acres of wetlands to settle claims by the United States that wetlands were illegally filled and altered during construction of a private golf course and other modifications to their property.

The wetlands activity is a violation of the Clean Water Act, which recognizes the importance of wetland areas as part of a healthy ecosystem.

In an earlier incident in 1997, the Army Corps of Engineers determined that Guy P. Snowden, or persons working on his behalf, discharged fill material into wetlands at another location on the property. Mr. Snowden completed a restoration of 2.4 acres of wetlands in 2001 to resolve the issues raised by the Army Corps.  Since EPA discovered the more recent discharges in 2007, the owners of the property have cooperated with the EPA investigation, as well as in developing the restoration, mitigation and preservation plan.

In addition to restoring and creating wetlands, the settlement agreement requires the owners to permanently preserve approximately 19 acres on the property between Carson Brook and the Rhode Island border and pay a $405,000 penalty.  Carson Brook is a headwater stream which flows to recreational fishing area and then into Rhode Island.  The settlement requires wetlands restoration and preservation that will restore valuable wetlands functions and result in improvements in downstream water quality, improve wetlands habitats, reduce the drainage of water from adjacent wetlands, and help protect downstream areas from flooding.

 

“Expecting a Water Filter to Remove All ‘Pharmaceuticals’ Is Like Expecting a Pill to Contain All Nutrients”

by Gene Franks

One of the most perplexing questions that water treatment dealers get is, “Do you have a product that will take the pharmaceuticals out of water?”  Clearly, there is no simple answer to the question because “pharmaceuticals” includes literally thousands of drugs that can be combined in thousands of ways.  To expect a single product to deal with all drugs is clearly unrealistic–like expecting a pill to contain all nutrients or a flower to put out all fragrances.

Here’s a listing of treatment strategies from a Water Technology article that will indicate the complexity of the issue.  You need to know that PPCPs is water treatment language for “pharmaceuticals and other personal care products.”

Treatment methods for PPCPs in drinking water

Most conventional water treatment systems are not specifically engineered or equipped to remove PPCPs from drinking water. However, depending on the specific chemical class of the contaminant, there is a range of treatment methodologies that have proven effective for removing PPCPs or reducing their concentration. Such methodologies include:

• Activated carbon
• Biologically activated carbon
• Ozone/advanced oxidation processes
• Ultraviolet (UV) treatments
• Nanofiltration
• Reverse osmosis.

According to some researchers, a number of individual water treatment methods have demonstrated high levels of success in removing PPCPs in several classifications, as follows:

• Over 90 percent of steroids can be removed from drinking water using activated sludge, activated carbon, biologically activated carbon, ozone/advanced oxidation processes, UV treatments and reverse osmosis.
• Over 90 percent of antibiotics, antidepressants and antimicrobials can be removed using activated carbon, biologically activated carbon, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis.
• Over 90 percent of anti-inflammatories can be removed using activated carbon, biologically activated carbon, ozone/ advanced oxidation processes, UV treatments, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis.
• Over 90 percent of lipid regulators can be removed using activated carbon, biologically activated carbon, ozone/advanced oxidation processes, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis.
• Under 40 percent of listed PPCPs can be removed through the use of coagulation/flocculation and softening/metal oxides.

A residential water user looking for a single treatment for “pharmaceuticals” should note that of the strategies that are available for residential use reverse osmosis and activated carbon are consistently effective.  An undersink reverse osmosis unit that contains at least two high quality activated carbon filters is your best shot at single treatment protection from PPCPs.

Artemis Water Strategy believes water technology has the potential to gain the scale that cellular phones or personal computers have reached today.

What You Need to Know about the Blue Business Revolution

Researchers Expect Warming Waters to Shrink Fish Size by 20% by 2050

An important study published September 30, 2012 in Nature reveals:

The size of aquatic water-breathers is strongly affected by temperature, oxygen level and other factors such as resource availability^2, 14. Specifically, the maximum body weight (  ) of marine fishes and invertebrates is fundamentally limited by the balance between energy demand and supply, where  is reached when energy demand = energy supply (thus net growth = 0).

What this means in practical terms is that as the oceans get warmer fish are expected to get smaller.  Much smaller. Body weights are expected to shrink by 14 to 24% between 2000 and 2050.  Tropical waters will be affected most, with an average fish size reduction of more than 20%.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia used computer modeling to study the effects of changes in the ocean and climate systems on 600 species of fish. The study’s lead author, William Cheung, emphasized that he and his colleagues were “surprised to see such a large decrease in fish size.” Fish in the tropics, who are smaller-bodied, are especially affected by warmer ocean temperatures and will migrate to regions that are now temperate or even to polar ones.

Co-author Daniel Pauly explained why warmer ocean temperatures can lead to smaller fish:

It’s a constant challenge for fish to get enough oxygen from water to grow, and the situation gets worse as fish get bigger. A warmer and less-oxygenated ocean, as predicted under climate change, would make it more difficult for bigger fish to get enough oxygen, which means they will stop growing sooner.

In warmer waters, the metabolic rate of fish increases so they need more oxygen. But, because warm water holds less oxygen, the fishes’ growth will be limited.

Climate change is already affecting marine life, with warmer water at the surface mixing less with colder water below,  resulting in few nutrients from lower regions being available to surface fish.  Thus, the “deserts” of the ocean are getting larger.

Unless we can do more to cut down on greenhouse gasses, we should get ready for “a hotter future with tinier and tinier fish.”

 

To read the full Nature article.

Terminal Velocity Again Takes Top Prize in the World Series of Wastewater

Terminal Velocity, from Virginia Water Environment Association, has for the third straight year come away with top honors in the Water Environment Federation’s Operation Challenge competition.  This fall’s competition was held in New Orleans.

Now in its 25^th year, Operations Challenge has grown from an original 22-team event to its current 37-team, two-division format. Winners are determined by a weighted point system for five events, including collection systems, laboratory, process control, maintenance and safety of wastewater treatment facilities.

Full results for this October’s competition were as follows:

Division 1

First Place: Terminal Velocity
Virginia Water Environment Association
Cities of Franklin and Virginia Beach, Va.

Second Place: Liquid Force
Water Environment Association of South Carolina
Mount Pleasant Waterworks, Mount Pleasant, S.C.

Third Place: TRA CReWSers
Water Environment Association of Texas
Trinity River Authority, Dallas, Texas

Division 2

First Place: ReWa Blackwater Bruisers
Water Environment Association of South Carolina
Renewable Water Resources, Greenville, S.C.

Second Place: OCWA Jets
Water Environment Association of Ontario
Ontario Clean Water Agency, Toronto, Ontario

Third Place: Aqua Techs
Water Environment Association of Texas
City of Dallas, Texas

Although the Gazette staff had placed heavy bets on the Aqua Techs of Dallas, clearly our home town favorites, the Blackwater Bruisers of South Carolina dominated their division.

This was the third straight division win for Terminal Velocity.  Coached by Elijah Smith and Bobby Williams, the Terminal Velocity team of Steve Motley, Steve Poe, Jason Truitt, and Captain Donnie Cagle competed against 36 teams from across the United States and Canada during the fast-paced, two-day event. The team appears to be unstoppable.  Barring injuries, the team is a favorite to dominate the event for the foreseeable future.

The competition is a well-attended and very popular event. It is sponsored by the Water Environment Federation.

Founded in 1928, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization of 36,000 individual members and 75 affiliated Member Associations representing water quality professionals around the world. WEF works to  support clean and safe water worldwide. To learn more, visit www.wef.org.

 

 

Mobile Home Park Manager Fined for 4300 Clean Water Act and 900 Safe Drinking Water Act Violatations

Frank Perano and a series of his corporations and related entities own, operate, and/or manage mobile home parks in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia. After a joint multi-year investigation, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) found evidence of more than 4,300 Clean Water Act violations at 15 mobile home parks in Pennsylvania where the defendants treat waste water, and more than 900 Safe Drinking Water Act violations at 30 mobile home parks also in Pennsylvania. 

The complaint details violations during the past five years. The monetary settlement will be divided between the United States and Pennsylvania.

The Clean Water Act violations involved illegal discharges of partially treated or untreated sewage into nearby streams and failure to properly operate and maintain treatment facilities. Safe Drinking Water Act violations generally involved the defendants’ exceeding of federal drinking water standards for certain pollutants and their failure to notify residents about drinking water problems. 

EPA and PADEP identified the violations by conducting inspections, sharing technical and legal expertise, and requiring the defendants to provide documentation concerning sampling, operation and maintenance, and other regulated activities. 

While not all of the defendants’ mobile home parks were cited for violations, the investigation identified widespread environmental management problems that warranted company-wide measures. In addition to the penalty, the consent decree requires the defendants to take numerous steps to protect public health and the environment and achieve compliance with environmental regulations at all 73 of its mobile home parks, including hiring an approved third-part environmental consultant to perform environmental audits at each mobile home park, including examination of the treatment, collection, and drinking water systems. The environmental audits will include a report that will identify any corrective measures needed to achieve and maintain compliance.· Implementing the corrective measures in a timely fashion, subject to EPA and PADEP oversight and approval.· Conducting monthly compliance evaluations at all the mobile home parks.· Implementing specific corrective measures at two mobile home parks in Pennsylvania that had significant problems.· Working with the environmental consultant to develop a company-wide set of processes and practices designed to enable the defendants to reduce its environmental impacts and help prevent the defendants from repeating the kinds of violations they made in the past. EPA will monitor the defendants’ implementation of and compliance with these processes and practices throughout the life of the consent decree.· Paying stipulated penalties for future violations and taking specific response actions if ongoing violations occur.
“This settlement protects human health and the environment by requiring the defendants to improve their environmental management systems, and achieve compliance at their numerous mobile home parks,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “While reinforcing our commitment to environmental justice for rural communities, this case demonstrates the benefit of federal and state agencies working together to hold chronic violators of environmental regulations accountable for their actions.”

“The obligations of the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act protect us all,” United States Attorney Zane Memeger said. “Citizens know that when they turn on their taps, the water that they are drinking is safe, and when they walk beside a creek or swim in a river, that water is clean.”

All of the mobile home parks cited were in Pennsylvania.

The full story.

Unsung Heroes of the Lower Depths–Wastewater Workers Who Keep the Mucky Rivers Flowing

The complexity of wastewater systems in today’s cities is beyond the imagination of most of us who have never descended into the scary tunnels that lie beneath our streets.  And many wastewater workers deserve to be considered  heroes just for the performance of their daily duties.

A Denver Post story describes a recent incident in which Denver wastewater worker Gary Valerio crawled into a 42-inch-diameter tunnel through deepening muck and muscled out two 150-pound concrete chunks.

The concrete was discovered by robot cameras which routinely crawl through the massive sewer system,  snaking through dark and difficult passages in a procedure that the Post compares with a colonoscopy.

The robot examining the dark passages under Denver’s streets discovered two massive blocks of concrete,  a certain source of a major sewer blockage if not removed.

The concrete chunks — apparently construction debris — couldn’t be dislodged using high-pressure washing.

These were the largest obstructions supervisors said they’d seen. Sewer debris — toilet paper, rags, orange peels, cigarette butts — was amassing rapidly behind each chunk.

Mr. Valerio climbed down a manhole about 12 feet and lifted a grate to expose whooshing greenish-brown wastewater. He entered at 4 a.m., when the level was relatively low and after much effort managed to crawl 140 feet into a 150 foot tunnel to finally secure the blocks on a makeshift wagon so they could be pulled from the tunnel.

 

Gary Valerio

The wastewater system of Denver is not unlike that a many large cities.

The wastewater produced by 1.7 million metro Denver residents has reached 130 million gallons a day. Sewer lines in seven metro counties overflowed 282 times during the past five years, including seven spills of more than 100,000 gallons, according to state records.

While 60 percent of the spills released less than 1,000 gallons, an obstruction as small as a tricycle quickly can block wastewater and send sewage into homes and burbling out manholes into neighborhoods.

A national $500 billion burden looms as tightening federal standards compel cities to do a better job of dealing with wastewater.

This is a difficult situation at best at a time when cities are struggling to keep their finances in the black.

Metro Wastewater managers responsible for treating Denver-area sewage say they must spend $1.6 billion over the next 10 years — to install technology that removes ammonia and nitrates before wastewater is discharged into the South Platte River.

Up to 85 percent of South Platte water downriver from Denver is made up of treated wastewater.

The wastewater flows through the more than 3,500 miles of sewer tunnels from homes across 715 square miles to the treatment plant north of downtown.

 See the Denver Post for more details.

 

 

Facts You Would Have Learned Had You Read Last Month’s Top Water Stories Articles in the Pure Water Gazette

Gazette Numerical Wizard B. Bee Sharper Ferrets Out the Watery Facts that Harper’s Misses

 

 

 

 

Percentage of arable land in Africa that is presently irrigated — 5%.

Approximate number of Africans without access to potable water — 300,000,000.

Percentage of US land that was under drought conditions during 2012–46.48%.

Percentage of the earth’s fresh water supply that is held as ice and sub-glacial liquid in Antarctica–70%.

Years it took Russian scientists to drill through the ice covering Lake Vostok in the Antarctic–20.

Year in which Ecuador passed laws granting waterways rights similar to those enjoyed by humans –2008.

Year in which New Zealand granted the Whanganui River rights of “personhood”–2012.

Year in which the Clean Water Act was signed into law–1972.

Pints of water being consumed daily by women in Great Britain suffering from hypnatremia — 44.

Price of a Pure Water Products Model 77 Countertop Water Filter in 1987 — $77.

Price of a Pure Water Products Model 77 Countertop Water Filter in 2012 — $77.

Percentage of Western European population that now drinks non-fluoridated water — 97%.

Percentage of US population that lives in areas where water is still fluoridated — 64%.

Age of lifelong friend of the environment and former EPA administrator Russell Train when he died in September 2012 — 92.

Amount the town of Salem, NH has spent each of past 15 years in attempt to deal with TCE contamination — $100,000 plus.

Pounds of mercury found recently in a municipal water pipe at Camp Lejeune, NC — 8.

Percentage of municipal water in Gaza that is considered not drinkable by international standards — 95%.

Percentage of US water that is used in homes — 3.6%.

Percentage of US water that is used in agriculture–92%.

Rank of the effectiveness of diet change among the various strategies for saving water — #1.

Pure Water Products’ New Contaminant Index Gives Concise and Accurate Information on Scores of Common and Uncommon Water Contaminants

Probably you have never heard of Trifluralin.  Most haven’t.

Well, if you ever want to find out about trifluralin,  you can  look it up in the new Water Contaminant Index just launched on Pure Water Products’ website.  You’ll learn that

Trifluralin is a commonly used herbicide for the control of broad-leaf weeds in a wide range of areas, including grasses, crops, flowers and shrubs. A 2007 estimate by the EPA ranks it among the top ten pesticides used in homes and gardens. Although it is still used in the United States, it has been banned in the European Union since 2008. It can arrive in drinking water through agricultural runoff.

and that

There is little known about the human health effects of trifluralin. It has a low acute toxicity, but animal studies have shown that long term exposure can lead to weight loss and changes in the blood and liver. The EPA considers it a possible human carcinogen.

 and that

According to the EPA, trifluralin can be treated with granular activated carbon (GAC),  reverse osmosis,  and possibly air stripping.

 

In short, you’ll get a concise description of the contaminant, its health effects and environmental impact, and the accepted methods for dealing with the contaminant should you have it in your water.

The site’s new information-packed contaminant page contains scores of entries in an easy-to-access format arranged alphabetically.  Information is from solid sources–the EPA, the World Health Organization,  and leading publications of the water treatment industry.  In short, it’s information you can depend on, arranged in a format that makes it easy to find.

Contaminant descriptions are compact yet complete–everything you need to know in a nutshell–and every item includes the accepted treatments for the contaminant at the end of the article where it’s easy to locate.

This user-friendly contaminant index adds to an already information-rich website.  According to James Washington, who put together then new contaminant index, “Our goal is to make purewaterproducts.com the best source on the world wide web for consumer information about residential water treatment products.  The new index complements our very informative product offering pages as well as such collections as our Water Treatment Articles collection and Product Manuals section.  The entire site is also searchable, so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for.  We think you’ll be impressed with the quantity and the quality of our information.”

Places to visit on the Pure Water Products main website:

• Water Treatment Articles
• Water Contaminant Index
• Product Manuals

Cities Are Learning to Use Wastewater as a Valuable Resource

Wastewater is becoming an asset rather than a disposal problem as some cities’ recycling efforts become more sophisticated.

Wastewater treatment plants are increasingly recognized as community resources for electricity, fertilizer, and heat, as waste to energy projects become commonplace.

Wastewater is a continuous source of energy that will only increase over time.

One of the most valuable waste products is methane gas,  which is one of the most effective and efficient ways for new or upgraded Wastewater Treatment plants to generate energy for their own operation and for surrounding communities.

According to the Water Environment Research Foundation, wastewater contains up to ten times the energy needed to treat it.

Wastewater Treatment plants are  currently responsible for approximately 1.5-percent of total U.S. energy consumption.  For some municipalities, this translates to 30 to 40-percent of the total electricity bill.

Nevertheless, some newer Wastewater treatment plants are becoming net energy positive, producing enough power through a combination of microbial activity, efficiency improvements, and mechanical modifications to offset the energy needed to operate.
WWTPs can be sources of hydropower, capturing and redistributing the energy produced as water circulates throughout a plant.  Some cities currently use the heat in wastewater much like a geothermal heat pump, resulting in billions of bulk  gallons that are cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Fertilizer is another important product of wastewater treatment.

Science News reports:

[It is reported that] sewage treatment plants in the United States use about 1.5 percent of the nation’s electrical energy to treat 12.5 trillion gallons of wastewater a year. Instead of just processing and dumping this water, they suggest that in the future treatment facilities could convert its organic molecules into fuels, transforming their work from an energy drain to an energy source. Based on their research, they estimate that one gallon of wastewater contains enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for five minutes.