Aging Infrastructure and Energy Costs Are Water Providers’ Leading Problems

Aging infrastructure is the most pressing concern within the industry, according to  Black & Veatch’s first Strategic Directions in the U.S. Water Utility Industry Report .  The report identifies top challenges in the water and wastewater industry.

Growing energy cost also ranked high on the list of challenges.  Electricity costs account for about 30% of the cost of providing water for customers.

The report noted that most municipal water customers are not remotely aware of the true cost of providing water and the gap between the real cost and what they actually pay for public water.

For more details.

Some Blame Agricultural Practices for Rising Levels of Nitrates in Texas Water

A recent study performed by the Texas Agrilife Office reports that groundwater concentration of nitrates, or dissolved nitrogen, is on the rise in certain agricultural regions of Texas.  There is disagreement about whether agriculture is to blame.

Drinking water with high concentrations of nitrates can lead to methemoglobinemia, or ‘blue-baby syndrome’, in infants less than six months of age.

In one city, families with infants and expectant mothers are provided free bottled water.

Nitrates are removed from water best by reverse osmosis and anion exchange.

Full Details. 

Over-Development Was Blamed as a Prime Cause of the Poor State of New Jersey’s Wells

Under New Jersey’s Private Well Testing Act some 62,000 of the state’s wells were tested between 2002 and 2009.  A surprising one in eight of these wells was in violation of safe limits for mercury, arsenic, nitrates or VOCs (volatile organic compounds).  Over-development was blamed for the extensive well pollution.  Another study found that 1/3 of wells are affected by over-development.

“New Jersey is failing when it comes to protecting families on individual wells from pollution. Not only do one-in-eight wells actually fail and are a risk to public health, but there are thousands of other wells that put people at risk. This is not only a serious health problem, but it shows that over development and the failure to clean up contaminated sites could be impacting people’s health,” according to  Jeff Tittel, Director, NJ Sierra Club.

Read the full report of details.

1.2 Million Square Miles Are Now Off Limits to Oil Drillers and Commercial Fishermen

Australia has just announced that it is creating the world’s largest marine reserve.  It is setting aside 3.1 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) that cannot be used for commercial fishing or fossil fuel exploration. In order to offset losses incurred, the government will allocate $100 million AUS to fishermen displaced by the new reserves.

Although this is a drop in the ocean in terms of solving the world’s ocean crisis,  3.1 million square kilometers is larger than Alaska, California, Texas, and Montana combined. So it is definitely a good start.

Details of the good news.

 Millions of Gallons of Oilfield Wastes Dumped  Illegally

A businessman from Greene County, Pa. was sentenced to seven years of probation, 1,750 hours of environment-related community service and ordered to pay $257,316 in restitution after he admitted to dumping millions of gallons of oilfield waste water that his company had been paid to dispose of legally. He was also barred by the court from working in the wastewater removal business again.

The 50 year old business owner, Robert Allan Shipman,  and his company orchestrated a scheme to dump gas drilling wastewater and sludge into streams and onto business properties in Allegheny, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties between 2003 and 2009.

Read More

City Water Pipes and Storm Drains Now Comprise a Vital Part of The Earth’s System of Watersheds

A  recently published U. S. Forest Service study proposes that we must take into account that what we refer to as “watersheds” are no longer confined to the Earth’s natural formations.  In fact, within two decades the world’s population will consist of 60% city dwellers, so concepts like Urban Ecosystem and Urban Watershed must become part of the way we deal with water issues.

Watersheds now include “thousands of miles of pipes, including storm, sewer and water pipes,[and] are routing water in and out of buildings and ultimately between and across [natural] watersheds.” We must now include in water planning such issues as “how deep pipes are located, how much they leak and what they are leaking. . .”.

Please go here for the full Science Daily article.

Water Crisis in Delhi

In India, Delhi is demanding its fair share of 80 million gallons daily from the newly-constructed Munak canal but Haryana has refused to turn the tap any further, claiming that Delhi is withdrawing more than its allocated share. Delhi officials have taken up the matter with the prime minister and are even contemplating approaching the Supreme Court.

The city has been reeling under a shortage of water since two weeks back when Haryana reduced its supply to the Haiderpur water treatment plant. Large parts of the city, including south, southwest, west and NDMC areas, are parched.

Details from Times of India

People say that buying a water filter without a water test is like baking a cake without a recipe.

by Gene Franks

Well, if they say that, they’re wrong.  It’s a lot worse than baking without a recipe. You have a lot more to lose.

Many water treatment issues require knowledge of several characteristics of water that can only be determined by testing.  For example, if you have well water, simple observation may tell you that you have iron in your water, but in order to treat the iron properly you need to know not only how much iron you have but also the pH of the water and often the dissolved oxygen content of the water.  It’s best to know if iron bacteria are present and if there are other problems that can be addressed at the same time.  Iron and hardness, for example, can often be cured with a single treatment device, and if there is odor in the water you can get rid of that as well if you choose the correct iron treatment.  You also need to know if there is manganese present, since iron and manganese can be reduced with the same treatment.  Simply buying an “iron filter” from a big box store or a website might work, but it’s likely to be only a partial solution to your problem or to be a complete waste of time and money.

A good water analysis can also alert you to serious problems you didn’t know you had–like an elevated level of arsenic or chromium–or it can give you assurance that your water does not have hidden contaminants that can damage your health.  If the water you drink every day has a dangerous amount of lead or pesticides, you definitely want to know it, but it is equally valuable to know that your water is not contaminated.

In fact,  the great value of a water test is not necessarily finding out what’s bad about your water but specifically what is good about it.  When a good test shows that your water is safe and wholesome, the test is well worth the price for the reassurance it gives that you.

Please visit the Pure Water Products website to learn more about our National Testing Laboratories water test kits.

Mercury Is A Deadly Toxin that Poisons Humans Mainly Through the Eating of Fish

Mercury is a neurotoxin that harms the lungs, the kidneys, the immune system, the heart and the brain.  The young and the unborn  are most at risk and severe developmental problems can result from mercury poisoning.

In the Great Lakes region, there are more than 144 coal-fired power plants which pumped over 13,000 pounds of mercury into the air in 2010. Mercury pollution from these plants region accounts for close to 25 percent of the nation’s total.

Eating poisoned fish is the primary cause of mercury poisoning of humans.

According to a new report from the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), over half of the Great Lakes region’s noxious mercury pollution can be attributed to the 25 worst coal-fired power plants in the Great Lakes area.   

1. Shawville (Clearfield Cty, PA)
2. Monroe (Monroe Cty, MI)
3. Homer City (Indiana Cty, PA)
4. Cardinal (Jefferson Cty, OH)
5. Sherburne County (Sherburne Cty, MN)
6. Muskingum River (Washington Cty, OH)
7. Hatfield’s Ferry (Fayette Cty, PA)
8. Walter C Beckjord (Clermont Cty, OH)
9. Wabash River (Vigo Cty, IN)
10. Newton (Jasper Cty, IL)
11. Pleasant Prairie (Kenosha Cty, WI)
12. Belle River (St. Clair Cty, MI)
13. Clifty Creek (Jefferson Cty, IN)
14. Columbia (Columbia Cty, WI)
15. St Clair (St Clair Cty, MI)
16. Rockport (Spencer Cty, IN)
17. Gavin (Gallia Cty, OH)
18. Bruce Mansfield (Beaver Cty, PA)
19. South Oak Creek (Milwaukee Cty, WI)
20. Kyger Creek (Gallia Cty, OH)
21. State Line (Lake Cty, IN)
22. J M Stuart (Brown Cty, OH)
23. Tanners Creek (Dearborn Cty, IN)
24. Boswell (Itasca Cty, MN)
25. Joppa Steam (Massac Cty, IL)

For complete details of the NRDC study.

Embalmers Used to Pump Corpses Full of Arsenic.  Now It Is Turning Up In Groundwater.

From the time of the Civil War to the first decade of the 20th century, arsenic was the main ingredient of embalming fluids in the United States.  Arsenic does not degrade, ever, into harmless by-products, so the burial practices of the end of the 19th century and first years of the 20th have left us with significant environmental hazards.

To be clear, we aren’t talking about minute amounts of arsenic.  Embalmers often had their own special fluid blend, but they usually used from as little as four ounces to as much as 12 pounds of arsenic per body.

As caskets downgrade, as they do eventually, the arsenic is picked up by water moving downward and washed into the soil or the groundwater.

Read more about old cemeteries, arsenic, and water quality.