WATER INDUSTRY FEATURES, INSIGHTS, AND ANALYSIS
-
After The Fire: What The 2026 Wildfires And El Niño Could Mean For U.S. Lakes And Reservoirs In 2027
In July, smoke from Canadian wildfires spread across the upper Midwest and Northeast. Now a strengthening El Niño is set to influence the coming winter. Both events matter to lake and reservoir managers because their effects on water quality will continue to emerge long after the skies clear or the El Niño passes.
-
Minneapolis Flexes Its Mussels For Source Water Monitoring Solution
Protecting municipal drinking water requires rapid visibility into changing surface source conditions. Discover how combining biological indicators with continuous inline spectrometry delivers real-time contamination alerts, preventing costly treatment plant shutdowns and safeguarding consumer health.
-
DEXSORB® Treatment At Groundwater Pump Station
Discover how upgrading existing filter infrastructure with advanced adsorbent media provided over 600 days of continuous PFAS removal, treating millions of gallons of contaminated groundwater to achieve strict drinking water compliance.
-
DEXSORB® Treatment Of Surface Water For Gravity System
Discover how a dual-vessel lead-lag media system achieved continuous non-detect levels for target legacy contaminants, treating over 250,000 gallons of surface water to support regulatory compliance and municipal drinking water goals.
-
Pretreatment Systems Enable Complete And More Economical PFAS Solutions For operators looking to optimize their PFAS removal systems, controlling the presence of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) offers an approach to minimizing operational costs due to granular activated carbon (GAC) reactivation and ion exchange media change-out.
-
What Utilities Don't Know About GAC Reuse For PFAS For utilities building PFAS treatment systems, thermal reactivation of spent granular activated carbon (GAC) may sound like the obvious answer. However, service provider availability and location, specific media acceptance criteria including quantity thresholds, restrictions on GAC type and condition, and regulatory uncertainty can all determine whether reuse is a viable option.
-
PFAS Funding Is Flowing — But Does The Water Sector Have Enough People To Deliver It? For several years, the PFAS conversation has centered on treatment options, testing, and funding. Those factors still matter, but they are no longer the primary constraint. Most utilities already understand the treatment routes available to them; the real challenge now is moving from technical possibility to operational performance, and that depends entirely on people.
-
The Cost Of Waiting: Utilities Face A Narrowing PFAS Compliance Window For years, the water industry's PFAS conversation centered on monitoring, testing, and regulatory anticipation. Today, that phase is largely over.
-
D.C. Circuit Upholds EPA's Hazardous Substance Designation For PFOA, PFOS
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently rejected industry challenges to the EPA's designation of PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA, leaving the agency's April 2024 rule fully intact. While the case centered on the EPA's authority to make the designation, its practical significance for water utilities is simpler: the liability concerns that have accompanied the rule since its adoption remain unresolved.
-
How Donner Summit PUD Cut Backwash Water Use By 45% With Ultrasonic Algae Control
Recurring algal blooms severely compromise water treatment efficiency, clogging filters and wasting finished water through frequent backwashing. Targeted ultrasonic suppression controls raw water algae growth at the source, significantly improving influent turbidity and lowering operational costs.
VIEWS ON THE LATEST REGS
-
For years, the water industry's PFAS conversation centered on monitoring, testing, and regulatory anticipation. Today, that phase is largely over.
-
The U.S. EPA is testing a new procedural strategy to remove four PFAS drinking‑water limits from ongoing litigation, asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to invalidate those limits on the grounds that the EPA itself committed a procedural misstep when issuing the 2024 PFAS rule.
-
Despite renewed public concern over fluoride and cognition, the National Toxicology Program’s findings focus on high‑fluoride groundwater conditions — not the controlled levels used in U.S. drinking water systems. Understanding that distinction is critical for utilities navigating policy questions and community expectations.
-
In this Q&A, Dr. Elke Süss of Metrohm addresses the urgent need for haloacetic acid testing in response to “one of the most significant updates to EU drinking water monitoring in recent years.”
-
With the U.S. EPA's PFAS rules now in place, utilities are finding themselves with a growing number of questions regarding how to treat these chemicals, the potential costs, and much more. For answers, Water Online's chief editor, Kevin Westerling, hosted an Ask Me Anything session featuring Ken Sansone, Senior Partner at SL Environmental Law Group; Kyle Thompson, National PFAS Lead at Carollo Engineers; and Lauren Weinrich, Principal Scientist at American Water.
MORE WATER INDUSTRY FEATURES
-
Enhancing the solubility of poorly soluble APIs is vital for improving bioavailability. Discover how advanced formulation techniques like hot-melt extrusion and spray drying can overcome this challenge.
-
Understanding the distinct boundaries between theoretical detection, laboratory capabilities, and reliable quantification ensures defensible water-quality reporting. Master these analytical metrics to select appropriate methods and avoid overstating data certainty in compliance reporting.
-
Implementing California's updated cross-connection policy requires managing multi-year hazard assessment schedules and strict staffing rules. Digital compliance tracking streamlines field data collection, validates tester credentials, and maintains continuous state audit readiness.
-
Long-standing myths about GAC reactivation are being increasingly challenged, revealing performance, cost, and sustainability benefits many utilities may have overlooked.
-
Legacy oilfield contamination requires advanced strategies to protect vital groundwater. Explore the technical challenges of subsurface remediation and how advanced oxidation processes provide a more effective pathway for destroying persistent hydrocarbons and restoring aquifer quality.
-
Amid scrutiny of the financial conflicts of interest in biomedical research, new federal rules aim to improve transparency and preserve the integrity of publicly funded research.
-
AAV vectors hold promise for gene therapy, but removing product-related impurities remains a challenge. Learn how cell line development and process optimization are advancing rAAV production.
-
AAV %Full analysis must distinguish full, empty, and partial capsids, with complementary methods selected according to sample characteristics, analytical needs, development stage, and context.
-
Learn key ozone formulas, unit conversions, and measurement standards to accurately calculate generator output, concentration, and dosage for effective system design, performance verification, and safe operation.
-
When industrial plumes compromise critical aquifers, advanced UV-oxidation processes permanently destroy highly carcinogenic NDMA and resilient 1,4-dioxane, restoring millions of gallons of daily drinking water while reducing facility energy consumption by over eighty percent.
-
What's really at stake when choosing between surface water and groundwater? The answer shapes water security for decades.
-
See how one utility moved off spreadsheets and onto a real system.
-
Engineers and project managers must take a complete cradle-to-grave approach when considering which technologies to implement as well as which vendors to partner with for their PFAS solution.
-
The Toledo water crisis exposed treatment gaps, highlighting harmful algal blooms as a core design challenge requiring flexible, multi-barrier systems and scenario-based planning.
-
Navigate the complexities of pharmaceutical safety with a guide to tailored inspection systems. Match the right technology to your specific product format for total compliance and quality.
-
A DWTP client in Alaska detected elevated PFAS contamination levels in two groundwater wells supplying drinking water to 85 service connections. PFAS concentrations are provided in Table 1, where combined concentration of EPA PFAS6 was detected at 490 to 810 ppt.
-
Climate change is expanding source water variability beyond historical limits, forcing treatment plants to design for wider conditions—and making digital planning essential for resilient infrastructure decisions.
-
In this article, we outline the sources, occurrence, known health issues, and mitigation options for specific contaminants.