WATER INDUSTRY FEATURES, INSIGHTS, AND ANALYSIS
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Putting The National Toxicology Program's Fluoride Review In Context
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.
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Opinion: Why PFAS Policymakers Should Read Past The Abstract
When it comes to drinking water, sound public policy requires sound scientific research. Publication in a prestigious, peer-reviewed journal helps establish legitimacy for scientific claims in public discourse. But science is a social process, scientific standards of evidence vary across disciplines, and peer review does not guarantee validity. For readers who stop at the abstract, these distinctions can be easy to miss.
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Planting The Seeds Of Inspiration: Eelgrass Restoration
Restoring eelgrass beds is critical because they provide habitat for many kinds of marine life, improve water quality by filtering out pollution, and the plant’s root system stabilizes the sediment on the seafloor, protecting shorelines from erosion.
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PFAS Are Turning Up In The Great Lakes, Putting Water Supplies At Risk — Here's How They Get There No matter where you live in the U.S., you have likely seen headlines about PFAS being detected in everything from drinking water to fish to milk to human bodies. Now, PFAS are posing a threat to the Great Lakes, one of America’s most vital water resources.
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Why Too Much Phosphorus In America's Farmland Is Polluting The Country's Water When people think about agricultural pollution, they often picture what is easy to see: fertilizer spreaders crossing fields or muddy runoff after a heavy storm. However, a much more significant threat is quietly and invisibly building in the ground.
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Water In 2026: The Nexus Of Policy, Technology, And Resilience As water systems become more circular and complex, understanding and managing the subsurface — the hidden half of the water cycle — is becoming a critical enabler of resilience. This article explores the key trends shaping this new reality, from tackling “forever chemicals” to the water strategies redefining heavy industry.
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PFAS In Pregnant Women's Drinking Water Puts Their Babies At Higher Risk, Study Finds
When pregnant women drink water that comes from wells downstream of sites contaminated with PFAS, known as “forever chemicals,” the risks to their babies’ health substantially increase, a new study found. These risks include the chance of low birth weight, preterm birth, and infant mortality.
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PFAS Settlements: Debunking The Myths And Revealing What's Really At Stake For Water Utilities Misinformation and confusion could prevent some utilities from benefitting from the aqueous film-forming foam multidistrict litigation (AFFF MDL) settlements. Here are five common myths about the AFFF MDL PFAS settlements and how public water systems can make the most of this unprecedented funding opportunity.
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When Chemistry Meets Water Innovation
Nobel-winning molecular materials are poised to reinvent purification, desalination, and reuse.
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Solving The World's Microplastics Problem: 4 Solutions Cities And States Are Trying After Global Treaty Talks Collapsed
Microplastics seem to be everywhere — in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat. Countries have tried for the past few years to write a global plastics treaty that might reduce human exposure, but the latest negotiations collapsed in August 2025. While U.S. and global solutions seem far off, policies to limit harm from microplastics are gaining traction at the state and local levels.
VIEWS ON THE LATEST REGS
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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.”
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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.
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A Q&A to explain and resolve issues confronting water suppliers as they endeavor to comply with the monitoring requirements of federal PFAS regulations.
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Assessing what lies ahead in the 10-year race to go lead-free, otherwise known as the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI).
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Many water systems are still tackling the challenge of identifying and compliantly managing galvanized and galvanized-requiring-replacement (GRR) service lines.
MORE WATER INDUSTRY FEATURES
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With the right help, coping with workforce upheaval, the digital transition, and asset management can be an opportunity.
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For private utility owners and operators, legacy infrastructure isn’t a sunk cost. It’s an opportunity. And with the right retrofit strategy, that aging wastewater treatment facility can become a stable, revenue-generating asset.
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Securing urban water futures requires shifting toward resilient, multi-source supplies. Advanced oxidation provides a critical barrier against emerging contaminants, enhancing treatment efficiency and ensuring long-term reliability without chemical residuals. Explore the foundations of engineering a decentralized, drought-proof water supply.
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PFAS rules are shifting fast. Learn how utilities can futureproof treatment strategies with flexible designs, smart staging, and emerging technologies—avoiding stranded assets and staying ahead of tomorrow’s regulations.
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Learn why GAC alone may fall short in PFAS treatment—and how utilities can future-proof performance with multi-barrier strategies that tackle short-chain compounds, regulatory shifts, and rising operational risks.
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Beneath the waters of Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior in Ashland, Wisconsin, about 4,500 feet of 24-inch AMERICAN Flex-Ring Ductile Iron Pipe and a submerged timber crib intake structure were installed to ensure the city’s residents have quality drinking water for the next 100 years. The Ashland Water Intake Project began May 1, 2025, and is now complete.
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A Minnesota suburb used non-invasive acoustic technology to assess an aging water main before a 20-year road construction moratorium. This critical data allowed them to confidently prioritize pipe renewals and better manage their infrastructure budget.
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Evaluating the use of activated carbon and other media for water treatment is a crucial step to ensure project goals are achieved.
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Ozone systems build resilience into water treatment. They ensure utilities remain chemically self-sufficient, allow fast recovery from power outages, and handle rapid water quality shifts.
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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.
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Calgon Carbon’s AquaKnight GC systems are designed from the top down to improve flow, adsorption, and media life.
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This article will explore five common misconceptions about GAC and IX technologies for PFAS removal, helping utilities choose effective, site-specific treatment strategies for contaminated drinking water.
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From droughts to floods to leaking pipes, water utilities are under more pressure than ever. Traditional infrastructure wasn’t designed for today’s demands, but digital technology is helping close the gap. Tucson Water, Buffalo Sewer Authority and Hot Springs are three utilities leveraging Xylem’s intelligent solutions to identify and address issues before they happen – providing a cleaner, more reliable water supply for the communities they serve.
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Discover how WEAD by LeakZon is designed not only to enhance your water network but to empower you with choice and control over your partnerships.
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The evolving field of viral vector production, driven by advances in gene and cell therapies, is facing increasing regulatory scrutiny and analytical demands.
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This article will tackle the true meaning of water loss in terms of real loss, using scenarios and industry technologies to help us discover real loss.
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As public awareness of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) grows, so too does concern over their widespread presence in our water, soil, food, and even our bodies. Rapid, on-site, or remotely operated detection of these “forever chemicals” is a crucial step to understanding the levels of PFAS within our systems.
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Proper connector care ensures measurement accuracy and reliability. Learn how color-coded connectors, inspections, and storage best practices maintain phase stability and protect your RF test setups.