October 1, 2018
Washington Update
WateReuse Supports Legislation to Extend NPDES Permits to 10 Years
WateReuse and Partners to Highlight Membrane Technology in Washington, DC
State Updates and Member Profile
Welcome New Members!
The WateReuse Association welcomes the following new member:
California: Study Documents Municipal Wastewater Discharges to Coastal Water Bodies
WateReuse Association member Heal the Ocean announced the release of The Inventory of Municipal Wastewater Discharges to California Coastal Water Bodies, an online interactive study that documents the 417 billion gallons of treated municipal wastewater discharged at fifty-seven coastal locations in the 2015 calendar year. The study notes that if California had recycled 63.3% of total municipal wastewater flows to coastal waters in 2015, it would have made its 2020 recycled water production goal. Learn More.
California: Padre Dam Hosts Successful Water Reuse Festival
WateReuse Association member Padre Dam Municipal Water District hosted more than 400 visitors during the East County Water Festival in Santee to celebrate water and learn about the East County Advanced Water Purification Program that will create a new drought proof drinking water supply using state-of-the-art technology to purify East San Diego County’s recycled water. The East County Advanced Water Purification Project is a regional partnership with Padre Dam, Helix Water District, City of El Cajon and the County of San Diego. Read More.
Florida: St. Johns River Makes Water Reuse a Budget Priority
WateReuse Association member the St John’s River Water Management District has set a budget of $142.5 million for 2018-19, covering projects including water reuse and aquifer recharge initiatives, and public-private partnerships. The budget provides for $54.92 million in cooperative funding, including up to $3.5 million to support water projects in economically disadvantaged rural communities and for innovative technologies, spring and priority water body protection and restoration, water conservation initiatives, and projects to enhance the use of reclaimed water. Read More.
Oregon: Clean Water Services Introduces Pure Water Wagon This Week
WateReuse Association member Clean Water Services introduces its new Pure Water Wagon at WEFTEC in New Orleans this week. Based in Hillsboro, Clean Water Services will take this wagon to public and industry events to provide a close-up look at technology that transforms what that goes down our drains into water that is clean and safe to reuse. Clean Water Services has been a leader in innovation and was the first utility to introduce reuse beer in 2015. Read More.
New York: New Facility Will Charge Electric Buses, Clean Buses with Reclaimed Water
U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced last week $2 million in federal U.S. Department of Transportation funding for the Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority to help construct a new $10 million Advanced Environmental Service Building. The building will both support charging of new, low-pollution electric buses and use reclaimed water to clean buses to reduce the environmental impact and lower operational costs. The U.S. Department of Transportation provided this funding through the Bus and Bus Facilities Infrastructure Investment Program. Read More.
Texas: New Research Center to Study Better Water Purification Methods
A new multi-university research center headquartered in The University of Texas at Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering will seek more creative approaches — and new materials — to use and reuse existing water and improve upon existing water purification methods. The Center for Materials for Water and Energy SysTems (M-WET) unites researchers from UT; the University of California, Santa Barbara; and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The center has been launched through a four-year, $10.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and is part of the DOE’s Energy Frontiers Research Centers program. Read More.
Conferences and Events
Webcast: Reducing the Cost of Concentrate Disposal: Using a Novel Hybrid NF-RO to Enhance Sodium Chloride Removal
Concentrate disposal is a major cost for desalting operations, and for many water-recycling applications only partial desalting is needed, often targeting sodium chloride specifically. Please join us on November 14 at 2 p.m. to learn about a pilot study that was conducted to demonstrate the viability of a two-pass system, combining an NF pass with a second RO pass and blending the NF concentrate with the RO permeate. Findings indicate that sodium chloride can be preferentially removed from the recycled water, chemical and power consumption can be reduced when operated at system recoveries comparable to typical RO systems, and much higher recoveries are achievable with modest increases in power and chemical usage. Register Now!
Call for Abstracts: 2019 WateReuse California Annual Conference
WateReuse California is accepting abstracts through October 8, 2018 for a place on the program at the 2019 WateReuse California Annual Conference on March 17-19, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Orange County in Garden Grove, CA. The conference is designed for individuals, organizations, and agencies that are associated with or interested in the use, design, management, and operation of water recycling facilities and projects in California. The conference will feature more than 40 technical presentations, poster presentations, technical tours, receptions, an awards luncheon, the annual Gordon Cologne Breakfast, and the ever-popular exhibition component. Submit an abstract!
Upcoming Events
WateReuse Pacific Northwest State Workshop series.
WateReuse Pacific Northwest State Workshop Series
Join Us!
11:00 am – 1:30 pm PT | 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm ET
Fee: Free
This webinar is hosted jointly by this year’s Water Week Water Association Partners and will provide attendees the opportunity to hear directly from key EPA officials and Members of Congress on the important regulatory and legislative water policies they are working on now and in the years ahead.
Join us for a lively discussion with leaders from across the water sector about the future of water reuse and its importance as a tool to address the impacts of climate change and meet local water demands.
Register Now!
Please join us for a free webinar on April 29, 2021, from 2:00 to 3:30 PM EDT to celebrate the first year of the National Water Reuse Action Plan (WRAP), including accomplishments of action leaders and partners and anticipated 2021 outcomes.
The Resilience through Collaboration: First Year Highlights and Future Directions of the National Water Reuse Action Plan webcast will feature remarks from Radhika Fox (EPA’s Acting Assistant Administrator for Water), Felicia Marcus (William C. Landreth Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West Program), and a roundtable discussion with WRAP action leaders and partners and other water reuse practitioners from around the United States. This event is hosted by EPA in collaboration with the WateReuse Association and other water sector partners.
The roundtable panelists include:
- Gilbert Trejo, El Paso Water, WateReuse President (moderator)
- Pinar Balci, New York City Department of Environmental Protection
- Mike Markus, Orange County Water District
- Melissa Klembara, U.S. Department of Energy
- Brandi Honeycutt, Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment
- Paula Kehoe, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Chair of the National Blue Ribbon Commission for Onsite Non-potable Water Systems
The WRAP collaborative was launched on February 27, 2020 with federal, state, tribal, local, and private sector partners to build technical, financial, and institutional capacity to spur further consideration and implementation of water reuse across the country. The story of the WRAP’s first year of implementation is one of incredible dedication and determination by a growing community of over 100 different organizations. The WRAP collaborative has enabled the formation of new action-based partnerships across the water community to help address local water resource challenges through holistic thinking and integrated efforts to ultimately strengthen our Nation’s water security, sustainability, and resilience.
Join May Wu, Principal Environmental System Scientist with Argonne National Laboratory, for a webcast on the role of water reuse in bioenergy production.
11:00 am – 12:00 pm PT | 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET
WateReuse Members: Free | Others: $49
Production of bioenergy from a range of feedstocks and biorefining pathways requires a substantial amount of water for irrigation, conversion process, cooling, and steam generation. Because the feedstock varies with climate and soil regions, an increased production will have implications in the availability of regional and local freshwater resources across the U.S. It is critical to understand how fit-for-purpose water recycling can be used to conserve freshwater.
This webcast presents findings from an Argonne National laboratory analyses of potential recycled water use to produce biofuels from conventional crops and algae and generate power by incorporating technology, climate, and geospatial-temporal components. Findings suggest a significant potential of producing advanced biofuel while doubling the amount of recycled water in use nationally. Results from this project support informed decision-making and strategic planning for water sustainable bioenergy development.
Presenter
May Wu is a principal environmental system scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. Her research interests are water resource use, water quality, and wastewater management in the production of biofuels and conventional energy.
WateReuse Pacific Northwest State Workshop Series
WateReuse Pacific Northwest State Workshop Series
WateReuse Pacific Northwest State Workshop Series
Save the date! More information to come soon.
Learn how digital platforms that include artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to improve asset management strategies and operational efficiencies.
11:00 am – 12:00 pm PT | 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET
WateReuse Members: Free
Others: $49
PDHs: 1
In this webcast, our presenters will introduce how digital platforms that include artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can be used to improve asset management strategies and operational efficiencies, as well as enhance source control, validate unit process performance, predict product water quality and make sound decisions for assessing suitability of product water for human consumption.
The data collected from pilot and full-scale potable reuse treatment trains have been used to develop artificial neuron networks as part of an ML platform. The platform clearly demonstrates that ML can be used to predict, for example, the product water total organic carbon (TOC) concentration of a pilot advanced treatment facility and the specific fluxes on the third stage of a full-scale advanced treatment facility as the feed quality and operating conditions are changed.
The methodology used and model outputs will be discussed during the webcast. The presenters will also examine how we can couple AI/ML concepts with the Internet of Things (IoT) and next generation of the SCADA systems to operate and maintain assets efficiently while significantly enhancing public and regulatory confidence in potable reuse projects.
Presenters
- Ufuk Erdal, Arcadis
- Jim Cooper, Arcadis
- Raluca Constantinescu, Arcadis
- Ozan Erdal, University of Washington