10
Feb
2012
Treatment

Drinking Water and Chlorine Odor
02
Dec
2011
Drinking Water
by Joan B. Rose, PhD

Biofilms: The Good and the Bad

It’s easy to appreciate the need to disinfect germs on surfaces, but have you ever wondered how germs exist on surfaces in the first place? Enter the biofilm. In recent years, scientists have increased their understanding of these dense colonies of bacteria that produce an extracellular material that binds a community of different microorganisms together... Read More »
22
Sep
2011
Wastewater
by Linda Golodner

Reducing Pharmaceuticals in the Water Supply

Today’s pharmaceuticals play a major role in helping consumers keep chronic conditions under control, manage pain, promote healing or fight disease. According to a 2010 report by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics on the use of medicine in the United States, almost 4 billion prescriptions were filled in 2010. However, an estimated one-third of... Read More »
25
Aug
2011
Wastewater
by Joan B. Rose, PhD

World Water Week: Planning for Safe Water in an Urbanizing World

Stockholm is the gathering place this week for experts considering the significant challenges of providing safe drinking water in an increasingly urbanizing world. According to the World Water Week website, by 2050 more people will live in cities than are currently living in the entire world (6.8 billion people). The World Bank states that urban... Read More »
18
Jul
2011
Drinking Water
by Linda Golodner

How Safe is Your Drinking Water?

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made it easier for consumers to find out whether their drinking water meets Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) standards.  On May 16, 2011, EPA announced an update to ECHO , the Enforcement and Compliance History Online, an electronic tool maintained by the EPA Office of Ground and... Read More »
11
Jul
2011
Drinking Water
by Philip A. Candela, PhD

Radiation, Water Quality and the Fukushima Disaster

On March 11, 2011, Japan’s Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant withstood shaking from the fourth largest earthquake recorded worldwide in over one hundred years. However, the 19 foot-high seawall separating the facility from potential oceanic onslaughts could not withstand the tsunami that followed. The plant flooded, electrical power to the cooling system was lost,... Read More »
13
Jun
2011
Drinking Water
by Ralph Morris, MD, MPH

Good News and Bad News: Evaluating Progress on the UN Millennium Development Goals for Safe Water and Sanitation

In September, 2000, world leaders gathered in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration, a resolution to reduce extreme poverty by meeting a series of time-sensitive goals known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  Included in these goals is the target of halving by 2015 the proportion of the world population that lacked... Read More »
21
Apr
2011
Wastewater
by Wesley Laine

Water for Cities. Water for Dignity

This morning, a homeless young Haitian boy kneeled down near an open drainage ditch that had been overflowing due to the vast amount of rainfall from the previous night, meticulously washed his face and drank some water to start his day. In the minutes that followed, several other boys did the same. The statistics for... Read More »
08
Apr
2011
Drinking Water
by Jerod Loeb, PhD

Topsy-turvy Winter Highlights Water Infrastructure Needs in El Paso

This winter residents of El Paso, Texas experienced unusually cold weather.  Temperatures reached six degrees Fahrenheit in early February, the lowest recorded for the city in 120 years.  In short order, El Paso became a city of frozen and burst water pipes where businesses and daily activities were seriously disrupted. Faced with a significant water... Read More »
25
Mar
2011
Drinking Water
by Bruce K. Bernard, PhD

Is Your Well Drinking Water all Well and Good?

Mrs. Joan Betty Bernard (me mum), paraphrasing Senator Adelai Stevenson, told me over and over,  “Americans demand simple answers to complex questions“(as you would expect his actual quote was significantly more erudite).  Their statements are as true today as they were 50 years ago. Is private well water safe to drink?  Well, that depends on... Read More »