The City of Orlando in Florida treats up to 40 million gallons a day (mgd) of wastewater at its Iron Bridge Regional Water Reclamation Facility. The city bills one major upstream source based on the amount of wastewater treated. Both parties want accurate flow measurements to ensure a fair assessment of costs. A few percentage points of error can quickly add up to thousands of dollars in questionable billings.
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
Unlike asbestos and lead, the permissible levels of mold are neither clearly defined nor strictly regulated. There are no definitive guidelines for what constitutes a mold-contaminated building, or for that matter, how to treat it.
- By Steven R. Silicato, REM, CIE
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
Too much chlorine. That's what the residents of two Tennessee cities said about their drinking water following a recent upgrade to their water treatment plant (WTP). As part of the upgrade, granular filter media from the conventional plant were removed and immersed, hollow-fiber ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were added to the plants treatment processes.
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
There was a time when Wunderlich-Malec, a Minnesota-based engineering, process control, and system integration firm, focused primarily on making sure production lines ran as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrumentation has become an essential as a tool for expediting and improving site characterization for inorganic contaminants and corrective remediation. On site, it is useful for determining contamination boundaries, monitoring remediation efforts, pre-screening clearance samples of soil and sediment, and eliminating potential downtime from off-site lab testing.
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
Unlike government bodies in the recent past, which specialized in collecting and storing data, government agencies today seek to actively use water data for improved understanding and management of environmental conditions -- for example, through modeling and projection work. For this reason, it is imperative that monitoring agencies, scientists, and researchers receive water data in a reliable, timely, and easy-to-understand manner.
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
As most environmental professionals who perform or review Phase I environmental site assessments (Phase I ESAs) probably know by now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) upcoming all appropriate inquiries (AAI) regulations will have a significant impact on how Phase I ESAs are conducted.
- By Michael E. Covert, P.G.
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
Even today, first responders, technicians, and professionals who need to monitor or evaluate volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the environment have limited choices regarding gas measurement.
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
The lack of attacks launched against water treatment plants is by no means an indication that they are invincible. While treatment plants aren't typically seen as high profile targets, they are at risk of infiltration and/or sabotage. Plants, many of which are based in or near residential areas, purify water for vast regions. Destroying or disabling a single facility could devastate an entire national region for an indefinite amount of time and create a real sense of uneasiness among those forced to suffer without water for a long time to come.
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
They're baaccckk! "The most vigorous merger market in five years" is what the Wall Street Journal calls the recent wave of corporate restructurings. For officers and directors, these are happy times because a wonderful exit package awaits even those who lose their lofty positions. But, for real people doing real work, the prospects are much grimmer.
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
Environmental managers face a growing number of responsibilities, from air-quality compliance issues to emergency response planning and accident mitigation. Increased concerns about terrorism have created additional responsibilities.
This article originally appeared in the 04/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
Everyone wants metrics: first it was the regulatory agencies; now it is a myriad of stakeholders, watchdogs, and investment analysts. As companies struggle to satisfy these external demands, they may be overlooking the true indicators of future competitive performance.
This article originally appeared in the 04/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
Low Impact Development (LID) is an environmentally sustainable approach to stormwater management that offers an attractive alternative to conventional management techniques. Local and state planners and government officials are becoming more receptive to incorporating LID approaches into stormwater, zoning, and site development ordinances. In 2003, two Virginia jurisdictions in the Chesapeake Bay watershed incorporated LID approaches into their local zoning ordinances, signaling a new trend in overall stormwater management.
This article originally appeared in the 04/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
What factors should you consider when faced with the dual hazards of chemical exposure and flash fire? The simple answer is barrier -- both chemical and thermal barrier. However, as much as we wish that personal protective equipment (PPE) selection could be a simple process, this one word '"barrier'" encompasses a number of both chemical-protective and flash-fire-protective properties that need to be considered during the protective clothing selection process.
- By James P. Zeigler, Susan Lovasic
This article originally appeared in the 04/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
Computer spreadsheet software provides a powerful means for the planning, preparation, calibration, and use of a water distribution, pumping, or storage system computer model.
This article originally appeared in the 03/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
Since the late 1990s membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology has rapidly entered the wastewater treatment market. The technology is a simple combination of an activated sludge process and a membrane filtration step. The separation of activated sludge and effluent is achieved by using porous membranes that are able to remove all the suspended solids from the biologically cleaned water.
This article originally appeared in the 03/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
All environmental, heath, and safety (EHS) professionals at some point in their careers will be directly responsible for a segment or all of a large group meeting, conference, workshop, or forum. Indeed, corporations spend enormous resources getting people together for or sending staff off to these networking and learning experiences.
This article originally appeared in the 03/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
This article originally appeared in the 03/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
In 1997, researchers first used newly developed contaminant analytical capabilities to detect low concentrations of the perchlorate ions in groundwaters and surface waters.<sup>1</sup> These tools helped substantiate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) assertion that perchlorate is leaching into the drinking water supplies of approximately 15 million to 18 million Americans.
This article originally appeared in the 03/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.
On January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act ("SBLR&BRA" or "Brownfields Amendments"). The act amends the innocent landowner defense against liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), which is also known as Superfund, and extends liability protection to new categories of landowner, i.e. the "bona fide prospective purchaser" and "contiguous property" owner.
- By Jon E. Kallen, Donald F. Allen
This article originally appeared in the 03/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.