Biosolids -- in the United States, more than 19,000 municipal wastewater treatment facilities generate 7 million dry tons of this material every year. Biosolids are the nutrient-rich organic materials resulting from the treatment of sewage sludge, which is the name for the solid, semi-solid, or liquid untreated residue generated during the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment facility. Wastewater treatment plants spend $1.1 billion to treat and dispose of the stuff. Over 80 percent of it is recycled and reused.
- By Karen DeCampli
- September 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 09/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Industry experts are frequently asked by teachers, professional associations, and their own relatives to relay their expertise to the science classroom, either in person or through a site tour. This request for more school participation from environmental professionals will probably increase as the United States strives to deliver more practical examples to students. This article focuses on the environmental-science classroom and provides some insight for a successful class experience from a professional-teacher perspective.
- By Kathleen J. Kniff, Anthony J. Sadar
- September 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 09/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Over the last several years there have been widespread misconceptions about which type of heat recovery media (HRM) is best for heat exchange and horsepower usage when used with a regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO), a type of air pollution control technology used to destroy volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
- By Richard Greco
- September 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 09/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Environmental Protection's readers respond to the question, "Do environmental management systems provide value?"
- By Richard MacLean
- September 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 09/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Water shortages have become a problem in America due to an ever-increasing population and a dwindling water supply. Areas where water is being restricted are the west coast states, the southwestern states, and even states in New England.
This article originally appeared in the 09/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Sludge dewatering operations at the Lancaster wastewater treatment plant run continuously five and a half days every week, processing an average of 95 cake tons per day. Before it adopted a new polymer preparation approach to more fully activate cationic polymer, belt-press dewatering at the facility had become highly expensive and inefficient.
- By Barry Bracken
- September 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 09/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Computer simulation can substantially improve the design of ultraviolet (UV) light technology used to disinfect water and wastewater. In UV disinfection design, bacteria and viruses must flow in close proximity to a UV lamp for a sufficient period of time to dimerize their DNA.
- By Eugen Nisipeanu, Muhammad Sami, PhD
- September 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 09/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
A powerful, novel technology for mercury removal in waste streams provides an ounce of cure for municipalities, government, and industry. Scientists at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have developed Thiol-SAMMS, or Self-Assembled Monolayers on Mesoporous Supports, as an effective and voracious tool for adsorbing mercury.
- By Shas Mattigod, PhD
- September 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 09/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Creosote and other non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) are responsible for high pump-and-treat costs in groundwater remediation because, due to their molecular size, they tend to clog activated-carbon pores quickly. The result is frequent change outs, which renders the pump-and-treat method too expensive.
- By George R. Alther
- July 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 07/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
One of the most necessary, yet taken for granted, resources we require is energy. The United States consumes more than its fair share of the global energy supply when compared to other countries -- nearly four times the amount of the second largest consumer, China.
- By Mark Baxter, PE
- July 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 07/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Benchmarking is an important tool for evaluating one's practices relative to best-in-class. If done properly, it can even inspire innovation. The majority of these studies, however, are designed and executed poorly and yield dubious or even counterproductive conclusions. Environmental, health and safety (EHS) studies, in particular, are prone to these problems.
- By Richard MacLean
- July 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 07/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
The majority of industrial manufacturers discharge their wastewater to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) after some form of pretreatment. However, approximately one-third of industrial facilities operate their own wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).
- By Bipin R. Ranade, Robert D. Sproull, PhD, PE
- July 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 07/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Access to safe drinking water and contamination of surface water bodies is a major problem in many areas of the globe. In the year 2000, approximately 1.1 billion people (18 percent of the world's population) lacked access to safe drinking water, and 2.4 billion (40 percent of the total population) lacked adequate sanitation.
- By Ellen Bohon Zeytoun
- July 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 07/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
A recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency press release (EPA Region 8, 11/24/2003) reads as follows: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Denver office is seeking penalties of more than $400,000 against 17 facilities in North Dakota for violations of the federal Clean Water Act's Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan Regulations"
- By John Adams
- July 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 07/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
The correlation between age and the perception of time is an interesting study. When a teenager is 15, the sixteenth birthday seems to take forever to arrive. The flip side of this situation is that when you are 55, time seems to flash by at an incredibly faster rate.
- By Donald A. Flory, Ron Sparks, CSP, PE, REM
- June 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 06/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
In-situ biological treatment (bioremediation) systems have now gained widespread acceptance for dealing with sites impacted by petroleum hydrocarbons. However, at many remediation sites, the need to pump groundwater to maintain gradient control still generates a stream of contaminated water requiring treatment, even if in-situ technologies are being employed.
- By Scott D. Wallace
- June 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 06/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
The Title V operating program resulting from 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act requires that facilities demonstrate, in one document, their compliance with all applicable regulations and requirements of the act. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that, as of 2003, 95 percent of Title V permits have been issued nationwide. As such, approximately 19,000 facilities are required to submit annual certifications and semiannual deviation reports.
- By Greg Gasperecz
- June 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 06/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
This article originally appeared in the 06/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
At the American Water Works Association (AWWA) Security Congress, which was held in Charlotte, N.C., from April 25 to April 27, 2004, it was evident that public water and wastewater utilities were no longer novices in the security arena. The events of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent mandates for the water industry contained in the Bioterrorism Act, have greatly affected the way we do business. Consequently, utilities are starting to approach security the way they approach safety -- as an integral part of day-to-day facility management and operations.
- By Shannon D. Spence, Wendelyn S. Stoveland
- June 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 06/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
The very nature of environmental issues has grown much more complex: from local contamination to global impacts; from toxic hot spots to breaks at the DNA level; from pollution control to supply chain reliability; from regulations to voluntary product certifications; and so on. Strategic planning offers the best approach against being caught off guard, indeed to gain a competitive advantage. Here's how to go about it.
- By Richard MacLean
- June 01, 2004
This article originally appeared in the 06/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.