Plymouth Meeting, PA -- The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected international project management and services firm AMEC for a $300,000 sustainability project that will use earth observation technology to assess the health of two water bodies - Florida Bay in the Everglades and Cardiff Bay in Wales.

Additionally, the ESA has named AMEC as a member of a consortium managing a project to develop a certification and validation regime for earth observation products and services.

The sustainability project will involve the processing of satellite imagery to measure the impact of aeration systems and other management techniques used to improve water quality. Large and sustained looms of algae plague Florida Bay and pose a potential threat to Cardiff Bay. Algae blooms are caused by excessive nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients from agricultural runoff or wastewater discharges. An overabundance of algae deprives fish and other marine life of the oxygen they need to survive.

"Our intent is to demonstrate the tremendous efficiency and economy of using earth observation technology to assess water quality in historically impaired or threatened water bodies," said Tim Conley, managing director of Earth & Environmental's Europe operations. "Normally, this has been accomplished by taking thousands of water samples."

Some satellites can offer 10,000 square miles of data collected simultaneously, said AMEC's Scott Stoodley, who is assisting with the project. Stoodley, a senior environmental scientist in the Westford, Mass. office, has used remote sensing to assess water quality in water bodies throughout the world.

Earth observation will provide a means of quickly and efficiently demonstrating the results of aeration or diffuser systems and other pollution-control measures designed to prevent the development of low-oxygen conditions.

At Cardiff Bay, blue-green algae blooms were predicted for a 187-hectare fresh water lake that was created with the construction of a tidal barrage. However, a 650-diffuser aeration system was developed by AMEC and installed to maintain dissolved oxygen levels, thereby discouraging algae from invading the lake and harming Atlantic salmon and sea trout. It is the largest aeration system of its type in the United Kingdom.

Florida Bay, an 850-square-mile estuary in southern Florida, had been known for its clear waters until the late 1980s when turbid water and large and sustained blooms of algae caused population reductions in pink shrimp, sponges, game fish and other wildlife. There is no diffuser system at Florida Bay, but various other pollution-control measures have been implemented as part of a Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan approved in 2000.

"Accurate and timely information on the state of the environment is needed to quantify sustainability," according to the ESA. "ESA's Earth Observation Market Development Program - set up to build remote sensing business capacity - is responding to the needs of business by developing services to apply the new dimension of objective, wide-area and regularly updated environmental information supplied by satellites."

Regarding the consortium project to develop earth observation standards and validation, AMEC's assigned categories are geotechnical risk and renewable and non-renewable resource management.

Source: http://www.amec.com/

Pentair Acquires Krystil Klear

GOLDEN VALLEY, MN -- Pentair today announced that it has acquired the assets of Krystil Klear, a privately held company, to complement existing businesses in its Water Group.

Krystil Klear expands Pentair's industrial filtration product offering to include a broad range of steel and stainless steel housing and filtration solutions. Pentair's filtration business serves the residential, municipal, commercial, and industrial markets with filtration housings, cartridge elements, tanks, valves, and other filtration system components.

"The bolt-on acquisition of Krystil Klear enhances our presence in the industrial liquid filtration markets, increases our product portfolio and expands our industrial distribution footprint," said Michael V. Schrock, president and chief operating officer of Filtration and Technical Products. "With this acquisition, we further strengthen Pentair's filtration position in a broad array of industrial end markets; including paper, food, chemical and pharmaceutical. Pentair's existing filtration cartridges, coupled with Krystil Klear's strength in steel and stainless steel industrial housings, provides an expanded line of liquid filtration products for our customers."

Krystil Klear is headquartered in Winamac, Indiana and employs approximately 60 people. In 2005, the company recorded sales of approximately $8 million.

About Pentair, Inc.

Pentair is a diversified operating company headquartered in Minnesota. Its Water Group is a global leader in providing innovative products and systems used worldwide in the movement, treatment, storage and enjoyment of water. Pentair's Technical Products Group is a leader in the global enclosures market, designing and manufacturing standard, modified, custom and thermal enclosures that house and protect sensitive electronics and electrical components. With 2005 revenues of $2.95 billion, Pentair has approximately 15,000 employees worldwide.

Source: http://www.pentair.com/

Paris, France -- Veolia Water has been awarded the contract for the turnkey supply of a new seawater desalination plant in Bahrain. The contract, worth USD 336 million (i.e about € 275 million), was won following an international call for tenders. Start-up of the plant will take place from April 2007, with the first two units, till November 2007.

The plant will have a drinking water production capacity of 273,000 cubic meters per day, making it the largest desalination plant in the world using the thermal process known as "multiple effect distillation" (MED). Sidem, a subsidiary of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, is the world leader in MED, with more than 370 units built so far.

MED is based on the evaporation and condensation of seawater in a series of chambers under vacuum. When water is evaporated in the chambers, the salt content is separated out. The Bahrain plant will be combined with Al Hidd power plant, from which it will recover the low pressure steam to feed the 10 desalination units. Each unit has the capacity to produce 27,300 cubic meters per day of drinking water.

"The new desalination plant in Bahrain is a decisive step for Veolia Water in the recognition of its expertise in thermal desalination using multiple effect distillation, a process in which it is world leader. The contract also strengthens Veolia Water's position as a major player in the design and construction of desalination plants and processes in the Middle East for both thermal and reverse osmosis technologies," said Antoine Frerot, Chief Executive Officer of Veolia Water.

Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies is the technical subsidiary of Veolia Water and the World Leader in water treatment. A specialist in engineering and turnkey design/build projects, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies also creates a range of technological solutions.

Web: http://www.veoliawater.com/

. EPA : New Study Will Benchmark Home Water Usage How much water do new homes consume? No one knows for sure, so EPA and six water districts in the West and three in the South plan to find out.

MWH to Expand Augusta Wastewater Facility
The City of Augusta, Ga. has awarded a pre-construction service contract to MWH to manage the expansion of the J.B. Messerly Wastewater Treatment Facility.
 

Blackhawk : New Pump Line for Landfills The Vector promises a ‘next generation of reliability’ for leachate pumping, gas-well dewatering, condensate recovery sump.

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People post their requests for help and offer their suggestions to others in our open forum.

Mr. Kumar needs help with COD values:

Thanks for all your continuous valuable suggestions and guidance for my project work on biodegradation studies on saline waste liquor.

I'm having a problem in COD assay of saline waste. The initial value of COD value is around 1200ppm. Me varied salinity concentrations at 2%,4%..10% (by NaCl wt) on different batch experiments. After inoculating biomass, samples were withdrawn at regular time intervals till 24th hr and they were analyzed for COD values.

Closed reflux method is used for COD estimation and titremetic method was performed to find COD. Usually titre value will increase from start time and reach almost close to the value of blank [COD = (blank titr value - sample titre value)*normality of FAS)].

But strangely me got gradual decrease in titre value (i.e. COD value ). Here I wish to insist two things, which might lead to decrease in titre value

1. We removed biomass from each sample by filtration thru whatmann filter paper. Can I try it with ultracentrifugation?
2. Mercuric sulphate wasn't dissolved completely in potassium dichromate (added in ratio of 10:1 salinity to mask chloride effect) at higher salinity levels. Otherwise shall I dilute the original samples? What may be the dilution level can be used (ratio)? what may be the reason for this lowering of titre values?

As I'm a newbie in this field, please give me a correct solution.
(Click here to post a reply)

Thanks & regards
Senthil Kumar
Central Leather Research Institute
senthil2k1in@yahoo.co.in

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Civil Associate II - Multiple Locations

Our client is seeking a Civil Associates II for their offices in Alexandria, VA, Denver, CO, Harrisburg, PA and Beaver, PA.

Successful candidates must have a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering or equivalent, 2-4 years experience in Hydrology and hydraulic analysis, and GIS applications to Water Resources.

Knowledge of flood plain modeling and delineation, flood insurance study, drainage design drainage impact analysis, Digital Terrain Analysis, ArcGIS, and/or ESRI Products are preferred. Proficiency in HEC-1, HEC-2, HEC-RAS with advanced degree and EIT certification are a plus.

This is a full time, Contract position. The salary for this position is $45,000 annually.

To be considered, please send resume to Linda Knapp at northeastregion@etipros.com.

ETI is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer.

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This week's photo is of a new sewage treatment plant Sharjah International Airport, UAE, which includes Aquastore tanks.  The blue Aquastore glass-fused-to-steel tanks are found in virtually every segment of the water and wastewater treatment market and offer many advantages.

Photo courtesy Tom Renich of Aquastore

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