Craig Woolard named President of AWWA

Denver, CO -- Craig Woolard, treatment division director for Anchorage, AK, Water and Wastewater Utility and a former university professor, has been named president of the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the largest and oldest organization of water professionals in the world.

"Nothing will be more important than water as we move into the future, and nothing could be more exciting than to be in this industry at this time," Woolard said as he accepted the gavel during the AWWA Annual Conference and Exposition June 17 in San Diego. “Water is the nexus between the critical issues facing our planet today. Population growth, mass urbanization, climate change and the energy crisis; we can’t solve any of these issues and move toward sustainable societies without considering water.”

Before joining the Anchorage utility, Woolard served as a university civil engineering professor, department chair, and associate dean of research and graduate studies at the University of Alaska-Anchorage engineering program for 12 years. While at the university, he was the principal investigator on more than $1.5 million in research and training grants. He has authored or co-authored articles for numerous peer-reviewed publications and conference proceedings.

Woolard earned a BS and a PhD in civil engineering from Montana State University and the University of Notre Dame, respectively. He did postdoctoral research at the Institute for Water Quality and Waste Management at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. He has also completed the University of North Carolina’s Water and Wastewater Leadership Center program.

Woolard lives in Anchorage, Alaska with his wife Lisa who is also an engineer and an active AWWA member. His term as president lasts through AWWA’s annual conference in June 2010.

Established in 1881, AWWA is the oldest and largest nonprofit, scientific and educational organization dedicated to safe water in North America. AWWA has approximately 60,000 members worldwide, and its 4,500 utility members serve 80 percent of North America’s population.

Source: http://www.awwa.org/

USGS Groundwater Model finds hidden Water Supplies

Reston, VA -- A new, three-dimensional water-modeling tool provides a detailed picture of how water flows below ground and how it relates to surface-water in rivers and canals in California’s Central Valley.

The Central Valley Hydrologic Model, developed by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, is available for use by water managers and other agencies. The model was designed to help resource agencies assess, understand and address the many issues affecting the joint use of surface- and groundwater supplies – known as “conjunctive use” – in the Central Valley.

“This new model not only details the current scarcity of groundwater, but also provides a scientific tool to help water managers remedy the situation in the future,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “Science can be invaluable in helping to provide solutions.”

The new model gives water managers the ability to simulate a number of water-management scenarios and assess possible changes in both groundwater and surface-water supplies. The model can also take into account the conversion of farmland to urban use and the potential future effects of climate change.

“The detail and breadth of this hydrologic model will make it invaluable to water resource managers faced with increasing water-management challenges and constraints,” said Claudia Faunt, a USGS hydrologist and lead scientist on the study that developed the model.

“In the future, the Central Valley Hydrologic Model could be used to evaluate regional issues such as exportation of water from the Sacramento Valley to Southern California or the upcoming restoration of salmon habitat in the San Joaquin River.”

A professional paper detailing her research, “Groundwater Availability of the Central Valley Aquifer, California,” is available online.

To develop the model, scientists examined more than 8,500 drillers’ logs, some dating back to the early 1900’s. They also examined monthly ground- and surface-water data from 1962 to 2003 to paint a picture of how the system works and how water supplies have changed.

Among their findings:

• Overall, groundwater levels are declining in the southern, Tulare Basin portion of the San Joaquin Valley as more water is pumped out than recharges naturally. But the southern valley also shows the most promise for large-scale artificial groundwater recharge, particularly along the eastern side with its coarse-grained soils from river and alluvial-fan sediments.
 • By contrast, groundwater levels in the Sacramento Valley and the northern portion of the San Joaquin Valley are generally stable.
  • As the state faces its third year of below-average precipitation, groundwater supplies are under increasing pressure, according to data gathered since 2003. Landowners are drilling more and deeper wells, and underground water levels are starting to drop once again – as they did during previous droughts in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

The Central Valley is more than 400 miles long, comprised of the water-rich Sacramento Valley in the north and the drier San Joaquin Valley in the south. One of the nation’s most productive agricultural regions, the Central Valley has the largest groundwater system in the state. The groundwater basin, or aquifer, contains one-fifth of all groundwater pumped in the nation.

It is, in effect, California’s largest reservoir.

California’s continuing population increase has heightened competition for water within the Central Valley and statewide. That competition is likely to be exacerbated by reduced deliveries of Colorado River water to Southern California.

As water resources become more valuable, a number of issues have gained prominence, including how to conserve agricultural land; the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater supplies; changing land-surface elevation in response to groundwater pumping; aquifer storage and recovery; the effect of land-use changes on water supplies, and climate change.

To help address these issues, the USGS Groundwater Resources Program started a study in 2005 to evaluate and project groundwater conditions that result from present and planned changes in the Central Valley. The research, which cost about $1 million over four years, is one of 30 regional aquifer studies the USGS is conducting across the country that collectively will lead to an assessment of the Nation’s groundwater availability.

To create enough detail to be practical for water management decisions, scientists designed an extensive three-dimensional hydrologic model that encompasses the Valley’s entire groundwater basin. The model divided the aquifer horizontally into 20,000 cells of one square mile and vertically into ten layers ranging in thickness from 50 to 1,800 ft. 

This new tool simultaneously accounts for changing water supply and demand. It simulates irrigated agriculture and surface-water and groundwater flow across the entire Central Valley hydrologic system.

Source: http://www.usgs.gov/

San Diego, CA -- Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire R. W. Beck Group, Inc., a leading provider of business and technical consulting services in engineering, energy and infrastructure. R. W. Beck is headquartered in Seattle, WA.

Founded in 1942, R. W. Beck serves public and private infrastructure organizations and financiers in the energy, water, wastewater and solid waste industries. The company's 550 technically-based business consultants -- including engineers, economists, analysts and other professionals -- develop sustainable solutions specific to customers' engineering, economic, planning, operational and organizational challenges. R.W. Beck's customers include utility organizations, government entities, financial institutions and other commercial customers.

The definitive agreement includes SAIC's acquisition of Beck Disaster Recovery (BDR), Inc., one of the nation's premier emergency management consultancies. R. W. Beck is the majority owner of BDR. The company provides all hazards mitigation, preparedness/planning, response, recovery and reconstruction services; continuity and emergency operations planning; risk management and mitigation; and training services to local and state government agencies nationwide.

"With the development and rehabilitation of many aspects of our nation's infrastructure becoming increasingly critical, and the ongoing threat of natural and man-made disasters, both SAIC and R. W. Beck leadership believe that combining the capabilities of the two companies will produce results of significant benefit to our clients and overall business," said Russ Stepp, president and chief executive officer of R. W. Beck.

"The leading-edge technologies, services and expertise we bring will enable the development of more robust solutions for current and future clients."

R. W. Beck will join SAIC's Infrastructure, Logistics and Product Solutions Group led by Group President Joe Craver. The Group, one of four at SAIC, provides technical and engineering solutions for a variety of customers and mission areas including all hazards preparedness and logistics; energy management services; and environmental support.

R. W. Beck's core consulting and engineering organization will join the Group's Energy, Environment, and Infrastructure business unit led by J.T. Grumski to combine synergies in environmental services, including water, wastewater, and solid waste management; energy management and grid technology; infrastructure planning and design-build; and capital program management.

BDR will join the Homeland Protection and Preparedness business unit led by John Ferriter to create a comprehensive offering of preparedness, emergency response, training, and disaster recovery for federal and municipal customers.

"With more than 65 years of business success and technical leadership, R. W. Beck's expertise aligns well with that of SAIC, and will enable us to increase our footprint in the energy and all hazards preparedness markets, and offer enhanced capabilities, particularly in business and technical consulting, in high growth areas," said Craver.

"Our customer sets are complementary, offering potential to cross-sell our services across a broad base of commercial, municipal, and federal customers. The company has a record of delivering outstanding customer value, organic growth, and profitability. Just as important, both SAIC and R.W. Beck share a deep commitment to our employees."

The acquisition is expected to close at the beginning of August 2009, subject to R. W. Beck shareholder approval and customary closing conditions, including expiration or early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.

Source: http://www.saic.com/

. Scientists shed light on Nano Particles in Water Using computer simulations, Berkeley Lab scientists developed the first predicted images of water molecules surrounding a nanoparticle.

IFAT Expands coverage of Power from Wastewater
IFAT 2010, takes place at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre from September 13-17, 2010.
 

Franklin Miller's Super Shredder reduces Solids The Super Shredder® features a patented “spherical shredding” mechanism that cuts and shears tough sewage solids into fine bits.

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We have been working since 2003 and during this time we have not changed any diffuser. But now we have a clogged diffuser problem with sludge, so we don't have a good flow and quality air coming out is poor.

As you can see in the pictures the tube are full clogged of sludge, we are considering that may be the problem could be that those doesn't have a cover on the tip. The only thing it has is some kind of rubber which Is pushed by a metal toward the tubes.

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