Aeration systems manufactured by INVENT have been in service reliably and maintenance-free since 2016 in a large industrial park located on an island. There is an oil port with oil terminal and many large storage tanks in the immediate vicinity, including an oil refinery operated there until 1997. Wastewater treatment and purification are particularly important in this environment.

The eventual scope of the project involved the supply of four bottom suction horizontal split case pumps, vibration monitoring system and flow straighteners (suction conditioning spools) for potable water distribution. A significant element of the project was the issue of the pumps delivering energy savings.

As we experience more extreme weather, it is becoming common for more parts of Canada to experience water shortages at some point during the year. Addressing aging infrastructure is an ongoing priority for most water utilities, as they look at ways of reducing non-revenue water (NRW) losses. These can be as high as 30% in some water systems.

With stricter guidelines from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to better protect oceans from the stresses of high particulate and sulphur emissions, many ship operators are installing wet washers for exhaust gas cleaning in their exhaust systems to comply with the required emissions limits.

By Del Williams One of the most effective ways to decrease water and fuel use during sewer cleaning operations, while improving the cleaning efficiency of sewer vacuum trucks, is by utilizing a high-performance, Tier 3...

Guest Comment By Max Boucher As world leaders and the large contingent of NGO, community, business and finance representatives pivot from climate talks at the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP 27) in Egypt toward...

Flood experts Fathom are shedding new light on the impact of climate change-related flood risk, with the launch of Fathom-Global 3.0, which offers the first complete global view of all flood perils. The map enables users to quantify and mitigate flood risk, and understand changes in risk under future climate scenarios.

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a biomass processing technology that has recently become prominent in the wastewater treatment field. It could address a number of the issues regarding sludge management in wastewater treatment plants. HTL is a thermochemical biomass conversion method that mimics the natural formation of petroleum converted from dead biomass under high temperature and high pressure, which takes millions of years.

A large beef processing facility’s state-of-the-art, dissolved air flotation (DAF) system in their flagship beef processing plant could not consistently recover the level of fat, oil and grease (FOG) possible from the wastewater stream.

A new study by researchers from the University of Alberta identified that thermal hydrolysis of sludge before anaerobic digestion could alleviate oxidative stress on the digester microbiome and maintain smooth operation under high levels of polystyrene nanoplastics in sludge. The study also found that thermal hydrolysis could also mitigate the spreading potential of antibiotic resistance genes in digested sludge, or biosolids, which can be encouraged by the high levels of polystyrene nanoplastics.

A new study by researchers from the University of Alberta identified that thermal hydrolysis of sludge before anaerobic digestion could alleviate oxidative stress on the digester microbiome and maintain smooth operation under high levels of polystyrene nanoplastics in sludge. The study also found that thermal hydrolysis could also mitigate the spreading potential of antibiotic resistance genes in digested sludge, or biosolids, which can be encouraged by the high levels of polystyrene nanoplastics.

Editorial Comment By Steve Davey With the energy crunch the world is currently facing, I was pleasantly surprised to read an article by researchers from the University of British Columbia that describes recent research into...

Quebec civil engineering firm Équipe Laurence is utilizing wastewater from the Town of Sainte-Adèle to heat and cool its new corporate headquarters. Company officials say they’ve seen large savings after drawing energy from the aeration...

With some 80 water and wastewater utilities worldwide setting net-zero and climate-neutrality targets, a new report suggests that the water sector could become one of the fastest to decarbonize, using existing technologies at low...

Canadian researchers are separating solvents in polluted water with hydroxystearic acid (HSA), essentially reengineering the water’s structure for purity, according to a new study that suggests the work may have important implications for water...

With no decision reached, Canada’s Competition Bureau has closed its investigation into whether wet wipes labeled “flushable” can be safely flushed down the toilet without clogs, Friends of the Earth Canada has revealed. Friends of...

Thames Centre officials say they are adjusting their day-to-day operations in order to reduce excess levels of haloacetic acids found in the drinking water, according to the director of public works for the municipality...

The City of Regina has begun the three-year, $42.5-million process of installing new water meters that will be able to transmit residential and commercial consumption automatically. Starting in October, Neptune Technology Group will lead the...

A team of U.S. environmental engineers is using new funding to learn more about how rural, low-tech wastewater lagoons impact nutrients remaining after treatment. Wastewater lagoons have a large footprint and typically serve smaller communities...

Manitoba has announced more than $34.4 million in funding, primarily for a series of wastewater management projects. The largest of the upgrades consists of $9.1 million in federal and provincial funding to expand the City...

As we began to work out vital details on operating during the pandemic and we adjusted to a different style of doing business, we found new efficiencies we hadn’t appreciated before. Also, we discovered new ways to conduct our work that could also be adopted post-pandemic. The result is a new way of doing work, which incorporates much of the way we used to conduct business, mixed with some tweaks we learned from reacting to the pandemic. These changes have made us better.

As John Gamble, president and CEO of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – Canada, reflects on 2022, he is struck by how many conference chats still contemplate what an office actually is, or should aspire to be. Wake-up calls have been plentiful over the last two years, says Gamble, who feels that the pandemic has given the sector, and society, a real opportunity for forward thinking.

A pie-shaped piece of the clarifier floor broke and floated upward. I felt the words leap up my throat, “fill it!”. We found out later that the groundwater was perched on a layer of chalk. From this incident, I learned that I need to pay attention to the ground conditions we build on, I should have asked if we had monitoring wells at the site and that I should have checked the groundwater level given the intensity of rainfall. While writing this article, I thought I was glad I did not have to learn everything this way.

Ontario municipalities are now faced with a constantly moving target when it comes to land use planning and, in turn, infrastructure planning. To reasonably project future infrastructure needs, we must understand future land use plans, including where, when, and how much growth will occur. Land use planning affects water and wastewater servicing capacity, location and timing.

Five years in, the National First Nations Water Leadership Award is helping to tell some of the hidden tales of mentorship ongoing in the lives of water operators on Canada’s reserves, and the joy they’re finding in teaching others to carry on the mission towards creating finely-tuned water systems.

Lime slurry is a dense product to transfer, with a high solids content of up to 35%. Due to its abrasive nature, which causes wear on progressive cavity pumps with consequent downtime and operating costs, plant operators opted to use a peristaltic pump for the transfer process.

Aeration systems manufactured by INVENT have been in service reliably and maintenance-free since 2016 in a large industrial park located on an island. There is an oil port with oil terminal and many large storage tanks in the immediate vicinity, including an oil refinery operated there until 1997. Wastewater treatment and purification are particularly important in this environment.

By Del Williams One of the most effective ways to decrease water and fuel use during sewer cleaning operations, while improving the cleaning efficiency of sewer vacuum trucks, is by utilizing a high-performance, Tier 3...