Water quality monitoring doesn’t stop at the treatment plant. At the Hach booth at WEFTEC, I looked at a compact system designed to continuously track drinking water as it moves through a utility’s distribution network. The panel monitors six key indicators—chlorine, turbidity, pH, conductivity, pressure and temperature—giving operators an earlier…
A doctor may be more persuasive on water quality than a utility. Shonnie Cline of Aurora Water says that reality is shaping how the city communicates about drinking water, treatment and reuse. Aurora Water and Metro Water Recovery have partnered with the Aurora Health Alliance to bring public-health professionals directly…
Boulder has cut per-capita water use by about 30 percent since the severe drought of 2002, but the next challenge is reaching the people who do not necessarily hear from the utility through traditional channels. Neal Lurie of Resource Central says effective conservation outreach has to account for how differently…
In Summit County, water conservation is being organized across town lines. Heather Allen of the High Country Conservation Center says the nonprofit can design programs, pursue grants and work directly with residents—but it still needs municipalities and water providers to supply funding, political support and local capacity. That partnership helps…
Most people never see what is actually moving through a sewer line. A display at the Discflo booth at WEFTEC offered a rare look inside: wipes, rags, trash, tools and other debris mixed in with wastewater — even the kinds of animals that can end up in sewer systems. All…
New Jersey has paired its 2031 lead-pipe deadline with an unusually active statewide effort to help communities complete the work. Deandrah Cameron, a policy manager at New Jersey Future, helps steer the Jersey Water Works Lead Service Line Implementation Workgroup. The coalition brings together utilities, state agencies, advocates and technical…
Colorado communities are treating public engagement as water infrastructure, using trusted messengers, targeted outreach, and practical programs to turn conservation strategies into action. The third episode of Resilience in the Rockies examines how Summit County, Boulder, and Aurora are reaching people who can determine whether water-saving programs actually work, plus…
Hydro20 is waterloop’s national, year-long celebration of 20 individuals driving change, disrupting norms, and doing good for water sustainability. Selected through public nominations and a cross-sector committee, the honorees represent the remarkable range of people taking action now. waterloop travels the country to produce a short film about each individual…
Every day, hundreds of millions of gallons of water travel from California’s Eastern Sierra toward Los Angeles through one of the most consequential water infrastructure systems in the American West. The Los Angeles Aqueduct stretches more than 230 miles, ending its journey through the Cascades north of the city. On…
Turning Mississippi River water into drinking water takes skill, responsibility, and dedication. I spent a shift with Ed Azemas, a drinking water operator at the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans Algiers plant, seeing firsthand what he and his colleagues put into treating the water and getting it out…
Water utilities are gaining more flexibility to choose project delivery methods suited to increasingly complex infrastructure work. Guy Voss, vice president and collaborative project delivery director at HDR and president of the Water Collaborative Delivery Association, says these approaches are expanding as utilities confront more infrastructure needs than available funding…
A filter can look pretty simple from the outside. What is inside it matters a lot. At the Johnson Screens booth at WEFTEC, I got a quick look at several types of filtration media used in water and wastewater treatment — including sand, activated carbon, and recycled glass. Each media…
A rebate alone was not enough to persuade Eagle County homeowners to remove turf. Beyond Lawn pairs financial incentives with approximately two-hour property evaluations that examine both the landscape and every irrigation zone. Participants then receive a customized conservation report with a property map, water budget, irrigation schedule, plant recommendations,…
At nine years old, Harris Siddiqui stood in a California apartment and watched water flow from a faucet for the first time. After 18 years working in public water systems, Siddiqui saw a persistent problem from the other side of the tap: utility staff were responsible for thousands of buried…
A water leak that once could run for a month can now trigger an alert within a day. Greeley, Colorado, has replaced roughly 27,000 aging water meters with advanced Badger Meter technology, changing how the city measures demand and helps customers find waste. The old meters were about 15 years…
A ball rolling through a sewer can tell utilities a lot about what’s happening underground. At WEFTEC, I got a look at SUEZ SewerBall, a free-floating device that travels through sewer pipes using the flow of wastewater. Equipped with sensors and cameras, it collects condition data as it moves through…
Replacing a lead pipe often begins with a resident trusting the people asking for permission to work at their home. Sandy Kutzing, lead and copper strategy leader at CDM Smith, says the company has helped remove more than 70,000 complete lead service lines and inventoried over five million service lines…
A supplier brought into a water infrastructure project early can help determine whether its budget, schedule, and materials remain viable years later. Kelly Farace, senior manager of national accounts at Core & Main and communications committee chair for the Water Collaborative Delivery Association, says suppliers can contribute market insight, greater…
Installing lead-removal filters in schools solves one problem—and creates another: making sure hundreds of cartridges don’t expire unnoticed. Point-of-use filters can reduce exposure to lead and other contaminants, but only if they are maintained and replaced on time. EPA warns that using a filter beyond its service life can make…
Boulder’s next water-conservation tool is not another rebate or irrigation device. It is a new strategy for reaching the people existing programs have missed. The city already offers programs to improve water efficiency, eliminate leaks, and reduce utility costs. But participation depends on whether residents receive the information, see its…
This is waterloop. We go where the water is—to the people, places, and projects driving change. As an award-winning nonprofit news outlet, waterloop produces documentaries, podcasts, and short videos that explore solutions for water sustainability. The reporting takes audiences inside infrastructure, along waterways, and into communities to show how water…
An industrial-age coal canal is flowing again—and functioning as 21st-century water infrastructure. At Flat Rock Dam, the Philadelphia Water Department has reconnected the Schuylkill River to the two-mile Manayunk Canal, restoring a steady flow of fresh water for the first time in roughly 80 years. After navigation ended in the…
Grand Rapids has reduced its inventory of lead service lines from about 27,000 to nearly 16,000—and community outreach helped unlock thousands of those replacements. Izamar Contreras, an assistant project manager with the City of Grand Rapids, says the Michigan city began developing its proactive replacement program nearly a decade ago…
A water-saving landscape code can fail at the sprinkler head. Aspen requires qualifying new and renovated landscapes to meet a water budget, but the city also checks whether the irrigation system installed in the field can perform as designed. That matters in a headwaters community where 60% to 70% of…