Global News: June 2015
TST Water announced the certification of its UltraGuard® line to the US EPA Guide Standard and Protocol for Microbiological Water Purifiers. The completion of the WQA certification to the guide provides independent, third-party performance certification. The UltraGuard line of POE systems is engineered around a USA-manufactured and patented UF membrane.
Chlorinators Incorporated announced its 40th anniversary of serving the water quality and wastewater industries. With the design of the first direct-cylinder, mounted, all-vacuum gas chlorinator in 1960, a new company was formed in 1975, releasing another safer and more efficient product design. Since that time, the Regal™ brand has become globally well known. It designs a variety of products for water processing.
North America
Plumbing industry leadership panel news
The Plumbing Industry Leadership Coalition hosted the Future of Water Congressional Briefing in April. The event helped mark the beginning of Water Week 2015, which seeks to inform and inspire local, state and national leaders and communicate the considerable value the water sector brings to environmental protection, economic development and job creation. The coalition was created to provide a forum for the exchange of information through the leadership of US-based plumbing industry associations. The goal is to seek common ground on plumbing industry issues and then to address and promote the issues as a unified coalition.
New brand identity for VIQUA
VIQUA officially introduced its new brand identity, demonstrating the company’s commitment to product innovation and the delivery of Simply Safe Water. The introduction coincides with the company’s decision to simplify product offerings in the marketplace and to focus on building its brand. This singular brand focus means the company will consolidate legacy brands UVMAX™ and Sterilight®. VIQUA plans to streamline its product offering to make it easier for customers to identify the right product at the right price for every application. Warranties will be offered on all new VIQUA water purification systems and legacy product lines will be available for an overlapping time period to enable delivery of commitments. Replacement parts and lamps for all Sterilight and UVMAX systems will be supported for at least seven years.
YMCA, NSPF collaboration announced
NSPF announced that YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) will phase out the current Pool Operator on Location (POOL) training program and replace it with a training option aligned with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s Model Aquatic Health Code. As part of this commitment, Y-USA signed a preferred vendor agreement with the National Swimming Pool Foundation® to deliver the Certifed Pool/Spa Operator® certifiation. This agreement allows the Y-USA and local Ys to focus on their mission and to leverage the operator training and certification program.
Dow Water Symposium news
The Dow Water Symposium brought together water treatment professionals from small and mid-size companies, building-owners and operators in April to discuss the ever-evolving challenges of the industry. As an innovation hub of The Dow Chemical Company, the Northeast Technology Center in Collegeville, PA provided the backdrop for a day of presentations, discussions and networking, which highlighted oppor-tunities, technological advancements and state-of-the-art solutions for water treatment. Atendees were able to tour the innovation center and participate in thought-provoking roundtable discussions. Event participants also received continuing education unit (CEU) credit toward certificationfrom the Association of Water Technologies.
Pentair honored by WateReuse
The WateReuse Research Foundation presented its Leadership Award to Pentair on May 4 during a ceremony at the 19th Annual Water Reuse & Desalination Research Conference in Huntington Beach, CA. Pentair delivers industry-leading products, services and solutions for its customers’ diverse needs in water and other fluids,thermal management and equip-ment protection. WateReuse and Pentair have collaborated on studies that have examined graywater regulatory issues, nano-material research, monitoring and reliability for potable reuse applications and membrane integrity testing, among other issues. In December 2014, WateReuse and Pentair renewed their partnership to develop research projects focused on human and environmental risks associated with existing and proposed innovative agricultural reuse concepts.
CIPH region renamed
The Board of Directors of the Canadian Institute of Plumbing and Heating (CIPH) recently voted in favor of renaming CIPH Atlantic Region as CIPH Maritime Region. This decision was endorsed by both CIPH Atlantic Region and CIPH Newfoundland Region. When originally established in the late 1960s, CIPH Atlantic Region included all four of Canada’s Atlantic provinces, and is one of the oldest of the institute’s nine regions across the country.
Danfoss in the news
During Water Week 2015, Danfoss met with local, state and national leaders to discuss readily available technologies that can save energy and prevent water loss in water and wastewater infrastruc-ture. Presented by WEF, NACWA, WERF and WateReuse Association, the National Water Policy Forum, Fly-In & Expo was held April 14 on Capitol Hill, to inform and inspire leaders and communicate the value the water sector brings to environmental protection, economic development and job creation. Also in April, Danfoss welcomed the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County (FL) to its Tallahassee facility to discuss the impact of research and development and manufacturing operations on the local economy. During the press conference, the council announced Danfoss as its featured business for April as part of its Made in Tallahassee: Produced Regionally, Sold Globally initiative, a public awareness campaign that focuses on the important role that the research and development, manufacturing, software development and technology industries play in the success of the local economy.
Latin America
Colombian regulators to decide on new water treatment
Concerns about transportation, handling, dosing and management of chlorine gas cylinders continues to grow in Colombia as more than 70 regulators, health officialand specifying engineers gathered recently to learn more about the issue and discuss alternatives. In a seminar, hosted by FF Soluciones S.A., atendees heard how UV Pure systems can offera safer means to disinfect treated water and wastewater and eliminate the risks associated with transporting and handling chlorine gas. Treatment plants in Colombia are preparing to modernize their operations and are investigating UV disinfection as a safer, less risky alterna-tive to chlorine gas.
Lima to restore pre-Incan water management system
To meet its water supply struggles and the demands of its nine million residents year-round, Lima, Peru’s water utility, SEDAPAL (Servicio de Agua Po-table y Alcantarillado de Lima), plans to funnel nearly fie percent of the water fees it collects from users into addressing this issue. This includes management funds for green infrastructure, which comprises the restoration of everything from the natural wetlands that have always sponged up water in the wet season to pre-Incan amunas that siphon water off high-altitude streams in the wet season and funnel it into the mountain itself, where it filters down through the rocks over several months and emerges from springs in the dry season. The funds will be divided between two activities: green infrastructure (70 million PEN/$23 million USD) and climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction (266 million PEN/$89 million USD). In addition to restoring the ancient amunas, the funds will be used to help farmers manage their livestock in a way that restores degraded puna grasslands, as well as to restore natural wetlands that have been drained for agriculture.
Europe
New ISH 2015 visitor, exhibitor records set
ISH 2015 set new records for the number of exhibitors and exhibition space it occupied. On an area of around 260,000 square meters (2.7 million square feet), 2,465 manufacturers launched their latest products into the world market. Around 198,000 visitors—an increase of more than fie percent over the previous event—made their way to the Fair and Exhibition Centre in Frankfurt am Main in March to discover the numerous techni-cal innovations and the latest trends. ISH further extended its lead as the interna-tional meeting place for the sector with 61 percent of exhibitors and 37 percent of visitors coming from outside Germany.
Gernep Group acquired by Krones AG
Krones AG, Neutraubling announced it has purchased a 100-percent stake in the Gernep Group. As an international vendor of labellers in the low and medium output ranges, Gernep offerscustomized solutions. In addition to the beverage in-dustry, the company’s principal markets are food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. In the future, the firmwill continue to operate autonomously with the existing management and sales structures. The transaction is still subject to approval by antitrust authorities.
Italian ozone manufacturer acquired
De Nora announced the acquisition of Ozono Elettronica Internazionale (OEI), designer and manufacturer of ozone generator technologies for advanced oxidation processes in industrial and environmental applications. Founded in 1970, OEI has a strong presence in the international market with more than 1,200 worldwide installations in all ozone applications. The company is recognized for its expertise in developing advanced ozone technologies and providing a comprehensive portfolio of products and engineering services.
Grant awarded to membrane researchers
University of Bath researchers have been awarded a £1 million ($1.5 million) Engineering and Physical Sciences Re-search Council (EPSRC) grant to research and develop the next generation of long-lasting ‘immortal membranes’ that will be able to separate water from problem-atic particles, such as pharmaceuticals or pollutants. Dr Darrell Paterson and Dr Davide Mattia,Department of Chemical Engineering, are part of a collaboration among six UK universities that have been awarded a £6-million ($9.1-million USD) EPSRC grant over fie years. This fund-ing will enable a collaborative project, SynFabFun, led by Newcastle University, to establish a UK virtual membrane center that will act to unite the UK membrane research community.
Middle East
Water sensitive cities focus of new program
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have joined with colleagues from three other universities to develop a new program, Creating Water Sensitive Cities in Israel. The collaboration also includes colleagues from The Technion: Israel Institute of Technology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Australia’s Monash University. The goal of Water Sensitive Urban Planning and Design is to understand how and where water-sensitive strategies can be incorporated into an existing urban fabric to recharge the aquifer and assess potential enhancement of quality of life, especially within the urban microclimate. Water Sensitive Technologies will develop and test hybrid biofiltersfor stormwater harvesting and treatment in Israel’s wet-season months. The team will also develop groundwater remedial treatment in the dry season (long Israeli summer) that will serve for con-tinuous preservation of the biomass in the treatment systems. The program is funded by a grant from The Jewish National Fund/Keren Kayemet L’Israel.
