Tag Archives: Bacteria

Water Resource Recovery Facilities Operate as Urban Microbiomes

June 23, 2016

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Photo courtesy of John Seldon.

John Seldon, WEF Member and Founder of Temporary Operations and Maintenance Inc. John Seldon, a Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) member since 1980, is founder and president of Temporary Operations and Maintenance Inc. (Port Burwell, Ontario, Canada). During his career, Seldon has focused on optimizing municipal and industrial solids collection and dewatering systems. Since […]

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Cacti Clean Contaminated Water

May 26, 2016

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Norma Alcantar, professor in the department of chemical and biological engineering at the University of South Florida (Tampa), is researching ways that cacti mucilage can clean contaminated water. Photo courtesy of the American Chemical Society.

Mucilage, the inner “guts” of cacti, may help clean water recirculating in aquaculture tanks and ponds, according to research presented at an American Chemical Society (ACS; Washington, D.C.) meeting. Because aquaculture conditions encourage bacterial growth that develop into odorous compounds, University of South Florida (Tampa) researchers set out to develop cacti as a natural and […]

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Not Your Usual Scenic Attraction

November 13, 2015

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Visitors toured the Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility on a bus as part of Doors Open Milwaukee. The annual event has experienced double-digit growth since its inaugural year in 2011. Photo courtesy of Veolia.

Historic WRRF draws thousands of visitors during Doors Open Milwaukee event   Of the 150 attractions, such as free tours of historic churches and museums, offered during the annual Doors Open Milwaukee, the Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility (Milwaukee) is one of the most popular. The 1.1 million-m3/d (300-mgd) facility, which is run jointly by […]

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WEF Experts Raise Issues About Water Contamination Indicators

October 13, 2015

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On Aug. 14, the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) submitted comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Review of Coliphages as Possible Indicators of Fecal Contamination for Ambient Water Quality. WEF’s Bacteriophage/Virus Task Force prepared the comments on this EPA literature review. The task force consists of experts from nine different WEF […]

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Turning Beer Waste into Animal Feed

September 24, 2015

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Beer to Fish Food-beer

When you crack open your next beverage from MillerCoors LLC (Chicago), you may not be the only species enjoying the product. Nutrients recovered from the MillerCoors Trenton Brewery in Ohio are being transformed into a protein for animal feed. In May, Nutrinsic Corp. (Glendale, Colo.) opened a protein production facility co-located with the brewery’s water […]

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The Next Big Thing in Recycling?

August 26, 2015

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Rich Earth Institute tests human urine as a fertilizer for plants such as hay and lettuce at a farm near Brattleboro, Vermont. Photo courtesy of Marcin Szczepanski, senior multimedia producer at the University of Michigan, College of Engineering.

University of Michigan sponsors its first urine drive   On any given day, it’s not uncommon to find students at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) out on campus raising awareness for one good cause or another. Until recently, however, their efforts almost never involved porta-potties. That changed on April 1 when researchers from the […]

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WEF Book Discusses Ultraviolet Disinfection

June 25, 2015

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WEF Book-UV cover

Learn about the advantages and disadvantages of ultraviolet (UV) disinfection in the Water Environment Federation’s (WEF’s; Alexandria, Va.) new book, Ultraviolet Disinfection for Wastewater: Low-Dose Application Guidance for Secondary and Tertiary Discharges. The book, which offers case study examples, fills a gap in the design guidance for UV disinfection for low-dose applications such as disinfection […]

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WEF, Others Discuss Water Quality Criteria for Viruses at WEFTEC

November 18, 2014

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Water sector leaders gathered at WEFTEC® 2014 in New Orleans to learn more about EPA’s development of water quality criteria for bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect and lyse bacteria. Representatives from the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.), Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF; Alexandria, Va.), and National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA; Washington, […]

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