Category Archives: Ground Water

The Gatekeepers of Water Tech

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Water Sanitization

Utility managers like Eric Rosenblum and Ron Zegers are part of a small cadre of experienced leaders within the water utility who have been facilitating new water management approaches for decades.  They have ensured that, with very few exceptions, there is a steady supply of healthy and safe drinking water.

Like other water utility managers, these men play a quiet but essential role in our world. Our water infrastructure is not only the hard bound pipes and pumps that treat water and deliver it to us – it’s the lakes, streams and rivers that are our source of freshwater.  Protecting these sources has become an essential part of the role of water utilities.

Control Panel

We want innovative video games and haircuts, but we want the same old water.


We want innovative video games and haircuts, but we want the same old water.  It is the responsibility of water utilities to avoid any unnecessary risks to water quality, and this makes them among the most risk adverse customers for new technology.

Copy Cat

They demand that new approaches be well-proven in other utilities before they’re considered. As explained by Andrew Salveson of Carollo Engineers, “One of the major hurdles we face is the municipal copy-cat market, and this presents a hurdle to innovation.”

Promising technologies spend $500,000 to $1M just to prove their technology works full-scale at a single utility.  Many of the seemingly most promising companies over the past few years have not been able to survive the long and expensive process of proving their solutions in the municipal market.  As a result, the benefits of these solutions are often never seen by the general population.

Scarcity and infrastructure decay require new solutions for water resources management.  The process for bringing water technology to market requires money, but more importantly it requires leadership.  The few companies that make it through this arduous process are applying innovation to how they bring to their technology to market.

MIT Natural Gas Report Glosses Over Environmental Issues

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Editor’s note: The energy exploration industry is the first to demand advanced water technology for economic reasons: water efficiency during hydraulic fracturing means cost savings. Advances in on-site water treatment for energy exploration will drive down costs for the technology to a point where it can be implemented in break-even or non-profitable situations, like personal housing and small to medium-size businesses, where demand will grow as current water infrastructure decays. Vikram Rao and peers will present on topics surrounding water use in energy exploration at an upcoming Artemis Project webinar.

MIT’s most recent report on energy is on the Future of Natural Gas, following similar reports on coal and nuclear energy.  It is co-edited by Ernest Moniz and Tony Meggs.  The latter recently left BP as CTO.  As reported in Forbes recently, the report emphasizes the role of shale gas in enabling natural gas substitution of coal.  The authors see this as a transitional strategy for a low carbon future.  We agree with that and have expressed similar ideas in the Directors Blog.

However, the report is surprisingly shy about discussing the environmental issues seen as facing shale gas exploitation.  While we believe these are indeed tractable, they merit much more discussion than they were given.  Accordingly we repair some of that omission here.

The most significant issues center on three matters:  fresh water withdrawals, flow back water and collateral issues, and produced water handling and disposal.

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Getting Out of Water's Way

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Marysville Public Works Department Overwhelmed by Rain

Marysville Public Works Department overwhelmed by rainfall

In one hour last Wednesday 1.58 inches (4 cm) of rain fell in Marysville, Washington, near Seattle. The deluge overwhelmed the stormwater system, flooding streets and the Public Works Building with up to 18 inches (45.72 cm) of water.

Severe rain events have increased 16% in the Pacific Northwest and 20% nationwide in the past 100 years, and are projected to continue to increase. Overall nationwide precipitation has increased 5% in the past 50 years, stressing already crumbling stormwater infrastructure.

The main culprit: impervious surfaces.

Solutions do exist, however, and the good news is they typically cost less than end-of-pipe stormwater management.
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Produced Water is an Economic Opportunity

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Drill beside Produced Water containment pit

Drill beside Produced Water containment pit

When the Massey coal mine exploded last month, other mines continued to produce. When an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded last week, other platforms kept pumping. The natural gas industry has weathered its own tragedies, as it will in the future.

Until renewable and sustainable energy sources enter mass production, citizens in the developed world will ensure demand for carbon based energy remains steady. And so long as demand for carbon based energy exists, there will be an industry devoted to treating the water produced during energy exploration and extraction.

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Innovation on the Ground

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The Dire Need for Water Efficiency Technology in Indian Agriculture

By Caroline Howe

March 22 was World Water Day and was the hottest day of 2010 in Delhi, where the experiences of global water shortages are glaringly obvious. Delhi is a prime example of the perfect storm of rapid urbanization, rising population, increasing consumption of energy and water, and warming weather. Together, these forces are decreasing groundwater levels more rapidly than any scientists expected, making India fertile ground for new technology in water efficiency.

In 2009, NASA scientists released a study showing groundwater levels across northern India to be receding at more than one foot per decade, with human activities as the main cause. Estimates by the International Institution for Irrigation Management have even more dire estimates and suggest the groundwater table is dropping by 3 to 10 ft per year throughout the country. In urban planning, this is having real effects: throughout rapidly developing areas like Gurgaon, home to call centers and high rise apartment complexes, the groundwater pumps in new developments are being dug up to 20 feet deeper than two or three years ago, with the expectation that groundwater will continue to recede.

While local urban water pressures are extreme, the NASA scientists believe that the major cause for the overall groundwater recession is agricultural, with farms drawing more water from the ground as rainfall patterns change. Overall, India’s water use profile is dominated by agriculture: 92% of India’s water use is designated for agriculture alone; 49% of that is from groundwater sources (FAO). So when NASA’s Matt Rodell writes, “If measures are not soon taken to ensure sustainable groundwater usage, consequences for the 114 million residents of the region may include a collapse of agricultural output, severe shortages of potable water, conflict and suffering”, we must call attention to the huge opportunities in making the agricultural sector more water efficient.

With every inch the water table drops, we will see a worsening problem, as water scarcity perpetuates itself through a vicious cycle. As groundwater levels continue to decrease, more energy is required to pump water, making agricultural water pumping one of the main sources of energy demand in most areas. Energy production has an impressive water footprint of its own, and magnifies the scarcity in turn.

As demand for agricultural produce increases along with improved livelihoods nationwide, water consumption will continue to increase. Without widespread implementation of new technologies, it is clear that massive shortages will be a part of India’s future.

The urgency and the need are immediately apparent in India, and the solutions are gaining momentum. Earlier this week, on World Water Day, The Rainwater Club in Bangalore trained hundreds of youth to build rainwater harvesting systems, as the government has recently mandated the implementation of these units on all new construction, both residential and commercial. In other cities, groundwater recharge and water efficiency workshops trained youth on the technology and implementation of innovative solutions to address these crises.

And what of India’s biggest water user? India’s water future depends on the integration of advanced water technology in agriculture, emerging all over the world. From onsite analysis of groundwater levels and recycling schemes that offer resource recovery from runoff, to smart drip irrigation systems that allow for specially allocated water provision to thirsty crops, there are many opportunities available for more efficient water usage. Water is becoming less of a reliable and free-flowing resource; the farmers who decide to be water-efficient will soon have the competitive advantage and the ability to survive coming climate changes.

As rapid development and increases in irrigation demand continue across the country, India needs new technologies for efficient water management and treatment. By investing in technology development and distribution both within India and internationally, we may be able to avoid the negative impacts of drastic water shortages and promote economic development that improves livelihoods and water tables. India cannot afford to wait any longer for the adoption of innovative water technologies.