The following is a transcript of the WaterWorld Weekly newscast for April 16, 2018.
Hi, I'm Angela Godwin for WaterWorld magazine, bringing you water and wastewater news headlines for the week of April 16. Coming up...
Draft Farm Bill emphasizes source water protection
Metropolitan doubles down on two-tunnel WaterFix
DC Water opens massive tunnel for CSO reduction
Researchers improve oxidation reactions for better wastewater treatment
The House Agriculture Committee unveiled a draft of the 2018 Farm Bill last week.
This is the water industry, you might be thinking. We don't need to care about a Farm Bill. But you should. And here's why.
It includes a conservation title that funds agriculture sustainability and source water protection efforts -- particularly as they relate to nutrient and pesticide runoff.
The draft Farm Bill released last week drew praise from the American Water Works Association for emphasizing the protection of drinking water sources throughout the conservation title.
Further, the bill expands opportunities for the Natural Resources Conservation Service to work with state water systems to prioritize activities.
It provides incentives to farmers who implement practices that benefit downstream water quality.
And it ensures at least 10 percent of conservation program funding is focused on the protection of drinking water.
The bill is expected to head to committee for mark-up this week.
Last week, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California agreed to foot the rest of the bill for the California WaterFix project, more than doubling its initial planned investment.
As the now primary investor in the project, Metropolitan will spend $10.8 billion to help modernize the state’s aging water delivery system.
The project comprises three new water intakes in the northern Delta and two tunnels to carry the water under the Delta to the existing aqueduct systems in the southern Delta that deliver water to cities and farms.
It's estimated that the investment will cost households on average up to $4.80 a month, but that would likely decrease as Metropolitan recoups some of its investments from the agricultural sector.
Last week, the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) commissioned the first major component of the DC Clean Rivers Program -- ahead of the deadline outlined by its consent decree.
This first milestone comprises a seven-mile-long segment of the Anacostia River tunnel system and a new 225-mgd wet weather treatment facility, which will work together to reduce combined sewer overflows by more than 80 percent.
As in many older cities, about one-third of the District has a combined sewer system, which can experience overflows during wet weather events.
Construction of the 23-foot-diameter tunnel began in 2013. Mining for the next tunnel segment will soon be underway, with completion expected in 2023. Ultimately, the tunnel system will capture 98 percent of sewage overflows to the Anacostia.
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have found a way to dramatically improve the way pollutants are removed from wastewater using Advanced Oxidation Processes (or AOPs).
Oxidation reactions are performed by hydroxyl radicals created by the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide.
The problem is that the reaction is slow and requires large quantities of both hydrogen peroxide and the catalyst ferrous salt, which forms a sludgy, iron-y by-product that must be treated as a secondary pollutant.
Now, UCR researchers have shown that adding a powdered metal sulfide as a co-catalyst can dramatically improve the speed and efficiency of the reaction.
It reduces the amount of hydrogen peroxide and ferrous catalyst needed and helps prevent the formation of the sludge.
You can read more about their research in the journal Chem.
For WaterWorld magazine, I'm Angela Godwin. Thanks for watching.
