In other news below, see:
-- Chemilizer expands product distribution in Pacific Basin
-- NRDC rates Rhode Island's Scarborough Beach top waterways protector
-- Consolidated Pump & Supply now distributes Pentair's Aermotor
-- Research and Markets: Water scarcity issues within U.S., Mexico addressed
-- N.J. American Water wins state industry award for environmental quality
-- JEA adopts new version of Power Information Platform by eMeter
-- Trial lawyer chief speaks at NGWA conference on Dallas' MTBE case against oil industry
-- L.J. Star acquires Tank Components Inc.
Pennsylvania DEP unveils new monitoring requirements for nutrient load discharges
HARRISBURG, PA, Aug. 5, 2005 (PRNewswire) -- State Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty today announced new monitoring requirements for significant sewage and industrial dischargers as part of Pennsylvania's Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy, a wide-ranging water quality initiative designed to clean up the state's rivers and streams, enhance the health of families and preserve the rural character and farming economy of Pennsylvania.
"This is an important step toward restoring impaired waters in Pennsylvania and the Chesapeake Bay -- requiring 190 significant sewage and industrial dischargers to reduce their nutrient loads," McGinty said. "Monitoring nutrient loads is critical to documenting our progress in the Bay restoration effort and helps to identify steps each discharger may need to undertake to achieve any future nutrient load reductions.
"Cleaning up our rivers and streams is only one part of our overall strategy to protect Pennsylvania's environment" McGinty said. "The Rendell administration has been working aggressively to finance the economic redevelopment of abandoned polluted properties and mine lands, preserve open space and farmland, and revitalize communities across the state."
The watersheds of the Susquehanna and Potomac rivers in Pennsylvania suffer from nutrient and sediment pollution. As part of the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement among Bay states and partners in the restoration effort, Pennsylvania agreed to develop a tributary strategy to reduce total nitrogen and phosphorus to the Bay by about 40% from both point and nonpoint sources by 2010. This reduction is projected to prevent localized impairment and improve water quality in the Bay, allowing it to be removed from the impaired waters list.
As part of the point source part of Pennsylvania's strategy, DEP is amending National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for 190 facilities identified to be significant contributors of nutrients. Permits will be amended to require the monitoring and reporting of total nitrogen and phosphorus. This is the first component of the point source implementation strategy.
Point source discharges contribute about 11% of the total nitrogen and about 18% of the total phosphorus to the Chesapeake Bay from Pennsylvania waters based on 2002 estimates. Full implementation of the point source control program will achieve an estimated reduction of 3.1 million pounds of nitrogen and 745,000 pounds of phosphorus per year.
The state's tributary strategy is Pennsylvania's official plan to meet the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement goals for nutrient and sediment reduction in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. More than half of Pennsylvania is within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
The tributary strategy will improve water quality in the 13 sub-basins that make up the Susquehanna and Potomac river watersheds. The strategy embraces a suite of best management practices for nonpoint and point sources -- agriculture, wastewater treatment plants, urban stormwater and septic systems -- to meet Pennsylvania's nutrient and sediment reduction goals.
For more information on Pennsylvania's strategy for achieving nutrient reduction goals to the Chesapeake Bay, visit the DEP website at www.dep.state.pa.us, Keyword, "Chesapeake Bay."
Chemilizer expands product distribution in Pacific Basin
LARGO, FL, Aug. 5, 2005 -- Chemilizer Products Inc. of Largo, Fla., significantly expanded its global product distribution, particularly in Southeast Asia, following an agreement with GSI Asia Group. The agreement calls for GSI to sell solely Chemilizer injectors for animal health applications in ten countries.
Chemilizer has a strong domestic presence in water treatment, agricultural and horticultural markets, as well as animal health. Chemilizer said the GSI agreement highlights the flexibility of the units to complete multiple, highly diverse water management tasks. Particularly important in developing countries are the units' ability to perform without need of electricity and low maintenance characteristics.
According to the Chemilizer agreement, GSI Asia will sell the firm's CP33 and HN55 injectors to animal health users in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Korea and Pakistan.
GSI Asia, a division of the GSI Group, www.grainsystems.com, is a major supplier of livestock equipment in both poultry and swine under the brands of Cumberland and AP. GSI Asia will be representing Chemilizer at Kistock 2005, taking place in Doejeon, Korea August 31- September 2, and Livestock Asia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia September 27- September 29, 2005.
Chemilizer Products Inc. (www.chemilizer.com) has produced quality injectors for over three decades for global users. Research, manufacturing and administrative activities are conducted in the company's 20,000 sq. ft. facility located in Largo, Fla.
NRDC rates R.I.'s Scarborough Beach top performer in protecting waterways
SCOTTSDALE, AZ, Aug. 4, 2005 -- The Natural Resources Defense Council's 2004 Annual Report identified Scarborough State Beach, R.I., as one of the three top performers in the nation for protecting its beachgoers from contaminated water. This recognition was a far cry from the previous season when this popular beach closed six times because of high levels of bacteria. Following those closures, Rhode Island's Departments of Transportation, Environmental Management, and Health formed a team committed to remedy the high bacteria concentrations.
In June 2004, Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri stood on Scarborough Beach at a press conference to launch the team project that was designed to protect the waterways against health-threatening bacteria. The heart of the project involves diverting the flow from stormwater outfalls that feed into public bathing waters through a filtering system using a drainage piping filled with an antimicrobial material - Smart Sponge® Plus -- developed and patented by AbTech Industries.
Field tests released in April 2005 revealed the effectiveness of the Smart Sponge Plus. After testing over 200 samples in both dry and wet weather after three major storm events, the maximum removal rates for fecal coliform ranged from 89.4 to 99.6%. In the same sampling process for Enterococcus, the maximum removal rates ranged from 96.2 to 99.9%.
Glenn Rink, AbTech's President and CEO, said that Scarborough Beach's application of the Smart Sponge Plus demonstrated the tremendous versatility of the product. "The Smart Sponge Plus has proven effective for removing bacteria concentrations in stormwater runoff with the Ultra Urban Filter® Catch Basin Insert in dozens of municipalities, but this is the first time the product has been used in this way. We're excited about the success of the project and congratulate Scarborough Beach for receiving such high recognition from the Natural Resources Defense Council."
AbTech Industries (www.abtechindustries.com and www.smartsponge.com), based in Scottsdale, Ariz., is dedicated to developing innovative clean water solutions to meet community and industrial needs. The company holds the patent on the Smart Sponge Plus, which is the only non-toxic, fully recyclable filtration system that destroys bacteria at the street level. AbTech filtration systems are currently filtering contaminants from urban and stormwater runoff in 27 states. The EPA has included AbTech's Ultra-Urban Filter series with Smart Sponge technology as a Best Management Practice (BMP) under the federal guidelines that local governments must follow.
Consolidated Pump & Supply now distributes Pentair's Aermotor
SACRAMENTO, CA, Aug. 5, 2005 (PRWEB) -- The Pentair Water Division announced today that Consolidated Pump & Supply (CPS) Inc. would be the Aermotor distributor for its full line of 4" pumps and accessories in the U.S. West.
Aermotor serves the residential and commercial groundwater markets by manufacturing a full line of water well pumps and accessories for the potable water, agriculture and irrigation markets. They ship to over 20 countries worldwide.
Founded in 1888 in Chicago by LaVerne Noyes, Aermotor has a long history of quality and commitment. During World War II they provided many war time products including helmets and lens mounts for the top secret Norton bomb sights. It's better known today from its history as the longest active windmill manufacturer in the United States.
Currently, Aermotor manufactures multi-stage centrifugal pumps, booster pumps, jet pumps and high quality, efficient submersible pumps with a full compliment of water well accessories.
Consolidated Pump & Supply (www.cpspump.com) specializes in the sale and distribution of water well pumps, drilling equipment and supplies to licensed contractors and OEMs for agricultural irrigation and domestic water systems use. Since the company was founded in 1994 Consolidated Pump grown to 12 branches serving California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. In 2004, CPS was awarded "Distributor of the Year" by the California Groundwater Association.
Pentair (www.pentair.com) is a diversified operating company headquartered in Minnesota. Its Water Group is a global leader in providing innovative products and systems used worldwide in the movement, treatment, storage and enjoyment of water. Pentair's Enclosures Group is a leader in the global enclosures market, designing and manufacturing standard, modified and custom enclosures that house and protect sensitive electronics and electrical components. With 2004 revenues from continuing operations of $2.28 billion, or $2.76 billion on a pro forma basis, Pentair has approximately 13,000 employees worldwide.
Research and Markets: Water scarcity issues within U.S., Mexico addressed
DUBLIN, Ireland, Aug. 5, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of Economics of Water Resources to their offering.
Water is becoming an increasingly scarce commodity in many parts of the world. Population growth plus a growing appetite for larger quantities of cheap water quality as a result of urban, industrial, and agricultural pollution coupled with increasing environmental demands have further reduced usable suppliers.
This book brings together thirty of the best economic articles addressing water scarcity issues within the US and Mexico. By touching on a number of different issues, this volume clearly articulates the need for improving existing institutional arrangements as well as for developing new arrangements to address growing water scarcity problems.
This report is broken down as follows:
-- Part I: The Value of Water in Alternative Uses: Estimating the Value of Water in Alternative Uses
-- Part II: Management and Optimum Water Allocation: Managing Water Scarcity: An Evaluation of Interregional Transfers
-- Part III: Institutional Arrangements and Water Management: Normative and Positive Aspects of Institutional Economics: The Implications for Water Policy
-- Part IV: Economic Instruments for Water Management: The Use of Water Pricing as a means for Enhancing Water Use Efficiency in Irrigation: Case Studies in Mexico and the United States
-- Part V: Water Policy in Developing Economies: Water reform and Economic Development: Institutional Aspects of Water Management in the Developing Countries
For more information visit www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c21994.
In related company news, see: "Research and Markets: Presenting Overview of the Polish Bottled Water Market with 2005 Estimates and Five-Year Forecasts"
N.J. American Water wins state industry award for environmental quality
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ, Aug. 4, 2005 (PRNewswire) -- New Jersey American Water has won the 2005 Award for Excellence in the Environmental Quality category from the New Jersey Business & Industry Association.
New Jersey American Water earned the award for its Eastern Reinforcement Transmission Main Project.
The project, built in several phases, includes over 7 miles of water main and allows New Jersey American Water to maintain a reliable supply as demand grows in the Company's Northern New Jersey service area. Part of the project included the crossing of the Raritan River and the Delaware and Raritan Canal in an area with contaminated sites, a historic place and structure, a railroad, wetlands and a State Park. This was done by constructing a tunnel under the canal and river. The design included 1200 feet of a 10-foot diameter rock tunnel carrying a 72-inch diameter steel water main. The completed 72-inch pipeline was successfully placed into service in June 2004.
"This project is another example of our Company's commitment to deliver a reliable supply of water to our customers as well as our commitment to be environmental stewards," said Walter Lynch, President of New Jersey American Water.
The project has already earned an Honor Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of New Jersey.
New Jersey Business & Industry will present the award to New Jersey American Water on Oct. 18, 2005.
New Jersey American Water (www.njawater.com) is the state's largest water utility. We serve over two million people in 176 communities throughout the state.
American Water, a part of RWE's water division, serves 20 million customers in 27 states, four Canadian provinces, Puerto Rico and South America. More than 8,000 employees provide water, wastewater and other related services. RWE's water division is the third largest water and wastewater services company in the world.
JEA adopts new version of Power Information Platform by eMeter
REDWOOD CITY, CA, Aug. 4, 2005 (PRWEB) -- eMeter announced today that JEA of Jacksonville, Florida has put into production the latest release, 4.3, of the Power Information Platform™ by eMeter (PIPe) software.
JEA, the municipal water/sewer/electric utility serving Jacksonville, is using the PIPe to provide advanced meter data management and related services for its 660,000 electric and water customers. eMeter handed the system off to JEA's operators following integration with JEA's core utility business systems and extensive testing. In a separate, parallel effort, IBM validated the PIPe's ability to scale up to at least nine million meters.
"We are excited about reaching this milestone, just in time for hurricane season. The PIPe will help us respond to outages more quickly. Plus, we have already seen the software deliver increased efficiencies in our meter data processing, billing and outage/restoration event processing," said Jim Dickenson, JEA's Chief Executive Officer.
Prior to putting the PIPe into production at JEA, eMeter's implementation team integrated the system with JEA's meter reading systems and IT applications, as well as conducted extensive testing on those systems. eMeter's testing included capturing and storing meter readings from JEA's Cellnet wireless network meter reading system, MV-90 meter data collection system, and the existing hand-held, manual meter reading systems. Additional functions tested for the PIPe were the validation of meter data for integrity and accuracy, support for outage tracking and restoration verification, and delivery of timely and accurate data to JEA's CIS, billing, and work management systems. Beyond these traditional meter data management applications, the PIPe also provides extensive AMR installation support, communications monitoring, asset tracking, and maintenance management capabilities.
"We are impressed with eMeter's software but even more so with its people," said Mahiuddin Laskar, JEA's Program Manager. "The integration and testing went even more smoothly than planned, and the team is a true pleasure to work with. The experience and expertise eMeter has gained over the years in doing this kind of project were invaluable in making this project a tremendous success."
During the same time period, IBM confirmed, via a major scalability test, that the PIPe can comfortably handle future workloads far in excess of JEA's needs today. The scalability target jointly selected by eMeter and IBM was to process daily readings from 4.5 million electric meters with hourly data and 4.5 million gas meters with daily data. The scale test further required that the system process these daily readings while maintaining 14 months of data online and supporting various billing, reporting, and analytic processes.
"Executives at utilities such as JEA and regulators want to ensure that the AMR and meter data management systems being installed today can support future data volumes and new applications. AMR may need to be integrated with evolving communications technologies, perhaps even broadband over power line (BPL). IBM's scale test proved that eMeter's PIPe performs at full scale with the necessary speed and accuracy," explained Chris King, eMeter's Chief Strategy Officer. "Running on IBM servers and using IBM's DB2 database, the PIPe met or exceeded all of its targets, performing over twice as fast as it had been projected to."
For the scale test, IBM created the simulation environment using eServer pSeries systems and ported eMeter's PIPe software to use IBM's DB2 Universal Database technology. Once this was done, IBM conducted extended performance testing using simulated loads under varying conditions expected in a real-world advanced metering environment. The simulation environment included more than 50 billion records in the test database. IBM's scale team analyzed three primary test cases: daily loading of hourly electric meter reads and daily gas meter reads that would be received from advanced metering networks, export of such data to utility billing systems, and reporting on the AMR data collection, processing, and system performance by the PIPe's management and report applications. Specific service level objectives were established and achieved for each of the test cases.
"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first scalability test demonstrating interval data processing for multi-million advanced metering systems," said Larsh Johnson, President and CTO of eMeter. "We specifically designed the PIPe's architecture to be able to support millions of meters and carry out multiple simultaneous processes. IBM's test was challenging but fair; we are gratified by the PIPe's performance under pressure."
eMeter's PIPe is an enterprise-class application that supports and maintains advanced metering information using a proprietary data model and automated support for advanced metering business processes. The PIPe incorporates all the functionality required to deliver accurate and reliable data to utility applications. It is web-based, enabling desktop access to utility employees, business partners, and customers.
The PIPe architecture can scale from thousands to millions of on-line meters and includes a high-capacity messaging backbone and distributed application servers. Intelligent interface adapters integrate with utility and client legacy systems with minimal disruption to existing billing, outage, and distribution management systems. The PIPe's meter and communications independence ensures support of new technologies as they emerge, making a utility client's infrastructure as "future proof" as possible.
JEA is the eighth largest community-owned electric utility in America providing electricity, water and sewer services to more than 750,000 accounts in Northeast Florida.
Since 1999, eMeter Corp. of Redwood City, Calif., has provided software and services for electric, gas, and water utilities with fixed network automatic meter reading (AMR) systems. The Power Information Platform by eMeter (PIPe) Advanced Meter Information System (AMIS) software supports project management, system and asset management, and meter and communications installation, operations and maintenance. eMeter provides its AMIS technology as licensed software, owned and operated by the customer, as a hosted and managed service or ASP, and as part of a complete business process outsourcing (BPO) offering. eMeter's unequalled professional services team provides "design-build-operate" consulting and implementation services related to meter data management and advanced metering as well. For more, see www.emeter.com.
Trial lawyer speaks at NGWA conference on Dallas' MTBE case against oil industry
BALTIMORE, MD, Aug. 4, 2005 (PRWEB) -- Attorney Ted B. Lyon spoke at the National Ground Water Association's 2005 conference on groundwater and environmental law in Baltimore, Md. The presentation provided NGWA members with insights into Lyon's litigation of the city of Dallas' MTBE contamination case against the Explorer Pipeline Company, Valero Energy Company, Phillips Petroleum and Equilon Enterprises -- transporters and refiners of the controversial gasoline additive MTBE.
The case arose from the March 9, 2000 release of over 1.5 million gallons of MTBE and gasoline from a petroleum pipeline in Hunt County, Texas. After the pipeline rupture, the released MTBE migrated 27 miles and contaminated Lake Tawakoni, Dallas' largest drinking water resource. The incident was the largest release of MTBE and gasoline in U.S. history. After presenting the City's case to a Dallas Jury, a total settlement of 9.6 million was reached.
This NGWA summit brings together local, national, and international science partners in a venue designed to facilitate the exchange and dissemination of technical information and new science developments, allow a means for discussing policy and regulatory issues pertaining to ground water, and promote goodwill among ground water professionals.
Over his 30 year career as a trial attorney, Ted Lyon of Ted Lyon & Associates P.C. (www.tedlyon.com) has handled many cases involving environmental contamination on behalf of water providers and individuals. Contaminates of concern include MTBE, TCE, PCE, PBDE, Benzene, Lead, perchlorate and other chemicals that threaten the health and property of municipalities, individuals and other water providers. In addition, Lyon has achieved verdicts and settlements in excess of $400,000,000. Mr. Lyon twice achieved the largest verdict in the nation for the loss of a child, including the landmark $296 million verdict in the Smalley v. Koch Industries case that earned national recognition and was noted in the National Law Journal and the National Law Review as the fifth largest verdict nationwide and the largest single wrongful death verdict, in actual damages, in U.S. history. Lyon also served 15 years in the Texas legislature and was honored on multiple occasions for his legislative achievements. He currently serves as the president of the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association and is actively litigating cases across the United States.
L.J. Star acquires Tank Components Inc.
TWINSBURG, OH, Aug. 4, 2005 -- L.J. Star Incorporated, a provider of industrial process observation equipment, announced July 1 that it agreed to purchase the assets of Tank Components Inc. (TCI), a major manufacturer of vessel components for use in the pharmaceutical and biotech processing industries. The complimentary nature of the two companies' product lines will provide significant growth opportunities for both companies.
Tank Components Inc., of Springfield, Mo., is well known in the processing industry for its exceptional product quality and customer service. The company offers a wide range of components and accessories for use in the manufacture of pharmaceutical and biotech processing vessels. Products include stainless steel and nickel alloy tank heads, ASME sanitary manways and access ports, heavy wall ferrules, weld socket assemblies, dished dimpled heat transfer surface and cylinders. TCI will continue its unique marketing strategy of providing only vessel components while not competing in the vessel fabrication market.
Corporate support from L.J. Star will allow Tank Components Inc. to increase its operations, broaden its product base and continue its exceptional deliveries. The acquisition will also strengthen both companies strategically, allowing L.J. Star to focus on meeting the needs of manufacturing facilities in the process industries while TCI continues to partner with vessel fabricators and OEM's.
L.J. Star Incorporated (www.ljstar.com), based in Twinsburg, Ohio, provides sight glasses, lights, sanitary fittings, and level gage instrumentation for process industry applications. Products lines include Metaglas® safety sight windows, Lumiglas® explosion proof lights and cameras, visual flow indicators, sight ports, sanitary clamps, magnetic level gauges and gauge glass.
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In earlier newsbriefs, see:
-- "WaterBriefs: Pure Cycle Corp. signs water service agreement with Arapahoe County" -- Also in this report (Aug. 4, 2005): PPG to use membranes to cut mercury at Lake Charles, La., chlor-alkali plant; Ecochlor, Matson Navigation to verify ballast water treatment effectiveness; Emerson Global Users Exchange to feature more than 300 sessions; Online Development Inc. offers more secure plant data exchange; ASCE seeks nominations for 2006 outstanding projects, leaders; Whatman completes integration of Schleicher & Schuell product portfolio; Ecovation opens technical development center; Air Products picks FuelCell Energy to develop new hydrogen energy station...
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