The following is a transcript of the WaterWorld Weekly Newscast for February 6, 2017.
Hi, I'm Angela Godwin for WaterWorld magazine, bringing you water and wastewater news headlines for the week of February 6. Coming up...
Phoenix wastewater treatment plant biogas project expected to be largest in U.S.
Flint residents sue EPA for mismanagement of water crisis
Desalination comes to San Antonio
Morgantown breaks ground on $5.8M wastewater plant upgrade
Local officials gathered last week to celebrate the start of a multimillion-dollar wastewater treatment biogas utilization project at the 91st Ave Wastewater Treatment Plant in Phoenix, Ariz.
The biogas project, expected to be operational in late 2017, will process the raw biogas generated in the wastewater plant's anaerobic digesters into renewable natural gas that will be sold to the vehicle market through the nation’s natural gas pipeline grid.
Renewable energy solutions provider Ameresco will design, build, own, operate and maintain the wastewater biogas-to-energy facility.
With a project size of 3,250 standard cubic feet per minute capacity, the project is expected to be the largest wastewater treatment biogas-to-renewable natural gas facility of its kind in the United States.
More than 1,700 Flint residents have filed a class action lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to ensure local officials acted in a timely and protective manner at the onset of the Flint water crisis.
The plaintiffs maintain that the agency was negligent in the management of the city's lead contamination emergency.
The lawsuit seeks $722 million in damages to compensate residents who suffered serious health effects as well as a loss of property value as a result of the contamination.
Dignitaries joined San Antonio Water System last week in celebrating the introduction of a new drinking water source to the city — desalination.
The source water is salty, or brackish, water pumped from the Wilcox Aquifer deep beneath south Bexar [BEAR] County to the desalination plant, located at the H2Oaks Center.
It's purified through reverse osmosis, which removes 97 percent of the salts and minerals in the water.
This drought-resistant source is expected to strengthen San Antonio's water independence, adding 12 million gallons per day to its portfolio — which enough water to supply 53,000 households.
The H2Oaks Center also functions as an educational facility, featuring a tour layout for educational opportunities and an onsite research facility available for universities.
The San Antonio Water System provides water and wastewater services to more than 1.6 million consumers in the San Antonio region.
Last week, the Morgantown Utility Board in Morgantown, W.V., broke ground for a $5.8 million upgrade at its Star City Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Improvements at the facility include Evoqua Water Technologies’ Memcor MemPulse® MBR System, which enable the city to increase capacity in the existing footprint and allow for future expansions.
The project will include five Memcor MBR cells to treat 12.8 million gallons per day at peak flow of wastewater.
Morgantown Utility Board is a municipally owned water utility that provides service to most of the 100,000 residents that live in the Monongalia County area.
For WaterWorld magazine, I'm Angela Godwin. Thanks for watching.
