WaterWorld Weekly Newscast - May 27, 2019

May 27, 2019
Angela Godwin rounds up this week's water and wastewater news headlines.

The following is a transcript of the WaterWorld Weekly Newscast for May 27, 2019.

Hi, I'm Angela Godwin for WaterWorld magazine, bringing you water and wastewater news headlines for the week of May 27. Coming up...

WSSC technician goes the extra 'mewl' to rescue kittens

Modified membrane soaks up pharmaceuticals, personal care products from water

Taking Atlanta by Storm(Con)

Scientists develop membrane-less desalination process

We're kicking off our newscast this week with a very heartwarming story out of Maryland.

Utility technician CJ Russell with the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission was a little surprised last week when he opened the ladder storage compartment of his truck and a cat jumped out.

He was even more surprised to discover she'd left something behind: her kittens.

Unable to reach the little critters himself, Russell called Alley Cat Rescue who came out, along with the local fire department, to lend a helping hand.

Four tiny kittens, no more than a few days old, were safely rescued.

Russell, an animal lover, said he felt like he'd done his good deed for the day.

And we couldn't agree more!

Completely removing traces of pharmaceuticals and personal care products from wastewater is very difficult with conventional wastewater treatment. Now, researchers have developed an adsorbent membrane that they say could be used to purify water contaminated with PPCPs.

A team of scientists from Northeast Normal University modified a fibrous membrane with a special coating that enabled them to attach porous aromatic frameworks (or PAFs) to the surface.

The modified membrane adsorbed three model PPCPs -- ibuprofen, chloroxylenol (a disinfectant), and the insect repellent DEET -- with capacities higher than most other reported adsorbents.

In addition, the membrane was recyclable: The team removed the adsorbed PPCPs with ethanol and reused the membrane for 10 adsorption-desorption cycles, with only a slight decrease in capacity.

If you focus on surface water quality, stormwater management, or erosion control, you won't want to miss the upcoming StormCon conference and expo now in its 18th year.

Taking place in Atlanta August 18th through the 22nd, StormCon boasts more than 70 conference presentations across six educational tracks covering best management practices, green infrastructure, permit compliance, and more.

In addition, StormCon offers a pre-conference CISEC certification course and exam, as well as a selection of in-depth pre-conference workshops.

Event organizers recently announced that MSNBC Live anchor Kendis Gibson will deliver the keynote address at the Opening General Session, sponsored by AbTech Industries, on Tuesday, August 20.

Special early bird discount pricing is now in effect -- but only if you register before June 15.

Be sure to visit StormCon.com for more information on the conference program, exhibit floor, and registration.

Hypersaline brines -- such as from oil and gas production, inland desalination concentrate, landfill leachate, and other industrial sources -- can be very challenging and costly to treat.

The traditional methods -- reverse osmosis and distillation -- are effective but each has its drawbacks, including energy requirements and cost.

But researchers from Columbia University School of Engineering believe they have developed a radically different desalination approach leveraging a separation process used in other industries: temperature-swing solvent extraction.

Powered by low-grade heat, TSSE utilizes a low-polarity solvent with temperature-dependent water solubility for the selective extraction of water over salt from saline feeds.

The scientists demonstrated that their membrane-less TSSE process can desalinate very high-salinity brines, up to seven times the concentration of seawater.

For WaterWorld magazine, I'm Angela Godwin. Thanks for watching. 

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