World Water Day # 5 - Staffing Needs For SWS - How Remote Monitoring Can Bridge the Gap

By Antonio Inojal, Project Engineer

Welcome to our blog series in honor of World Water Day on Friday, March 22^nd! The United Nations declared 2013 as the “International Year of Water Cooperation.” The employees at AdEdge have a passion for clean water and providing safe drinking water for people throughout the world. Over the next week and half, we will be exploring some of the ways AdEdge is making a difference in helping the global water crisis.

In today’s digital age of the internet, smart mobile devices, and an ever-expanding cellular network, the water industry is evolving to make use of technology to improve how operators manage water treatment systems. Although the concept of remote monitoring is not new, it has certainly gained momentum by technologies such as M2M and VPN. Municipalities managing small water systems often do not have the resources to install a complete SCADA system to monitor all of their treatment sites, wells and pumps. Therefore they depend on their operators to arrange regular travel to remote sites to perform monitoring and check system statuses and alarms. AdEdge Water Technologies integrates advanced industrial controls technologies to bring remote monitoring solutions for AdEdge treatment systems.

The site’s internet access is crucial in establishing remote connectivity to the treatment system, and this can come in a number of ways. DSL is widely available by phone companies and has become quite commonplace. Alternatively where DSL or other technologies are not available, a cellular modem may be planned contingent on the availability of cellular service on-site. One particular drawback with cellular connectivity is that cellular companies are not likely to assign a static IP to a SIM card. This is commonly handled by quite inexpensive services likely DynDNS. Once internet access is granted, the AdEdge treatment system can be set-up to allow the operator to access the HMI’s built-in server through a web browser, which allows the operator to look at the screens in near real-time, move through the screens, and even make modifications. The extent of how much the logged-in user can do is based on what has been allowed in the set-up of the HMI. Moreover, the HMI can be configured to send emails when particular events such as alarms are triggered. One of the emails where the alarm message is conveyed may be the one associated with the operator’s cell phone, which can be used to send a text message; the latter is an effective alternative to auto-dialers. In addition, the HMI can also be accessed through mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads, which allow operators to be at one job-site and “respond” using their phone to issues occurring at another site without having to actually travel there. The possibilities are growing; our generation is becoming more mobile and tech-savvy. AdEdge is helping the water industry become more connected.

World Water Day Series #4 - Two Types of Green

By Paul Matz, Senior Project Engineer

Welcome to our blog series in honor of World Water Day on Friday, March 22^nd! The United Nations declared 2013 as the “International Year of Water Cooperation.” The employees at AdEdge have a passion for clean water and providing safe drinking water for people throughout the world. Over the next week and half, we will be exploring some of the ways AdEdge is making a difference in helping the global water crisis.

AdEdge Technologies’ mission is to help people get clean drinking water and provide water suitable for use in a myriad of businesses.    In today’s news where the economy is front and center, World Water Day is a light that shines on our company’s mission and adds it to the hot topics: The economy.   Water and money are all very important issues that we help our clients deal with every day at AdEdge.  Municipalities charge money for the delivery of clean water for use in homes and businesses.  Municipalities charge money for the opportunity to treat and clean the waste we send into the sewers.   In areas where municipal water sources are not available, water must be pumped, treated and monitored independently.  And it feels like the prices for these services increase year after year in order to keep up with demand and inflation which adds additional stresses in today’s economic times. 

At AdEdge, we have seen an uptick in communities and companies looking for ways to reduce costs and find ways to safely treat and reuse water while increasing their GREEN status.     At AdEdge, we have increased the number of pilot studies we do to address requests by clients to investigate their options to save money and increase their GREEN business portfolios and everyone has been very happy with the results.

Water Water Day Series #3 - The Future is Now: Climate Change and Its Effect on Water Availability

By Myron Petro, Field Technician

Welcome to our blog series in honor of World Water Day on Friday, March 22^nd! The United Nations declared 2013 as the “International Year of Water Cooperation.” The employees at AdEdge have a passion for clean water and providing safe drinking water for people throughout the world. Over the next week and half, we will be exploring some of the ways AdEdge is making a difference in helping the global water crisis.

Water availability is becoming an increasingly important issue due to the effects of Climate Change. Warmer average temperatures will, in effect, allow the atmosphere to hold more water. This may cause shifts in precipitation patterns, which will further dry out some areas, while increasing overall rainfall amounts in others. Decreased precipitation in arid regions will add to the already high demand for available water. Other areas where increased rainfall is perceived to be good, will see problems due to increased sedimentation and runoff in the water, requiring further treatment to maintain drinking water standards. This is the primary issue seen with increasing global temperatures, other effects can be seen in the figure below (Source: USGCRP 2009). Increased frequency and duration of drought has already been seen across the continental US in recent years, most notably affecting irrigation of croplands and water available for livestock. This has increased the need for municipalities and corporations alike to begin considering new water source identification and re-use options in their water use plans. In order to maintain productivity and quality of life across the United States, we have to start thinking outside the box as to where we obtain our water from.

AdEdge Water Technologies has treatment options available for a variety of contaminants. This allows for the identification and use of both groundwater and surface water sources that have been historically unavailable due to the presence of contaminants harmful to human health. In addition, AdEdge is also working on water re-use applications with industrial waste-water and elsewhere to provide recovery options and cost savings for the ever increasing demand of water across the country.

World Water Day Series #2 - Nuisance Contaminants? Iron and Manganese in Your Water

By Chad Miller, Project Manager

Welcome to our blog series in honor of World Water Day on Friday, March 22^nd! The United Nations declared 2013 as the “International Year of Water Cooperation.” The employees at AdEdge have a passion for clean water and providing safe drinking water for people throughout the world. Over the next week and half, we will be exploring some of the ways AdEdge is making a difference in helping the global water crisis.

Groundwater throughout the world is plagued with high levels of naturally occurring metals.  Most often we find iron and manganese present in groundwater.  While these elements have little health risk, they are not easily overlooked by residents in the community with iron and manganese attributing to orange and black stains in toilets, sinks, and all water appliances of the home.  You also have most communities with industries, which uses equipment in contact with water that builds up with iron and manganese scale resulting in a loss of productivity.

   

Everyday people can see the trouble of iron and manganese if they, but they do not see these same problems occurring on a much larger scale in community water lines and pumps.   Just recently a utility director explained to me that an 8-inch water main is reduced to 2-inches in diameter due to scale build-up.  He combats this by adding sequestering chemicals and flushing his hydrants monthly to blow out the scale.  Who wants to have their streets flooded by the city when there is a water shortage?  If nothing else it’s bad PR. 

Filtering the iron and manganese prevents iron and manganese from building up scale in the water lines -- this is nothing new.  But, with the advent of H2Zero Backwash Recycle System – AdEdge does not generate a wastewater stream in the filtration process.  And you can forget about the requesting chemicals that are known to proliferate algae growth in lakes and streams.   It’s a win – win! 

World Water Day Series #1 - New Water Contaminations on the Rise

By Khushbu Karan, Applications Engineer

Welcome to our blog series in honor of World Water Day on Friday, March 22^nd! The United Nations declared 2013 as the “International Year of Water Cooperation.” The employees at AdEdge have a passion for clean water and providing safe drinking water for people throughout the world. Over the next week and half, we will be exploring some of the ways AdEdge is making a difference in helping the global water crisis.

Water is found naturally on earth in the form of river, lakes, aquifers, ponds etc. and we pay to keep our drinking water safe and clean; therefore, it is essential that controlled measures are continuously taken by individuals in both private and public sectors to improve and maintain drinking water quality. According to 2013 UN Pre-Report, world manufacturing output, especially in developing countries like India and China, have grown tremendously over the last few decades. Although economic growth has seen a slight drop in manufacturing growth globally, is that enough to conclude that this has successfully subsided effects of water pollution?

Water pollution is threatening many developing countries due to industrialization and majority of their water contaminants come from industries like pharmaceutical, chemicals, heavy metals, farming, paper mills, food, breweries and mining. A group of graduate students at Georgia State University presented to AdEdge last week that pollution from these industries is creating a majority of the water contamination in developing countries. Most of these industries dispose their wastes in land or water bodies that contaminate both surface and ground water.  Contaminants in the dissolved and not dissolved waste form are sometimes hard to treat. Water sources when left untreated can lead to life threatening diseases such as cancer, typhoid, jaundice, respiratory illness, physical disability and many others. 

We at AdEdge offer a variety of water treatment solutions for most of these industries. Many industries are now switching from traditional treatment systems to integrated treatment technologies due to stricter EPA regulations for contaminants such as arsenic, selenium, mercury, cobalt among others. AdEdge offers these products and has sold more than 500 water treatment systems in U.S and throughout the world.  We prove to continually grow in this business for the betterment of society and humanity.

TROUBLED WATERS

By James Billy Hill

Troubled Waters is a documentary revealing one of the world’s worst cases of mass poisoning, a town struggling to stay alive and a group of people fighting to keep them alive.

Watch the trailer

http://troubledwatersfilm.com/troubled-waters-trailer/

Knowing how to design, build, install & start-up water treatment systems for multiple contaminants is a core competence of AdEdge Water Technologies.

Over the last decade we have installed over 500 municipal water treatment projects, a number that is matched or exceeded by only a handful of companies worldwide. We have collaborated with hundreds of engineering firms to design treatment solutions, not only in the U.S. but around the world. Never have we heard the words from an engineering firm that our design package was inferior to a competitor.

During this time we have introduced or advanced at least nine innovative treatment technologies for the removal of arsenic, iron, manganese, sulfide and uranium. We have successfully utilized five different treatment technologies for arsenic removal alone, more than any other water treatment company worldwide.

The following three benefits ensure we not only provide our customers with a customized cost-effective water treatment system but also maintain our focus on minimizing wayward project costs.

1.      Our design process of preparing an estimated thorough proposal for our customers is typically within 95% of final costs. This enables our customers at an early stage to have a more accurate assessment of project costs which assists them throughout their project financing endeavors.

2.      Our Project Managers have access to our proposal designers and manufacturing personnel under the same roof, enabling them to effectively manage the process of timely submittals and project schedules. This guarantees our customers will have a supplier dedicated to the shortest project timeline.

3.      By manufacturing in-house we provide our customers a distinct cost advantage as we are able to; make certain systems are built to our customer’s requirements, control the project timeline and test thoroughly prior to shipping.

The following quotes are from existing customers,

“Since the installation of our system, the water is PERFECT. It actually sparkles!!! No more smell, no yellow spots on the white clothes.” Diane Eaton. Clarendon Water Company  

“It was a very well organized project. Your project management, direction and support were flawless. The technical support guys provided for start-up were very professional, a lot of fun and we were blessed to have them.” Craig Stark-MacBride Estates

We are proud of our record of achievement and our Passion for Clean Water. Let us share with you our capabilities that hundreds of customers around the world have already experienced.