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.