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Understanding wastewater treatment processes is key to ensuring finished quality for discharge into the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Health Organization considers water quality aesthetic parameters affecting taste, odor, and appearance as factors to be monitored to determine the overall safety of water. Water safety plans (WSPs) can be used by utilities to proactively identify aesthetic hazards, rank them by likelihood of occurrence and consequence to the utility, generate risk scores, and provide direction on how to monitor, mitigate, and verify that controls are in place. The City of Wichita Falls Public Water System (CWF PWS) used the water safety planning approach to outline how aesthetics may negatively affect the system from source water, in-plant processes, and into the distribution system. By proactively identifying these hazards and outlining what to do using a WSP, the utility has put measures in place to ensure that aesthetically acceptable water is delivered to their customers. This article outlines the water safety planning process for water quality aesthetics and how the CWF PWS developed and implemented its WSP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sodium and two popular artificial sweeteners, sucralose and acesulfame, are poorly removed by conventional water and wastewater treatment. The drinking water industry must prepare for the presence of these tastants in tap water and develop strategies to minimize effects on the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the increased use and practicality of water reuse will help operators when reuse is implemented in their system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater and surface water have been the primary sources of our public water supply around the world. However, rapid population and economic growth, as well as global climate change, are posing major threats to the quality and quantity of these water resources. Treated wastewater (reclaimed water) and stormwater are becoming more important water resources. Use/reuse of these unconventional water resources can enable a truly sustainable, closed-loop, circular water system. However, these two sources are not usually mixed with each other. In this study, we propose the use of combined excess urban stormwater and reclaimed water as a source of potable water supply. One of the most pronounced benefits of this proposed scheme is the possible elimination of costly and energy-intensive processes like reverse osmosis. Reclaimed water tends to have high concentrations of dissolved solids (>500 mg/L) and nitrate-N (>10 mg/L), which can be lowered by blending with stormwater or rainwater. Despite technical and engineering challenges, this approach can benefit various communities—small, medium, large, upstream, downstream, urban, and rural—in diverse climates. Our study suggests that this new holistic approach is feasible, enabling the combined water to be directly used as a sustainable drinking water source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Takeaways: A research program is an important opportunity for a utility to optimize processes, support permitting, and inform more cost‐effective future planning decisions. A successful utility research program should engage internal and external stakeholders, including government agencies, nonprofits, consultants, and academics. Starting with a small research project that is affordable and likely to be successful is a way to initiate a utility research program. Case studies demonstrate the value of research collaboration to shift from a reactive focus toward a preventive, risk‐based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Pesticide pollution of surface water and groundwater has been recognized as a major problem in many countries because of the persistence of pollutants in aquatic environments and the consequent [...]