Water and Wastewater Utility Engineering

Water and Wastewater Utility Engineering

The Water Industry

All water and wastewater utilities share the same mandate: protect public health and ensure customers have access to clean water at all times, under all conditions. Yet the nation’s crumbling water and wastewater infrastructure has forced utilities into a stark choice: Invest in system resiliency or gamble and risk costly failures.

 

 

The Lay of the Land

Most drinking water pipes were installed in the mid-20th century and are nearing the end of their useful life. An estimated 240,000 water main breaks waste up to 2 trillion gallons of treated drinking water per year, or 6 billion gallons a day. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the United States is facing a nationwide infrastructure crisis that threatens both rural towns and major cities. This threat tends to be obscured by the excellence of utility managers and engineers, who work tirelessly to maximize their dwindling resources and maintain the mandated level of service to customers. However, the time for reinvestment is upon us, and we must renew our efforts to rehabilitate aging systems and develop strategies for mitigating risk.

Closing the Spending Gap

ASCE reports that if capital spending does not catch up to water infrastructure needs, over $140 billion will be required to reliably meet demands by 2040. To close this spending gap, utilities need to align management practices with those developed by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and other organizations dedicated to utility performance. Public attitudes toward water and wastewater infrastructure investment have a significant impact on utility success, so customers must be educated about the value of water. Mountain Waterworks has seen the power of encouraging public engagement with water and wastewater projects and is optimistic that, with strategic management and planning, communities can revive utility infrastructure and prosper from responsible management of water resources.

Toward this end, Mountain Waterworks helps utilities protect past investments and plan for a responsive future. Our project managers are known for their ability to bring stakeholders together in the face of a challenge to generate consensus and implement solutions.

Environmental Compliance

Environmental regulations spur most water and wastewater utility rehabilitation projects. Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 and the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974, all local efforts have had to align with federal standards.

The CWA mandates that municipalities and state governments account for industrial waste and other pollution disposed of into local waterways. The SDWA, in turn, set standards for drinking water throughout the country. These two major milestones began to transform the nation’s relationship with water: once an afterthought, water became a source of pride.

However, as utility managers and operators know, maintaining these high standards poses unique challenges. Mountain Waterworks is well-versed in the complex rules and regulations that govern these systems, and our dedicated environmental staff assists utilities as they follow the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). From project conceptualization to construction close-out, our team coordinates with regulatory staff and advises utility owners on how to meet environmental standards in the long term.

“…The public can best be provided water services by self-sustaining enterprises that are adequately financed with rates and charges based on sound accounting, engineering, financial, and economic principles.”

2018 AWWA State of the Water Industry Report

“The collection and treatment of domestic sewage and wastewater is vital to public health and clean water. It is among the most important factors responsible for the general level of good health enjoyed in the United States.”

Environmental Protection Agency

“One-fifth of the US economy would grind to a halt without a reliable and clean source of water.”

Value of Water Campaign

“We can no longer afford to defer investment in our nation’s infrastructure.”

2017 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card

“Because America’s drinking water infrastructure provides a critical service, significant new investment and increased efficiencies are needed as filtration plants, pipes, and pumps age past their useful life.”

ASCE 2017 Drinking Water Report Card

“While drinking water infrastructure is funded primarily through a rate-based system, the investment has been inadequate for decades and will continue to be underfunded without significant changes as the revenue generated will fall short as needs grow.”

ASCE 2017 Drinking Water Report Card

“Traditionally biosolids were considered waste and transferred to landfills. However, when properly treated and processed biosolids become nutrient rich organic material that can be applied as fertilizer or, through the use of anaerobic digesters and centrifuges, can be pelletized and incinerated at high pressure and temperature for use as energy.”

ASCE 2017 Wastewater Report Card

“As cities continue to experience population growth, particularly in the south and west, new housing developments are constructed, and rural households switch from septic systems to public sewers, pressure on existing centralized systems and treatment plant infrastructure will require billions of dollars in new investment to meet federal regulatory requirements.”

ASCE 2017 Wastewater Report Card

“Of all the infrastructure types, water is the most fundamental to life, and is irreplaceable for drinking, cooking, and bathing.”

ASCE Failure to Act Report

“…Many industries–food and chemical manufacturing and power plants, for example–could not operate without the clean water that is a component of finished processes or that is used for industrial processes or cooling.”

ASCE Failure to Act Report