I hate to say it …summer is coming to an end… but covid seems to be laying low…so it’s time to sit down and book your travel to the National Water & Wastewater Conference!   We haven’t held the NWWC since we last met in Banff, way back in 2019.  So we are well overdue for a great get together.  We promise a really great Kitchen Party too! 

We launched the preliminary program earlier this summer but wanted to share with you some great content for utility leaders.

This is your opportunity to showcase to the world as several thousand water professionals gather in Copenhagen this fall. This is the International Water Association’s largest event and only occurs every two years. Be part of the North American reception on the tradeshow floor.

In addition to an excellent technical program, the exhibition floor will welcome over 10,000 visitors from around the world.

AWWA Utility Insider

EPA’s Guidance for Developing and Maintaining a Service Line Inventory is now available, and EPA will host a webinar on the guidance August 10. The registration link is available here. Lead service line inventories must be prepared by all water systems subject to the Lead and Copper Rule, and submittals are due to primacy agencies no later than Oct. 16, 2024.

Securing your cyber and physical assets is incredibly important – as a critical infrastructure water and wastewater services are vital to ensure the safety and health of the communities they serve.

 Public Safety Canada and the Canadian Centre for Cybersecurity have compiled a list of resources and services available to help utilities.

• Canadian Centre for Cybersecurity - Advice and Guidance for Small / Medium Organizations 
• Public Safety Canada CI Cyber Partnerships - Programs and Services Overview 

The federal government gives notice of a proposed “Administrative Agreement between the Government of New Brunswick and the Government of Canada Regarding the Administration of the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations in New Brunswick”. 

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada recently announced the launch of “additional consultations” to help guide the development of an approach for achieving Canada's fertilizer emissions reduction target. A discussion document is now available for comment until August 31, 2022, which is meant to stimulate discussion and build a path forward for reducing N2O emissions associated with fertilizer application by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

On July 29, 2022, Environment and Climate Change Canada and the United States Environmental Protection Agency jointly published two reports required under the Agreement: the State of the Great Lakes 2022 Report and the 2022 Progress Report of the Parties.

On July 27, 2022, the government announced a $175,000 investment through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund (GMF) to support Toronto’s transition to low-carbon and renewable energy. 

The program is now open and accepting applications until September 27, 2022 at 3:00 pm (EDT).

Projects eligible for funding are infrastructure projects that involve the creation, expansion, restoration, improvement, or enhancement of tangible natural or hybrid infrastructure. Projects must be primarily for public use and/or benefit. Projects must reflect at least one of the following categories:

• Planting and restoring green space; 
• Construction or restoration of naturalized water retention or detention systems; 
• Naturalized water diversion and infiltration; or
• Natural or hybrid infrastructure that supports biodiversity and connectivity.

On July 20, 2022, members of the federal and BC governments highlighted a federal investment of $461,400 and a Provincial investment of $307,600 to complete upgrades to the Woodcreek Park Wastewater Treatment Plant System in Sunshine Coast Regional District.

On July 20, 2022, Infrastructure Canada announced funding to support the planning of improved water and wastewater treatment in six Nunavut communities. 

Radio Free Europe

When Russia launched its massive invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the residents of Myrnohrad knew what they needed to do: Start digging.

The small city, which sits within artillery range of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, endured six months without water in 2014, after the war between the government and Kremlin-backed forces erupted in the region known as the Donbas.

CBC

The city announced Tuesday that it is ready to begin "in-water targeted dredging work" in Chedoke Creek. 

The city estimates the project will take four months or less to complete and aims to be finished by Dec. 31 at the latest. The city hired Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. to complete the work for just under $6 million. 

CBS News

A judge declared a mistrial Thursday after jurors said they couldn't reach a verdict in a dispute over whether two engineering firms should bear some responsibility for Flint's lead-contaminated water.

AWWA

Last week’s release by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of guidance related to lead service line inventories is a timely reminder that Oct. 16, 2024, is coming. That’s the compliance date for the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR).

The Nation

The town of Towamencin, Pa., is not known for being a hotbed of activism. Sitting 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia, it is a mostly middle-class, white commuter community of 18,000 that has long skewed Republican. But this past April, as the township’s governing board of supervisors prepared to sell Towamencin’s wastewater facility to a private water company, hundreds of residents packed town hall meetings in an effort to stop the sale, the culmination of a year-long campaign by a newly formed group called Neighbors Opposing Privatization Efforts (NOPE).

ES&E Magazine

Yukon University has agreed to deliver the classroom and certification portions of Indigenous Services Canada’s (ISC) Circuit Rider Training Program (CRTP) for First Nations water and wastewater systems operators.

Associated Press

The echo of artillery shells thundering in the distance mingles with the din of people gathered around Sloviansk’s public water pumps, piercing the uneasy quiet that smothers the nearly deserted streets of this eastern Ukrainian city.

The members of Sloviansk’s dwindling population only emerge — a few minutes at a time — to fill up at the pumps that have been the city’s only water source for more than two months. Fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces near the key city in the Donetsk region

CTV News

Researchers out of Europe say global levels of man-made "forever chemicals" have made rainwater unsafe to drink around the world — even in the most remote areas.

The study, published in peer-review journal Environmental Science and Technology on Tuesday from researchers at Stockholm University and ETH Zurich, argues that guideline values – amounts considered acceptable – for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water, surface water and soil have fallen "dramatically" over the last 20 years "due to new insights into their toxicity."

E&E News

EPA is poised to announce a new rule that would require states to oversee more than 1,000 water utilities’ cybersecurity plans, according to a top White House official.

Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, said at an event hosted by the Center for a New American Security yesterday that EPA will be issuing a rule “shortly” to expand the regular reviews to include cybersecurity as threats at facilities mount across the country.

Water Online

The cellphone video is grainy and shaky.

“Are you guys ready?” asks a voice, calling out to the operators of Denver Water’s Marston Treatment Plant on the other end of the speaker phone. "Hey Marston, are you guys ready?”

“Sure,” comes the confident response. “We’ve been ready, man!”

“All right. … Three. Two. One. Go.”

Ends Report

Thames Water revealed in its annual report last month an intention to expand the reach of its prosecutions from largely businesses to also include household customers, in what a spokesperson has said is part of work tackling the disposal of wet-wipes, fat, oil, and grease down drains.

Water Canada

As intense heatwaves grip the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Portugal, at times exceeding temperatures 40C, as well as parts of North America and Asia, lakes around the world are feeling the heat from climate change, which is creating a cascade of ecological and environmental issues.

Water Canada

Water resources will fluctuate increasingly and become more and more difficult to predict in snow-dominated regions across the Northern Hemisphere by later this century, according to a comprehensive new climate change study led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

York Region provides clean, safe, reliable drinking water to more than one million people. It originates from three sources: Lake Ontario, Lake Simcoe and groundwater wells within York Region. Groundwater wells draw water from underground aquifers made up of water, soil and rock.

Avantu was formed in 2020 in Canada to bring the magic of approved scientifically selected bacteria biends to the global market. Our roots are in Africa, where our co-founder, Lohmann Beams discovered the power of good bacteria. He worked for many years researching and refining the bacteria blends to give the best results in some of the worst wastewater and hazardous contamination conditions imaginable.