September and October are busy months in the water and wastewater industry. Amongst other things, there's the Water Environment Federation's annual conference (WEFTEC), the Western Canada Water (WCW) Annual Conference, and Environmental Operators Certification Program (EOCP) operator training programs to prepare for. 

Ramtech was actively involved in this year's WCW's Annual Conference. We hosted a booth with our manufacturers, and fellow reps EDA Environmental (from Manitoba). If you didn't have a chance to visit, meet the staff and learn more about our services, please don't hesitate to give us a call or contact us.

Conference attendees were also treated to Scott Bindner's (Trojan UV Technologies) presentation titled "Maximizing UV System Performance for Small Community Drinking Water Disinfection", which detailed practical approaches to using UV disinfection and UV advancements. 

​And Ramtech, with Trojan UV, sponsored the WCW tour of the Advancing Canadian Wastewater Assets (ACWA) facility located at the Calgary Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. Twenty or so people attended, including operators, owners and regulators. 

The ACWA facility is unique in that it allows scientists to work side-by-side with municipal wastewater operators to replicate environmental water problems within a full-scale treatment plant. It's 3.8 kilometres of naturalized streams, enable scientific experts in ecology, biology, toxicology, microbiology, process engineering, medicine and public health; along with municipalities and industrial partners, to work towards ensuring clean drinking water for the planet. Pretty cool!

For more information on ACWA, please visit: ​http://ucalgary.ca/acwa/

Last month The New York Times published an online article explaining the marvels of New York City's water distribution system. The article follows the path of water collected in the Delaware and Catskill watersheds to the homes of New York City. It's an easy and informative read and includes some fun graphics.

Of interest to us was the section about the Catskill/ Delaware UV Facility, which is the world's largest UV disinfection facility with a capacity to treat an amazing two billion gallons of drinking water each day. And, we're proud to say, TrojanUVTorrent technology provides the UV treatment!

A little closer to home, in spring 2010 TrojanUVTorrent technology was selected as the supplier of UV disinfection at the Coquitlam Water Treatment Plant upgrade. The installation includes eight reactors, and has a capacity of 1,200 million liters of water per day. More information about the environmental advantages of this technology and it's application in the Coquitlam Plant are presented in TrojanUV's case study "UV Disinfection - Coquitlam Water Treatment Plant, METRO Vancouver, British Columbia". 

​Happy Reading!

​Click on the following, for links to:
The New York Times Article, How New York City Gets Its Water and Video, A Billion Gallons A Day
TrojanUV's summary of The New York Times Article 
Trojan UV's case study "UV Disinfection – Coquitlam Water Treatment Plant, METRO Vancouver, British Columbia"

Credits: Emily Rueb and Josh Cochron, The New York Times and TrojanUV, Case Studies & News and Headlines Webpages 

The Terrence J. O'Brien Water Reclamation Plant (Plant) in Skokie, Illinois opened last month, and was the first among the top 10 largest wastewater plants in the U.S. to implement UV disinfection. The upgrades, including installation of TrojanUV's TrojanUVSigna, will improve water quality within the Chicago Area Waterways System and will help protect the region's drinking water supply in Lake Michigan.  

The Plant serves more than 1.3 million people across an area of 370 square kilometres; less than half the area of the City of Calgary. With a peak flow of 525 million gallons of wastewater per day, the TrojanUVSigna is an integral part of the Plant!

Click below for more information:
TrojanUV's Article
TrojanUVSigna

Credits:
Article: TrojanUV "Installation of TrojanUVSigna™ Marks New Era of Cleaner Waterways for Chicago"
Photo: TrojanUVSigna at the Terrence J. O'Brien Reclamation Plant

We're lucky in Western Canada to have an abundant supply of clean and free freshwater (albeit diminishing in some areas), but  in drought-affected regions of the world with growing populations, many cities incorporate recycled wastewater into the water supply. Follow the link to an article from the BBC  (dated 6 January, 2016 by Marcus Woo). It looks at the recycling of wastewater for drinking (toilet-to-tap) and considers the public view.

Link to Article: BBC - Future: Why We All Need to Start Drinking Toilet Water

The Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency (AEMERA) recently launched their new and user-friendly website, aemera.org. 
​
The website provides insight to the environmental research and monitoring projects being conducted in Alberta by AEMERA and its collaborating organizations. Topics are wide ranging; from ‘biodiversity’ and ‘air’, to ‘citizen science’ and ‘indigenous relations’. Each entry provides details of the research objectives and budget, and study’s results and findings.

Projects related to water quality and quantity include wild fish health monitoring in the lower Athabasca Region and groundwater/surface water interactions testing in MacKay River. 
Other interesting resources include: links to Reports, Publications, Standards and Protocols; a list of employment opportunities at AEMERA, as well as fun, research-related blog postings. 

​This informative and well-presented website has appeal for many audiences. We encourage you to check it out!
 
​AEMERA is Alberta’s arm’s length organization responsible for evaluating and notifying the public on the status of Alberta’s key ambient air, water, land and biodiversity indicators.

Click on the following links for more information: 

http://aemera.org/
http://watercanada.net/2015/website-gives-public-access-to-environmental-data-in-alberta/

Image and Logo Credit: AEMERA Website Homepage, aemera.org. Sourced October 13, 2015

The cover story of Process West's January 2015 issue is titled "Go with the flow". With the help of some great aerial photographs, the article discusses some of the challenges faced by the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, including its remote location, heavy industrial use, climate and vast coverage area. Each of these challenges is considered an opportunity to be worked with as the municipality moves towards minimizing waste, increasing efficiencies and eventually decreasing the impact on the environment.

Most recently, the Municipality commissioned its newly finished expansion project at the Fort McMurray wastewater treatment plant. The plant's capacity is now doubled, meeting the needs of up to 235,000 people and surpassing current demand. Upgrades included the installation of additional wastewater ultraviolet disinfection equipment (TrojanUV 3000Plus), supplied and commissioned by Ramtech. These new units compliment the existing TrojanUV 3000Plus and the Spaans Babcock-manufactured, fine screen (Bormet Screen),  previously supplied by our company. The Fort McMurray water treatment plant has TrojanUVSwift 12 used for ultraviolet disinfection of water also from Ramtech. 

If you have any questions about this project of the lines of equipment offered, please contact us.

Source article: Go with the flow. Process West, January 2015. Pages 10-12.

Photo credit: Process West, January 2015.

Have you ever wondered how the parks and recreational areas of Kananaskis Country supply continuous, sparkling potable water; or how the region's waterways will stay pristine despite increasing recreational use?  Well, one of the answers lies with the provincially owned Evan-Thomas Provincial Recreation Area water treatment plant and wastewater treatment plant facility.

The 30 year-old facility was recently expanded and upgraded to meet increasing demands. The new state-of-the-art equipment includes two UV reactors (SwiftSC D06) from TrojanUV, supplied and serviced by Ramtech. This equipment uses ultraviolet light to disinfect water to current provincial standards.  The wastewater treatment plant includes two closed vessel wastewater disinfection reactors (TrojanUV’s UVFit) to maintain environmental discharge limits.

On September 12, 2014 the facility was officially reopened. 

"Completing the Evan Thomas project ensures we will be able to meet the water needs of the growing numbers of residents, businesses and visitors in this beautiful region of our province for many years to come. It also ensures that we are using this region’s water in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way."
                                                                                      Wayne Drysdale, Minister, Alberta Infrastructure.