Across the Athabasca oil sands, energy companies are wrestling with a sticky question: what to do with the tailings they produce. The byproduct of mining bitumen, tailings are a mixture of water, fine clay particles and other suspended solids that get pumped into large ponds where they are left to settle — a process that [...]
From tackling green algae blooms in Lake Erie to providing safe water to communities in sub-Saharan Africa, water technology innovators in Southern Ontario are making all kinds of achievements possible. And in many cases, the driving force behind these advances is female. We’d like to introduce you to a few of these wave-making women. [...]
Trojan Technologies is a recognized trailblazer of Ontario’s water tech frontier, known globally for its energy-efficient, advanced ultraviolet (UV) disinfection systems. With some 10,000 municipal facilities in more than 100 countries using its applications, Trojan has the largest installed base of municipal UV systems in the world, making it one of the province’s most stunning [...]
Can we create 5 “net zero energy” wastewater facilities in Ontario in the next 5 years? It certainly felt possible on October 30, 2017 when SOWC and OCWA convened a workshop with municipal leaders, water technology companies and academic experts. They came together to talk about how to make such a radical transition in Ontario. [...]
Wastewater treatment facilities protect neighbouring watersheds from harm, but often with a high price in terms of energy usage. "Current wastewater treatment consumes a lot of resources and it is not efficient or sustainable," says McMaster University researcher Younggy Kim. "Many communities spend a substantial amount of energy on the treatment of wastewater. And as [...]
Around the world, wastewater treatment plant operators face the same conundrum: what to do with the biosolids that they spend so much effort removing from the wastewater. Some apply it to land. After all, this organic sludge is rich in nutrients. However, it can also contain a cocktail of different contaminants, from household cleaners, paint [...]
Better, faster, cheaper. It’s the mantra of wastewater treatment plant engineers around the world. That’s why more of them are focusing attention on unlocking the full potential of anaerobic digestion: using the biogas produced to generate electricity and transforming sludge into valuable fertilizer. Now, an Ontario collaboration funded by SOWC is giving them the design [...]
Hamilton-based Hydromantis Environmental Software Solutions Inc. specializes in engineering and consulting work for the wastewater industry, finding much of its success on account of its innovative GPS-X tool. Released more than 25 years ago, this powerful modeling and simulation software has become a leading option for the design, optimization, and general management of wastewater treatment [...]
For Honeywell, when it comes to spectrometer sensor technology, space is not the final frontier. In the past, its aerospace division engineered sophisticated instruments for scientists to measure the reflected sunlight of a planet, and determine the concentrations and flow of carbon dioxide and methane gas pollution in the earth’s atmosphere. The company’s space programs [...]
As municipalities worldwide adapt to extreme weather, the water sector is undergoing radical transformation to build resilience for future disasters and events. New actors are emerging and business models are being revamped to facilitate technology implementation and innovation. With the recent wave of mergers and acquisitions, this signals a real need and desire by the [...]
