Environmental Science & Engineering - www.esemag.com - March 2005
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Environmental News Items, March 2005
Odour abatement systems keep air clean
As part of a long-term plant expansion,
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities
in North Carolina is installing six carbon
adsorbers from USFilter RJ
Environmental Products at the
McDowell Creek Wastewater Treatment
Plant. Comprised of Midas odor
control media from USFilter Westates
Carbon, each odor abatement system
will help eliminate hydrogen sulfide
and other organic odors in the headworks,
influent pump stations and
day tanks.
In total, USFilter's odor abatement
systems will treat a combined air flow
rate of 64,050 cfm. The McDowell
Creek installation is scheduled to
come online in Fall 2006. For more
information visit www.usfilter.com,
and www.siemens.com.
ZENON to acquire two
German companies
ZENON Environmental has agreed
unconditionally to acquire all the
shares of each of Dresden-based
Alpha Plan GmbH and Saxonia
BioTec GmbH. Scheduled to close at
year-end 2005, the purchase price will
collectively be a maximum of EUR
10,000,000.
Alpha Plan produces membraneprocessing
equipment. Saxonia
BioTec specializes in the development
of hollow fibres and the production
of disposable cartridges and system
assembly for filtration and bioprocessing.
“We see these acquisitions as a
complement to our ongoing research
in technology and product development,”
said Andrew Benedek,
Chairman and CEO of ZENON. “The
value proposition for us is cost reduction
in our current operations as well
as the capacity to expand into new
product lines. For more information
visit www.zenon.com.
Companies partner to
develop automated water
safety sensor units
Sandia National Laboratories, CH2M
HILL and Tenix Investments Pty. Ltd.
recently announced a multi-year,
multi-million dollar partnership to
develop an unattended water safety
system that offers the unique capability
of detecting currently unmonitored
biological agents such as bacteria,
viruses, and protozoa that could
threaten water supplies.
Current real-time, remote water
quality monitoring is limited to
detecting more traditional water-quality
parameters, such as turbidity or
the presence of dissolved solids, pH,
nitrates, and ammonia.
Initial commercial units and wider
deployment are anticipated from late
2005 to mid 2007. The analyzer will
respond rapidly to chemicals, biological
agents, and biotoxins; provide a
low level of false alarms; and can be
deployed as part of an integrated
water and/or wastewater monitoring
and management system.
For further information visit www.sandia.gov
Timmins fined for
drinking water facility
infractions
The Corporation of the City of
Timmins has been fined $38,000,plus
a victim fine surcharge, after pleading
guilty to six counts under the Ontario
Water Resources Act (OWRA) and
one count under the Safe Drinking
Water Act, 2002 (SDWA).
Under the OWRA, the city was
convicted of the following:
- Failing to install a sufficient
number of flow meters as required by
the Certificate of Approval and failing
to meet sampling and analysis
requirements, contrary to Section 107
(3), the city was fined $5,000 and
$3,000 respectively;
- Failing to comply with conditions
of the Provincial Officer Order, contrary
to Section 107 (2), the corporation
was fined $3,000;
- Failing to ensure that water sampling
and analysis requirements were
carried out as prescribed in Section
107 (1), on this charge the city was
fined $10,000;
- Failing to provide the MOE with
immediate verbal notification of the
adverse water quality test results, the
corporation was fined $6,000; and
- Failing to ensure that the responsibility
for the overall operation of the
facility was placed with a certified
operator, contrary to Section 107(1)
of the OWRA, the corporation was
fined $8,000.
AnoxKaldnes appoints
new chairman/CEO
Jack Gardiner was recently named
Chairman/CEO of AnoxKaldnes North
American Operations located in
Providence, RI. AnoxKaldnes is the
inventor/supplier of the patented
Moving Bed™ Biofilm Reactor
(MBBR) and HYBAS™ systems for the
biological treatment of both industrial
and municipal wastewater. Mr. Gardiner
was founder of Gardiner Environmental
Company, Inc., where he invented and
manufactured the patented Water
Champ vacuum chemical induction
mixing process. For more information visit www.anoxkaldnes.com.
BC’s used oil collection
program expands
The province of British Columbia now
has 125 more collection sites where
motorists can drop off used oil, oil filters
and containers, bringing the total
to more than 500. The products are
sent from these facilities for recycling.
The B.C. Used Oil Management
Association (BCUOMA), a non-profit,
industry-led organization. has set up a
network of collectors to pick up used
oil materials from more than 4,000
commercial generators and more than
500 collection sites.
The program began an aggressive
expansion in 2003 after the Canadian
Petroleum Products Institute
approached government with ways to
improve the existing oil-return program.
CPPI’s proposal recommended
the program be expanded to include
collection of oil filters and oil containers
and included a plan to sign up additional
retailers as collection sites. CPPI
formed BCUOMA to oversee the program.
In the first nine months of 2004,
the program collected more than 33
million litres of used oil, 3.6 million
oil filters and 763,000 kilograms of
plastic oil containers.
For more information about British
Columbia’s used oil program and a
complete list of collection sites, visit www.usedoilrecycling.com.
Phase I of environmental
clean-up at former military
site completed
Newfoundland’s Environment and
Conservation Minister Tom Osborne
recently announced that phase I of the
environmental clean-up at the former
military site in St. Anthony has been
completed.
The remediation work involved the
excavation and shipment of PCB-contaminated
soil and debris from one of
the two landfills at the site to licensed
disposal facilities outside of the
province. With the completion of this
aspect of the clean-up attention will
now focus on developing a work plan to
address the remaining PCB contaminants
in the second landfill at the former
military site, as well as the contaminated
soil containing hydrocarbons.
Matrix Environmental of
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia was awarded
the contract for phase I of the environmental
clean-up in St. Anthony in
autumn 2004. The clean-up was completed
in late December 2004. The
contract was valued at $788,583.
NS government increases
water and wastewater
funding
Nova Scotia Environment and Local
Government Minister Brenda Fowlie
recently announced that her department's
capital budget for 2005-2006
will be $1.756 million, which represents
an increase of 21 per cent over
the last fiscal year's budget.
The department has designated
$500,000 of the capital budget for the
Clean Water Program, which provides
funds to communities for water and
wastewater systems, water supplies
and sanitary surveys. $600,000 has
been designated to improving provincial
wastewater treatment facilities.
The department has also designated
$656,000 to assist local services districts
in the purchase of emergency
equipment and maintenance of fire
halls and recreational facilities.
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