New for the 2010/2011 LABS program year, Cortech Engineering has stepped up to cover LABS’ expenses for our website, email outreach and a possible new event registration system. This support is critical in helping move LABS forward in the digital age. Thank you Cortech Engineering!

The municipal sales contacts are Marc Sanchez or Gabriel Zink.

A bit about Cortech:

Cortech Engineering offers a broad range of pumps, process equipment products and services for industrial applications in chemical processing, food and beverage, electric utilities, pulp and paper, Oil and Gas, Refining, OEM, and general industry.

Cortech Engineering also has three separate business divisions; Industrial Pumps, Engineered Skids with Pumps and Controls and Municipal Pumps and Process Equipment.

Serving the California and Nevada for 20 years, Cortech Engineering has the knowledge, products, and expertise to help solve your pump and process equipment applications.

Cortech Engineering brings added value to our customers with expert product knowledge and implementation. You can count on Cortech Engineering to assist you in:

• Product selection
• Basic design support
• Training (on and off site)
• Installation support
• Turn-key support
• Hot and cold alignment
• Troubleshooting
• Spare parts
• Full service capabilities for most product lines
• Modular Process Systems including metering pump skids

Their website is www.CortechPumps.com

Interested in supporting LABS as a regular sponsor, contact LABS Corporate Director Alec Mackie at alecm@jwce.com or by calling 714-428-4614.

The decisions made today will determine whether the U.S. will neglect its current and future infrastructure needs or retake its position as the world’s leader in economic and social progress. The key to securing ongoing infrastructure leadership rests in the determination, creativity and innovativeness of public and private institutions to fund and finance the necessary investments. Each day that passes without substantial commitments to U.S. infrastructure development merely postpones the inevitable, multiplies the expense, and increases the likelihood of an intractable public works crisis that will last for generations.

Link to full article

Envent offers a range of site services for complex fluid handling, odor control and more.

LABS is honored to welcome Envent Corporation as a new sponsor. An expert in site services for the oil, gas and wastewater industries, Envent has been busy helping Southern California treatment plant’s and collection systems managers with complicated and advanced bypass, odor control and complex contamination issues.

Envent is very proud of their focus on worker health and safety as noted below. Chevron Pipeline recently honored the company with the 2009 Health, Environment and Safety Leadership Commitment award. They offer a range of solutions for AQMD permitted odor control systems for wastewater applications.

For details please contact:

Mr. Noel K. Esten
Senior Sales Engineer
Envent Corporation
nesten@envent.net

www.enventcorporation.com

2398 California Avenue Signal Hill, CA 90755
Phone (888) 997-9465 • Fax (562) 997-9485 • Mobile (562) 480-4919

Envent provided the following background on their company.

Safety:

• 0.0 TRIR (Total Recordable Incident Rating) – 8 years strong
• .63 EMR (Experience Modifier Rating) – State Award

Wastewater Treatment Services:

• Industrial Wastewater Treatment
• Petroleum and Heavy Metal Contaminated Groundwater Treatment
• Storm Water Treatment
• Landfill Leachate
• Oil Field Petroleum Solids Control
• Terminal, Pipeline, and Refinery Wastewater
• Hydrotest Water Treatment
• Sewer and Pipeline Relocations
• Mobile and Transportable Treatment Units
• Hydrocarbon Contamination, Metals, Sulfides and Particulate Treatment Systems
• Dewatering and Water Treatment
• Dewatering System Design and Groundwater Remediation
• NPDES and POTW Discharge Permitting and Reporting
• Emergency Response
• Oil Field Pond Dewatering, Oil Well Water Treatment

Odor Control:

• Vacuum Truck Vapor/Odor Control Systems
• Liquid Scrubbers for sour and acid gasses
• Industrial Carbon Filters for Vessel and Pipeline Purging
• Tank and Pipeline Odor Control and Vapor Control Units (100% efficient)
• High Volume Blowers for sewer and tank entry
• Mobile Solvent, Chemical, and G.A.C Scrubbers (VOC and H2S)

MONROVIA, Calif. –(BUSINESS WIRE)– MWH Laboratories, a division of MWH, the global wet infrastructure sector leader and provider of environmental engineering, construction and strategic consulting services, has introduced a new method to identify the presence of wastewater in ground and surface waters.

The advancement comes as municipalities address new evidence of contamination in U.S. water supplies, including bacteria often found in sewage. The method detects gadolinium (Gd) and other rare earth elements that are a proven and reliable indicator of sewage contamination, offering a new, cost-effective tool for water purification and treatment plants and others to identify the presence of wastewater in recycled water.

“This is a groundbreaking development for treatment plants charged with delivering clean water to the public as well as companies relying on clean water sources,” said Dr. Andrew Eaton, technical director for MWH Laboratories. “Plants can add an extra level of certainty to their work, using the same samples that they are already testing and with minimal added expense.”

Drinking water contaminated by wastewater can lead to serious illness. In 2009, research by The New York Times concluded that more than 20 percent of U.S. water treatment systems had violated key provisions of the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act in the past five years, including thousands of cases of wastewater contamination of surface water.

MWH Laboratories now can analyze at ultra-low levels for gadolinium (Gd), a rare earth element typically injected into patients undergoing MRI scans to improve the imaging quality of the medical test. Once it passes through the body, gadolinium enters sewer systems. In samples of reclaimed water, a high level of gadolinium relative to other earth elements is one indicator of wastewater contamination.

MWH Laboratories experts can now identify a “gadolinium anomaly,” or excess levels of Gd, at parts per trillion (ppt) levels to determine the presence of wastewater despite extremely low concentrations or significant dilution.

The new method has been used by the U.S. Geological Survey and researchers at the University of Queensland and will be used by MWH Labs for a major study of reclaimed water in Florida set to begin this spring, sponsored by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. MWH Laboratories uses a state-of-the-art Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (Perkin Elmer 9000 ICPMS DRC2) equipped with special sample handling capabilities, to measure the entire suite of rare earth elements at levels as low as 1 ppt and then uses a special algorithm to normalize the data and identify the presence of the Gd anomaly.

About MWH

MWH, globally driving the wet infrastructure sector, is leading the world in results-oriented management services, technical engineering, construction services and solutions to create a better world. The wet infrastructure sector encompasses a full range of water related projects and programs from water supply, treatment and storage, dams, water management for the natural resources industry and coastal restoration to renewable power and environmental services. MWH is a private, employee-owned firm with offices in 34 countries on six continents. For more information, visit the Web site at www.mwhglobal.com. For more information on MWH Laboratories, visit www.mwhlabs.com.

Link to Full Article

Navigating Through the Storm – Setting a Course to Clean Water!

CWEA P3S Conference – Pretreatment, Pollution Prevention and Stormwater Treatment
March 1-3, 2010
Long Beach Hilton

Sign-up forms:

• New! - 2010 Catalog and Registration form
• Sponsorship form
• Exhibitor registration form

Sponsored by:

MWD (administrative sponsor); TetraTech (food and breaks); and our session sponsors:  Malcolm Pirnie;  MWH; Larry Walker Associates;  Stormwater Solutions Magazine;  and JWC Environmental

For exhibitor or sponsorship information please contact co-chairs Greg Kent (stormwater) or Alec Mackie (Ww).

Conference Contacts:

Chair – Michael Simpson
City of Los Angeles
michael.simpson@lacity.org

Programs Chair – Preeti Ghuman
Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts
pghuman@lacsd.org

Conference Brochure – Joe Petchuk
City of Santa Monica
Joe.Petchuk@SMGOV.NET

Exhibitors and Sponsors Co-Chairs
Greg Kent
BioClean Environmental Services

Alec Mackie
JWC Environmental
alecm@jwce.com
Tel: 714-428-4614

CWEA Contacts
Marci Chase
Senior Meeting Planner
mchase@cwea.org

Julie Taylor, CAE
Dir. Education and Training
jtaylor@cwea.org

Photo: Municipal Sewer and Water Magazine

GIS and mapping technology help the City of Long Beach chart a course for effective water system maintenance, capital improvement, and community outreach

“Out in the field, having GIS incorporated into the survey process has made my life a lot easier,” says Chris Blevins, water utility mechanic III in the CCTV Group, Sewer Operations. “With the map system on the truck, I can go directly to the GIS map through software, highlight the pipe I’m about to televise, and create my survey. It will automatically populate the manhole names, their numbers, the depths, what material it is and any other information that is available.”

Read full article

Riverside Mayor Ronald Loveridge had the best quote, “We’ve been taking our biosolids to Arizona, rather than Arizona they come here – with less trips, less cost and what is produced hereis  used as fuel – I’m not sure how you can get any better deal than this.”

View the video here.

JM Eagle has moved their headquarters from New Jersey to 5200 W. Century Blvd near LAX in December. They note they’re the world’s largest maker of plastic pipe for gas, water and wastewater.

“Now that that move is complete we’re looking forward to being part of the Los Angeles community, and continuing to serve our customers as best as possible,” said Neal Gordon, Vice President of Marketing.

The company recently did a series of interesting television commercials, check out JMM’s wastewater TV ad here.

Hmmm, is there a water reuse project in the works in this city?

According to the company…

The new membrane, developed by UCLA civil and environmental engineering assistant professor Eric Hoek and his research team, uses a uniquely cross-linked matrix of polymers and engineered nanoparticles designed to draw in water ions but repel nearly all contaminants.

Press release here.