The following is a transcript of the WaterWorld Weekly Newscast for June 20, 2016.
Hi, I'm Angela Godwin for WaterWorld magazine, bringing you water and wastewater news headlines for the week of June 20th. Coming up...
WRD water recycling project moves forward
Water technology demonstration hub launched in Austin
White House official faces contempt charge over Clean Water Rule documents
Dutch water utility opens nutrient recovery facility
[story1]
Last week, the Water Replenishment District of Southern California finalized an agreement with J.F. Shea Construction to build a $110 million state-of-the-art water treatment plant that will enable WRD to develop the first locally sustainable groundwater basins in California as part of the District's Groundwater Reliability Improvement Project.
When the project is completed in 2018, WRD's two groundwater basins will be exclusively replenished with captured stormwater and recycled water, much of which will be purified by the advanced water treatment facility for safe and reliable groundwater replenishment.
What is historic about this project is that it will replace the need for WRD to import water from Northern California and from the Colorado River to maintain water levels in the groundwater basins.
Plant construction is expected to begin this fall.
[story2]
FATHOM, a leading software-as-a-service provider for water utilities, announced that it has partnered with Accelerate H2O and Austin Technology Incubator to form the Innovative Water Technology Demonstration Hub for Data and Instrument Integration.
The organizers say the Austin demonstration hub will support the development of new business model innovations in the water industry and help bring them to market.
The launch further supports Texas’ commitment to solving water-related challenges and becoming a national leader in water resource management.
To learn more, visit accelerateH2O.org.
[story3]
The chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Jason Chaffetz, has filed a contempt resolution against Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Howard Shelanski, asserting that he has not handed over all of the subpoenaed documents related to OIRA's role in the development of EPA's controversial Clean Water Rule.
The Office of Management and Budget, which houses OIRA, maintains that it has already handed over tens of thousands of pages of documents and has cooperated with the subpoena.
The Oversight Committee is expected to vote on the contempt proposal this week.
[story4]
[video b-roll: https://youtu.be/2kaC4NohAgA
In international news, the Dutch Waterboard Vallei & Veluwe has officially opened Europe's first commercial nutrient recovery facility.
The Amersfoort facility features Ostara's Pearl® nutrient recovery and WASSTRIP® technologies, where phosphorus and nitrogen are recovered to create a high value fertilizer product.
The facility was designed and constructed by the Dutch company, Eliquo Water & Energy, and also features their LysoTherm® system which allows for an efficient, cost effective and reliable disintegration of waste activated sludge (WAS).
This is Europe's first nutrient recovery facility to produce a "ready to use" fertilizer product, sold as Crystal Green®.
The Amersfoort facility has the capacity to produce approximately 900 tonnes of Crystal Green annually, supporting a circular economy and generating a revenue stream for the utility.
[OUTRO]
For WaterWorld magazine, I'm Angela Godwin. Thanks for watching.
