Archive
Water Use in US Forecasted to Decline
According to the recently released report, Water: United States by Freedonia Focus Reports, water use in the US is forecasted to decline 1.1% per year through 2024. The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to significantly reduce the water use in power generation and manufacturing facilities due to the contraction in manufacturing shipments, electricity generation, and site shutdowns. Water use is expected to see a 5.1% annual drop from 2019 levels with water use in utilities expected to fall 5.5% and use in manufacturing to fall 6.2%.[1] The economic downturn associated with the pandemic is forecasted to cause a 7.7% decline in manufacturing […]
Ways to Accelerate Facility Sustainability Investments
Given the trends occurring toward needing to operate in a low carbon, limited resource, and high stakeholder expectation’s world, now is the time to make sure that the company’s facilities have optimized their energy, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water and wastewater. Thanks to the work by Nick Martin and his team, they have provided a five step facilities optimization strategy guide.[1] Companies should approach optimization in a systematic way working inside-out. For instance, with energy and carbon, the following progression is recommended for a facility to pursue decarbonization: Reduce the energy demand. Evaluate lower carbon energy sourcing options both onsite […]
Water Futures Join Wall Street
Water has now joined oil, gold, and other commodities traded on Wall Street, highlighting worries that the life-sustaining natural resource may become scarce across more of the world. The contracts, a first of their kind in the U.S., were announced in September of this year as heat and wildfires ravaged the U.S. West Coast and as California was emerging from an eight-year drought. They are meant to serve both as a hedge for big water consumers, such as almond farmers and electric utilities, against water prices fluctuations as well a scarcity gauge for investors worldwide. Farmers, hedge funds and municipalities […]
Water Infrastructure Resilience Report Released
In the third of its Community Resilience Benchmarks, the water benchmark addresses resilience of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems. The Alliance for National and Community Resilience (ANCR) released the new benchmark recently after both the building and housing benchmarks were released in 2019. ANCR’s Community Resilience Benchmarks (CRBs) support communities in assessing their resilience and developing strategies for improvement. These benchmarks take a coordinated, holistic look at the people, services and processes that make communities work. The water benchmark was developed by a committee of subject matter experts co-chaired by Andy Kricun, Managing Director at Moonshot Missions and Senior […]
Dekalb County Receives EPA Water Infrastructure Loan
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler and EPA Southeast Regional Administrator Mary Walker recently announced a $265 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to DeKalb County, Georgia, for upgrades to its aging wastewater collection and treatment system. DeKalb County will use the EPA’s WIFIA loan to assess and rehabilitate the highest priority areas of its sewer system infrastructure. Upgrades will include sewer replacement, trunk sewer upsizing, full or partial length sewer lining, and related activities at various locations within the county. The project will help eliminate sanitary sewer overflows and improving water quality in […]