Lawrence is a city of around 102,000people in the northeastern corner of Kansas and is the home of the University of Kansas. The city’s water, wastewater, and storm water utilities serve the city and several outlying regions. Like many municipalities, Lawrence is working to install smart, automated meters. It is also working to reduce unwanted infiltration and inflows into older clay sewer pipes and addressing debris and nutrients in the source water for its reservoirs. In this interview, MikeLawless, the deputy director of the City of Lawrence’s Municipal Services and Operations Department (MSO), gives Municipal Water Leader a comprehensive look at the department’s top issues and current work.

Today, everyone knows that individuals can be tested for current COVID‑19 infections or for the presence of antibodies that suggest a past infection. What fewer people may realize is that wastewater can be tested for residual genetic material that signals that SARS-CoV-2, commonly known as the coronavirus that causes COVID‑19, is present within a community. This broad snapshot of coronavirus presence within a community can provide an invaluable early warning of an outbreak to public health officials. One institution that is helping to advance research into this method of detection is The Water Research Foundation (WRF). In addition to funding research itself, it has helped to facilitate information interchange among…

The Water Tower is a new water innovation center headquartered in Buford, Georgia. Its campus, expected to be completed in 2022, will include laboratories, a field training center, and access to real effluent and reuse water for research purposes. However, The Water Tower is already moving forward with programming in four key areas: applied research, technology innovation, community engagement, and workforce development. In this interview, Kristan VandenHeuvel, The Water Tower’s strategic director of research and engagement, tells Municipal Water Leader about the center’s vision of being a water hub for the entire Southeast and how it is already making that a reality. 

With a rated treatment capacity of 64 million gallons a day (MGD), the McAlpine Creek Wastewater Management Facility is the largest wastewater treatment facility operated by Charlotte Water (CLTWater). In 2018, CLTWater began a reliability and process improvements project that is being implemented via the progressive design-build project delivery method and involves the rehabilitation of 28 aeration basins and 16 secondary clarifiers and the replacement of the plant’s three blower buildings. The secondary clarifiers range from 95 to 150 feet in diameter, with the oldest clarifiers being nearly 60 years old. 

The Kansas City Board of Public Utilities (BPU) provides potable retail and wholesale water service to around 55,000 people in Kansas City, Kansas, and neighboring areas. It draws its water from horizontal collector wells in the aquifer below the Missouri River, treats it, and delivers it to customers via around 1,000 miles of water mains. In this interview, James Epp, the BPU’s executive director of water operations, and Steve Green, its director of water distribution, talk to Municipal Water Leader about operating in the age of COVID-19 and the utility’s plans for the future. 

Hays, Kansas, is located in an arid zone of central Kansas that lacks significant groundwater resources. During the 1990s, it became apparent that its existing water resources were insufficient for its consumption. Its initial response was to implement ambitious conservation measures, which succeeded in reducing its water use by a third, and to build a water recycling plant. Today, it is developing a new water source: a pipeline that will supply the city with groundwater from a former ranch. In this interview, Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty tells Municipal Water Leader about the city’s efforts to guarantee a sustainable water supply for future generations. 

The Lower Neches Valley Authority (LNVA), one of Texas’s 23 river authorities, provides wholesale raw water to industrial, municipal, and agricultural customers in the southeastern corner of Texas. Maintaining a 600‑mile canal system requires the LNVA to periodically replace pipe flumes and culverts in both urban and rural settings. One recent project involved the replacement of a drainage culvert, a freshwater conveyance culvert, and a road that all overlapped in precisely the same spot. In this interview, LNVA Engineering Manager Ryan Ard tells Municipal Water Leader about the Jones Crossing project and the authority’s other current projects.