Rural Water - Quarter 3, 2008 - (Page 37)

WATER AND WASTEWATER SYSTEMS are one of the foundations of a community’s survival. Recent and upcoming innovations may not receive the hype of an iPod or hybrid vehicles, but they’re of signiﬁcance to the Rural Water industry. Whether the goal is protecting source water or making maintenance easier, new technology is helping to make the rural water supply safer and more efﬁcient than ever. And, next year, NRWA members will spend over $1 billion dollars on upgrades or new construction, so the latest and greatest products are of vital importance. Rural Water interviewed companies in the Rural Water industry to see what new products are in the works or have been recently introduced. Here’s what we found. Bigger tanks, better processing There’s a well-kept secret in DeKalb, Ill., one that Engineered Storage Products is happy to share: higher capacity storage tanks that can hold nearly half again as much water as before. “We can build tanks up to the 6 million gallon range, probably 40 to 50 percent larger than what we’ve done in the past,” says Rick Jones, vice president of sales. The increased capacity means that a rural water system in need of a large tank has more vendors from which to choose, and Jones says the company is eager to let people know. “In the past they may have known that we had limitations on tank size and they would have gone somewhere else. But those limitations are past. We want people to know we can do these bigger tanks.” The company’s been offering the larger tanks for about two years, and says that while the larger tanks don’t directly impact consumers, they have a big effect on the rural water system’s maintenance operations. “There is virtually no maintenance. It can really lower the lifetime cost of the tank because it doesn’t have to be taken out of service so often,” Jones says. Engineered Storage Products is also now offering geodesic domes to accompany the larger diameter tanks. Previously, the company had to rely on other manufacturers to provide the domes, but Jones says Engineered Storage Products began making its own domes as a way to offer better service. “That’s a big beneﬁt to the rural water system because they don’t have to worry about two manufacturers supplying the system. We can do both the tank and the dome.” As the regulatory activity surrounding rural water increases, part of the industry focus has been on the need to better treat water before it goes into a system. Jones says the newer products his company is offering play a role in those regulations. “The rural water people are dealing with new regulations every day. Those new regulations may mean more storage, or more and better processing of the water,” Jones says. And the company shows no sign of slowing down; in fact, the opposite is true: “We are spending a lot of money to expand capacity inside our plant to give us more ability to serve both domestic and international markets.” >>38 Third Quarter 2008 • 37

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Rural Water - Quarter 3, 2008

Rural Water - Quarter 3, 2008 Contents From the President From Hypo to Gas - A Forward Leap If You Lose All Your Data Today... Would You Still Be in Business Tomorrow? Weaving the Wireless Web Rural Water and the Farm Bill Ensuring Your Water System's Security Guarding Against Becoming a Victim of Fraud 10 Ways to Improve Utility Efficiency New Technology Making a Difference By Being Involved Regulatory Update Source Water Protection Corner Throwing My Loop Cub Scouts Visit Alliance of Indiana Rural Water's Spring Conference Advertisers.com Index to Advertisers From the CEO

Rural Water - Quarter 3, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.