SIGELOCK HYDRANTS One of the more interesting new products unveiled at the show was the Sigelock hydrant. The connections are all completely enclosed and do not extend beyond the body of the hydrant. The inventor of this hydrant showed us how easy it was to take off the protective covers and access the operating nut…
Category: Drinking Water
Awesome Products/Demos from the ACE2010 Expo – Part 2
This second post highlights the dampener system manufactured by Blacoh Fluid Control. This display caught our eye and no wonder – the vendor, Marcus, told us that they won an award at the show for having such an awesome booth! Here's a quick video showing how a regular pulse metering pump doses chemical in short…
Awesome Products/Demos from the ACE2010 Expo – Part 1
Today a coworker and I had the chance to attend the ACE 2010 Expo put on by the American WaterWorks Association (AWWA). We learned a lot about traditional products and some new innovations. Fortunately I brought my Flip camera and thanks to some great vendors was able to get short videos of their products to…
Bryan’s Consumer Confidence Report on Stage at Gov 2.0 Expo
Each year, water utilities all over the U.S. have to prepare and distribute Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR) to their customers. Usually these documents are sent out as two or three page sheets of tiny text filled with standard, required language reporting on water sources and chemicals found in drinking water. My guess is most Americans…
Enter the EPA Water Quality Contest
Over the last year, the EPA has successfully embraced the use of social media to help promote environmental stewardship. One of their most recent efforts is the launch of a water quality contest. According to their Web site, they are “looking for educational videos that inspire people to help protect our streams, lakes, wetlands, and…
Frozen Meters Exposed – Don’t Try This at Home
A water meter usually sits in a basement or crawlspace off in a corner, forgotten, and often ignored. But when temperatures start to dip below 0° F, and the water in the meter freezes because no one thought to keep their meter nice and toasty warm, this water measuring device starts to get a little…
Virtual SCADA – A Real and Virtual World Mashup
Physicist Alfred Hubler, a professor at the University of Illinois, has created the first mixed reality state in a physical system. Hubler and Vadas Gintautas, a graduate student at the school, set up a system that passed data between a virtual pendulum and a real pendulum about the physical state of each. While the real…
EPA Launches Multimedia Site
The US EPA has started up a multimedia site at www.epa.gov/multimedia that offers videos, audio/podcasts, and images. Some of the videos and podcasts cover information about Radon, water infrastructure, indoor air quality, and other topics related to the environment. Visitors can also access an area of the site that allows for interaction between the EPA…
Buying Real Products in a Virtual World
Our city just bought a new sign making machine to replace the old heat press antique that we had to make signs, and over the last couple weeks, our crew has been learning and becoming more familiar with this computer-based system. Now we are ready to begin our city-wide updating of our street and traffic…
Responsible Water Use in Second Life
The current issue of the SLEngineer magazine profiles the Center for Water Studies, a 3-D virtual build in Second Life that is owned and managed by Delia Lake. (Click here to read the issue: www.slengineer.org) Lake not only has built a creative and instructive site where SL users can learn more about responsible water use,…