Water Briefing: WeatherTrak, PPG, Converted Organics, Ridgeline

The Dorchester condominium association in Palm Beach, Fla. saved 1.1 million gallons of water after implementing the WeatherTRAK Smart Water Management platform earlier this year, according to the manufacturer, HydroPoint.

The Dorchester found cash savings on its first water bill after installing a single WeatherTRAK smart irrigation controller in January 2011. The condo association then doubed the return on its initial $3,000 project investment by July 2011 while slashing the community’s water bills 12 percent.

When one-day-a-week watering restrictions were implemented in the summer, WeatherTRAK’s ET Everywhere scheduling engine automated compliance with the watering window. The Dorchester was able to prevent stress on its expansive turf areas by gradually reducing the water schedules and avoiding expensive plant replacement projects.

The WeatherTRAK installation uses daily ET data to dynamically adjust the irrigation schedules as local weather conditions change, activate rain pause during hurricane season, and identify specific water needs for each of The Dorchester’s 26 landscape zones based on programmable parameters such as plant, soil and slope type.

In other water-related news, PPG Industries has introduced ACCU-TAB wastewater tablets that the company says provide enhanced erosion control and reduced wicking to effectively kill bacteria, control algae and destroy organic contaminants in aerobic water treatment systems handling up to 250,000 gallons per day, including those for residential sites, apartment complexes and small commercial sites.

The calcium hypochlorite wastewater tablets are manufactured with HI-SIL H-303 silica to provide a steady source of available chlorine. The PPG-engineered silica is an erosion modifier that replaces aluminum stearate, which can be violently reactive under certain environmental conditions.

Accu-Tab wastewater tablets are compatible with standard 2 5/8-inch feeders, have a beveled edge and smaller 2.5-inch diameter to reduce wicking. They are EPA-registered and certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 60.

Converted Organics has signed an agreement with South Canyon Waste Systems to provide financing for the industrial wastewater project at the South Canyon Landfill in Glenwood Springs, Colo. Under the agreement, SCWS will provide the remaining capital needed for the previously completed installation of a LM-HT Wastewater Concentrator, which is used to process industrial wastewater at the landfill.

The Converted Organics facility will derive waste heat from wood waste that has been diverted from traditional landfill disposal. It will treat a wide range of industrial wastewater including septic, wash waters, process waters, man-camp waste waters and various wastewaters from oil and gas exploration.

Finally, Ridgeline Energy Services has signed a second development agreement with an existing client, a major North American oil and gas producer, to construct a single train commercial installation at one of the client’s sites in the Leonard Shale, N.M.

The STCI will test, analyze and treat produced and flowback water from the client’s centralised oil production facility. This water can then be reused for hydraulic fracturing or disposed of.

The client estimates likely reserves on 31,000 of its 120,000 net acres in the play are about 65 million barrels of crude oil equivalent, net after royalty.