Water is the most important utility our local communities can secure, and it is fundamental to every process in our modern life. From cooking and bathing to sanitary hospital conditions and even farming irrigation, water collected from local sources plays a critical role in virtually everything we do. Our municipalities spend a great deal of time and money trying to ensure that water is pollutant free, sewage is treated and heavy metals or fertilizer don’t reach our main water tables. One need only mention Flint, Michigan to get a sense of just how deadly it can be when a city doesn’t pay close attention to its water supply.
Still, our water supplies and infrastructure are heavily strained. Of the 170,000 public drinking-water systems across America, less than half serve a whopping 264 million people. Our country has even fewer waste-water treatment systems than drinking-water systems – less than 15,000 across the nation, in fact, the vast majority of which are owned by municipalities. Aging pipes can leak as much as 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage a year into our waterways. Investment has certainly not kept up with demand over time, and as upgrades are put off, the problem becomes increasingly more expensive.
Systems and pipes degrade over time. Component parts can last 15 years or nearly 100 years, depending on the quality of the part. Herein lies the issue. Municipalities are strapped for funds and local populations are often very resistant to a gas tax or other municipal fundraising efforts. But purchasing cheaper equipment or failing to upgrade pipes and other features that are long past their prime is dangerous. Fortunately, having a quality product can also save money. A quality static sludge mixer for sewage treatment can generate polymer savings as high as 25%. A Komax Klean-Wall Heat Exchanger can generate as much as 300% efficiency increase over other standard slurry heaters and will reduce retention time by as much as 50%.
Doing nothing leaves a municipality at risk of water shortages, higher prices or expensive outlays to fix the problem. Why not see how a proper investment in innovative equipment can pay off in many ways including your bottom line?