EBI News for June 19, 2024 – Water report ranks cybersecurity and contaminants as top concerns
EBI News for June 19, 2024 – The following news section contains the latest stories for the environmental industry. Including, Water report ranks cybersecurity and contaminants as top concerns, acquisitions, and more!
Terracon acquires SAGE in Northeast
Employee-owned Terracon (Olathe, Kan.) has acquired SAGE Environmental and SAGE EnviroTech Drilling Services (Providence, R.I.). SAGE’s services include assessment and remediation; development, permitting and regulatory compliance; health and safety; environmental and geotechnical drilling; and specialized remedial injections. The acquisition is supported by Terracon’s existing operations in Hartford, Conn., the Metro Boston area, and throughout the Northeast. SAGE’s 33 employees will become part of Terracon. This is Terracon’s second acquisition in 2024, following Texplor of Dallas, Inc. earlier in the year, and its 22nd acquisition since the beginning of 2017.
ERM to acquire Energetics
ERM (London, UK) announced a deal to acquire Energetics (Sydney, Australia), a climate risk and energy transition consultancy, subject to the approval of Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board. The acquisition will enhance ERM’s ability to support clients across Australia and the Asia Pacific. “Bringing together Energetics and ERM creates Australia’s most comprehensive sustainability and climate change advisory firm. This acquisition is critical to the growth of ERM in the region and is in direct response to Australia’s plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Matt Klein, global co-head corporate sustainability and climate change for ERM. In 2022 ERM acquired Point Advisory, an Australian sustainability and climate change consultancy.
Water report ranks cybersecurity and contaminants as top concerns
Cybersecurity has emerged as a pressing concern for water utilities in response to growing cyberattacks on infrastructure systems, according to Black & Veatch’s newly released 2024 Water Report. The survey of nearly 630 water industry stakeholders found that more than eight out of 10 cast cybersecurity investment as just as important as physical security. Two-thirds of respondents preferred to govern cybersecurity themselves, down from more than 70% over the previous two years. Contaminants were also a leading concern in 2024 with 42% of respondents reporting that PFAS have been detected in their water supply and 36% foreseeing a need to provide a PFAS treatment solution in the next five years, up from 21% in 2023. Most (61%) are planning for a main treatment plant retrofit as a primary solution. Regulatory uncertainty was the greatest limiting factor for addressing PFAS in water at 41% followed by ratepayer/budgetary considerations at 21%, up from 5% in 2023. “Given the release of the final drinking water regulation this year, it remains to be seen if utilities will be confident in their regulatory requirements going forward, or if uncertainty will continue due to other evolving regulations such as proposed changes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA),” B&V reported. Concerns about cost were likely prompted by U.S. EPA’s proposed National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) in March 2023 but could also reflect the prospect of costly pipe replacements to meet lead and copper rule revisions over the next decade.
EA tasked with GHG emissions inventory in Massachusetts
EA Engineering, Science, and Technology Inc., PBC (Hunt Valley, Md.) is supporting the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District in Massachusetts by executing a Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program Phase I Planning Grant awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Works will be performed for the combined 27 communities in southeast Massachusetts and Rhode Island under a statewide contract for climate action services. EA’s responsibilities involve a regional greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, quantification of GHG emission reduction measures, evaluation of co-pollutants, GHG emission projections and reduction targets, and support for stakeholder engagement.
Hazen expands operations in Virginia and Alabama
Hazen and Sawyer (Raleigh, N.C.) has opened offices in Roanoke, Va. and Auburn, Ala., appointing two local engineers as operations managers. “We are thrilled to open new offices in Roanoke and Auburn, which are both near prestigious engineering universities,” said Alan Stone, Hazen president. “We look forward to using these offices to provide exceptional solutions to local clients and to foster vital connections with the local communities.”
Food processors get updated manual on wastewater use
Kennedy Jenks (San Francisco, Calif.) announced the publication of the Manual of Good Practice for Land Application of Food Processing/Rinse Water. The revised manual was written on behalf of the California League of Food Producers and co-authored with Brown and Caldwell and provides technical and regulatory guidance for land application of food processing wastewater, in addition to water reuse guidance for crop irrigation. Originally published in 2007, dischargers and regulators use the manual in waste discharge requirement permits. The updated manual reflects changing technology, regulations, and treatment methods.
Montrose Environmental expands in Canada
Montrose Environmental Group Inc. (Little Rock, Ark.) announced the acquisition of Paragon Soil & Environmental Consulting Inc. (Edmonton, Alb.), a company specializing in soils, vegetation, and wetlands development and reclamation in Western Canada. Paragon’s senior leadership team will join Montrose’s Consulting and Engineering services within its Remediation and Reuse segment. Paragon serves clients in the oil sands, pipeline, mining and power sectors; its work spans western Canada, bolstering Montrose’s presence in the region and adding expertise in select soil and reclamation services.
Apex acquires storm water firm in California
Apex Companies LLC (Rockville, Md.) announced the acquisition of Storm Water Inspection & Maintenance Services Inc. (SWIMS). Founded nearly 30 years ago, SWIMS employs more than 100 professionals and serves clients across California from two locations: Brentwood in Northern California and San Juan Capistrano in Southern California. SWIMS will maintain its existing management structure working as part of Apex’s national storm water platform. Apex is a national multidisciplinary consulting and engineering services firm with capabilities in water, environmental, health and safety, construction management, transportation, compliance and assurance, and infrastructure.
Dewberry to map wetlands in Ohio and New York
Dewberry (Fairfax, Va.) has been selected to provide mapping services for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) National Wetlands Inventory. Data will be used to monitor the abundance, characteristics, and distribution of wetlands in the United States. Dewberry will use remote sensing data to map the boundary for each wetland and classify them according to the Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States. Much of the nation has already been mapped, however, maps are updated as the environment changes. Dewberry will provide data for areas in northern Ohio and western New York, approximately 6.7 million acres total.
Pumped hydro primed to surge in Southeast Asia
Pumped-storage hydropower is set to play an increasing role in Southeast Asia’s energy transition, according to Rydstad Energy (Oslo, Norway). Pumped hydro capacity in Southeast Asia is projected to surge from 2.3 gigawatts (GW) today to 18 GW by 2033, representing a nearly eightfold increase in less than a decade and attracting an estimated total investment of between $12 billion and $70 billion. Currently, 2.7 GW of pumped hydro storage is under construction, with the remaining 13.3 GW in various stages of development. While Thailand boasts the most existing capacity for now, the Philippines will soon surpass it with about 5.7 GW in the pipeline, Rydstad predicted. Other countries in the region investing in pumped hydro include Vietnam and Indonesia, which boast about 4.5 GW and 4.2 GW of pending capacity, respectively. Thailand will also contribute to the region’s growth through 2033 with an additional 1.6 GW slated for development.
Researchers optimize new method for extracting lithium
Researchers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering say they have optimized a new method for extracting lithium from more dilute and widespread sources, including seawater, groundwater and “flowback water” left behind from fracking and offshore oil drilling. The approach isolates lithium based on its electrochemical properties, using crystal lattices of olivine iron phosphate. Because of its size, charge and reactivity, lithium is drawn into the spaces in the olivine iron phosphate columns — like water being soaked into the holes in a sponge. If the column is designed perfectly, sodium ions also present in briny liquids are left out or enter the iron phosphate at a much lower level. Researchers found that when iron phosphate particles were too large or too small they tended to let more sodium into their structures. “It turned out that there was this sweet spot in the middle where both the kinetics and the thermodynamics favor lithium over sodium,” said Chong Liu, assistant professor of molecular engineering and senior author of the work, published in Nature Communications.
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