LA wildfires force 40,000 people to evacuate
November 17, 2008

The Triangle Complex fire has forced 40,000 people from their homes and burned 29,000 acres. There's some debate now over whether these are the worst fires in LA in a half-century.

We offer portable firefighting pumps for quick shipment anywhere in the lower 48 states, as well as PTO-driven fire pumps commonly used by firefighting teams. Please feel free to contact us with your questions.


Modern technology begets modern threats
November 14, 2008

As SCADA and networked systems become more common inside critical facilities like water and wastewater treatment plants, the need to ensure the security of those electronic control systems becomes even more important. Variable-frequency drives (VFDs) and programmable-logic controllers (PLCs) are frequently used in our lift stations and booster pump stations, and those are just two examples of high-tech pieces of the modern infrastructure puzzle. Attacks are not a commonplace occurrence yet, but disgruntled parties have used radio controls to cause pump station failures.


A short history of the quality of the Cedar River
November 13, 2008

The summer floods which did significant damage to much of Iowa, including many water and wastewater treatment plants, has brought renewed attention to the quality of the water in the Cedar River which runs through the eastern part of the state. Even as recently as the 1960s, the river was in bad ecological shape, but with improvements in wastewater treatment (particularly in the 1970s), the health of the river improved. While the effects of the summer flooding will probably continue to raise bacteria levels for a while, in the long term, lots of attention will be needed to the matter of non-point-source pollution, which is harder to control than what flows into the sanitary sewers.


"You just can't build something and never pay attention to it again"
November 12, 2008

There is a lot of expectation building that the government will initiate another economic-stimulus plan soon, which may include funding for infrastructure improvements in the water and wastewater sectors. Many projects funded with Federal money in the 1970s have reached or exceeded their expected useful lives, and need significant replacements and upgrades.


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