Resources for Drinking Water Utilities

U.S. EPA: Protecting Our Water, Our Future

As part of our mission to protect human health and the environment, EPA is happy to share the results of our research into treatment methods and technologies for safe drinking water and sanitation. We've assembled a collection of resources on this page that we hope will be useful to drinking water utilities across the globe.

Arsenic in Drinking Water Treatment Resources

Following the announcement of a new standard for arsenic in drinking water, EPA invested $20 million in research, development, and testing of cost-effective treatment technologies for arsenic. As part of this investment, EPA also funded the development of technical assistance and training materials for drinking water system operators.

EPA's Arsenic Removal Training and Technical Assistance page
Arsenic Treatment Technology Evaluation Handbook for Small Systems (151 pp, 1.9 MB, About PDF)
Arsenic Treatment Publications - this page contains a complete list of publications by EPA's arsenic research program, including design manuals and case studies of arsenic removal systems. A few particularly noteworthy publications are listed below:
- Design Manual: Removal of Arsenic from Drinking Water by Adsorptive Media (96 pp, 1.41 MB, About PDF)
- Design Manual: Removal of Arsenic From Drinking Water by Ion Exchange (9 pp, 179 KB, About PDF)
- Design Manual: Removal From Drinking Water Supplies by Iron Removal Process (78 pp, 1.55 MB, About PDF)
- Oxidation of As (III) by Aeration and Storage (52 pp, 1.49 MB, About PDF)
- Laboratory Study on the Oxidation of Arsenic (III) to Arsenic (V) (100 pp, 2.5 MB, About PDF)
The following articles are not available directly from EPA. The publishers may charge a fee for access to these articles.

Climate Ready Water Utilities

EPA maintains a collection of resources to assist utility operators in adapting to climate change impacts.

Climate Ready Water Utilities Toolbox

Environmental Technology Verification

Although EPA no longer verifies innovative environmental technologies, the Agency maintains a library of testing protocols and verification reports for innovative environmental technologies.

Software Tools for Water Utilities

EPANET

EPANET is software that models water distribution piping systems. EPANET is public domain software that may be freely copied and distributed. It is a Windows 95/98/NT/XP program. EPANET performs extended period simulation of the water movement and quality behavior within pressurized pipe networks.

Download EPANET

CANARY

CANARY is software developed by EPA to enhances a water system’s ability to detect when there has been intentional or unintentional contamination. The Canary software can help detect a wide variety of chemical and biological contaminants, including pesticides, metals, and pathogens. Once contamination is detected quickly, a water utility can issue a “Do Not Drink” order to prevent customers from ingesting the water.

Storm Water Management Model (SWMM)

SWMM is a dynamic hydrology-hydraulic water quality simulation model. It is used for single event or long-term (continuous) simulation of runoff quantity and quality from primarily urban areas. The runoff component operates on a collection of sub catchment areas that receive precipitation and generate runoff and pollutant loads. The routing portion transports this runoff through a system of pipes, channels, storage/treatment devices, pumps, and regulators.

Storm Water Management Model

Other Resources

EPA's Clusters Program works to bring together regional networks of water industry organizations - including businesses, universities, government agencies, and support groups. These networks can be a resource for bringing new water technologies to market and solving regional water problems.

Environmental Technology Innovation Clusters Program

Additionally, EPA assembled a broad collection of resources from a variety of additional EPA programs for the Water Environment Federation's Technical Exposition and Conference in 2014. Some of these resources may also prove useful to World Water Forum participants.

EPA resources from WEFTEC 2014 Exit