31 Mar 2022

Design, Construction, and Testing of the PFAS Effluent Treatment System (PETS), a Mobile Ion Exchange–Based System for the Treatment of Per-, Poly-Fluorinated Alkyl Substances (PFAS) Contaminated Water

Abstract: Poly-,Per-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are versatile chemicals that were incorporated in a wide range of products. One of their most important use was in aqueous film-forming foams for fighting liquid fuel fires. PFAS compounds have recently been identified as potential environmental contaminants. In the United States there are hundreds of potential military sites with PFAS contamination.The ERDC designed and constructed a mobile treatment system to address small sites (250,000 gallons or less) and as a platform to field test new adsorptive media. The PFAS Effluent Treatment System (PETS) has cartridge filters to remove sediments and a granular activated carbon (GAC) media filter to remove organic compounds that might compete with PFAS in the ion exchange process, although it may also remove PFAS too. The last process is an ion exchange resin specifically designed to remove PFAS to a target level of 70 ng/L or less (equivalent to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Drinking Water Health Advisory). The system was tested at Hurlburt Field, a US Air Force facility in Florida and at Naval Support Activity (NSA) Mid-South in Millington, TN.

22 Mar 2022

Schedule for Missouri River spring public meetings set

Spring public meetings to discuss Missouri River Water Management operations and plans are scheduled for April 11-15. Spring public meetings provide a status of mountain snowpack, a runoff forecast for the year, and how operations during the runoff year will meet the authorized purposes for the Missouri River Mainstem System.

3 Mar 2022

Below average runoff continues for the upper Missouri River Basin

“The runoff in February was less than predicted, and we expect the lower-than-average runoff to continue in the coming months,” said John Remus, chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’, Missouri River Basin Water Management Division. “The snow accumulation in both the plains and the mountains continues to be below average, and the soil moisture remains very low compared to normal. This resulted in us lowering our anticipated runoff for the 2022 water year.”

4 Feb 2022

USACE Anacostia River dock upgrades enhance environmental rehabilitation

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District’s, DC Field office dock will house the newly arriving NACOTCHTANK Floating Crane in the District of Columbia alongside the Anacostia River. The DC Drift Program planned rehabilitation and modification of the mooring piers at the site location to help aid in the offloading of debris collected by the DC Drift Program vessels. Local contractors performed construction modifications to help enable the District’s ability to protect environmental habitat, improve water quality and aesthetics, and expand public access within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Additionally, USACE boat operators conduct routine debris patrols and respond to debris calls received from the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, boat and marina operators, and private citizens. Lastly, the program’s year-round drift removal operations benefit navigation efforts by reducing damages, financial loss, and safety hazards to commercial and recreational vessels, operators, and docking facilities.

3 Feb 2022

Below average runoff forecast for the upper Missouri River Basin in 2022

The updated 2022 calendar year runoff forecast for the Missouri River Basin above Sioux City, Iowa, continues to be below average.  “Despite January’s runoff being slightly above average, we expect 2022 runoff to remain below average,” said John Remus, chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’, Missouri River Basin Water Management Division. “Both plains snowpack and mountain snowpack continue to lag behind seasonal averages, and soil moisture continues to be much drier-than-normal.”

6 Jan 2022

Dry Conditions expected to persist for the Missouri River Basin

The 2021 calendar year runoff summation for the Missouri River basin above Sioux City, Iowa was 15.2 million acre-feet, 59% of average. The ongoing drought shows no relief in sight and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is predicting runoff into the mainstem reservoir system will remain below normal. This was the 10th lowest annual runoff for the Missouri River Basin in 123 years of record-keeping.

6 Dec 2021

Gavins Point Dam releases reduced to winter release rate

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began reducing the Gavins Point releases to the winter release rate on Nov. 23, marking the end of flow support for the 2021 Missouri River navigation season. “Releases from Gavins Point Dam are being reduced to the winter release of 12,000 cubic feet per second,” said John Remus, Chief of the Missouri River Basin Water Management Division. “Releases from Gavins Point are currently 13,000 cfs and we will slowly reduce releases to 12,000 by December 8. We will closely monitor river conditions, and releases will be adjusted this winter as needed to lessen the impacts of river ice formation on stages in the lower river.”

2 Dec 2021

How water management works, all day, every day

A football coach manages players. A restaurant manager oversees cooks, waiters and general staff. An air traffic controller manages planes coming and going through the sky. But who manages the nation’s waters?

5 Nov 2021

Gavins Point Dam releases to be reduced in late November

“We will continue to make releases from Gavins Point Dam to provide flow support at an intermediate service level, 1,500 cubic feet per second (cfs) less than full service, through the end of the navigation flow support season,” said John Remus, chief of the USACE, Missouri River Water Management Division.

13 Oct 2021

Optimizing the Harmful Algal Bloom Interception, Treatment, and Transformation System (HABITATS)

Abstract: Harmful algal blooms (HABs) continue to affect lakes and waterways across the nation, often resulting in environmental and economic damage at regional scales. The US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and collaborators have continued research on the Harmful Algal Bloom Interception, Treatment, and Transformation System (HABITATS) project to develop a rapidly deployable and scalable system for mitigating large HABs. The second year of the project focused on optimization research, including (1) development of a new organic flocculant formulation for neutralization and flotation of algal cells; (2) testing and initial optimization of a new, high-throughput biomass dewatering system with low power requirements; (3) development, design, assembly, and initial testing of the first shipboard HABITATS prototype; (4) execution of two field pilot studies of interception and treatment systems in coordination with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; (5) conversion of algal biomass into biocrude fuel at pilot scale with a 33% increase in yield compared to the previous bench scale continuous-flow reactor studies; and (6) refinement of a scalability analysis and optimization model to guide the future development of full-scale prototypes.