AMS entered its first contract to provide a California community with its SafeGuard™ H2O advanced treatment system, designed to eliminate carcinogenic, hexavalent chromium (Cr6), from drinking water supplies. Valued at over 1 million USD, this contract represents the first full-scale commercial installation of this innovative in-situ reagent generation technology. Before the introduction of SafeGuard H2O, Californian communities and the States’ important agricultural industries struggled with prohibitively expensive and unsustainable technologies for Cr6 removal from their water supplies. SafeGuard H2O ensures affordable and sustainable compliance; the lifetime cost of the system is 40% lower than that of competing technologies and generates significantly fewer greenhouse gases, ultimately reducing the cost of making water safe.

As an industry governed by regulatory standards to deliver safe water and protect environmental health, the challenge is to do so cost-effectively with minimum greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While new treatment facilities can be built, a greater focus should be placed on making the legacy of inefficient and non-climate-friendly treatment plants more sustainable and aligned with the goals of Water 2050. Online water quality analyzers will be instrumental in helping existing water treatment facilities meet these goals because of the benefits they offer. Real-time water monitoring helps optimize the treatment process, resulting in less energy and chemical use, and therefore, less GHG emissions.

Cities across California must prioritize the implementation of Cr6 treatment solutions while protecting their investment. Therefore, as cities set out to meet today’s 10-ppb MCL, they must consider the MCL of the future and adopt the right Cr6 treatment approach that can cost-effectively comply with a more stringent regulatory limit. SafeGuard™ H2O provides a solution that ensures safety and confidence for cities. With SafeGuard™ H2O, cities can pursue a water blending strategy where appropriate and be assured of sustainable compliance if the State decides to lower the MCL.

The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) regulation will rely more heavily on using lead and copper testing and monitoring apparatuses. These apparatuses have issues around sampling constraints and lack real-time data on water corrosivity to anticipate the risk of lead/copper corrosion before it happens in homes/schools/daycares. This is where the benefit of real-time lead and copper monitoring in drinking water systems can significantly contribute to a water system’s compliance with the proposed lead and copper action levels outlined in the LCRI. The automatic, unattended online MetalGuard™ analyzer from AMS provides high-frequency, timely, and accurate predictive data to stakeholders on their exposure to lead or copper contamination risks.

Through a unique platform of advanced water treatment solutions that help enterprises of all sizes achieve water treatment process optimization and a reduction in the use of chemicals and energy, AMS is positioned for accelerated growth in 2024 across its AMS Analytics and AMS Environment divisions. In this exclusive piece “Building a Sustainable Future Through Radical Innovation,” Rick Bacon, CEO of AMS, shares how AMS is advancing sustainability in the global water sector through transformative ideas, innovations, and a unique approach to customer service.

With increasing concerns about the quality of bulk reagents such as bulk ferric chemicals that are widely used in the water treatment industry, utilities are seeking alternative, more carbon neutral, and environmentally friendly treatment methods. AMS’ SafeGuard™ H2O technology is a sustainable alternative that responds to that need. SafeGuard™ H2O has numerous advantages over traditional coagulation processes that depend on bulk ferric chloride. The system’s on-site generation of a ferrous/ferric reagent requires a smaller footprint, and it offers greater reliability to utilities looking to reduce GHG emissions. SafeGuard™ H2O also has a 30 – 50% lifetime cost advantage, considering the cost of purchasing bulk chemicals, manual process supervision, and waste disposal. SafeGuard™ H2O is poised to replace the use of hazardous bulk reagents since it does not compromise the quality of drinking water, harm the environment and it can be produced using renewable energy sources and stored for later use when these are unavailable.

Real-time insights and innovative water treatment technologies can minimize the environmental impact of water and wastewater treatment. Specifically, the AMS’ SafeGuard™ H2O technology, which generates ferrous or stannous-based water treatment reagents on-site and on-demand, coupled with real-time monitoring, can reduce the need for bulk toxic chemicals and displace traditional treatment technologies, significantly reducing emissions.

AMS is at forefront of digitalization in the water sector. AMS enters 2023 with several significant achievements in 2022 that position it for a broad-based and robust growth of its AMS Analytics and AMS Environment divisions in 2023 and beyond. In this exclusive piece “Driving Digitalization in the Water Sector to Transform the Way We Treat Water,” Rick Bacon, CEO of AMS, shares how AMS is helping transform the way we treat water by providing facilities with proven solutions that will improve their energy efficiency and help them control their GHG emissions.

Unsustainable approaches to water treatment are pervasive, partly due to a lack of real-time data. H2O Global News caught up with Rick Bacon, CEO of AMS, to discover how a potent combination of accurate insights and eco-friendly treatment methods can help build an industry fit for the future.