New Environmental Monitoring Technology Keeping the Air We Breathe Under an Unprecedented Level of Scrutiny

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times discussed advances in environmental monitoring technologies. Rising calls to create cleaner air and limit climate change are driving a surge in new technology for measuring air emissions and other pollutants — a data revolution that is opening new windows into the micro-mechanics of environmental damage. Data stemming from these new monitoring technologies coupled with advances in data management (Big Data) and Internet of Things (IOT) as discussed in my article “Keeping  the Pulse of the Planet: Using Big Data to Monitor Our Environment” published last year, is creating all new industry and bringing much needed transparency to environmental degradation. Real time monitoring of  radioactive emissions at any point around globe or water quality data are slowly becoming a reality.

According to the article author William Yardley, “the momentum for new monitoring tools is rooted in increasingly stringent regulations, including California’s cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions, and newly tightened federal standards and programs to monitor drought and soil contamination. A variety of clean-tech companies have arisen to help industries meet the new requirements, but the new tools and data are also being created by academics, tinkerers and concerned citizens — just ask Volkswagen, whose deceptive efforts to skirt emissions-testing standards were discovered with the help of a small university lab in West Virginia.”

“Taking it all into account, the Earth is coming under an unprecedented new level of scrutiny.”

“There are a lot of companies picking up on this, but who is interested in the data — to me, that’s also fascinating,” said Colette Heald, an atmospheric chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We’re in this moment of a huge growth in curiosity — of people trying to understand their environment. That coincides with the technology to do something more.”

The push is not limited to measuring air and emissions. Tools to sample soil, air emissions, produced water, waste management, monitor water quality, test ocean acidity and improve weather forecasting are all on the rise. Drought has prompted new efforts to map groundwater and stream flows and their water quality across the West.

Two of key issues that need to be addressed are validity of data stemming from new instruments and sensors for enforcement purposes and where is all (big) data be stored and how accessible it will be. The first question will be answered as new hand-held data collection instrumentation, sensors, and devices undergo testing and accreditation by governmental agencies. The second issue, a big data, has already been solved by companies like Locus Technologies that has been aggregating massive amounts of environmental monitoring data in its cloud-based EIM (Environmental Information Management) software.

As the article put it: “When the technology is out there and everyone starts using it, the question is, how good is the data? If the data’s not high enough quality, then we’re not going to make regulatory decisions based on that. Where is this data going to reside in 10 years, when all these sensors are out there, and who’s going to [manage] that information? Right now it’s kind of organic so there’s no centralized place where all of this information is going.”

However, the private industry and some Government organizations like Department of Energy (DOE) are already preparing for these new avalanches of data that are hitting their corporate networks and are using Locus cloud to organize and report increased volume of monitoring information stemming from their facilities and other monitoring networks.

EPA Issues a Draft Report on Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources

This assessment provides a review and synthesis of available scientific literature and data to assess the potential for hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas to impact the quality or quantity of drinking water resources, and identifies factors affecting the frequency or severity of any potential impacts. The scope of this assessment is defined by the hydraulic fracturing water cycle which includes five main activities:

  1. Water acquisition – the withdrawal of ground or surface water needed for hydraulic fracturing fluids;
  2. Chemical mixing – the mixing of water, chemicals, and proppant on the well pad to create the hydraulic fracturing fluid;
  3. Well injection – the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into the well to fracture the geologic formation;
  4. Flowback and Produced water – the return of injected fluid and water produced from the formation to the surface, and subsequent transport for reuse, treatment, or disposal; and
  5. Wastewater treatment and waste disposal – the reuse, treatment and release, or disposal of wastewater generated at the well pad, including produced water.

This report can be used by federal, tribal, state, and local officials; industry; and the public to better understand and address vulnerabilities of drinking water resources to hydraulic fracturing activities. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of published literature and hints on environmental data management challenges facing hydro fracking industry.  Find out more about our solutions for the oil & gas industry.

For more information and to download report please visit the EPA site: http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/hfstudy/recordisplay.cfm?deid=244651

A Better Way to Organize and Manage Environmental Compliance Data

Current Practice

How do companies currently handle and store their environmental information?

Managing an environmental project (contaminated site, emission source, or GHG inventory) is similar to making a Hollywood movie, with one difference: duration.  A movie is usually made in few months, whereas an environmental project typically spans years or decades.

The work involved in investigating, remediating or monitoring of contaminated or emissions sites is almost universally performed by outside consulting firms. Large companies rarely “put all their eggs in one basket,” choosing instead to apportion their environmental work amongst several to 10, 20, or even more consulting firms.  The actual work at a particular site is generally managed and performed by the nearest local office of the firm that has been assigned to the site.

At larger production facilities such refinery or a Superfund site, the environmental work is likely to span 10, 20, or 30 years while monitoring may continue even longer. Over this period of time, investigations are planned, samples collected, reports written, remedial designs created, and following agency approval, one or more remedies may be implemented. Not only is turnover in personnel commonplace, but owing to the rebidding of national contracts, the firm assigned to do the work typically changes multiple times over the life span of a remedial project.

The investigation of a single large, potentially contaminated site often requires the collection of hundreds or even thousands of samples. A typical sample may be tested for the presence of several hundreds of chemicals, and many locations may be sampled multiple times per year over the course of many years. The end result is an extraordinary amount of information. Keep in mind that this is just for one site. Large companies with manufacturing and/or production facilities often have anywhere from a few to several hundred sites. Those that also have a retail component to their operations (e.g., oil companies) can have thousands of sites. Add to this list compliance and reporting data, engineering studies, real time emission monitoring, and the amount of data becomes staggering and unmanageable by conventional databases and spreadsheets. Given the magnitude and importance of this information, one would expect environmental data management to be a high priority item in the overall strategy of any company subject to environmental laws and regulations. But this is not so; instead, our surveys of the industry reveal that a large portion of information sits in spreadsheets and home-built databases. In short, you have an entire industry with billions in liability making decisions using tools that are not up to the task. Robust databases are standard tools in other industries – but for whatever reason, the environmental business has failed to fully embrace them.

As a result, many organizations and governmental agencies are simply “flying blind” when it comes to managing their environmental information.

The lack of standards and inconsistencies in information management practices among the firms performing environmental work for a company impose a significant cost on the company’s overall environmental budget.  The fact that some firms may use spreadsheets, others their own databases, and still other various commercial applications may appear on the surface to be a benign practice, as each firm’s office uses the tools it is most comfortable with. But the overall cost to the customer in fact is enormous.

A Better Way

Is there a better approach that companies (both consultants and owners of environmental liability) can adopt to manage their environmental data?  The solution seems obvious:  get all the information about sites out of paper files, spreadsheets, and stand-alone or inaccessible databases and into an electronic repository in a structured and formatted form that—and this is the crucial point — any project participant can access, preferably from the web, at any time or any place. In other words, the solution is not merely to use computers, but to use the web to link the parties involved in an emission management or site cleanup, and this includes not only site owners and their consultants but also regulators, laboratories, and insurers, thus making them, in current jargon, “interoperable.” This may be obvious, but today it is also a very distant goal.

What would the ideal IT architecture of environmental industry in future look like? It would start, with wireless data entry using mobile devices by technicians in the field and wireless sensors where feasible. Labs would upload the results of analytical testing directly from their instrumentation and LIMS systems into the web-based database. During the upload process any necessary error checking and data validation would take place automatically. Consultants would review these uploads and put their stamp of approval on the data before it becomes part of the permanent database. Air monitoring devices and sensors would automatically upload their measurements into the same system. Ditto for any water or air treatment systems installed at facilities, metering devices for consumption of energy, water, or fuel, etc. Anything with an IP address and connected to the internet that produces data relevant to environmental or sustainability monitoring should feed data into the same system. (In today’s word there is a word for it: Internet of Things or IoT).

Behind the scenes, all data would be formatted and stored according to recognized and standard protocols. Contrary to widespread concerns, this does not require a single central repository for all data or any particular hardware architecture. Instead, it relies on common software protocols and formats so that individual computer applications can find and talk to one another across the Internet. The good news is that the most of these standards, such as XML, SOAP, AJAX, REST, and WSDL, already exist and are used by many industries. Others, such as DMR, SEDD, GRI, CDP, EDF, CROMERR, or EDD (spelling them out makes them sound no less obscure) are unique to the environmental industry and govern data interchange between, laboratories, consultants, clients and regulatory agencies. On top of these, there needs to be hacker-proof layers of authentication and password protection so that only the right people can access critical or sensitive information.

There is still some work to do to refine these technologies but the basic building blocks are already readily available and implemented by few progressive companies and regulatory agencies. The problems that this changed approach would address are many. First, data would be entered or uploaded just once, preferably electronically. Secondly, data transfer costs would drop and data quality would improve. No longer would the need exist to transfer data whenever one consulting firm is replaced by another or to maintain multiple databases that must be kept in sync. Third, the significant amounts of time that engineers, managers, and scientists now spend determining where a particular report is correct or looking up information on a site would dramatically decline. Fourth, by having their data in a consistent electronic format, companies would be in a better position to comply with the emerging demand to upload   information on their sites to state or federal agencies and organizations. Several progressive states have already imposed electronic deliverable standards (e.g., California and New Jersey), and US EPA is working on its own standards based on XML technology.  Last, and most significantly, site owners would assume possession of their data and as such, finally gain ready access to information about their own sites. This would seem particularly beneficial to public companies attempting to comply with the SOX.

The good news is that a system described above already exists.

We would love to discuss your environmental data situation with you. Contact us or call (650) 960-1640.

New spatial data analysis tools added to Locus EIM software

The new graduated symbol and graduated color legend tools allow for creation of sophisticated maps showing environmental data

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 11 May 2015 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the leader in cloud-based environmental compliance and information management software, has announced the addition of powerful new data analysis tools to the eGIS portion of its Environmental Information Management (EIM) software. The new tools support creation of graduated color and graduated symbol legends when posting analytical results, groundwater levels, and field measurements to the map.

With the graduated color tool, when users post data to the map, they have the option to color code the map symbols by having each result placed into one color ‘bin’ based on the result value. Users can classify the results using one of four different methods: equal interval (each bin has same numerical interval with user specified number of bins); defined interval (each bin has same numerical interval with user specified interval); percent (each bin represents the Nth% of the total result range, for example quantiles or quintiles or deciles); or standard deviation (each bin represents the # of standard deviations from the mean for the result value). There are further options for specifying min and max values for the bins and for picking linear or log scales. If users are comparing results to an action limit, they can also classify results based not on the result but on the exceedance factor (result/action limit).

The graduated symbol tool works the same as the graduated color tool, except instead of color coding results, users can have the symbols change sizes based on the result. By using these new legend tools, users can create sophisticated maps that help visualize their environmental compliance data and quickly see data hotspots or outliers.

 

ABOUT LOCUS EIM
The Locus EIM SaaS offers enterprise environmental information management for analytical data for water quality, chemicals, radionuclides, geology and hydrogeology. EIM provides the whole solution and supports workflow from sample planning, collection, analysis, data validation, visualization and reporting. Locus Mobile is fully integrated with EIM and provides for real time field data collection and synchronization with EIM.

Environmental and Sustainability Software: How one company’s cloud environmental and sustainability software is changing how firms and government manage environmental information.

How one company’s cloud environmental and sustainability software is changing how firms and government manage environmental information.

Environmental and Sustainability Software

We believe that every company that wants to be credible with their environmental reporting must own their data and organize it in centralized database on the web.

Our market category is not shaped by explosive growth of software companies like ones associated with social media or search engines. Our software manages and organizes a type of information on which the future of humankind depends. We organize it in a serious and very scalable way.

To read the full story and interview please click here.

 

Water Wars

California. California is now heading into its fourth year of record-breaking drought, with no water relief in sight. High temperatures, little precipitation, and historically low snowpack have left the state with dwindling water reserves. The situation is so bad, as NASA scientist Jay Famiglietti wrote in an LA Times op-ed last week, that California has only a year of water left in its reservoirs. Household water rationing is already planned.

Las Vegas. An ongoing drought and the Colorado River’s reduced flow have shrunk Lake Mead to its lowest level in generations. The reservoir, which supplies 90% of Las Vegas’ water, is ebbing as though a plug had been pulled from a bathtub drain. For six years, the Southern Nevada Water Authority has been building an intake pipe below the reservoir’s two existing pipes. Due for completion in fall 2015, critics say it may not provide a long-term solution.

Ireland. Tens of thousands of people marched in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday, 21 March 2015, in the latest protest against the government’s new water charges. The government has begun directly charging households for water use.

Detroit: In bankrupt Detroit back in June the city authorities decided to cut off supply to 200,000 homes who had not or could not afford to pay water bills. Since water charges were introduced a decade ago bills have soared by 120%. The UN condemned the cutting off of the water supply to these people as a “violation of the human right to water and other international human rights”.

Bolivia. The average price of water quadrupled after it was privatized, leading to civil unrest and the eruption of “water wars” in the city of Cochabamba.

Uruguay. The sell-off of water and subsequent rising prices led in 2004 to the government outlawing the privatization of this public utility.

France. The citizens of Paris voted to reject plans to privatize water and took the utility back into public ownership.

Locus Technologies receives EBJ Business Achievement award for Information Technology

Environmental Business Journal (EBJ) recognizes firms for growth and innovation in 2014

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 10 March 2015 — Locus Technologies announced today that Environmental Business Journal (EBJ), a business research publication which provides high value strategic business intelligence to the environmental industry, granted the company the 2014 award for Information Technology in the environmental and sustainability industry for the ninth time.

Locus was recognized for significant strategic strides in 2014 including entering the water quality management (drinking water supplies and waste water) market; introducing its new Locus Platform (a highly configurable, user-friendly interface to fully meet individual organizations’ environmental management needs); and launching Locus Mobile (a field data collection solution that is fully integrated with Locus’s flagship Environmental Information Management [EIM] platform). In addition, Locus continues to maintain its leadership position in the commercial nuclear industry by solidifying business with more than 50 percent of all U.S. commercial reactor facilities that use Locus EIM for radionuclides monitoring management.

“Locus continues to influence the industry with its forward-thinking product set and eye for customer needs,” said Grant Ferrier, president of Environmental Business International Inc. (EBI), publisher of Environmental Business Journal.

“We are very proud to receive the prestigious EBJ Information Technology award in environmental business for the ninth time. It is a statement of our vision and perseverance to accomplish this level of recognition, especially now as we lead the market by providing robust solutions for the emerging space of cloud and mobile-based environmental information management,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus Technologies.

The 2014 EBJ awards, hosted by EBI Inc., will be presented at the annual executive retreat called the Environmental Industry Summit XIII in San Diego, Calif. on March 11-13, 2015.

European Study on Chemical Composition of Fracking Wastewater: Can it be drinkable?

Have you heard of “halogenated hydrocarbons”? It is a group of chemicals containing elements that when consumed by humans, it can damage the nervous system and your liver. Normally, these compounds are not on your daily menu.  But studies suggest these elements are appearing in water as by the reuse of fracking wastewater which ironically has been treated with chlorine-containing antibacterial chemicals.  The process of cleaning the water is a common practice. More studies of treated wastewater are being conducted to more clearly determined if the creation of halogenated hydrocarbons from antibacterial chemicals occurs during treatment of wastewater or during reuse.

Produced water, water that is chemically cleaned, can contain a complex mixture of metals — salts and other chemicals, partly composed of the original fracturing fluid components — plus chemicals released by the rocks in the area. Large volumes of water used for fracking poses some level of side effects of the wastewater on human and environmental health. To investigate further, researchers in Europe, in one of the most comprehensive studies of chemical composition of its kind to date, took samples of produced water from three fracking sites in the US.  A number of different analysis techniques were used to determine the chemical composition of the samples, although not the concentrations of the different organic (carbon-based) constituents.

The researchers found that produced water contained a diverse array of chemicals including toxic metals such as mercury and the carcinogens toluene and ethylbenzene. However, a group of harmful chemicals, ‘polyaromatic hydrocarbons’ commonly found in mining and coal extraction wastewater, were absent.

A wide range of metals were found in all samples, but varied depending on the geology of the area. Among these were chromium, mercury and arsenic, all of which were found at levels exceeding US maximum contamination levels (MCL) for drinking water in at least one well. Over 50 different organic chemicals were identified, the majority of which were part of a group of chemicals called ‘saturated hydrocarbons’. Many of these were common to more than one well. They included carcinogens toluene and ethylbenzene. However, the researchers did not find polyaromatic hydrocarbons, which are usually found in mining and coal extraction wastewater.

The authors believe that detailed chemical analyses of produced waters, such as theirs, highlight problems in wastewater treatment protocols,  In particular, the problem of developing a process that removes a wide range of organic compounds. While the findings of this research are based on fracking sites in the US, they may also be useful for other regions where fracking is being actively pursued, such as the UK, and could help to develop policies and techniques to reduce the risk of environmental contamination.

Fresh water continues to be challenged, not from just drought or salt contamination, but from the process of re-creating quality drinking water.

San Jose Water Company: Water quality and environmental compliance are critical business functions

Our new customer, San Jose Water Company, is deploying our Locus EIM and Locus Mobile solutions to consolidate and manage its water sampling and environmental compliance data. The keyword  for SJWC is “consolidate”. San Jose Water’s challenge was to consolidate its 12+ data silos into one comprehensive solution with the capabilities to provide a tighter, more integrated system.

SJWC determined that Locus EIM and Locus Mobile provided the right solution. Francois Rodigari, the director of Water Quality and Environmental Services at San Jose Water said it best: “Water quality and environmental compliance are critical business functions at San Jose Water Company.  …for the first time, the ability to consolidate and access critical information on data related to water quality and environmental compliance in a single repository based on a cloud platform. This comprehensive view of our water system will help us to comprehensively manage all data related to drinking water and environmental compliance, and as a result, bring higher efficiency to our organization.”

Thank you SJWC!