There are over 150,000 public drinking water systems in the United States and more than 80 percent of the population receives their potable drinking water from these systems.

Howard County, Maryland, has taken a leading role in restoring the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem through a $92 million upgrade to its wastewater treatment infrastructure. Central to this effort is the installation of Xylem’s Leopold elimi-NITE® 2.0 denitrification system, which significantly reduces nitrogen and phosphorus levels in effluent discharge. Combined with advanced UV disinfection and mixing technologies, the system's daily reductions include 37,000 pounds of suspended solids, helping to reverse decades of nutrient pollution and protect aquatic life in the Bay.

The North Columbus Resource Facility recently completed a $12-million replacement of its settled water filtration, removing the existing Wheeler filters, their three-part media and 10-inch poured-concrete underdrains, which were no longer efficient. Prior to the filter rehabilitation, the utility’s backwash procedure consisted of a hydraulic-only backwash where the high-rate wash cycle lasted up to 20 minutes. Backwashing each dual cell filter used 150,000 to 200,000 gallons of water. The filters then operated up to an hour in rewash or filter-to-waste operation to reach the desired output of <0.09 Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU).

Most of the drinking water of the city of Barcelona is drawn from the river Llobregat, the water of which is brackish with differing parameters. The turbidity of the water varies due to sea level and amount of precipitation in the mountains.