The Aqua Doctor

WC&P Online profiled Scott Trafas, owner and founder of Aqua Doctor in New York, after more than a decade running his own Long Island treatment business. Trafas is a second-generation water professional: his father, Paul, started Aqua Future in 1984, and Scott grew up around salt trucks, service calls, and the family trade before leaving for computer work at Cisco in Colorado. He returned to water treatment, spent 11 years in the family business, then opened Aqua Doctor in 2009 less than a mile from his father’s shop. The two businesses still share referrals, technical help, and the occasional borrowed item from the warehouse. Aqua Doctor serves municipal clients and industries ranging from beverages to pharmaceuticals to electronics, with customer education taking priority over the fast sale. The team outlines how specialization doesn’t have to mean isolation: in a good water market, the competitors can still answer the phone.

SpringWell reports that the latest water-sector cyberattacks didn’t need science fiction or intricate hacking to cause trouble. The FBI says attackers targeted operational technology, including programmable logic controllers, human-machine interfaces, and sensors, then used internet-connected devices to lock out operators, change passwords, disconnect systems, and force some utilities back into manual operation. In Georgia, a pump station shutdown caused pressure loss and a precautionary boil-water advisory, even though targeted utilities didn’t report finished-water quality problems. The practical takeaway is the entry point: many water systems still rely on older digital controls, weak or default passwords, unpatched software, exposed remote access, and small staffs without dedicated cybersecurity help. Federal law already requires community systems serving more than 3,300 people to include cyber threats in risk and resilience planning, but stronger EPA cybersecurity rules were withdrawn after legal challenges. The fix, per the FBI memo, is to change passwords, isolate networks, and go offline.

In another water profile, WC&P Online interviewed John Keener, MWS, about the family business that began as Toledo Water Conditioning in 1947 and became his own 46-year career in water treatment. Keener is semi-retired now, but his résumé still reads like someone who maybe failed retirement on purpose: past president of the Ohio Water Quality Association, past chair of WQA’s Water Science Committee, Master Water Specialist, and current president of Lake Erie Waterkeeper. In the article, Keener gives his account of the 2014 Toledo water crisis when 400,000 people were told not to drink or use municipal water because of microcystin from a harmful algal bloom. Toledo Water Conditioning gave away thousands of gallons of purified water, built long-term trust, and adopted “Water You Can Trust” as its slogan. The team says it's a friendly reminder that treatment businesses aren’t just selling equipment when confidence breaks: the water has to be believed before it can be used in the first place.

Royal Water Works explains why basic well checks don’t always answer the deeper microbiological question for private wells in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Clear, odor-free water can still warrant testing after heavy rain, flooding, well repairs, plumbing work, excavation, septic work, or a long gap since the last professional analysis. A microbiology-certified lab may test for indicator organisms such as total coliform, fecal coliform, and E. coli, depending on its certification scope and the panel ordered. Total coliform can suggest a pathway for bacteria into the well or water system, while E. coli is a more specific warning for possible fecal contamination. The article is careful on one important point: a lab result identifies what was detected in the submitted sample, but not every possible contaminant or the exact source of the problem. Sample handling, test selection, and system evaluation still matter.