Solving problem for very high iron content water

When experienced water treatment professional Mark St. Hilaire first received the lab results for a point–of–entry (POE) system at an indoor athletic facility in New Hampshire, he thought there was a mistake: The iron was at 270 parts per million (ppm).

“We said, ‘It can’t be,’” says St. Hilaire, director of the residential systems group for Waltham, MA–headquartered Atlas Watersystems, Inc. So he sent out another sample, and the results were pretty much the same. That lab report on the facility’s private well water revealed:
Iron at 209 ppm
pH of 5.5
Hardness of 354 ppm, about 21 grains per gallon (gpg)
Sediment — positive
Conductivity of 1,570 microsiemens.

In addition, the naturally occurring iron had caused the water to have “tremendous color” in an orangey tint, and an awful taste.

“It was exciting and frightening at the same time,” recounts St. Hilaire. “To take on the job was somewhat frightening in the beginning, looking at the initial test result. It became exciting when you realized that the chemistry that was coming back was going to support being able to fix it.”

A system ‘making mud’
Earlier this year, Atlas was called in to correct problems the facility was having with its existing POE system, which was about five to six years old. That system was designed to oxidize the water via chlorine injection, and then filter it.

That’s a common and often acceptable method for iron treatment: soluble ferrous iron (Fe+2) is oxidized into ferric iron (Fe+3), a particulate in suspension which can be removed with a filter.
However, according to St. Hilaire’s account, in this case there was simply too much iron in the athletic facility’s water: “It just couldn’t work with what it was trying to deal with. … Not gonna happen. They were just making mud.”

St. Hilaire says his first reaction upon seeing the results of the lab water analysis was to suggest the customer drill another well. The customer told him they had done that already, but the water in the new well was of about the same quality.

“Under normal circumstances, we would not attempt to treat this water,” St. Hilaire says. But he adds, “They were desperate.”

Iron like never before
The water was essentially unusable. St. Hilaire was faced with an athletic facility housing workout rooms, an indoor soccer field, showers, a concession stand and more, and the water was so bad, no one could shower there. The owner supplied bottled water for drinking.

What tipped Atlas off and made it decide to attempt to treat the water was that it had samples of the high–iron water sitting on desks for two or three weeks that weren’t oxidizing “the way normal samples oxidize when there is that much iron,” says St. Hilaire.

“Typically when you pull a sample that has iron in it, in a day or two the iron will start to convert all by itself and drop out. We had a bottle that was sitting in the refrigerator, and it just didn’t turn. Over the period of two weeks, it never turned,” according to St. Hilaire.
“This was the most iron anybody here had ever seen dissolved in water; you fully expect the sample to turn color in a matter of hours, but it didn’t,” he adds.

A unique solution for tough iron
After reviewing the samples of water in the refrigerator, the Atlas people decided they might have a chance of using ion exchange to remove the iron without oxidizing it.

The company began by getting to know its water user. Atlas installed a water meter to determine how much water the facility was using on a daily basis. That figure was compared with engineering specifications for water use.

With that data in hand, Atlas personnel installed a small POE pilot softening system to see what it would do. “It caught the iron down to about 0.6 [ppm],” St. Hilaire says.

The pilot system afforded enough information for St. Hilaire and his team to design a permanent solution. Working in a confined space that essentially is a boxed–in stairway, the company designed and installed a quad–flow system using AvantaPure countercurrent regenerating water softeners. The softeners rely on a standard cation exchange resin, St. Hilaire says.

Of the unique system design, St. Hilaire explains: “We put four AvantaPure systems in parallel, and essentially they clean each other out because you would not be able to backwash them with water that has 270 parts per million iron. … So every tank is pulling from the other when it is in its cleaning cycle, so they are always cleaning with clean water. We modified the valves to make that happen.”

The system, installed by six technicians, includes sediment filters before the water softeners. The softeners are followed by a chemical feed system injecting chlorine and soda ash into a large retention and settling tank. “We had to deal with the color, the pH still, a little bit of iron bacteria still,” St. Hilaire says.

The water then goes through a series of two multimedia filters. After all the equipment, a booster pump was installed to maintain pressure throughout the facility at an even 70 pounds per square inch (psi).

The result: “The water is clear at the tap. Iron is consistently below 0.3 [ppm], pH neutral. The state came in and did their compliance testing and was shocked,” St. Hilaire says.

A little POU for good measure
While the facility owners removed the bottled water, they wanted to provide the highest quality drinking water possible for their members. Not only is the water used for drinking, but it is used to make coffee, protein drinks and more. To address this, Atlas installed two point–of–use (POU) undersink reverse osmosis (RO) units with faucets.

After four months of service, the system was delivering water with an iron level of 0.2 ppm, hardness of 0–1 gpg, and a pH of 7.4.

St. Hilaire says the facility does the daily/weekly maintenance required for the salt, chlorine and soda ash. Once a month, Atlas technicians perform on–site system maintenance, which includes testing each piece individually to make sure it is doing what it is supposed to.“There has been not even a hiccup yet,” St. Hilaire says.

EPA seeking comments on proposed guidelines to control construction site pollution

WASHINGTON, DC, Nov. 19, 2008 -- EPA is seeking comments on its proposed guidelines to control the discharge of pollutants from construction sites. The proposal would require all construction sites to implement erosion and sediment control best management practices to reduce pollutants in stormwater discharges.
"This proposal builds a foundation for cleaner streams and greener neighborhoods through improved treatment technologies and prevention practices," said Benjamin H. Grumbles, EPA's assistant administrator for water.

Click here for more information about the proposal.

Siemens Establishes Mobile Water Treatment Services In Middle East

Siemens Water Technologies has established its mobile water treatment solutions in the Middle East with its first installation outside North America, where the company services thousands of municipal and industrial customers. Siemens will supply the system to Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia. The 50m3/hr system uses media filtration, followed by reverse osmosis, to treat and purify groundwater for use as drinking water. The mobile water treatment units began operation on June 15, 2008, and will be on site for about three years. Unlike other treatment systems, which require the investment of capital expense, manufacturing time, and installation, the containerized mobile water systems provide numerous advantages, such as rapid response for emergency or unplanned maintenance, minimal field construction costs and the flexibility to upgrade or change a treatment process if source water chemistry changes.
The Siemens mobile water system at Saudi Aramco will supply 50 m3/hr of treated water to supplement an existing drinking water supply during construction of a new permanent system. The company selected a mobile unit instead of a permanent treatment system, because the fully integrated, containerized system can be installed quickly with minimal construction time. By using the Siemens water treatment system, Aramco has improved the quality and quantity of available drinking water from the existing wells. "The protection of this vital resource is an important responsibility and one of Saudi Aramco's highest priorities," said Mr. Mazen Snobar, Community Services Executive Director at Saudi Aramco. "We are greatly honored to work with Siemens Water Technologies, a leader in mobile water systems."
Unlike the systems in North America which, are built inside trailers (on wheels), expansion of the mobile treatment concept into Saudi Arabia involved designing treatment systems to be built in international-standard ISO containers. All of the necessary interconnecting piping, power distribution, and instrumentation are complete within the container, including PLC controls for fully-automatic operations. Chemical feed systems are also integrated in the container, when required. This configuration allows Siemens to adapt fully-integrated treatment systems into transportable containers built to withstand rigorous use and transportation. Once on site, a single-point connection for water inlet and outlet and a single-point connection for the power supply are all that is required.
As part of the company's new Middle East mobile services offering headquartered in Saudi Arabia, the mobile fleet is available in various treatment configurations, such as Pretreatment, Membrane Separation/Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Combination Pretreatment and RO. Mobile water treatment services provide temporary treatment solutions for short-term, emergency and supplemental water needs across a wide range of industrial and drinking water applications.
The Siemens Industry Sector (Erlangen, Germany) is the world's leading supplier of production, transportation and building systems. Integrated hardware and software technologies combined with comprehensive industry-specific solutions enable Siemens to enhance the productivity and efficiency of its customers in industry and infrastructure. The Sector comprises six Divisions: Building Technologies, Industry Automation, Industry Solutions, Mobility, Drive Technologies and Osram. In fiscal 2007 (ended September 30), Siemens Industry generated sales of approximately EUR40 billion (pro forma, unconsolidated) with around 209,000 employees worldwide.
With the business activities of Siemens VAI Metal Technologies, (Linz, Austria), Siemens Water Technologies (Warrendale, Pa., U.S.A.), and Industry Technologies, (Erlangen, Germany), the Siemens Industry Solutions Division (Erlangen, Germany) is one of the world's leading solution and service providers for industrial and infrastructure facilities. Using its own products, systems and process technologies, Industry Solutions develops and builds plants for end customers, commissions them and provides support during their entire life cycle.
SOURCE: Siemens Water Technologies

PepsiCo India told by Delhi High Court to redesign Aquafina label

NEW DELHI — PepsiCo India has been ordered by the Delhi High Court to remove the picture of a snow-capped mountain from the label of its Aquafina-brand bottled water.

High Court justices said the image conveys a misleading impression to buyers that the bottle contains mineral water from mountainous regions, which it does not. Publicly supplied water further treated by PepsiCo is the source of Aquafina bottled water.

To read the full report, click here.

Utility to mine wastewater for Nitrogen and Phosphorus source as fertilizer

TIGARD, OR — Clean Water Services, Washington County’s sewage utility, is planning to mine wastewater for phosphorus and ammonia (nitrogen source), and then resell it as fertilizer, according to a November 16 Associated Press article.

The company says it will install $2.5 million worth of equipment in its wastewater treatment plant by the spring of 2009 with the goal to produce 40 tons of fertilizer per month, which will be sold to farms and nurseries.

The company currently pays to have these nutrients removed from its machines, according to the article.

Officials said in the article that they hope the system will pay for itself within five years.

To read the full article, click here.

Water Issues seen as likely priorities under Obama

WASHINGTON — Water issues will be a top priority for President-elect Barack Obama’s new administration, according to a November 12 article in Earth News, the online news source for environmental advocacy group Environmental Information Coalition.

According to the article, Obama promised during his campaign to increase federal funding for water infrastructure, which has declined 70 percent over the last two decades. As recent as last week, Obama said that a $60 billion to $100 billion economic stimulus package aimed at promoting economic recovery through the funding of infrastructure projects would be a top priority following his inauguration, the article said.

To read the full article, click here.

Scientists develop new tools in E. coli battle

Researchers at the University of Alberta say they have developed "inhibitors" that should be able to grab onto and neutralize the potent toxins released by E. coli that contaminated the drinking water supply in Walkerton, Ont., in 2000 and has been making headlines again this month after an outbreak in the Ontario city of North Bay.

To read the full article, click here.

Calgon equipment sales increase 26 percent

PITTSBURGH — This year’s third-quarter equipment sales at Calgon Carbon Corp. increased by 26 percent compared with the third quarter of 2007 due to increased demand for carbon adsorption, odor control equipment and ultraviolet (UV) drinking water disinfection systems, according to an October 31 company press release.

Sales by the company's Activated Carbon and Service segment increased 17.8 percent over the third quarter of 2007, due to higher pricing and volume for activated carbon products and services in the environmental water treatment, potable water treatment and food services industries.

The company also reports a net income of $6.3 million for the third quarter of 2008, up $1.4 million from net income in the third quarter of 2007. Net income per share for the third quarter of 2008 was $0.12, two cents above the the third-quarter 2007 figure.

Siemens And Chevron Energy Solutions Help California City Turn Wastewater To Energy

Dystor Gas Holder Systems Store Methane from Wastewater Sludge
Chicago, IL — The city of Rialto (Calif.) is working with Siemens Water Technologies to install two Dystor gas holder systems at the city's wastewater treatment plant. The Dystor systems, which are part of a comprehensive upgrade being designed and installed by Chevron Energy Solutions, will be used to store methane gas produced from treating municipal wastewater sludge and local restaurant kitchen grease. Rialto uses three 300-kW fuel cells to convert the biogas into hydrogen and to generate power electrochemically, without combustion, for the plant.
Increasing its biogas storage will help Rialto further reduce its energy costs, grow city revenues, and improve air quality. In addition, if the plant is able to operate its 900-kW fuel cell plant on 75% biogas by the end of the year, it will receive a significant rebate from California's Self-Generation Incentive Program.
Fast delivery and installation were key factors with the Siemens order. The first Dystor was installed last month and the second is due to be installed after the first of the year.
At 75-feet in diameter and 14-inches water column, both gas holder systems are the high gas take-off style. The high location of the gas take-off in this system configuration prevents any digester foam from reaching the gas piping. Additionally, the inner gas holder membrane is permanently fixed at the top so that it cannot extend very far into the tank when the system is out of service and deflated.
The city's public works department retained Hunt Environmental of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., as the project consultant for this waste-to-energy initiative. Over the years, Siemens and Rialto have teamed up on other water projects, including pure water production at the city's wastewater treatment plant and perchlorate removal from the city's groundwater.
SOURCE: Siemens Water Technologies

ADB Targets Coordinated Water Management In Central Asian Nations

Manila, Philippines — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is aiming to enhance regional cooperation on vital Central Asian waterways whose management and protection are crucial to the region's economic growth and social well-being.
The Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers, which criss-cross a large part of Central Asia, support most of the agricultural output in the Aral Sea basin and have significant hydropower capacity and potential. A lack of cooperation among the Central Asian countries — Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan — in managing their shared water systems has been a key constraint that threatens to undermine the region's development.
"The lack of regional cooperation on water resources poses a major threat to economic integration and growth in Central Asia," said Thomas Panella, Senior Water Resources Management Specialist with ADB's Central and West Asia Department.
ADB has approved a $998,000 regional technical assistance grant which will be used to support knowledge-sharing on water resources in the region and strengthen the capacity of institutions tasked with managing them.
The grant came from a multi-donor trust fund under an ADB-administered Water Financing Partnership Facility. The Trust Fund contributors are the governments of Australia, Austria, and Norway.
The assistance will involve regional initiatives covering the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river basins and the Chu and Talas river basins, as well as help establish a forum for exchanging ideas and developing future action plans.
The project builds on previous ADB technical assistance from 2004 to 2007 that helped initiate regional water policy dialogues and the development of water management capacity.
SOURCE: Asian Development Bank

Special pump to save drinking water from algae

Sydney: New South Wales government will use special pump to circulate water and prevent the formation of algae in Sydney's Warragamba Dam.

To read the full article, Click here.

GE says its water business will prosper

FAIRFIELD, CT — General Electric Co. (GE) says it expects healthy revenue growth in 2008 for its products that provide environmental benefits despite the downturn in the economy, a recent Associated Press article carried by Forbes.com said.

Those products, many falling under the company’s “Ecomagination” program, include water/wastewater treatment equipment and systems. Revenue from “Ecomagination” products is expected to increase by 21 percent in 2008 over 2007, to $17 billion, the article said.

At the same time, the company recently announced that it was reorganizing its GE Energy Infrastructure business, which includes GE Water & Process Technologies (GE Water), the company’s water treatment technology arm. Jeff Garwood, who has been president of GE Water, will move out of that role to work on projects that are GE Energy Infrastructure-wide, alongside Energy Infrastructure President and CEO (and GE Vice Chairman) John Krenicki Jr.

Replacing Garwood as president of GE Water will be Heiner Markhoff, a former executive in GE’s plastics business.

In a recent message to GE employees, Krenicki announced that GE will be combining its water and power businesses into a new unit called Power and Water, which will have Steve Bolze as president and CEO. Markhoff will report to Bolze.

For GE, Krenicki wrote, the new structure “combines the deal structuring, risk management and project experience of Power Generation with the wealth of domain knowledge and industry expertise that exists today within the Water business.” He added that “water and energy are inextricably linked” and that the company’s commitment to water process technology “has never been greater.”

“Water represents a vital part of the overall portfolio and a tremendous growth opportunity for the business,” Krenicki told employees.

Orange peel can cleanup industrial effluents

Washington (IANS): Industrial waste water is a serious ecological hazard as it blocks sunlight for photosynthesising plant species in the water. Now, Algerian researchers have discovered that something as commonplace as orange peel could be used to remove acidic dyes from industrial effluent.
"Synthetic dyes are extensively used by industries including dye houses, paper printers, textile dyers, colour photography and as additives in petroleum products," explained Benaïssa Houcine of the Laboratory of Sorbent Materials and Water Treatment, University of Tlemcen, Algeria.
"The effluents of these industries are highly coloured, and disposal of these wastes into the environment can be extremely deleterious. Their presence in watercourses is aesthetically unacceptable and may be visible at concentration as low as one part per million (PPM).
In searching for an alternative to chemical treatment of waste water, Benaïssa considered a common agricultural and food industry byproduct, orange peel. He has now tested waste orange peel as an absorbent for the removal of four acid dyes from simulated samples of polluted water.
The research demonstrates that absorption time depends on the initial concentration of the dyes as well as the chemical structures of the particular dyes being tested, but absorption can occur at just 25 degrees Celsius rather than elevated temperatures.
Strong dyes including Nylosane Blue, Erionyl Yellow, Nylomine Red, and Erionyl Red were absorbed at between 40 and 70 milligrams per gram of orange peel from the samples, according to an Inderscience publication release.
"In lab-scale studies, the data show that orange peel has a considerable potential for the removal of dyes from aqueous solutions over a wide range of concentrations," Benaïssa said.
"Orange peel may be used as a low-cost, natural and abundant source for the removal of dyes, and it may be an alternative to more costly materials. It may also be effective in removing other harmful or undesirable species present in the waste effluents."
Additional research is now required to optimise and scale-up the process for the real-world clean-up of dye effluent. This will involve identifying the biochemical sites within the orange peel to which the dye molecules stick during absorption.
These findings have been described in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Environment and Pollution.

World Economy slump but water business promising, Siemens say

Siemens

Chicago, Illinois, USA, Oct 20, 2008.

Siemens: Continued High Investment Potential in Water Business

Siemens continues to see favorable prospects in its water business despite the current economic downturn. "Urbanization and water shortage are long-term trends which will determine the need for water treatment and recycling solutions", explained Jens Wegmann who, as CEO of the Industrial Solutions Division, is responsible for the water business at Siemens. "We are sticking to our view," said Wegmann in Chicago on Monday at Weftec, the biggest water fair in North America, "that the markets for water treatment will continue to grow worldwide." Thanks to its wide-ranging business portfolio and its global corporate access to customers, Siemens Water Technologies is well equipped to compensate for any investment delays at municipal level in individual countries as a result of its industrial and modernization business.

The accessible market volume worldwide for Siemens amounts to some US$ 49 billion (2007). Siemens Water Technologies is predominantly engaged in a wide range business with a project amounts to about US$ 300,000. "Whereas attracting investment capital for individual major projects is likely to become more difficult", said Wegmann, "we continue to see opportunities for growth in general business with products and services aimed at modernizing and expanding existing installations." In North America, for example, growth in projects for re-using water is expected in order to eliminate shortages in municipal and industrial water supplies. Investments are also planned in branches of industry such as open-cast mining, paper production or the food industry where Siemens is active and water is a crucial production factor.

"Our broad business portfolio helps to smooth out economic fluctuations in investments in various branches of industry", stressed Chuck Gordon, CEO of Siemens Water Technologies, a business unit of IS. In spring the business was reorganized, he continued, and divided into four areas, industry, municipal water supply, disinfection and service, enabling a realignment to the respective markets and the associated target groups. Industrial business, which is enjoying above-average growth rates, was the main beneficiary of this. In addition to the wide-ranging sector portfolio, Gordon sees innovations and new products as the engine of the water business. "In the last few years Siemens Water Technologies has invested twice as much in R&D as the industrial average".

Hi-Tech German Water Plant to serve as Model

A high-tech water treatment plant is to be developed by the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs in collaboration with experts from Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The plans include identifying a suitable location for the construction of the plant, how close it will be to a reservoir, deciding on the equipment required and the unit’s operational capacity.
The German team who are coming to Bulgaria for the project are experts in water and waste management, according to Djevdet Chakurov, the Bulgarian Environment Minister, who has completed the negotiations in Stuttgart.
The minister has toured a German water treatment station which has been operating since 1916 and has been refurbished with the latest equipment in water and methane purification, recycling and energy production. The energy produced by station powers the nearby town and the rural area around it.
The station is privately owned and over 400 000 tons of waste is incinerated there annually. Its modern filtration and purification equipment ensures that no harmful emissions are released into the atmosphere.
The Environment Ministry hopes to use the same waste management programme across Bulgaria as that used by the German plant. The programme assures that no waste will be deposited before initial treatment. This ensures that the waste that can be recycled is separated from that being disposed of.
Chakurov and Tanja Gönner, Minister of the Environment of Baden-Württemberg, have agreed to meet for further discussions at a forum on November 26 and 27 in Sofia, where companies and experts from Baden-Württemberg will present waste and water management to representatives of Bulgarian municipalities.

Manure into drinking water? Wis. farmer says yes

To read full report, click here.

Schwarzenegger Vetoes softener-ban bill

To read the veto message, click here.

Softener-Ban bill on Schwarzenegger's desk

California anti-softener bill AB 2270 is awaiting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attention in the early morning hours of 29 September 2008. It was expected that within 24 hours Schwarzenegger would veto the bill, sign it or allow it to become law without his decision either way.

To read the bill, click here.

Legionnaire’s Disease Kills two at St. Peter's Hospital

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GE Money exits consumer water treatment financing

STAMFORD, CT — GE Money, which has offered a water treatment consumer financing program through its dealers, has announced in a September 24 letter to water treatment dealers that the company is exiting the program.
Bruce L. Christensen, general manager of GE Money’s Home Improvement division, wrote to water treatment dealers: “In light of current credit conditions, GE Money has made the difficult decision to discontinue its water treatment consumer financing industry program.”
The letter noted that new credit applications for the financing of water treatment products will be accepted through October 10, and funding of the same will continue through November 28.

EPA must address construction-site pollution

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Fertilizers linked to contaminated drinking water in Evros, Greece

Evros, Greece - A new study reports that samples of drinking water from this northeastern region of Greece have been found to exceed European limits for nitrates, sulfates and phosphates, according to a European Commission Environment report.

The presence of the chemicals, which are linked to health problems such as reproductive disorders and cancer, has been found to be highest in areas with the most intensive agriculture. Researchers have said that fertilizers are to blame.

According to the report, many of the drinking water sources in the Evros region are underground aquifers that lie within agricultural areas.