Bacteria Found In Water System; No Patients Affected
BALTIMORE — Routine testing has revealed low levels of Legionella bacteria in the water system of Maryland General Hospital, located here, according to a January 7 WBAL TV 11 News report on msnbc.com.
The bacteria were found in a shower area during a routine test. No cases of infection have been reported.
Maryland General Hospital has begun disinfecting its water system, according to hospital officials. Bottled water has been made available to patients and access to showers has been reduced.
11 News reported that this is at least the second time in the last 22 months that Legionella bacteria have been found at the hospital.
To read the full report, click here.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Saturday, December 27, 2008
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.
“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.
Monday, November 24, 2008
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.
"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.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, November 17, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
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.
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.
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