The American Water Works Association (AWWA) publication, Opflow, has featured another story this month on the benefits of proactive algae monitoring in eliminating taste and odor (T&O) complaints for water utilities.
The cost of monitoring equipment can seem daunting and funding is not always attainable to small utilities. But solutions are available.
"The world of biological analysis has three rules of thumb:
1. Change is constant
2. Nothing is linear
3. Everything is interconnected
Stepping into this realm is daunting, but enterprising US water quality managers have made the leap. In doing so, they’ve earned public confidence and saved their utilities money while providing consistently high-quality drinking water.
Treatment technologies like ozone are highly effective at disinfection and degrading organics thereby eliminating most biological concerns that create T&O issues. However, such technologies often come with a bond-worthy price tag that remains inaccessible to most utilities. Developing a savvy biological approach involves more scientific finesse but offers tremendous value by allowing utilities to monitor and improve water quality before raw water enters the treatment plant."
This article provides the cost breakdown of the equipment and training employed by Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority (BJWSA) in Okatie, South Carolina. BJWSA was able to save tens of millions of dollars by using a three-pronged approach rather than implementing ozone treatments. Their start up costs were $400,000. These included: a FlowCam Cyano semi-automated flow-imaging microscope, a gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer (GC-MS), reservoir sondes from In-Situ (www.in-situ.com), handheld probes from YSI Xylem (www.ysi.com), and training for existing staff.
Download and read the full article here to learn more about these technologies and the associated costs.
Buerkens F, Kilgore T & Adams H "Eliminate Taste-and-Odor Events With Cost-Effective Algae Control" Opflow, November 2020, 16-19.
