Dr Todd Webster of Envirogen Technologies to present paper at AWWA’s Annual Conference and Exposition
Biological Treatment for Perchlorate in Groundwater
June 21st. 9am. McCormick Place West, Chicago, Illinois
The American Water Works Association (AWWA) are holding their annual conference at McCormick Place West in Chicago, Illinois from June 19th to 22nd. They have invited Dr. Todd Webster from Envirogen Technologies, Inc. to present the paper “Biological Treatment of Perchlorate in Groundwater” (co-authored with Mr. Thomas Crowley of West Valley Water DIstrict) to discuss the “first-of-its-kind” groundwater treatment facility, installed at West Valley Water District Headquarters to biologically treat water to potable standards.
For Further Information
To visit and hear this paper, go to:
http://www.awwa.org/conferences-education/conferences/annual-conference.aspx
Or for further information, contact Dr. Webster here:
Email: twebster@envirogen.com
Web: www.envirogen.com
Paper Abstract:
West Valley Water District, the City of Rialto, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, California State Water Resources Control Board, and the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) have collaborated to implement a full-scale groundwater treatment facility to biologically treat perchlorate laden water at the West Valley Water District headquarters (Rialto, CA). Highly contaminated perchlorate-laden water from the City of Rialto Well #6 and nitrate-laden water from West Valley Water District Well #11 are being treated by the new facility to produce water that meets all of the Safe Drinking Water Act requirements.
The full-scale plant utilizes the the fluidized bed bioreactor (FBR) technology to effectively treat the perchlorate from the groundwater. The FBR is one of two treatment technologies approved by the State Water Resources Control Board as permittable for treating perchlorate-laden water to drinking water. The FBR is a fixed-film reactor in which the biological media is fluidized within the reactor vessel. An electron donor (i.e., acetic acid) is provided to the FBR where it is used in the denitrification/perchlorate reduction process. The end products are nitrogen gas, sodium chloride, carbon dioxide, water, and biomass.
The new plant was developed based on a year-long successful pilot study conducted by Envirogen and funded through ESTCP. From the pilot study, the FBR was demonstrated to be a cost-effective means to biologically treat perchlorate to less than the California MCL of 6 µg/L. Following the FBR system, water passed through a pilot surface water treatment plant consisting of a post-aeration unit and multimedia filter to meet all of the primary and secondary MCL requirements.
Based on the success of the demonstration project, the team headed by Envirogen and West Valley Water District has collaborated to design, install, start-up, and operate a full-scale FBR system capable of treating 2000 gpm for the treatment of nitrate and perchlorate laden groundwater. The system was built and installed in 2014, tested in 2015, and potable water will go to distribution in 2016. This project represents the first full-scale permitted drinking water system in the world using this specific technology for these contaminants. This presentation will provide an up-to-date review of the design principles of the full-scale system, as well as the installation, start-up, and operational issues encountered with the implementation of this “first-of-its-kind” biological treatment plant
