Greg Reoyo (T5, D5, 6 years), Richard Rocha (T4, 23 years) and Eldon Wright (T4, 23 years) Operator

r I Dustin Alleman (T2, D2, 1 year), Samuel Diaz (T2, D2, 2 years), and Jose Herrera (T2, D2, 1 year) Operator II Bradley Hall (T3, D2, 20 years) Operator III Sean Brennan (T3, D2, 1 year), Porter Hamilton (T4, D5, 1 year), William Pellowski (T3, 23 years), and Keith Stallworth (T3, 7 years)

Ongoing challenges
In spite of upgrades over the years, some of the plants equipment requires rehabilitation. The infrastructure is the original and needs to be maintained, says Collins. We need a lot of money to support refurbishment, repair and, in some instances replacement, without affecting our rate structure. MWD water rates pay for operating all ve treatment plants and provide funding for energy costs and capital bonds for the entire infrastructure. This encompasses 5,200 miles of service area and two major aqueducts that supply water to more than 18 million people. Another issue is nding enough trained staff. An apprenticeship program helps ll positions. We bring in new electricians and maintenance people and train them on the job, says Collins. Its a 4.5to 5-year program, and we pay The Metrohm tiamo programmable them while they are being trained. pH/Ion meter and sampler is a Apprentices receive classroom and mainstay of the plant laboratory. on-the-job training, and are partnered with a journeyman electrician or maintenance person. The plant will continue with the Partnership for Safe Water Program, submitting data each year to renew Phase IV status. Deans preparedness training and other programs will continue. Daves motto is plan, develop, verify, maintain and prepare, and he does it well, says Collins. He keeps operators motivated with humor and a keen understanding of their work, and that allows him to have candid conversations with them. It is not beyond Dave to get in there and assist employees when extra effort is needed, says Collins. His experience, empathy and understanding are among his greatest strengths. The plant maintains visibility with tours and has been featured MORE INFO: in movies, television, photo shoots and commercials. Says Collins, Hach Company 800/227-4224 MWD balances support of the www.hach.com entertainment and advertising indus(See ad page 3) try in the Los Angeles area with Metrohm USA the need to operate, maintain and 800/638-7646 secure critical infrastructure. Our www.metrohmusa.com facilities offer visually unique and Ozonia North America, LLC diverse lming opportunities, from 201/676-2525 both a historical and high-tech www.ozonia.com perspective. They especially like Siemens Water the new ozone generator building Technologies Corporation galleries and the water treatment 815/623-2111 plant tunnels. wso www.water.siemens.com

Phong Dinh, a junior chemist, employs a portable colorimeter (Hach DR/850).

and looked at different areas, such as turbidity levels with individual lters, the sedimentation basin process and the combined lter performance, says Collins. To meet the Partnership Phase IV goals, the plant had to maintain a ltered water turbidity less than 0.10 NTU more than 95 percent of the time, and less than 0.30 NTU for all sample locations. They also had to maintain a lter startup ripening goal of less than 0.10 NTU after a lter had been in service for 15 minutes following the backwash. The key to meeting these goals has been the consistent quality of the source water provided through two very large state project storage reservoirs, a solid history of treating the water for over 40 years, and diligence in recording, monitoring and adjusting treatment processes and water quality performance, says Collins.

Smooth operation
The operators at the Jensen plant work as a team to keep the plant running smoothly. Besides collaborating on optimizing ozone generation, they work together on lter surveillance, lter slime removal, and plant shutdowns and startups. They use computer systems to partially automate chemical inventory and ordering, dosage calculations, communications between shifts and daily production logs. Fourteen full-time operators work rotating three-person 12.5-hour shifts. They frequently offer improvement suggestions. We used to inject 25 percent sodium hydroxide and 19 percent aqueous ammonia to the lter efuent with inline jet mixing, says Dean. The operators determined that the chemical injection of caustic before the ammonia caused calcium buildup on the ammonia injection lance, and they recommended swapping the injection points. This was very successful. Dean holds a T5 water treatment license and has been with the Jensen plant for 16 years. Operations manager Gordon Dexter has been with the plant for 22 years and holds a T5 license. His staff includes: Plant operators Harold Jones (T4, D2 licenses, 9 years with the plant), Gilbert Lopez (T4, 38 years), Richard Pittsinger (T4, 20 years),

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WATER SYSTEM OPERATOR

PRODUCT FOCUS:
BY CRAIG MANDLI

MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY
Reverse osmosis treatment
The model ADRO5-1L-6H treatment system from AdEdge Water Technologies removes arsenic and TDS using a skid-mounted reverse osmosis (RO) unit sized for a maximum design ow. An anti-scalant is injected to prevent membrane clogging. Water then ows into a sediment lter before reaching the RO system, consisting of six 5- by 40-inch membranes stacked six high. The ltrate ows to a 3,000-gallon storage tank. A fully integrated control panel automates system functions. 866/223-3343; www.adedgetechnologies.com.

Ultraltration system
The Xtream Ultraltration system from Kruger USA provides a modular, compact solution for efciently producing drinking water from surface water and groundwater. It includes the widely used Dow UF membrane. The hollow bers have a dense layer on the inside and outside surfaces, forming a double-walled structure that is durable and resistant to breakage. Fouling resistance with membrane surface that is more hydrophilic than the underlying PVDF polymer. 919/677-8310; www.krugerusa.com.

Zero-break ber membrane

The Aqua UltraFiltration membrane system from AquaAerobic Systems offers a compact, T-rack design, zero-break bers and no air scouring. The multibore bers are made of polyethersulphone with seven capillaries per ber for strength. The alternating top and bottom feed and inside-out ow provides uniform ltrate and backwash ows to minimize plugging, chemical usage, and cleaning frequency for longer membrane life. The membranes can be cleaned with caustic instead of chlorine. Smaller and uniform membrane pores provide 6 log removal for bacteria and 4 log for viruses. 800/940-5008; www.aqua-aerobic.com.

Membrane contactors
Liqui-Cel membrane contactors from Membrana-Charlotte control dissolved gases in water. They remove entrained air from drinking water to control corrosion and improve carrying capacity without causing cloudiness. They can also be used to remove TOC and VOCs. Removal of entrained air allows water to be pumped directly through the membrane contactor without breaking head, eliminating a basin or clearwell and repumping. The compact size and modular design allow the system to be housed in a simple building with a concrete oor, reducing capital cost. 704/587-8888; www.liqui-cel.com.

Membrane module system

The Seaflex 55P membrane module UF pretreatment system from Pentair X-Flow operates inline with RO systems, offering high recovery with the use of brine for backwashing. The robust, corrosionresistant UF membrane module for seawater pretreatment provides a single-barrier solution to produce high-quality RO feedwater. This reduces the physical plant footprint and lowers energy consumption. Each membrane module is encased in a housing, enabling in-line use at elevated pressures. 815/986-0391; www.x-ow.com.

Ultraltration membrane
Q-SEP from QUA Group is an advanced ultraltration membrane prepared by the cloud precipitation method to ensure uniform pore size distribution. It uses hollow bers of high-strength, low-fouling hydrophilic polyethersulfone, operating under pressurized inside-out ow. Units can be used in a dead-end ltration or cross-ow mode. They are available with a 0.03-inch capillary to treat feedwater with low turbidity and a 0.047-inch capillary for high turbidity water. Tests conrmed greater than 6 log removal of bacteria, Giardia and Cryptosporidium. 877/782-7558; www.quagroup.com.

Ultraltration package
The AltaPac ultraltration package system from WesTech Engineering is designed as an economical treatment system that is easy to install and use. This system can process ows up to 100 gpm on surface water and 180 gpm on groundwater. It can be upgraded by installing an additional module and changing the ow setpoint. Systems are fully functional, self-contained skids with all the attributes of the companys full-scale AltaFilter, including automated operation and daily integrity tests. 801/265-1000; www.westech-inc.com. wso

Hollow-ber ultraltration
The TARGA II hollow-ber ultraltration system from Koch Membrane Systems ts drinking water, RO pretreatment, tertiary wastewater treatment and other applications. Designed with the Safe Drinking Water Act and World Health Organization guidelines for drinking water in mind, it provides greater than 4 log removal of bacteria, viruses, Cryptosporidium and Giardia. Fibers have smooth inner core morphology and small pore size, allowing pathogens to be trapped and swept away. 888/677-5624; www.kochmembrane.com.

wsomag.com June 2013

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about your plant and The retrot was a big job, says system innovations for future Finch. It wasnt like changing a Bright Ideas articles. light bulb. If municipalities dont Send your suggestions to have really qualied staff and editor@wsomag.com or expertise, they shouldnt tackle it. call 877/953-3301. But if they do, they can save a lot of money. As a full-service city, Richland owned everything needed for the project. Finch appointed Brent Andrews, a lead plant operator, as the liaison between the city and Pural engineers. He selected Dennis Crater, a maintenance person, as project supervisor in charge of stripping out the vessel and installing the new components. Whenever questions arose, Andrews emailed Pural and scheduled a conference call. The engineers were really helpful and easy to work with, says Finch. But having one person in charge of communications on our end made everything ow smoothly. Workers cleaning out the tower followed conned-space entry procedures, ventilated the enclosure, and wore gas meters. After draining the liquid caustic, they entered the vessel to remove the spray bars and pipe before sucking out the pucks. They then cut out the internal berglass walls and the barrier between the reaction chamber and reservoir. A second crew removed the blower and recirculation pump. The work took a week.

Cooperative effort

WSO welcomes stories

CASE STUDIES:
BY SCOTTIE DAYTON

MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY Treatment package for surface water

Problem
The 0.5 mgd Hardy County (W.Va.) Public Service District Water Treatment Plant opened in 2012 to supply water to the city of Baker. Before consumption, surface water from the newly constructed Parker Hollow Reservoir needed treatment to remove turbidity, organic carbon, bacteria, and viruses. Additional considerations included seasonal uctuations in solids and turbidity levels, and the state health department requiring an on-site demonstration.

Conversion package
The retrot included an aluminum framework, a prefabricated wall, a 30 hp, 5,000 cfm blower, a control panel, media screens, and 13 cubic yards of nontoxic dry-scrubbing pellets shipped in Super Sack containers. Workers installed 12 frame dividers in three rows of four, then secured the screens to them. Finally, they dumped the media between the screens. The pellets, which permanently transform gases into harmless solids, are immediately available for instantaneous reaction regardless of the gas load rate. The chlorine leak detector in the chlorine building connects to a programmable logic controller (PLC). If a leak is sensed, the scrubber comes on automatically, and the control panel turns on the blower. The scrubber discharges less than 25 ppb chlorine gas. Except for the need to send an annual media sample to Pural to test its efcacy, the system is maintenance free. We dont worry anymore, says Finch. Even when its 10 below zero, we know the scrubber will work if needed. wso
LEFT: Maintenance workers position a Super Sack of Chlorosorb ultradry chemical media (Pural) over the retrotted scrubber. It holds 13 cubic yards of nontoxic dryscrubbing pellets. BELOW: New compartments on one side of the prefabricated wall will hold the Chlorosorb.

Solution
Tonka Water conducted a pilot test using a packaged treatment system with a clean-in-place unit that pumped water from the reservoir to a twin unitized treatment system for chemical addition, occulation, and sedimentation, and to dual ultraltration membrane skids for ltration and further contaminant reduction. Flocculation and settling occurred in a high-rate clarier for the reduction and removal of iron, manganese, turbidity, and organics. The health department approved the system.

RESULT
The system reduced raw water turbidity from a range of 4.1 to 29 NTU to less than 0.1 NTU, iron from a range of 0.11 to 0.73 mg/L to less than 0.3 mg/L, and manganese from 0.68 mg/L to less than 0.05 mg/L, while increasing pH from a range of 5.1 to 7.1 to 7.8 to 8.2. The plant will accommodate the areas growing population. 763/252-0896; www.tonkawater.com. wso

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