National Water Commission Mona Reservoir

Treatment Station
Field Trip Report

Supervisors Name:

Course code & Title:

Department of Chemistry
 Report

The National Water Commission (NWC) Mona Reservoir Treatment Station is one of the many
treatment plants in Jamaica that prides itself in contributing positively to national development
by providing high quality potable water to residents and businesses through a competent and
motivated team in a cost effective and sustainable manner. On Friday, September 15, 2017, the
Chem2410 Water Treatment Laboratory stream had the opportunity to experience first-hand the
processes that occur during the treatment of water at the Mona Reservoir, St. Andrew.

The construction of the Mona Reservoir took seven (7) years to complete (1940-1947). Using cut
stone cement it was possible to construct a cone shaped reservoir with a depth of thirty-five feet
(35ft) and a maximum capacity of eight hundred million (800,000,000) gallon of water. The
reservoir was constructed to include two points of water entry from its two main sources; The
Hope River (via narrow small inlets) from the north and the Yallahs River (via pipelines, gravity
powered) from the south. Water is also collected when rain falls directly into reservoir. The
structure also includes an overflow chamber which allows excess water from the reservoir to
flow back to its natural source, a washout chamber which empties the reservoir if there is high
level of contamination (such as cyanide) as well as draw off ports that allows the removal of
water from the reservoir to start the chemical treatment process.

The first stage in the water treatment process is the collection of water from source. The raw
water collected from source tends to contain a lot of suspended particles such as silt, calcium
carbonate and sediments that the water scours from the hill along its path to the reservoir. Raw
water collected and stored in the reservoir is also home to aquatic animals such as fish as well as
plants such as algae. No chemical treatment processes are carried out at the reservoir. Processes
such as natural aeration and sedimentation occur at the reservoir. Natural aeration (no oxygen is
pumped into the water) involves the interaction of water with the cut stones in the water inlet
which keeps the water fresh thus preventing it from becoming stagnant. The reservoir acts as a
sediment treatment site as the stones/ sediments are small hence they settle in the bottom of the
reservoir and are not transferred to the treatment plant. Comparison between the two water
collection sources it can be said that the Yallahs River supplies a much better water quality than
the Hope River intake which is due to the fact that Yallahs water is collected via pipes while that
of Hope is via inlets which passes a lot of informal settlements in the hills. The Hope River
however has a maximum flow of forty (40) million while Yallahs has a maximum flow of
fourteen (14) million.

Raw water then travels down to the intake chamber by means of valves and large thirty six (36)
inch pipelines where pre-chlorination takes place (if the water has high turbidity) to eliminate
microorganisms and odor. The plant is not designed to treat water of turbidity greater than ten
(10) ntu. Turbidity which is the cloudiness of the water caused by suspended solids. The residual
chlorine is increased in order to combat microorganisms in highly turbid water. The intake
chamber is fifteen feet (15ft) deep and releases about 2.0 ppm of chlorine into the water (pre
chlorination). A flow meter attached to the unit monitors the amount of water that enters it. It
was interested to note that water is taken not only from the Mona reservoir but raw water from
the Yallahs River can be channeled directly to the intake chamber. Gravity mixing of the water
also takes place in the intake chamber. The water then leaves the intake chamber and enters the
rapid mixing chamber.
During the rapid mixing process water is further aerated and Calcium Carbonate is added if the
pH of the water falls below the stipulated regulation of 7.2 to 7.4 pH. Water then flows to the
flocculation basins (six basins), where a chemical reaction between the suspended particulates
and the coagulant which is aluminum sulphate (alum) takes place. This results in clumps being
formed due to the attraction between positively charged Al3+ and negatively charged soil or
bacteria. These clumps are then easily removed via the process of filtration.
The filters used has several different layers these include: (a) Anthracite- a carbon base
compound (b) sand (c) gravel (d) a porous base. Subsequent to filtration, the water is transferred
to treated water holding area called the sump chamber where it is treated by chlorination. The
water is then transferred to a treated water tank prior to distribution.
Treated water is distributed in pipelines to numerous areas such as, Harbor View, Kingston
Public Hospital, Port Royal and Downtown Kingston. A total of 16 million gallon of water is
treated daily and 12 million gallon of water is distributed on a daily basis.
In order to keep these filter tanks clean to uphold the quality of water distributed, a process of
back-wash is carried out. Back wash cleaning entails the cleaning of the tanks via air scouring
process. During air souring, air is added for approximately 15 minutes and the water appears
brown with air bubbles and a raw odour. Back wash is carried out every 24 hours and every
twelve hours when the water is turbid. Subsequent to air scouring, treated water from the sump
chamber is used to remove the water from the sub-chamber. The water is pumped back inside the
filters by reverse flow hence the name back wash.
The Mona reservoir though brilliantly constructed faces a few limitations. One major limitation
is the loss of over one (1) million gallon of water per day due to cracks in the reservoir caused by
earthquake. Fish deaths which occurs when insufficient oxygen supply is present in the water
and the fishes has to compete for survival, Algae bloom (a low water level), the presence of
lifeforms and approximately 150 million gallon of water is inaccessible from the reservoir, when
the water collection falls below the last port at the draw off port. This prevents water from
different levels to be drawn off for treatment. Sedimentation in the reservoir is also another
limitation faced by the Mona Treatment Plant, as to date it has loss ten (10) million gallon due to
sedimentation taking up that space. In the flocculation process if alum is not fully dissolved it
can result in blockages of the pump, as well as Aluminum ions being present in the treated water.
During droughts, distribution problem arises due sufficient water not being produced thus
resulting in water lock off time. During such times, water is locked off during the nights to
facilitate the filling of the storage tanks. During heavy rainfall, the catchment has to be
discontinued due to high turbidity in water. This was the case during the visit with the Yallahs
pipeline.
This field trip was an informative one that has opened my eyes to the process of treating water
ensuring it is at its highest quality. Special thanks to Mr. Kevin Rattray (Water Production Team
Leader) and his team who made the experience a memorable one.
Table 1: Purpose and amount of each chemical utilized during treatment
Chemicals Purpose Amount
Alum Coagulates sediments 100 bags per shift. NB: when
turbidity is high, additional
alum is added coagulants
sink and cleaner water runs
off
Charcoal Eliminates taste and odour 100 bags per shift
White lime Control/ balance pH 100 bags per shift
Chlorine (gas and granules) Control Taste and Odor

Table 2: Standards of the distributed/treated water

Criteria
pH 7.2 7.4
Turbidity Should not exceed 1 (<1)
Chlorine content/ residual (when reaches 0.5 ppm
household)
Chlorine content/ residual 2.0 ppm

Note: Total effluent concentration is lost due to disinfestation of pipelines. That is, 2.0 ppm of
chlorine is placed into the tanks however the output in pipelines should be 0.5 ppm.
 SUMMARY FLOW DIAGRAM OF TREATMENT PROCESS AT THE MONA
RESERVOIR
STORAGE TANK
SOURCE
SUMP TANK Stores treated water
Hope river and
Post chlorination until to be released to
Yallahs River
distribution points

FILTER
RESERVOIR
4 levels of filtration DISTRIBUTION POINTS
Mona, Max holding removes small
capacity 800 mil suspended particles and Transports water to housholds
gallons polishes water from Liguanea to Palisade Point

DRAW-OFF PORT FLOCCULATION BASIN

Gravity flow valves Six basins. Alum added for
draw water from 4 coagulation of suspended
levels of the reservoir particles and bacteria.

INTAKE CHAMBER RAPID MIXING

Pre-chlorination (if CHAMBER
needed) and gravity Lime added to increase pH if
mixing water too acidic

Reference:

National Water Commission; About [Online] 2016, http://www.nwcjamaica.com/AboutNWC

(accessed September 21, 2017)