Water Efficiency May 2012 : Page 38
contracts involve mining, oil, and gas production facilities or prisons that are built in areas with insufficient or non-existent infrastructure to cope with increased demand for clean water and disposal of waste water, Gnauck says they’re also starting to see need by regional water authorities for upgrad-ing existing municipal water treatment plants in order to produce higher quality treated effluent to facilitate easier disposal to the environment or potential use for irrigation. Membrane bioreactor technology is becoming more widely accepted as a practicable method of treating wastewater in a decentralized plant. It’s also becoming the most economical solution in many cases, Gnauck adds. WJP Solutions uses the most up-to-date MBR technology developed in conjunction with Siemens/Memcor in their treatment process, as well as the full range of pre-and post-MBR treat-ment processes, including coarse and fine pre-screening, ultraviolet, chlo-rine, chemical dosing, water balance adjustments, and odor control. This is all controlled by state-of-the-art PLC/ SCADA systems to provide real-time monitoring and feedback. Despite a higher initial capital out-lay, advantages include smaller, com-pact plants, very high-quality treated water, automated operation, and the ability to remotely monitor and control plants. Gnauck points out that the level of acceptance of decentralized plants is still low, perhaps because they are not as simple to maintain as competing technologies and they consume a con-siderable amount of power. In addition, each plant has to pass a signifi cant test-ing and validation process before being licensed to supply treated water, adding to the cost. “Taking into account capital ex-pense, power use, chemical costs, and on-going maintenance costs, a plant needs to achieve a certain process ca-pacity before it begins to show any sort of financial return,” says Gnauck. One of WJP’s clients spent several months negotiating with the relevant authorities before getting approval for a water reclamation plant. The Curlewis Golf Club is a private golf course situated on the Bellarine Pen-insula in Victoria. “Like most of the state, the area tion with the authority assets and supply mechanism for the treated water. In addition to the sewer extrac-tion pipework, the plant consists of a 75,000-liter in-ground concrete balance tank, pre-screening, precast concrete biological process tanks and Siemens membrane, fully automated PLC/SCADA system, a steel shed to GE POWER AND WATER for related articles: www.waterefficiency.net/reuse 38 WATER EFFICIENCY WWW.WATEREFFICIENCY.NET Water had suff ered many treatment for years of drought, reuse involves a multi-step which had resulted in process. the government impos-ing strict restrictions on the use of town water for households and industry,” explains Gnauck. “As a result, the golf course could no lon-ger be watered using town water. Th e greens and fairways quickly deterio-rated, and the club’s membership began to reduce.” Th e club hired consultants to consider methods of overcoming the problem. When they realized the club had a large municipal sewer rising main approximated 20 meters from its boundary, they recommended extract-ing the sewer from the municipal main to treat water onsite and use the treated water for irrigating the golf course. Implementation involved engi-neering, design, and construction of a standalone decentralized wastewater treatment plant, including integra-GE POWER AND WATER
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