Lucas Greenhouses is working on the installation of ozone water treatment systems. The goal of the company is to operate a complete water containment system that generates zero runoff. The greenhouses are set up to collect the runoff. The water will eventually go through a biological filter and then be sent to a retention pond. Air diffusers are installed in the retention pond. The diffusers blend the water in the pond from top to bottom and help to balance the activity in the pond. The recycled treated water will be used to irrigate finished plant material. The recycled water will be treated twice using a biological filter system and ozone.
One ozone system has been set up to treat the runoff from a 315,000-square-foot greenhouse. Another system will be installed this winter to treat the water from another 300,000-square-foot range. They have been collecting data on the effects of ozone on the treated water including the impact on micro nutrients and chemical residues and the kill rates on bacteria, fungi and viruses.
High level of algae in the Canoe Brook Reservoir on John F. Kennedy Parkway created brown water for residents of the area. Last summer the algae was more prevalent due to many days of sunshine that encouraged algae growth. This made the problem more difficult for the water treatment facility. New Jersey American Water has taken steps to ensure brown water does not leave the plant in the future, but the plans for a new plant will be a permanent fix while providing better quality drinking water for the region.
The new plant’s filtration technology floats particulates so the they can then be skimmed off the top. The new filtration process is being combined with ozone water treatment to further remove impurities creating a cleaner process with less chemical use. Ozone disinfection is expected to prevent brown water issues that the residents experienced in the past. The ozone process is used in many other plants around the world and has been proven to be effective.
The Canoe Brook Treatment Plant pulls from three reservoirs in Livingston and Short Hills that have 2.2 billion gallons of water. The plant treats and produces up to 15 million gallons of water of clean water per day. A groundbreaking for phase two is planned for May with the entire project to be completed by July 2012.
Ozone is among the measures deployed by Östersund municipality in northern Sweden to try kill off the parasite (Cryptosporidium) which has afflicted the stomachs of thousands of residents and rendered the water undrinkable. More than 5,000 residents have taken ill after ingesting water from the city’s water supply, many suffering from diarrhea, vomiting, and severe stomach cramps.
Ozone is one of the few biocides proven to remove cryptosporidium from water at reasonable dosage levels. It also treats a wide range of other pathogens in water as part of a complete water disinfection process.
The Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) recognized United Water New Jersey’s Haworth Water Treatment Plant Upgrade with a National Design-Build Excellence Award in the water/wastewater over $25 million category.
United Water constructed a $100 million upgrade to the company’s 200-million-gallon-per-day (mgd) facility, which serves 800,000 people in northern New Jersey. The project included innovative high-rate dissolved air flotation (DAF) for sedimentation clarification, ozone pretreatment process, new disinfection facilities and new residuals handling and treatment processes.
United Water’s state-of-the-art ozone system removes unwanted tastes and odors, boosts DAF performance, and increases filter run periods by 4 to 6 times—contributing to the water treatment plant’s exceptional water quality and energy efficiency.