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This paper discusses a bench-scale study performed to evaluatecoagulation, oxidation and adsorption treatment processes for improving filtered water UV transmittance (UVT) at the Southeast Water Purification Plant (SEWPP) for the city of Houston, Texas prior to UV disinfection. The objectives of the UVT Improvement Studywere to:evaluate various coagulants at bench-scale for improving filtered water UVT prior toUV disinfection;evaluate various oxidants and adsorbents at bench-scale for improving filtered waterUVT prior to UV disinfection; evaluate the benefit-cost tradeoffs associated with implementing upstream UVT- improvementtreatment processes to reduce capital and operating costs of the newUV disinfection system. The finished water produced by the SEWPP is of high quality and meets all federal andstate drinking regulatory requirements, as well as voluntary treatment performancestandards established under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Partnership for Safe Water. The paper presents asummary of raw and finished water quality for the period 1996-2001. The water qualityduring the bench scale tests was challenging when compared with historical averagewater quality data. Raw water UVA was substantially higher during the bench tests.While TOC was comparable, raw water turbidity values were lower during the benchtests. Overall, the bench-scale treatment results should provide a conservative indicationof full-scale treatment performance under more typical raw water quality conditions.UV transmittance (UVT) is the most critical water quality parameterfor designing UV disinfection systems. Consequently, the design of the UV systemshould be based on long-term UVT data trends to capture seasonal variations in waterquality. The paper presents an eight-year UV 254 absorbance trend for the SEWPP forthe period 1996-2004 based on biweekly sampling of raw and finished water. The rawwater UVT varies markedly from less than 20% to greater than 90%, reflecting seasonalchanges in the organic characterization of the raw water. The lowest UVT values (50%) typically occur in the summer months and the highest values (60%) in the wintermonths. Filtered water UVT values are more consistent than raw water values, butnonetheless, varied from around 75 to 90% over the 8-year period.Procedures for jar testing and related laboratory studies for evaluating alternative coagulants and oxidants for UVT improvement are given and include: coagulant stock solution preparation; sampling procedures; oxidant/adsorbent tests; and, quality control procedures. Includes tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 06/01/2006 Number of Pages: 20File Size: 1 file , 890 KB