Package Water Treatment unit: A Solution for Small Water Systems
The primary distinction, however, between package Water Treatment plants and custom-designed plants is that package Water Treatment plants are treatment units assembled in a factory, skid mounted, and transported to the site. These units are most widely used to treat surface water supplies for removal of turbidity, color, and coliform organisms with filtration processes. However, many other treatment technologies are available to small systems as package Water Treatment plants. These technologies or a combination of them can be incorporated into a package Water Treatment plant to provide comprehensive water treatment.
Package Water Treatment Process
The raw water normally available from surface water sources is, however, not directly suitable for drinking purposes. The objective of water treatment is to produce safe and potable drinking water. Generally, to treat surface water (e.g. river water, lake water and well water) the treatment process consists of Coagulant Dosing, Mixing, Flocculant-Aid Dosing, Flocculation, Sedimentation, Filtration and Disinfection.
The main goals of package Water Treatment units are removing suspended solids, turbidity and pollution from the available raw water in each area, providing a treated water quality based on DENR standards. The applied design criteria and the components of a water treatment plant depend on the turbidity and pollution of a known raw water source.
The used components can be classified as follows:
PRE-SEDIMENTATION TANK, which is used for turbidity > 100 NTU
FLASH MIXING & FLOCCULATION compartments, which could be a static/hydraulic type or equipped with mechanical mixers.
MAIN SEDIMENTATION TANK with tube settler package Water Treatments in combination with sludge recirculating facilities for minimizing the chemical consumption.
DISINFECTION UNITS, depending on the level of organic pollution in the raw water. A pre-disinfection in combination with a post-disinfection or only post-disinfection will be carried out in package Water Treatment treatment plants.
In case of other raw water pollutants e.g. Ammonia, Iron, Manganese, Arsenic, Colour, Odour, dissolved Gases etc., either additional compartments in connection to the main plant can be used or we supply a separate plant to remove any specific problem.
The plants are designed for small communities from about 1000 to 15000 inhabitants up to 75000 population.
Package Water Treatment Plant Advantages
Package Water Treatment plants arrive on site virtually ready to operate, and are built to minimize the day-to-day attention required to operate the equipment. Other major advantages are their compact size, cost effectiveness, relative ease of operation, and design for unattended operation.
The main advantages of a Water Treatmentd factory-finished system are savings in engineering, design and installation costs, and operation and maintenance. These features make package Water Treatment plants attractive to communities that must operate on a tight budget.
These plants can effectively remove turbidity and bacteria from surface water of fairly consistent quality, provided that they are run by competent operators and are properly maintained. Water Treatment plants also can be designed to remove dissolved substances from the raw water, including color -causing substances and trihalomethane precursors (which are organic materials often found in source water that can react with chlorine to form what are called disinfection by-products or DBPs).
Package Water Treatment Plant Limitations
Highly variable influent water quality requires a high level of operational skill and attention, and that tends to negate the package Water Treatment plant advantages of low cost and automation.
Despite the relatively large number of Water Treatment plants in use, many states are reluctant to endorse them completely. The requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act and its amendments might challenge package Water Treatment capability. Challenges include the possible inability of these systems to treat multiple types of contaminants.
Many communities are currently using package Water Treatment plants to treat water supplies, but little data has been collected to demonstrate long-term performance and operations of these systems. State agencies responsible for reviewing plans for the installation of Water Treatment systems must review each potential plan on a case-by-case basis, with only their own experience to judge the potential for success or failure. Presently there is no national verification process for package Water Treatment plants.
