Ondeo Degremont commissions DAF system at Lake DeForest Water Treatment Plant

Ondeo Degremont's first US potable water AquaDAF™ Dissolved Air Flotation System DAF system was commissioned on 24 October at the Lake DeForest Water Treatment Plant in West Nyack, New York.

Owned and operated by United Water New York, the 20-mgd plant is fed by a 1,000-acre reservoir and provides 33% of Rockland County's drinking water. The utility upgraded the plant's aeration and sedimentation basins to a higher rate clarifier in order to improve overall water quality and taste, filter run times and plant efficiency. A design-build team of Ondeo Degremont, United Water and Black & Veatch Construction began full-scale design after completing a pilot study of the DAF system and started up the facility by June 2003.

At the Lake DeForest plant, AquaDAF clarifiers are followed by mixed media filtration. The system is producing three times lower turbidity than the plant's previous conventional treatment system while operating at a loading rate of 12 gpm/ft2.