ERLANGER, KY, Sept. 15, 2005 -- The city of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., has always been on the cutting edge of water treatment technology; its first treatment plant, built in 1872, was the first successful slow sand filtration plant in America. Today, the city continues its tradition of technical innovation with the installation of Aquionics UV disinfection equipment to treat the city's drinking water. The closed chamber, medium pressure systems provide high efficiency disinfection with online transmittance monitoring.
Poughkeepsie's Water Treatment Facility serves a community of nearly 80,000, drawing water from the Hudson River to meet an average daily demand of 8 MGD. Prior to installing the Aquionics equipment in March of 2005, chlorination occurred in open settling basins, followed by filtration. This process required relatively substantial chemical usage and produced significant disinfection byproducts. With the addition of the Aquionics UV treatment equipment, the amount of chemicals consumed has been reduced, lowering disinfection byproducts by 15-20%. The resulting disinfection levels comply with the new guidelines of the Surface Water Treatment Rule issued by the EPA.
Six Aquionics Photon UV systems function in parallel to meet the desired disinfection levels. The high efficiency, medium pressure closed channel design disinfects with fewer lamps than comparable low pressure, open channel systems. Each chamber is fitted with UV monitors to measure actual UV fluence and dose for record keeping. With the addition of an optional online Transmittance Monitor, real time transmittance values are used to automatically adjust the dose pacing of the UV system. A full validation of Poughkeepsie's system by HydroQual Inc, of Mahwah, N.J. confirmed the predicted performance of the system.
"We considered alternative technologies to meet our goals," explained City of Poughkeepsie's plant manager, Randy J. Alstadt. "The relative cost, a compact size which fit into our existing facility, and the technical merit were deciding factors in choosing Aquionics equipment."
To keep maintenance low, the systems are equipped with an automatic cleaning mechanism to keep lamp sleeves free of organic deposits. The units only require periodic replacement of the UV lamps, a simple operation that can be carried out by on-site staff.
Aquionics, a Halma Group Company, is the market leader in the manufacture, application and development of UV technology for progressive, non-chemical disinfection and microbiological control. The company's systems are used in a wide variety of applications including wastewater treatment, pharmaceutical manufacture, food and beverage production, microelectronics, pool disinfection, and specialized industrial settings. For more information about Aquionics and its family of products, visit the company's website at www.aquionics.com.
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