Greenville Water System starts up 75 mgd DAF plant

This summer, the Greenville (SC) Water System began operating the largest U.S. application of Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) technology for treating drinking water � the Black & Veatch-designed 75 million gal/day, $55 million Table Rock and North Saluda Water Treatment Plant.

Dec. 19, 2000

Dec. 18, 2000—This summer, the Greenville (SC) Water System began operating the largest U.S. application of Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) technology for treating drinking water � the Black & Veatch-designed 75 million gal/day, $55 million Table Rock and North Saluda Water Treatment Plant.

More commonly used for wastewater treatment, DAF is extremely effective at removing low-density organic particles, such as algae, which was one of the challenges at Greenville. Other benefits of DAF include a smaller footprint and lower associated costs.

Until the EPA�s Surface Water Treatment Rule mandated filtration in 1989, Greenville�s water from high-quality reservoirs had been disinfected but not filtered.

DAF was selected as a pretreatment step because of concerns about filters clogging during algae blooms and also because research shows that DAF treatment provides for the effective removal of Cryptosporidium oocysts.

Black & Veatch has implemented DAF and Counter Current DAF/Filtration (COCODAFF�) technology in installations worldwide.