OSCEOLA COUNTY, FL, Oct. 31, 2012 -- Toho Water Authority, the largest water service provider in Osceola County, Fla., has selected the MIEX® Process, a proprietary treatment process of Orica Watercare, to reduce disinfection by-product (DBP) precursors from the groundwater at their Harmony Water Treatment Plant (WTP). Treating water from the Upper Floridan Aquifer in eastern Osceola County, a raw water source containing significant amounts of organic carbon and hydrogen sulfide, the Harmony WTP was challenged by high levels of DBP formation. A consent order from the state, received in 2011, prompted the utility to evaluate treatment options that would reduce the DBP formation potential and facilitate compliance with EPA regulations for water quality.
Working with consultant CH2M HILL, the utility evaluated the performance of MIEX® Treatment at the pilot scale. MIEX® Treatment was demonstrated to reduce the levels of organic carbon in the raw water by nearly 80 percent, reduce sulfide concentrations by nearly 90 percent and, when implemented in a full scale operation, will allow the Harmony WTP to resume use of free chlorine for disinfection, maintaining consistency with the utility's 17 other water treatment plants. Additionally, the finished water produced by the pilot was well below EPA's MCL standards for DBP formation. A successful community taste test reinforced the Authority's decision to contract with Orica Watercare for the purchase of a 0.5 MGD MIEX® Treatment system to be installed at the Harmony WTP.
The MIEX® Treatment was selected because of its reliability and higher overall finished water quality, of the technologies evaluated by the utility -- a factor influencing the Authority's decision. Deborah Beatty, the project manager from Toho Water Authority states, "Toho's Engineering and Operations Staff is confident that the selection of the MIEX® Water Treatment System for the Harmony WTP will provide a financially sustainable solution that will facilitate compliance with FDEP and EPA regulations and meet customer expectations for taste and water quality."
The Harmony Water Treatment Plant's MIEX® System is expected to be operational by early summer 2013.
About Orica Watercare Inc.
Orica Watercare Inc. is the manufacturer of MIEX® Systems and MIEX® Ion Exchange Resins for the reduction of Disinfection By-Products, Dissolved Organic Carbon, Color, Nitrate and Arsenic from water & wastewater streams. Orica Watercare Inc., headquartered in Denver, CO is a subsidiary of the Orica group of companies. The Orica group is the largest supplier of water treatment and industrial chemicals in Australia and New Zealand and is the world's largest supplier of commercial explosives.
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