With the increasing frequency and severity of drought, agencies across the United States and in particular in Texas have been turning to the potable reuse of municipal wastewater, either directly or indirectly, to help meet growing demands. It is important for any water treatment facility to have a high level of reliability to ensure water quality is delivered to an acceptable standard, and risks to public health are minimized. This importance is underlined in the case of potable reuse, where the real risks of higher contaminant levels in plant feed water, along with perceived risks associated with public perception of reuse, require a high level of operational surety. The potable reuse plant must be designed correctly, it must be operated well with realistic and practical demands on operations staff, and the assets and infrastructure must be maintained in a highly reliable condition. Many utilities are finding an increasing requirement to move to direct potable reuse. Direct potable reuse (DPR) is distinct from indirect potable reuse (IPR) in that there is no environmental buffer between the reclaimed water and either the downstream distribution system or inlet of a water treatment plant. This is sometimes driven by reduced energy requirements, reduced construction costs and reduced operational costs. In some cases, the utility has no option. With these real and perceived risks, are operations ready for the challenge. Funded by the WateReuse Foundation and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California as part of their Direct Potable Reuse initiative, two research projects are currently being undertaken to help answer these questions. WRRF-13-03, “Critical Control Point Assessment to Quantify Robustness and Reliability of Multiple Treatment Barriers of a DPR Scheme”, is serving as an instrumental step in advancing the acceptance of direct potable reuse (DPR) by demonstrating the robustness and reliability of multiple barriers of treatment, and operational responses, to ensure the highest standards of water quality and assure protection of public health. WRRF 13-13 “Development of Operation and Maintenance Plan and Training and Certification Framework for Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) Systems” is focused on developing a framework for both O&M plans for DPR systems, and identifying the training and certification requirements to underpin the skills and knowledge for operations teams. This presentation will provide not only an update of these projects, including a number of practical findings for operators and utilities.
This presentation is available to AMTA Members only.
Speaker
- Troy Walker
Company
- Hazen and Sawyer
Event
- AMTA/SWMOA Technology Transfer Workshop, Carefree, AZ
Session
- AMTA/SWMOA Technology Transfer Workshop
Date
- 05/19/15
Media
Keywords
- Operations, Reuse, Training
Reference
- 9677-DP963