AMS

Intelligent water treatment systems incorporate real-time sensing to ensure that their performance is optimized to avoid under- or over-treatment and that any deterioration in system performance is signaled to permit timely remedial intervention.

Wastewater Treatment Plants facing stringent effluent permit limits for ammonia, nitrogen and THMs can benefit from using online THM analyzers. Measurement of THM levels in the effluent prior to and following the chlorine injection point is necessary as utilities work to reduce DBP formation while minimizing nitrogen and ammonia levels. The introduction of an online THM analyzer for use in wastewater applications now enables WWTPs to characterize THM values in real-time.

In a newly released Water Research Foundation (WRF) report, TTHM concentration results from the THM-100™ analyzer yielded excellent results. Throughout the duration of the demonstration testing, results obtained from the AMS THM-100™ analyzer were within ± 10% of laboratory results. In addition to the TTHM concentrations, the individual THM species concentrations also matched very well between the AMS instrument and the laboratory.

Evaluation of the field TTHM analytical instruments demonstrated that these instruments are easy to install and operate, can generate TTHM results quickly, and most importantly accurate and precise.

WRF Report Reducing Volatile Disinfection By-Products in Treated Drinking Water Using Aeration Technologies (Report #4441) © 2015 Water Research Foundation.

Real-time data and analytical information from online instruments help utilities comply with water quality regulations. The complete article detailing how online water quality instruments are poised for growth was published in the March/April 2015 issue of World Water. 

An aeration system has been installed in San Jose Water Company’s 12 million-gallon water storage tank to keep dwindling water supplies free of contaminants and possible carcinogens. As organic matter in water sources, like drying rivers and lakes, is becoming more concentrated, according to the water company, there has been a growing concern about levels of trihalomethanes, or THMs.

The buying and selling of treated water is common practice in the United States. Consecutive systems (CS) — public water systems that buy or receive some or all of their finished water from one or more wholesale systems (WS) — are responsible for serving nearly one-third of the water customers in the U.S… read the rest of the article by Rick Bacon the CEO of AMS.

As long as instrumentation is selected, installed, commissioned, and maintained properly the data that it can give is invaluable to the water industry. However, there are a number of barriers in the way… read the rest of the article and a response from Rick Bacon the CEO of AMS.

The dangers caused by the enormous wildfire near California’s Yosemite National Park are clear to anyone who has seen the dramatic videos and photos. But a fire that has already razed an estimated 134,000 acres of land in nine days and is only twenty per cent under control holds an even greater long-term threat to the drinking water supply, as the Hetch Hetchy reservoir adjacent to Yosemite provides drinking water to over 2.6 million residents in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ash falling into Hetch Hetchy significantly increases the amount of organic material in the source water and post disinfection, an increased level of carcinogenic Trihalomethanes (THMs) in the drinking water supply, while fire-suppression chemicals kill fish and contaminate the aquifer and increased solids clog filters.

Unfortunately, most consumers will not know whether their water is safe because of the time taken for laboratories to analyze drinking water samples from their city´s water utility by which time millions of gallons of water will have been already piped to them.

Fortunately, there is already a tried and tested solution installed in a number of Northern California water utilities, in the form of the THM-100, a fully automated system developed by Sunnyvale based Aqua Metrology Systems (AMS) that provides real-time data of the THM levels in a city’s water supply and can alert water utilities and consumers immediately if there is a problem so the water utility can take preventative actions. The Californian cities of Sunnyvale and Benicia are examples of the early adopters of this technology and their water quality readings can be seen at www.tthmalert.com

Rick Bacon, CEO of Aqua Metrology Systems, commented

“While the devastating Yosemite fire raises serious challenges about the ensuring the safety of drinking water over the coming weeks, the fact that THM levels can be monitored in real-time year round will give consumers confidence their water is safe to use before they do so”

 

About the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir

The reservoir serves the following water districts:

Alameda County, Hayward, Santa Clara County,Milpitas, Mountaint. View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Purissima Hills Water District –  Stanford University, San Mateo County, Brisbane, Burlingame, Daly City, East Palo Alto, Hillsborough,  Menlo Park, Millbrae, Redwood City, San Coastside County Water District, Estero Municipal Improvement District, Guadalupe Valley Municipal Improvement District, Mid-Peninsula Water District, North Coast County Water District,  Westborough Water California Water Service Company,  Cal Water – Bear Gulch, Cal Water – Mid Peninsula District, Cal Water – South San Francisco