Since 2014, the AMS online THM-100™ analyzers gave enabled Aigües de Barcelona to identify rapid changes in water quality in real-time, optimize its treatment processes and reduce related expenses while ensuring THM regulatory compliance. 

A research project collaboration between the Water and Energy Technology Center at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Ma., and AMS tested a novel method for near real-time analysis of disinfection byproduct precursors and natural organic matter properties in water supplies. AMS’ online THM and THM Formation Potential monitoring technology was shown to be a viable method to accurately predict THM precursor content and network THM levels. The collaboration was funded by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

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Real-time THM data from the online THM-100™ analyzer has helped the City of San Luis Obispo to achieve DBP compliance, optimize their aeration process and ensure public safety. In 2014 and 2015, the City of San Luis Obispo experienced high THM levels and staff began to research processes and practices that could head-off high THM recurrences. To ensure DBP regulatory compliance, the city chose in-tank aeration to mitigate THMs. While effective in the removal of THMs, in-tank aeration is a high-energy consumption process. Spending approximately $10K per month on power, San Luis Obispo began searching for an effective solution that would help reduce energy expenses while optimizing the treatment process and making it more cost-efficient. The online THM-100™ analyzer from AMS was valuable for aeration treatment system design, establishing continuous real-time THM data as vital assets in meeting regulatory compliance and protecting public health.

The R.E. Badger Filtration Plant turned to AMS’s online THM analyzer, THM-100™, to obtain continuous and real-time data to characterize THMs in the distribution system and allow it to have an early indication of potential THM formation problems before they become a compliance issue.

Faced with high IEX process waste disposal costs, TRUMPF, a manufacturer of laser diodes made from Gallium Arsenide substrates (GaAs) wafers, undertook efforts to optimize the IEX process and produce less hazardous waste. One of the process improvements included the installation of the MetalGuard Arsenic online arsenic analyzer to continuously measure influent and effluent arsenic levels in real-time, providing TRUMPF with a stream of accurate and reliable arsenic data to measure the performance of its IEX system and ensure regulatory compliance. Timely and accurate arsenic results enabled TRUMPF to optimize rinse water reuse as well as to optimize and reduce IEX backwash frequencies, increasing media performance and reducing hazardous waste generation. These process improvements have resulted in an estimated annual cost savings of $100K for the facility.

California American Water turned to AMS’s MetalGuard™ fully-automated, online multi-stream Cr(VI) analyzer to have higher visibility of Cr(VI) contaminant levels in real-time and allow them to better monitor and address critical steps in their remediation process. 

Online instruments help water utilities control water treatment operations. CEO Rick Bacon of Aqua Metrology Systems explains how utilities rely on sensors to meet water quality compliance standards and optimize operational performance in the May/June 2019 issue of World Water.

As regulatory requirements and the availability of more accurate diagnostic technologies continue to push the legal threshold limit of contaminants, utilities are turning to high-frequency data to identify contaminant threats and diagnose critical treatment system performance. Learn how El Paso Water’s Upper Valley Water Treatment Plant was able to meet regulatory requirements with the help of AMS’s MetalGuard™ automated, online arsenic analyzers.

Aigües de Barcelona decided to monitor THM levels more frequently and they implemented the use of online analyzers to provide accurate and timely information regarding the THM formation in their network.

The Town of Tewksbury, Massachusetts piloted tested an aeration system for additional THM removal. Influent and effluent THM values were measured for the duration of the study using an online THM analyzer.