Evaluation of Water Treatment Processes Through Pilot Studies

Proceedings of the 1991 Georgia Water Resources Conference, March 19-20, 1991, Athens, Georgia.Currently the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is developing regulatory requirements for 86 compounds as a part of the Safe Drinking Act (SDWA) Amendments. Additionally, 25 new compounds will be regulated every three years and added to the existing list. More specifically, the SDWA Amendments require enhanced filtration and thorough disinfection of all surface waters. With these new regulations, the EPA has defined treatment technologies which can be implemented to meet the regulations. These technologies include less common, and potentially very expensive, treatment techniques, such as ozone and granular activated carbon. Faced with changing federal regulations, consumer demands for safe water, and potentially high costs, water suppliers need an effective way of determining acceptable treatment technologies for the least cost. Pilot studies offer an economical method to test alternative and often innovative treatment technologies without affecting the existing process. The following describes the benefits of performing pilot studies and outlines a case study done in Charleston, South Carolina.Sponsored by U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, and Georgia Institute of Technology.This book was published by the Institute of Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 with partial funding provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, through the Georgia Water Research Institute as authorized by the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 (P.L. 98242). The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of The University of Georgia or the U.S. Geological Survey or the conference sponsors