AWWA JAW60847

Information in this article will be of interest to utility managers because it can be used to provide design guidance with respect to the least-cost treatment configuration that would best treat the raw water characteristics of a particular facility. This study illustrates how the different particle size distribution characteristics and design conditions (flow rate) affect the least-cost treatment configuration regions and how this information can be used to provide design guidance with respect to the treatment configuration that would best treat the raw water characteristics of interest. Previous investigations considered a limited set of particle size distribution characteristics and flow rates and described the least-cost treatment process configurations using an aggregate measure of the particle size distribution. This study incorporates a larger range of particle size characteristics and design flow rates in order to illustrate their effects on the least-cost design configurations. The study's major conclusions would affect the process for designing water treatment plants considering charge neutralization conditions, particularly with respect to characterizing the influent particle size distribution characteristics, and for providing an efficient method that could be used to initially estimate the least-cost treatment configurations using the associated figures. Includes 28 references, tables, figures.