AWWA JAW70100

In the past decade, utility managers have been resolved to isolating contaminated aquifers and developing alternative water sources. However, with drought conditions developing throughout the western United States, water providers need to reconsider using any available water sources as potential potable water. This study was undertaken to demonstrate the efficacy of biological fluidized bed reactor (FBR) technology in treating perchlorate-laden groundwater. In this process, microbes treat the perchlorate and convert it into an innocuous form that allows the water, following further downstream treatment in a traditional surface water treatment facility, to be used as a potable water source. Results from a large pilot-scale biological FBR showed that the overall treatment plant was effective in removing perchlorate and producing potable water that met all of California's Title 22 drinking water regulations. Study findings also provided critical design data that can be applied to a potential full-scale treatment plant capable of safely and cost-effectively treating a water source previously unavailable. Includes 31 references, tables, figures.