Drinking Water and Wastewater Management
Performance of Reverse Osmosis and Manganese Greensand Plants in Removing Naturally Occurring Substances in Drinking Water
This paper was published in the Water Quality Research Journal of Canada (published by IWA Publishing), Volume 49, Number 1, 2014.
A number of communities in Saskatchewan who depend on ground water as a source for drinking water have reported high levels of naturally occurring substances, such as arsenic, uranium and selenium, in their raw water. These communities continue to upgrade their systems by installing new or retrofitting with treatment units, such as Reverse Osmosis (RO) and manganese greensand filters (MGS) to reduce the levels of uranium, arsenic, selenium, iron and manganese in finished water.
In order to assess the treatment performance of these two systems, a research study was initiated to collect samples from approximately 20 communities across Saskatchewan and analyze various parameters including the levels of naturally occurring substances in raw and finished water. The study focused on identifying the removal efficiency, effect of other parameters, such as sulfate, total dissolved solids, and hardness that have any effect and/or inhibition on the removal efficiency. Study results showed that RO plants are effective in removing uranium from drinking water and manganese greensand filters are good in removing arsenic from drinking water. The paper was originally presented at the Canadian National Drinking Water Conference in Kelowna, BC during 2012 and later published in the journal. The authors of the paper are Dr. O.S. (Arasu) Thirunavukkarasu and Sam Ferris of the Water Security Agency. The paper was well received by the national and international audience. If you have any questions or need more information on this paper please contact Dr. Arasu at our Regina office 306-787-9554.
To read the paper, please select it in the column on the right.
Managing Municipal Wastewater in Saskatchewan
This paper was published in the Canadian Water Works Association’s (CWWA) biannual issue “Canadian Municipal Water, News and Reviews” Fall 2012.
The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) developed a Canada-wide Strategy for the Management of Municipal Wastewater Effluent (also called MWWE Strategy) for effluent discharge into surface water from wastewater treatment plants. The Strategy requires all wastewater treatment plants in Canada to achieve National Performance Standards (NPS) and develop site-specific Effluent Discharge Objectives (EDO). Saskatchewan adopted the NPS and communities are requested to meet these standards within the timelines identified in the strategy. All communities discharging into fish bearing waters in Saskatchewan are requested to conduct an effluent characterization study to determine the impacts on the receiving environment and to establish site-specific EDOs.
The Water Security Agency’s Environmental and Municipal Management division (at the time, the Municipal Branch of Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment) conducted this study. The study involved collection of water samples from upstream and downstream of the effluent discharge point, and collection of effluent samples from the final discharge point of wastewater treatment plants.
Analysis includes both acute and chronic toxicity testing, and other parameters, such as pathogens, and nutrients. This paper includes the results of sampling/research studies conducted to determine the impacts of treated wastewater on Saskatchewan Rivers and Streams. The authors of the paper are Dr. O.S. (Arasu) Thirunavukkarasu and Sam Ferris from the Water Security Agency. The paper was originally presented at the World Environmental Water Resources Congress, American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) at Albuquerque, USA, 2012 and was well received by the national and international audience. If you have any questions or need more information on this paper please contact Dr. Arasu at 306-787-9554.
To read the paper, please select it in the column on the right.