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Sustainability - Newater

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Submitted By calmguy
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Problem 1
Newater Problems and solution
Remote Monitoring System To Detect Discharge Of Trade Effluent With Vocs Into The Public Sewer
The NEWater production process involves microfiltration, and reverse osmosis. When WRP final effluent contains low molecular weight organic solvents, which may be present due to discharge of such substances in trade effluent from some industries, NEWater production may be disrupted as some of these solvents can pass through the membranes. There are measures in place to safeguard the supply of NEWater from disruption due to the indiscriminate and often illegal discharge of such substances into the public sewers.
PUB has put in place an early warning system, comprising of VOC meters installed at certain pumping stations with significant industrial clusters and at WRP inlets, to alert of high VOC in the used water. When such alerts occur, a surveillance team will carry out field inspections to trace the source of such discharge. PUB has been able to handle the situations relatively satisfactorily, and without affecting the NEWater customers.
Early warning system can be enhanced by moving the VOC meters further upstream to the potential sources of discharge. In this situation, besides shortening the time lag between the alert and the detection, a fair amount on the likely discharger of the trade effluent with the undesirable substances would be narrowed down. This enhancement can therefore help to increase the possibility of a successful tracing of the source.
However, there are concerns as to whether the VOC meter installed at such locations would work satisfactorily. In particular, a suitable baseline ambient VOC reading needs to be established at the installed location during complying discharge. This may not be possible due the varying trade effluent flow pattern, chamber configuration, etc. Another concern is the reliability of the RMS system to give trouble-free operation with minimal false alarms. This pilot test addressing all the aforementioned concerns has been started since Sep 06 and has successfully detected some illegal discharger.
VOC: Volatile Organic Compounds
Drinking water containing high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) may be harmful to human health. VOCs are a class of chemicals that have important properties in common: They evaporate, or vaporize, readily (they are volatile), and they contain carbon(and are therefore called organic). When present in water at low concentrations, some VOCs produce a sweet, pleasant odor.
WRP: Water Reclamation Plant
RMS: Remote Monitoring System

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