Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Pinellas County Utilities & Dunedin R.O. WTP

Pinellas County Utilities


Will spent the morning with the Director of Pinellas County Utilities and Manager, Water Supply (pictured above). They discussed their integrated water management initiatives, including the recycled water (third pipe) operations. They discussed the success of their water conservation programs and how it led to unexpected consequences in the potable water supply. They also discussed the operational changes required due to the reduction in potable water usage, and the problems associated with mixing of the recent alternative water sources of ground water, surface water and desalinated seawater. They were extremely generous with their time and even gave me a take home gift – An official Tampa Rays Baseball Cap!!! – Thanks Gents.

Dunedin R.O. WTP
The crew at the Dunedin Reverse Osmosis water treatment plant provided a comprehensive overview of the supply network and the workings of the R.O. WTP. Dunedin was plagued with severe water quality problems resulting from aggressive, iron laden water being supplied by the dispersed well field. In order to combat this issue, and the threat of salt water intrusion into the ground water supplies, the City of Dunedin commissioned the construction of a 9.5 mega gallons per day R.O. WTP. The plant was constructed and completed in 1992.
The plant is fed ground water from 21 wells around the Dunedin area and then treated to potable standard.  This facility is the only one in Florida and the largest in the United States to utilise greensands filtration as a pre-treatment to Reverse Osmosis (see filtration vessels below).



The guys at the plant are extremely proud of the quality and performance of their plant – they have even won awards for the taste and quality of the water! (See trophy below).

 


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