Concern has been growing in recent years about the
quality and reliability of water treatment chemicals.
These uncertainties have been perpetuated by
contamination incidents that received significant public
attention, and they continue as emerging contamination
issues arise. This article describes a comprehensive
national investigation of trace contaminants in water
treatment chemicals. Before this research was
conducted, it was not known if problems associated
with contaminants in water treatment chemicals were
widespread or limited to isolated events. This project
was intended to answer this basic question using the
best available information across the United States and
beyond and to develop practical recommendations for
utilities and the industry as a whole about how to identify,
limit, and prevent contamination of treatment
chemicals to improve plant operations, lower treatment
costs, and protect public health.
In general, no pervasive problems with trace contaminants
in US water treatment chemicals were found
in this research, but when incidents do occur, the
most commonly identified problems were transport-related,
typically the result of improperly cleaned or
maintained delivery vehicles and transfer hoses. Treatment
chemicals were found to be of high quality, and
trace contaminant composition was lower than indicated
in the few previous studies that are available.
This study showed that contamination incidents may
be largely averted when utilities develop and implement
inspection and evaluation programs for incoming
chemical deliveries at their facilities. These programs
result in more opportunities to identify, reject,
and arrange replacement shipment for contaminated
treatment chemicals before they are used at a facility
and before they can affect finished water or residuals
quality. Includes 20 references, tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. 96 - No. 12 |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 480 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 15 |
| Published : | 12/01/2004 |
