Characterization of Particles in Slow Sand Filtration at North Caribou Water Treatment Plant

• Main Authors: Beata Gorczyca, David London
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.573.1420; http://www.cawq.ca/journal/temp/article/100.pdf

Microscopic analysis of particles in water can indicate the size of filter media required, and can be used to monitor filter performance. This study investigat-ed a malfunctioning slow sand filter in a water treatment facility on a First Nations community in Northern Ontario. There has been a boil-water advisory in the community due to high turbidity in the drinking water since the plant was put into operation. Also, the slow sand filters in the plant clog frequently resulting in outflow volumes significantly below the plant design capacity. On-line particle counts and microscopic analysis of water were conducted in the plant at various points before and after the slow sand filters. Microscopic analysis of the slow sand filter effluent showed that the high water turbidity was due to an increased concentration of particles smaller than 2 µm in size. This observation could not have been made with the particle counter data alone, as it is not capable of measuring particles of that size. Visual inspection of microscopic images of these small particles indicated that they were being washed out from the filter media, and did not originate from the raw water. Significant numbers of large filter-clogging diatoms (up to 50 µm in size) were identified under the microscope; yet, the particle counter did not report particles larger than 15 µm in raw water supply. Turbidimeters and particle coun-ters were found to be unable to identify these diatoms, due to the transparent nature of the cell walls of these microorganisms. It is likely that most of these diatoms originated from sediment accumulated in the raw water intake pipe. Key words: slow sand filtration, particle counter, microscope analysis