The City of Riversides Experiences with Perchlorate Removal Treatment

Speaker: Dr. Owen Lu, P.E.
Water Systems Operations Manager
Riverside Public Utilities
Riverside, CAAbstract:
Water is a resource basic to life itself – the quality of life would decline if this precious resource were limited in supply and quality. Although an occurrence is rare, the impact of contaminated water to the community is astronomical. Thus, the integrity of the infrastructure, competency of the staff, adequacy of the water supply, and wholesome of the potable water has always been the first priority of Federal and State regulators. Due to a recent movie "Erin Brockovich," the water quality gained increasing attentions from public. Consequently, countless lawsuits are filed and pending nationwide, and the industry has become regulation-driven, lawsuit-driven, and customer services-driven.Perchlorate is one of the emerging contaminants in the drinking water. As such, economically viable removal treatment technologies are limited. After a series of pilot-scale studies, environmental restriction reviews, and cost-benefit analyses, the City decided to operate a fixed-bed, toss-away, perchlorate-selective ion exchange technology. This presentation will briefly review the existing regulatory requirements, perchlorate removal treatment technologies and their restrictions, and issues with designing, constructing, and operating an ion exchange plant. A demonstration study was conducted to verify whether the resin would cause any impact to the downstream water quality.Like many other industries, the water industry is facing the challenges of demographic changes. This presentation also briefly discusses the trends of the industry, and provides a few recommendations to the young professional who may be interested in pursuing a career in this industry.

Location: Seeley G. Mudd Bldg., Room 101

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Evangeline Reyes