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The City of Hardinsburg, Kentucky (City) currently owns and operates a 1.6 million gallon perday (MGD) surface water treatment plant located on Rough River Reservoir in the extremesouthern portion of Breckinridge County, Kentucky. The current water treatment plant (WTP)obtains its water from a tributary to the main stem of the reservoir. For several years, the Cityhas been battling with siltation problems with the raw water intake structure and the formation ofdisinfection/disinfectant byproducts (D/DBP) due to the high organic content of the reservoir'swater.Since 1999, the City has been looking for and evaluating new and reliable raw water sources fortheir customers. In 2001, the City made the decision to relocate the WTP to the alluvium fieldsalong the Ohio River in the northeast part of the county (approximately 20 miles from theexisting WTP.) In July 2001, it was determined that an abundant source of water was availablefor a new plant to serve the City, now and for many years into the future. However, initial waterquality test results, indicated high hardness ( 300 mg/l CaCO3) and high nitrate levels (8 mg/l) in the groundwater source. The City has determined that the local groundwater was the bestavailable raw water source to use for the new WTP, as they did not want to continue facingproblems associated with surface water treatment of the reservoir water that they currentlyexperience. Based on the proposed groundwater source, the City began evaluating state-of-the-arttreatment technologies to meet the current drinking water quality regulations as well as beingprepared for future regulations.The treatment technology chosen was low-pressure reverse osmosis (LPRO) to remove thehigh hardness and high levels of nitrates with one treatment process. This treatment technologyis the first of its kind in the State of Kentucky for the treatment of groundwater for a potabledrinking water system. The drinking water treatment program will include an on-site membranepilot test for the treatment of this groundwater source. This paper discusses the proceduresand protocol developed for conducting the 90-day pilot study demonstrating hardness andnitrate removal utilizing LPRO. The paper also discusses how the pilot study assisted in theevaluation and development of design criteria including operating conditions, and raw waterblending percentages in order to meet the water quality goals established by the City for thefinal product. Includes tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 06/17/2004 Number of Pages: 19File Size: 1 file , 570 KB