WEDECO Announces Breakthrough in the American Drinking Water Market -

Duesseldorf, Germany — WEDECO AG Water Technology announced today that its’ U.S. subsidiary was recently awarded a contract for North America’s first large-scale UV disinfection system for "multi-barrier" disinfection of potable water from the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, Utah. The contract was awarded as part of an upgrade to the 46 million gallon per day (MGD) (7,254 cubic meters per hour) drinking water treatment plant Weber Basin 3. The process upgrade, engineered by Carollo Engineers (Boise, Idaho) includes for an ozone oxidation treatment stage followed by disinfection with ultraviolet light. The general constructor is Alder Construction (Salt Lake City, Utah).

Under the terms of the contract WEDECO-Ideal Horizons, Inc. (Poultney, Vermont) will manufacture and deliver four (4) of WEDECO’s proprietary K Series ultraviolet disinfection units. Weber Basin 3 will represent the first large-scale potable water system in North America to employ WEDECO’s advanced low pressure-high intensity ultraviolet lamp technology, used extensively throughout Europe for drinking water disinfection.

For drinking water applications, operational redundancy and independent verification of performance are important aspects in the design of any treatment plant. For Weber Basin, three of the UV units operating in parallel will be able to disinfect the entire 46 MGD plant treatment capacity. The fourth unit will remain on "stand-by". Prior to installation, the reactors will be certified by a third party testing center to ensure that they meet or exceed the plant’s design UV dose criteria of 40 mJ/cm2 (millijoules per square centimeter). This dose was selected by Carollo to ensure effective disinfection at the plant’s design conditions. The UV system will be able to provide a greater than 4 log (99.99%) inactivation of human pathogens including bacteria and viruses as well as dangerous protozoa. The system is scheduled to become operational in summer 2003; installation work will start in winter 2003.

The ozone system to be installed as part of the upgrade will provide pre-treatment of the water prior to UV disinfection. It will deliver up to 1200 pounds per day (PPD) (23 kilograms per hour) of ozone to reduce, taste, and odour in the water as well as provide some disinfection assistance to the ultraviolet system. It is to be manufactured and supplied by PCI-WEDECO Environmental Technologies, Inc. (West Caldwell, New Jersey), a member of WBL Holding Group, world largest ozone system manufacturer. PCI-WEDECO is a subsidiary of WBL Holding (Duesseldorf, Germany).

John Marrino, President of both WEDECO-Ideal Horizons, Inc. and PCI-WEDECO Environmental Technologies, Inc. is enthusiastic about the project. "We believe that Weber Basin 3 represents the beginning of what will become a significant upgrade for potable water treatment throughout North America. The benefits of combining these two technologies are clear. The result will be exceptional quality drinking water that consumers can trust."

WEDECO AG is the most experienced UV company globally for drinking water applications with tens of thousands of UV systems operating worldwide. In Europe where UV disinfection of municipal drinking water is common, WEDECO’s references include some of the largest drinking water UV projects in the world. These include plants for Helsinki (Finland), the Wahnbachtalsperrenverband (Germany), Hambleden (Great Britain) and Stockholm (Sweden). All of these plants feature the same advanced WEDECO UV lamp technology to be provided for Weber Basin 3. SpektrothermÒ lamps are the most efficient high intensity, low-pressure UV light sources currently available for disinfection applications. Compared with other technologies, e.g. medium pressure UV lamps, UV disinfection units utilizing SpektrothermÒ lamps exhibit maximum disinfection performance with significantly lower lifecycle costs.

"This is an exciting opportunity to demonstrate the excellent quality and efficiency of our product," says Mr. Werner Klink, CEO of WEDECO AG Water Technology. "The multi-barrier concept with ozone and UV will ensure safe drinking water for the population of the Weber Basin District. Combining the oxidation power of ozone and the disinfection power of UV will provide unsurpassed protection from waterborne illness due to human pathogens such as coliform bacteria, viruses and protozoa.

Mr. Klink added, "We anticipate that within a few years ultraviolet disinfection and the multi-barrier concept will become predominant treatment processes for drinking water in North America. WEDECO expects to be a major participant in this development. We continue to expand our R&D efforts in the area of drinking water UV disinfection. In addition to extensive product development programs we are also collaborating with European and American regulatory authorities toward improving standards for potable water treatment worldwide."

Source: Wedeco AG