The Village of Port Williams is a thriving agricultural community in Nova Scotia, Canada. Like many agricultural communities, long-term fertilizer application to the land has led to elevated levels of nitrate in groundwater. Nevertheless, the local water supply plant continuously produces high quality drinking water. With a reliable nitrate monitoring system from Real Tech and a solid management strategy, the plant is securing water quality for their community.
Overcoming Nitrate Contamination
The Village of Port Williams has long been aware of the challenges and risks associated with nitrate in drinking water. The local water supply plant has been effectively managing nitrate in their groundwater supplies for decades, maintaining compliance with Health Canada’s maximum acceptable concentration (MAC) of 45 mg/L nitrate (NO3) or 10 mg/L nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N).
The plant uses five (5) groundwater supply wells that are blended to produce finished water below the MAC for nitrate. Joe Keddy, Superintendent of Public Works, has been successfully operating the water supply plant for over seven (7) years and describes nitrate as one of the highest priority water quality parameters they monitor.
“It makes all the difference for us to access direct support when we need it and service our nitrate analyzer onsite to minimize downtime. Real Tech’s service has been next level in helping us achieve that” said Keddy.
Making Informed Decisions Every Day
Real-time nitrate data is essential for the success of their operations and for this job, the plant relies on a nitrate analyzer from Real Tech. The Real Nitrate analyzer is set up to continuously monitor the inlet and outlet of their tower and communicates directly with the local SCADA system for high visibility of current nitrate concentrations.
