AMS

Real-time THM data from the online THM-100™ analyzer has helped the City of San Luis Obispo to achieve DBP compliance, optimize their aeration process and ensure public safety. In 2014 and 2015, the City of San Luis Obispo experienced high THM levels and staff began to research processes and practices that could head-off high THM recurrences. To ensure DBP regulatory compliance, the city chose in-tank aeration to mitigate THMs. While effective in the removal of THMs, in-tank aeration is a high-energy consumption process. Spending approximately $10K per month on power, San Luis Obispo began searching for an effective solution that would help reduce energy expenses while optimizing the treatment process and making it more cost-efficient. The online THM-100™ analyzer from AMS was valuable for aeration treatment system design, establishing continuous real-time THM data as vital assets in meeting regulatory compliance and protecting public health.

A SafeGuard™ H2O intelligent Cr(VI) remediation system demonstration unit with a treatment capacity of 10 gpm was installed with the City of Los Banos, California to evaluate the performance of the technology to treat Cr(VI) to non-detect levels (under 1 ppb) in unchlorinated well water.  SafeGuard H2O is an innovative technology based on a proprietary approach that generates on demand a stannous ion reagent in-situ via an electrolytic process. The pilot with Los Banos provided confirmation of the technology’s efficacy and third-party validation of the SafeGuard H2O system as a cost-effective alternative to traditional Cr(VI) treatment systems. Results are detailed.

To meet the goals for safe drinking water and sustainability in the most cost-effective manner, there is an urgent need for the water industry to accelerate the validation and adoption of technology innovations. The adoption of real-time, water quality analyzers at water hubs is poised to change the game of technology acceptance in the water quality sector.

AMS is committed to bringing intelligent water remediation solutions that can be fully controlled, monitored and optimized remotely, while ensuring that these systems are more accessible to a wider sector of the population through affordable financial models. As such, AMS has offered an official response to a white paper — “Economic Feasibility Analysis in Consideration of a Hexavalent Chromium MCL” — published by the California State Water Board (SWB), who is engaged in a process of consultation to determine at what level the regulatory limit for Cr(VI) should be set. AMS’ position on Cr(VI) regulation and comments to SWB are summarized in this technical brief.

Lead contamination in drinking water presents a serious threat to human health. While utilities monitor for lead by sampling infrequently only a small number of domestic points of use, these traditional lead monitoring programs lack the ability to measure the presence of all forms of lead; capture unpredictable changes in water quality that result in lead corrosion; and report the contamination risk before the water is delivered to the customer. MetalGuard™ Lead Alert!™ from AMS is designed to offer communities real-time, continuous and dynamic water quality assessment of the presence of total lead in buildings or zones exposed to events that are the cause of acute lead contamination to reduce the risk of exposure.

The R.E. Badger Filtration Plant turned to AMS’s online THM analyzer, THM-100™, to obtain continuous and real-time data to characterize THMs in the distribution system and allow it to have an early indication of potential THM formation problems before they become a compliance issue.

California American Water turned to AMS’s MetalGuard™ fully-automated, online multi-stream Cr(VI) analyzer to have higher visibility of Cr(VI) contaminant levels in real-time and allow them to better monitor and address critical steps in their remediation process. 

Online instruments help water utilities control water treatment operations. CEO Rick Bacon of Aqua Metrology Systems explains how utilities rely on sensors to meet water quality compliance standards and optimize operational performance in the May/June 2019 issue of World Water.

As regulatory requirements and the availability of more accurate diagnostic technologies continue to push the legal threshold limit of contaminants, utilities are turning to high-frequency data to identify contaminant threats and diagnose critical treatment system performance. Learn how El Paso Water’s Upper Valley Water Treatment Plant was able to meet regulatory requirements with the help of AMS’s MetalGuard™ automated, online arsenic analyzers.

Intelligent water treatment systems incorporate real-time sensing to ensure that their performance is optimized to avoid under- or over-treatment and that any deterioration in system performance is signaled to permit timely remedial intervention.