Treatment & filtration System

Water in Guyana is generally of a very good quality, some persons may find this hard to believe, but our major problems are very easily solved as compared to other countries around the world. We do not have "hard" water, it is not contaminated with inherent minerals or chemicals, fuels and fertilizers that were used in days gone by.

In Georgetown, our capital city, water is presently drawn from the surface east of the city and flows through the "Conservancy canal" to a treatment plant where the pH is increased and the tannin precipitated, on delivery it is then chlorinated. This system is presently being phased out and this source will be replaced by ground water from wells situated at points around the city.

The current problem is the distribution network, the pipelines are very old and have to be replaced, suitable pressures cannot be pumped because of this. In addition, many home owners pump directly from these old mains causing untreated water to enter the distribution line through cracks and joints.

Outside of Georgetown, water is pumped from wells. The quality here again is very good, very low total dissolved solids, iron can be sometimes high in some areas, and pH is generally good. Harness in both areas is less than 1 grain per gallon.

The problem here is the cost of drilling wells, good quality water is generally found at 700 to 1,000 feet, the "A" sands generally begin at 1,100 feet, this water is of an extremely high quality. There are very few wells at this depth.

In most of these areas there is no treatment at all, water is pumped from the wells directly into the distribution pipelines at specific times of the day so water has to be stored by the homeowner.

The system consists of 2 x 1 cubic foot filters connected in series, the first filter can contain either a sediment removal media known as "Filter Ag" or an iron removal media called "Birm", for this, influent water quality has to be of the following quality: more than 10% dissolved oxygen, pH must be higher than 6. 5 and chlorination should be minimized.

Both filters contain 1 cubic foot of media and a manual 3 position valve, backwash, service and bypass. The backwash or waste line has a flow control ball valve. We also install another bypass valve so that in the event of maintenance, owner can still use unfiltered water.

The chlorine (Bleach) pump is wired to the main water supply pump, so that they work simultaneously, the mixture of bleach and water is retained in the pressure and retention tanks, and then the sediment removal filter so as complete the disinfection of the water.

This pump can be adjusted to deliver the correct amount of bleach, so as to avoid wastage by overdosing, ideal chlorine residual should be 2 parts per million. This is easily tested with a small inexpensive test kit.

The retention tank is an empty pressure vessel through which the water flows upwards leaving precipitates caused by the bleach/water reaction on the bottom of the tank. These are flushed from the retention tank periodically by simply opening a blow down valve, which goes to waste.

A more sophisticated combination of media consisting of “Anthracite”, “Sand”, “Garnet” and “Gravel” can remove solids down to 10 microns.

The second filter is a “ Granular Activated Carbon” filter, this removes chlorine, odor, taste, color and organics, if present. This filter is usually larger than the sediment removal filter so as to allow more “contact time” for organic removal.

Should high quality drinking water be required, we would recommend that an “Ultraviolet” sterilizer or a water distiller be put in place at one faucet preferably in the kitchen so that personnel can use water from one station.

Maintenance includes refilling bleach container once a week (bleach should not be exposed for more than this as it starts to lose it's strength).

Backwashing approximately twice a month, this is done by opening the backwash line valve and then moving the lever on the filter valve to the backwash position and allowing water to go to waste until it clears up in terms of color, the lever is then moved to the rapid rinse position, there will be an initial flow of dirty water which then clears, the lever is then moved back to the service position, and the backwash line valve closed.

From our experience we have found that the filter aggregate media should be changed every five years, and the activated carbon every three years, unless there is chlorine residual found after this filter, then it should be changed immediately.

passed through a neutralizing filter then chlorinated on the way to the aerator, level is controlled by a Warrick liquid level control, in the aerator reservoir.(see below).

The water, with a 2 ppm chlorine residual, is then pumped by an automatic system controlled by a float valve, through a sediment removal filter to the second storage tank, finally product water is passed through an Activated carbon filter by an "on demand" pump system to the product line and facilities.

Distillation is the single most effective method for producting PURE water. The distiller can remove a greater range of pollutants to a higher degree than any other single apparatus. No process, natural or artificial, including filtration, deionization and reverse osmosis is so efficient.

For these reasons, distillation has long been recognized as a standard for purity and dependability. Most liquid prescription medicines are blended with distilled water to avoid problems with the inconsistent quality of water. Many doctors prescribe distilled water for their patients to drink, especially those on sodium or salt restriced diets.

Distillation normally removes 99% of the dissolved minerals in water. Carry-over is primarily a concern with volatile organic chemical contaminants. Filtering the distilled water through a carbon filter removes these contaminants. An activated post carbon filter is recommended for this purpose.

Most people know that water is an unreliable source of minerals. Furthermore, they are inorganic minerals that the body has difficulty absorbing. Mineral sources come from food we eat, not the water we drink. These mineral sources are organic and readily assimilated by the body for good health.

A distiller is most desirable for producting point-of-use drinking water for you than any other method of purification. They are durable, dependable and require a minimum of maintenance for continuous operation. With basic care, THEY WILL CONSISTENTLY PRODUCE HIGH QUALITY WATER for the life of the appliance and the quality WILL NOT DECLINE with use.

Distilled water is water which has been heated to the boiling point so that impurities are separated from the water, which itself becomes vapor or steam. Steam is then condensed back into pure liquid form. The impurities remain as residue and are removed. These Distillation Systems remove waterborne biological contaminants such as bacteria, viruses, organic and inorganic chemicals, heavy metals, volatile gasses, cysts, and other contaminants. Pure water contains no solids, minerals, or trace elements. It is clean, natural, and healthy. Steam distilled water is the standard by which all other waters are measured.

There are two sources of minerals: organic and inorganic. Our bodies cannot assimilate minerals that come from an inorganic source such as the water we drink. Our bodies receive the minerals they assimilate from organic sources such as the food we eat. Distillation removes the minerals out of the water before they can enter the body's system, and distilled water may also remove mineral deposits already there. The minerals our bodies depend on are absorbed and remain in the tissues. Therefore, the safest course of action would seem to be to use a system, such as a distiller, that takes virtually all of the contaminants from your water.

Distilled water has the inherent characteristics of a magnet and picks up discarded minerals and with the assistance of the blood and lymph, transports them to the kidneys for elimination. It is this kind of mineral elimination that is incorrectly referred to as 'leaching'. The expression that distilled water leaches minerals from the body is inaccurate. Distilled water does not leach out body minerals, it collects and removes minerals which have been rejected by the cells and tissues, which if not evacuated, can cause arterial obstruction and serious bodily damage.

People who make this claim have normally only tried room temperature distilled water that may have been sitting on a shelf in a plastic jug for months. Distilled water is actually tasteless. This lack of flavor may take a short while to get used to, but once you get accustomed to drinking distilled water, chlorinated tap water will seem offensive. Tap water has additives, and it is the additives that you taste. Since distilled water adds no foreign substances to your foods, the original tastes and flavors of the foods are retained. Distillers supply fresh, clean, great tasting water made right in your home, affordably, and for your convenience.

These distillers use about 3 KWH of electricity for each gallon of water that is distilled. You can find your personal cost per gallon by multiplying 3 times the KWH rate in your area. You'll probably find that it is a fraction of the cost of buying water at the store or having it delivered.

Some contaminants that have boiling points lower than that of water could carry over, which is why these distillers are equipped with a safety feature: twin volatile gas vents, a patented design feature, which removes most of these contaminants. For even further protection, each distiller is also equipped with a carbon post-filter to provide you with high-quality distilled water with a 99% removal rate of virtually all contaminants.

An ultra violet sterilizer is an electrical device that produces ultra violet energy that is used to destroy microorganisms, without chemicals. Water passes through the sterilizer unit, where microorganisms are exposed to a lethal dose of ultra violet light in the 254 nanometer range. Ultra violet light in this wave length inactivates a wide range of microorganisms including bacteria, viruses, algae, protozoa, parasites and mold spores.

This inactivation occurs as the ultra violet light scrambles the organism's DNA structure, making reproduction impossible. The intensity of the ultra violet light and the micro-organism’s exposure time to the ultra violet light are factors that influence which micro-organisms are inactivated. This is referred to as the "kill dose", which is simply the intensity multiplied by the exposure time.

The use of reverse osmosis (RO) to remove a variety of unwanted contaminants from water has steadily become more common in the last few decades as the technology has been improved. One characteristic that is important for users of this process in industrial or municipal water treatment applications, however, is the RO membrane's tendency to become fouled by the contaminants it is removing from the feed water.

Colloidal solids, micro biological growth and insoluble precipitates can collect on the membrane during operation. Once a certain quantity of these deposits has built up, the treatment system has to be shut down so that the membrane can be cleaned. This results in downtime and consequently additional operating expense.

When cleaning is not performed soon enough in a use cycle, the membrane may be damaged beyond repair. In some situations the presence of fouling materials can totally preclude the use of membrane treatment as an option. Fortunately a number of pretreatment processes are available to reduce the fouling potential of the feed water being introduced to the membrane. These methods include various types of conventional filtration, disinfection and chemical treatment. But no matter which method is used, most RO treatment systems must be cleaned regularly.

Before plant operators begin to use any cleaning procedures they should understand how reverse osmosis works. Practical RO systems use the cross-flow filtration concept, where only a portion of the water passes through the membrane. The remainder travels across the membrane and through the treatment system as waste (also called concentrate, reject or brine). This waste or concentrate flow is the mechanism that keeps fouling materials from building up too rapidly on the surface of the membrane. Cross-flow membrane treatment systems have one feed stream entering the system, and two streams, one concentrate and one permeate (the purified water) being discharged (Figure 1).

Any membrane process system is limited by the quantity of water that can be forced through a given area of membrane in a given amount of time. This flow, referred to as the membrane flux rate, is often reported in gallons per square foot per day (gpd). For a treatment system to be able to treat more water, a greater membrane surface area must be present. The membrane is operated under pressure, so it must be enclosed inside a pressure vessel (PV). For the sake of economy, the volume of these PVs must be as low as possible. The goal is to include as much membrane as possible in a small volume while still making sufficient provision for feeding water to the membrane surface and removing concentrate and permeate.

While RO membrane elements are available in a number of styles, one of the most common is the spiral wound. In the assembly of this design, two flat sheets of membrane are placed back-to-back to form an envelope (Figure 2) that contains a porous sheet of material called a permeate carrier. The envelope is glued together on three sides only. The fourth side of the envelope is attached to a perforated permeate tube. The only way the purified water or permeate can escape from the envelope is through this tube.

During operation the feed water, which is under pressure, flows across the membrane surface on both sides of the envelope (Figure 3). The water that passes through the membrane flows along the permeate carrier toward the open end of the envelope and leaves through the permeate tube.

In large industrial systems several envelopes are attached to a common permeate tube. These envelopes are then wrapped, or wound, around the permeate tube to form a cylindrical membrane element. Before the wrapping is carried out, however, a mesh spacer is placed between the envelopes (Figure 4).

This space, called the feed channel, allows the influent stream to flow evenly distributed through the membrane element from one end to the other (Figure 5).

First, you need to determine what specific concerns you have about your water. Lead? Chlorine? Sodium? Poor taste and odor? If you're not sure, then first find out the quality of the water entering your home. If you are on a community water supply, call your water company and ask them to send you a water quality report. If your water comes from a private well, you will need to have you water tested by a reputable laboratory (More information is available on finding out the quality of your community water supply or well-water supply). Once you have determined how your water can be improved, our technical support department can help you determine what water filtration solution best fits your needs.

This is going to depend on your water quality and usage. For example, someone with a lot of sediment in their water supply may have to change their filter cartridges more frequently than someone with minimal sediment. Each of our cartridges is rated to last "up to" a certain number of gallons/months; however we have no way of knowing exactly how long any given cartridge may last given the quality of your water supply. Be sure to replace your cartridges whenever you notice a decline in their performance, such as when taste and odor return or when low pressure or flow is noticed Cartridges should be changed at least once a year.

Two different forms of iron may be present in water: Soluble Iron and Insoluble Iron. To determine the correct method of removal, it is important to know which type of iron is present.

Soluble Iron, also known as ferrous iron or clear-water iron, is clear in running water, but will settle to the bottom as black or rust-colored particles when it is allowed to stand. When it contacts air, it may precipitate and stain. Soluble Iron cannot be filtered out, but may be reduced with a cation-exchange water softener .

Insoluble Iron, also known as ferric iron or visible iron, is suspended in water and clearly visible as "rusty" water. You should be able to see small black or rust-colored particles in your water as soon as it comes out of your tap, before you’ve allowed it to sit. Insoluble iron may be reduced with a sediment filter; if you have a water softener, make sure to place the sediment filter before the water softener.

That "rotten egg" smell is actually caused by harmless bacteria which produce hydrogen sulfide gas. These bacteria can’t be removed with a water filter; you will need to consult a water conditioning dealer for help with this problem.

You will need to use a synthetic sediment filter cartridge such as a Plymouth Products P5, CW-F, or CW-MF cartridge. Pleated cellulose cartridges such as the Plymouth Products S1 cartridge are NOT resistant to the harmless bacteria that are found in many well-water supplies.