Different activities and effluent uses require different degrees of filtration. For example, reusing wastewater at a paper mill requires special considerations because of the high quality of water needed for paper production. Read about a pilot-study on using membrane bioreactor and reverse osmosis technologies to increase the mill’s production capacity and reduce its discharge fees. 

Treating brackish wastewater from coalbed methane extraction for discharge requires careful attention. Find out how one coalbed methane facility is treating 35,000 barrels of water per day, using an efficient combination of advanced treatment technologies that consist of filtration, ion exchange, and reverse osmosis. These processes remove coal fines, iron, and dissolved salts from wastewater, with an overall water recovery of more than 99%. 

And when it comes to municipal wastewater treatment, meeting effluent requirements sometimes requires filtration. After 20 years of operating dual media filters with increasing operations and maintenance needs, a San Francisco utility sought the best configuration for the media to decrease the backwash reject water ratio, attain reliable compliance with discharge requirements, and increase filtration time.   

Also in this issue  

• Proactive sewer planning in Colombia. Collection system managers plan and prioritize cleaning and inspection of the sewers in the South American country’s second-largest city.  
• One solution fits all. The City of Los Angeles steers toward a community-based approach in designing an operations data management system.  
• Shovel ready? If you don’t sell your tunneling project to the public during planning, there’s no need to dig deeper.