This site has been known to us for over 20 years. Originally the site had one 6” bore hole (finished size) which was very high in iron and manganese. Treatment equipment had been installed by a local supplier which did reduce the iron and manganese but rarely to compliant levels. It also had the undesired effect of tainting the water yellow.
This was primarily due to the use of adding oxidants and flocculants into the raw water to precipitate the iron and manganese. The raw water was also passed through detention vessels (contact vessels) and the resultant ‘soup’ then passed through the iron removal filters.
Components on the raw side of the plant often fouled with iron and required high levels of maintenance.
One of our authorised distributors was asked if they could help improve the system. They in turn asked us to investigate…
Before this investigation went ahead two more boreholes were drilled but both, unsurprisingly, also contained high iron and manganese.
The system limped on for many years.
During a visit to HighWater in 2012 a site visit was arranged to see if we could be of any help. This gave us the opportunity to run a 24 hour model (pilot) test. The test worked well with our SIRM based iron removal filter reducing the 20,000 ug/l iron level down to below 500 ug/l.
A week long pilot trial was proposed and accepted. This went ahead in March 2013.
The model test covered a variety of techniques to prove which would be the most effective and of course economical.
Iron removal with aeration proved to be difficult requiring the creation of particular conditions within the filter vessels for good performance. This technique was perfected during the model test. Some manganese was removed by this technique but as manganese removal requires different conditions to that of iron other techniques were employed to deal with it.
Once both metals were treated to compliant levels the full system could be designed.
The system comprised of 2 identical treatment streams capable of treating up to 11 m3/hr each. Each stream used one SM SVED 4272 CWW Iron removal filter followed by a SM MG 4272 CWW polishing filter.
In March 2014 the installation went ahead.
