Water & Wastewater Treatment

er being shipped from Queensland, www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | november 2014 | 23 because the MIB is currently in there; ideally what we'd like is for the MIB to come back down to zero, and then turn it on in order to reduce the levels for next year. "MIB builds up in April and May, and the hot months of July and August are the worst period for algae growth. In the later stages of the summer, mid- September, levels start coming down again, and by November they will be gone. That's why we'll be looking at the end of October to switch it on." Overall, Long feels that it was the right solution for Pontsticill, and the 106,000 customers served by the reservoir in the Merthyr area should soon be feeling the benefits. The re- sults will be monitored closely to see if other Welsh Water reservoirs might benefit from similar investment. "What we did here was to treat the root cause of the issue," he says. "If we had treated the symptom, which was the bad tasting water, then we probably would have been looking at a GAC plant which we would have had to build offsite. With land purchas- ing costs, site design and build, and the actual filter you would have been looking at £5-10 million of investment, probably more. By treating the root cause we've dramatically reduced that." For further info go to wwtonline.co.uk er being shipped from Queensland, • Perspectives Geraint Long, Welsh Water "What we did here was to treat the root cause of the issue. If we had treated the symptom, then we probably would have been looking at a GAC plant which we would have had to build offsite, and £5-10 million of investment, probably more. By treating the root cause we've dramatically reduced that." John Gillett, Gurney Environmental "Rather than the water quality peaking and troughing, with different qualities and different contaminants throughout the year, you will now see much more even quality, colour and condition throughout the year. It makes treating it in the water treatment works much simpler." Roy Samuel, Welsh Water's Capital Delivery manager for South east Wales "We are very pleased to be using this innovative management system in the reservoir at Pontsticill. This investment will improve the water quality for customers in the area and ensure they continue to receive a top quality supply of drinking water long into the future."

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