AWWA WQTC58958

In anticipation of the proposed Long-Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2ESWTR) and disinfection byproducts (DBP) regulations, the City of Albany (City), New York is implementing a water quality enhancement program at its uncovered finished water storage facility, Loudonville Reservoir. The first phase of the water quality enhancement program was the construction of an ultraviolet (UV) treatment facility. Construction of the UV treatment facility was completed in the Spring of 2003 with full-scale operation beginning on April 1, 2003. This UV treatment facility represents the largest such facility for drinking water in New York State, and one of the largest in the United States. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), a public benefit corporation that administers the New York Energy $martSM program, made $1.2 million in cost-shared grants available for projects that are focused on innovative, energy-efficient methods to treat water and wastewater. A NYSERDA research grant to validate and optimize the City of Albany's UV treatment facility was competitively selected for co-funding under the program. As part of the NYSERDA co-funded study, Malcolm Pirnie personnel will work with City personnel to monitor and record system start-up and operating data. The data will be used to establish a maintenance program for the field equipment used to control the system (e.g., flow meters, on-line transmittance monitors, intensity sensors) to maintain the energy efficiency of the system. In addition, on-site validation will be used to optimize the dose set points and to maximize the flexibility and power optimization for the system. A sensitivity analysis of the various aspects of the system (e.g., lamp age, fouling, equipment drift) will be conducted to estimate the effect on energy consumption and assist in the establishment of appropriate design criteria (e.g., lamp aging/fouling factor) for future UV treatment projects. To date, there are very few large-scale UV treatment installations within the United States and much of the industry's knowledge is based on academic research and "paper studies". Given the size, unique application, use of on-site validation, and detailed assessment of the energy aspects of the system, the lessons learned through the City of Albany's UV treatment facility project will provide a significant contribution to other communities that are considering the integration of UV treatment into their treatment strategy. This paper reviews the lessons learned during the design, construction, start-up of the UV facility and describes the future of the NYSERDA research study. Includes 5 references, tables, figures.