Due to the potential volumes involved, this can be technically challenging, so EPA is researching innovative approaches that would use locally available equipment and assets. Part of this process could be containing the contaminated water locally so that it can be treated without potentially releasing contaminated water to the environment. Since response activities will be site specific, and because there are a multitude of contaminants and water systems, EPA is researching decision support tools to help decision makers balance the many factors that go into the design and implementation of a treatment system at their site. Ideally, the sequencing of on-site treatments will be rapidly deployable and configurable to treat many types of contaminants while minimizing the resulting waste stream. Mobile systems can have multiple types of treatment technologies, be operated by multiple sources of power (grid, generator, solar), and operated by quickly trained first responders.
Waste management treatment plant series#
Using a series of treatment technologies may further reduce toxicity of the most difficult to treat contaminants.Įvaluation of mobile, on-site emergency water treatment systems involves consideration of transportation issues, deployment, operation, cost and effectiveness for treating a wide variety of contaminants and concentrations. Thus, research is needed to evaluate treatment technologies for their ability both to reduce high levels of toxic chemicals and to produce treated water that is not toxic. These transformation products could be just as toxic or more toxic than the original chemical contaminant. Chemical oxidation, the most common form of treatment, can transform contaminants into different chemicals, known as transformation products. However, measuring or accurately estimating how much contaminant concentration is reduced is not sufficient to demonstrate that water is safe for discharge.
Water on Wheels (WOW) mobile water treatment unit featuring activated carbon filtration and chlorination.
Waste management treatment plant portable#
Such on-site treatment systems need to be compatible with potentially enormous volumes of contaminated water.Ī variety of robust, portable and on-demand treatment technologies exist that could potentially reduce high concentrations of toxic chemicals in water. Treatment for homeland security incidents differs, however, in the types of contaminants that can lead to a need to treat the water on-site. Treatment of water related to the response to a homeland security incident can use some of the same technologies developed over the past 100 years for treatment in community water and wastewater system. In addition to managing the contaminated water, approaches are needed to manage the contaminated treatment residuals (e.g., sludges, membranes).
These decontamination operations can produce large amounts of water that must be treated before release to the environment or a wastewater treatment plant. Response to a wide-area contamination incident will likely require that external building surfaces, roadway, and vehicles be decontaminated. Contamination needs to be flushed from the drinking water distribution system and the resultant contaminated water treated.įollowing a hurricane, flood, or tornado, stormwater and wastewater systems can become contaminated and require treatment, or enhanced treatment, to protect the environment. Following a natural or man-made disaster, large amounts of contaminated water may need to be contained and treated before safe discharge to the environment or wastewater treatment plant.ĭrinking water could become contaminated from breaks in pipes that allow contaminants to intrude, intentional tampering, or loss of electrical power and pressure resulting in water stagnation and bacterial growth.
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