Reuse of reverse osmosis reject water for site irrigation I am trying to find case studies of businesses reusing their reverse osmosis reject water for site irrigation/watering. I have been unable to track down any case studies.
I searched several online databases and found one relevant citation in Water Resources Abstracts. I've included it below. If you wish to obtain a copy of the paper, you can do so through your local or company library's interlibrary loan service.
Here's the citation for the paper I found:
Riccobono, VM; Rohe, DL; Petty, JT. "Reclamation and Re-Use of Domestic Wastewater and Reverse Osmosis Reject Water." Is Current Technology the Answer, Proceedings of the First Biennial Conference of the National Water Supply Improvement Association June 8-12, 1986, Washington, DC. (1986).
Abstract: Reuse of a combination of domestic wastewater effluent and reverse osmosis reject (concentrate) water by spray irrigation is detailed in this paper. A case history is provided, including economics, water quality parameters, flows and environmental regulatory requirements, for spray irrigation reuse of wastewater streams at a planned unit development in southwest Florida. Costs associated with effluent and concentrate disposal as well as the recycle program are estimated. Advantages (such as lower costs to develop the wellfield, lower capital and operation/maintenance costs to produce potable water) and disadvantages (water quality) of the reuse system are highlighted.
I also located some documents by searching Google for "reverse osmosis reject water" reuse irrigation. Some of these don't match your exact criteria, but may give you some ideas for places to contact for more information.
MIT Facilities Water Reuse http://web.mit.edu/facilities/environmental/conserve-facts.html
They're using RORW as non-potable water in their laboratories. Might be worth contacting to see if they are using it for irrigation too. Contact information is included on the web site.
Conserving the Earth's Water (Motorola) http://www.motorola.com/EHS/environment/leadership/water.html
The Hong Kong, China site uses reverse osmosis reject water for outdoor irrigation and recycles 94% of wastewater for reuse in manufacturing. The contact person for press releases dealing with Motorola's environmental issues appears to be Tama McWhinney, ph. (847) 538-1865, e-mail: tama.mcwhinney@motorola.com.
If these results aren't satisfactory, please let me know. I'll be happy to post your question to the P2Tech e-mail list. The pollution prevention professionals there may be able to offer more suggestions.
Sanitary sewer cleaning I just read an article in Trenchless Technology (Nov 2006) about
Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Cleveland comprehensive sewer
inspection. I just assumed that specs. were available for review. Does
the procurement department have these available via their website?
Long term effects of spraying I am trying to get information on the long term effects of spraying Budd
Lake in Harrison for the invasive weed infestation. Do have or know of any sources?
I assume you mean Budd Lake in Michigan. Without knowing what they're spraying, I can't give you specific information. If you do know what is being sprayed, you should be able to find information for that specific chemical in the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry's ToxFAQs. See http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html.
If you don't know what is being sprayed, I suggest contacting whoever is doing the spraying to find out. If you don't know who that is, then try contacting the Inland Lakes and Streams program at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (e-mail: hassj@michigan.gov or phone: (517) 241-3139). They may be able to help you or put you in contact with someone who can.
Take a look at http://tinyurl.com/o47xs for information about getting a rain barrel from the city. It looks like the rain barrels are gone now but you can put your name on a notification list and they will contact you if more become available.
The Chicago Center for Green Technology has sponsored workshops on making your own rain barrel in the past. You can contact them at (312) 746-9642 or email greentech@cityofchicago.org to see if they still offer them.
Water standards and informatin about chemicals to clean heat exchangers I am a metallurgist. My client wants me to recommend a new material for heat exchanger tubing used at a waste water plant because of corrosion problems. He has given me tables of water data. I don't know how to interpret them. I need to find out what the "worst" stuff is. Please provide me with water information. Parameters he has given me are: Alkalinity, Ammonia, Fecal Coli.,CBOD5, KN, soluble, Nitrate-N, Total suspension, Volatile suspension, Sulfate.. and more (usually g/ml). He also wants me to recommend any testing he might need to do for other water parameters. I don't think typical things like Fe, Ca, are an issue.
You should be able to find the answers to your questions in Water Treatment: Principles and Design (New York : Wiley, 2005). The ISBN is 0-471-11018-3. You can view the table of contents at http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471110183.html. It has fairly detailed information on contaminants normally encountered in wastewater treatment plants and should have enough information to help you decipher the data your client gave you and make some recommendations.
You may also find the following web sources helpful:
In addition, you might want to contact the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Great Lakes National Program Office (http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/). They have a link to a comments form at the bottom of the main page of their site.
U.S. EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office is a very good place to start when looking for information about the Great Lakes. They have many resources, including information about each lake. In particular, the Great Lakes Atlas provides comprehensive information about the history, ecosystem, environmental concerns, and joint management of the Lakes.
Another good resource is the Great Lakes Center for Environmental Education. They're on the web at http://www.greatlakesed.org/.
A good book on the topic is Kehoe, Terence. Cleaning up the Great Lakes : From Cooperation to Confrontation. DeKalb, IL : Northern Illinois University Press, 1997. You should be able to borrow a copy through your local library.
