Use of Total Suspended Solids in Characterizing the Impact of Spent Filter Backwash Recycling
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 128, Issue 3
Abstract
Recycling of spent filter backwash water is a widely practiced residual management approach throughout the United States for drinking water utilities. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), under the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, has recently proposed regulations governing the recycle of this waste stream. Considering this new regulation, a comprehensive study was conducted by researchers at Colorado State University, and a suspended solids mass balance model was developed to characterize the impact of backwash water recycling on the overall treatment process. Online particle count data indicated that certain recycle practices could impact the overall treatment process. Data from pilot-scale experiments showed that total suspended solids (TSS) is a useful tool for characterizing the impacts of the backwash recycle processes. TSS can be used to assess whether solids loading or suboptimal coagulation conditions are the cause of recycle related issues. For the study described here, filter breakthrough occurred at about the same total influent solids load, regardless of the manner in which backwash recycling was performed, indicating that recycle of backwash solids did not impact the overall treatment process.
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References
American Public Health Association (APHA), American Water Works Association (AWWA), and Water Environment Federation (WEF). (1998). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 20th Ed., American Public Health Association, Washington, D.C.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 128 • Issue 3 • March 2002
Pages: 220 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 19, 2000
Accepted: Aug 15, 2001
Published online: Mar 1, 2002
Published in print: Mar 2002
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