Challenge

In May 2003, Siemens Water Technologies, formerly USFilter, initiated a capital purchase and 3-year renewable service contract with the City of Colby, Kansas.

City of Colby, Kansas needed to treat chromate contaminated groundwater from the Ogalala drinking water aquifer.  Ace Services, a farm implement manufacturing company contaminated the groundwater from inappropriate discharge of their chroming process.  The company has since gone out of business and the project is now part of an EPA Superfund Cleanup.

Solution

Siemens’ design features once-through ion exchange resin technology. The resulting treated water is pumped directly to the City of Colby potable water system.

A total of six service vessels, two skidded trains in a lead/lag arrangement with the third vessel in standby, each contain 600 cu. ft. of resin. A resin sluicing diaphragm pump and a resin storage/transfer tank is used for removal of the spent resin. Siemens delivers new resin via tanker, off loads to the storage/transfer tank, and then loads the tanker with the spent resin.

Siemens service technicians visually inspect the vessel internals prior to installing the fresh resin from the storage tank.  

Results

Siemens’ contract is the first chromate fixed bed groundwater remediation system used for potable drinking water

Siemens’ resin exchange system is self-contained, with tankers removing spent and contaminated resins from the site, thereby eliminating concerns of recontamination.

Siemens also provides environmentally compliant handling and disposal of the spent resins, eliminating the liability for the City of Colby.

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