Challenge

The Montgomery County Crime Lab needed a high purity water purification system that could supply Type 1 water (from tap feed) for their new laboratory.

The crime lab is part of the Rockville, Maryland County Police Department and has 5 DNA analysts who analyze evidence for the presence of biological stains. Type 1 water is needed because it contains extremely low levels of ions, bacteria, organics, and particulates. Contaminants such as bacteria and enzymes such as DNase can destroy or degrade DNA. To remove these, the water must be treated with a combination of technologies to meet the lab's needed purity level. The PURELAB® Option-Q water purification system was the perfect fit.

Solution

The Montgomery County Crime lab, already familiar with Siemens Water Technologies because of their current service agreement, decided on the PURELAB® Option-Q Water Purification System. This system produces Type 1 quality water and has combined the technologies of pretreatment and polishing in one system. This reduced their costs because there was no need for additional pretreatment and it also saved precious lab space.  

Results

The first water system was installed in the crime lab in September of 2007 and another in December of 2007. The lab reports that the systems work well, producing consistent 18.2 megohm-cm quality water, giving them peace of mind and they cited that the systems take up minimal space because of the compact design.




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