Fall

Fall

Tree
West
System

Drinking

Water

Erin Smith, Stephen Ingram, George Summers

Design Project for Enve3320: Urban Systems

A d v i s e d b y D r. J e n n a J a m b e c k , U n i v e r s i t y o f G e o r g i a

08
15

Tables Of Contents
TABLES OF CONTENTS....................................................................2
TABLES & FIGURES.........................................................................2
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................3
COMMUNITY..................................................................................................... 3
GREEN ENGINEERING.......................................................................................... 3
DESIGN PLAN.................................................................................................... 4
BACKGROUND................................................................................4
DESIGN.........................................................................................5
RAPID MIX....................................................................................................... 6
FIRST-STAGE MIXING.......................................................................................... 7
SECOND-STAGE MIXING....................................................................................... 7
SETTLING......................................................................................................... 8
FILTRATION....................................................................................................... 9
DISINFECTION.................................................................................................. 10
DISTRIBUTION................................................................................................. 11
SUMMARY....................................................................................11
APPENDIX 1: CALCULATIONS.........................................................12
APPENDIX 2: CITATIONS................................................................14

Tables & Figures

Figure
Figure
Figure
Figure
Figure
Figure
Figure
Figure
Figure
Figure

1: Tree West Map.........................................................................3

2: Tree West Facility Location and Elevation................................4
3:Tree West Water Facility Design Plan........................................5
4:Rapid Mixer...............................................................................6
5:First Stage Mixing.....................................................................7
6:Second Stage Mixing................................................................7
7:Settling.....................................................................................8
8:Filtration...................................................................................9
9:Disinfection.............................................................................10
10:Distribution...........................................................................11

Introduction

Figure 1: Tree West Map

Community
Tree West is the southernmost key in Floridas Keys. In 2015, Hurricane
Claudette, a Category 5 disaster, hit Key West. Because past hurricane
and tropical storm damage cost the town millions in tree fall damage,
Key West communities were sparsely vegetated. Hurricane Claudette
flooded the Key West Cemetery, and the unstable land gave-out under
the increased rainfall. The resulting mudslide destroyed most of the
city below. Thankfully, the city was evacuated, and there were no
casualties. Learning from our past, we rebuilt and replanted our city.
We renamed ourselves Tree West to remind citizens of it's past and its
future responsibility.

Green Engineering
At Green Engineering our mission is to follow the twelve green
engineering principals as closely as possible. For this design, we made
sure our distribution pipes and disinfection processes were as non
hazardous as possible by using cast-iron and UV light. In addition to
being nonhazardous, these pipes are built to be durable and uniform
for value retention and ease of repair. When pipes must be repaired,
the old pipes can be used in a commercial afterlife by being recycled.
Lastly, the water treatment design was made specifically for the
population needs of Tree West. The population is not growing, and we
believe designing for unnecessary capacity is flawed.

Design Plan
Our design plan is to pipe groundwater 209 km from the Biscayne
Aquifer into our treatment plant where it will undergo rapid mix with
lime and soda ash in a single compartment turbine chamber. From
there, the water will enter the first-stage mixing basin to react with the
lime and soda ash to remove hardness. Once the water has been
softened, the water will be coagulated with alum in the second-stage
mixing basin. The flocculate will be settled out into the settling tank,
and the resulting sludge put into a sludge pond. The water will then be
taken from the top to be further filtered by three filters that are
periodically backwashed to maintain high performance. After being
filtered, it is piped into the disinfection system. The water will be
primarily disinfected with UV light because it produces no chemical
byproducts. Before being distributed, combined chlorine will be added
as a residual addition to keep water pure throughout the city
distribution lines.
For more questions on the proposed design or the mission of Green
Engineering, please come to the public meeting on September 28th.

Background
As an island, Tree West has very few options for freshwater. The
population is a steady 25,550 people with an average demand of about
three million gallons a day (Calculation 4, Appendix 1). Supporting this
population on desalinization or well water is economically and
physically unfeasible. The nearest source of drinking water is the
Biscayne aquifer, located within a protected pine rockland forest near
the Everglade National Park. Because Tree West depends on over 50%
of drinking water to come from this aquifer, the Biscayne Aquifer
qualifies as a Sole Source Aquifer by federal law. Under this law,
communities may submit for federally funded construction to aid in
water allocation provided they follow state and federal drinking water
standards. The Keys were approved for the Everglade Pipe, a 209km
transmission main that pumps water to all of the Keys.
According to Calculations 2 and 3 in Appendix 1, the influent pipe must
be 14km away from the nearest source of pollution. Because the
pipeline from the Biscayne Aquifer to Tree West is 209km long, the
location on Tree West is not determined by its proximity to the water
source.

Figure 2: Tree West Facility Location and Elevation

Regardless of placement of the plant on the island, the cost of pumping

the water from the mainland of Florida to the city of Tree West will
remain constant. Therefore, the Tree West Facility will be located at the
second highest elevation on the island away from the city as denoted
in Figure 2 with a black circle. This elevation will reduce the likelihood
that the plant will be flooded in future storm surges.

Design

Figure 3: Tree West Water Facility Design Plan

Rapid Mix

Figure 4:Rapid Mixer

flaah-mixer.jpg

Rapid mixing is the first step of water treatment. For groundwater,

rapid mixing introduces lime to the untreated water with a one-minute
contact time. Green Engineering determined that the facility would
need 3591,8 kilograms of lime and 1198.8 kilograms of soda ash per
day to effectively remove hardness (Appendix 1, Calculation 6). There
are several different types of rapid mix systems that accomplish the
goal of mixing the lime, soda ash, and water together. Mechanical
mixers are the most common rapid mix system because of their low
head loss and because they are unaffected by flow volumes and flow
variations (Google Book Site). For these reasons, Tree West will use a
mechanical mixer.
The Tree West Water Treatment facility will use a single compartment
turbine chamber. Tree West is modeling its facility after the successful
JG Beacham Plant of Athens, Georgia. The JG Beacham plant uses a
double compartment turbine chamber to mix its influent of sixteen
million gallons per day. However, because the maximum daily capacity

of Tree West is approximately four million gallons per day, the Tree
West Facility will only require a single compartment turbine chamber
with a 10.67m3 tank volume (Appendix 1, Calculation 7).

First-Stage Mixing

Figure 5: First Stage Mixing

PaddleMixer_A.gif

After the lime/water slurry leaves the rapid mixing chamber it enters
the first stage-mixing basin. This is where the lime and soda ash begin
to react with the carbonated and noncarbonated hardness in the
ground water, respectively. Theretention time of the water in this basin
is 30 minutes. Here, a set ofmotor driven paddles (Figure XX)
continually keep the slurry in motion to prevent settling to the bottom
of thebasin. This helps maximize reactions between the lime/soda
ash and the ions related to hardness (Ca 2+and Mg2+) in the water. This
basin is sized to hold 84,562.5 gal based on a maximumdemand of
4.059 MGD and has dimensions of 10m long, 8.03m wide and 4 m deep
holding 321 cubic meters of water/lime mix. Water in this basin then
moves on to second-stage mixing.

Second-Stage Mixing

Coagulation.jpg
After the water has been treated for hardness, it must be coagulated
with Alum. The colloidal particles in the water are negatively charged.
By adding Alum, a positively charged compound, the colloids adhere to
each other and flocculate out of the water. However, the addition of too
much alum can create turbidity as well. Optimum alum addition was
determined to be .5 g/L for a total of 1,869,400 kg/yr (Appendix 1,
Calculation 5). The paddles in this basin rotate at one rotation per
minute, and the water velocity is slowed to half a foot per second to
allow colloids to flocculate. To minimize variability in the system and
more closely adhere to the design principals, the basin dimensions and
retention time are the same as the first-stage mixing basin. After a 30minute retention time, the flocculated water is then piped into the
settling tank.
Figure 6: Second Stage Mixing

Settling

Figure 7:Settling Sedimentation.jpg

Sedimentation is the process that removes the majority of particles
from the water. The particles that are denser than water will sink to the
bottom of the settling tank, while the particles less dense than water
will rise to the top and flow through to the filtration system. Within this
tank, there are three types of settling: Type I, Type II, and Type III.

Type I occurs when particles do not interfere with one another as they
settle. Gravity, buoyancy, and drag determine the rate of settling, and
therefore the rate at which the particles settle is constant. The second
type of settling occurs when particles flocculate together while settling.
Because the size of the flocculate increases as it settles, the particles
settle faster as time goes on. Finally, if the concentration of particles is
great enough, a blanket will form. This type III settling is slow and
creates a clear interface between water and particles. Ultimately, the
flow through time of the settling system is approximately two to three
hours. The settled sludge is put into a lagoon and periodically drained
to be used a soil amendment. The sludge is checked for arsenic and
benzene to ensure that it is nonhazardous.

Filtration

Figure 8:Filtration

Filtration.jpg

This stage of the water treatment process will remove all of the
particles that were too small to be removed during settling as well as
pathogens such as giardia and cryptosporidium that can cause health
issues when consumed. For this step there will be three rapid sand
filters at the plant. This is to allow for backwashing of one filter at a
time while still meeting the maximum daily demand. Each filter is to be
backwashed once every 24 hours of use for a total of 15 minutes.
When a filter is being backwashed it is not able to filter any incoming
water from the settling basin. Therefore water will be rerouted to
the two free filters and would run through those filters until
backwashing became necessary. Based on the 24-hour backwash
schedule, one of the three filters will be backwashed every eight hours
and emptied until the next filter must be backwashed. Backwashing is
necessary because over time the filter captures particles that slow the
rate at which water flows through the filter (also known as head loss)
and increases the turbidity of the water that passes through the
filter. Backwashing will consist of forcing water back through the filter
causing the captured particles to be dislodged from the filter

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and forced out of the filtration basin through troughs that capture and
move the backwashed particles away from the basin.
Each rapid sand filtration basin will be 16 ft long by 14.75 ft wide.
Based on the rate of 6 gpm/ft2 this will allow 1416 gpm to pass through
each filter (2 filters running at all times) which will meet the maximum
daily demand of 4.059 MGD. Each filter will consist of layers
of anthracite, sand, and gravel. These components will remove
particles from the effluent of the settling basin and decrease the
turbidity from 1-10 JTU (Jackson Turbidity unit) down to less than .3
JTU. This small of a turbidity reading will allow for proper disinfection
of the water using UV light in the next stage.

Disinfection

cache_15442062.jpg
The Tree West Water Treatment Facility will use UV light as its primary
disinfectant. UV light has been chosen over the most commonly used
disinfectant, free chlorine, because free chlorine produces
trihalomethanes: a possible carcinogen. The system will deliver 40
mJ/cm2 to disinfect the water (trojanuv.com). UV light produces no
byproducts, and therefore achieves the first green design principle;
materials used should be as nonhazardous as possible.
Figure 9:Disinfection

Chlorine must be added to the treated water as residual, so the facility

will use 1290 kg/yr of combined chlorine, otherwise known as
monochloramine, as its secondary disinfectant (Appendix 1,
Calculation 7). Adding ammonia to free chlorine creates three different
chloramine compounds. These three compounds together are known
as combined chlorine. The byproducts of combined chlorine are the
same as free chlorine, but the concentration is approximately 1/3 less
(chloramine.org)

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Distribution

Figure 10:Distribution

Utilities_Inc_small.gif

Water from the Tree West Water Treatment Facility will be distributed to
the city primarily in cast iron pipes. Cast iron piping is a reliable
method that is nonhazardous and has been used throughout the 19 th
and 20th centuries. A benefit of cast iron pipes is that they can be made
from recycled cast iron, and the pipes have a life expectancy of about
forty years (prolineab.com). Additionally, after the pipes have been
exhausted, the iron can be recycled to make new cast iron products
(ehow.com).
Cast iron pipes will help Tree West follow several of the Green Design
Principles. First, cast iron pipes achieve the primary principle of using
non-hazardous materials. Second, cast iron pipes are designed with a
targeted durability, instead of other methods that target immortality.
Next, by using primarily cast iron, material diversity will be minimized.
Finally, the cast iron will be recyclable: giving the pipes a commercial
afterlife.

Summary
The Tree West Facility is Tree Wests new drinking water facility. Using
ground water from the Biscayne Aquifer from the mainland of Florida,
the plant undergoes seven steps to purify the drinking water before it
reaches the citizens of Tree West. At Green Engineering, we strive to
minimize hazardous byproducts and to carefully plan for the afterlife of
our products. On September 28th, Green Engineering will be available
at the city hall for explanations and questions regarding this design.

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Appendix 1: Calculations
Calculation 1
A)Lake Okeechobee supplies water to most of Florida. Federal law
protects surface water with The National Primary Drinking Water
Regulation. This includes Maximum Contaminant Levels, and Maximum
Contaminant Level Goals. Contaminants are defined as any physical,
chemical, biological, or radiological substance in water. Regulations on
contaminants protect the public from health risks ranging from cancer
to blue baby syndrome. extension, the EPA sets schedules and
mandates methods to treat contaminated water.
The Safe Drinking Water Act allows states to set and enforce water
standards that meet or exceed federal standards. Floridas minimum
standards for surface water extend to be free from debris, scum, color,
odor, taste, or anything considered a nuisance.
Classifications
of
Water
include
Potable
Water,
Shellfish
Propogation/Harvesting, Fish consumption/Recreation/well-Balanced
Fish
and
Wildlife
Population,
Fish
consumption/Limited
Recreation/limited Fish and Wildlife Population, Agricultural Water
Supplies, and Navigation/Industrial Use; in descending order of water
quality stringency.
Dissolved Oxygen minimum for Potable Water is 5mg/L, and Benzenes
limit is 1.18 mg/L. Benzene is a degreaser of metals and a major
component of gasoline. Generally contamination of drinking water is
from underground leaks. This chemical causes cancer at high
exposures.
B)Floridas Department of Environmental Protection regulates drinking
water quality with Maximum Contaminant Levels. Contaminants are
defined the same as the EPAs contaminants. Examples of such
contaminants that have a minimum are Benzene and Arsenic. This limit
for the former is .001 mg/L, and the later is .01mg/L.

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Calculation 2

Calculation 3

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Calculation 4

Calculation 5

Turbidity Testing: Alum

15

Calculation 6

16

Calculation 7

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Appendix 2: Citations
http://s101.photobucket.com/user/lalalanutz/media/KeyWestFloodMap.j
pg.html
http://www.prolineab.com/life_span_pipes.aspx
http://www.trojanuv.com/resources/trojanuv/casestudies/MDW/Introduct
ion_to_UV_Disinfection_for_Drinking_Water__European_Focus_.pdf
http://www.chloramine.org/chloraminefacts.htm

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