Research Description:

Wastewater Analysis in Kanapaha Wastewater Reclamation Facility

Gainesville Regional Utilities operates a wastewater reclamation facility that purifies wastewater for subsequent irrigation reuse and injection into groundwater. Disinfection, an important part of the treatment process, is carried in chlorine contact basins that are open to the atmosphere. My project consists of investigating the algal formation by sampling and measuring the effects that sunlight has on algae growth in the presence of chlorine. At the same time, I will be looking at the adverse consequences that this algal formation has on trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids, and other disinfection by-products (DBPs) that have been classified as carcinogenic.

The study will be conducted in a pilot scale as well as a full scale. In the pilot study, I will be analyzing two chlorine contact basins. One of basins will be open to the atmosphere and will serve as the control since it will have the same conditions as the basin in the actual wastewater treatment plant. The other one, which will be the experimental, will be covered to exclude sunlight exposure. From the data collected from both basins, I will be able to determine the existent algal formation in the chlorine contact basin as a function of visible light and ultraviolet radiation from sunlight. Similarly, there are two full scale chlorine contact basins on the wastewater treatment plant so one of them will be covered, and data will be gather in the same way as in the pilot study. A UV radiometer and sunlight pyranometer will be used to measure radiation intensity, continuously recorded with a datalogger. Algal concentrations will be measured by a recently published USEPA method using fluorimetry.