USING SOIL AQUIFER TREATMENT TO MEET FILTRATION AND DISINFECTION TREATMENT GOALS

摘要

Water is a scarce resource within the United States and the world. Recent years of drought conditions have quickly exacerbated this issue, making it a major economic and environmental concern. Utilities currently rely upon advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) facilities to produce high quality effluent as an alternative water supply. However, construction of additional AWT facilities and the added operational costs put further strain on the struggling economy and carbon emissions generated by AWT facilities add to the already burgeoning climate change issues. Therefore, low cost and low impact treatment techniques are needed for the production of reclaimed water. One such technique is percolation, also known as soil-aquifer treatment (SAT). While it has long been assumed that SAT provides a substantial barrier to pathogens, detailed studies have been limited by insufficient analytical techniques.