Osmonics, Inc., has been chosen to supply a reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment system to Wheatland Electric in Garden City, Kansas. Wheatland Electric will, in turn, supply Garden City residents with pure drinking water as well as using the water for other industrial applications.
Wheatland Electric hired Burns & McDonnell for the design/build project that included managing the entire project from planning and constructing of the building to researching and sourcing the water treatment equipment. On Burns and McDonnell's recommendation, Osmonics was chosen to supply the new RO system, which is comprised of two Osmonics MUNI 2.5 RO Systems. The new water treatment system is scheduled to begin pumping pure water to the over 28,000 Garden City residents beginning in April.
The Osmonics RO Systems will purify well water that comes mainly from the Ogallala Aquifer. The well water will be rough filtered to remove any suspended impurities. It will then pass through each RO generating 80 to 90 percent recovery of purified water. The pure water is then mixed with rough filtered well water, creating a blend of 80 percent purified and 20 percent well water before it is distributed. According to Craig Beckman, Osmonics business manager, "The water tastes very much like bottled water and causes fewer spots on dishes. Residents may no longer have to run their water through a softener, or at the very least will cut their salt consumption by 70 percent."
Osmonics' proven standard platform designs - including all-stainless-steel housings - and vertically integrated business structure enable highly competitive, stable pricing and reliable quality, all factors in selecting the Osmonics MUNI Series(tm) platform products to meet the project's water quality needs. Similar RO installations are operating in cities across the United States and around the globe - especially in countries that depend solely on salty ocean water for drinking.
The system was built and tested at Osmonics' ISO 9001-certified factory and installed at the new plant to purify about 5 million gallons of water a day. The building can hold three more MUNI RO systems to increase pure water production in the future to as much as 12 to 15 million gallons of water a day.
"We are realizing continued growth in the municipal market as diminishing potable water sources, consumer's heightened awareness of water quality and EPA regulations continue to drive demand for our membrane-based municipal water treatment systems," said Curt Weitnauer, vice president and general manager of Osmonics' Process Water Group. "New low-energy membrane technologies are able to provide a cost-effective alternative to conventional technologies, and, in this case, provide for the use of a water supply that might not otherwise be utilized."
Source: Osmonics
