Radium Removal, City of Joliet, Illinois

Start Date: August 2006

Completion Date: December 2007

Contacts:

James Eggen, Utilities Director, City of Joliet
Bon Mui, Capital Projects Engineer, City of Joliet
Harold Harty, Plant Operations Superintendent, City of Joliet

Design Engineer: Strand Associates

Equipment Supplier: Layne Christensen Company

Very few water suppliers have the opportunity to install identical treatment units at multiple locations, with the benefit of ease of operations and maintenance in the future. The City of Joliet's requirement to provide radium treatment for their existing system created a unique opportunity to purchase multiple treatment systems at one time.

The radium removal systems designed by Strand Associates, Inc. in Madison, Wisconsin for the City of Joliet, Illinois, is comprised of twenty-three separate 1,000 GPM Hydrous Manganese Oxide (HMO) filters engineered and fabricated by Layne Christensen. These filters are sand filters with anthracite caps and use pressure aeration to oxidize any iron in the water and the Hydrous Manganese Oxide (HMO) process to remove the radium. The HMO filters, installed at eleven different plant locations, will treat and supply approximately 28.8 MGD of potable water for the city's population of 126,000. Layne also provided start-up services and operator training.

The new radium removal plants will also enable Joliet to maintain compliance with the U.S. EPA's Radionuclides Rule, which regulates the combined levels of radium 226/228 to a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 5 pico Curies per liter (5 pCi/L).

SOURCE: Layne Christensen