The City Of Baxter Minnesota Installs And Starts‐Up An 800 Pound‐Per‐Day Microclor® On‐Site Hypochlorite System In Three Days

The City of Baxter, located in central Minnesota, has always endeavored to deliver superior and reliable service to their customer base with a strong dose of selfreliance. Their 5 million gallon per day water plant is located near a middle school and the Baxter Public Utilities Water Department (Baxter) determined that the safety of on‐site sodium hypochlorite generation for water disinfection made the most sense for the community. The utility is no stranger to complex water treatment processes as it deals with high iron, manganese and naturally occurring ammonia for their chloraminated product water. So, pioneering on‐site hypochlorite generation for the state of Minnesota was not unusual for Baxter.

When it came time to replace their existing on‐site generation (OSHG) system, their past experience with on‐site hypochlorite led them to heavily weight issues such as vendor service, parts availability, and overall maintainability. The utility briefly considered bulk hypochlorite, “We considered bulk delivered bleach, but preferred OSHG’s better control over the quantity and quality of the product ‐ and handling salt is safer than dealing with concentrated bleach” said Kevin Cassady, Public Works Supervisor. Ultimately, the ability to generate a precise and consistent bleach concentration with just salt, softened water and electricity won out as the chosen process alternative.