What's In An Underdrain? More Than You Might Think

By Jim Lauria

Media filtration is employed for a variety of treatment applications — drinking water, wastewater recycle/reuse, and pretreatment for desalination among them — but practitioners may be missing out on a key opportunity for savings.

Underdrains help capture and save the media, and thus save money as well. They also save energy by reducing regeneration costs associated with pumping and aeration. In this interview with Water Online Radio, Jim Lauria of Bilfinger Water Technologies details the breadth of applications and benefits provided by underdrains.

Specifically, Lauria touts the TRITON underdrain product, which differentiates itself from the pack by meeting the NSF-61 Drinking Water Standard. Lauria explains:

“In the past, people believed that if something was stainless steel in a drinking water plant, then it automatically met the NSF-61 Drinking Water Standard. That’s not the case, because of different components — you have gaskets, seals, and welding materials that are used on the stainless steel.

“We went through the rigorous certification process with NSF [and] made sure that anything that came into contact with the drinking water was going to be approved, and they actually tested it and found, yes, everything that has to do with the TRITON underdrain is approved.”

Listen to the full audio for the complete story on underdrains and their capabilities.