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MI-T M WASH WATER RECYCLING SYSTEM INSTALLED AT NEW `ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY' FIRE STATION
| | | Hydroscape Ltd | | 18/10/2006 | | |
The new £2.9 million Community Fire Station in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, incorporates numerous sustainable elements within its design, making it one of the most `environmentally friendly' facilities of its kind.
At the heart of the station is a state-of-the-art wastewater processing recycling plant that separates oil and contaminants from the grey water harvested from rainwater, training water and the wash down area. The water is then filtered and disinfected to almost potable standards and re-used for flushing toilets and washing down the vehicles.
Mace Limited carried out the detail design of the building and services with the consideration to provide a system to catch, contain and treat wastewater created by vehicle and equipment washing operations, together with natural rainfall, to provide a sustainable, clean, recycled water supply, removing hydrocarbons and solid contaminants, to supply water for further washing operations and to provide suitably treated grey water for the flushing of toilets and urinals.
Charged with this brief Mace Building Services Engineer, David Forward, investigated many options but was already aware of The Mi-T-M Corporation, as a producer of specialist wastewater treatment and recycling systems for the industrial, transport, golf course and amenity grass markets, providing both mechanical filtration and biological digestion systems for treating waste water in numerous different situations. For the task at St. Albans he settled for the Mi-T-M WLP Series mechanical filtration wash water recycling system from Ringwood, Hampshire based Hydroscape, Mi-T-M's exclusive UK distributors.
To support their proposal and comply with the previously mentioned objectives, Hydroscape were able to supply a comprehensive resume of how the system would operate within the fire station concept as follows:
The Mi-T-M advanced wash water treatment system is a fully automated on demand treatment and re-supply system.
The system collects all water used within the drill yard, including water used for washing operations, training and rainwater.
Water is initially channelled to a 13,500 litre underground collection tank. The collection tank acts as a solids precipitator and initial oil water separator for effective pre-treatment before the main treatment occurs.
Untreated wash water is introduced from the collection sump into the WLP via a sump pump located in the collection tank.
Water then flows through an on board three stage stainless steel oil/water/solids separator, changing direction countless times as the water is directed and re-directed through four horizontal baffles and hundreds of square feet of honeycomb shaped oil attracting coalescing media.
Mechanically emulsified oil particles are attracted from the water to the oil coalescing material and float to the surface.
When on the surface, oil is skimmed off into an oil decanter for easy disposal. Fine silt and particles are dropped to the bottom of the sloped tank for easy flushing and disposal of the accumulated solids.
As wash water is pumped into the oil/water/solids separator, it is injected with ozone via a corona discharge injection system for a quick kill of live bacteria or pathogens that may have been present in the below ground collection and pre-treatment system.
For longer-term control of bacteria, the ORP injection system automatically measures and injects germicide to control odour by killing odour causing bacteria.
The automated pH control system keeps the water at an appropriate pH level so the germicide operates effectively.
Once the water has been treated for oil and solids removal, it is then pushed through a customised multi-media filter that contains a special media blend to filter out particles larger than 20 microns.
After removal of larger particles the water is filtered through hundreds of square feet of reusable polyester 20-micron filters.
Final treatment stage occurs as the water is filtered through activated carbon that absorbs remaining hydrocarbons, metals and many other carbon based or organic constituents, producing a cleansed water supply.
Water finally travels to a packaged pressure pump system for re-delivery back through 2 integral hose connections at a pressure of 3.5 bar.
The unit also incorporates an automatic backwash system that is fitted to the unit to reduce maintenance requirements.
The project has also been financially supported and endorsed by Three Valleys Water and David Forward at Mace comments: `The design of this building can be used as a model for future buildings of its type and as a practical example of how it is possible to introduce environmental systems at relatively little cost. We currently believe the recycling plant will pay for itself in less than three years.'
It is estimated that these recycling measures now in place within the Fire Station will equate to approximately 5 million litres of water being recycled per year.
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