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Technology Real-Time Monitoring Offers Savings Across The Spectrum The Expanding Role Of Spectrophotometric Analysis Yields Water Quality And Cost-Saving Benefits by Jodi Glover and improve efficiencies. A good place to start is by assessing what water quality monitoring solutions we are using, or could be using, to help us take control of our treatment processes. W Water quality monitoring has seen an incredible amount of change and improvement over the years with the advancement of new technologies being applied to this area. A prime example of this is with real- time spectrophotometric analysis. Spectral analysis has now been effectively moved from the lab to the plant environment and even to the municipal distribution system, without the high costs and maintenance requirements and with more reliability and usability. This new generation of spectrophotometric instrumentation is opening up many new opportunities for monitoring in applications for which real-time monitoring has not previously been feasible, offering many cost-saving advantages. There are several specific water and wastewater applications for spectrophotometric instrumentation that can allow companies and municipalities to significantly reduce their costs while meeting their water quality goals. Coagulation Optimization Many plants utilizing coagulation treatment processes are affected by organics in the water. Although much attention is often given to different treatment technologies, many plants still do not monitor their organics levels in real time, even though real-time organics monitoring can significantly reduce costs associated with coagulation and without significant capital investment. The return on investment (ROI) that these plants receive from this purchase can often be seen within a few short months through reduction of their spending on coagulation chemicals and sludge removal. UV Disinfection Optimization Some applications may not require analysis of the full spectrum as is the case with the UV disinfection application which requires monitoring just the 254-nm wavelength, 12 Water Online The Magazine, Cleanwater Edition ■ wateronline.com ith increasingly tight budgets, it's becoming more important to look for new ways in which we can reduce costs often referred to as UV254 analysis. With the increasing adoption of UV disinfection systems, monitoring the UV transmittance (UVT) of the water at the 254-nm wavelength is vital for ensuring performance. Utilizing UV254 at the design stage can also provide cost reduction by ensuring the UV system is appropriately sized for the water quality range requirements of that particular site. Once installed, by understanding the UV254 of the water it allows operators better efficiency with regards to servicing of the UV system, saving operator time. As well, in larg- er UV systems monitoring UV254 can offer significant energy savings by automatically adjusting the UV lamp intensity or turning off banks of lamps, greatly reducing operating costs. Meeting Regulations, Avoiding Fines Water quality is complicated and always changing, and the task of meeting many regulations can be challenging. Real- time spectrophotometric instrumentation can allow plants to effectively measure organic compounds in the plant effluent, providing valuable information to enable plant operators to properly understand fluctuations and spikes in organic con- tamination. Better control of organic loading in plant effluent can allow the plant to reduce the potential for contamination events and help reduce the potential of being fined. Process Control For Activated Carbon Performance Activated carbon technologies are increasingly being utilized within plants to aid in removing organic contamination. However, better efficiency can be obtained with this treat- ment method through low-cost online monitoring which can in real-time rapidly identify a breakthrough in carbon, and potentially allow for reduced backwashing and less frequent carbon regeneration, resulting in significant cost savings. Distribution System Monitoring There is no question that an accidental or intentional contam- ination event within a distribution system would be devastat- ing, and yet most utilities do not have adequate monitoring within the distribution system, primarily because of the cost versus benefit associated with this application. However, with the advent of lower-cost spectrum analyzers that balance