Public health evaluation of advanced reclaimed water for potable applications

The City of Tampa in the Southwest portion of Florida is examining the deve lopment of an advanced treatment facility for supplementing their potable w ater supply with highly treated reclaimed water. Full-scale microbiological monitoring of a similar treatment train demonstrated that the high-pH chem ical treatment process was an effective barrier for removal and inactivatio n of viruses (99.99%), bacteria (99.9999%) and enteric protozoa (99.9%). A constructed pilot plant and bench-scale studies of the high-pa chemical pro cess demonstrated that the removal of Cryptosporidium oocysts was due to ph ysical removal and no inactivation was shown with up to 180 minutes exposur e at a pH of 11.2. Combination of high-pH chemical treatment and chlorinati on were also ineffective at I:ill of Cryptosporidium oocysts. (C) 1999 Publ ished by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of the IAWQ. All rights reserved.