April 07, 2004

By: Tannis Alder
Website: http://www.1st-in-wellness.com

Rejection of new, emerging chemicals by reverse osmosis water purification membranes

Orange County Water District was recently awarded $299,697 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct research on the ability of reverse osmosis water-purification membranes to remove new chemicals of concern including endocrine disrupting compounds, such as 17b-Estradiol; pharmaceutically active compounds, like ibuprofen; trace organic chemicals, such as nitrosodimethylamine and 1,4-dioxane—chemicals that have very low detection levels; and other emerging chemicals that may have future health concerns.

The research will support the use of reverse osmosis as a viable water purification technology used to satisfy the needs of a growing world population. Reverse osmosis is a water treatment system used to purify water to near-distilled quality and is used by many bottled water companies.

As we move into the future, using membrane technology to purify water from many sources will be important in order to meet our future water demands, said OCWD Board President Denis Bilodeau. This type of cutting-edge research will help us deal with the world’s looming global water crisis.

Membrane technologies have been used to purify water for human consumption and industrial processes for many years. They are well-proven and sound technologies. Initially reverse osmosis technology centered on the desalination of ocean water. Its use has since been expanded to many fields, including municipal wastewater, a brackish mixture of fresh, salt and groundwater with high mineral content and human-caused contaminants. As the waters treated by reverse osmosis become more diverse and complex, a need exists to better understand the membrane’s removal capabilities and chemical rejection processes.

The grant will fund a 2.5-year research effort, with OCWD contributing $100,000 in in-kind services via staff hours and use of technical equipment. This grant funding is part of a larger $1.8 million grant awarded to the Desalination Research Innovation Partnership.

The partnership includes OCWD, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, San Diego County Water Authority, West and Central Basin Municipal Water Districts, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Alameda County Water District, Sonoma County Water Agency and the University of California.

The research will provide OCWD and the water community with valuable information regarding the ability of membranes to remove emerging chemicals. In addition, the research will provide insight into the relationships between chemical properties, their interaction(s) with, and rejection by, reverse osmosis membranes.

OCWD has a long history of water quality research to ensure public health and safety. For more than 25 years, OCWD has used reverse osmosis membranes at its treatment facility – Water Factory 21 in Fountain Valley, Calif. OCWD plans to use reverse osmosis in the future and will be the heart of the treatment process for the Groundwater Replenishment System – the nation’s largest water purification plant.

Through years of innovative research and application testing, the use of membrane processes to purify municipal wastewater has been successfully demonstrated by OCWD. Leading edge basic and applied research conducted by OCWD’s research & development department lead to the development of new, more effective water treatment technologies to protect OCWD’s groundwater.

About The Author:

Tannis Alder is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.1st-in-wellness.com.  Obtaining and keeping good health through healthy living, natural healing, great mental health and healthy finances.