Water technology firm, Xylem, has won a contract to provide advanced treatment to an existing wastewater treatment plant in the city of Frederick, Maryland and play a key role in an initiative focused on improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
Xylem said it was supporting this initiative by “developing innovative and sustainable ways to reduce the levels of nitrate nitrogen and total phosphorus in the water before it is discharged into the Chesapeake Bay.”
Treated wastewater from Frederick flows into Chesapeake Bay where the water quality is being marred by excess nutrients that fuel the proliferation of damaging algal blooms. The blooms block sunlight to underwater grasses and remove oxygen from the water to spoil the ecosystem.
Deputy director of public works for Frederick, Marc Stachowski, said: “The Chesapeake Bay area is a unique ecosystem that needs to be protected. As part of that protection the city is converting a key element of its water treatment process from chemical (chlorine) to ultraviolet (UV) disinfection.
Xylem’s director of treatment sales for North America, Greg Claffey, said: “By switching from chlorine to ultraviolet (uv) disinfection, Frederick will reduce the disinfection by-products going back into receiving streams. Furthermore, the removal of chlorine makes the site and the surrounding community a safer place to live and work.”
Construction is scheduled to take place later this year with the plant scheduled to be in operation in mid-2017.
Xylem will provide training and service support to the facility’s operators as the plant shifts to uv disinfection.