The NSF Water CAMPWS

• CAMPWS - Center for Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water

with Systems

CAMPWS Goals

• Develop materials & systems to purify the Earth’s waters for human use and agricultural, industrial & ecological purposes

• Provide people and facilities that enhance the scientific understanding of water and build the research, educational & industrial workforce for water purification

CAMPWS Project Areas

• Selective Removal of Trace Contaminants through development of new filter fibers, disinfection, and nanofluidics

• Desalination (remove salt) and Water Reclamation (treatment to provide safe water) through nanopore membranes and systems for desalination

• Study membrane fouling find new applications of reverse osmosis, biological treatment and catalysis

DRINKING WATER

The Journey from the Ground to our Homes

Where it all begins…

• The water of Champaign-Urbana and much of central Illinois is supplied by the Mahomet Aquifer

• The Mahomet Aquifer is located about 300 feet underground and winds through east-central Illinois, underlying about 1.26 million acres along its path

• Water pumped from this underground river is among the cleanest of all natural water sources

How the Mahomet Aquifer was created 1.6 million years ago

Aquifer Facts

• Rain water that falls in places like West Virginia and Ohio takes about 3,000 years to reach the Champaign area in the Mahomet Aquifer

• This means that our tap water in Champaign was rain 3,000 to 10,000 years ago!

• This ancient supply of water is among the cleanest around, but it still isn’t ready for drinking just yet…

Why Water Treatment?

• There are some things in “raw” water that are a nuisance or may affect its use that are removed by treatment:

– Physical debris (not much in our water)

– Chemical substances (mainly iron and hardness)

– Biological substances such as bacteria and algae (no harmful bacteria but some nuisance forms)

Wells in Champaign

• Because we use well water we do not need to treat to remove the larger particles

• The water from the well field is pumped to the two water treatment plants (University and Lincoln and Mattis Ave.)

Coagulation

• When well water reaches the treatment plant, chemicals are mixed into the water. This causes dissolved chemicals and small particles to clump together and when the clumps are big enough they fall out of the water.

Flocculation

• Sometimes we use other chemicals to help particles and clump together

• In a quiet basin the clumps grow in size, become heavy, and settle to the bottom of the tank

Sedimentation• The settling clumps form a layer on the bottom of the tank called a

sludge blanket• The water, now free of particles, is taken away from the top of the

sedimentation tank through the gutter-like spokes to the next process while the sludge is removed from the bottom

Meanwhile…

• The sludge is then pumped to a holding basin (one at each treatment plant)

• In Champaign we put the sludge to good use. The sludge, which is mainly lime, is used on corn and soybean fields. You may have seen white fields in the fall or spring as the land is prepared for the new crop.

Filtration

• After sedimentation the water is chlorinated and then flows by gravity through the filter layers as a final treatment before it moves to your tap

• Filtration makes the water “crystal clear!”

Disinfection

• The chlorination step assures that harmful bacteria are killed and water with chlorine protects all of the distribution system

Fluoridation

• Fluoride is added to the water to prevent tooth decay

…to Our Homes

• Our drinking water, stored in water towers and standpipes, along with the pumps at the plant provide pressure to move the water to our homes

…AND CUT!

Our presentation is over, but there are a few things to remember!

• The Mahomet Aquifer is a clean and inexpensive source of water, but we really don’t know how much is there and how many people can use it

• The treatment process provides high quality drinking water through coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration & disinfection

• The sludge removal in the sedimentation process benefits local agriculture

Looking Ahead

• Conserving our clean water supply is important and any improvement in the efficiency of the water treatment process is vital to water conservation

• The Water CAMPWS is working to create new methods of creating clean water supplies through new types of filters, reverse osmosis, and methods of disinfection

Water CAMPWS