Inspecting & Cleaning Potable Water Storage

By Ron Perrin

There is no available information at this time. Author will provide once available.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 14, 2009
• ISBN: 9781477160763

Book preview

Copyright © 2009 by Ron Perrin. 580890

ISBN:   Softcover    978-1-4415-3244-2

             E-Book       978-1-4771-6076-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 04/03/2019

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

"A fundamental promise we must make to

our people is that the food they eat and the

water they drink are safe."

-   President Bill Clinton, Safe Drinking Water Act

-   Reauthorization, August 6, 1996

CONTENTS

Forward

Chapter One

A brief history of water storage

Chapter Two

The EPA AND POTABLE WATER

Chapter Three

State Guidelines For Water Tank Inspections

Chapter Four

What is in our water?

Chapter Five

Security of Water Systems

Chapter Six

Inspection of Water Storage

Chapter Seven

Inspection Methods

Chapter Eight

Cleaning Methods & Procedures

Chapter Nine

Hiring a Contractor

Index

Annex

EPA GUIDELINES FOR FINISHED WATER

Image%201.jpg

ALL Photos are Courtesy of Ron Perrin,

and Ron Perrin Water Technologies (RPWT)

Visit www.ronperrin.com for more details

Written by Ron Perrin

Edited by Wesley McCullough

Associate Editor Tony Dickerson

Illustrations by Robert Perrin

FORWARD

Since 1992 I have been involved in the inspection and cleaning of potable water systems. I have developed of innovative in-service cleaning and inspection equipment and techniques utilizing divers and remote controlled underwater equipment. These progressive underwater inspection methods have saved countless million’s of gallons of potable water over the last decade. The water tank cleaning methods that have been developed have removed contaminants from hundreds of water systems, promoting and insuring public health.

This book started out as my own reference manual to allow me to have all the resources I needed to produce comprehensive inspection and cleaning reports. I have included additional notes and references to guide you through your own tank inspection or know what to ask for when hiring a contracted inspector. I review what is currently listed as contaminants in the nations’ water supply, and highlight the importance of removing sediment that could be harboring and even allowing some of those contaminants to thrive and reproduce in your system. We will also review the most effective cleaning methods and what to look for when hiring a cleaning contractor.

Since September 11th 2001, the security of the nation’s water supplies has risen to a much higher level. As directors, managers, employees or contractors we must all think about the security of our systems. We will review mandated requirements for systems that serve over 3,300 people in addition to practical steps that smaller systems may employ to secure their facilities.

Out of sight and out of mind, sediment in the bottom of your water storage tanks is never seen and rarely thought of. I hope this manual will help people understand what can be lurking in their water system, the importance of documenting proper inspections and the benefits of maintaining a clean and healthy system.

Ron Perrin

Ron Perrin Water Technologies

www.ronperrin.com

This book is

dedicated to my father Charles B. Perrin.

He set a high standard for fatherhood, one that is not easily duplicated.

He allowed me to believe in myself.

Image%202.jpg

Ron Perrin © 2008

Ron Perrin with his father Charles Perrin, sons Robert & Bradly Perrin

CHAPTER ONE

A brief history of water storage

and our understanding of the water in it

Image%203.jpg

© Ron Perrin 2006

Since the beginning of time . . .

Since the beginning of time, man has needed water for his survival. With the first inventions of man, storing water to drink had to be on the top of his list. Egyptian

Paintings from as far back as the 15th century B.C. show us that they used a tank with what looks like wick siphons. Some scholars believe this was how they may have removed suspended solids.

Image%204.jpg

Robert Perrin © 2008

Historically, water was considered clean if it was clear. The first know water filter was developed by Hippocrates, known as Hippocrates Sleeve. It was a cloth bag to strain rainwater. This dates back to the 5th century B.C. Roman engineers created some of the first major public works projects with a water supply system that may have delivered 130 million gallons daily through aqueducts between 343 B.C. to 225 A.D.

Little was done to improve water systems or treatment for over the next 1,000 years. The theory of clear equals clean stood until the 1800’s.

Image%205.jpg

The microscope was invented in 1680 by Anton Van Leeuwenhoek and discovered microscopic organisms. By 1685 Italian physician Lu Antonio Porzio designed the first multiple filter. These two unrelated events were to play important parts in the future of water treatment. Porzio’s filter used sedimentation and straining followed by sand filtration. This system had two compartments one with downward flow, and one with upward flow. In 1804 Paisley, Scotland was the first city to deliver water to an entire town. Within three years, filtered water was even piped directly to customers in Glasgow, Scotland.

In 1806 a large scale sand and charcoal water treatment plant began operating in Paris.

America has relied on several different processes of water treatment since the 1870’s, when Dr. Robert Koch and Dr. Joseph Lister proved micro-organisms in water supplies can cause disease.

After the Civil War, the United States became a leader in water works by further developing filtration.

In 1881 the American Water Works Association was formed at a meeting of 22 water works professionals at Washington University.

Significant improvements to water treatment in the latter part of the 1800’s included the development of rapid sand and slow sand filters, and the first applications of chlorine and ozone for disinfection. At the turn of the century, chlorination became the most popular method in the United States and numbers of typhoid dysentery and cholera cases were greatly reduced.

Jersey City Water Works became the first utility in America to use sodium hypochlorite for disinfection in 1908, and the Bubbly Creek plant in Chicago instituted regular chlorine disinfection.

In 1918 the Texas Water Utilities Association was formed at Texas A&M University making it the oldest State Association in the United States.

By the 1920’s, the use of filtration and chlorination had virtually eliminated epidemics of major waterborne diseases from the American landscape. These two decades also saw the development of dissolved air flotation, early membrane filters, flock blanket sedimentation, and the solids-contact clarifier.

A major step in the development of desalination technology arrived during World War II when various military establishments in arid areas required water to supply their troops.

The U.S. Public Health Service was adopted in 1942. In 1957 the first set of drinking water standards, and the membrane filter process for bacteriological analysis was approved.

Water systems have gone from 19,000 in 1960 to over 66,000 municipal systems, producing over 38 billion gallons of water per day for domestic and public use. In addition to this over 13 million households get their water from their own private wells and are responsible for treating and pumping the water themselves in the United States. We use an average of 27 gallons per person per day with up to 50% of this consumption going to watering lawns.

In 1969 the Texas Rural Water Association was founded. The National Rural Water Association now claims to have the largest utility membership, currently serving over 24,550 Water & Wastewater Utilities.

In 1974 the Safe Drinking Water Act (THE SDWA) was originally passed by Congress. The ACT was put in place to protect public health by regulating the nation’s public drinking water supply. The law was amended in 1986 and 1996 and requires many actions to protect drinking water and its sources: rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs, and ground water wells.

In 1990, the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) cited drinking water contamination as one of the most important environmental risks and indicated that disease causing microbial contaminants (i.e., bacteria, protozoa, and viruses) is probably the greatest remaining health risk management challenge for drinking water suppliers (USEPA/SAB, 1990).

In 1996, amendments greatly enhanced the existing law by recognizing source water protection, operator training, funding for water system improvements, and public information as important components of safe drinking water.

In 1999, the EPA, along with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, co-released a paper titled Guidance for People with Severely Weakened Immune Systems. Cryptosporidium is a parasite commonly found in lakes and rivers, especially when the water is contaminated with sewage and animal wastes. Cryptosporidium is very resistant to disinfection, and even a well-operated water treatment system cannot ensure that drinking water will be completely free of this parasite.

In 2000 the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water issued a paper on ARSENIC OCCURRENCE IN PUBLIC DRINKING WATER SUPPLIES

In 2002 the Office of Water (4601M), Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water issued a Distribution System Issue Paper titled

"Finished Water Storage Facilities"

This paper outlined contaminants found in potable water storage and the importance of inspection & cleaning. Pathogen contamination and microbial growth in water storage systems is covered extensively in this paper. Tank inspections using robotic devices or divers and regular tank cleaning are also covered in this paper. You will find this document reprinted in its entirety in the back of the book.

In 2005 A national assessment of tap water quality conducted by the Environmental Working Group found that tap water in 42 states is contaminated with more than 140 unregulated chemicals that lack safety standards. The assessment took

Two and a