Pure oxygen, aeration, and geochemistry: Suppressing harmful algae blooms and optimising water quality in USA reservoirs

On Wednesday 27 March 2019, Jacobs, together with Water New Zealand, will host David Austin, lead technologist for Natural Treatment Systems at Jacobs.

David will share his USA experience with reservoir management through presentation of engineering practice and case studies.

Presentation Title:
Pure oxygen, aeration, and geochemistry: Suppressing harmful algae blooms and optimizing water quality in USA reservoirs.

Drinking water utilities want the best water quality possible in their reservoirs. Anoxia at the sediment surface is a principal driver of poor water quality, causing elevated concentrations of manganese, iron, ammonium, phosphorus, and hydrogen sulfide, and stimulating harmful algae blooms.
Aeration technologies have long been used to oxidise sediments, but with a mixed record of success. In the USA, pure oxygen injection has emerged as a superior technology with over three dozen projects completed in the past 20 years. It is now possible to compare aeration with oxygenation performance to understand differences in project outcomes.

Pure oxygen is not, however, a cure-all for reservoir water quality problems. Project experience also highlights the need for close engineering design attention to the geochemistry and hydrodynamics that drive harmful algae blooms.

Find out more about David here.

Special thanks to Jacobs for sponsoring this event.