Rural Showdown: Membranes Vs Conventional
Annual Conference
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Membrane plants have been commonplace throughout the world and in New Zealand for many years and large metropolitan city councils have been implementing them with confidence. However, the majority of smaller rural councils continue to utilize traditional coagulation, filtration and sedimentation process streams for drinking water.
As the cost of membrane replacement comes down, and the drinking water quality standards increase, membrane plants are becoming a feasible and achievable option for smaller rural councils. This paper discusses the specific advantages that membranes can provide over conventional coagulation/sedimentation/filtration for smaller rural councils. Smaller rural councils have very different sources, supply requirements and operational requirements from large urban councils, and yet they must both comply with the New Zealand Drinking Water Standards.
Some of the advantages that will be looked at are; increased autonomy, lower operator attendance, not relying on chemical coagulation for solids removal, ease of construction and lower volumes of chemical usage.
A number of case studies and examples will be looked at around New Zealand, showing how a well set up membrane plant can greatly increase the security of supply to the region and the efficiency of the operators.