Turbidity discussion
- Thread starter Water Guy
- Start date
Users who are viewing this thread
Sponsor
Paid Advertisement
no. water treatment guy picking brains. lolMoving?
Try putting colloidal clay into the search box above.
"Moving?" was a wry response to what do to solve the problem if your well has colloidal clay.
oh. makes sense though.lol
have an example of that. working for another company we had a customer built a new house. well was 2 ft from the road which I found strange. anyway, water was terrible. tested 56 gpg, 20+ iron, off the charts H2S, methane, etc. they sold him a lot of equipment (won't get into specifics). anyway, it was a dry summer and then a week of constant rain. colodial clay presented and went off the charts. totally ruined most of the equipment and he sued them for like $50 k. company had a good contract which protected them. the experience though taught me the important a of a clause saying something to the effect of "not guaranteed as water quality can change". good learning experience
ditttohead
Water systems designer, R&D
Turbidity, colloidal issues etc is virtually indefinable. It is simply too broad of a term. Like tannins, turbidity is a description of a problem rather than an actual contaminant. Pilot testing is key unless you are aware of common causes/solutions that are common in your area.
The obvious solutions can be as simple as gravity filtration (settling) with the use of a contact tank, to as complex and alum injection, contact time, oxidation, and UF.
We have seen chocolate colored water turn crystal clear with a cheap 5 micron melt blown filter (they did not last long, but they were cheap), to problems that take a multistage approach. We work with a lot of companies to make them simple pilot test filters that can allow them to design an appropriate filter specific to their water quality problem.
The obvious solutions can be as simple as gravity filtration (settling) with the use of a contact tank, to as complex and alum injection, contact time, oxidation, and UF.
We have seen chocolate colored water turn crystal clear with a cheap 5 micron melt blown filter (they did not last long, but they were cheap), to problems that take a multistage approach. We work with a lot of companies to make them simple pilot test filters that can allow them to design an appropriate filter specific to their water quality problem.
understood. was hoping for a larger discussion in relation to all types, however, I realize it might be too broad a topic. a previous employer used alum quite frequently for clay issues, so I was looking for opinions on alternatives such as multistage cartridge filtration (ie 10 mic, 5 mic, 1 mic in series) for people with cost or space limitations.
I would save some big clear glass jars. Put the cloudy water in one, and let it sit where there is no vibration for a few days. If the water clears with sitting (starting at the top), then I think it is not colloidal clay.
If that 5 micron spun filter clears up the water, I think it's not colloidal clay. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Settling-time-for-particles-of-various-diameters_tbl1_267416897 has some interesting comments on settling time. You are not going to be using a 1 meter tall container, of course.
Flocculant would be a good search term for that think you were thinking of when you wrote alum.
makes sense. thanks for the link :cheers
Similar threads
