Speaker(s)

H Kenneth Hudnell, PhD, SolarBee, Inc., & The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Institute for the Environment

Description

Increasing challenges to water quality endanger health, ecosystem and economies. Solar powered circulation (SPC) solves water quality problems in freshwater, potable water, wastewater through ecological processes while reducing electrical-grid and chemical dependence.

Freshwater harmful algal bloom (FHAB) incidence is increasing in part due decreasing water flow rates. FHAB toxins, among the most potent known, endanger health in drinking and recreational waters. SPC suppresses FHABs and increases biological diversity without grid power or algaecides.

Potable water thermally stratifies in storage tanks, increasing water age in upper levels, chlorine residual loss, microbial amplification and autotrophic bacterial-biofilm formation. Chloramine, used to reduce trihalomethanes and haolacetic formation, decomposes to ammonia, toxic nitrites and nitrates that promote bacterial growth and further residual loss. SPC breaks thermal stratification, reduces residual loss, minimizes microbial amplification and oxidizes nitrogen species, enabling utilities to meet the EPA Stage 2 Rule.

Wastewater utilities often expend 1/3 of their budget on electricity for aeration. SPC continuously supplies oxygen to the water, thereby reducing total suspended solids, ammonia and fecal coliform levels. SPC oxidizes noxious sulfur compounds and increases sludge digestion without grid power.

Ecological solutions to water quality problems such as SPC protect health, sustain ecosystems and reduce operational costs.

Conference

National Council for Science and the Environment: 10th National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment: The New Green Economy
Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, Washington, DC, January, 2010, January 2010