Performance of reverse osmosis and manganese greensand plants in removing naturally occurring substances in drinking water

Abstract

The Water Security Agency has a legislative authority to regulate water treatment systems and enforce standards with respect to drinking water quality in the Province of Saskatchewan. A number of communities in Saskatchewan which depend on groundwater as a source for drinking water have reported high levels of naturally occurring substances, such as arsenic, uranium and selenium, in their raw water. These communities continue to upgrade their systems by installing new or retrofitting with treatment units, such as reverse osmosis (RO) and manganese greensand (MGS) filters to reduce the levels of naturally occurring substances in finished water. In order to assess the treatment performance of these systems, a study was initiated to collect samples from 20 communities across Saskatchewan and analyse naturally occurring substances in raw and finished water. The study focused on the removal efficiency and the effect of parameters such as sulfate, total dissolved solids, and hardness on the removal efficiency. The paper includes discussion on the results and analysis of sampling/research studies conducted to assess the performance of treatment systems. Results showed that RO plants are effective in removing uranium and MGS are effective in removing arsenic from drinking water.