Groundwater Treatment Technology: Making The Most Of Resources

Fresh, clean water is the basis of life, and using water wisely helps ensure that all life forms on earth have the water they need to survive and thrive. Water is also used in many industrial applications. If the water is not cleaned after these applications, it cannot be used to support life, diminishing the planet's supply of clean, safe water. Today large amounts of waste water have to be transported long distances to be injected into disposal wells, where it is permanently lost to the earth's fresh water cycle. Most people in developed countries are familiar with municipal wastewater treatment in their community, but groundwater remediation involves many techniques in addition to those used in municipal wastewater treatment plants.

Electro-Precipitation Revolutionizes Water Treatment

Electro-precipitation is a technology that is now being used to clean water that is contaminated or that has been used in industrial and mining applications. It is a very versatile technology, cleaning water that has been subject to environmental disaster (like the 2010 Gulf oil spill), water that harbors disease-carrying organisms, and water that is part of manufacturing and mining processes that contaminate it. Before this technology, in many cases, such contaminated water had to be pumped into disposal wells, where it would be lost for use in supporting human and other life. The equipment necessary for electro-precipitation fits on a tractor trailer and can be sent virtually anywhere by land, sea, or air. It can decontaminate 300,000 gallons of water per day. Electro-precipitation uses a direct electrical current to destabilize charged contaminant particles, causing them to precipitate out of water, making it cleaner. Combined with a carbon filter, the result is a revolution in groundwater remediation.

Uses for Electro-Precipitation

Electro-precipitation can be used to clean water of a huge array of contaminants, including:
Oil
Contaminants from hydraulic fracturing (gas and oil extraction)
Radioactive materials
Dissolved metals
Bacteria
Viruses
Because this new groundwater treatment technology is so versatile and because the equipment fits into a relatively small space, it can be used all over the world, wherever water needs to be decontaminated.
Benefits of Electro-Precipitation Technology
Because this technology is relatively simple, it has many advantages over other types of water decontamination. Some of the benefits of electro-precipitation include:
Time efficiency
Cost savings
Lower energy consumption than with other decontamination methods
Reclamation of water that would otherwise be injected into disposal wells

The Future of Water Decontamination

Many scientific experts believe that electro-precipitation will totally revolutionize water decontamination. The technology was first developed in the 1990s by water experts working for the United States Department of Energy. Since more recently, when the technology matured, it has been successfully used to clean oil from water, to remove agricultural byproducts, and to get rid of dissolved metals that contaminate water in the mining industry. If adopted on a widespread basis, this technology could represent an enormous stride in ensuring that the planet's water supply is used as wisely as possible.