Three new bersonInLine systems join three existing systems to meet the increased wastewater treatment demands at the Flat Creek Water Reclamation Facility in Georgia USA.

The Flat Creek Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) in Gainesville, Georgia, USA, has chosen Berson UV disinfection equipment to meet the facility's increased wastewater treatment demands. Three new bersonInLine systems join three existing systems to meet the plant's expanded capacity, treating over 1,875 m3/hour of wastewater for discharge into a local lake. The closed pipe, medium pressure systems, installed by the Berson American sister company Aquionics Inc, provide high efficiency disinfection with the added benefits of online transmittance monitoring and advanced controls.

Flat Creek WRF originally installed Berson equipment in 2001, with three bersonInLine systems treating approximately 1,250 m3/hour of wastewater (80% industrial, 20% low level commercial and residential).

With the area's growth the plant's capacity increased, and with increased capacity came more stringent discharge permit limits.

The new permit issued for a 1,875 m3/hour capacity with a faecal coliform limit of 23 colonies per 100 ml sample was a significant change from its previous limit of 200 colonies per 100 ml sample.

The City of Gainesville and Berson engineers determined that additional UV systems arranged in series would achieve the level of disinfection required by the new permit.

A total of six bersonInLine systems now treat effluent at the plant.

Berson closed pipe systems use high output medium pressure UV technology to deliver a high dose of UV disinfection which destroys microorganisms using fewer and smaller lamps than comparable low pressure systems.

The closed chambers are compatible with both gravity fed and pumped applications, providing low maintenance disinfection with minimal headloss.

The closed pipe design was an important feature for the City of Gainesville.

When first selecting UV equipment for the Flat Creek WRF, representatives from the City's Public Utilities Department visited several neighbouring facilities and examined a range of open and closed pipe systems from various manufacturers.

'The excessive man hours required to keep an open channel unit clean was a large factor in choosing the Berson closed pipe system initially,' said the plant manager.

Ease of handling was another feature in Berson's favour.

Rather than handling an entire bank of lamps at a time, the bersonInLine single lamps may be changed quickly and easily by plant personnel.

To further reduce maintenance, the chambers are equipped with an automatic cleaning mechanism to keep lamp sleeves free of organic deposits.

The new systems feature the new Berson UVTronic microprocessor controls and transmittance monitor, providing real time transmittance values that allow for dose pacing of the UV system.

The control unit records up to 12 months operational data for record keeping and analysis and generates fault alarms to aid in the diagnosis of performance problems.

The controller can also be fitted with a modem connection to perform remote diagnostics on the system for fast troubleshooting with minimal service interruption.