Veolia supplies treatment technology to UK water works

Veolia has been awarded a contract to supply Actiflo Turbo technology for primary clarification at Northumbrian Water’s Horsley water treatment works (WTW) in the UK.

Veolia’s Actiflo was selected following on-site pilot trials between February and May 2012, which demonstrated the ability of the process to operate at water temperatures down to 1°C whilst still achieving tight clarified water targets for turbidity, colour, and residual aluminium.

Horsley WTW will supply 150 million litres of water a day to 800,000 customers on Tyneside, a conurbation in North East England.

The raw water supply comes from the River Tyne at Ovingham and the Whittle Dene complex of reservoirs.

The Veolia Actiflo plant, part of a works upgrade being carried out by Northumbrian Water’s partners  Doosan Interserve Joint Venture, consists of three streams of Actiflo Turbo AC8 units.

Apart from its ability to operate at low temperatures, Actiflo Turbo was chosen because it uses Veolia’s ballasted floc, high rate clarification technology in which Actisand is dosed as a seed for floc formation.

The resulting rapidly settling flocs means a plant footprint which is 5 to 20 times more compact than conventional clarification systems – a major advantage at sites like Horsley where space is restricted.

The process also provides the option of dosing powdered activated carbon to remove organic compounds and THM precursors, which is a seasonal problem at Horsley.