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pureALTA Wins National Award for Water Treatment Project

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Groundbreaking technology wins acclaimed award

The City of Altamonte Springs’ pureALTA project was named the 2017 WateReuse Innovative Project of the Year at the 32nd Annual WateReuse Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona. This event is the nation’s preeminent conference on water reuse. The award itself recognizes new, innovative solutions for expanding the use of recycled water and the creation of future models that advocate the implementation of water reclamation nationwide.
“Diversifying our community’s water portfolio was one of the City’s main motivations in creating pureALTA,” said Ed Torres, Director of Public Works and Utilities. “This project could help the City meet the future water needs of our residents, while also becoming a model for other utilities around the country and the world.”
The pureALTA pilot project takes reclaimed water and treats it to meet or exceed all drinking water quality standards without using expensive, energy-consuming reverse osmosis. The City built a unique network of four advanced water treatment processes:
  • Ozonation and biological activated carbon filtration (O3/BAF)
  • Ultrafiltration (UF)
  • Granular activated carbon filtration (GAC)
  • Ultraviolet light with advanced oxidation process (UV AOP)
This system of water purification has produced outstanding results during the testing phase, as it treats approximately 28,000 gallons of water each day. The purified water is returned to the City’s reclaimed water system where it is used for irrigation. Based on the final results of the pilot project, the City could build a full-scale system with the potential to create 300,000 to 500,000 gallons of purified water daily; that’s about 5 percent of the City’s future daily water demand – without drawing it from the aquifer.
Thanks to the grant provided by the St. Johns River Water Management District, the pureALTA project was launched and exceeded all expectations.
“We may be a smaller city, but our philosophy has always been to think outside the box when it comes to meeting the needs of our residents and to conserve our natural resources,” said Frank Martz, Altamonte Springs City Manager. “We are extremely proud of the hard work and committed efforts from our city staff and honored to accept this prestigious award.”
Martz added the City has hosted several visits from other cities and water agencies looking for ways to adapt similar systems for their own communities. The testing phase will continue through October 2018.
pureALTA is just the latest in the City’s efforts to develop innovative projects to expand its water portfolio. The City’s A-FIRST project is a stormwater management initiative that generates as much as 4.5 million gallons of reclaimed water daily, which is approximately 1.6 billion gallons of alternative water supply annually. The project utilizes runoff as a water resource instead of just filling up retention ponds without using its water. The City also developed Project APRICOT, which delivers reclaimed water to almost every property in the city for lawn, landscape and other non-drinking purposes, rather than using drinking water. Project APRICOT, which began in the 1980s, was one of the first projects of its kind and is still in use today.
For more information, CLICK HERE.

City of Altamonte Springs explores ways to combat future water shortages with its new pureALTA water project

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pureALTA uses groundbreaking technology in a potable reuse pilot project that has the
potential to expand the City’s water supply by hundreds of thousands of gallons per day

The City of Altamonte Springs is conducting a pilot project aimed at meeting its future water needs and the challenges brought on by continued growth, shrinking groundwater supplies and the potential of drought.
The project, called pureALTA, is taking reclaimed water and treating it to meet or exceed all drinking water quality standards without using expensive, energy-consuming reverse osmosis. The project is being done in partnership with the St. Johns River Water Management District, and is currently in the testing phase through October 2018.
“This past year is a prime example of the impact that drought can have on Florida’s groundwater supply,” said Ed Torres, Director of Public Works and Utilities. “We’re embarking on this project now to explore ways to create additional water supplies in the future, if and when they are needed.”
For pureALTA, the City built a network of advanced water treatment processes: ozonation and biological activated carbon filtration (O3/BAF), ultrafiltration (UF), granular activated carbon filtration (GAC) and ultraviolet light with advanced oxidation process (UV AOP). This system of water purification has produced outstanding results during the testing phase.
A handful of other U.S. cities have potable water reuse projects, but most rely on high pressure filtration as the core treatment process of purification, rather than pureALTA’s unique combination of systems which includes biological treatment processes. pureALTA is proving to be less expensive, more energy efficient and doesn’t create the harmful byproducts that some other systems produce.
“We’ve had several experts and engineers from cities and water agencies around the country come and look at pureALTA already,” said Frank Martz, Altamonte Springs City Manager. “They’re interested in how they could adapt this technology to augment their own water supplies. We see the project as not only something that can benefit our residents, but as a model that can be adapted by other utilities throughout Florida as well as the rest of the country.”
The pureALTA project is currently treating approximately 28,000 gallons of water each day. During the study-phase, the purified water is returned to the City’s reclaimed water system where it is used for irrigation. Based on the final results of the pilot project, the City could build a full-scale system with the potential to create 300,000 to 500,000 gallons of purified water daily; that’s about 5 percent of the City’s future daily water demand – without drawing it from the aquifer.
Altamonte also built a S.T.E.M. education program named the Altamonte Springs Science Incubator, or AS2I. The City created AS2I to help prepare the next generation of engineering and conservational innovators. Through this program, students will learn about pureALTA, water treatment processes, the impact of drought and the need for diversified water alternatives. Thousands of middle and high school students get hands-on education on how this potable reuse project works and how it can be an important component of Florida’s water supply in the future.
The City of Altamonte Springs has a long history of implementing innovative projects to expand its water portfolio, save water and money and protect the environment. A-FIRST is a stormwater management initiative that generates as much as 4.5 million gallons of reclaimed water daily which is approximately 1.6 billion gallons of alternative water supply each year. The project utilizes runoff as a water resource instead of just filling up retention ponds without using its water. The City also developed Project APRICOT which delivers reclaimed water to almost every property in the city for lawn, landscape and other non-drinking purposes, rather than using drinking water. The project, which began in the 1980s, was one of the first projects of its kind and it’s still in use today.
For more on the pureALTA project, please click here.