GAC Treatment Cost Experience at Two Drinking Water Utilities

Abstract

Because of extensive interest in the use of granular activated carbon (GAC) for drinking water treatment, EPA's Drinking Water Research Division has sponsored several field‐scale research projects to demonstrate its use. Two of these projects, one at the Cincinnati Water Works (CWW) and the other at the Manchester Water Works (MWW), have yielded extensive information on capital and operating costs. Both projects utilized fluid‐bed reactivation, and deep‐bed contactors were constructed at the CWW. It was found that fluid‐bed reactivation represented approximately 30% of the capital costs and 70% of the O&M costs. Carbon loss rates ranged from about 11–23% and represented the largest individual cost item in the GAC reactivation system. Regional reactivation was studied at the MWW in cooperation with three other smaller utilities. Regionalization was found to be cost‐effective for these systems.