Like many municipalities, the Town of Davie needed to take extra steps to produce crystal-clear drinking water, since color is naturally occurring in the Town’s groundwater source. Globaltech was selected as a design-build contractor to permit, design, construct and commission a 4 mgd color removal system at the Town’s South Water Treatment Plant. It was installed at the end of the plant’s existing lime softening plant process to further enhance the water quality and appearance.

The system uses an anion exchange resin to remove organic material. The resin is similar to that used in a home water softener system except that it removes negative ion including slightly negative organic/color molecules.

Project Achievements / Benefits

• Davie’s raw groundwater ranges from 40 to 60 color units; testing showed that the finish water (after lime softening) had 15 color units, giving it a yellowish tint. The new anion exchange system reduces the water’s color from 15 color units to less than 2 color units. With the new color removal system on-line, the Town’s water is virtually colorless to the naked eye.
• The reduction in organic material also lowers the formation of disinfection byproducts such as trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids (regulated byproducts) which are formed when chlorine used for disinfection reacts with the organics naturally found in the groundwater. As a result, the treatment plant is able to meet more stringent water quality regulations for disinfection byproducts.
• Globaltech designed and constructed the color removal system in nine months’ time, meeting the client’s budget and schedule expectations.