Water Reclamation

The dwindling supply of fresh potable water will be a major problem for the world in the 21st Century. Even today in more populated and arid areas in the United States, communities face water shortages and water quality degradation due to saltwater intrusion, dropping groundwater tables, contamination of aquifers and pollution of surface waters. In the Northeast even with abundant rainfall and plentiful water supplies, shortages and droughts have occurred and governmental agencies have required restrictions on water use. For industries that require high quality process water and treatment of wastewaters, there is also a growing need to provide advanced water treatment systems.

Overseas, the problems are compounded with burgeoning populations, limited rainfall and the need for water to fuel industrial development. World demand for water supply is growing at a rate of over ten percent per year. According to the World Meteorological Organization, by 2025, over 1 billion people will face serious water shortages.

Water treatment and reclamation technology is advancing at a steady pace to provide the systems to effectively treat and purify brackish and contaminated water, making it fit for human consumption and industrial process use.

GEA is in the forefront of new and emerging technologies for water reclamation and reuse. Serving both private industry and municipal sectors, GEA is providing cost effective systems using the latest technology for wastewater treatment and water purification.

While the growth in reverse osmosis (R/O) for seawater desalination is providing the biggest demand for membrane systems, the application of membrane technology to advanced wastewater treatment for water reuse is a targeted area of interest for the industrial and municipal market as well. As the cost of membrane water desalination and purification continues its dramatic drop, new markets will be expanding into the poorer third world countries, as these systems become more affordable.

The key to the application of this new technology will be the cost-effective pretreatment of marginal water and wastewaters in order to make them amenable and suitable for membrane processing without the deleterious effect of membrane fouling. This is the area where GEA Engineers, with a through understanding of water and wastewater chemistry, engineering and technology, provide innovative, proven solutions for cost-effective water reclamation. By conducting pilot testing, analysis and evaluations using computerized water treatment software models, GEA is able to assess treatment needs and provide high performance treatment system designs.