Water & Wastewater Chemistry
The art of chemistry (or chemical history) is all around us and is involved in most every process that we can think of, and we never thought back when we took a chemistry class in high school that it would be so very vital to our everyday lives. The importance of fully understanding chemistry is definitely the case in the water and wastewater treatment industry, and knowing the basics of chemistry and being proactive to the technical enhancements in the chemical world will help sustain us through the many challenges we will face in the future as an industry. Management personnel at a water or wastewater treatment facility must have a dedicated and dynamic approach to the planning and utilization of various basic chemicals, including the discovery of new ones, that will further enhance the treatment process; thus, providing better water quality to the customers (water treatment) and the environment (wastewater treatment).

This particular issue will feature and explore some of the ways that the art of chemistry and the overall knowledge of chemicals that we utilize daily in the water and wastewater treatment processes are helping us within the industry meet our permit requirements, and going even further, improving our water quality on a continuous basis. Here are some typical topics of interest when it comes to chemical utilization in both the water and wastewater treatment processes that may be outlined in this particular issue of NC Currents:

Water Treatment

• Alkalinity, Coagulation, and Flocculation Formation
• Chlorine Breakpoint, Chlorination Processes, Chlorine Dioxide
• pH and DBP Formation Potential, ph Correction, Anti-Corrosion Agents, Endocrine Disruptors
• Oxidation Methods, Analytical Methods
• Chemical Storage
• Bulk Chemical Contamination/Allowances of Contaminants (i.e. aluminum sulfate (alum) also has other regulated metals that contribute to maximum contaminant level or MCL allowances)
  

Wastewater Treatment

• Introduction to Wastewater Contaminants – Oxygen Consuming Organic Matter, Suspended Solids, Nutrients, Priority Pollutants, Refractory Organics, Heavy Metals, Pathogens, Dissolved Inorganics
• Wastewater Analysis – Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Solids, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Bacteriological
• Wastewater Composition – General, Municipal, Endocrine Disruptors

Theme Leaders: Marianna Boucher, Rusty Campbell, Tom Bach, Kyle Manning

More Information...NC Currents Magazine / Submission Guidelines / Communication Committee