Nitrogen-reduction treatment systems for long-term operations

When selecting any wastewater treatment technology – including nitrogen-reduction systems – it’s assumed that all technologies are sustainable, and, when operated correctly, will satisfy the ecological and social needs that they were initially designed to meet at a reasonable cost. Moving beyond the ecological and social debates, however, the mechanisms for measuring...

In central Oregon, nitrogen contamination in the Deschutes River Basin led to the completion of an extensive report by Deschutes County that detailed the need for groundwater protection in the area. Onsite and decentralized wastewater systems are the primary types of treatment. During the study period, larger decentralized wastewater facilities without nitrogen-reduction systems were flagged as...

There can be large differences in up-front and long-term costs between nitrogen-removal tech-nologies. However, engineers and designers can make accurate comparisons between nitrogen-removal systems by gathering factual data about capital costs, O&M costs, and R&R costs. Additionally, the availability of trained operators may play a major role in the selection of a particular technology....

Tristian Bounds, PE, is lead research and development engineer for Orenco Systems, Inc., and is based in Boise, Idaho, United States. He has a degree in civil engineering with a special emphasis on environmental engineering from Boise State University and has worked in the wastewater industry for nearly two decades.