Conditioning of aggressive water in Suriname

Abstract

In Suriname groundwater is mostly used for drinking water production. Depending on the ground layers from which groundwater is extracted, groundwater is characterized as aggressive water. The disadvantage of aggressive water is its ability to cause corrosion of metal pipelines and cement bound materials. In drinking water practice this water type is conditioned by means of air stripping, dosing of hydroxides or filtration through carbonate rich media. Currently the drinking water company SWM in Suriname suffers from water quality problems regarding low pH and occasionally low hardness and low alkalinity. These water quality problems are observed at pumping stations with aggressive raw water. Despite the conditioning of the aggressive groundwater by means of shell filtration, the drinking water quality does not satisfy the National Drinking Water Standards and VEWIN recommendations. It is noticed that in Suriname there are no strict guidelines for the water quality of drinking water and for the treatment of aggressive groundwater. Due to the fact that shells are also used for many other purposes such as the improvement and neutralization of acidic agricultural grounds, the shell provision is threatened to run out in the long term. Therefore it is important that alternative materials are found for shells. The objective of this research is to determine: Operational guidelines for several SWM pumping stations regarding necessary filter bed height, and refilling frequency of shell filters, Necessary treatment processes for several SWM pumping stations with water quality problems, based on water quality data of the raw water of the pumping stations.