New York Rural Water Association

This is the first part of an article that I think may interest some of you. In the beginning of the winter, the Village of Westport had a hit of coliform bacteria and was ordered to chlorinate their water at the source. For many years they had a chlorine waiver. Their supply is some springs that collect into a concrete tank and from there is distributed to the village. This is the place that the Health Department wanted the Village to chlorinate. This is where the problem came up. There is no electric service to the building or even close to it. The price to run an electric line to the area was about $30,000.00, which was unacceptable, and therefore they researched the possibility of solar power. They made calls to different chemical pump manufacturers and found that there were such pumps available. They also learned of some people that do this type of work and contacted them. A plan was designed and prices were calculated. The total cost of the installation was to be $7,000.00. This was a lot lower than the $30,000.00 for an electric service to that area. The system consists of a solar collector, batteries and a backup generator in case there isn't enough sun during a time period. The system has been put in place and has been in operation for several months and has accomplished what it was installed to do. Much to everyone's surprise, the solar collector has done the job and the backup generator has not been needed. This idea of solar power may be of interest to some of you because you may have similar situations. Some of you could add potassium permanganate to your raw water line for longer contact to eliminate iron and manganese. Some may want to add chlorine for longer contact time or caustic soda to mix with the raw water for less aggressive or corrosive water. There are many possibilities for a system like this. I am sorry that I don't have more information on the system as yet. Due to the bad weather I haven't been able to go to Westport and see this installation in operation, but I plan to do so soon. After, I will continue this article and give you the particulars of who to contact for this type of system, or at least, to get a better idea of its operation. Also note that at present, Westport has learned that their system seems to have a little overkill built into it. This means that you may get away for a smaller price. There are some of you that are using "drip" methods of feeding and you also know that the Health Departments don't look on this method with too much favor. The solar powered pump would be your solution.

As I said, I'm sorry that I don't have more solid information on this package but it will be forthcoming as soon as I get it.