The island opted for UV instead of chlorine as part of its 'non-chemical' approach to water treatment.
Five Berson UV units are installed at the Balashi water treatment plant, the site of gold mill ruins near Aruba's capital, Oranjestad. Operated by W.E.B. Aruba N.V., which supplies drinking water and electricity to the island's residents and businesses, Balashi also houses the world's second largest desalination plant. Aruba has a semi-arid climate so desalination is necessary to supply its growing population with much needed water.
Following the desalination process the water passes through the UV systems before being transported to seven storage tanks situated at elevated locations around the island. The UV units, which are installed outdoors and controlled by DGtronic microprocessors, each disinfect 400m3 of water per hour, rising to 600m3/h during peak flow conditions. No chlorine is used at any stage of water the treatment process.
Commenting on the installation, Project Manager Mr Ruiz said, "Chlorine was originally considered as an alternative to UV but was rejected after concerns over costs and safety. W.E.B. Aruba also has an anti-chemical policy."
Two of the seven storage tanks situated around the island are also fitted with Berson's InLine UV systems, providing an additional disinfection step prior to distribution. It is expected that all the tanks will eventually be fitted with UV. One of the storage tanks is situated in the harbour and supplies cruise ships with UV treated drinking water.
Based in the Netherlands, Berson (www.bersonuv.com) is a world leader in closed-vessel, medium pressure UV disinfection technology for drinking water and wastewater applications, with installations across the globe, from the USA to Australia. Along with fellow UV companies Hanovia Limited in the UK and Aquionics Inc in the USA, Berson is part of the Fluid Technology Division of Halma p.l.c. (www.halma.com).
For more news stories about Berson and to subscribe to the Berson RSS News Feed please visit the Berson News Blog at: http://halmapr.com/news/berson/.
In addition to disinfecting drinking water, two Berson UV systems are also used to treat greywater. One unit is installed at each of the island's two wastewater treatment plants and the treated greywater is used to irrigate the island's two golf courses. The Dr. Horacio Hospital on the island also uses UV technology.
"There is a lot of interest in our UV systems on the island, especially from businesses wanting to use greywater for hosing down buildings," says Berson's customer service manager Danny van Kuringen.
"It is very dusty on Aruba, so keeping the outside of buildings clean is a real concern for many companies. We have also recently supplied one of our new InLine+ UV systems to disinfect drinking water for the airport."
Berson's compact InLine medium pressure UV systems use MultiWave lamps, which emit a wide spectrum of UV wavelengths with a very high energy output, causing the total and permanent deactivation of microorganisms. The small size of the lamps means that they are positioned perpendicularly to the flow of liquid, increasing disinfection efficiency and reducing the overall size of the disinfection unit.
Berson UV is one of the few non-German UV system suppliers capable of providing a complete range of UV systems with capacities between 10 – 10,000 m3/hour, certified to the latest German DVGW** norm, W294, Part 1, 2 & 3 – the highest standard currently possible in the world. The systems are also fully validated in accordance with the USEPA UV Disinfection Guidance Manual (UVDGM).
* Non-industrial wastewater from domestic processes such as laundry and bathing.
** DVGW (German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water) is the body responsible for industry self-regulation in the German water and gas and water supply industry and its technical rules are the basis for safety and reliability.
