Removal of contaminants from any body of water may be required for a variety of reasons, including purification of drinking water, remediation of industrial contamination, and removal of naturally occurring contaminants. Ecological concerns often drive surface water treatment activities, as polluters are required to assess risk to flora, fauna, and humans. Internationally, the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality have set draft guideline values for the 99% species protection scenario of 0.00023 µg/L PFOS and 19 µg/L PFOA. Under the PFAS Action Plan, the US EPA is investigating the development of Clean Water Act Section 304(a) for use in determining if a waterbody requires PFAS cleanup, is proposing to regulate both PFOA and PFOS under the SDWA, and has initiated the process to designate PFOA and PFOS as CERCLA hazardous substances. Furthermore, the US EPA currently has authority under CERCLA, SDWA, and RCRA to require persons who have caused or contributed to PFAS contamination to take actions where there may be an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health.

ECT2 provides a full range of products and services for the treatment of contaminated surface water, including bench and pilot studies, design and engineering of temporary or permanent systems, installation, construction management, startup and commissioning, and ongoing operating contracts. Our team of employees has decades of experience in system engineering and design, and our operations experience provides outstanding insight into the design challenges likely to be encountered in any surface water project. Our surface water treatment plant at RAAF Base Williamtown has been in operation since July 2017, and our approach to the challenging influent water chemistry, pretreatment demands, solids handling, and data management for this project has been critical to the success of this treatment system where, by the end of September 2020, over 375 million litres had been treated with no exceedances of the treated water criteria.

Surface water treatment presents engineering challenges that are distinct from groundwater extraction. Surface water flows can vary widely due to weather and season, and the quality of influent water can also vary significantly. It is necessary for treatment system designers and operators to account for these significant swings. ECT2 has several products ideally suited for surface water treatment, particularly the M series product line of easily deployable, modular treatment systems. If the water chemistry is well characterised, these systems can be deployed in a matter of days. Incorporating the necessary pretreatment functionality and configured to utilise either SORBIX PURE or SORBIX RePURE resins, the M series comes in 50, 100, 200, and 200+ gpm (3, 6, 12, and 12+ L/sec) models.