Evaluation of Effectiveness Technological Process of Water Purification Exemplified on Modernized Water Treatment Plant at Otoczna

The article presents the work of the Water Treatment Plant in the town of Otoczna, located in the Wielkopolska province, before and after the modernization of the technological line. It includes the quality characteristics of the raw water and treated water with particular emphasis on changes in the quality indicators in the period 2002 -2012 in relation to the physicochemical parameters: the content of total iron and total manganese, the ammonium ion as well as organoleptic parameters(colour and turbidity). The efficiency of technological processes was analysed, including the processes of bed start up with chalcedonic sand to remove total iron and manganese and ammonium ion. Based on the survey, it was found that the applied modernization helped solve the problem of water quality, especially the removal of excessive concentrations of iron, manganese and ammonium nitrogen from groundwater. It has been shown that one year after modernization of the technological line there was a high reduction degree of most parameters, respectively for the general iron content -99%, general manganese - 93% ammonia - 93%, turbidity - 94%. It has been proved, that chalcedonic turned out to be better filter material than quartz sand previously used till 2008. The studies have confirmed that the stage of modernization was soon followed by bed start-up for removing general iron from the groundwater. The stage of manganese removal required more time, about eight months for bed start-up. Furthermore, the technological modernization contributed to the improvement of the efficiency of the nitrification process.