Melanie Vines is a third-year Ph.D. candidate at the University of Alabama studying treatment technologies for disinfection byproducts in drinking water treatment under Dr. Leigh Terry. Melanie is also an intern with the Research and Innovation Team at the Birmingham Water Works in Birmingham, AL, where this work is taking place. In her free time, Melanie serves as the Vice President for the University of Alabama's student chapter of AWWA and WEF, known as the Young Water Professionals.

The prevention and mitigation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in drinking water utilities is a pressing issue facing the water industry today. During the drinking water treatment process, water is disinfected to prevent waterborne illness. DBPs are compounds that form by disinfectants reacting with organic matter and other constituents present in the water, and some DBPs are carcinogenic or otherwise toxic to human health. Two such classes are the trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs), both of which are regulated in the United States. With deteriorating global water quality and increasing water scarcity issues, many utilities are having to blend water sources with increasing frequency, which leads to complex water chemistry that can make treatment more complicated. To produce clean, safe water, utilities may need to adjust their practices to optimize organics removal so they can further mitigate and potentially eliminate DBP formation.

One novel treatment technology on the market is magnetic ion exchange (MIEX) resin. MIEX consists of a magnetic resin which removes negatively charged organic matter in the water and is intended to either supplement or replace traditional coagulation practices. Some studies have demonstrated that MIEX can remove bulk organic matter and reduce DBP formation potential, but few such studies have taken place at the pilot or full scale. Furthermore, since the chemical matrix of individual water sources greatly influences DBP formation, it is critical for utilities to understand the effects of treatment technologies on their own source waters.

This study is underway in a pilot-scale water treatment plant in Birmingham, AL that is mimicking the full-scale plant.  The full-scale plant utilizes water blended from two different sources and experiences peaks in DBPs during the late summer. A pilot-scale MIEX resin mobile unit will precede two tandem pilot-scale traditional treatment trains. One train will test aluminum sulfate as a coagulant, and the other will test ferric sulfate. THM and HAA formation potentials will be tested after MIEX treatment alone and after MIEX treatment combined with each coagulant. The results of this study will be compared against those from the full-scale plant and assist in determining an optimal treatment condition for the removal of DBP precursors.