Environmental Projects

See the Cascade System In Action Here The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) State Water Plan Program and the City of Frankfort, Kansas contracted with Aquaterra to design/build a remediation system to address the source area of contamination affecting the City’s three public water supply (PWS) wells.  The source area is a farm approximately ½‑mile north of the well field where historically grain storage bins had been located. As requested by KDHE in the fall of 2008, Aquaterra researched alternative methods to conventional air stripping towers or tray aerators, and proposed a cascade aerator for the groundwater treatment technology.  The cascade system is essentially a waterfall where the contaminated well water cascades down the waterfall, which aerates the water and transfers the contaminant (in this case, carbon tetrachloride – CCL4) from the water to the ambient air.  The advantages of the cascade system over conventional systems was the reduction of the required maintenance due to hard water fouling of tray and tower aerators that would not be an issue with the cascade aerator, and the reduction in motors and system complexity that reduced long term energy costs and equipment replacement.  The primary disadvantage of the system was that the cascade could not operate for approximately three months during the winter.  Following a meeting with KDHE and City personnel to discuss the design scope and preliminary plan, Aquaterra was authorized to proceed with the final design of a 25 gallon per minute (gpm) system and to evaluate green alternatives

Read more →