90% Less algae in potable water of Superior, Colorado
Improving drinking water quality
Town of Superior receives most of its raw water from snowmelt in the Upper Colorado River. The water travels through a sequence of canals and pipes before making its way to the storage reservoir at the water treatment plant south of Original Town.
Project summary
90%
Algae reduction by using interactive ultrasound
12,483
Citizens depend on this water source
MPC-Buoy
Applied to monitor and control algal blooms
The drinking water supply is stored before being treated for consumption at the Terminal reservoir. This reservoir can hold approximately 130 million gallons (about 400 acre-feet) of water. On average, the Town treats about 2 million gallons of water per day and supplies it to 12,483 citizens.
In April 2020, the Town installed LG Sonic’s MPC-Buoy system, with the goal to keep the water supply free of algal blooms. Ramey Environmental Compliance, a company that provides water treatment services to the municipalities in Colorado, ensured flawless installation and maintenance of the system.
A hot summer without algae problems
Even though summer 2020’ was one of the hottest, algae remained at very low, healthy to the balanced ecosystem, levels. Chlorophyll/pyocyanin dropped to below 2μg/L and Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) remained below 1 after only two weeks of treatment. There were no issues with taste and odor compounds since the installation of the MPC-Buoy system.
With the success of this first project in Colorado, two other municipalities in the area have chosen MPC-Buoy to control algal blooms in their drinking water reservoirs. These projects will be started in spring 2021 as preparation for algae season.
“The LG Sonic Buoy that the Town of Superior installed in the spring of 2020 worked fantastically. We did not have any taste and odor issues at all during one of the hottest summers on record which can produce vast amounts of blue-green algae.
The MPC-view that is part of the system provides real-time reporting via cellular internet on what is going on in the reservoir. As pH and dissolved oxygen would rise and turbidity increasing, the MPC-view would provide an email notifying us that the unit was sensing that the algae was growing and then would change the sound waves to keep the algae from rising to the surface to complete photosynthesis. We definitely satisfied on this purchase.”
Wayne Ramey, President of Ramey Environmental Compliance
MPC-Buoy
All-in-one solution for controlling algae in drinking water reservoirs.
