Water for this project will be treated by reverse osmosis. Jordan Valley Water has performed extensive reverse osmosis testing with its pilot water treatment plants.
Two reverse osmoses treatment plants, one in Zone A and the other in Zone B, will treat groundwater. Water treated from the plants will be reserved with right of first refusal for four cities most affected by the contamination:
- Herriman City
- Riverton City
- South Jordan City
- West Jordan City
Water from Zone A will have discounted water rates, with allocations as follows:
| City |
Annual Volume
(AF) |
Flow Rate
(MGD) |
| West Jordan |
1,225 |
1.2 |
| South Jordan |
1,050 |
1.0 |
| Riverton |
700 |
0.7 |
| Herriman |
525 |
0.5 |
The RO process treats water by pumping the feed water to 170 psi of pressure. At this pressure water will flow through a semi-permeable membrane. Salts, such as sodium chloride, calcium carbonate, and sulfate, remain behind and become the byproduct.
Water Treatment
Before Osmosis
Osmosis can be explained by separating two containers of water with a semi permeable membrane. One container has a high concentration of total dissolved solids (TDS), IE salts. The other container has a lower concentration. The membrane between the two containers allows water to flow in either direction but the salts must remain in their original container.
After Osmosis
In this experiment osmosis can be seen as the spontaneous flow from a less concentrated solution through the semi-permeable membrane until the concentrations on both sides are equal, IE the higher concentrated solution was diluted with water from the other container.
Reverse Osmosis
Reverse Osmosis is the reversal of the direction of the normal flow of water during osmosis by applying pressure. When the pressure is applied to the solution on one side of the membrane the water starts to flow through the semi-permeable membrane. Due to the characteristics of the membrane the dissolved salts cannot pass through the membrane. By pumping water through a semi-permeable membrane low TDS high quality water can be produced from higher TDS poor quality water.
This diagram shows how semi-permeable membranes are constructed into municipal reverse osmosis spiral wound cartridges.