Monday, February 27, 2012

fresh.

Phase two of our water system overhaul and installation is now complete. Phase one was running the water lines to three of our buildings from the main lodge; this was completed last October. Phase two has been the installation of the new water filtration system in the main lodge and connecting it to the newly run lines. With the leadership of Roan Elford this portion of the project has now been completed as well (well! ... water joke!). I'll walk you through the new system;

Stage 1: We have two wells, the newest of the wells (with the greatest capacity) has a significant sodium content. The older of the two wells is only affected by sodium after it reaches a certain level of consumption. The new system has been connected to the larger of the wells, and the smaller (older) well will be used strictly as a redundant well in case of emergency. The water enters the building to the left of the larger pressure tank and is at that point separated into water that will be treated and water that will not be treated. The potable (treated) water will service the kitchen faucets, the coffee machine, the water fountain and the kitchens of the outer cabins; while the untreated water will service everything else (toilets, showers etc.)


Stage 2: The water to be treated will then enter this softening unit, known as an air-induction system. This system will remove iron and sulfur prior to the water entering the next stage.


Stage 3: The water will then enter this unit, known as reverse osmosis treatment. It travels through a 5 micron sediment filter and two carbon block filters prior to entering the "RO" chamber (the horizontal stainless cylinder at the back).

Stage 4: The water leaves the reverse osmosis unit and is deposited into this 100 gallon reservoir. At a later time I will be installing an air injection system in this reservoir to keep the water fresh.


Stage 5: The water will only leave the reservoir when it is called for from one of the destination points. The pump at the lower section of this image is an on demand pump that will transfer water from the holding tank as needed. It will distribute the treated water to the outer cabins through the shut-offs as required.

Stage 6: The water that will be remaining in the main building will then travel through this ultraviolet light cylinder and will kill any remaining bacteria that may have survived the treatment process. It is our hope, in the future, to install UV units like this one in the outer cabins as well.

We are very grateful to Roan for taking the time to come and do this installation for us (I helped as best I could... pipes and wires... I only got one shock!); and to the Minute Man program for making this a reality for Arrowhead!

1 comment:

jon said...

Looks complicated!