Opting for UV disinfection instead of chlorine, as part of its ‘non-chemical’ approach to water treatment, the island of Aruba has installed ten of the Berson InLine UV disinfection systems to disinfect drinking water and treat greywater prior to discharge.
With a semi-arid climate, desalination is necessary for Aruba to obtain enough drinking water for the growing population. Five of the UV disinfection systems have been installed in the Balashi water treatment plant, on the site of gold mill ruins near Aruba’s capital, Oranjestad.
Following the desalination process the water passes through the UV systems before being transported to seven storage tanks situated at elevated locations around the island of Aruba. The InLine UV units, which are installed outdoors and controlled by DGtronic microprocessors, each disinfect 400 m3 of water per hour, rising to 600 m3/h during peak flow conditions.Two of the seven storage tanks situated around the island are also fitted with Berson’s InLine UV systems, providing an additional disinfection step prior to distribution.
Two Berson InLine UV disinfection systems are being used to treat greywater at the island’s two wastewater treatment plants and the treated greywater is used to irrigate the island’s two golf courses. The Dr. Horacio Hospital on the island also uses UV technology.
Danny van Kuringen, customer service manager at Berson said: “There is a lot of interest in our UV systems on the island, especially from businesses wanting to use greywater for hosing down buildings. It is very dusty on Aruba, so keeping the outside of buildings clean is a real concern for many companies. We have also recently supplied one of our new InLine+ UV systems to disinfect drinking water for the airport.”
Berson’s compact InLine medium pressure UV systems use MultiWave lamps, which emit a wide spectrum of UV wavelengths with a very high energy output which deactivates microorganisms. The small size of the lamps means that they are positioned perpendicularly to the flow of liquid, increasing disinfection efficiency and reducing the overall size of the disinfection unit.
The Berson InLine UV disinfection systems are also fully validated in accordance with the USEPA UV Disinfection Guidance Manual (UVDGM).
