December 6, 2005

 

Municipal and community water providers are racing to meet EPA’s January 23, 2006 deadline for reducing arsenic in drinking water. The new ruling reduces the maximum allowable level of arsenic in drinking water to 10 ppb. Pall Corp. announced that its membrane filtration technology was granted verification by NSF International Drinking Water Systems Center, a partner of EPA’s Environmental Technology Verification Program, to remove arsenic from drinking water. Results of the independent performance testing showed the Pall Aria Microfiltration System reduces arsenic to undetectable levels (below 2 ppb), exceeding the EPA standard for the maximum level of contaminants allowed in drinking water. It is the first microfiltration technology verified to remove arsenic under the new EPA regulation.

“There are many communities throughout the nation that are underserved in their ability to meet the new drinking water standards, oftentimes due to cost,” said Jeff Seibert, president of Pall Water Processing. “The Pall Aria System provides them with a proven, cost-efficient solution to be compliant with these regulations for the benefit of the public health.”

The Pall Aria System was tested in several areas of the country with high arsenic levels in water. In Fallon, Nev., where arsenic was found at 160 ppb, the system removed arsenic to undetectable levels, less than 2 ppb. Based on these results, the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe is using the Pall Aria System to comply with the new EPA standard and protect its residents from arsenic toxicity.

There are about 4,100 small and community drinking water systems in the U.S., most serving less than 10,000 people, where arsenic levels exceed the new standard. According to the latest EPA report, about 3000 (5.5%) of the nation’s 54,000 community water systems and another 1,300 non-community water systems will need to take measures to lower arsenic in their drinking water.

Membrane filtration technology is emerging as the technology of choice for safe drinking water. Large and small communities around the world currently use the Pall Aria System to remove parasites, including cryptosporidia and giardia cysts and oocysts, that can contaminate drinking water and adversely affect public health. The new verification enables these communities to remove both arsenic and parasites cost efficiently. The Pall system is also employed by a wide range of industries to clean up wastewater to prevent additional arsenic from entering the drinking water supply.

Unlike other methods of arsenic removal, such as reverse osmosis and adsorption media, membrane filtration offers a less costly and long-term solution. It does not require a major upfront capital investment, high costs to operate or frequent regeneration and purchase of media. The Pall Aria System works by the addition of an iron-based coagulant, such as ferric chloride, to the water. The contaminating arsenic is adsorbed onto positively charged ferric hydroxide particles, which are then removed by microfiltration.

“The arsenic removal verification opens up a whole new market for Pall Water Processing, which is currently one of the fastest growing businesses of Pall Corp. This past year our sales to municipal and community water systems have grown over 26%,” Seibert said.