Update Aug. 2023: The design standard is currently under internal review prior to Ohio EPA review and adoption. A project overview is provided here.
~New Design Criteria to Streamline Plan Approval of Ozone Facilities~
Ozone and paired ozone-biofiltration (ozone-BAF) for drinking water treatment can be used to effectively address health-relevant issues that many public water systems (PWSs) face, including disinfection byproducts (DBPs) and organic contaminants such as microcystins. Ozone has been implemented for decades in the U.S. and is a proven technology in the State of Ohio, but it commonly requires costly pilot-scale demonstration during Ohio EPA’s Plan Approval process due to the lack of extensive design criteria in the Ten State Standards (TSS). This prevents small to medium-sized PWSs from pursuing ozone as a treatment solution for common treatment challenges.
The design standard aims to simplify regulatory requirements and lower the cost, time, and challenges for approval of ozone design in Ohio, to increase the feasibility for small and medium sized PWSs to consider ozone as a solution for common treatment challenges. To develop the standard, the Ohio Water Resources Center (Ohio WRC) at The Ohio State University has partnered with Ohio EPA, the Ohio AWWA Technology Committee, design professionals, and utility representatives to develop a design standard for ozone and ozone/BAF treatment of drinking water. The Ohio EPA plans to adopt the standard as a supplement to the TSS.
Central to the development of the design standard has been the input of design professionals and public utility representatives from across the U.S. Two advisory committees for the project were established to provide international expertise and local Ohio context. Deliverables of the standard include design requirements and guidance, and include protocols for demonstration of treatment effectiveness and also considerations for various water quality impacts. The standard establishes a design protocol using bench-scale ozone demonstration testing and desktop analysis in place of required pilot-scale ozone or BAF testing. The standard includes an ozone-BAF TOC reduction model for use during future design targeting DBP precursors. The model has been created with extensive data analysis from a collection of pilot and full-scale ozone-BAF studies from facilities across North America.
With the collaboration of Ohio WRC, Ohio EPA, design professionals, and public utilities, the ozone design standard will enable impactful improvements to finished drinking water quality in Ohio and potentially beyond.
