Reverse Osmosis Pilot Plant Study in Lewisport; receiving state recognition
The new Reverse Osmosis (RO) Pilot Treatment Plant in the City of Lewisport is located in a building behind the Hancock County Public Library. The pilot study was approved by the city council in spring, and is currently underway. It has all the piping, pumps and telemetry to run the plant. The white tubes are the vessels that contain the membranes for filtering out PFAS.
The City of Lewisport Reverse Osmosis (RO) Pilot Plant Study began last week, on Tuesday, July 18th, and the Kentucky Energy & Environment Cabinet Division of Water has shown a real interest in the design. This study will ensure that when the new water plant design begins, the water quality and taste stay at the award-winning level that residents have become accustomed to.
The Clarion provided details of the presentation on the project by Bluegrass Engineering owners Bryan Lovan & Matt Curtis, within coverage of the April Lewisport City Council Meeting (4-26-2023 edition). Curtis & Lovan designed the project, and had stated that the pilot study cost would be around $175K.
City Administrator Jason Roberts said the study will take place over a 4-month period, and the City of Lewisport will run and operate the plant the entire time.
“Each week the city will take water samples that will be sent off to Rosedale Laboratory for testing,” Roberts said. “After the sampling each week, Bluegrass Engineering will review the results and determine any changes that need to be made to the pilot plant to get the water to the best quality.
Now that we have the skid in place, word has really spread throughout the state of what we have going on. Membrane treatment is not new or uncommon; the reason it is gaining attention is the fact that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is going to start setting a new guideline on water quality based on the PFAS levels. PFAS is a polyfluoroalkyl substance, also known as the ‘forever chemical’ – a group of synthetic chemicals. There are nearly 12,000 different types of PFAS.
This pilot study will use a membrane system installed according to EPA standards for removing PFAS (long-lasting chemicals with components that break down very slowly over time, i.e. ‘forever chemicals’ from plastics such as Teflon). The RO pilot study and new plant design has gained interest from the Division of Water. They reached out and multiple officials from Frankfort, as well as surrounding agencies plan to make a visit to our pilot study plant. The Division of Water also nominated us for an EPA Grant that would allow us to have testing done through the EPA’s top lab analyst and chemists in the nation.
Right now, membrane treatment is the only recommended treatment type to eliminate PFAS. Their testing would help improve our water quality and determine the best methods to remove all the PFAS chemicals. The testing results would only be released to the City of Lewisport and our engineers for their design needs.
We are excited to start this journey. It’s going to be a lot of work, testing and adjusting; but, knowing the end result will allow our customers to have the highest quality water available is really rewarding.”
The pilot plant is located in a metal building behind the Lewisport Public Library, and was approved by the city council in spring. Doing this project in summer months prevents the danger of freezing pipes and pumps.
The RO skid equipment was transported from Venice, Florida. This study uses a membrane system installed according to EPA standards for removing PFAS (long-lasting chemicals with components that break down very slowly over time, i.e. ‘forever chemicals’ from plastics such as Teflon).
Matt Curtis said everything will be sized going forward, for an eventual up to a million and a half gallon per day water plant.
By Jennifer Wimmer
