The galvanized steel pipeline is based on those currently used in wastewater treatment plants. Our tank is capable of a maximum flow rate of 10,000 cubic meters per day.
Specifically in designing the tank system, we made sure that the dimensions of both the tank and the galvanized steel pipelines were capable of maintaining that rate. In order to easily implement our solution into existing water treatment facilities, we wanted to ensure that it could handle the flow rate of these plants. We have also posted the updated video with all citations at the end. Our estimated cost of $600k can be applied to nearly any setting as this solution follows a primary wastewater treatment stage which is uniform amongst most wastewater treatment facilities the only difference could be if there is a much greater flow of water at treatments such as Denver you may have to backwash or backwash a filter sooner.
For example, in Longmont the budget for capital improvements of wastewater treatment plants is $2,103,852 ( ). Our proposed solution is a secondary treatment that would be installed based on municipality, and the cost of our solution would be well within the capital improvement budgets of most municipalities. Therefore, the overall cost for the upkeep of this system would be fairly minor and worth the money. The sensor and computer are long term implementations and should not need to be replaced unless an external problem impacts them. The multistep filter would also need to be replaced about every other year and would cost between $1000 and $1500 to replace. Other maintenance for this system would be very similar to what is already being done at water treatment plants such as checking pipes to ensure there are no leaks or rust. This will have a very minimal cost which was another reason why we chose to use this component for our system because in the long run it will be more cost-effective than alternative options. This can be done by simply using a water shut off valve (as pictured in the diagram), once the water has been shut off the filtered water can be reversed to go through the filter to allow for the backwash process. It only has to be backwashed about 2 or 3 times a year to ensure that there is not an excessive amount of biomass buildup in order to continue the effectiveness of the filter and keep a high flow rate of water. The primary maintenance activity for this system would revolve around our main component, the biomass filter although this does not need to be replaced because as particles are filtered through, the bacteria on the biomass continues to grow and actually makes the filter more effective in the long run.