Siemens Water Technologies to Supply Water Treatment Equipment for City of Galesburg, Illinois

The water is chlorinated and then pumped approximately 56 km (30 miles) to an existing treatment facility in Galesburg. Over time, the high level of chlorine has corroded the pipeline, and sections of it must be replaced. The new plant near Oquawka will allow the water to be treated closer to the source before sending it to Galesburg, thus reducing the amount of chlorine required. The 45-MLD (12-MGD) plant is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2010.

The Siemens equipment will consist of two aluminum induced-draft aerators and two CenTROL cluster filters. This equipment will increase the treatment plant’s capacity from 32 MLD (8.5 MGD) to 45 MLD (12 MGD), allowing the plant to supply treated water to towns and users along the way, and will also improve the water quality and taste. The plant is designed for future expansion, should the need arise.

The water treatment process is as follows: raw water is aerated for iron oxidation and chemically treated with chlorine for manganese oxidation prior to filtration. The water is then treated with the CenTROL granular media filters to remove particulate iron and manganese. The water is disinfected with chlorine before being sent to distribution.

The induced-draft aerator oxidizes iron and also strips dissolved gases from the water. This is accomplished when the water cascades over the slat trays while air is pulled up through the trays. The air continuously sweeps through the aerator, oxidizing the ferrous iron and carrying away released gases that may be present.

The CenTROL filter incorporates four granular media filter cells positioned around a central distributor column. Circular weirs evenly divide the water to each operating cell for filtration. The water then flows down through the filter media, through the underdrain, out into an effluent chamber, and over the effluent weirs. The CenTROL incorporates the MULTIWASH filtration system, which uses a combined air and water backwash process to maintain filter media cleanliness.

Once the new plant is commissioned, the existing plant in Galesburg will be taken out of service. Galesburg's future plans include constructing a parallel pipeline from Oquawka for redundancy.

CenTROL and MULTIWASH are trademarks of Siemens and/or its affiliates in some countries.

The Siemens Industry Sector is the world's leading suppler of production, transportation and building systems. Integrated hardware and software technologies combined with industry-specific solutions enable Siemens to enhance the productivity and efficiency of its customers in industry and infrastructure. The Sector comprises six Divisions: Building Technologies, Industry Automation, Industry Solutions, Mobility, Motion Control and Osram. In fiscal 2007 (ended September 30), Siemens Industry generated sales of around €40 billion (unconsolidated) with approximately 209,000 employees worldwide.

With the business activities of Siemens VAI Metal Technologies, Linz/Austria, Siemens Water Technologies, Warrendale/Pennsylvania/USA and Industry Technologies, Erlangen/Germany, the Siemens Industry Solutions Division (IS) is one of the world's leading solution and service providers for industrial and infrastructure facilities. Using its own products, systems and process technologies, IS develops and builds plants for end customers, commissions them and provides support during their entire life cycle.