Veolia Water has commissioned and begun operational management of a zero liquid waste (ZLW) facility that will treat 3,5000 gallons per minute of mine drainage at Consol Energy’s Northern West Virginia Water Treatment Facility near Mannington, W. Va.
By employing a ZLW process, water of low quality is extracted and treated, and clean water is returned to the ecosystem, improving the water balance and condition of the Monongahela River watershed, the company says.
Veolia will provide operational management of the facility for the next 10 years.
In addition to removing contaminants in the mine water and reducing them to solid salts, the ZLW treatment also uses a number of sustainable practices and technology applications, reducing the carbon and energy footprint of the treatment process, Veolia says.
The water and wastewater services and technologies company says it developed this environmentally sustainable design and construction approach to help Consol meet discharge standards for chlorides in West Virginia’s waterways. The facility will treat water from Consol’s Blacksville #2, Loveridge and Robinson Run mining operations.
Consol’s Katharine Fredriksen, senior vice president environmental strategy and regulatory affairs, calls the project a first of its kind in scale and scope, and says the ZLW technology helped Consol bring the water treatment plant online on time, under budget, and in full compliance with its permits.
To quantify the benefits of the water treatment facility to the Monongahela River, Veolia conducted a Water Impact Index (WIIX) evaluation. Developed by Veolia, the WIIX measures water volume, the level of stress upon local water resources, overall water quality and indirect water impacts from chemicals and electricity. Measuring all these factors, the WIIX calculates the water impact of the new treatment facility will be 1.3 billion gallons of high-quality water per year returned to the Monongahela River basin.
Also this week Veolia announced two new processes that improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of anaerobic wastewater treatment: Memthane and Biobed Advanced, both developed by Biothane, the company’s anaerobic technology center.