Across the world, managers of water treatment plants (WTP) routinely balance a variety of concerns — water quality, financial budgets, reduction in carbon output, statutory regulation and consumer expectations. The WTP has become a high-tech, automated system designed to produce the highest standard of treated water.

While the focus has been on treatment within the WTP, the raw water has become progressively more difficult and costly to treat due to increasingly stringent regulation and consumer expectations.  

Two counter-rotating WEARS ResMix 5000 circulators

Developed by WEARS Australia, the ResMix System provides high-volume, low-velocity Broad Flow Circulation (BFC) in raw water storage reservoirs to improve and maintain water quality. The net result is less work required at the WTP to produce the expected treated product. The traditional fix is to bubble compressed air into the base of the reservoir to break up the layers. This is expensive to install and operate, however, and it is not a realistic option for many water authorities.

The WEARS Australia ResMix system is a floating axial flow impeller system that skims large volumes of water from the surface and pushes it down to break up the layers. The system results in distributing oxygen rich water from the surface to the bottom of the impoundment. ResMix is cost effective, simple to install and uses about one-twentieth of the power of conventional solutions. Water quality starts to improve in days, and, to date, there have been no further blue green algal blooms in reservoirs using the system.

Based on 12 years of successful use, the ResMix top-down BFC has proven effective at eliminating aged water, as well as reducing or eliminating iron, manganese, nutrients, BGA, and taste and odour forming compounds. The use of the ResMIx system results in significant OPEX savings at the WTP through less chemical dosing and filter backwashing. The ResMix system comes in 3 models suitable for reservoirs of less than 2,000 Ml to 150,000 Ml or more with multiple close-coupled units.

Custom engineered impellers for maximum efficiency and effectiveness	Wire frame representation showing overall ResMix 1000 structure	The ResMix 1000 system

 

The ResMix 5000 system (pictured at top) comprises a large 5 metre diameter axial flow pump, moving water through an optional flexible draft tube from the surface through the thermocline to the hypolimnetic bottom layers of a reservoir. The Broad Flow Circulation created by the unit is sufficient to address water impoundments with volumes of 150,000 Ml or larger.  

The ResMix 1000

 

The low-velocity, high efficiency mechanical destratification system, with flexible draft tube has demonstrated in numerous applications the benefits of the system, both for oxygenation of benthic layers to reduce dissolution of iron and manganese, and for the control of algal blooms by pumping the surface layers down into light-limiting zones.

See the WEARS ResMix System in action in this video. (Flash required)

The WEARS ResMix systems are ideal for use in potable water reservoirs to eliminate short circuiting, maintain uniform conditions and reduce disinfection decay. Developed over 12 years of R&D, the system has the potential to save water treatment companies large amounts of their operating budget for treatment and has been installed across multiple facilities in several markets.

Initial condition	Circulation begins	Destratified and oxygenated