Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant
Introduction
The Frank J. horgan Filtration Plant is located Southeast of Toronto on the shores of
Lake Ontario (See map). Its purpose is to provide safe drinking water to our taps by
filtering the water. The water is gathered from Lake Ontario. This plant has a production
capacity of 455 million litres per day to supply the residents of Toronto with drinking
water. Its average production of drinking water is 355 million litres per day. It is also
the newest filtration plant in Toronto.
History
The Frank J. horgan Filtration Plant was built from 1974 to 1979 on property acquired
from the city of Scarborough, It opened on May 22,1980. When it opened, it was not named
Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant but was names Easterly Filtration Plant. This was
because the plant was on the eastern side of Toronto. The name seemed appropriate at the
time. The name was changed to Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant at 1990 by the
commissioner of works for Metro Toronto. This plant cost about 57 million dollars to
construct. About nineteen major contractors worked on this plant and were supervised by
the Engineering firm of James F. Macharen Limited. Although it is the newest plant, it
had it's disasters. Their intake value exploded twice between 1980 and 1995 because of
the extreme pressure and Wight of the water. these incidents cause a shutdown of the
plant until they could repair it.
Production
The Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant needs only one row materials to operate, which
is water. The plant is right next to lake Ontario, collecting water to purify. The water
enters the plant by means of two 114 and four 182 million litres per day pumps, sum 18
meters below sea level and 2960 meters off the shore. Since the pressure of the water at
that depth is so strong, there is no need for any mechanical pumps. They just let
pressure and suction to do the job. The water is now treated with chemicals which are
aluminium sulphate (alum), lime and chlorine. Alum is used to stick dirt particles
together, to make large clumps of dirty called "floc". A lot of chlorine is added to the
water to kill the bacteria. If we were to drink it, you would die from chlorine
poisoning. The Chlorine, by the end of the filtration, drops to a safe level. This is
where the alum does its work. Coagulation is basically mixing the alum with the water.
This is a achieved by high speed in-line mechanical blenders. Flocculation occurs right
afterwards. Alum could be either poly-aluminium chloride or aluminium sulphate, is a very
sticky substance which likes clinging onto dirt particles. All this flocculation is done
in three stages:
1.Focculation is achieved by exail flow turbines with varied inputs of energy and the
last two stages are done in two 900mm diameter pipelines.
2.The next step in filtering the water is filtration. The water passes through 8 dual
media filters. This is where some bacteria and the floc are removed. The filters consists
of the following in order: 0.305m of grated gravel, 0.35m of sand and 0.460m of
anthracite. This was the best composition for the filter to make it effective. Normally
this would be done once but if the water is really dirty it would have to be filtered
again to meet the government standard. By now most of the chlorine in the water has
killed most of the bacteria and the level of chlorine in the water is much lower.
3.Here is where they kill any remaining bacteria and add flavouring to the water. They
add about 1.2mg per litre of chlorine, any more and it will kill you from fluorine
poisoning. Chlorine is also added to kill any remaining bacteria. This time if you drink
the water it is safe. If there are high levels of bacteria they would have to go through
a process called "Super-chlorination". Hence the name, they increase the chlorine dosage.
After that, they reduce the chlorine content by adding sulphur-dioxide. Ammonium is added
to the water.
The final stage is storage and distribution. By the time the water gets to your home
there may not be any chlorine left. This is not good because what if there was bacteria
in the pipes? The ammonia prevents the chlorine from evaporating that easily that way it
is killing any bacteria in the pipes. All water you receive from your taps is a
combination of all four filtration plants in Toronto.
Waste Disposal
Most of the waste produced in the filtration plant is in the dirty filters. It is too
expensive and time wasting to go down and replace the filters every time they get dirty.
Since making clean water is a 24 hour, 7 days a week job, they had to think of a way to
clean the filters fast and effectively. To clean the filters they use a process called
"back wash". The back wash uses treated water and is forced up the filter and out the
other way. The filter will now expand inside because of the pressure of the water. The
waste will go to a separate place and then will be dumped to highland creek water
pollution control plant for treatment and disposal of the waste.
Employment
It is required that at least two people are at all times in the plant. On the weekdays
during 4-5 hours about 35 people work there. On week-ends and on holidays only two people
are at the plant. The two required people are usually found in the control room. The
people there have twelve hour shifts. If one person is late for work, the person duty is
required to stay in the control room until they are relieved by the other person.
Marketing
We mostly pay water through maintenance fees or through utility bills. On average in
North America, water costs about $1.30 American currency per 1000 gallons. That is
essentially less than one cent per gallon. United States and Canada produce 49 billion
gallons of water each day. That is about a revenue of 54.6 million U.S. dollars per day.
The Franc J. Horgan filtration plant accounts for a part of this production with
revenues of $122 200 us dollars a day. About 10% of the water produced is lost or
unaccounted for. Canada is amongst the biggest water wasters in the world. An average
Canadian uses 340 litres of water every day. That is more than twice the consumption of
Europeans. About 39% of the water distributed is used in homes compared to 27% used in
factories, 19% in commercial businesses and 5% used by the public. Therefore, most of
the water distributed is used in our homes and although water is a bargain we must
remember that it is in limited supply.
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