USBR grant funds research into contaminant detection for water reclamation systems

Keisuke Ikehata, an assistant professor in the Ingram School of Engineering at Texas State University, has received a $150,000 grant from the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) to develop novel technologies to monitor critical water quality parameters for safe potable reuse.

Ikehata's project was one of eight grants awarded nationwide by the Bureau of Reclamation through the Desalination and Water Purification Research Program Pitch-to-Pilot. The selected projects show the potential to increase water supplies by reducing cost, energy consumption and environmental impacts of treating impaired and otherwise unusable waters. The selected projects competed in a two-phase funding opportunity where applicants pitched their new technology to technical experts.

"Desalination holds the potential to provide a new source of water for communities through the western United States," said Chief Engineer David Raff. "Reclamation is supporting desalination research to make it more affordable and energy-efficient, so communities can include it in their water supply plans."

Texas State's project goal is to continuously monitor two disinfection byproducts that can contaminate water—the chemicals N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and bromate—along with bacteria, using novel direct methods in the pilot-scale ozone-reverse osmosis-hybrid water reclamation system to optimize the process.

Research objectives include the establishment of a novel online water quality monitoring system that enables the direct analysis of NDMA, bromate and bacteria throughout the full water reclamation process, and assessment of the online monitoring system's effectiveness for immediate response to process failure and water quality spikes.

The research team with conduct a demonstration study at a wastewater treatment plant in San Marcos.