Water-lifting and aeration system improves water quality of drinking water reservoirs: Biological mechanism and field application

Reservoirs have been served as the major source of drinking water for dozens of years.The water quality safety of large andmedium reservoirs increasingly becomes the focus of public concern.Field test has proved that water-lifting and aeration system(WLAS)is a piece of effective equipment for in situ control and improvement of water quality.However,its intrinsic bioremediation mechanism,especially for nitrogen removal,still lacks in-depth investigation.Hence,the dynamic changes inwater quality parameters,carbon source metabolism,species compositions and co-occurrence patterns ofmicrobial communitieswere systematically studied in Jinpen Reservoir within a wholeWLAS running cycle.TheWLAS operation could efficiently reduce organic carbon(19.77%),nitrogen(21.55%)and phosphorus(65.60%),respectively.Biolog analysis revealed that the microbialmetabolic capacitieswere enhanced viaWLAS operation,especially in bottomwater.High-throughput sequencing demonstrated that WLAS operation altered the diversity and distributions of microbial communities in the source water.The most dominant genus accountable for aerobic denitrification was identified as Dechloromonas.Furthermore,network analysis revealed that microorganisms interacted more closely through WLAS operation.Oxidation-reduction potential(ORP)and total nitrogen(TN)were regarded as the two main physicochemical parameters influencing microbial community structures,as confirmed by redundancy analysis(RDA)and Mantel test.Overall,the results will provide a scientific basis and an effective way for strengthening the in-situ bioremediation of micro-polluted source water.

Destratification and oxygenation efficiency of a water-lifting aerator system in a deep reservoir:Implications for optimal operation

Thermal stratification is a common phenomenon in lakes and reservoirs and has a significant influence on water quality dynamics. Heihe Reservoir is a canyon-shaped reservoir in Shaanxi Province with strong thermal stratification. Therefore, eight water-lifting aerators （WLAs） were installed in this reservoir, which could overcome thermal stratification and increase oxygenation with gas flows between 20 and 50 m3/hr, and oxygenate the hypolimnion with gas flows less than 20 m3/hr. To examine the destratification efficiency of the WLA system, we used a three- dimensional hydrodynamic module based on MIKE 3 to simulate the thermal structure of Heihe Reservoir and compared the simulations with measured data. Results showed that operation of the WLA system promoted water mixing and effectively oxygenated the hypolimnion. Through the established energy utilization assessment method, the energy utilization efficiency of the WLA system was between 5.36% and 7.30%, indicating the capability of the technique for destratification in such a large reservoir. When the surface water temperature dropped to the theoretical mixed water temperature calculated by the energy utilization assessment method, reducing gas flow could save energy. This would prevent anaerobic conditions from occurring in the bottom water and maintain good water quality in Heihe Reservoir.

Sediment pollution characteristics and in situ control in a deep drinking water reservoir

Sediment pollution characteristics, in situ sediment release potential, and in situ inhibition of sediment release were investigated in a drinking water reservoir. Results showed that organic carbon（OC）, total nitrogen（TN）, and total phosphorus（TP） in sediments increased from the reservoir mouth to the main reservoir. Fraction analysis indicated that nitrogen in ion exchangeable form and Na OH-extractable P（Fe/Al-P） accounted for 43% and 26% of TN and TP in sediments of the main reservoir. The Risk Assessment Code for metal elements showed that Fe and Mn posed high to very high risk. The results of the in situ reactor experiment in the main reservoir showed the same trends as those observed in the natural state of the reservoir in 2011 and 2012; the maximum concentrations of total OC, TN, TP, Fe,and Mn reached 4.42 mg/L, 3.33 mg/L, 0.22 mg/L, 2.56 mg/L, and 0.61 mg/L, respectively. An in situ sediment release inhibition technology, the water-lifting aerator, was utilized in the reservoir. The results of operating the water-lifting aerator indicated that sediment release was successfully inhibited and that OC, TN, TP, Fe, and Mn in surface sediment could be reduced by 13.25%, 15.23%, 14.10%, 5.32%, and 3.94%, respectively.