Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Southwest Florida has some of the worst surface water quality in the United States for irrigation. Not only does this market have to contend with suspended solids consisting of algae, sand, and detritus, but also living organisms such as adult snails (Fig. 1) and larvae.

Snails enter the irrigation distribution systems from natural and water reuse ponds as larvae or adults. Once introduced, they are difficult to eradicate because they begin to live and breed within those systems, and can easily overwhelm point-of-use manual filters.

These clogging issues with manual filters lead to a higher than usual maintenance item for gated communities using reuse water for irrigation. Removing the manual filters only exacerbates problems with clogging and damage to the water emitting devices irrigating the landscaping and turf in the developments.

A prominent gated community had such a problem and contacted Orival Water Filters for four main above ground installation sites fed from a water purveyor's mainline system (Fig. 2).

The four sites were identical which made the design and future maintenance easier for the owner to manage. Field measurements were taken, and a design layout (Fig. 3) was produced for the board of directors for approval. After approval the board of directors solicited three bids for installation contractors and the project was awarded to the most qualified company. The installation took approximately one week for the four locations with minimal interruption of the irrigation supply water.

Since the installation of the 120-micron filtration systems (Fig. 4), the maintenance manager has seen an 80-90% reduction in maintenance hours, mainly due to the secondary, basket-type cartridge filters clogging much less frequently.