Treating Borehole Water for a Free Range Egg Farm

Free Range Egg Farm Case Study

A free range egg producer approached J&F to examine the possibility of using water from an existing borehole for use as drinking water for their laying birds.

A recent water analysis showed:

– Elevated turbidity

– High concentration of organic compounds (water sample was clear)

– High TVCs

– High sodium levels

The above levels of contamination were unacceptable to the welfare of the birds and would also depress egg production.

 

The requirement was to treat 17 m3 per day, the following equipment was specified and supplied by J&F:

– 1 x Chlorine dosing station for the disinfection to reduce the high TVCs

– 1 x Backwashing turbidity unit using Filter Ag+ filter media and WS1 control valve

– 1 x Carbon backwashing unit using Aquasorb CS activated coconut based carbon for de-chlorination and WS1 control valve

– 1 x 24 m3 per day Reverse Osmosis unit with automatic anti-scalent dosing

– 1 x 2 m3 per hour UV disinfection unit with 5 micron pre-filter

The above was installed with final commissioning taking only one day – the backwashing turbidity and carbon units linked to the RO unit using Clack microswitch assemblies.

A ROSA (Reverse Osmosis System Analysis) had been produced during specification – the final water quality matched this giving low sodium, bicarbonates and TDS – finally the pH was also reduced benefitting the birds.