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Slaker Project
The City of Marion has enjoyed a great reputation over the years of providing excellent quality through its drinking water system. One of the reasons for this reputation is that, many years ago, community leaders chose to “go the extra mile” in terms of the level of treatment that would be provided for consumers. While most community water suppliers of similar size provide filtration and disinfection, Marion Utilities takes the treatment process a step further to provide softened water for its customers. This level of treatment has not only proven to be a great benefit to the general consumer but has been attractive to business and industry as well. Through due diligence, the utility continues to provide an excellent source of water to the community at a very competitive rate.
The current water treatment facility was built in the mid 1960s and was last upgraded in the mid 1980s. Over the course of time, process equipment has reached or exceeded it useful life span. Earlier this year, (2009) a project was developed to facilitate improvements that will allow the continued operation of key processes. The improvements will insure that the highest level of water quality will be maintained and that user’s expectations will continue to be met.
Lime softening is the process by which water softening is accomplished. Through the process hydrated lime is used to elevate the water’s pH which facilitates the removal of calcium and magnesium hardness. A hydrated lime slurry is created when a granular product known as “quicklime” is blended with water through a process called “slaking”. A more detailed description of the process can be found at
The improvement project is focused on the process equipment that facilitates the slaking process. Existing continuous production slakers will be replaced with more efficient and effective batch production units. The new equipment produces batches of slaked lime slurry using control parameters such as temperature, pH, and weight. Indications are that this approach will require fewer raw materials and will result in less maintenance resulting in a more cost effective operation.
Project development was very timely in that it was considered to be “shovel ready” as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was being initiated. The project was submitted for stimulus funding under the Act and the community received $220,000.00 to offset the overall project cost of $550,000.00.
RDP Technologies, Inc. is the manufacture of the Tekkem Slaking System that will be installed. RDP is an American company designing and manufacturing process equipment for the water and wastewater treatment industries since 1978. Their processes and equipment are being operated successfully in facilities throughout the United States. Additional information regarding the company and the Tekkem Slaking System can be found at
Demolition of original slaking equipment began in May of 2009 and the new equipment began to arrive on site in October. Installation has progressed very well and the new system is scheduled to go on-line December 21, 2009.
A picture gallery of the project can be accessed through the following link:
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