Behavior of chlorine in lake water

Water from monsoon fed Sagre lake is being used as a source of raw water for Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS--1 and 2). The raw water from the lake is initially pumped to Sagre water treatment plant (SWTP) operated by Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) from where, the processed water is sent to cater the needs of both the units of TAPS-1 and 2, townships of TAPS and MIDC, and the nearby villages. At the SWTP the raw water is treated with alum to remove the turbidity, filtered and chlorinated using bleaching powder. All these years the raw water is chlorinated in such a way whereby a residual chlorine level of 0.5-1.0 mg/l, is maintained at the outlet of water treatment plant. The adequacy of the current chlorination practice was investigated, at the request of the NPC-500 MWe group during 1990, so that the future requirements of raw water for TAPP-3 and 4, can be met from the expanded SWTP. In this connection experiments on chlorine dose -- residual chlorine relationship and the decay pattern of chlorine with time was carried out in the lake water (with low value of total dissolved solids and total hardness < 75mg/l as CaCO3 sample at the site. The total bacterial count in the raw water observed to be 107 counts/ml originally came down to 103 counts/ml at the end of one-hour exposure time to chlorine. It was found that the chlorine demand of the water was around 6 mg/l. In addition Jar test to evaluate the aluminum dose was also carried out. Based on these experiments a chlorine dose of 6 mg/l for one hour contact time was arrived at. The experimental findings were in agreement with the current chlorination practices. (author)