Iron Removal Systems

In New England iron is our most difficult water contaminant.

The number 1 reason iron is difficult is that iron can exist in three states in a water supply:

Each state of iron has it's own type of treatment.

A complicating factor is that sampling is difficult. You can submit a sample for iron and get a result, but you will still not know what state the iron is in. The sample will tell you that you have iron, which you probably already knew anyway, but it will not tell you how to treat it.

Dissolved iron will change to suspended iron in the presence of air - oxygen or any other oxidant. When you send out a sample sooner or later it comes in contact with the air and your sample is no longer of value except for some absolute level of iron.

We sample on site and quickly determine how much iron is present in each state in the water supply. This is the only way you can accurately treat the water.

The following system schematic shows a chemical free way to remove dissolved and suspended iron which is very common in New England.

Generally speaking, while the system components are the same type for each location, their sizes and rates and flow are different.

Large water supply systems almost always need to be piloted. 

• The above system is a combination of air injection followed by filtration with of the oxdized iron.
• A benefit of this system approach is that it will correct low pH values also.
• Because air is injected, you can also use this system to remove unwanted volatile gases.

• Other systems are available for purely suspended Iron. You can look further in this site at the following:
  • Tank Based Water Systems
  • Cartridge Elements
  • Cartridge Housings
  • Small Potable Water Systems
• Very often an Iron Removal project requires more than one type of treatment or a composite approach like the system above.