MicroLAN installs BACTcontrol to monitor groundwater recharge for French golf course
Specialist in early warning systems for water quality monitoring, microLAN, has installed an online BACTcontrol system at the effluent of the waste water treatment plant Agon-Coutainville, France.
The wwtp-effluent is used for groundwater recharge for a nearby golf course on the Normandy coast. The BACTcontrol system has been installed as part of a EU-funded demonstration project for an advanced monitoring of the quantity and quality of the groundwater at the golf course site.
MicroLAN’s BACTcontrol detects bacteria activity in water and is used as an online screening monitor for total and specific bacteria in the effluent.
Scheme of the monitoring of the groundwater recharge of the wwtp-effluent.
Long term geochemical processes
The advanced monitoring of the wwtp-effluent quality is part of the EU-funded AquaNes project which includes 13 demonstration sites in Europe, India and Israel to study natural treatment processes such as bank filtration (BF), managed aquifer recharge (MAR) and constructed wetlands (CW) plus engineered pre- and post-treatment options.
The study at the Agon-Coutainville site will demonstrate how innovative water quality monitoring and modelling can be linked to data management and communication, facilitates an optimised water management.
Based on this online monitoring and regular sampling campaign, a model will be developed in order to predict the geochemical processes that may lead to long term decrease of system performances and test system optimisation options.
The BACTcontrol (right) monitors the bacterial activity of the wwtp-effluent.
Groundwater recharge
The treatment of effluent at wwtp Agon-Countainville has been extended with a reed bed and sand dune filtration. This enables the use of effluent to recharge the underlying fresh groundwater aquifer and compensate the withdrawal for the irrigation of the nearby golf course.
The golf course is situated near the coast and the availability of fresh water for the irrigation of the golf course is limited as the aquifer is prone to salinization.
About BACTcontrol
MicroLAN’s BACTcontrol is an early warning system to monitor the bacterial activity in water. The measurements are realized in a short period of time, 1-2 hours and complements the officially accepted methods for the detection of microbiological activity.
The BACTcontrol detects the microbiological activity in water adding reagents which contain a fluorescent indicator. The reagents are substrate-specific for the enzyme to be detected, meaning that there is an increase in fluorescence when the enzyme is present in the sample.
It measures the specific enzymatic activities of β-galactosidase (coliforms), β-glucuronidase (E.coli) and alkaline phosphatase (total activity, biomass), as an indicator of the presence of bacterial contamination.
This news item was originally published on the website of microLAN.
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More information
microLAN
Waalwijk, the Netherlands
+ 31 416 34 80 90
www.microLAN.nl