Polymer and Floculants

Polymer and Floculants: Treat Your Pond Water

In storm water treatment, sometimes even after installing all the specified BMP’s on a project, we occasionally encounter storm water that remains high in turbidity! In this case, we can use flocculants to help reduce the turbidity prior to the water leaving the site.  Flocculants are chemicals introduced in a treatment train to treat the water and reduce the turbidity to an acceptable level.

Flocculation is the process of causing small, suspended materials to stick to each other to form “flocs”. These larger flocs more readily settle out compared to the individual particles.  Several types of flocculants are available including Polyacrylamide (PAM) and organic flocculants. Flocculants are available in solid (floc logs), liquid, socks and powder form. They are typically introduced in ditches or pipe drains to encourage mixing.

A designed treatment train is necessary to provide mixing zones in a ditch or other turbulent flow area.  A polishing area to capture the PAM and a settling area to allow the silt to “floc” out is also necessary.  Testing is necessary to determine the proper product and dosage requirements.

Call Groundscape Concepts today for to learn more about our delivery options, estimates available upon request.