Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant :: essays research papers

Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant Introduction The Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant is located Southeast of Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario (See map). Its purpose is to provide safe drinking water to our taps by filtering the water. The water is gathered from Lake Ontario. This plant has a production capacity of 455 million litres per day to supply the residents of Toronto with drinking water. Its average production of drinking water is 355 million litres per day. It is also the newest filtration plant in Toronto. History The Frank J. horgan Filtration Plant was built from 1974 to 1979 on property acquired from the city of Scarborough, It opened on May 22,1980. When it opened, it was not named Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant but was names Easterly Filtration Plant. This was because the plant was on the eastern side of Toronto. The name seemed appropriate at the time. The name was changed to Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant at 1990 by the commissioner of works for Metro Toronto. This plant cost about 57 million dollars to construct. About nineteen major contractors worked on this plant and were supervised by the Engineering firm of James F. Macharen Limited. Although it is the newest plant, it had it’s disasters. Their intake value exploded twice between 1980 and 1995 because of the extreme pressure and Wight of the water. these incidents cause a shutdown of the plant until they could repair it. Production The Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant needs only one row materials to operate, which is water. The plant is right next to lake Ontario, collecting water to purify. The water enters the plant by means of two 114 and four 182 million litres per day pumps, sum 18 meters below sea level and 2960 meters off the shore. Since the pressure of the water at that depth is so strong, there is no need for any mechanical pumps. They just let pressure and suction to do the job. The water is now treated with chemicals which are aluminium sulphate (alum), lime and chlorine. Alum is used to stick dirt particles together, to make large clumps of dirty called "floc". A lot of chlorine is added to the water to kill the bacteria. If we were to drink it, you would die from chlorine poisoning. The Chlorine, by the end of the filtration, drops to a safe level. This is where the alum does its work. Coagulation is basically mixing the alum with the water. This is a achieved by high speed in-line mechanical blenders. Flocculation occurs right afterwards.