Selenium and nitrate removal from agricultural drainage using the AIWPS® technology

Monthly Maximum Discharge Limits (MMDL) have been established for selenium in irrigation drainage by the State of California and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency following observations of avian teratogenesis at the Kesterson Reservoir in the San Joaquin Valley of California. As a result of these and other adverse effects, farmers and drainage districts on the western side of the San Joaquin Valley must reduce selenium concentrations in irrigation drainage discharged to the San Joaquin River. Drainage treatment will be required in the near future to meet existing MMDL and future Total Maximum Discharge Limits (TMDL) for the San Joaquin River. A 0.4-hectare Algal Bacterial Selenium Removal (ABSR) Facility was designed and constructed at the Panoche Drainage District in 1995 and 1996 using the Advanced Integrated Wastewater Pond Systems® or AIWPS® Technology. Each of two physically identical systems combined a Reduction Pond (RP) with a shallow, peripheral algal High Rate Pond (HRP). A Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) unit and a slow sand filter were used to remove particulate selenium from the effluent of each system. The two systems were operated under different modes of operation and the bacterial substrate varied in each system. The rates of nitrate and selenium removal were compared. Microalgae were harvested using DAF and used as a carbon-rich substrate for nitrate- and selenate-reducing bacteria. Mass removals of total soluble selenium of 77% or greater were achieved over a three-year period. Nitrate and selenate were removed by assimiliatory and dissimiliatory bacterial reduction, and nitrate was also removed by algal assimilation. The final removal of particulate selenium is the focus of ongoing investigations. The removal of particulate selenium is expected to increase the overall removal of selenium to greater than 90% and would allow farmers and drainage districts to discharge irrigation drainage in compliance with regulatory discharge limits.