Yuma Area Office

Facilities

The Water Quality Improvement Center

Research Capabilities

Water Quality Improvement Center Layout
Overview and layout of the WQIC

The Water Quality Improvement Center (WQIC) is a full-service, operational water research center. It consists of a 12,000 square-foot building with three complete test trains and multiple stand alone test devices. It serves as a field site to investigate new and improved water treatment technologies, including pretreatment associated with desalination.

The following services are available at the WQIC:

  • Engineering and technical staff with expertise in water treatment processes and instrumentation, including services relating to computer control and data acquisition
  • Experienced operations and maintenance staff, with operations occurring on a 24/7 basis
  • Fully staffed and licensed State of Arizona environmental laboratory that can conduct drinking water and waste water analyses, bacteriological analyses, and analyses of major inorganic constituents of water
  • Fully equipped office facilities
  • A variety of feedwaters available for use in tests

The WQIC consists of a research center, an environmental laboratory, and a mobile research facility. The research center contains multiple portable test units and can house partner-supplied testing units as well.

The WQIC Research Center - Equipment
  • Pilot-Scale Systems:
    • The Demonstration Scale System (Pilot System 1) models the main plant for optimization studies, performance verification, personnel training, and developmental testing of new systems; it also serves as the potable water source for the Yuma Desalting Plant facility.
    • The purpose of Pilot Systems 2 and 3 is to evaluate the performance of spiral-wound, nanofiltration reverse osmosis membrane elements.
  • Membrane Process Research Units - Membrane Process Research Units at the Water Quality Improvement Center (WQIC) include three bench-scale systems, screening, full recovery, and mobile units. Membrane research conducted on a bench scale eliminates the need for destructive testing on full-size membranes, significantly reducing the cost of membrane research. 
  • Chemistry Research Units - These systems provide for corrosion testing, reverse osmosis membrane performance evaluation, mobilization of filtration equipment, production of chlorine equivalent sodium hypochlorite, and membrane storage. 
  • Research Equipment list
The WQIC Research Facilities
  • WQIC Research Center Layout 
  • On-Site Water/Environmental Lab - The WQIC water laboratory, licensed by the Arizona Department of Health Services for drinking water and wastewater inorganic analyses, serves in-house and partnered research project needs.
  • Mobile Research Facility - The mobile research facility is a refrigerated trailer that contains testing equipment. It can be sited at remote locations for testing of site-specific waters.

Water Quality Improvement Center Research Laboratory

For more information about the Research Facilities at the Water Quality Improvement Center, contact Angela Adams, Desalting Group, through email or by phone at 928-343-8114.

 

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Last Updated: 4/23/15