399Capital Costs of Arsenic Removal Technologies Demonstration
Program Round 1
EPA 600-R-04-201
On January 18, 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the
maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic at 0.01 mg/L. EPA subsequently revised
the rule text to express the MCL as 0.010 mg/L (10 μg/L). The final rule requires all
community and non-transient, non-community water systems to comply with the new
standard by February 2006. In October 2001, the EPA announced an initiative for
additional research and development of cost-effective technologies to help small
community water systems (<10,000 customers) meet the new arsenic standard, and to
provide technical assistance to operators of small systems in order to reduce compliance
costs.
For the Round 1 demonstration study, the selected arsenic treatment technologies include
nine adsorptive media systems, one ion exchange system, one coagulation/filtration
system, and one process modification. The adsorptive media systems use four different
adsorptive media, including three iron-based media, i.e., ADI’s G2, Severn Trent and
AdEdge’s E33, and USFilter’s GFH, and one iron-modified activated alumina media, i.e.,
Kinetico’s AAFS50 (a product of Alcan). Since the inception of the project, 10 of 12
systems have been installed, with flowrates at all systems ranging from 37 to 640 gpm.
A key objective of the long-term demonstration project is to determine the cost-
effectiveness of the technologies. This report provides a brief description of each of the
12 Round 1 demonstration sites and the respective technologies being evaluated.
Capital costs were organized into three categories— equipment, engineering, and
installation—and then summed to arrive at a total capital investment cost for each system.
Operations and maintenance (O&M) costs associated with the treatment systems are not
yet available; however, vendor-supplied estimates on media replacement costs also are
provided in this report.
Excluding the cost for one system modification site, the total capital investment costs
range from $90,757 to $305,000, and vary by flowrate, system design, material of
construction, monitoring equipment, and specific site conditions. Based on a 3% interest
rate and a 20-year return period, the unit costs of the total capital investment range from
$0.03 to $0.79 per 1,000 gallons of water treated. In general, the unit cost decreases as
the size of a treatment system increases.
The equipment costs for the treatment systems range from $66,235 to $218,000,
representing 54 to 80% of the total capital investment cost. Engineering costs for the
treatment systems range from $4,907 to $50,659, accounting for 5 to 22% of the total
capital investment with an average of 12%. Installation costs for the treatment systems
range from $13,150 to $77,574, which accounts for 12 to 34% of the total capital
investment with an average of 22%. Finally, building cost information obtained from the
host facilities also is provided in the report. Building costs range from $3,700 to $186,000,
varying according to differences in location, size, design, material of construction, and
choice of construction contractor.