87% Algae reduction to improve drinking water

The country’s most important water source

After years of struggle with algal blooms, The Santo Domingo Water and Sewage Corporation (CAASD) installed multiple MPC-Buoy systems to cover the 7km²/2.7mi² Valdesia reservoir. The first results were visible after two weeks, and the project exceeded the targets for the first year with a 87% reduction in algae levels.

The Valdesia reservoir is the main drinking water supply for the population of the Dominican Republic’s capital Santo Domingo and its provinces, providing drinking water to 4 million inhabitants. At the end of 2018, an abnormal growth of algae threatened operations of the aqueduct, urging CAASD to look for possible solutions

The search for a solution

In the search for solutions, Luis Salcedo, CAASD’s director of operations, found that Colombia’s largest utility EPM experienced similar algal blooms problems in the past. EPM solved their algae problems using LG Sonic technology. Luis Salcedo met with EPM technicians and visited La Fe reservoir, one of the Colombian projects where the MPC-Buoy systems were installed.

Luis Salcedo found the process of contacting LG Sonic and planning the project simple: “We have sent LG Sonic experts details about the Valdesia reservoir with its coordinates and they, by using satellite system, could evaluate conditions of the water body. They have sent us a (remote sensing) report about the algae growth in the reservoir”.

Results

First results in terms of water quality improvement were visible between two and three weeks after the installation of the systems. Water quality data is collected through advanced sensors is delivered real-time through 3G or 4G to the online MPC-View software. “We also check via internet the parameters of the water quality collected by monitoring sensors. We also confirmed it with field samples that we periodically collect. We took samples on the lake, which are taken to the laboratory to validate that what equipment is registering is equivalent to the results that we have in the laboratory”, said Luis Salcedo.