Why Monitor Chlorine?

In our society today, we take for granted that we have clean drinking water. We assume that we won't get water born illnesses. Chlorine is what is responsible for that luxury, but what happened before chlorinated drinking water was available? Sickness like cholera and dysentery were rampant in the pre-chlorinated water days. But in 1854, a British doctor made the link between contaminated drinking water and cholera, and then treated the water with chlorine in order to kill the organism. In the years since, it has become the standard to use chlorine in order to treat water with chlorine in conjunction with the filtering processes for water treatment. There can be too much of a good thing, however. So, what happens when chlorine levels are too high? Chlorine is a gas, and when breathed in, results in respiratory distress, chest pain and water retention in the lungs. In order to prevent this, chlorine monitors and analyzers are used in the water treatment processes so that workers are not injured. Chlorine dissolves into our water and thus kills the microorganisms that would otherwise harm us. A process that in one form or another, has been happening for over one hundred years, giving us safe drinking water. Due, in part, to closely analyzed chlorine.

ATI’s Model Q46HChlorine Monitor

ATI’s Model Q46HChlorine Monitor is an upgraded version of our proven Q45

system for continuous monitoring of free or combined chlorine. Monitor capabilities have been expanded to include options for a 3rd analog output, or for adding additional low power relay outputs.

The Q46H system uses a polarographic membraned sensor to measure chlorine

directly, without the need for chemical reagents. When needed, automatic pH

compensation may be added for highest free chlorine measurement accuracy, and

systems are available to provide 4-20 mA outputs for chlorine, pH, and temperature

to allow easy CT calculations.

Q46H systems are economical to purchase, economical to maintain, and provide

long term accuracy and reliability for your chlorine monitoring needs.

ATI can supply the Q46 complete with sample flow controls mounted to a PVC

back plate ready to mount. Connect power, water sample, and analog/relay

outputs and your ready to go. Systems are available with or without a flow switch

for remote indication of loss of sample

Two types of chlorine sensors are available, one designed for flow cell installation and one for submersion applications. Free chlorine monitoring should always be done using a flow cell system. Good control of sample flow and pressure is important for accurate measurement, and the standard constant-head flow cell should be used for most applications. A sealed flowcell and a low-volume flow cell are also available for special applications. Consult your ATI representative for application assistance.

Submersible combined chlorine sensors can sometimes be used for measuring total chlorine in waste water effluent. Waste water effluents containing more than 1 PPM of ammonia often result in a chlorine residual that is more than 90% monochloramine. Direct measurement with a submersible sensor can provide a dependable monitor without all the sampling and chemicals associated with total

chlorine measurement.

Chlorine sensors, especially free chlorine, require up to 8 hours of stabilization time when first installed or after membrane change. ATI offers a battery powered “polarizer” that can be used to stabilize a spare sensor so it is ready to run within a few minutes of installation. Polarizers simply plug into the sensor connector and require no adjustments.

Urban Legend: Super Bowl causes super spike in Sewer Lines

      There is quite a grimy urban legend that surrounds Super Bowl Sunday and it goes something like this: During Super Bowl half time a mass influx of people go to the bathroom at the same time and that causes a spike the flow of sewers into treatment plants. I suppose logically speaking that should make sense, but practically speaking, no, it doesn't work that way.

      Kevin Enfinger, a senior project engineer with ADS Environmental Services, states that this is not the case at all. Enfinger states, "If you were at the stadium, you would see a spike at halftime when people tend to run to the restroom, but in residential America, that's not really what we find." In fact. he states that Super Bowl Sunday is a slow day, because people are stopping what they would normally do, such as shower, wash their hands, use the bathroom, etcera, and instead they are watching the game. 

      During the 2007 Super Bowl, when the Indianapolis Colts played the Chicago Bears, ADS Environmental Services used its equipment set up at an Indianapolis sewage treatment plant to measure Super Bowl flows. What the company found is a spike in usage before the game and below-average usage during game time.

      The change in bathroom activity also depends on what part of the country you are in. For example, if an East Coast team is playing, sewage flows out West will likely match what they do on any given Sunday, Enfinger said.

      The expanse of the sewer system also makes it difficult to accurately measure a halftime spike in activity. "If you've got 30 or 40 miles of sewer lines, obviously the flows that are flushed close to the plant would come in, go through it and be gone before the flows from 30 miles away," he said. "It's not like it's all instantaneous. It may take up to eight hours for that flow to get here from different parts of the system."