PondSentry and Compliance
Wastewater
SOLUTIONS
The wine community is facing a number of challenges, among them, meeting stricter environmental regulations and improving sustainable practices without impacting already strained budgets.
We understand.
Heritage Systems… delivering liquid solutions
Until recently, facultative treatment ponds have been the norm for winery wastewater treatment. With recent advances in water reuse technologies, along with the development of biological and membrane treatment processes, the wine industry is gradually shifting to these new methodologies. Nevertheless, facultative treatment ponds will continue to prevail for some time among established wineries.
BIOLOGY AT WORK IN FACULTATIVE TREATMENT PONDS
Facultative treatment ponds are designed to hold winery wastewater in contact with bacteria and oxygen long enough for the organic material to be reduced in strength. This process seems straightforward, but there are some challenges to operating a pond. A living biological process is involved, and it is critical that the pH, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, detention time and biology are all in balance. And since these ponds are regulated by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, land application of the treated wastewater must be documented and meet standards established by the board.
THE PONDSENTRY® SOLUTION
Making a difference in the operation of such ponds is Heritage Systems' PondSentry Aeration and Compliance Management program. At the heart of the system is a PLC-based control, which responds to real-time feedback from a sensor located in the pond, to regulate the dissolved oxygen levels in the pond by turning on aerators.
Since its introduction into the wine community, our PondSentry control has saved, on average, 50% to 60% of the electrical usage and associated electrical costs in pond operation. That’s sustainability!
A SOLUTION WITH NO CAPITAL COSTS TO YOU
Best of all there are no capital costs associated with our service. Heritage Systems installs and maintains PondSentry equipment free of charge. You pay a flat monthly fee for our PondSentry Aeration and Compliance Management service. And in most cases, the fee for this service is less than the electrical cost savings achieved with PondSentry.
Living in the midst of abundance we have the greatest difficulty in seeing that the supply of natural wealth is limited and that the constant increase of population is destined to reduce the American standard of living unless we deal more sanely with our resources. W. H. Carother
Featured
SERVICE
- PondSentry® Aeration and Compliance Management includes the regulation of dissolved oxygen and measurment pH of the pond water as well as the pond’s water level. Dissolved oxygen levels, pH values and aerator run times are logged in the PLC at 15-minute intervals.The ponds are visited twice per month by our technicians, who maintain the system and collect data from the PLC.A sample from the pond is also collected for analysis of regulated components. The information gathered is documented and collated into state-required monthly reports.