Edstrom® Water Purification

Water Quality is too Important to be Overlooked
Avidity Science® has collaborated with a certified testing laboratory to develop a custom water test package designed specifically for animal research facilities. Avidity Science will provide results in an easy-to-read color-coded format with comparison to EPA safe drinking water standards along with recommendations to improve water quality in your facility.

Pre-treatment: Avidity Science offers several options for feed water treatment prior to RO membrane processing, which are largely intended to preserve the life of the RO membrane and the long-term system stability and operation. These options include carbon filtration, chlorination, pH adjustment, and on-line filtration. Source feed water quality and membrane type largely dictate the appropriate pre-filtration options.


RO Unit: The heart of the system is the RO membrane. Pre-treated water is forced through the membrane, separating out the purified permeate from the concentrate which contains the majority of contaminants found in the original feed water. From the RO, the permeate is funneled from the membrane to storage tanks for distribution to animals. Throughout this process, the system continuously monitors the water-making process and the permeate quality, ensuring that only the highest quality water passes into the storage tank.


Post-Chlorination: While chlorine must be removed from the inlet (feed) water before it enters the membranes, post-treatment water chlorination can be used to prevent bacteria growth in the storage tank. The permeate can be chlorinated up to 10 ppm. Avidity Science recommends chlorinating at a level of 2 to 3 ppm. Chlorination is accomplished with a chlorine injection pump and a solution tank filled with diluted bleach. The chlorine injection pump automatically operates when water is flowing into the storage tank. Post chlorine is injected between the machine’s permeate water outlet and the storage tank inlet.

Storage and Distribution: The permeate passes to a sealed storage tank where it is stored until it is distributed through rooms for animal consumption. These tanks may range from 90-1,500 gallons in size and, depending on water consumption patterns, some facilities may have multiple storage tanks connected to a single RO. The system is equipped with two distribution pumps that repressurize stored water for distribution throughout the facility.