Last week, PAX Water Technologies partnered with Utility Service Company to offer a pre-conference workshop on tank maintenance and water quality at the Kansas Rural Water Association show, the largest rural water association conference in the country. The six hour workshop titled, Operation and Maintenance of Water Storage Tanks, included a variety of topics related to water tanks such as safety, sanitary, structural, coatings and security concerns. 
Together with Tom Stechmann and Randy Moore of Utility Service Company, we presented the case for combining chemical cleaning and disinfection with active mixing to help maintain water quality compliance throughout the year.
Overall, the feedback from the workshop was positive - many operators reported that this was their first exposure to active mixing in storage tanks. One of the most interesting developments to come out of the workshop was the discovery of a recent revision to the in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's (KDHE) engineering design guidelines for water storage tanks. The recent revisions of the guidelines have added a new section specifically on mixing, stating that all tanks should "include in all reservoir design provisions to ensure adequate water circulation" and a section on maintenance recommending that "storage structures should be drained, cleaned, and inspected every two years." These evolving regulations appear to be in keeping with similar regulations in North Carolina, Washington State (who has the most progressive design guidelines in the country) and other states (including our home state of California).
As regulators are tightening the screws and expecting better water quality throughout the entire system, utilities are proactively installing mixing systems with every new tank, so they don't have to face problems of low turnover, stagnation, and high water age in the future (especially when low demand prevents them from getting water movement inside the tank).
Interested in learning more about the water quality benefits from combining chemical cleaning and disinfection with active mixing? Join us Wednesday, April 21st for a free webinar featuring WaterMix.
See you at the Georgia Rural Water Association show in Jekyll Island,
Onno Koelman
Director of Sales, PAX Water Technologies