USFILTER TACKLES PERCHLORATE REMOVAL FOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COMPANY
Benefiting Local Community Water Supply

RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., May 24, 2004 -- USFilter was recently awarded two projects for the removal of perchlorate from ground water in the Rancho Cordova area, near Sacramento, California. A Northern California manufacturer has engaged USFilter to remove perchlorate from nearly a dozen contaminated groundwater wells over the next five years, treating 2.66 million gallons per day (mgd).

Both projects seek to limit future spread of the existing underground perchlorate plume into the surrounding community. The projects will protect uncontaminated drinking water supplies for both the Gold River housing project and future new home development in the Rancho Cordova area.

USFilter will be using disposable ion exchange resin technologies to treat the water. Once the media has reached full capacity, the resin and captured perchlorate is thermally destructed preventing future recontamination by the perchlorate to other water sources.

Working with technology invented by Rohm and Haas Company of Philadelphia, Penn., USFilter has employed ion specific resins that remove perchlorate from water supplies contaminated with up to one part per million, (1,000 ppb), levels to below non-detection levels. The new resins provide significant improvement over former technologies, since they reduce the operating cost of the treatment systems to below $200 per acre foot treated, avoid generation of a contaminated brine waste and provide substantially more total treatment capacity.

Chris Morss, vice president of environmental services with USFilter states, “This is another project in the continuing efforts by USFilter to provide low cost, high quality remediation services to California and other states experiencing perchlorate contamination in drinking water. Through the use of innovative technology, we have seen the total operating cost of these projects drop by over 60% during the past two years, with constant improvement in the quality of treated water produced."

Millions of people and thousands of companies rely on USFilter every day to help them meet their clean water needs. Headquartered in Palm Desert, Calif., USFilter (www.usfilter.com) is a $1 billion water company with 6,000 experienced professionals dedicated to delivering cost-effective, reliable water and wastewater treatment systems and services to municipal, industrial, commercial and institutional customers worldwide.

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