The compressors in the Great Delta Aeration Plant sounded like thirty locomotives charging together across a frame stand bridge.
The chemistry of rapid flocculation was one of Giles’s favorite town technologies.
Giles stood on the high concrete weir wall. He watched the slurry water chutes discharge thick, steaming ribbons of calcium hydroxide into the dark incoming river water.
“Burning lime powder reacts with water to form hydrated lime, releasing heat and raising the pH to eleven,” Giles explained to Toby, who was timing the floc formation with a stopwatch.
“At that alkalinity, bacteria membranes rupture instantly.
At the same time, the calcium ions stop the negative spark charges on the suspended clay specks, causing them to clump together into heavy flakes.”
“The flocs are forming within eight seconds, Lord Giles
Giles walked along the raised narrow high walkway above the snake-like flocculation channels. He watched the water flow between alternating concrete baffle walls.
