Spray On!
ITT donation will enable a contaminated New York water park to re-open
Even for kids growing up in a high-tech world, not much beats the simple summer pleasure of getting drenched with jets of water. But in early 2006 residents of upstate New York's Finger Lakes region were facing a summer without one of their cherished cooling-off spots: the "sprayground" in Seneca Lake State Park, where over a hundred nozzles douse kids of all ages.
The attraction had been shut down since August 2005 after 3,800 people contracted a gastrointestinal illness caused by Cryptosporidium, a parasite spread by contaminated water.
Although the sprayground used chlorinated water, Cryptosporidium is resistant to chlorine. Fearing another outbreak, in January 2006 the state's Health Department decided to require all spraygrounds to disinfect recirculated water with ultraviolet (UV) light. UV light inactivates 99.99% of the parasites (and other disease-causing microbes). Without the new system, the spraygrounds could not re-open.
Doug Bingler, general manager of Residential & Commercial Water for ITT in adjacent Seneca Falls, realized that ITT could help the park out. "We wanted to be good responsible corporate citizens," Bingler says. The ITT facility in Seneca Falls, which has been building Goulds Pumps brand pumps since1848, has "always taken an active role in the community."
Working with Erik Fox and Bjorn von Euler, marketing manager and director of corporate communications for ITT's Fluid Technology operation, respectively, Bingler arranged to donate a WEDECO-brand UV system to the park.
ITT has supplied WEDECO UV systems to sprayparks in Europe, but awareness of the technology in the U.S. is just beginning. New York's UV requirement is the nation's first. Interest in UV systems is "being driven by regulations because people are getting sick," says Vince Visconti, director of industrial sales for the WEDECO line of products. Fox predicts, "UV will become standard equipment at water attractions."
The UV system, valued at $65,000, had to be built-to-order. ITT worked with the state's construction engineer, Malcolm Pirnie, to incorporate it into the sprayground design.
With ITT's UV system donation -- plus an expanded filtration system -- the sprayground was able to reopen in late July. The treated water is being independently tested to ensure that it meets the required specifications. The new technologies and extra precautions ares making parents and townspeople feel better. The cool sprays of water are doing the same for the kids.
"Ultraviolet disinfection systems like this one will become standard equipment at water attractions."
- Erik Fox, marketing manager, ITT Fluid Technology