The UV system is just part of a US$1.1 million water recirculation and effluent treatment system provided by Atlantech Chile Ltda. of Puerto Montt, Chile.
The Hanovia unit will treat well water used to supply the water recirculation system. It will control against Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis (IPN) RNA-virus which is found in wild salmon populations on the Pacific coasts of both North and South America. The disease is common in hatcheries and is capable of transmitting epizootic conditions back to wild populations. It can cause severe mortality (up to 80 per cent) in fish up to two years old.
UV treatment is a preferred treatment for hatcheries as it does not use chemicals and avoids the expense of complex monitoring systems needed when adding and removing chemicals from feed water. And it does not alter the pH of the water or produce any harmful by-products.
The UV system at Rio Ignao also features a manual wiper which prevents the build-up of deposits on the quartz tube, ensuring optimum UV dose at all times. A Photon control panel will provide the operators with data on flow rate, UV dose and intensity and can log up to one year’s performance data, which can be downloaded to a PC.
The control panel can also be operated remotely, allowing the system to run 24 hours a day.
Cultivos Huacamalal is a new player in the Chilean salmon aquaculture industry. The company was formed by a number of experienced partners in the fish production and shipbuilding industry in Chile and has signed an agreement to supply product to one of the largest salmon exporters in the country.