A table compares the capital and operating costs of a 5,000 gallon per day water treatment facility using either item sand or black beauty sand as the filtration media. Item sand has a lower total capital cost of $26,000 compared to $67,700 for black beauty sand. Operating costs like labor, power, and sludge disposal are approximately the same for both media options.

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16. Item Sand Black Beauty Sand
Pretreatment Varies Varies
Recirculation tank and pumping system $10,000 $9,000
Sand filter $10,000 $43,100
Engineering $3,000 $7,800
Contingencies $3,000 $7,800
Land Varies Varies
Total Capital Cost $26,000 $67,700
Labor $20/hr $20/hr
Power Varies Varies
Sludge disposal at 10 cents/gal 50/yr 50/yr
Table 1.0 shows the cost
estimates for a 5,000 GPD
facility using two different
media
Journal of Environmental Technology Initiative