Your source is over the limit for nitrate. Reverse osmosis will fix that and take the calcium and magnesium with it, leaving you to put them back. SonixED™ removes nitrate, sodium, chloride and fluoride selectively and retains the minerals — nitrate removal without remineralisation as a second process step.
Nitrate and TDS are enough to start. We respond within 3 business days.
Assessment request received
Our engineering team will review your water data and respond within 3 business days.
The EU nitrate limit 50 mg/l is not a future target. It is a parametric value a supplier is either meeting or not.
Directive (EU) 2020/2184 sets a parametric value of 50 mg/l for nitrate (NO₃¯) in water intended for human consumption. Member states transposed it by January 2023, so a supplier above the value is out of compliance now rather than ahead of a deadline.
The WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality set the same 50 mg/l for nitrate as the nitrate ion. It is a short-term exposure guideline, set to protect bottle-fed infants rather than to address chronic exposure.
Directive 91/676/EEC uses the same threshold to identify polluted groundwater and designate Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. It governs the source of the contamination; the Drinking Water Directive governs what reaches the tap.
An RO membrane rejects ions by size and charge, not identity. Nitrate leaves, and so do the calcium and magnesium that give the water its mineral balance.
Remineralisation is a second process step with its own capital cost, consumable supply chain and maintenance. A unit operation added to undo the one before it.
Conventional RO recovers roughly half to two-thirds of brackish feed. Inland, with no coastal or river discharge, disposal is often what ends the business case.
None of this makes RO the wrong technology in general. It makes it a poor match where nitrate is the target and the mineral content is not. Full comparison →
Western Australia’s primary water utility contracted Hydrovolta for a paid pilot following 18 months of technical evaluation. Hydrovolta’s primary institutional reference for water utilities internationally.
Selective nitrate and salinity removal at one utility site in the Perth metropolitan area, with three more bores in 2027. Treated water supplied for drinking, irrigation, agriculture, and livestock. Cloud telemetry active for remote monitoring.
Feed TDS 1–3 g/L · recovery >95% · energy 0.4 kWh/m³ · one site operating; three more bores in 2027.
SonixED™ is electrodialysis reversal with ultrasound-assisted scaling control and a selective membrane coating.
An electric potential drives selected ions through ion-exchange membranes and out of the product stream. Transport is driven by charge rather than pressure across a barrier, so the process acts on ions individually.
The membrane coating determines which ions move. Nitrate, sodium, chloride and fluoride are removed; calcium and magnesium are retained, so no post-treatment remineralisation is required.
Acoustic cavitation at the membrane surface prevents scaling at nucleation. In the high-hardness groundwater common to nitrate-affected catchments, this is what lets the retained minerals stay in solution instead of fouling the stack.
Figures depend on feed chemistry, target use and recovery setpoint. A water analysis turns this into numbers for your site.
| Parameter | SonixED™ | Reverse osmosis |
|---|---|---|
| Water recovery | Up to 95% in a single pass | Roughly half to two-thirds recovery |
| Residual brine | ~5% at 1–3 g/L | Roughly a third to a half of feed |
| Remineralisation required | No | Generally yes |
| Feed TDS range | 1–20 g/L | — |
Hydrovolta states performance against submitted feed chemistry, not as a general claim.
Nitrate, TDS, hardness, target flow and target use are enough to start. We tell you honestly when selective electrodialysis is not the right answer for your source.
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