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4.6 Operation and maintenance of treatment plans

Course video 31 of 42

Sanitation solutions do not rely on technology alone, and are prone to failure if an integrated planning approach that includes stakeholder involvement and the development of appropriate institutional, management and financial arrangements is not implemented. Presented in week 4 is the full picture, in addition to technology, that needs to be considered for sustainable solutions.

Do you want learn how to apply concepts of sustainable faecal sludge management (FSM) on a city-wide scale? This course starts with an overview of what faecal sludge is and an introduces you to the engineering fundamentals and required information for the design and selection of technologies. Sanitation solutions are prone to failure if an integrated planning approach that includes stakeholder involvement and the development of appropriate institutional, management and financial arrangements is not implemented. The course therefore dedicates a complete week to presenting the full picture, in addition to technology, that needs to be considered for sustainable solutions. It concludes with a focus on current research and innovations in technologies, to provide an understanding of the most up-to-date options. This course is one of four in the series “Sanitation, Water and Solid Waste for Development".

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教学方

Dr. Linda Strande
Group leader

脚本

Imagine have a bicycle.

What do you have to do so it run smoothly over a long period of time?

You have to put air into the tire or fix the tube in case

you have a flat tire.

Also you have to grease the chain and maintain breaks

so it runs smoothly and is safe in traffic.

And you also need to lock it.

Otherwise, it might get stolen.

As with the bicycle, operation and maintenance is required

for faecal sludge treatment plants.

In this module we'll introduce you to important considerations

for long term operation.

Following this module you'll be able to list operation and maintenance

activities important for faecal sludge treatment plants.

Explain a manifest system and know what operation and maintenance

plans include.

Operation and maintenance includes a long list of activities.

They will vary depending on the size and the technology of a treatment plant.

In general, operation refers to all activities that ensure

that the treatment plant delivers treatment as designed.

Activities to ensure the operation of a treatment plant starts

with coordinating the sludge discharge.

This typically includes reporting the sludge volume and origin

and payment of the discharge fee by the collection or transport

service provider and coordination of the sludge discharge.

By the private or public utility managing the treatment plant.

This is shown here the faecal sludge treatment plant in Kampala.

Many other activities associate with the operation

of treatment technologies.

This, for example, includes cleaning of screens at the inflow

of settling thickening tanks or drying beds.

And also disposal of the solid waste.

Another example is the cleaning of inlets and outsets.

For example, at waste stabilization ponds, as shown here.

Other examples are the loading/unloading

for example, of settling thickening tanks

or drying beds

or the turning in co-composting.

Also treatment products need to be managed.

You can see workers of a treatment plant loading sludge from a drying bed

on a truck of a farmer for use as soil conditioner in agriculture.

For more formalized resource recovery from faecal sludge treatment product

this can also include other activities.

For example, bagging of the resource recovery product

for example, compost

or marketing.

Operation of treatment technologies may also require consumables

that need to be managed, so they're available

when they're required.

They also might need to prepare for their use.

Example of such consumables are polymers aligned for conditioning

to increase the dewatering properties of faecal sludge.

Next to all these activities which are linked to the operation

of the treatment technologies.

Monitoring of the treatment process is important to asses whether

treatment plant operates as designed.

Monitoring, for example, includes records of the sludge volume

that is discharged at a treatment plant.

This is important to asses whether the treatment plant receives more

or less sludge as designed and this will affect the performance

of the treatment plant.

In addition to records on a sludge volume, characteristics of faecal

sludge discharge at a treatment plant

and of treatment products from treatment technologies

can be used to estimate the treatments performance.

So, for example, the settling thickening efficiency

in a settling thickening tank

can tell you how good that settling tank is operating.

Also other process parameters, such as temperature in co-composting

can be important.

In co-composting the temperature can be an indicator

for pathogen inactivation.

Such information is also helpful to optimize the treatment plant

and potentially increase its treatment capacity.

Monitoring of a treatment plant is also required to assess the quality

of treatment products before its use.

Especially pathogens such as e coli and helminth eggs

and to report authorities on discharge concentrations.

These include, for example, Chemical Oxygen Demand,

suspended solids and Ammonia Nitrogen.

In addition to recording the sludge volume and characteristics

and to process parameters

a manifest system can be useful tool for a treatment operator.

Let's have a close look.

The manifests form has to be filled out

during the collection of faecal sludge by the service provider.

It includes the name and other details of the client.

And also includes the type of onsite sanitation technology

from which the sludge is being collected.

In this case from the Philippines

only septic tank faecal sludge is collected

but it can also include other sludge types

such as pit latrine sludge or sludge from public toilets.

The manifest also indicate if the sludge is collected

from residential, commercial-industrial or institutional onsite sanitation

technologies.

The manifest form also includes details on the service provider.

Following completion of the collection service

the manifest form has to be signed by a client.

Upon arrival at a treatment plant the treatment operator has to approve

this manifest form in line with the capacity of the treatment plant.

This could be a way to end the defined industrial contaminations.

For example, when sludge from industries is delivered.

The contribution of sludge from different onsite sanitation

technologies, for example, septic tank vs pit latrines

could also be important as it has implications for treatment.

For example, the solid liquid separation efficiency

on drying bed or in settling thickening tanks.

The system should always be complement of these visual

observations, such as the sludge color.

Any other color than brown or black could indicate industrial

contaminations which could disrupt the treatment operation.

A signature of this manifest form by the treatment operator

could also be a proof to the client or government authority

that the service provider discharge at legal location.

Maintenance activities ensure the longterm operation

of equipment and infrastructure at a treatment plant.

This, for example, includes physical inspection or servicing of pumps

or tractors, or backup generators,

that are relevant for settling thickening technologies.

or the replacements for drying beds.

This means that operation and maintenance are interlinked.

Suboptimal operation can increase the maintenance.

For example, by the failure of pumps

and suboptimal maintenance will likely lead to poor operation.

Every feacal sludge treatment plant should have operation and maintenance

plans.

In general, operation and maintenance plans document a procedure

of their operation and maintenance activity.

It also includes tools that are required to conduct the activity

and show how often the activity has to be performed.

It also includes performance indicators to measure

if the activity was successful.

And includes health and safety precautions.

Such precautions should prevent employees from getting sick.

For example, from pathogens

or electrocuted from electrical devices.

An example of operation and maintenance plans

are standard operating procedures for the analysis of faecal sludge.

This can be downloaded for free of charge from our website.

Documentation of the operation and maintenance activities

document in these operation and maintenance plans

in log books and data summaries are really important for internal

and external reporting and decision making.

Operation and maintenance needs to be performed

once a treatment plant has been designed and constructed.

But it's really important to consider these activities

at the early planning stages of a faecal sludge management program.

Otherwise, treatment plants can fail.

Let's take this example of a settling thickening tank.

If a pump for sludge removal cannot be operated

due to a lack of electricity

or the tank can't be maintained because of the lack of funds

the tank will have a poor performance.

This will affect subsequent treatment steps and ultimately

the effluent concentrations of the treatment plant.

This shows that the selection of a treatment technologies

has to consider the operation and maintenance cost

and require operational capacities of the lifetime of a treatment plant.

As in a lot of contexts realistic operation and maintenance plan

would likely demonstrate insufficient capacities.

These could be developed in parallel to the construction

of a treatment plant

to ensure a longterm and reliable operation.

In this module we learned about typical operation and maintenance

activities such as coordination of the sludge discharge,

cleaning of screens and tanks, and monitoring.

A manifest system can be helpful tool to monitor the sludge discharge

into a treatment plant and to identify industrial contamination.

These activities should always be documented in operation

and maintenance plans.

Following these plans will ensure that treatment plants operate

as designed and protect public and environmental health.

In addition, to producing marketable treatment products.

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