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.
