Upgrading water treatment plants

In many water treatment plants, especially in developing countries, the equipment available does often not operate properly because of a lack of understanding of maintenance and operating requirements. The design of such treatments plants is often not in accordance with techniques capable of improving the performance of the treatment process, which means that they are under-utilised and inefficient. This guide provides to improve the performance of water treatment plants, the technical details required to upgrade existing water treatment plants to increase processing efficiency and to improve overall quality without the need for substantial investment into new physical plant installation.
Step by step, the complete process is reviewed, in a very comprehensive and easy to follow way, from 1) the basic requirement for optimisation, 2) the assessment of plant performance and the identification of defects, 3) water analysis for treatment control, 4) plant improvement and their operation, 5) the determination of the design parameters, and 7) disinfection to the actual optimisation and upgrade of the treatment plants. Special attention is paid to sample analysis in a basic laboratory for a small water treatment plant, and the different processes available for disinfection. The use of hydraulics and gravity rather than pumps and motors that require complicated maintenance is emphasised.
The principles presented have shown to be effective, are based on extensive experience in the upgrading of a variety of treatment plants, and do not only apply to the optimisation of existing plants only but also to the design of new ones.