WATR06007 2018 Drinking Water Sludge Treatment

Define sludge characteristics from water treatment plants, describe dewatering and other common treatment processes options and stabilization processes.

Calculate sludge volume reductions due to dewatering processes.

Select and recommend on appropriate sludge disposal methods.

Interpret the relevant legislation and describe the control standards, manuals and directives.

Explain how to develop national sludge management plans

This module will be delivered using blended learning techniques. This will include online lectures (via adobe connect or similar), workshops and site visits augmented by independent learning and directed learning. This approach is expected to address student-learning needs. A learning platform such as Moodle will be used to upload educational material (i.e. presentations and recordings of online lectures plus supplementary reading material) and as a means of assessment (e.g. quizzes, uploading assignments and journals). This blended approach (lectures and workshops) brings students together to facilitate group
learning.

This module is 40% continuous assessment and 60% final exam.

Repeat Continuous Assessment and/or Final Exam.

• Ensuring that a Drinking Water Safety Plan approach is part of the decision making process, strategy, planning, design, treatment, operation and reuse 
• Water Treatment Sludge characteristics and its importance in the design of sludge dewatering and final use 
• Introduction to development of an integrated Sludge Management Plan taking cognisance of the circular economy and TOTEX
• Pathogens and their removal
• Legislation (Disposal, Environmental, Cross border transfer etc)
• Process of selection for disposal methods 
• Understand sludge treatment processes including thickening, dewatering including centrifuge, vacuum, belt presses, drying beds, reed beds, plate presses for sludge hubs with capacities over 10ML/day. Discharge locations for backwash water and decant. IW specifications dor sludge dewatering.
• Methods to validate and optimise process for example the jar testing, moisture content
• Sludge volume, DS% relationship
• Sludge disposal including cement manufacture, brick manufacture, incineration, landfill cover, fertiliser, discharge to wastewater system, storage, the circular economy.
• Heavy metal contamination
• Interim management methodologies and technologies where treatment resource are inadequate including onsite storage and winter storage volumes for remote locations, low cost national approach to the provision of dewatering hubs, and impact of thickening on transportation costs.
• General and EC and international application guidelines
• National sludge management plans including the;
  • Methodologies for the prioritisation of investment in WTP Liquid and Solid Management infrastructure 
  • Methodologies that may be employed to develop capital investment plan and WTP Rationalisation Plans, 
• Understanding that investment in new infrastructure takes account of the best whole life cost solutions (TOTEX)