Water Journal September 1981

I ISSN 0310 - 0367 1 Official Jdurnal of the H

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publica tio n no. VBP 1394

Vol. 8, No. 3, Sept 1981

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$2.00

I

-a-n-•-W~~~B-·-T •---,~.,-underwater for 7 years and tougher than the day it was laid

.. 'i'' In 1973 Hyperfine, flexible membranes were installed to contain treated water effluent at Aluminium Anodisers Pty. Ltd., Clayton, Victoria.

Hyperliner is an impermeable, synthetic rubber lining for pits and dams. Made from a special composition of materials in which Du Pont "Hypalon " is the sole elastomer, it continues curing after it is laid . Actually getting tougher with age.

Leggett Hyperliner resists ozone, ultra-violet light, normal physical abuse and a wide range of organic and inorganic materials.

And when you specify Hyperliner, you are getting the benefit of Leggett's 10 years of experience in the manufacture, fabricat ion and installation of impermeable membranes.

Other lining materials are also available for medium and short term applications.

Made with Du Pont

HYPALON®

Synthetic Rubber

LEGGETT RUBBER PTY. LTD. 21 Browns Road, Clayton. 3168.

Telephone: 544 4888 Telex : AA33029.

MEMBER OF THE BTR GROUP OF COMPANIES.

EDITORIAL Chairman, C. D. Parker F. R. Bishop Mary Drikas E. A. Swinton M. T. Tseng Dr. Barbara Bowles C. Tucak J.E. Dymke J. H. Greer R. McGrath R. Camm D. Hammerton P.R. Hughes Editor: H. Wilson G. R. Goffin Publisher:

r

Offici~I Journal of the AUSTRALIAN WATER AND -WASTE WATER ASSOCIATION

Vol. 8, No. 3 September 1981

A.W.W.A.

BRANCH CORRESPONDENTS CANBERRA A.C.T. J.E. Dymke 4 Story St., Curtin 2605 Office 062-81-9385 NEW SOUTH WALES M. T. Tseng G. H. & D. Pty. Ltd., P.O. Box 219, Neutral Bay Junction, 2089.

02-908-2399 VICTORIA E. A. (Bob) Swinton, C.S.I.R.O., P.O. Box 310, South Melbourne 3205.

03-699-6711 QUEENSLAND P. R. ttughes, P.O. Box 276, lndooroopilly, 4068.

07-378-9111 SOUTH AUSTRALIA Mrs. M. Drikas, State Water Laboratories E. & W. S. Private Mail Bag Salisbury 5108.

08-258-1066 WESTERN AUSTRALIA C. M. Tucak, 18 Ventor Ave., W. Perth 6005 09-321-2421 TASMANIA

R. Camm, Cl- Met. Water Board, Macquarie St., Hobart.

002-30-2330 NORTHERN TERRITORY H. Wilson, Water Div. Dept. of Transport & Works, P.O. Box 2520, Darwin 5794.

089 81 2450 EDITORIAL & SUBSCRIPTION CORRESPONDENCE G. R. Goffin, 7 Mossman Dr., Eaglemont 3084, 03-459-4346 ADVERTISING Mrs. L. Geal, Appita, 191 Royal Pde., Parkville 3052.

03-347-2377 WATER

CONTENTS Viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Association News, Views and Comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8

1.A.W.P.R. News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

12

Manpower and Education for the Water Industry - A.W.R.C. Technical Paper Extract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

13

Continuous Ion Exchange Using Magnetic Microresins - Part II. - E. A. Swinton, P. R. Nadebaum, R. W. Murtlagh and R. J. O'beirne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16

Optimization of Energy in Water Distribution Systems

by Effective Measurement and Control - K. A. Steele . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20

Potato Waste Treatment, Ballarat - J. G. Parker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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!. . . . . . . . .

26

Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

27

Book Reviews .............................

COVER STORY Australia's first full scale anaerobic methane fermentation plant treating industrial waste from the potato processing industry at McCain Australia Pty. Ltd., Ballarat, Victoria . The new wastewater treatment facilities are designed to treat 700 m 3/d. Treatment is based on segregation of all factory wastewaters in to two basic streams : 'low strength - high volume ' and 'high strength - low volume '.

The 'low strength' stream is treated by screening, fat flotation and primary clarification. The 'high strength ' stream passes through anaerobic fermenters.

Phosphorus is removed from the combined waste streams before discharge to the municipal sewer.

Consultants to the project were Water Science Laboratories Pty. Ltd. and the principal contractor was Nicholls Engineers & Constructors Pty. Ltd.

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"To think, this simple oxygen process can help eliminate problems of odour and corrosion in sewerage sySteffl!;:sor Julius Sum~er Miller f

The problem of foul odours and corrosion in sewer ma ins is nothing new .

Bu t it has been on ly recently that man has come to grips with these two re lated prob lems.

Until now, various chemica ls have been used to help elim inate the odour . Unfortunately, these are costly, and produce a more diffi cult-to-treat sewage . However, now there ha s been a major breakthrough . It comes in the form of an exciting revolutionary process called CIG Sewer Sweetening .

It's simple, effective and extremely economical .

Basically it involves the injection of pure oxygen into the sewer mains .

Thi s allows t he oxygen breathing (aerob ic) sewage bacteria, w hi ch is normally starved of oxygen in enclosed conditions, to actively continue to break down the organic content

without the excess presence of hydrogen sulphide .

And oxygen dosing is not.expensi ve . Costs per kil olitre are general ly around half the cost of chem ica l ox idising or steril ising agents .

Deve loped in Austra lia for Austra lia n conditions, SEWER SWEETEN ING is a natural solution to a natural problem .

Already there are many successfu l installations throughout Australia and many councils who will readily confirm its effectiveness .

For more information write to CIG Limited, 138 Bourke Road, Alexandria NSW 2015.

C G89 1 / 79

WATER

3

9 ways to put DeZURIK quality and reliability t work for you.

8 1. The DeZURIK® V-Port Ball Valve

A rugged and unique control valve that combines high capacity and low cost. Offers precision control for a variety of applications to 740 psi with temperatur.e ratings to 1000 °F. Sizes ½" -20" .

2. The DeZURIK PERMASEAL® Plug Valve

This simple , tough valve features a self-adjusting plug that compensates for wear and temperature changes, plus "true top entry " for in -line maintenance.

Bi -directional shutoff to 1480 psi .

ANSI 150, 300 and 600 in sizes ½ "-6".

3. The DeZURIK C Series Knife Gate A proven performer in the

toughest abrasive and corrosive services. Available with lever, handwheel, electric motor, on-off or posi t ioning cylinder actuators .

Sizes 2"-72".

4. The DeZURIK FIG 660 RS Butterfly Valve

sizes 2"-20". ANSI 150 and ~00 to 740 psi.

A unique seat design ensures bidirectional shutoff to 150 psi and a streamlined disc delivers high flow capacity. Choice of seat materials , actuators and wafer or lug in si zes 2"- 12".

7. The DeZURIK Eccentric Valve

5. The DeZURIK FIG 632 RS Butterfly Valve

The resilient seated butterfly valve that offers unequalled performance and an exclusive double-seat in sizes 2"-20". Wide choice of actuators. Choice of wafer or lug body .in all si zes : 2"-36 ".

6. The DeZURIK HP Butterfly Valve

A high performance valve that features an exclusive TFE/titanium seat design to assure a lasting , bubble-tight shutoff. Excellent corrosion resistance and temperature accommodation in

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28 si zes and a host of options assure the exact combination for any application . Ect entrlc action delivers a lasting dead-tight shutoff in si zes from ½"-72".

8. The DeZURIK 3-Way & 4-Way Valves

Rugged performance for virtually any shutoff or switching application. Lever, handwheel , onoff or positioning cylinder available in si zes 3"-16".

9. The DeZURIK Rotating Sensor Consistency Transmitter

Electronic or pneumatic control assures unmatched sensing accuracy. Unique involute ribs are influenced only by stock consistency.

A UNIT OF GENERAL SIGNAL

DeZURiiK

DaZURIK DF AUSTRALIA PTY. LTD. , P.D. Box 204, Vineyard Road, Sunbury, Victoria 3429, Australia Talaphona: D3-744-2244, Talax: AA33732

4

WATER

"I don't believe it"

"A Brand New 100mm Six Point Multirange Recorder!"

It's true! Our new P600 gives you three or six dotted records in bright coloured inks with up to three different input ranges. Single or double common alarms can be fitted. LED indicators show point, range and alarm condition.You can have a six speed electronic chart drive with an off position for paper saving and a point hold switch for continuous monitoring of one channel. Plus you get all the standard options available on our other 100mm recorders like roll or fanfold charts, quick change sealed inking system and plug-in p.c.b'.s for rapid range changing.

The P600 uses a modern brushless stepper motor and a conductive plastic feedback slidewire for durability and reliability It carries our standard 2 year guarantee, and you'll be pleasantly surprised by it's quality, price and delivery Isn't it time you became a believer?

BBC BROWN BOVERI

Kent Instruments (Australia) Pty Ltd Sydney (02) 52 5 28 11 Melbourne (03) 8741 233

Ad elaid e Bri sbane

(0 8) 352 1455 (07) 36 13 11

Perth

(09) 277 5377 PJ 2879

WATER

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for the serious user... serious ozone*

OZOBLOC

supplied for more than 80 years to meet every need of more than 1000 users in 41 countries *serious ozone, the solution to problems concerning • drinking water • sewage • industrial effluents • swimming pools etc ...

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VIEWPOINT FE DERA L PRES IDE NT

MANPOWER AND EDUCATION for the WATER INDUSTRY

D. J. Lane , State Water Laboratories, E. & W.S. Department , Private Mail Bag , Salisbury, 5108

FE DERAL SECRETARY F. J. Carter, Box A232 P.O. Sydney South , 2000.

FEDERAL TREAS URER J. H. Greer , C/- M.M.BW 625 Lt . Collins St. , Melbourne , 3000 .

BRANC H SECRETAR IES Canberra, A.C.T. J.E . Dymke , . 4 Story St.,, Curtin , 2605 .

Office 062 (81 9385)

New South Wales R. Edwards, Sinclair Knight & Partners, 2 Chandos St. , St. Leonards, 2065 . (439-2866)

Vi ctoria J. Park , S.R.W .S.C. Operator Training Centre , P.O. Box 409, Werribee , 3030. (7 41-5844)

Queens land K. Strickland, C.I.G. Ltd, P 0. Box 40, Rocklea 41 06. 07 (277 3455)

South Austra li a A. Glatz, State Water Laboratories, E. & W.S. Private Mail Bag, Salisbury , 5108 . (258-1066)

Western Australia

Times have changed. In the sixties most urban planning authorities saw the problems of the coming decades as problems of growth, with a doubling of major urban populations by the end of the century. Today's forecasts are very much lower, to the extent that the urban water industry, generally speaking, has emerged from its period of rapid expansion and is in, or is heading for, a no-growth situation.

Community values also are changing towards a view of water as a resource to be conserved rather than squandered.

The future water industry still will require considerable capital, but capital scarcity, high interest levels, community pressures against rate rises, and a past tendency to under-price services, all point to the need for a thorough economic review of the financial policies of the industry.

The future will see greater emphasis upon system optimisation and renewals, and less upon system expansion, with an attendant change in focus in the industry away from means (things to be constructed) towards ends (services for consumers) .

This trend is well advanced in some authorities, and all authorities ultimately will see far-reaching internal restructuring as they adapt to their new circumstances. The tendency , by the nature of things, will be for adaptation to lag behind events, but the trauma associated with such change will be lessened if the fact of change is faced-up to early rather than late.

For the engineers and scientists in the industry, the future holds changes in roles: there will be less emphasis upon civil engineering ¡construction and more upon systems analysis, with much greater use of electronics, computers and telemetry systems.

The management of change in the industry requires sensitivities to economic, organisational and social issues, and positive steps need to be taken to enhance such sensitivities among existing people in leadership positions in the industry.

Formal studies in management are essential for those who w{ll lead the water industry through the changes ahead. Ideally, such studies should be coupled with formal studies in areas relevant to the issues facing the water industry. In the report, Manpower and Education for the Water Industry, abstracJs from which appear in this issue, John Nevill and I proposed a course, a Graduate Diploma in Water Resources Management, directed to this end.

BRIAN LLOYD Head Engineering and Scientific Services Division. M.M.B .W.

R. Loo, 455 Beach Rd ., Carine . (09-447-6550)

A.W.W.A. MEMBERSHIP

Tasmania P. E. Spratt , C/- Fowler , England & Newton , 132 Davey St. , Hobart, 7000. (23-7591)

Northern Territory K. Sajdeh , Water Div. Dept. of Transport & Works, P.O. Box 2520, Darwin , N.T. 5794 . (89-5511)

WATE R

Requests for Application Forms for Membership of the Association should be addressed to the appropriate Branch Secretary.

Members h ip is in four categor ies: 1.

Member - q ualifications suitab le for membership in the Inst. of Engineers , or ot her s u itab le profess iona l bod ies. ($20 p.a.) *

2.

Assoc iate ($20 p .a.)*

3.

Student. ($5 p.a.)

4.

Sustai nin g Member - an organ isation invo lved in t he W .&W.W . Industry wis hing to sustain the Assoc iation. ($100 p.a. min imum)

experience in the .W.& .W.W. Ind ustry, w it h forma l qualifications.

• Plus State levy where applicab le.

7

ASSOC/A TION NEWS VIEWS AND COMMENTS PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

NEW SOUTH WALES

Association Patron

Federal Council and the Members

An invitation has been extended to the Governor-General of Australia, Sir Zelman Cowan to be Patron of the Association . It is considered that this initiati ve will enhance the status of the Association.

Recent comments indicate that some Association members consider that Federal Council makes decisions in isolation from the individual member.

Federal Coup.cillors are elected by each Branch Committee to present the views of State Branches at the twice yearly Council meetings . They are yo ur representatives and it is their job, through Branch Committees, to present your views and to keep the Branch Committee and you informed on matters dealt with by Council. In future the minutes of Council meetings will be expanded to adequately describe action decided on. In addition to copies of the minutes , Branch Secretaries will be provided with copies of supporting documents such as Standing Committee reports. I will continue to bring topical matters to your attention in this column.

As advised previously the I 0th Federal Convention will be held in Sydney in April 1983 . In September 1983 the Association will a lso sponsor a Specialised Conference in Darwin on the Water Regime in relation to Mining , Milling and Water Treatment with emphasis on uranium mining. This conference will be organised by the Northern Territory Branch, with the International Association on Water Pollution Research and the Australian Institu te of Mining & Metallurgy as proposed co-sponsors.

The 11th Federal Convention will be held in Melbourne in March 1985 and will be actively supported by the United States Water Pollution Control Federation.

Public Presentation of Association

Affiliation with Overseas Organisations

In the June issue I commented on the statement made by me on television in Perth at the conclusion of the Convention concerning the need for an increased allocation of reso urces for the protection and/ or treatment of water and wastewater systems. This matter was raised at the General Meeting of the Association held in association with the 9th Federal Convention in Perth.

The Federal Executive has discussed what further action should be taken by the Association consistent with the resolution of the General Meeting and it is proposed to refer the matter to the Australian Water Resources Council expressing the concern of this Association.

Action on the newly identified role of the Association in providing an informal viewpoint for the public and government need not be restricted to the Federal President .

Statements made by Association officers mu st of course be factual and responsible.

The Western Australian Branch achieved some publicity in this regard recently by advising that water from rainwater tanks could be· a health hazard . This initiative stemmed from advertising by tank manufacturers . A prepared s tatement by the Western Australian Secretary was subsequently used by a local newspaper as a follow up to a report concerning a family infection apparently originating from a rainwater tank.

The issue of any such statement by a State Committee would need to be checked with appropriate regulating authorities to ensure' that the Association does not become involved in political issues .

Members are questioning the need for this Association to affiliate with organisations such as the Water Pollution Control Federation and the International Water Supply Association, particularly where this involves the expenditure of Association funds.

There is no fee for affiliation with the W.P.C.F., however corporate membership of I. W .S.A . currently costs approximately $700 p.a. A position paper is being prepared by the Executive setting out the pros and cons of affiliations of this nature. It should be noted that funds for attendance of Association representatives at meetings of overseas organisations are drawn from amounts donated by major water authorities and not from members' subscriptions.

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8

Federal Conventions

A. W. W .A. Liaison

-

Institution

of

Engineers

Recently discussions have taken place between an officer of the Federal Council Executive (F. R. Bishop) and the Chairman of the College of Civil Engineering, Institution of Engineers, Australia (Dr. Ian Mair), to determine what options are available to permit a closer association between the two bodies. The Chairmen of each branch of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, are looking at methods of achieving closer cooperation with the Association. A senior officer of the Association is expected to attend the Institution meeting in Canberra in November 1981 as an observer and to present the Association views on co-operation.

DOUG LANE

BRA NCH ACTIVITIES

At the May meeti ng on the 6th, Ken Hughes of the Snowy Mountains E ngineering Corporation gave a very informative and interesting presentation of the investigations carried out by the SMEC team into the development of various hydro-electric options avail ab le to the Nepalese to enable them to sell power to Indi a, and the more limited possibilities for developing conjunctive irrigation schemes to cater for the narrow band of non-mountainous terrain to the so uth.

Ken's slides of the lifestyle a nd customs of their counterpart staff were most interesting and educational.

To relieve the mid -year tension a little, the mid-year Social at 'Dirty Dick' s' on 12 June, was a fairly boisterous affair aided a nd abetted by busty servi ng wenches, a raunchy rh ythm group , and a steady an d copio us supply of the 'hard stuff'. Sixty guests and their ladies ' up-yours'ed' till midnight.

July was a busy month co mmenci ng with a joint symposi um (July 16th) on 'Instrumentation and Control in Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants' sponsored by the A WW A, University of N.S.W. and the Institution of In strumentation and Control. The one day programme included 9 papers and representations by some 10 in strument firms each having a 5 minute session.

The paper programme was extensive covering: • Interaction of ip strumentation with design and operat ion of treatment plants.

• When you analyse it, what does it mean?

• The application of data acq uisition and control systems to the operation of water pollution control plants by the M.W.S . & D.B. • Control philosophy and comm iss ioning of the Winneke Water Treatment Plant.

• Control strategies for water treatment plants.

• Telemetering principles .

• Support your primary elements.

• In strum ent maintenance in the water and waste industry.

• Are treatment plants over-instrumented?

Attendance was good and the interest keen.

As a possible by-product and result of Mike Dureau's ski lled canvassing, A WW A has a number of membership applications.

On the 29th Jul y (the day of the Royal Wedding) a very 'bus hed' Professor Maurice Shapiro, nearing the end of his gruelling round Australia lecture tour, presented his paper 'The lnterdiscipliniary Foundation of managing the Aquatic Environment ' at the PWD lecture Theatre .

A s malli s h a udi ence of s taunch Republicans heard Professo r Shapiro give a WATER

ASSOC/A TION relaxed philosophical discourse on tlie subject, and then enterta in ed him at dinner in the comp letely deserted Univers it y Club next door.

At the A.G.M. on August 20th , the an nu al election of Officers was an nounced : President is T. M. Smyth, Vice Pres. L. D. Bower, Secretary R. H. Edwards, T reasurer, J . D. Brown. Comm ittee Members are M. T. Tseng, J. R. Eslake, G. B. Douglas , T. Lawson , T. L. Judell, H. Bandier , D. Stevens, R. R. Ash, T . Twyman, M. Dureau , W. Rees, J . Oliff, D. Barnes, T. MacKenzie, N. Brady.

Tim Smyth not only takes on the Presidency but a lso the post of Chairman for the 1983 Federal Convent ion and is accord ingly handing over the Water Correspondent duties to Mike Tseng.

The Meeting was addressed by the M.W.S. & . D.B. Pres ident, Ted Wald er who spoke from the heart on prob lems of a major authority in obta ining objective and unbi ased coverage of aut hority act iviti es by the media and the im pact of the 'instant expert ' enco untered through the media, talk-back programmes and such.

FUTURE PROGRAMME

The Annual Dinner Dance is schedu led for September 18th, as we go to press. Guest speaker wi ll be Mr. Justice Kirby - always with somet hing very relevant to contrib ute.

October 27th wi ll see a joint meeting with I. E. Aust. for a talk on 'Water Management at Eraring Power Station'.

The November meeting details are still not avai lab le. December 3rd is the Christmas Party - a 10 course Chin ese Banquet at the Mandarin Club and the first event in 1982 is an inspection of the Coal to Oil Conversion Plant at C.S.l.R.O ., Delhi Rd., Nth. Ryde up to 50 people, a 5.30 p .m. start.

Proposals include a Regional Conference in March and fac il ities in Nowra have already been explored.

NEWCASTLE SUB-BRANCH PROGRAMME

Ashley Pepper, Hon. Sec. adv ised the fo llow in g detai ls.

A.G.M. - September 12t h with guest speak er B. McQuiggan of th e Wyndham Estate Vineyard.

October 19th - paper by Dr. D. Garman of the Water Resources Commission on 'Water Quality in the Hunter River'.

November 16th Site inspection at Green leaf Ferti li zers .

A.C.T. BRANCH ACTIVITIES

At the June 23rd meeting, Dr. Emmett O ' Loughlin of the C.S .I.R. O . spoke on 'Bushfire in a Water Supply Catchment Studies of the Hydrological Effects'. He described an exper imental burn in the Brindabella Ranges, the monitored and observed WATER

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NEWS

•

VIEWS

effects and di scussed the poss ible appl ication of result s to other severe disturbances such as clear-felling on similar catchments.

Ju ly 30th saw a panel discussion , panel members being: l. Lawrence, P. Landsdown , T. Daniel , N. Sanders, S. Robinson and R. Rossich , of an intense programme of study of th e 'Waters of the Canberra Region' .

Extensive monitoring wa, carried out from 1976- 1981, Binnie and Partners being Consultants for the basin management study.

The Consu ltants report will provide the basis for furth er studies of the Murrumbidgee and catchment management strategy.

At the A.G.M. on August 20th, Officers for the year were an nounced: Presid ent, R. Badger; Vice-President, R. Ross ich; Secretary, J. Dymk e ; Treasurer, M. O'Keeffe; Co mmittee J. Mi ll s, I. Lawrence, C . Coucouvin is, D. McLeod, R. Co lman. John Dymke will also take over the Branc h Correspo ndent activity from Jim Coucouvin is.

After the forma l bu si ness, Dr. R. Price from the Hydraulic Research Station, U .K., was the guest speaker.

Dr. Price has an international reputation in the field of appli ed numer ical modelling including the application to flood routing, rainfall run-off, rivers, storm sewer design, storm flow simulation and land drainage.

He gave the Branch a most interesting talk on the use and appl ication of a stormwater sewer design package 'WASP' developed by the Wallingfo rd Research Statio n.

NORTHERN TERRITORY BRANCH ACTIVITIES

Branch Members had an enjoyab le a nd in format ive visit to the Ranger Uranium Mine on Jul y 5th by invitation of the LE.Aust. which arranged the excursion.

A fu ll bus load left Darwin for Jabiru with a bright and early start at 8 a.m. and arrived back after 8 p.m. after a day of so lid activity.

O n the site, activities commenced with a brief lecture which was fo llow.ed by an extensive tour covering the ore field mines, the process ing plant and waste disposal aspects.

T he undertaking is the largest of its kind in Australia, mining is by open-c ut and the extracted ore passes to processing in a series of large settling tanks, filtration units and storage vessels. T he plant was in full operation on the product ion of uranium yellow cake .

In a further joint activit y with LE .Aust.

Northern Territory Branch , the Branch heard a lunch-time lecture on July 12th by Profe ssor M. A. Shapiro from the U.S.A. The Professor gave an interesting talk on the P hysiological Aspects of Water Supply.

Unfortunately, attendance did not come up to expectations - presumably church attendance commanded the numbers?

•

COMMENT

TERRITORY NEWS Alice Springs Development

Increasing population in The Ali ce is requiring new living areas with consequent demand upon services.

New residential areas and the newly constructed Casino on the East side of the Todd River are to be provided with water and sewerage faci lities (the Cas ino at present relies on temporary services).

Contracts have been let for a new 30 ML thin walled R.C. Water Storage Tank and 4 km of 600 N.B. M .S.C.L. pipeline at a total cost of some $4 milli on. The design for the East Side Trunk Sewer is complete and construction is scheduled to start in a few months.

T he search for new so urces of water supply is involving extens ive investigations . The present source has a safe yield for a popu lation of 31 000, additional supp ly wi ll be necessary by 1990.

QUEENSLAND BRANCH ACTIVITIES

Successful dinner meetings were held during June, July and August and new venues for meetings exp lored.

On the 24th June, at the Majestic Hotel, Mr. Peter Nuna n of Wall ace and Tiernan Pty. Ltd., spoke on a number of aspects of 'Chlorination' includ in g new types of materials involved in chlorination installations and a lso safety requirements. Peter presented his topic in an interesting and entertaining manner with overhead projector diagrams of process variations.

This meeting , chaired by Brian Rigden, was the first of our operator correspondence co urse certificate .presentation nights. Some 60 members attended.

At the Brisbane City Council Club, on Ju ly 15th, the speaker for the evening was Geoff Cossins and his topic 'The West Bank Treatment Plant'. Geoff is Investigat ions Engineer for Brisbane City Council 's Water Supply and Sewerage Department and a Foundation Member and Past President of the Queensland Branch. Geoff, assisted by a cast of other technical members of the Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Department presented a most interesting paper on a water treatment plant on the west bank of the Brisbane River at Mount Crosby.

Over 50 members and visitors attended and dur ing the meeting, Operator Certificates were presented to successful graduates of the Correspondence Courses in Water Supply, Sewerage and Swimming Pool Operat ion.

Cert ificates of Merit were awarded to: Water Supply - W . W. Joyce and N. A. Cowell ; Sewerage - R. A. Manni ng; Swimming Pools - B. D. Harper.

T he A.G.M. was held on August 19th and Officers and Committee for the year were announced with the follow ing results: President - Brian Rigden , Vice-President - John Ryan, Secretary Keit h St rickland , 9

ASSOC/A TION Treasurer - Norm Whi te . Remainin g O ffi cers and Committee are: Julie Ivison , C. Norton , R . Black, L. Jones, M . Bowe, H .

Desmond , W. Solly, J. O 'Conn or , L. Roessler. Federal Councillors are All an Pettigrew, Murray All an and Bria n Ri gden .

For this election , the new Branch By- laws were applicable.

Fo llowing the fo rmal busi ness , President Brian Rigden gave an address on 'T he Latest Design and Operational Requirements for Sludge Dryin g Beds'.

FUTU RE PROGRA MM E

T he Annu al Sympos ium will thi s year ta ke pl ace on September 23 rd (as we go to Press) at th e Q.I.T . Kindler Th eatre . The th eme is 'Water and its Reuse in th e Mining Indu stry' .

Next issue will carry a report.

TASMANIA BRANCH ACTIVITI ES

For the May meeting th e Branch was addressed by Mr. John Freeman , an Environmenta l Applicatipn Co nsul tant with the Comm onwealth Indu stri al Gases, on "Enviroshield " Oxygen Inj ecti on . Mr. Freeman has had extensive involvement with the use of oxygen for waste treatment and fo r odour control in sewers, sewer ri sing mains and waste treatment plants, a nd he illustrated his talk with slides showing installati ons in Tasmani a and on the Mainland.

The use of oxygen fo r treating municipal waste water was success full y tested in th e U .K . about ten years ago by the Water Research Co un cil and the British Oxygen Company. T his was fo llowed by simil ar trials in A ustrali a by C .l. G. Th e processes developed termed 'Enviroshield ' include oxygen inj ection into pumped sewer mains and oxygen activated sludge treatment plant s.

In rising mains, the obj ecti ve is to dissolve sufficient oxygen to maintain aerobic condi tions in th e sewage, thereby preventing the for mation of hydrogen sulphide with its odours. In Australia there are 35 installati ons operating with 15 more in th e design stage.

One installation is in three stati ons pumping sewerage to the Rosny (Clarence Muni cipality) treatment plant . Oxygen has been found to be more effective than methods previously used for th e control of odours, such as chlorinatio n and odour masking agents .

Oxygen inj ection equipment has prevented septicity in grav ity main s in th e Perth area. l:lere, it was necessary to strip th e di ssolved nitrogen fr om the sewerage to obtain suffi cient oxygen inj ection .

For the Hunter River District Water Board an In -Main Treatment process in th e pumped main follow ed by a settling tank has achi eved treatment to secondary sta ndards at lo wer costs than other alternatives.

The process has been introduced into th e Acti vated Sludge treatment method and for treating industrial wastes. An example was give n o f indu stri a l waste BOD of 35 000 mg/ L being reduced by 95% by th e pure oxygen process. Oxygen has been used 10

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NEWS

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VIEWS

in. both prim ary and secondary treatment and in oxid ati on lagoons.

The Jul y meeting of the Bra nch was adressed by Mr. Chris Lynton- Moll , Medi cal Scientist-in-Charge, Microbi ological Department of the Royal Hobart H os pital and fo rm er ly Sc ie n t ist - In -C h a r ge of th e Microbiological Department of the State Health La boratories.

Mr. L y nt o n - M o ll 's topi c was 'M icrobiological Indi cators of P olluti on' a nd his talk summ ari sed the present state of the art. An excellent discuss ion session foll owed the talk.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA BRANCH ACTI VITI ES

T he West emerged fr om the Ninth Co nvention hangover with a visit on Jul y 2nd to the Water laboratori es of the State Health Department. H elpful Departmental sta ff provided a fasc inating commentary on th e acti viti es and members left bet ter in fo rm ed and great ly impressed by the care and attenti on lavished on bugs and their host carri ers.

The Branch Committee had its attenti on drawn to misleading press ad vertisements on the subj ect o f alleged di sabilities o f th e Perth 'Scheme' water as against the virtues of the household ta nk. A medi a release by the Committee was fea tured in the Press . This matter is referred to elsewhere in thi s iss ue.

Fo r th e A.G.M . on August 19th , Branch Secretary, Rein Loo follo wed the Presidential Report with a talk li ghtly entitled 'The Tunnel Vision of a Bore - or - Video Inspection of A Lot of Bores' . This was not a commenta ry upon his associates but an acco unt of th e use of remote viewing a ids in determining the cau se and effect and possible remedies to the fa ll-o ff in bore hole perfo rm ance.

On September 5th , as we go to Press, th e Branch will be visiting Alcoa ' s new full y a utom a ted Wat er Tr ea tm ent Plant at Wagerup . The visit will include a look at Alcoa's mining operati ons in water catchment areas and Members will be able to form a fir st hand impression of thi s frequently criticised activity. With a little luck , Water Branch News should carry a reasonable report on the visit in the next issue.

What 's in a name? This is an oft debated questi on , but the West has found a curi ous correlati on between surn ame initials and readiness (or otherwise) to pay annual dues .

The prompt (and welcome) payers are in surname groups startin g with A, J , L, 0 , U, V and X, then starts th e fa ll-away running fr om D 's (80% paid-up) through M , N, K, P , W, F to G (60% paid). The B's, C's , H 's, E's and R's are the bottom o f the barrel. H ow do other States fair. ? • Future programm e and results o f the A .G .M . are. not known to th e struggling Editor o f Water.

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COMMENT SOUTH AUSTRALIA

BRANCH A CTI VITI ES

At a joint meeting with th e H ydrological Society on May 29th , Mr. Don Armstrong o f the Department of Min es and Energy and Mr. John Waterhou se of Coffey and Partners P/ L spok e on 'Dewatering at the Bowman' s Trial Coal Pit .'

Mr. Waterhouse explained th at the Pit was excavated for the Electri city Tru st in I 980 to obtain large coal samples for testing and to provide in fo rmation on overburden excavation and dewatering, the latter proving a major cost component.

Mr. Armstrong described th e approach to dewatering . The initial anticipati on of a rate of 0. 3 m3 / sec. pro ved 100% too low and th e initial provision of 5 dewatering holes to augment the natural drainage was inadequate.

Th e fin al installation involved 11 Pit wells and a 2-well point system at 2 m centres. In th e fin al operating system, 800 well points were used and dewatering costs increased by some $2 million .

Slides were used to illustrate this excellent talk. Th e work yielded va luable information and the Tru st was awarded a commendation by th e LE.Aust. for the operation .

On July 24th three speak ers addressed the Branch on Computers and the Water Indu stry. Ms. Ga il Mac klin , Operation s Manager, Computing Research , C.S .I .R.O. explained th e CSIRONET facilit y, a nationwide complex providing information retri ev al on a wide range of topics including water resources.

Dr. John Cugley, Scientific Offi cer at th e State Water Laboratori es of th e E. & W. S. Dept. outlined the use of the computer to capture data direct from automated instruments and ip analyti cal quality control, eliminating tedious and lengthy manual operations.

Mr . P eter Man oel , Supervising Inves tigatin g E ngineer , of th e Department , described co mputer application to the design of models in a variety of fi elds including geol ogica l, hydraulic, hydrogeochemical and biological.

At th e A. G .M. on September 25 th as we go to press, Mr. Ian Maynard will speak on 'The History of the River Murray '.

STATE NEWS

For the first time in man y yea rs, a two kilometre sandbar has blocked th e River Murray's flow to· the sea at Goolwa .

Under the calm sea conditions experienced in March and April, sand in large volumes has built up on the beaches of Sir Richard and Younghu sband P eninsulas and in th e Murray Mouth Area, resulting in total clos ure with a barrier o f at leas t 300 m o f sand up to I. 7 m above mean sea level.

With heavy rains in June, river flo w of 30 000 ML/day were predicted leading to severe fl ooding of the ord er of th e 1956 flood if the ba rri er was not removed.

WATER

ASSOC/A TION The E . & W.S. Department cleared two 400 m channels through the sa nd ridge in early July which wave and tidal actio n quickly closed.

Us ing more and heavier plant , a 350 m long cha nnel was excavated through the sand ride, keeping the sea end closed until July 15th . Work co ntinued day and night until overn ight , on Jul y 17th when throughflow increased to 30 000 ML/day deepening and widening the chan nel to 4 m by over 100 m width.

The high flow has kept the channel open and the area is constantly monitored.

VICTORIA BRANCH ACTIVITIES 'Nutrient Reduction ' was the subject of a talk on May 26th by Dr. Bengt Gustafson now with John Scroggie, Consu lt in g Engineers , after a most distinguished career in Sweden .

Dr. Gustafson outlined the state of advanced treatment of muni cipal waste-water in Sweden where the eutrophi c condition of the lakes (th e main rece ivin g waters fo r municipal and industrial wastes) was reali sed in 1960. Even in 1974 , some 50% of the lakes in the Stockholm area were eutrophic with phosphorus the critical factor.

By 1979, of the treatment plants in Sweden , 72% were combined biological and chemical, 5% were chem ical alone, 20% biological alone a nd onl y 2.51l,7o primary treatment.

He gave a wealth of detail on practi ce, treatment and costs a nd up on studies in progress. Nitrogen removal is being studied but with phosphorus removed, is not cons idered critical except in some coastal waters.

Th e improvement in the lakes is noticeable but there are still problems with large phosp horu s inputs from rural so urces an d with sediments.

The activities of the Public Bodies Review Comm ittee (PBRC) under Chairman Dr. Foley in exam ining the water and sewerage industries in Victoria is seen as one of the most significant happenings in th e fi eld this cent ury and the Branch Committee has developed very useful lines of communication with th e PBRC .

Pursuing the intense A WW A interest in thi s area, a talk on the PBRC Reports was arranged for June 23rd. Unfortunately Dr. Foley was unable to attend but hi s stand -in, Dr : Bill Russell , Research Director for the Committee did a sterling job before a packed house which reflected the great interest of the Members.

He outlined the nine research studies completed and pending - a most comprehensive li st covered in detail in the Branch Newsletter for July.

The disc ussion which fo llowed was wideranging and ent husiastic and highlighted the intense interest in this vital exercise .

The Branch enjoyed one of its annual social events on July 24th with a Ladies' WATER

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NEWS

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Night at the Stage Door Restaurant - attendance was good, having in mind Melbourne' s winter night di scouragement and so me sixty Members, and their ladies, enjoyed the evening.

For the more serious July activity on the 28th, Mike Smith of the S.R. & W.S . Commission spoke on a proj ect to investigate the effects of irrigation of vegetables with reclaimed efflu ent from th e Melbourne Board 's S.E. Purification Plant. T he proj ect, funded by the Victorian Reclaimed Water Committee involved large scale experimental plots at the Department of Agricultu re's Research Station at Frankston . Spray irri gation was used on a variety of root and leaf crops.

Anne McNeill , also of the Commi ssion outlined th e results of bacterial examination of the crops. In essence, bacteria found were in no greater numbers than in parallel tests on produce from wholesale markets or grow n in backyards - even though spraying continued right up to the day of harvesting.

The same crops were tested for virus retention by the Fairfield Hospital team , funded by the A WRC . A paper by Ward, Irving and Smith at the Perth Convention suggests thi s is a critical factor . The results of both studies will be reported later this year.

The experimental work revealed no problems with heavy metal accum ulation either in the crops or so il.

An excellent film of the work, 'Second Time Round' illustrates the proj ect and copi es are available on loan from the Victorian Department of Agriculture.

For August (25th) the programme included the film 'Second Time Round' which was not show n at the July meeting (faces are still somewhat red!) with an opportunity for questions, fo ll owed by David Mitchell of Camp Scott and Furph y P / L on 'Flood Mitigation Studies'.

Commencing with slide illustrations of effective and non-effective levee examples in the Loddon Valley, David then gave detailed descriptions of two flood mitigation studies, at Werribee and Seaspray.

Hi s talk covered adm inist rati ve arrangements a nd Authority interests, the gathering of flood hi story and statisti cs and the formu lation and assessment of options for mitigation and flood plain management.

T he proposed solutions for each case were outlined.

The balance of the year offers a fu ll list starting with a Special Meeting at Mi ldura on September 16th (as we go to press) in conjunction with the Engi neers and Operators 44th Annual Co nference, the A.G .M . on September 29th, the Spri ng Break-out on October 24t h, and finally a site inspection on November 24th .

At the A .G.M., Allan Longstaff will give his retiring President's address on 'A New Era for the Water Indu stry' asking some pertinent questions as to the future , th e possib ility of reviving Government interest in water matters and opportun ities for new water technologies in a boom-or-bust economy.

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COMMENT

T he Break-out , more soberly, the WeekEnd Regional Conference with the theme 'Water Perspectives I 981' will be held at the T hompson Dam which will be the second highest earth and rockfi ll dam in Australi a and is still under construction by the M .S.S. & D. Bd . Delegates and their fam ilies will be accommodated in th e Board' s Township. The prog ramme pro vid es h a nd so me ly for techni cal and fami ly interests.

T he site visit on November 24t h is to the treatment plant of the Lil ydale Sewerage Authority.

W.P.C.F. NEWS & PUBLICATIONS Australian membership is showing a very healthy increase . During the last twelve months numbers have grown from 53 to 93 a world high percentage increase.

W harf and postal stri kes have hit mail deliveries from the U.S.A. and since 'Deeds and Data' comes by surface mail, the impact is severe. April , May and June deliveries may well arrive together.

T he 15t h Edition of Standard Met hod s is now off the press and a bulk shipment should arri ve in October with also, the newer An nuals of Practice.

The Detroit W . P.C.F. Conference, October 4-9th , is shaping up for great success. Las t minute in format ion and assistance in regi stration is ava il ab le from R. Dengate, A.W.W.A., P.O. Box A232, Sydney So uth , 2000. P hone (02) 269 6217 .

W .A. CRITICISES MEDIA ADV~RTISING Recently the Branch Committee had cause to regi ster concern at the trend of media advertisi ng advocating the use of rainwater co llect ion tanks for drink ing water purposes with implied criticism of the Perth 'scheme' water.

The Comm ittee 's concern arose fro m the known biological a nd chemical hazards of roof and gutter water collecti on , if not carefull y maintained.

A press statement was prepared which co incided with reports of severe and longterm bowel infection suffered by a family in the Mundaring area. Analys is of the fa mily's tank storage cont_aining roof and carted 'scheme' water showed the presence of Salmonella Typh imurium. T he report and the Committee statement appeared in the Daily News of July.

The Committee also wrote the Department of Publi c Health and the Co nsumer Affairs Bureau expressing its concern.

The Branch Committee considered the advertising in qu es ti on to be misleadin g and th e matter of suffici en t importance to warrant comment from an informed and objective source .

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NEWS

PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS In a circu larisation of June 8th the President Engelbrecht offered the follow ing comment: The new Secretary-Treasurer is well settled in since assuming office in January and has developed a quick appreciation of Association activities . The new office arrangements are working well after the normal problems involved in a relocation .

Preparations for the Capetown Conference are well in hand and the Programme Committee will be meeting on September 16th and 17t h to select papers. Further to the conference matters, several meetings of the Secretary and the Netherlands National Committee have been held to discuss preliminary arrangements for the 1984 Amsterdam Conference and the progress to date is impressive.

To round off 198 I, a Specialised Conference will be held in Brussels on Micropollutants in the Environments - contact the Secretariat if interested.

A long range programme for Regional and Specialised Conferences is under consideration by a Com mittee headed by Prof. Paul Harremoes following suggest ions which arose in Toronto in June of I 980.

A recent development is the estab lishment of Study and Working Groups - a Study Gro up on Water Virology estab li shed last year is currently implementing a review paper on the health significances of viruses in water and is planning a post conference seminar in Pretoria after the Capetown Conference in 1982.

Working Groups - these have a specific assignment as distinct from the general aspect of Study Groups - are at a formative stage on 'Fate and Effects of Pollutants in Natural Waters' and 'Water Pollution from Alternative Energy Sources'. National Members have been advised of the above and of a joint IAWPR and IUPAC Working Group on Notation.

In the matter of publications, the time lag for 'Water Research' has been reduced to fo ur and a half to five months, the title 'Progress in Water Technology' has been changed to 'Water Science and Technology' and it is now a monthly publication. Circulation of both publications should be higher than they are. A promotional campaign for both is under discussion with Pergamon Press. One way to participate is to recruit new Members and to encourage subscriptio n by librar ies .

The Association's Newsletter has not been as meaningful as originally planned. If you have any thoughts on the subject please communicate with Dr. S. H. Jenkins, Chai rman of the Editorial Committee .

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Growth of the Association is expected.

Brazil has formed a National Comm ittee and has petitioned for m(;mbership. Nation al Committees are at the formative stage in Greece and Portugal : There is also keen interest in forming a Nat ional Committee in Egypt.

There has been a slow but steady increase in all categories of membership, however, the growth in membership does not come close to matching the world-wide interest which exists with respect to enhancing water quality through research and new developments. The association needs your assistance in enlisting new members .

He has played an active role in the A WW A being a foundation member and Past President of the Queensland ltranch. He has also been most active in the Institution of Engineers (Aust.) and the Association of Professional Engineers .

In his Departmental career, Leon, as Director of Water Quality in the Queensland Department of Local Government, was much involved in the introduction of the Clean Waters Act. Currently he represents the Queensland Water Resources Commission on the Australian Water Resources Council, Water Quality Mangement Committee.

CAPETOWN CONFERENCE

Sam Rogerson -

The advance programme and invitation to register are now available from the Secretary (Sydney). Pre-conference tours wi ll include the Kruger National Park, one being an extended tour to include Capetown . Costs are approx imately $373 and $600 respectively.

Registration fee is relatively low at $ 170 for Members and $ I 90 for non-Members.

Post-Conference sem inars in Pretoria at about $45 each will include: Modern Trends in Sludge Management , Water Virology, Mine Water Pollution and Phosphate Removal in Biological Treatment Processes.

Post-conference Tours are centred on Pretoria and Johannesburg, costs range from $14 to $22 and vis its include: • A.E .C. l. chemical and explosive manufacture with· aqua-cu lture treatment of wastes.

• S.A. pulp and paper industries reusing treated waste water. e The Moddor Deep , ERGO and ERPM go ld mines with their waste treatment and management of acid drainage.

• SASOL oil from coal plant.

• National Institute of Water Research.

• Northern Sewage Works , Johannesburg.

During the Conference, visits can be made to sewage and water plants in the Capetown area, the Institute of Sea Fisheries, the University of Capetown, the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station and to other research organisations. In addition tnere will be a number of short tours in the Capetown, Johannesburg and Pretoria areas .

Information and copies of the programme are available from Rex Dengate at the M.W.S. & D.B., Sydney or Leon Henry· at the Queensland Water Resources Commission.

S.A. AIRWAYS HOLDS A FEW SEATS ONLY - BOOK NOW!

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OFFICERS A few notes in the interests of closer acquaintance.

Leon Henry -

Chairman

One of the founders of the Australian Committee, Leon was the first Secretary/Treasurer and has served as a Director and Vice-President . He has attended IA WPR Conferences since 1964 as a State Government representative and currently is the representative of the Queensland Water Resources Committee, an Associate Member.

Vice Chairman

Now Deputy Chairman of the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission of Victoria, Sam has had a busy and fruitfu l career in the 'water industry'.

Graduating from Melbourne University in Civil Engineering he has experienced all aspects of water supply and sewerage with the Commission and became a Commissioner in 1975.

He has seen much of overseas activities and practice and has attended IA WPR Conferences regularly since I 974.

His association with A WW A dates back to 1964 and he has served as a Victorian Committee man since 1973 and was Branch President in 1977-78. Since 1979 Sam has been a Director for the Australian National Committee of A WW A.

WATER RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA AWRC REVIEW The Australian Water Resources Council has establ ished a working group to review waJer research in Australia. Its ter ms of reference are: • the adequacy, effectiveness and overal l balance of the natio nal effort in water research; • the assessment of gaps and overlaps in water research in Australia; • the need for concentrated research efforts in those areas havin9 particular national significance; • the means of improving efficiency in the use of resources involved in water researc h; and • development of appropriate institutional arrang~ments.

The working group is seeking submissions w hi ch, with any request for further information, should be forwarded to: Ms Penny Le Couteur, Department of National Development and Energy, P.O. Box 5, Canberra, ACT 2600 (Phone 062 45 8634) by 30 October 1981.

WATER

MANPOWER AND EDUCATION FOR THE WATER INDUSTRY A.W.R.C. Technical Paper No. 57 THE WATER INDUSTRY IN TRANSITION General

The water industry i's entering upon a period of fundam ental change, with significant ramifications for the industry generally, and for its education and training needs in particular.

Changes in external environment include such factors as: a marked reduction in the rate of growth in demand for services, repoliticisation of the industry, a changing economic environment, increasing use of technology, and a decline in the work ethic. These changes will necessitate a re-deployment of existing resources, the introduction of new field s of knowledge and skills, and improved communication and information handling , but above all else, a significant shift in the attitudes, values and perspectives of those within the indust ry. Education and training for the future personnel of the industry must be considered against this background of changing needs and constraints.

This section examines some of the future implications of current changes occurring in the external environment of the water industry, with major focus upon organisations and people, and their associated education and training needs.

Australia, along with other developed nations of the world, is currently experiencing a number of major social and economic changes having significant ramifications for the water industry in the future.

Changes include the decline in population fertility, the end of an economic era based on growth and development, the increasi ng use of complex technology, and the changing aspirations of a bettereducated society.

Superimposed on these changes is a further factor, namely the great momentum of infrastructure development programs that has built up since the earliest days of colonisation, and which must now be wound down. This is simply the result of the timing and nature of Australia' s beginnings, and its physical environment.

The nature of change

(a) Change of rate of growth Analysis of the water resource industry in the context of current socio-economic and political factors, indicates that the water industry is at the end of the major development and implementation phase that has characterised it since its inception. Today, notwith standing an unsympathetic environment, urban Australians enjoy a standard of service of world standing. Outside of Israel, Australia has the largest area under irrigation per head of population in the world. The burgeoning growth of the major metropolitan areas projected in the early seventies has not been realised, and existing services in many cases are sufficient to see these areas through to the year 2000. In other areas, backlogs in provision of services, developed over the sixties, are being steadily overcome. (b) Change of Focus The early plight of the colonies, with widespread disease from lack of sanitation, unreliable water supply, and the failure of irrigation trusts, enabled governments to depoliticise the task of providing these services, with the formation of independent statutory bodies to develop and manage the required facilities and organisations. When the water authorities were established, wide consensus existed regarding community needs, that is, the ends for which the organisations were created. As a result, the sole focus of the water authorities was upon the mean s of implementation. The success of such policies is evident in Australia's present

Technical Paper No. 57 is the result of Australian Water Resources Council research project 781113 conducted within the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works.

Authors of the Paper are B. E. Lloyd and C. J. Nevill of the M.M. B. W., this extract is from Chapters 2 and 14.

WATER

Extract

day high standards of municipal and irrigation water supply and sanitation services.

In the increasingly affluent and better-educated society of today, however , there have arisen concerns for issues such as recreation, the environment, and for a greater share in the decision-making processes on matters affecting society. Such concerns, in association with the marked reduction in growth rates, mean that statutory authorities are now confronted by a significant shift in primary focu s away from means: the ends, once accepted, are now being questioned. (c) Changing technology The adoption of more complex technology by water industry organisations has been increasing rapidly in recent years, especially in the areas of data acquisition and analysis, and the application of automatic control systems.

The application of advanced technology can be expected to continue, and even accelerate, in the future; there being a number of motivating factors, such as: • The increasing complexity of problems • The economic benefits offered by technological solutions • The potential for improvements to consumer service offered by advanced technology • The challenges to -the legitimacy of organisations, that is, a decline in rational legal authority may be offset by increasing the use of specialist knowledge, as an alternative basis for legitimate authority.

A further factor fostering technological growth may arise from an increasing number of people in the authorities having a vested interest in promoting their particular skills. (d) Changing work ethic An area of change having significant implications for all organisations is the decline in the work et hic, together with a decline in willingness to accept directions based 4POn coercion.

The better educated work-force of today has e!><pectations of job satisfaction, and has an increasing tendency to require that directions be 'legitimate', and based upon collaboration and reason.

Trends such as these will be exacerbated in an environment of no growth and in situations in which ch~nges in priorities and pmgrams dimini sh the value of the knowledge and skills of some individuals . (e) Economic change The late 1970s are variously described by economists as "the end of an era", "the end of the age of growth", and "the age of uncertainty".

Whatever the future holds, it is clear that in the short to medium term the economy will exhibit continued high unemployment, government difficulties with budget deficits, tight capital, and conflict over how to distribute the economic cake.

Metropolitan costs can be expected to become a political "agenda" issue, at a time when governments can do little to alleviate the problem, and water authorities are faced with high depreciation costs and the need to raise high interest loans for conversion of maturing loans raised on the lower interest market of the past.

The implications of change

(a) Organisational change Organisations comprise people who, through a long period of education, qaining and serv ice, have developed a set of attitudes, values and perspectives congruent with the requirements and functions of the past needs of their organisation. Hence, the implication of change must be considered in relation to its effect on the people comprising the organisation, both as individuals and as social units.

The factors di scussed above - especially the change from growth to no growth, a better educated a nd pluralistic society, and the

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fact that the water industry has co mpleted its primary task of provi ding for basic serv ice needs - are bringing about a challenge to the legitimacy of unilateral deci sions made by authorities on behalf of society. Repoliticisation of th e industry then is inevitab le, as is the need for authorities to shift their focu s away from the mea ns, and back to the end s for which they ex ist. Such changes will req uire modifications to traditional policy-making and information flow processes, with particular emphasis upon corporate management , in volvement of public interest gro ups in decision mak ing, and upon political processes.

Changes in the externa l environment will necess itate some redeployment of existing resources and changes to the internal structures of the water auth orities, including the introduction of new fields of knowledge and skills, improved communicat ion and in formation handling, and above all else, a significant change in att itudes, valu es and perspecti ves among the people who make up the organisations.

With their primary focus upon mea ns, an d organisational structures based upon functiona l implementation gro ups, the authorities have been effective in the past in adapting to signifi cant change in construction methods, design soluti ons and investigation techniques, in the realisat ion of technically sound projects. However, such orga ni sat ions have not been geared to responsiveness to changing comm unity needs and priorities, particu larly in respect to issues of environmental and social amenity.

There has been criticism of the con tinu ation of organisational st ructures based upon functiona l specialisation, when the important current issues are political ones, and quest ions of principle, rather than of function. The narrow perspectives of implementation groups are reinforced by functional fragmentation of organ isational st ru ctu res. The new situation of the water authorit ies requires fundamenta l changes to organisat ion to enable greater attent ion to be given to the ends for which a uthorities exist. Examples of such change already exist in Austra lia : the new organisation of Telecom Au stralia is one , and the re-organisation of the Engineering and Water Supply Department of South Australia is anoth er . (b) Eco nomic change The financia l management of the water industry, and tne econom ics of its charging policies, must come more a nd more under the spotlight of public and po liti cal attention as a result of the changing economic aspects of the no growth environment of th e industry, co upled with high metropolitan costs incurred from past development and looming replacement costs.

In the past , with th e major focus on means, policies have largely been guided by the preferred technical solution or ' routine ', with finan cia l considerations merely determining the timing of project implementation. In th e future, it can be expected that fin ancial strategies and chargi ng policies will have priority over techn ical policies and standards. Th is shift will be reinforced as mu ch by the growth importance of metropolita n costs as a political agenda iss ue, as by contin uing loan serv icing and impending replacement costs.

There are particu lar implications in such a shi ft for the dominant profession al groups in the industry. E ngineers and scientists, and accountants, may be forced to forego some policies, standard s or pract ices based either upon purely technical considerations or upon traditio nal financial concepts, in favo ur of new policies reflecting a wider corporate endeavo ur. (c) Extern al regulation Given the challenge to the legitimacy of authori ti es to unilaterally make decisions on behalf of society, and the emergi ng political nature of the metropolitan cost issue, governments can be expected to respond either by dismantling statutory authorities, or by imposing furth er regulatory co ntrols. Given that "Australia's characteristic talent is for bureaucracy", it seems unlikel y that auth orities wi ll be dismantled , but rather that there wi ll be an increased crowdi ng of inst itutional space. In such circum stances, those within the organisations will need to seek collaboration with other authorities in arri ving at joint solutions. The end effect of such a trend will be greater needs for new negotia:ion skills, awareness of institutional arrangements and legal jurisdiction , and new analytical techniq ues.

14

(d) The role of private enterprise Private enterprise has evolved a n increas ing role in the water resource industry in post-war years , and tod.y, more knowledge a nd expertise in many areas resides in private enterprise than in the stat utory authorit ies.

Given their commercial orientation, private enterprise will be able to adapt to the changing situation more readil y than the statutory organisations . This abilit y to adapt, together with government sensitivity to the private enterprise lobby in a period of economic recession, can be expected to give ri se to an increasingly important role for private enterprise in the future water industry.

Adaptation to change

(a) Constraints to adaptation The people of organisations, through a long period of socialisation, develop sets of att itudes, values and perspectives that are congruent with the requiremen ts of the past needs of the organisation. This is particularly so of the public sector, where employees tend to make a career in a particular organisation, and turnover in staff positions is low because of the effects of non-porta bl e superannuation and job security. As a result, there are inbuilt mechanisms for preservation of the status quo, projection of past ex perience into future plans, and for non -acceptance of the need for change .

The fac tors of change outlined in the foregoing sect ions, especially the need for change from a mea ns to an ends sta nce in organisation, the changi ng external environment with the consequential need for redevelopment of resources, and the adoption of new technology (especiall y at a time of low growth), each contribute to a major upheaval in the nature of knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and perspecti ve needs of the organisation.

Adaptation to new focii, attitudes and perspectives, has to occur within organisations that are highl y institutionalised through a long period of formative enterprise, and in which individuals will feel threatened by shifts in the pattern of authority, priorities and programs. The older and more forma li sed the organisation, th e more persiste nt the influence of earlier enterprise.

The departmentation of organ isations according to function is a significant mechanism entrench ing ex isting perspectives, attitudes and values of technical groups. Each functional gro up competes with other groups within the organisation for the means of securing goals, especially in a situation of no growth , thereby engendering a high level of compliance of attitudes and va lues among members of the group , and also reinforcing narrow perspecti ves with in the group .

Growing specialisation associated with technology reinforces functional fra gmentation , but it is the functional areas in which tasks have become routinised and in ~ich tec hnology is absent th at are least able to affect change. (b) Alienation of employees Given an expectation of greater job satisfaction , and a work-force guided by legitim ate directions based on perceived collaboration and reason rather than coercion, the process of change can onl y occur through open communication with staff, and with their invo lvement in the process of achievement of change. The people of the work-force have made significant in vestments in specific areas of sk ill and expertise, and have been rewarded for them by the organisation in terms of promotion and es teem . Any change that may intrude upon this situation wou ld be perceived either as a threat to perso nal job security a nd overtly opposed, or it may be di smissed as of no consequen ce.

In the ultimate, and in th e absence of planning and consultation with the work-force, the process of change may occur as a co nflict process (rather than as a normative process) forced upon the organisation by external change . In such circumstances, individua ls suffer real hardship a nd alienation in the process. The introduction of new techology, especia ll y in a period of low growth, is a prime example of the need for careful planning and consultation, to ens ure that new skills an d knowledge a re developed and redundancy of traditional skills is absorbedwitho.ut undue disruption .

In a time of change there must be a major emphasis upon concern for the people within organisations , not only as a mater of humanity, but also to ensure co ntinued organisational viabi lity.

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(c) Dynamics of decisions Empirical analys is o f water reso urce organisations indi cates that policy outputs are the end result of competition for influence and resources betwee n the functional groups within the organisation.

Factors such as group statu s within the organ isat ion, extern al events and support, access to leadership·, their mode of co ntrol, and their relati ve freedom from institutionalised procedures and outlines, are imp ortant in determining relative group influence on the policy process . These dynamic factors constitute a n important adaptation resource, but they are largely limited to technical im plementation (the means) a reas of organisation endeavour .

The orientation towards means, and the res ulta nt fun ctional approach to organisation, has meant that a good dea l of the resources of organisations have been absorbed by internal competition for influence, and that insufficient resources have been applied to interaction with consumers and with the exte rnal environment. This situation has resulted in both th e relative absence in such organisations of people sk illed in social sciences including economics, and a corporate management stance preoccupi ed with the mea ns, rather than the ends of the role of the organisation.

The adaptation to change in the ma nner out lin ed in the foregoing sections therefore has fundamental implication s for the way in which decisions are made within th e organisation. Failure on the part of organisations in the water industry to respond to the changing external environment may have the ultim ate result of removal, by governments, of th eir right to make important decisions about their roles, and may ultimately lead to their relegation to operation and maintenance services only.

EDUCATION AND MANPOW ER CHANGE

One of the most importa nt and sensitive manpower iss ues facing the water industry is how to manage the existing work-force through the 1980s. Two-t hirds of those currently employed wi ll sti ll be in the industry in 1990, but the work-force roles avai lable for many of them are lik ely to be very different from those of today. Cha nge will be twofold and cumulative: th e changing ro le a nd circumstances of the industry itself will be overlaid with technological change. One of the key factors in managing the work-force through the period of change must be education, in the form of recurrent and continuin g ed ucation.

The new situ ation facing the water industry work-force is different from the past in many respects: • Restructuring will be needed progressively as change occurs, but such restructuring is unlikely to produce promotiona l opportunities, as no expansion wi ll be involved.

• Work-force stabili ty also wi ll mean fewer promotional opportunities than in the past.

• People will have to be content to remain longer in positions of lower responsi bility level than has been experienced in the past generation , and many will experience fru stration and be tempted to seek a lternative employment.

• While alternative job opportunities may be fewer than in the past, the more energetic and intelli gent are likely to succeed in finding th em , and be lost to the water industry.

Retention of a vita l and energetic work -force, in these circumstances, requires sensitivity and responsiveness in personnel man agement a nd an understanding of th e hum an behav ioural factors on th e pa rt of line management. The implication is th at a higher level of skills in orga nisat ion theory, behavioural science and psychology will be needed than is evi dent withi n many parts of the water industry today. The development of such ski lls requires a major effort in recurrent education for potential perso nnel and line managers of the ear ly 1980s.

The other major thrust of recurrent and continuing edu cation , of course, must be within the work -force itself, and in particular, within the pro fessional work-fo rce. Many specia li sts in engineering design and co nstru ction will need to be re-or iented towards recurren t activities . Those engaged upon rec urrent activities will need to develop

WATER

greater sk ills in the management of human and physical resources, among other sk ills.

The iss ues confronting the water industry of the future a re such that a hi gh proportion of the professional work-force will need to have their initi al professional ed ucation supplemented by a wider knowledge and a broader outlook. This may be ac hieved by building upon undergrad uate educat ion thro ugh encouragement of three types of postgrad uate education: (a) Technical exce llence: doctorates, master degrees and grad uate diplomas by research and / or coursework, and with researeh preferably conducted as joint programs with authority participation at all stages . (b) Multi-d isci plinary co urses : for those engaged in areas requiring a broad outlook, for example, master degrees in env ironmental science. (c) Management: master degrees for the hi gh achievers, and graduate diplomas for everyone who aspires to operational management and higher levels.

The predicted need for significa nt changes in organisation structure , attitudes, · values and perspectives, the redeployment of resources, and the development of new skills and knowledge , all necessary to enable the water industry to respond to changes in its external environment , are of profound significance to the exisiting work-force. It will be the task of all those in professiona l level supervisory a nd management positions, or who asp ire to such positions, to lead the rest of the work-fo rce thro ugh the period of .:hange .

Furthermore, such people will be req ui red to fu nct ion in an environm ent of in creasing physical, social a nd political interactions. All levels of managem ent will require a considerable broadening of the knowledge a nd sk ills required for effective decisions and policy formulat ion . Internall y, with increased diversity of disciplines, improved skills in manageri al co-ordin ation will be needed, from corporate level dow n. Studies in human behaviour and orga ni sation theory not only will provide a top down view of the management of change, but also wi ll assist those undertak ing them to view their own personal situations within the organisation with greater cla rity and insight.

In eva luating technology, an appreciation wi ll be required not simply of the body of know ledge, techniques and instruments of the technology, a nd of the benefits they bring to the orga ni sation; insights a lso wi ll be needed into the possible detriments of technological change, in terms of its social and organisational impacts.

T he kinds of skills and knowledge needed to , fulfil these requirements essentially cannot be taught at undergraduate level, and can on ly be absorbed successfull y by peop le who have had substa nti al experience in the wo rk -force . On ly then will th ey be able to grapple with the issues and concepts. Again , ho1ever, it is stressed that greatest advantage will on ly accrue if appropriate introductory material is included in undergraduate studies .

The foregoing considerations lead to the identificat ion of a range of skills and knowledge separate from engineering and science, but essential co-req ui siti es of it , fo r all engineers and sc ientists who aspire to successful leadership roles in the water industry of the future.

T he A WRc' study has concentrated on the engi neering and science disciplines of the water industry. The genera l conclusions reached in respect of their changing ro les, and the consequential impacts upon their ed ucational processes, have equal force for the disciplines excluded from the study. The co nclu sion that the engineers and scientists of th e water industry need substantial and specific postgraduate education to enab le them to adjust to the future of the indust ry a nd to adj ust the future of the ind ustry to its new circumstances, could equally we ll be drawn in respect of the accountant s and administrative o ffi cers of th e industry . In fact, the future well -being of the industry demands that both groups undertake simi lar recurrent educational programs - otherwise th e communicat ion barriers now existing between them will be furt her heightened.

15

CONTINUOUS ION EXCHANGE USING MAGNETIC MICRORESINS - PART II E. A. Swinton, P.R. Nadebaum, R. W. Murtagh, R. J. O'Beirne DR. MICHAEL FLYNN AWARD PAPER 1981 AWWA CONVENTION 3

PART 2. DEVELOPMENT OF A CONTINUOUS MULTISTAGE CONTACTOR

An early version of a contactor was operated on pilot-plant scale (Bolto 1977) for a dealkalisation reaction , using a weak-acid resin in magnetic microbead form. A single fluidi sed bed was employed for the adsorption unit. T hi s was adeq uate because the uptake of alka lin ity is a partic ularly easy reaction requiring at most only two countercurrent stages. The regeneration unit , however , required multi-stage countercurrent contact, not so much for the reaction with the acid regenerant, but to ensure that all the acid was washed back into the regeneration zone by the upflow of rinse water . A tall narrow bed was employed, in which the upflow of water was res tricted to a level whi ch loose ned the bed of res in but did not completely fluidi se it. The resin then moved steadily downwards in more or less plug flow. A slow moving gate stirrer was found to be advantageous in ensuring reasonable distribution of flow - witho ut causing excess ive backmixin g, a nd a number of countercurrent contacting stages was attained .

T he unit operated successfu ll y for some months, removing calci um ions from the overflow of a lime-precipitator treating primary sewage effluent. It demon strated that the unit could handle a turbid li quid of rather less than laboratory purity. However, this simple system is not suitable for large-sca le operation since the necessity to restrict linear upflow rates wou ld result in a column of the same height , but of large diameter. Countercurrent plug flow could only occur if there were comp licated means to distribute both water and resin flows not only into the bed, but also out of the bed.

Countercurrent contacting involving a significant number of stages will always be required for regeneration and washing units of ionexchange processes, a nd sometimes for the adsorption units as well. It was therefore necessary to develop a system which could deal with much larger upflow rates.

Over the years ma ny multi-stage columns have been designed and operated for ion-exchange (and ot her reactions in volving the contacting of li quid with solid particles). "Fixed-bed" continuous contactors, such as the Asahi and Chemseps systems, operate by a flow of li quid holding the bed of resin hard against a screen for a period of some minutes. The flows of liquid are then reversed for a short time , various valves open , and a "slug" of resin is transferred by a back flu sh of water from one vessel, or zone, to the next. The valves close, a nd norma l operation is resumed . These contactors are efficient because the resin is subjected to high liquid velocities but their complication is vi rtually the same as for a conventional fixed-bed cyclic process, and also, under the harsh transfer system, resin wear-andtear can be high. On ly the invention of tough macro-reticular resins made the systems feas ible .

Mr. E. A. (Bob) Swinton (the principal au th or of the paper) is a Principal Research Scientist in the Division of Chemical Techno logy, CSiRO, South Melbourne.

Dr. Peter Nadeba um is the Technical Manager of Austep, the joint venture established in 1979 by Clough Engineering and Davy McKee Pacific to develop and market new Australian process technology.

Dr. Ron Mu rtagh was, during the period of the development of the process, the Leader of the Chemical Engineering Section in the Central Research Laboratories of IC/ Australia.

Mr. Richard O'Beirne is a Process Engineer with Davy McKee Pacific, engaged in the design of the demonstration plant.

Part I of this paper appeared in the Jun e issue of Water Vo l. 8, No. 2.

16

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Multi-stage fluidi sed-bed columns, using conventi onal resins, nave been success fully operated, notably those designed by Cloete and Streat (I 963), Himsley a nd Farkas (I 976) and the Liquitech system (Newman and Morley 1973). However, in all cases it has been found necessary to adopt a semi -co ntinuou s operatio n. Resin ca n o nl y be transferred from stage to stage and to th e next veยงsel by interrupting the normal flow for short periods of time. This is because the column must be separated into stages by perforated plates, or rest riction s in diameter. To achieve good di stribution of water across the whole cross-section, so that eac h bed of resin is evenly fluidi sed, the perforations must be small enough to impose a press ure drop across the plate at least three times the pressure drop through the resin bed if it were settled. This resu lts in such a high upward velocity of liqui d through the perforations that resin cannot flow downwards at the same time.

In liquid-gas contactors such as distillation columns, the problem is solved by weirs and downcomers, a llowing the liquid to take a separate path from the gas . Such systems have obviously been tried for resin, but have never bee n made to work, because of the change in "ap parent viscos ity" of a settled bed of resin as dist inct from a fluidi sed bed.

There is, however, one technique used for gas- liquid contacting which cou ld be applicable - that of "dual-flow ". Here the perforations in the dividing plates are so sized that gas flows up through some of them, and violently agitates the liquid layer, and quite randoml y, li quid surges down through some of th e others . T he upflow of gas a nd number of perforation s is des igned to hold up suffi cient liquid above each plate for th e req uisite reaction to take place, but not to the degree that the col umn "floods" .

An attempt was made to adapt this technique to ion-exchange , using the magnetic microbeads, by utilising separator plates with large perforations (25 mm down to 12 mm). The upflow of liquid tended to shortcircuit up one side of the co lumn , a nd the res in to lie stagnant on the other. Conseq uently, a stirrer was installed in each stage, and stable dual flow was obtained. Initially, tlfe stirrer was operated in a semi-fluidi sed bed of the resin, in much the sa me fashion as it had been operated in the plug-flow regenerator. This stirrer was a relatively slow-moving sweep, which, in effect, " raked" the resin over the perforations, and enabled large throughputs of resin to be attained, but on ly against relati vely small upflows of liquid. T he degree of turbu lence was low , and kinetics conseq uently poor .

It was then di scovered that the stirrer could be operated in a completely different mode. At relatively high rates of water up flow, and high stirrer speeds, the bed expanded completely in to a flu idised bed, with the kinetics vastly improved by the ad ditiona l local turbulence engendered by the stirrer. Whereas initially increasing the rate of "raking" increased the flo wrate of resin, there came a point where further increase of stirrer speed decreased the rate of resin flo w. T his meant that the resin was retained longer in each compartment, a nd at the same time was subjected to high turbulence.

In these conditions, the stirrer speed had a critical effect on resin flow, and flooding could be contro lled by adjusting the speed to suit the condition s. The design of the sti rrer was also changed from the simple blade to a more efficient design for generation of turbulence th~ baffled turbine.

All the design parameters, i.e . size and number of perforations, plate spacing, and degree of agitat ion were ex plored for various flowrates of liquid and solid phases, and for resins of different settlin g characteristics. This work was carried out on a number of col umns ranging from 150 to 750 mm in diameter.

Fig. 7 shows the effect of in creasing stirrer RPM on the flo oding characteristics of one co lumn . At zero RPM, on ly a very small WATER

l

downflow of resin could be achieved. Applying a slow rak ing action literally " shovelled" settled resin through the perforations , and high throughputs of resin could be achieved . At about 5- 10 RPM, (dependin g on the rate of water upflow) the resin started to be fu ll y fluidi sed and the throughput decreased. Fig . 8 shows the floodin g curves at various rates of res in flow and water flow. Fig . 9 shows the effect of using plates wit h different percentage apertures . Fig . 10 shows how the residence time of the resin on each stage is related to the water upflow at various plate apertures. Wherever a curve asymptotes to infinity, thi s represents a "flood point". Obviously it wou ld not be practicable to operate too near to the flood point , but under the conditions as shown, it is certainly feasible to maintain resin residence times of ca 60 seconds. Fig. 11 shows how the residence time can be controlled by adjustment of the stirrer .

T hi s effect is most im portant , since once a co lumn has been built it is obviously impracticable to adjust the percentage aperture on the plates. However, if the conditions of operation are changed, say by turning down the flow to 800Jo of design load, it is possib le to maintain the necessary reaction time by adjusting the rate of stirring. This overcomes the limitation of dual -flow columns, that is, their rapid loss of efficiency as the load is decreased.

Not only does the stirrer control the resin residence time, it applies extra turbulence to the bed, and also ensures effective distribution of both liqui d and resin across the who le cross-section .

3.1

Pil ot Plant

A pilot plant was bui lt for the "Sirotherm" process. This required

some fo ur or five thea retical contacting stages for adsorption of salt foll owed by a simi lar number for regeneration by hot water . Resin preheating and a ftercoo li ng zones were included, using direct contact wi th water.

shaft rotated at ca 40 rpm . Brackish water entered th rough a di stributor near the base and flowed upwards through the plates with no significant press ure drop, through a baffled zene to all ow res in fl oes to settle out a nd over fl owed the top of the column as potable water.

Cooled regenerated resin was fed in to the top plate and cascaded down from plate to plate, adso rbin g salt in eac h stage, fi nally settling in the base cone. From this it flowed through a 25 mm pipe to the base of a gas li ft where it was diluted with some recycle water and elevated some 500-600 mm above the level of 'the top of the adsorber. This loaded resin then flowed into the top plate of the regenerator.

The regenerato r was constructed of 150 mm diameter industria l glassware. It had 17 perforated plates, each I 50 mm apart, with a sti~rer shaft running down the fu ll length of the column . T he top 5 stages comprised th e resin preheating zone, where a small volume of hot effluent was used to bring the temperature of the resi n up to 90°C by counter-current co nt act. The centre 6 stages constituted the regeneration zo ne. Near-bo iling de-aerated water was pumped int o stage 6, flowed up through the descending resin, and left as concentrated effluent fro m a short separation zone in stage 12. Below stage 6, the resin cascaded down 5 stages against a small fl ow of cold feed water, which reduced it almost to amb ient temperature. The resi n fa lli ng to the base of th e rege nerator flow ed by grav ity up a tube to the top of the adsorber, being driven by a head di fference of a bout 200 mm .

The system was simple to operate, and cou ld be started after a weekend's shutd own by turn ing on the hot water fo r some minutes to preheat the regenerator section, then turn ing on all other pumps.

Within 15 minutes of cycli ng, the system had set tled down pract ically to steady state.

Fig . 12 is a flowshet of the process, and Fig . 13 a general view of the two columns. The adsorpt ion co lu mn was 330 mm diameter, and made of Perspex . It was equipped with 11 perforated plates , 200 mm apart, with a stirrer blade between each pair, mounted on a common

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An indi cation of the effecti veness of the system is given in Fig. 14.

This is a McCabe-Thiele plot of th e adsorption-regeneration cycle of a pi lot plant run . The upper curve is th e equilibrium line for this particu lar "Sirotherm" resin at a temperature of 30°C, the lower curve is the equilibri um at 85 °C. T he eleven act ual stages in the adsorption column enab led resin regenerated to 220 meq/ kg to produce water almost in theoret ical eq uilibrium with it, i.e. 4 meq/ L. At the same time, th e res in was loaded practically to equilibrium with the feed water at 13 meq/ L. The performa nce of the regenerator was adeq uate, but the design had not been optimised at that stage, and it should be possible to ge nerate an effluent of 50 rather tha n 40 meq/ L. PART 3: CONTINUOUS MAGNETIC ION-EXCHANGE DEMONSTRATION PLA NT Figure 13. General view of pilot plant.

WATER

The ·laboratory and pilot plant work had demonstrated the feasibility and potential of a trul y continuous ion-exchange process utilising 17

magnetic micro-resins. The next step is the construction of a plant of commercial size to verify the design and operation on a larger scale, and to demon strate these adva ntages of the tech nology to potential users : -Simplicity of operation, as a ll flows are s.teady and batch regeneration and cyclic operation is avoided - Lower capital cost associated with smaller vessel sizes and res in inventory - Lower operating cost associated with lower wash water and regenerant requirements (heat in the case of 'S IROTHERM') After careful consideration, it was decided to build a demon stration magnetic 'Sirotherm' co ntinuous ion-exchange plant to desa lin ate brack ish bore water in the Perth suburb of Leedervi lle, for the Perth Metropolitan Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Board. The factors involved in the decision were that there was a viable potential market for the process used for the dem onstration, the site of the demonstration plant wo ul d be reasonably access ible to potential users, and the recipient client had a part icul ar need for the process and was willing to provide enco uragement and help in the testing and operation of the demonstration pla nt.

Prev io us experi ence with the 'Sirotherm' process in a fixed -bed system at Osborne, South Australi a (Cable, 1977) had indicated that the process was unlikely to be economic in a fixed bed system, and the advantages offered by a continuous system were necessary before the process cou ld compete with its main competitors, reverse osmosis and el.ectrod ia lys is. However, this required that the co ntinuou s demonstration plant be carefu ll y designed to ens ure reasonably optimal operation - gross oversizi ng or inefficiencies in opera tion could not be tolerated as they cou ld severely reflect on the economics of the 'Sirotherm ' process.

The plant needed to be of sufficient size to enable accurate design of larger co ntinuous ion-exchange plants, and a 1000 m 3/ day throughput rate corresponding to a column diameter of 1.5 m was selected.

Beca use the 'Sirot herm' process requires feedwater softened by ion exchange, the plant would also incorporate a conventional batchregenerated static bed ion -exc hange system with which the relat ive simplicity of operation of the conti nuous system could be compared .

4.1

Flowsheet and Design Co nsiderations of the 'Sirotherm ' Demonstration Plant

A simplified flow sheet and specifications for the raw water and product water of the cont inuo us 'Sirotherm' demonstration plant presently under co nstruction are shown in Figure 15 and Table 1. The major items in the flowsh eet are the 'Sirotherm' adsorber a nd regenerator, and the softener columns. Also included are a heat exchanger for heat recovery, a magnetic filter for final polishing of the product water, and provisions for the later addition of a n organic trap and sulphite dosing should the quality of the raw water deteriorate from that specified.

TABLE I. WATER SPECIFICATIONS FOR 'SIROTHERM' DEMONSTRATION PLANT RAW WATER: Total Di ssolved Solids (mg/ L) Total Hardness (mg/ Las CaCO3) Total Alka linity (mg/ Las CaCO3) pH Turbidit y (NTU) (Pt/ Co) Colour (OC) Temperature (mg/ L) Na N~03(mg/ L) (mg/ L) CI

PRODUCT WATER: Total Dissolved Solids (Mg/ L) Flowrate (nett m' / day)

1340 119 153 7.8 < I < 5 37 444 187

643

4.2

Present Status of the Leederville 'Sirotherm ' Demonstration Plant

At the time of writing, the ' Si rot herm' Demo11stration Plant is sched uled to be in the process of co nstruction before next issue.

5

FUTU RE DIRECTIONS

The design of the continu ous dual-fl ov-; ion-exchange contactor is directed at multistage ion -exchange reactions, such as regeneration and washing of resin. Clearly, the applicability of the continuous contactor is not limited to water treatment, and applications in hydrometallurgy and food processi ng are being investigated .

In some ion-exchange applications, the adsorption stage may require only one, or at most two, contacting stages. In such instances a conti nuous dual-flow contactor may not be the most economic means of achieving the contact, and the adsorption equipment may instead comprise stirred tanks, or poss ibly a co-current contactor such as flume or baffled pit. The engineer ing of large systems to deal with flows of over 20 ML/ dis the next challenge, a nd the uniqu e handling properties of the magnetic microbeads suggests that the constraints of conventional ion-exchange systems may no longer apply, and large scale ion-exchange treatment may become a commercial reality.

REFERENCES

290 1000

A major factor in the 'Sirotherm' plant design is the sizing of the adsorber column. The diameter is dependen t on the feed water flowrat e, resin flowrate and resin settling properties. Some control is available over the resin settlin g properties through variat ion in the amount of magnet ic fi ller used in the resi n. For the 'Sirot herm' demonstratio n plant a liquid up flow superficial velocity of 29 m/ h has been selected, appropriate for the kinetics and adsorption capacity of 'Sirotherm ' resin. Greater superficial velocities can be used for resi ns with fa ster kineti cs and greater adsorpt ion capacities . (This is the case with the most commonly enco untered ion -exc hange resin types). The

18

number of stages and residence time of each column stage depends on the kinetics and the equi librium adsorption characteristics of the resi n , the hold-up of resin in each stage, backmixing, and,ihe desired percentage removal of ions from the feed solution. The number of stages and stage residence time are the most di fficu lt design parameters to specify accurately, and substantial pilot plant work and numerous laboratory tests have been carried out to enable a reliable design procedure to be form ulated . The design procedure in volves simple laboratory tes ts to determine the ki netics of resin adsorption under specific mixing conditions, and then stage by stage calculations to determine the number of stages and stage residence times required to ach ieve the specified overall percentage adsorption .

The design of the regenerator column is not as critical as the adsorber, as its diameter is much smaller and its cost correspond ingly less. The kinetics of regeneration are usually rapid a nd the equilibrium favo urable, enabling rege neration to be effectively co mpleted in only a small number of stages . T he number of resin preheating and cooling stages above and below the hot regeneration zone are specified based on pilot plant experience . The same wo uld be the case in resin washing required for normal chemical regenerat ion of a resm of conventional functionality.

Resin transfer is simple and reliable . T he regenerator is slightly elevated to provide the pressure head necessary for resin transfer from the bottom of the regenerator to the top of the adsorber. For the transfer of resi n to the regenerator, a recirculating nitrogen lift system is to be utilised. With magneti c resins of conventional functionality, a sim pler air li ft ca n be used.

Because the solubi lity of nitrogen is small, the consumption of gas is not an appreciable factor in the plant operat ing cost.

Th e regeneration water heat excha nger is sized on a purely economic bas is, taking into account the cost of the exchanger, the cost of fuel , and the projected operating duty of the plant.

To avoid carryover of resin in the product stream , where potable water is being produced, then a magnetic filter can be inserted to provide an extremely effective remo val of fine suspended magnetic material. Magnetic filters are widely used in industry, and are avai lable readily "o ff the shelf" from a number of suppl iers. They typically consist of a stainless steel mesh situated between the po les of a strong permanent magnet or electromagnet.

BLESING, N. V. et al. (1970). 'Ion Exchange in the Process Industries' Soc. of Chem. Ind. London, p. 371.

BOLTO, B. A. , DIXON, D. R. , PRIESTLY, A. J., SW INTON, E. A. (1977) . Prog . War . Tech 9 p. 833-844, Pergamon Press.

CABLE , P. J., MURTAGH, R. W. , PILKINGTON , N.Y ., (1977). The Chem.

Eng. No . 324.

CLOETE, F. L. D., STREAT, M. (1963). Brit. Pat. 1070251.

GLUECKHA UF, E. (1955) . Trans. Far. Soc. 51 p. 1540.

HIM SLEY, A. FARKAS, F. J. (1 976). 'Theory and Practice of Ion Exchange'. Soc. a/Chem . Ind. London.

NEWMAN, J . MORLEY, J . B. (1973) . 'A fluidised moving bed ... ' Proc .

74th Meeting Am. Inst. Chem. Eng.

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OOL__ _.J.10=----c2"'0-

-----}30=--- .~0:--- _ _ ,

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30

00

STI RRER, RP. M.

Figure 7 . Stirred dual-fl ow column: effect of stirrer o n resin down fl ow .

2 4 6 WATER UPF LO W mm,s

8

9

Figure 11. Stirred dual-flow column : effect of stirrer on resin residence time.

Figure 10. Stirred dual-flow colu mn: resin resi dence times.

1Q i - - -- -- - -- - - - - - - ,

- -- 7 8

PR ODU CT

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Figure 8 .. Stirred dual-flow column : floodin g curves .

'

Figure 12. Diagrammatic fl ow-sheet of continuous Sirotherm process.

NllAOGEN

)-- --C::) PRODUCT ,------7 1

10

RAW WATER

-ti

ORGA NIC j TRAP I

HAGNHIC FILTER

~--r--.J

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constan t r es in downflow

I

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20

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40 RP M.

so

60

Figure 9. Stirred dual-fl ow column: effect of plate aperture.

WAT ER

Figure 15. Sirotherm dem o nstrati o n plant: flow diagram .

19

Optimization of Energy in Water Distribution Systems by Effective Measurement and Control K. A. Steele INTRODUCTION

The optimization of a water distribution system on the basis of minimum specific energy consumption is dependent upon various parameters. In addition there are numerous secondary co nditions which must be satisified and constraints to be taken into account. The task is consequently a very complex one. The optimization system presented performs this task with the aid of a computer in on-line open loop, which determines the optimum conditions to which the plant shall be managed . A further development towards fully autom atic optimization using on-line closed loop is contemplated, as is a lso a development in the direction of an additional structure optimi zation when planning new plants.

The system as described in this paper has been installed at the East Worcester Water Authority U .K .

The function of a water di stribution system can be defined as the provision of an adequate water supply at minimum cost. The contribution of the measurement and control system towards performing this task consists of two main components: l) Choice and design of the appropriate measurement and control system required to balance resources in order to provide water where it is required and in sufficient quantities.

2) Optimization of the measurement and control system according to I) to achieve minimum specific energy costs, by determining the operating strategies required to attain this, but having a proper regard to the co nstraints imposed by the water distribution system itself.

The techniques for I), in larger plants in connection with programmable contro l systems, process computers and telemetering systems, are already well established. Further enhancement and improvement will be achieved in the future by the development of technology related to measurement techniques , data transmission and display methods, i.e. work which is within the development program to which companies within Brown Boveri are committed. ¡ Optimization of the energy consumption to a minimum according to 2) can be achieved with equipm ent availab le at present, especially with the aid of process computers, by developing the appropriate software . The need to save energy need hardly be mentioned and everyone today is aware of the reasons for this . Quite apart from this, new in -

Keith A. Steele is the Utilities Sales Manager for Kent Process Control (Instruments and Systems) at Luton, U.K. 20

vestments can be reduced or even avoided, arid thu s.capital costs saved, by the more efficient use of existing resources.

variab le input data by means of analysis and computation to obtain output data. Systems for data acquisition and analysis of this type are already well established in the water in dustry as components of telemetry networks.

Prediction

The data on which prediction of demand is based is made up from records of past consumption , which are modified in accordance with expected future domestic and industrial demands. Thus, long-term forecasts are obtained which are continuously modified and validated by current data.

Mathematical Model of the Water Distribution Syste m

In essence the system model consists of a set of equations which express the behaviour of the water system, the latter comprising components such as pipes, valves, pump stations, reservoirs and water towers, etc. For each of these components there are characteristic equations which, as a rule , are expressed by the variables pressure head and flow in relationship to each other. Special features of the system components are given below: ,, p 1-1

Fig. I. Softwa re-configuration of the optimization system I = Input

III

0 = Output

Thus the object of optimizat ion is to firmly estab lish an operating strategy for the overall plant. Figure I illustrates the software system used with the computer in order to determ ine the operating strategy, the system comprising various functional units . Its main function s are: -The acquisition and analysis of current data with a furt her input from a source of statistical data .

- Prediction of performance requirements based on statistical data, which are modified by development trends manifest in data acquired recently .

-Simulation of the water distribution system by means of a mathematical model, whereby the effect of the various strategies in meeting constra ints and reducing operating costs may be determined.

-Step-by-step optimization, which delivers, as a resul t, the operating program to be followed, i.e. the optimum operating strategy.

DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM

Data from the distribution plant is collected by thi s system and verified against other information in its own sub-systems.

This improves the security of operation. In addition the sub-systems combine the

Zo

Fig. 2. Characteristic of fixed-speed centrifugal pump with throttling valve I 2 3 4

5 Hv

HR Hs Qmax

Q. ZQ

ml 11111

QH characteristic of the pump QH characteristic of the line Static head Hs Power P for driving the pump shaft Efficiency ~ of the pump Pressure difference across control valve ( = valve losses) Pressure difference in the line ( = line losses) Static head (yellow) Maximum flow Flow at operating point Possible range of adjustment of flow Valve losses D Static head Line losses

Pump Stations Pump head/flow rate' characteristics are typically nonlinear and a general form for a single fixed-speed pump is shown in Fig. 2.

'Flow rate Q, defined as the water vol ume per unit of time, e.g. in m' / s.

WATER

It will be noted that the peak power Pm ax is not ta ken at the point of pea k efficiency 1/max.

The illustration also shows the effect of the system pressure losses HR , which increase approximately as the square of the flow . Any difference between the sum of the sta tic head, including tne system pressure losses, and the manometric head developed by the pump must be destroyed as va lve loss Hv (difference between cu rves l and 2) in a co ntrol valve. There is obviously substanti al potential in thi~ area for optimization of pump efficiency against valve losses.

These losses can be reduced by divid ing the total pump output between several pump groups connected in parallel, and which operate according to different sequenti al programs. This permits no-lo s·s regulation of the flow rate in steps corresponding to the number of pumps, and valve regulation with inherent loss is only required between these steps.

O f late, man y authorities are becomi ng aware of the energy which can be saved by using variable speed pumps. In Fig. 3 it is seen that the pump characteristic moves continuously from curve I to curve 3 between the maximum and minimum speed, whereby all valve losses are avoided in the flow range ZQn. These would occur only in the range ZQd in the event of flows below Qm,n being necessary. Conti nuous regulation of the flow rate by means of speed control also facilitates optimum adaptation to the overall system constraints due to pipe losses and maintenance of the water levels in reservoirs, so that the energy optimization of the overall system becomes reall y an 'optimum'.

To the actual pump losses , defined as the difference between th e power needed to drive the pump shaft and the product of the flow rate and the manometric head, mu st be added the electrical losses of the drives and the electrical equipment. ,, II

the electrica l losses of th e drives and the electrical equipm ent.

Reservoir

The reservoir model relates the tim e derivative of the chan ge in water level to the water flow. Initial water levels must be known and limits set to su it the particular operati ng demands of the system.

Pipeline

The mathematical relationship between th e flow rate and the pressure loss is ex pressed by the well-known Hazen- Williams formu la, according to which the press ure difference between the two ends of the pipeli ne, and thus the energy losses also, increase approximately as the square of the water flow (see a lso curve 2 in Fig . 2). Consequently, the losses in the pipe network are also a significant facto r in energy optimization.

O pcr.111110 JI l,,.1J IJn(r

pcJI.

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k,d De, 1J111in fwm the 1,pumum rc,cn111r ll.',d

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= Flow at highest pump efficiency requires minimum specific energy

Qopr

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Fig . 4. Effect of various cost factors on the energy costs (qualitative)

H,

Zo,

Fig. 3. Characteristics of a variable-speed centrifugal pump

Q I.

The energy costs for a given plant are affected by a number of facto rs; these cost factors ca n be utili zed for energy opt imizat ion of the operating strategy . Figure 4 presents a qualitative review of these. The costs are reduced by taking the fo ll owing measures:

11

- Minimized pump operation during periods when peak tarrifs apply.

-Avoidance of penalty charges arising from operation outside maxi mum dem a nd limits.

- Use of pumps at highest efficiency.

Figu re 5 shows the specific energy e as a fun ction of flow Q, which is minimum, corresponding to minimum energy costs, for the flow at the highest pump efficiency. The sp ec ific e nergy e =

To the actual pump losses, defi ned as the difference between the power needed to drive the pump shaft and the product of the flow rate and the manom etric head , must be added

is the energy co nsumption for I kg of water and a manometric head of one metre.

- Longer pump running times resu lt in

4 5 6/7 ZQn ZQd

Q.

lilll 111D

WATER

Each of these fac tors will require the applicat ion cif a different coefficient when applied to energy cost, so that it is necessary for them to be weighted appropriately. Their effect on each other can be to support or oppose, but because of the system constrai nts costs ca n never be reduced to an absolute minimum; the optiQ1um wi ll lie above this. A further reduction in the cost level would either contribute to a failure to mainta in supply or wou ld resu lt in co nstra ints not being maintained.

Energy Cost Factors

QH characteristics of the pump for maximum , intermediate o r minimum speed QH characteristic of the line Static head Hs Pump effici ency at maximum and minimum speed Range of adjustment for Q by regulating the speed Dille, by means of throttle valve Flow at operating point fo r an intermediate speed Valve losses GI Static head Line losses

1/2/ 3

-Q

Fig. S. Specific energy e of a pump as a function of flow Q

The increased cost due to the individual cost factors cannot be reduced to zero on accoun t of their interdependency and because of other constraints.

D Opt imum cost Cost increase when plant management is not optimized

II

small er flow rates Q a nd thus lower line losses.

- Lower line losses are also obtained by having lower pressures.

- Effi cient mai ntenance of th e water level in the reservoirs. Figure 6 shows, by way of an exampl e, an optimum curve of the water leve l for one day according to curve 3. The pumps operate at night-time to tak~ advantage of the off-peak tariff and yet sat isfy a ll requirements r egard in g minimum water level for emergencies (curve 1) and meet co nsumer demand . It shows that the operating level varies between work ing days and public holidays, depending on the type of load and, in many countries, depending on the season.

rJ.H

_ ,h

24

Fir' 6. Water level L and water output Q (in m / s) over a period of 24 h for a reservoir l

= Minimum level to

meet demands of emergency services 2 = Predicted minimum level to maintain customer demand 3 = Optimized level as regards energy costs 4 = Predicted water o utput Q

System Co nstraints

Optimi zation mu st, therefo re besides the main objective of minimum energy costs, take into account certai n constraints imposed

21

by the system and sat isfy some seco ndary conditions which can be in opposition to the optimization . Figure 7 illustrat es this for a basic water distribution system. Definitions of th ese constraints are given below: - In reservo irs and water towers a minimum level of water mu st be maintained to meet demand under emergency co nditions, e.g. for fire hydrant supplies.

- T he pressure constraint is important. A given operating press ure is necessary to satisfy th e needs of the customer and also to ensure the purity of the water. At the same time this requirement must be set agai nst the admissible strength of the system , which may be lower for older mai ns in comparison to newer parts of the system .

- T he water level in boreholes mu st not fa ll b e low a certain minimum mark.

Moreo ver, the water flow per hour and per day, Wh and Wd, respectively, are limited , with Wd < 24 Wh . A further limitation is placed on the maximum quantity of water which may be taken fro m the borehole over a year W,,.

- The system itself imposes some restrictions on the optimization resulting from the pipeline resistances (R) and the pump capacity (Qm 0 , ) . In thi s context, both longterm requirements, for example the quanti ty of water required per day, and also short-term requirements to cover hi gh load peaks, are to be satisfied .

Step-By-Step Optimization

The process co mputer is utilized for optimization (see Fig. I) in on -line open loop .

T he purpose of connect ing a computer to the process is initia ll y to acquire and subsequent ly to process the current data req uired for continuous up-dating of the prediction. For the fir st run an operating strategy (correspond ing to th e operating contro l being implemented) is fed into the computer . The co mputer verifies that the constr::i ints are be-

CONCLUSIO N A N D OUTLOOK

BHI'

131'

/u::::J

/ ~

~ -co Bil

( I

BH BHP BP C CL PL Res

Borehole Bireho ld pump Booster pu mp Consumer Cross-link wilh o ther sys!ems Pipeline to consumer loads Reservoir R = Linc resistan ce Lmin = Minim um water level Pm,n 1Pma x = Min ./max. pressure Qmax = Maximu m Constraints fl ow ra te in m' Is = Water extractio n per hour/ da y/ year in ml

ing satisfied and prov ides the associated energy costs. The procedure is repeated for each mod ified strategy, various pump run ning times, pump speeds and positions o f control valves, or combi nati ons thereof, being fed into the optim ization system as poss ible variable quantities.

At the end of each run the computer verifi es the fu lfil ment of th e constraints and secondary co nditi ons, a nd indicates in each case the energy costs. T hus the o ptimum strategy can be determ ined with high accuracy from a number of runs and then implemented. Strategies in which the constraints are not satisfi ed are usually rejected , but ot her as pects such as pl ant overhaul s need also to be taken into account.

AUSTRALIAN WATER & WASTEWATER ASSOCIATION JOURNAL

I enclose herew ith t he sum of $ .... .. (A ust rali an) as prepayment for supply of the fo llowing iss ues of 'WAT ER'.

March D June D Sept. D Dec. D 1982 Note: All subscriptions conclude wi t h th e December issue, renewals are due by t he end of February for a f ull year's subscriptio n. Pri ce, in cluding surface mail to all countries, $8. 00 p.a. or $2.00 per issue in Australian currency , made payable to the A.W.W.A. - 'WATER '.

Address

Pl.

Fig. 7. Water dist ribution system con straints

JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTIONS

Name

Pl. --v (

It has been shown that tq_e system described does not eliminate human decision s, but does provide considerable ass istance toward s satisfactory operation at minimum cost.

The optimization sys tem is in operation in extensive water di stribution systems in the United Kingdom [Burch et al, Coulbeck a nd Sterling]. Th e res ults obta ined fully justify the investm ent in development and provide a strong incenti ve to continue with further work , on the one hand in the direction of ful ly automatic optim ization with the computer in on-line closed loop and , on the oth er , to a im at including energy o ptimization during th e planning stage fo r new plants .

One lesson learnt from the previous investigations is that success depends upon several factors. Among these are: - Data acquisition mu st be accurate and reli able and take place with appropriate time intervals between success ive scans.

-The parameters transmitted into the system must be suffici ently comprehensive and contain the information required.

- The equipment must be reliable. This necessitates dependable monitoring equipment in which the operating staff will have confidence.

Th e o ptimization sys tem is a genuine contribution of process measurement and control to savings in both energy and operating costs.

Bibliography Burch R. H ., Fullside F. , P erry P . F., Marlow K. C.: ' Energy saving by o ptimal cont rol o f water supply'. Water Services 83 1979 (1004) 761-772.

Cou lbeck B. , Sterling M . J. H .: 'Modelling techni q ues in d yna mic control o fâ&#x20AC;˘ water distributio n systems' . Journal of the fnstitute of Measurement and Control 11 1978 (10) 385-389.

AWWA 10TH FEDERAL CONVENTION SYDNEY, N.S.W. 11-15 APRIL 1983

CALL FOR PAPERS INTENDING AUTHORS ARE INV ITED TO SUBMIT 500 WORD SYNOPSES OF ORIGINAL PAPERS

BY OCTOBER 31 , 1981

Th e Conference will cover all aspects of water supply and t reatment , wastewater collection and treatment and. the t reatment and disposal of industrial waste. Major emphasis will be on drinking water quality - related papers will be of particular interest .

Mail thi s form to: Editor and Subscriptions Manager, G. R. Goffi n, 7 Mossman Drive, Eaglemont, Vic. 3084.

22

Synopses should be forwarded to: 1983 Federal Convention Secretary, P.O. Box A232, Sydney South, NSW 2000.

WATER

POTATO WASTE TREATMENT BALLARAT J. G. PARKER BACKGROUND

T he Australian operations of McCain Foods Ltd. of Florenceville, New Brunsw ick, Canada were initiall y established at Daylesford with acquisition of a small potato processing plant in 1970. It was not until 1975 that a new modern fro zen fren ch fry plant was establi shed in Ballarat by McCain Australia Pty. Ltd. to cater for an expand ing local market.

At the time of estab lishme nt of the plant in Ballarat, a trade waste agreement was entered into between the Company and the Ballarat Sewerage Authority (B.S .A .) for discharge of all li quid trade waste, with the exception of lye peel waste, to a B.S .A. sewer, for subsequen t treatment at the Authority's Ballarat North plant.

It was intended that lye peel waste, which constitutes the major BODs load from the potato processing plant, wou ld be disposed of at a cattle feed lot to be established at Beau fort, some 40 km from Ballarat. T he feed lot was not estab lished and the lye peel waste was directed to a lagoon on the Company's property at Beaufort.

Difficulties developed at the Beaufort disposal si te and it became necessary to exp lore a lternative fac ili ties for treatment and di sposal of the high organic strength lye peel waste.

Further, the quality of the Company's discharge to the sewer a nd the concern of th e Environment Protection A uthority with phosphorus levels in Lake Burrumbeet whic h receives the B.S.A .

Ballarat North Plant discharge, indicated the necess ity for attention to nutrient removal at McCain's.

3. Anaerobic Fermentation of A ll (HS-L V) Wastes Treatment of all (HS-LY) wastes by anaerobi c fermentation and treatment of all (LS-HV) wastes by pri mary clarification and phosphorus removal from the combined discharge before conveying to the B.S.A. sewer. All treatment to be on the presen t factory site.

4. Anaerobic-A erobic Lagoons Treatment of a ll (HS-LY) and (LS-HY) wastes by anaerob icaerob ic lagoons of 60 ha area located on land re111ote from the factory site and requiring land acquisition.

Based on detailed co mparison of the total annua l costs of the four schemes and other factors, Scheme 3 was selected.

Receipt

Potato Store

Flake Production

Flake Packagin g & Des patch

Transpo rt Flume

Pre- hea ter

Blanc hin g

Lye Peeling

De wa 1erin g

Sorting

Dryi ng

C utting

Coo king

DEVELOPMENT OF TREATMENT & DISPOSAL ALTERNATIVES Manufacturing Process

The frenc h fry manufacturing process is shown schematicall y in simplified form in Figure I .

The discharges from the manufacturing process may be segregated into two streams: High Strength-Low Volum e (HS-LY) consistin g of: (i) Lye Peel Waste. (ii) Bla ncher Discharge . (iii) Starch Recovery System Discharge. and generally categorized by a BOD 5 20 000 mg/li tre .

Low strength-H igh Vo lume (LS-HY) cons isting of all other source flows and generally categorized by a BOD5 < 5 000 mg/ litre.

Considerat ion of the various treatment and disposal alternatives was based on the potential for segregation of the total factory discharge into the above two basic streams and further, segregation within the basic streams .

Blanch ing

T reatm ent & Disposal A lternati ves

In all , four alternat ive schemes were considered for the treatment and disposal of the total liqui d waste discharge from the factor namely:

I . Land Disposal - Irrigation Disposal of a ll (HS-LY) wastes by land spread ing, a nd pretreatment of {LS-HV) wastes by primary clarification and phosphorus removal before discharge to the B.S .A. sewer. Area of land required 240 ha.

2. Partial Land Disposal - Fermentation of (HS-L V) Wastes Disposal of lye peel waste only by land spreading with treatment of other (HS-LY) wastes by anaerob ic fermentation. Treatment of (LS-HY) wastes by primary clarification and phosphorus removal with (HS-LY) wastes after fermentation, before discharge to B.S.A. sewer.

John Parker is a Director of Water Science Laboratories, Melbourne. This paper was first presented to the Regional Conference of the A WWA at Ballarat, October 1980.

WATER

Coolin g

Freezin g

Pac kagin g & Despatch

TREATMENT PLANT Design

The pre-treatment plant is designed to treat the total factory wastewater flow to a standard suitable for discharge to the B.S.A. sewer.

The conditions of the Company's original and current trade waste agreement require: (Lis) Flow 22.7 (mg/ L) 480 (max.)

BODs (mg/L) Suspended Solids 500 (max.)

20 (max.)

Ammonia Nitrogen as N (mg/ L) Organic Nitrogen as N (mg/ L) 9 (max.)

Nitrate Nitrogen as N (mg/ L) 0. 1 (max.) (mg/ L) I 500 (max.)

Total Dissolved Solids Total Phosp hate as P. (mg/ L) 6 (av .)

Sodium 150 (max.) (mg/ L)

23

The Compa ny's ori ginal agreement fo r main s water supply to the fa ctory permitted water usage o f up to 241 ML/ a wit ho ut addi tional charge. Wa ter consumptio n o f th is o rder is no t necessary fo r operation of t he factory a nd since 1975 it has been th e pract ice to add main s water as a d ilu tent to the pretreated waste ,:vater di scha rge as a n aid to achieving the concentrati o n req uirements of t he agreement. T he original agreement is still current a nd th is practice continues a nd has been take n into acco unt in t he desig n of the new pretrea tment facilities.

The pla nt is designed to ha ndle a ll wastewater flows fro m o ne producti o n line a nd two producti o n shi fts a nd o ne washd ow n shi ft per 24 hours . T he design data for th e treatment pla nt a re show n in Ta ble I .

TABLE I. FLOWS A N D RAW WAST E STRENGTH Flow

System Low Strength-High Vol. Wastes (LS-H Y) Production Washdown Sub Total High Strength-Low Vol. Wastes (HS-LY) Production . Washdown Sub Total TOTAL

BODs

Lis

m' l d

mg/ L

kg/ d

6.5 4. 1

432 I 18 550

I 320 I 540

569 182 75 1

2.7 3.5

130 25 155 705

56 100 18 200

7 273 455 7 728 8 479

The maximum daily BOD 5 load permitted in th e discharge to B .S.A. is 943 kg/ d a nd th erefore th e treatmen t plant is designed to

remove 7 536 kg BOD5 / day, a remova l effi ciency of 90%.

A schematic diagram o f the pretreatm ent pla nt is show n in Figure 2.

The (LS-HV) waste after screening, fa t flotat ion an d eq uali zing, passes through prima ry cla rificatio n , t hen to ph osphorus remova l.

T he (HS-L V) waste is fed to two a naerobi c fermenters fr o m where t he overflow passes to a clarifier a nd then to the phosphorus remova l system. Discharge fr om the two streams together with pretreated fl ume water, a fter pass ing throu gh the ph osph orus clarifier, is diluted with mains wa ter a nd di scha rged to the B.S.A. sewer. Th e phospho rus sludge, after thickening in a grav ity t hickener is used on la nd as a low grade fert il izer.

The feas ibil ity of treat ing the (H S-LV) was te st ream by a naerob ic fe rmentat io n was con firmed by pil ot pla nt st udy over an 18 month period. Potato process ing wastes have not previouJly been treated by this means in a fu ll sca le plant, howeve r the process has been appl ied to th e t rea tm ent of wine sti ll age (So uth Africa) a nd more recent ly to sugar beet wastes (Net herlands).

Treatment of high organic strengt h industrial wastes by anaerobic fe rment a ti o n has several ad va ntages over co nventi o nal aerobic processes incl ud ing : • • • • • •

Low energy req uirement .

Produ ct ion of met ha ne as a by-prod uct.

Low producti o n of excess stab ilized sludge .

Low nu trient requirements.

H igh orga nic load ing rates.

Accl imated sludge ca n be sto red, un fed fo r lo ng per iods, with o ut deteri orat ion.

• Small land requirement.

• No significa nt od o ur n uisance.

Th e d isad va ntages of the process are: • T he initi a l start- up us ing d igested sewage sludge as seed may ta ke 8- 16 weeks .

• Anaero bic fe rmenta ti o n is bas ica ll y a pret reatment process.

• T here is li tt le fu ll scale o perat ing experience with such systems.

• T he process is sens itive to factors which adversely affect sludge settlea bility na mely: Finely di spersed coll oidal materia l.

Excessive oi l a nd grease.

Excessive fi bro us ma teria l.

• T he process is sens itive to excessive concent rat io ns of chl o rinated hydrocarbons.

The cho ice of a naerob ic reactor type will us uall y depend on the o rgani c a nd solids concent rat ion in th e waste to be treated .

A typical a nalys is of potato lye peel waste is shown in Tab le 2. For this waste, the a naerobic co ntact process was co nsidered to be t he most suita ble.

Performance

Constructio n of th e pre-treatm ent pla nt was com pleted in J a nuary 1980 a nd com m iss io ning co mm enced immed iately fo ll ow ing recommencement of factory opera ti ons after the an nual five week C hristmas Shutdown .

Prc1rca1cd Flume \\ atcr

Lo,, S1rcngth-

\\ a111, Dilution

Hi e.h Vo lume Siream ( L S- H V)

\\ <Hl'f

Prinian

Pho,phon1,

Clarifi(;r

1-inat l: ffh;l'lll

Clarifier

So lid, to

10 sl'\\cr

Animal Feed

l-a1 Flo1a1ion

Sludge Thid,cnr.:r

P rimar~ Sludge

Bv- Prod ur.:1 Ga, 10 Fat:torv (Future ) ·

rhkkcncr

O, l'TOO\, Kc,:~ r.:h.-

l· C:fllH'll[Cf

Claritier

H ig h S1rc t1g th- Lm , Stream ( H S- L V)

Thickened Phmphorou, Sludge 10 I.and Di,po,al

Volu me

Solid, Rc,:ydc

F ig. 2: Schema tic Flow Diagram 24

Pota to Waste T reatment P la nt WATER

TABLE 2: TYPICAL ANALYSIS OF LYE PEEL WASTE

pH BODs CO D TKN Total Phosphate as P. Sodium Total Solids Volatile Solids TDS

Range

Mean

Parameter

11. 9 38 000 5 1 000 I 100300 200046 000 63 22 000 -

12.3 53 000 78 000 I 600 570 6 000 62 000 72 47 000

mg/ L

0/o

mg/ L

12.5 94 000 115 000 2 200 I 300 8000 102 000 85 72 000

Initia l problems enco untered were: • Factory house keeping (particularly on washdown shift) was such that (LS-HY) organic load significantly exceeded design values.

• Difficulties with the three principal sludge circu its, i.e. primary sludge, ferme nter clarifier slud ge and phosphorus sludge.

• Unreli ab ility of old lime dosing equipment transferred from earlier pre-treatment plant.

• Difficulties with ferme nter gas flo w meters.

These initia l problems have now largely been overcome, however, (LS-HY) stream raw waste organic load remains above the original design values, largely due to increased factory production line throughput.

All units are generally performing to design ex pectation with the exception of suspended so lids in the efflu ent from the fermenter clarifier. These solids are subsequent ly removed in the phosphorus clarifier.

T he average 24 hour final effluent quality discharged to sewer over th e period July, August a nd September of 1980 and for September is shown in Table 3 with average efflu ent quality for I 979 shown for purposes of compari so n.

TABLE 3: AVERAGE FINAL EFFLUENT QUA LITY DISCHARGED TO SEWER

Parameter mg/ L

BODs Sus. Solids Ammonia-N .

Organic-N. Tot. Phos.-P Tot. D. Solids

1979

1980 July-Sept.

Sep t.

670 237 16 51 6 I 608

544 187

I 000 680

3.7 I 358

35 2 100

The pre-treatment plant is current ly receiving a raw waste BODs load of 11 227 kg/ day (cf design 8 479 kg/day) and average BODs load di scharged to sewer over the 3 month period was I 2 12 kg/ day and over Septem ber I 068 kg/ day . Treatment of the wastes is removing up to JO 159 kg BOD 5 / day (cf design 7 536 kg BODs / day). This represents an overall BOD5 removal efficiency of 890Jo and 90% over the 3 month and l month periods respectively compared with a design value of 90% .

RESIDUALS DISPOSAL Mud from the presett ling of flume water and thickened phosphate sludge are disposed o n land remote from the factory site. Mud brought in on potatoes is disposed of to the growers land .

Under E .P .A. licence and Creswick Shire land use permit, phosphate sludge is di sposed of on agricu ltural land at lll li na , some 30 km from the fac tory.

Extensive phosphate sludge land application trials conducted prior to designing the treatment plant indi cated the potential value of the phosphate slud ge as an excell ent low grade ferti lizer. A typical analys is of this sludge is shown in Table 4.

WATER

The land disposal operation is closely monitored by the Dep~.rtment of Agriculture an d recent an nu al joint testing of herbage and soil conditions at the site confirm the enhanced pasture growth (particularly sub-clover) resulting from the spreading operation.

The monitoring programme a lso reveals: I . Soil reactions (pH a nd conductivity) have increased slightly in the sur face horizons but suitable pasture grow ing conditions continue to prevail.

2. Exchangeable cation analyses indicate no change in soil structure from the spreading programme .

3. Soil condi tion s in the deeper horizons indicate that very little surface movement has occurred down the profi le.

TABLE 4: TYPICAL ANALYSIS OF PHOSPHATE SLUDGE

Parameter

pH T.K.N. as N. Tot. Phos. as P Total Solids Vol. Sol. (% of T.S.) Sodium Calcium Magnesium Potassium Conduct ivity

Range

Mean

(mg/ L) (mg/ L) (%) (%)

(mg/ L} (mg/ L} (mg/ L) (mg/ L) (I'm ho/ cm)

11. 8 I 6 16 1 200 10.9 38 .9 I 400 16 500 2 250 725 16 300

11.5 1 060I 0008.4 32 I 3003 000 I 80055012 000 -

12. 1 2 280 I 600 13 .6 47 I 500 30 000 2 700 900 35 000

Costs The installed capital cost of th e three major sectors of the treatment plant were: Augmentation and upgrading of Low Strength$ 100 000 High Volume Sys tem Anaerobic fermentation plant fo r High StrengthLow Volume System 450 000 300 000 Phospho ru s removal and associated facilities TOTAL CAPITAL COST OF INSTALLED PLANT

$850 000

To treat th e tota l raw waste load by con ventiona l anaero bic-aerobic or aerated lagoo ns would require a land area of approximately 60 ha .

Convent ional aerob ic treatment of the raw load by activated sludge would in volve an estimated total cap ital expenditure'of approximately $700 000 even ass uming low cost aeration basin construction in earth and lined , as compared with the item of $450 000 in the above figure s.

Also, co nnected power of aerato rs for this system would be 340 kW with an annual power cost in excess of $ 10'1 000.

CONCLUSIONS Anaerobic ferme ntation represents a cheap, si mple and effective direct waste treatment method for high strength potato processing wastewaters producing valua ble by-p roduct meth ane . T he process has major cost advantages pver conventional processes for the treatment of high organ ic strength indu str ial wastes with minimal land area requirement.

Disposa l of residual phosphate sludge to land has demonstrated the excellent fertilizer value of this sludge and has not had any significant effect on soil structure.

The total install ed capital cost of the waste treatment faci lities represe nts a pproxim ately 17% of original total factory investment.

The costs for BOD removal appear to be just ifiab le and unavoidable.

Those for phosphorus removal are considerable a nd it is in this area where the cost/ benefit situ atio n is less clear cut.

25

BOOK REVIEWS 'Water Pollution - Causes and Effect s in A ustralia and New Zealand ' by D. W. Co nnell , 2nd Edi ti on, 198 1. University of .

Queensland Press, presents in a compact volume a brief but clearly stated approach to the effects on the environment of various form s of biological and chemical pollution . The volume comprises fifteen chapters, a comprehensive list of references and an index.

The first two chap ters provide an introduction to Water - an endangered resource and the effect of pollution on the aqueou s environment. Subsequent chapters traverse pollution , ecology, animal and vegetable wastes, eutroph ication, the toxic effects of chemicals, heavy metals, radioactivity, salinity an d thermal pollution, on the acquatic environment. Chapters a re presented on the effects of la nd-u se and engineering works on water quality, pollution invest igations and control of pollution.

T he author has attempted to cover a wide fie ld of endeavour, with an exp lanation of the chemical and biological processes which develop from applied pollution, which wi ll be of value to professionals in various di sciplines other than environmental, wishing to gain an easy insight into the environmental fie ld . The author has attempted to relate to Australian an d New Zeala nd case histories as fa r as is possible but avail able data is not as comprehensive and complete as for North American an d Europe.

Nevertheless Co nnell , while at times being compelled to illustrate principles by overseas examples, makes the point that Australian and New Zealand ecosystems do not necessarily follow th ose of other conti nents.

The text enables non-specialists to gain an unders tan ding of the effec ts of water pollution which can be built on by recourse to the wellprepared list of references arranged to tie in with the variou s chapters of the book.

' Dams and the Env ironment' is a useful book let for the assessment of th e influences a proposed or a n existing dam will have on its environment. A great deal of careful analys is is required to assess the environment al impacts of a dam as a whole concept or more detailed aspects, the effects of alternative locations and details and construction.

The publication is a usefu l tool in the review of these considerations and is recommended to engin eers active in this field. The methods put forward in thi s brochure could find universal application by authorities engaged in building dams and organisations maintaining such structures. ' Dams and the Environment ' is availa ble from the Secretary of ANCOLD, cl - Queensland Water Resources Com mission, G.P.O. Box 2454, Brisbane, Queensland 4001.

A review of thi s brochure is to be published in "Search" Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science.

H . BANDLER

ARE YOU CHANGING YOUR ADDRESS? PLEASE LET US KNOW! 'RETURN ING TO SENDER ' IS COSTLY TO THE ASSOCIATION AND TIME CONSUMING. ALSO, IT USUALLY MEANS YOU LOSE AT LEAST ONE ISSUE.

F. R. BISHOP Water Quality and Management U nder Conditions of Scarcity.

Edited by Hillel Shuval. $38, Academic Press, New York , 1980.

This collecti on of chapters by eleven Israeli Authors is not a handbook for Water Technologists, but does provide a n excellent coverage of the many inte ract ing factors - social , political, econom ic and scientific, which affect water quality. They are focussed to a greater degree in Israel because I 00% of replenis hable water resources are utilised now .

To a chemical technologist, the small coverage of water and wastewater treatment (less than 10% of th e book) was at fir st disappointing in view of the title and the Israelis' reputation in this field.

Furthermore, these issues are approached from an historical perspective. However , the book places the many disciplines involved in planning the development and use of water resources in context a nd for this reason at least, it should be required reading for technologists in the AWWA .

W. G. C. RAPER

MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS - NOTIFY ADDRESS CHANGES TO YOUR BRANCH SECRETARY OR THE EDITOR - ADDRESSES PAGES 1 & 7.

aal TRITON ELECTRONICS

manufacture a wide range of water testing equipment. Much of this equipment has been ..,. developed in th e United Kingdom at the Water Research Cent re and is manu factv red under licence . Unique advantages are offered for the routine analysis and control usually performed by water authoriti es.

CST Apparatus Type 165 and 92 {portable) . A simple and rapid method for measuring sludge filt erability by th e "Capillary Suct ion Time" principle.

CST Apparatus Type 95, Type 165 and Type 174. These units are various add itions and modi fi cations to the CST Type 165

giving a most versatile range of sludge testing equipment.

Dams and the Environment 1980. Published by the Int ernational

Commission on Large Dams (! COL D) , Paris, Bulletin 35, 80 pages, $10.50.

A vast amount of information is contained in this publication which gives guidelines for an engineering approach to environm ental co nsiderations in vo lved when considering schemes for the damming of _rivers. As with all !COLD publications, the brochure is in English and French.

The brochure co ntains a General Synthesis listing the variou s effects of river development a nd a Matrix intended to provide a means of setting out and evaluating th e impact of individ ual dam s.

In the General Synthesis, expla nations of a number of basic environm ental co ncepts are followed by a detailed analysis of th e physical and biological effects of river developmen t. These in volve the direct physical effects of the obstacle caused by a dam and the effects on the fa una and flora of floodin g the valley in creating water storage facilities. Dams can also have effects on climate, the water in the reservoir and the waterway upstream and downstream of the dam ; landslides and earthquakes ca n also result. In a later section, benefici al and detrimenta l social effects are defined and analysed .

26

WRC Standard Shear Test Stirrer/ Timer Type 133/ 131. For stand ard Shear testing of sludges - a consta nt speed stirrer with process timer. A compani on to the CST range of inst ruments.

WRC Frozen Image Centrifuge Type TW 161. P erforms the sludge thickenability tes t under increased "g" force. Visual observation is by strobe light - can reduce a 24 hour test to a 5 minute spin!

WRC Settling Apparatus Type 162. Introducing a new settle-

ment parameter, the STIRRED SPECIFIC VOLUM E INDEX (SSVI). Successfully predicts the maximum solids loading which can be accepted by full scale secondary settlement tank s.

AUSTRALASIAN ANALYTICAL LABORATORIES Pl)â&#x20AC;˘. Ltd.

17 Arawatta St. , Carnegie, Vic . 3163 Telephone 569 0056 . TW X. AA33549.

Chemical and environmental consultants - chemical analysts - scientific instruments and products.

WATER

CALENDAR 1981-82 1981

1982

Oct. 12-13, Sy dney, A ust.

Jan. 19-22, Basie, Switerland

June 7-11 , Brig hton, U .K .

Hydraulics in Civi l E ngineering 198 1 (I.E. Aust) .

European Exh ibiti on and Conference for the Construction of Maintenance of Pipelines Europipe 1982.

Tunnelli ng Symposium

Jan. 19-22, Serda ng, Malaysia

June 15-18, Honolulu , Hawaii

Regional Seminar on water technology towards rural development (UNESCO).

July 7-9 , Adelaide, Aust.

Oct. 18-23, California , U.S.A .

Water Chlorination - Environmental Impact and Health Effects.

Oct. 19-23, Bombay, India

Southern Area Regional Conference 2nd Exhibition (IWSA).

Oct. 25-28, Baghdad, Iraq

1st Iraq ui Conference on H yd. Sciences in Arid and Semi-arid Regions.

Oct. 27-Nov. 3, Paris, France

Int. Scientific Conference on Ecology in Practice.

Feb. I-July 31, Budapest, Hungary

Int . Postgraduate (UNESCO) .

course

on

hydrology

Conference on engineering Education (I.E. Aust.) .

Diamond Jubilee. First scientific assembly (IAHS).

Feb. I-July 31, Budapest, Hungary

In t. Conference on Coal Fi red Power Plants and the Aq uatic Environment.

Anti-po llution '81.

Feb. 22-26, Hobart, Tasmani a

Aug. 16-18, Copenhagen, Denmark

Aug. 21-23, Armidale, N.S .W.

Conference on Agricultural Engineering (I.E, Aust.)

Annual Eng. Conference (I. E . Aust.) .

Nov . 16-17, Miami Beach, Florida

Mar. 19-23, La Curun na , Spain

1981 Int. Symposium on Environmental Pollution.

Int. Workshop on Water Quali ty Models (UNESCO).

Nov. 16-19 , Manil a, Philippines

In t. Conference on rainwater cisterns

Course on hydrological data for water pressure planning (UNESCO).

Nov. [no dates), A delaide , S.A ust.

Hydrogeology and Water Resources Symposium.

Int. H igher Hydrology Course (UNESCO)

July , 19-30, Exeter, U.K.

Feb . I-July 31, Prague, Czechoslavakia

13th I nt. Postgraduate co ur se on hydrological methods for developing water resources manageme nt.

Oct. 28-Nov . 1, Milan, Italy

June 10-Aug. 10, Moscow, USS.R

Aug. 24-26, Auckland, New Zealand 1982 N.Z. Water Co nference.

A ug. 24-26, Bandung, Indonesia

3rd Congress of the As ian & Pacific Regional Divis ion (APO) of the Int. Assoc. for H ydrau lic Researc h.

Asia Pacific Regional Conferences & Exh ibition (IWSA)

Mar. 29-April 2, Capetown, S. Africa

Nov. 16-20, Brisbane, Aust.

A pril 5-9, Rabat, Mo rocco

Aug . 31-Sept. 3, Ca nberra , Aust.

21st Nat. Conference (ACA)

2nd Congress (IWSA)

Nov. 16-27, Colombo , Sri La nka

A pril 20-30, Monte Carlo , Monaco

Conference on Groundwater in Fractured Rock.

Seminar on the use of isotype techniques in water resources development in Asia and the Pacific (UNESCO) Nov . 23-27, Brussels, Belgium

11th Conference, IA WPR

Int. Hydrographic Conference May 10-14, Hobart, Tas mania

Austra li an Society for Microbiology Annual Meeting.

2nd Aqua-Expo Exhibition and IA WPR/ ANSEAU Con ference on Micro-pollutants in the Env ironment.

May 10-14, Sydney, Australia 52nd ANZAAS Conference.

Nov . 23-27, Canberra , A ust.

Hydrology Symposium.

Sept. 13-17, P hiladelphia, U.S.A.

3rd In t. Fi ltration Congress.

Sept . 21-23, Berne, Switzerland

WMD Int. Symposium on hydrological research basins ¡and their ' use in water reso urces planning.

May 10-14, Melbourne, A ustralia

National Insect Vector Control Course (D.O. Health).

I

Nov. 25-27 , Perth, Aust.

5th Aust. Conference on Coastal Engineering 'Offshore Stuctures' (I. E. Aust.)

Nov . 29-Dec. 3, Manama, Bahrein

Int. Congress on Desalination and Re-use.

a pHOX Systems Ltd.v::tJ I

aal

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Offer a comprehensive range of water testing apparatus.

pH and REDOX METERS - DISSOLVED OXYGEN METERS - CONDUCTIVITY AND TEMPERATURE METERS - Portable, laboratory and fixed in-

I

stallati ons , transmitters and contro llers with fu ll range of probes and accessories including self cleaning sys tems. Continuous monit oring recordi ng units . Weatherproof housings , units for all applications eit her separa tely or in combination.

I

SLUDGE BLANKET DETECTOR - A sol id state battery operated instrument. Des igned for blanket level detection in the settling stage of ac tivated sludge treat ment processes.

pHOX SERIES 1800 ISM (1 on SELECTIVE MONITOR) -A system for continuous quantitative monitoring by ion selective or similar electrode - eg.

ammonia, n,it rate , floride etc.

ISM 7800 contain s elect ri cal and mechanical sections to precondition

From CATHOEDON we offer a range of laboratory equipment inc luding : ATOMIC ABSORPTION LAMPS -

SPECTROPHOTOMETER

CELLS AND CUVETTES - DEUTERIUM AND U.V. LAMPS - A complete range of these items is availble to suit most instrumen ts in

current use. Non-s tandard items can be made to order.

A.A.L. PIL - Offer a comprehensive range of laboratory equipment for many appl ica tion s - i.e. glass and plastic ware, st irrers, shakers, ovens , incubators, colourimeters, spectrophotometers etc.

We represent some of the best equipmen t available today, and very competitive prices. Should you require laboratory , plant or field equ ipment, please call us .

AUSTRALASIAN ANALYTICAL LABORATORIES Ply. Ltd .

17 Arawatta St., Carneg ie, Vic . 3163.

Telephone (03) 569 0056 - TWX AA33549.

Chemical and environmental consultants - chemical anillysts - scie ntific instruments and products.

samples before measurement.

WATER

27

TO BREATHE FRESH LIFE INTO WASTE-WATER LIQUID AIR SAY USE COS I, PURE OXYGEN WNGS. A range of new, odour elimination equipment for sewer systems at almost no capital cost at all.

The largest industrial gases group in the world con show you ways to eliminate waste-water odour for much less than you'd expect .

Liquid Air's cost-efficient. highly-effective odour control, using the pure oxygen technolog y and experience gained from projects around the world is already benefiting instrumentalities in Australia .

This expertise, knowledge and equipment, developed in Fronce, Ita ly, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Belgium and USA is available to you now.

Coll or wri te to your nearest Liquid Air office .

And fin d out how to breathe fresh life into waste-water, without blowing a hole in your budget.

MELBOURNE: 679 Victoria Street, Abbotsford, 3067 Telephone: 428 4271.

SYDNEY:

90-92 Dunning Avenue, Rosebery, 2018.

Telephone: 663 3921.

BRISBANE :

305 Montague Road South Brisbane, 4101.

Telephone: 44 6191.

ADELAIDE :

98 Jervois Street, Torrensville, 5031.

Telephone: 43 3001.

PERTH:

276 Leach Highway, Myaree, 6154.

Telephone: 330 2311.

e LIO.U!!;?/~l~,~IA

THE LARGEST INDUSTRIAL GASES GROUP IN THE WORLD .

LPA W68

'\

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~

44 Koornang Road , Scoresby 3179 Telephone 763 8988

BOBY ANALYTICAL LABORATORY SERVICES

• Industrial waste water , sewage and process water analysis .

• Waste disposal investigations to M .M .B.W . and E.P.A . r~uirements .

aal

Automatic Liquid Samplers

Manufacture a comprehensive range of water sampling apparatus, for most situations and environments.

MK 3B2 and 3B Super - Up to 24 samp le positions with variable mechanical or electronic timing sequences , independent of ex ternal power supply , rugg ed construction and design to fit through manhole type access ports. Developed by the Water PollutiorT Research Laboratory of the U.K. MK 4B and 4B Super - Developed by WPRL - a most versatile unit incorporating the above features but constructed so that sample co ntainer changes are a minimum of effort.

Model SCU1 - Sequential Compasit " U" Tube sampler for crude sewerage industrial and domestic effluent samp ling .

Automatic Compasit Sampler for Liquids - For trade effluent and process monitoring either contin uou sly or in response to an external signal.

Portable Dissolved Oxygen Meter - This unique instrument is for measuring dissolved oxygen down to 0.5 parts per billion!

Developed by the R.N. Lab., U.K.

For specialized sam_plin_g_and logging applications we recommend WUIDART ENGINEERING .

BOREHOLE LOGGING SYSTEMS CABLE REELS for boreholes, CCT and many other uses; WATER LEVEL and TOTAL DEPTH INDICATIONS; Self Contained Portable Sampling Equipment for borehole or open water use, Ground Water Sampling Systems to Water Research Centre Pattern and many more items!

Australian Analytical Sales Ply. Ltd.

RIVER SANDS PTY. LTD.

Hlgh Quality

FILTER MEDIA

17 Arawatta St., Carnegie , Vi c . 3163 Telephone 569 0056. TWX. AA33549 .

Chemical and environmental consultants-chemical analysts - scientific instruments and products .

Manufacturers at

L

REDLAND BAY ROAD CARBROOK, Q. 4130 07-2098344

AJAX MARKETS EIM SUBMERSIBLE PUMPS:

· - - -

SIMMONDS & BRISTOW PTY. LTD. WATER & WASTEWATER CONSULTANTS ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATIONS Water Sewage & Industrial Wastewater ,er POLLUTION PRE:VENTION Pro cess & Pilot Plant Investigations Treatment Plant Operations & Control WATER BACTERIOLOGY Algal Identifications Environmental Surveys CORROSION Assessment & Prevention 30 Shottery St., Yeronga - Phone: (07) 48 7699 If no answer 202 6534

For advertising in this Journal please contact: Phone (03) 347 2377

The Company is distributing a large range of SE, SEU and SER pumps under licence from EIM Electronic Co. Ltd. of Japan.

Mrs L. A. Geal - Advertising Manager Cl· Appita , Clunies Ross House 191 Royal Parade, Parkville, Vic . 3052

All three are rugged, heavy duty iron pumps built primar11y for solids handling but also capable of pumping sewage and effluent.

For information contact Ajax Pumps, 217 Sunshine Rd., Tottenham, Vic. or the nearest state sales office.

30

WATER

Sartorius can provide an answer to· your filtration problem Filter Holders

Sartorius offers so many different types of membrane filters, membrane filter cartridges and filter holders, that a suitable combination filter and filter holder can be supplied for almost any requirement.

Sartorius membrane filters and pleated membrane filter cartridges are available in a wide range of configurations to suit many applications. They can also be used in a variety of cartridge housings.

For further information contact:

Membrane Filter Cartridge

Selbys Scientific Ltd. Melbourne 544 4844

Sydney 888 7155

Brisbane 371 1566

Perth 451 2577

Adelaide 51 4651

Hobart 28 4691

TOTAL CAPABILITY IN

CONTROL

In Mechanical, Process and Biological Engineering Mechanical Engineering

Process Engineering

Biological Engineering

Gri t rem oval pla nt Scree nin g press and bagger unit Circu lar and rec tangu lar sedime nta tion ta nk scrape rs Sludge conso li datio n tank thi cke ners, mixi ng tank stirrers Sludge dry in g bed mec hani ca l li fte rs Sa nd bed li fte rs Contra Shea r rotary screens

Th ermal and chemica l sludge co nditionin g pla nts TC In cin erator for scree nings Mu ltip le hearth , fluidised bed , ro tary drum sludge in cin erators Static grate incinerato r Di sso lved air fl otation Carbon rege nerati on and absorption systems

Sta ndardised activated sludge plant for small pop ul ati ons of up to 20,000 perso ns Exten ded aeration plant, Aerobi c sludge digestion Diffused air acti vated sludge plant.

Auto mat ic co ntro l syste ms for activated sludge plan t

~ HAWKER

SIDDELEY ENGINEERING PTY. LIMITED Inc orporated in NSW

Head Oltice : 262 -284 Heidelberg Rd . Fairfield , V,c 3078 Tel 489 2511 Branche s: Sydney • Brisbane • Perth • Auck land Hawker S1ddeley Group supplies electrical and me c han ical equ 1pme n 1 with world-wide sa les and ser vice Agents for Hawker S1ddele y Water E ngin eer ing Ltd ( Tem pl ewood Hawksley Actlvat~d Slu dge ) 3560HSE

WATER

31

NEYRTEC

THE H2S - ATTACKPROOF SEWER. HUMES PLASTILINE.

Sulphuric acid attacks in sewers, the result of a bio-chemical process, will affect the cement gel leading to the possible collapse of the sewer.

But not with Humes Plastiline. Plastiline is a tough PVC . lining actually keyed directly into the wall of the pipe or to the wall of a manhole or any in-situ structure, permanently protecting it from attack by H2S and aggressive wastes .

Tens of thousands of square metres of Plastiline have been used in Australia and Asia since 1963, and regular and rigorous inspection of these projects has shown it has given complete satisfaction in service, even under the most severe conditions .

For main sewers , trunk sewers and industrial waste pipes from 300 mm upwards , or as plast icised P.V.C . sheet for in-situ application , find out about Humes Plastilin e - ask the man from Humes - or refer to your ACEL library.

MONOVAR Automatic or manual control under heavy-duty flow conditions.

r----------------, I

Sirs : Please send full informa tion on Humes Plastiline pipes D Tick if for school project.

I .NAME ...

I COMPANY I

I

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32

1

I I

I

ADDRESS

I

I I I

1

I . Phone

I I

185 William Street , Melbourne 3000 .

Phone 60 0221

I

COMPANY/AU THORITY ..

TITLE ..

HUMES

. ... . .

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---------------~~~, cutting knowl edge into ac tion

Incident flow is distributed in small jets reducing cavitation and vibration .

DEB/BAR microprocessor based controller available to allow control and metering of total flow, instantaneous flow pressure and other parameters.

ALSTHOM-ATLANTIOUE (AUST) PTY LTD P.O . Box_2569, GPO, SYDNEY, 2001 Telephone SYD 29 5122 WATER

An aeration sistemis only as good asthe fineness of its bubbles *

* * * * * * * * * * *

System established since 1919, w ith many hundreds of plants installed throughout the world.

Aeration tan ks fl exib le in design up to 9 metres depth offering maximum use of available area .

Fin e bubbles of 2 mm diameter give high oxygen transfer efficiency.

Uniform mi xing.

Simple construction in uPVC and non-corrod ibl e materials.

Diffusers tructible.

virtually

Drainage of necessary.

tanks

indesra rely

Maintenance minimal.

Civil construction si mplified and costs red uced .

No surge fl ows on final tankf Low noise va lues.

Autom atic Diss olved Oxygen control systems available.

Please send for Broch~re No. FBDD 675

.._, Hawker Siddeley Engineering Pty. Limited

lncorporatod l nNS.W.

Head Office : 262-284 Heidelberg Road , Fairfield , 3078.

Branches : Sydn ey , Brisbane , Perth and Auckland (N.Z.) Hawker Siddeley Group supplies electri cal and mechanical equipment with world-wide sales and service.

Agents for: Hawker Siddeley Water Engineering ltd. (Templewood Hawksley Activated Sludge)

2069HSE

don't spend money on something I don't test first. tt "Maybe some people will buy sight unseen, but not me. I want proven performance before I buy. That's the way Sharples sells POLYMIZER centrifuges, too.

They prove performance, in on-site tests against major competition, and win contracts. Notable examples are wastewater treatment plants in Chicago, IL, Columbus, OH, and Ft. Worth, TX. "In Chicago, they won out over several filters and five competitive centrifuges while handling anaerobically digested sludge.

"In Columbus, Sharples centrifuges outperformed and replaced vacuum filters in dewatering heat-treated sludge.

"In Ft. Worth, only the special design Model BD centrifuges performed satisfactorily on a cost.:effective basis while thickening WAS."

fl fiJE~YALT 51-tARf.JLES-STOKES f.JTY. LTD. PO Box 2344 Nth Parramatta, NSW, 2151 Tel: (02) 683-3511 Telex: AA20677 Cables: Penn walt Syd ney