Design Aspects : Page 3

A treatment plant consists of different parallel treatment lanes or units to increase reliability . for example a unit is out of operation because of maintenance or cleaning, the other parallel units can take over the flow, avoiding an interruption in drinking water production. The parallel units and the treatment processes in series must be operated in such a way that always, so 24 hours per day, sufficient water can be produced to feed the clear water tank. Therefore sufficient valves and pumps must be available in the treatment plant . However, the installation of too many control devices increases costs and complicates operation . In the process flow diagram the optimal division of control devices is indicated. Finally the treatment plant must be positioned in a building. The building must be compact to diminish investment costs, but the treatment processes pumps and valves must be accessible for
  

Design Aspects : Page 2


The chosen alternative is represented in the Process scheme. Here the position of the process in the treatment train is shown, sometimes already with an indication of the number of units and the dimensions. Costs is one of the most important aspects for decision makers to decide on investing in a new technology. Therefore, it is necessary to have an indication of the investment and exploitation costs already in an early stage.

Exploitation costs, expressed as costs per m3 produced water, give an indication for the drinking water price.
Most important part of the exploitation costs are the fixed costs, resulting from the investments in infrastructure, which can be estimated by evaluating previous projects.


For example, the investment in a treatment process can be estimated from the cost function that gives a relation between capacity and investment costs.

A treatment plant is normally fed by pumps, bringing the water to a level from where it is able to flow under gravity through the treatment plant to the clear water reservoirs. In some situations the boundary conditions, maximum building height or foundation depth, are such that an additional pumping phase is needed.

The Hydraulic line scheme indicates the heights of the treatment processes and the head losses. In addition it demonstrates the need for extra pumping phases, including the extra buffer to level off in- and outflow differences.


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