Table Of ContentINTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION ON
WATER POLLUTION RESEARCH
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Co-Chairmen: CF. Guarino, City of Philadelphia, USA
R. A. R. Drake, Greater London Council, UK
Programme: J. F. Andrews, Clemson University, USA
R. Briggs, Water Pollution Research Laboratory, UK
Members: J. J. Anderson, Watermation Ine, USA
O. T. Balis, Fischer & Porter, USA
J. Bernard, Degrémont, France
R. Best, Department of the Environment, UK
L. K. Cecil, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, USA
W. W. Eckenfelder, Vanderbilt University, USA
Wvd Emde, Technische Hochschule, Vienna, Austria
J. Federico, General Electric, USA
E. Furia, Environmental Consultant, USA
A. James, Newcastle University, UK
S. H. Jenkins, International Association on Water Pollution Research,
UK
D. G. M. Roberts, John Taylor & Sons, UK
H.B. Tench, Sheffield, UK
Hans Treupel, Federal Systems Division, International Business
Machines, USA
S. Wassersug, Environmental Protection Agency, USA
K. J. Wrigley, Manchester, UK
Secretary & Treasurer: A. Chandler, Greater London Council, UK
PROGRESS IN WATER TECHNOLOGY
VOLUME 6
INSTRUMENTATION CONTROL
AND AUTOMATION FOR
WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS
Edited by
J. F. Andrews
R. Briggs
and
S. H. Jenkins
P E R G A M ON P R E SS
OXFORD - NEW YORK · TORONTO · SYDNEY
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ISBN 0 08 017976 2
FOREWORD
AUTOMATION of the manufacture of steel, chemicals and automobile components, to
name only a few industries out of many, has taken place over the last few decades. Many
operations are carried out automatically according to a carefully designed programme
that is put into effect by a computer. If these techniques had been mere gimmickry
associated with data processing they would have faded long ago. Instead it is quite clear
that manufacture has been optimized by their introduction and they continue to be
developed and used.
Application in the field of waste-water treatment has been slow mainly because of the
difficulty of determining which parameters should be selected for process control and
because the instantaneous determination of the ideal parameters is still only in the early
stages of development.
Even so considerable advances have been made in the last few years at desk studies, at
pilot scale and on a large experimental scale in close co-operation with the makers of
measuring and other instruments and computers. A considerable number of treatment
plants throughout the world, intended to be automated as far as possible, are at the design
stage and some have been constructed. Designers have been working without complete
awareness of what has been going on elsewhere and in other fields.
This situation was realised during the IAWPR Workshop in Vienna in 1971 and the
idea for a Workshop on Instrumentation, Control and Automation for Waste-water
Treatment Systems was born there.
The urgent need for a complete view of the 'state of the art' was appreciated and Com-
mittees in the United States and United Kingdom, which had the benefit of the assistance
given by international experts, developed an integrated programme of papers covering a
very wide range.
The Committees were supported by the National Committees of the International
Association on Water Pollution Research and were sponsored in the United Kingdom by
the Institution of Public Health Engineers and the Institute of Water Pollution Control to
all of whom we express thanks.
These Proceedings contain the edited papers and discussions and they are published in
the hope that the information they contain will be found to be as interesting to the
engineers and consultants concerned with waste-water treatment problems as they were
to the 225 participants who attended the technical sessions of the Workshop in London in
September, 1973.
Carmen F. Guarino t/. S. Chairman
R. A. R. Drake U. K. Chairman.
xiii
OPENING ADDRESS
RT. HON. ELDON GRIFFITHS, MP
Minister of State, Department of the Environment
CERTAINLY the British delegates present today and, I hope, a number of our guests from
abroad, will know that we have just completed legislation which will change the whole
structure of the water industry in England and Wales.
We have attempted in this legislation to rationalize the approach to the water services,
putting them on a firm footing to deal competently with the rapidly increasing demands
for water as we go into the 1980s and 1990s. We are only too well aware that the amount
of water made available to us by Nature does not increase, and that it is up to us to con-
serve, protect, and re-use the resources we have.
Our reorganization has been radical. On 1 April next year twenty-nine river authorities,
about 200 local authority or joint water supply undertakings, and about 1300 local
authority or joint sewage authorities will cease to exist. All their powers and their property
will be made over to nine newly constituted all-purpose water authorities in England and
in Wales, a single Water Development Authority. These new regional water authorities
will become responsible for the entire water cycle—for development, management and
control of rivers and aquifers, and all uses of water associated with them; for public water
supplies; for sewerage and sewage disposal; for fisheries; for land drainage; and for im-
portant new functions in relation to recreation and amenity. In this new context waste-
water treatment becomes, of course, an integral part of the conservation of water.
In addition to the new regional authorities we are setting up a number of new bodies at
national level. At the centre there is the National Water Council which will complement
the arrangements at regional level. Its membership will comprise the chairmen of the new
authorities and additional members appointed by Ministers. Generally, speaking, the
functions of this body will not be executive—the regional water authorities will be very
largely self-sufficient. Rather the National Council will provide a forum for collecting
general questions of national water strategy; it will also have important central functions
for the organization of training within the water industry and the standardization of fit-
tings and devices. The Council will co-ordinate the industry's views, and provide the
Government with its main source of advice on national water policy.
To advise the Secretary of State, the National Water Council and the water authorities
on specific issues there will be other new organizations to look after planning, research,
statistics and recreation and amenity.
Research and Development is certainly a vital ingredient of our new policy. At present
we suffer from too much fragmentation and overlapping of effort in this field; we therefore
aim to rationalize and pool these resources into a new Water Research Centre. By the
nature of its make-up this Centre will become a powerful source of impetus for research
and development in the water industry for the whole of the United Kingdom. When it
begins work it will take over a running programme with an annual value of £3-3.5 million.
Within a short time we envisage this figure to rise well beyond £4 million as the Centre
concerns itself with the ever-more vital problems associated with pollution and the re-use
of water.
xvi Rt. Hon. Eldon Griffiths
So much for the machinery. To make it work there needs to be further sound legislation
to help reverse the tide of pollution. We have made some progress in containing pollution
in Britain. The River Pollution Surveys of my Department clearly show that our rivers are
getting substantially cleaner. Take, for example, the tidal Thames, a river into which the
wastes from around 10 million people and every kind of industry are discharged in large
quantities each day. In the middle 1950s, the middle tidal reaches of the Thames were a
dead river. Fish could not live there and during the summer at low water, the river could,
and often did, stink. Today fish are returning to the river Thames. Fifty different species
have been observed passing through the Port of London. GLC officials have actually
hooked fish from County Hall, Westminster, and in January 1972, a 3J-lb, 20-inch trout
was caught in the intake at Fulham Power Station!
But although our existing legislation is good it is getting a little old now, it needs
rejuvenation. We have, therefore, undertaken to introduce, during the present Parliament,
new and significantly strengthened legislation for the protection of the environment; and
an important part of this will deal with water pollution.
The Government is proposing to include the following in the forthcoming Protection of
the Environment Bill to help in the improvement of our rivers:
(a) bring under control all discharges to tidal stretches of rivers, estuaries and the sea;
(b) control all discharges of trade effluents into public sewers;
(c) stop sewage being discharged from boats into fresh water;
(d) require further precautions against accidental spillages of toxic matter;
(e) provide better protection of underground waters; and
(f ) make available to the public much more information about discharges.
One of the most important features of these proposals will be the extension of control to
all discharges to all waters within our territorial limits. These controls will permit the at-
tachment of comprehensive conditions to each consent certificate issued. To make this
new legislation work to its best advantage we will need to rely increasingly on remotely
controlled and automated techniques for monitoring discharges of effluents to our rivers
and coastal waters. Inevitably, pollution authorities will demand them as the quest for
clean rivers leads to the imposition of more restricting and demanding controls on
discharges.
But this is only half the story: you are tackling at this Workshop the issue of automa-
tion and instrumentation control inside the treatment works. We all know what this
should mean in economic terms; but it must also have a very clear meaning for the en-
vironment. This new and sophisticated technology must be developed to a stage where the
controls meet fully the requirements of the pollution authorities. Later this morning one of
my Department's engineers will read a paper which sets out the Government's proposals
for action on this subject. I urge you to heed the warnings it contains. Automation in the
modern sewage works may well be the answer to many of the operational problems, and it
should, and must, be used to the benefit of the environment. But we must not be overcome
by the sparkle of the computer and automation: we first need reliable and advanced in-
strumentation. In the past the approach to this subject has been very haphazard and un-
coordinated. We must now start to put things right.
There is just one more point that I should like to make before you get down to the real
business of the day. I notice from the programme that later this morning a paper will be
read on the Construction Industries Research and Information Association work on the
optimization study of sewage treatment. I mention this not because I want to speak of its
progress or achievements, but because it is a fine example of co-operation between
Opening Address xvii
organizations of different complexions. The work was co-ordinated by a steering com-
mittee comprising members of ORIA, engineers and research workers from the univer-
sities, and the Water Pollution Research Laboratory and my Department. The work was
funded by contributions from eighty-eight member local authorities with contributions
from the ORIA general fund and my Department. What is important about this research
is that all the organizations concerned with the particular problem under con-
sideration—those that have to design and build the works, those that have to maintain
and operate the works and those people centrally concerned with sewage
treatment—were all involved in the conception and guidance of a project. There are many
projects which can be explored in this co-operative spirit. Properly conceived and directed
such exercises should produce a superior product indeed. We live in an age when we can-
not afford to misuse time and resources: we are often in danger of committing this crime
by working in vacuo. Events such as this Workshop help us to keep in touch with one
another's aims and progress—let us build co-operative research and development ven-
tures on these foundations whenever the opportunities present themselves.
RESPONSE
JOHN T. RHETT
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water Program Operation, Ε.ΡΛ., USA
IT IS indeed a pleasure to be here. Your traditional British hospitality has already enabled
us to become better acquainted and enthused for the task ahead. We appreciate the efforts
that you have gone to in hosting this important conference. We hope that the results will
be so worthwhile that you will feel amply rewarded.
We look forward to this opportunity for participating in this joint effort to understand
the current status and future needs for instrumentation and automation of waste-water
treatment plants. Through our joint efforts, we have the means to ascertain and advance
the state of the art in this field. I am sure that we are going to make major contributions
toward this end.
All of the nations represented here will have their own interests and viewpoints on how
this conference can aid them in waste-water treatment. We of the US have our own needs
for making this conference a success. We are sure they dovetail with the needs of the other
nations that are here. In the case of the US, our nation is embarked on an expensive, total
effort to eliminate water pollution. Even small advances in improving the efficiency and
effectiveness of sewage-treatment system through automation and instrumentation will
cause major savings overall; significant advances will reduce the load on our taxpayers
who must pay for the improvements, and save our manpower for other important tasks.
Specifically, we hope that this joint effort can point the way to major achievements in
five specific areas through automation and instrumentation:
First, we need automation and improved instrumentation to meet the new stringent
requirements for waste-water treatment that are contained in the new water-
pollution control legislation of the US.
Second, the energy and resource utilization crises compel us to make the most efficient
use possible of our human and material resources that are involved in waste-water
treatment. Mechanization and improved controls can significantly aid this process.
Third, information data bases need to be fostered that can be used for operating plants,
providing input into computers, optimizing management of sewage treatment
systems, and improving State and national knowledge of plant operations.
Fourth, improved coordination of sewage-treatment systems on a Regional and Basin-
wide basis through cybernetics must be developed so that system-wide effectiveness
in pollution control and costs can be achieved.
Fifth, participation with other nations and international organizations in achieving
mutual goals and standards for waste-water treatment through instrumentation and
mechanization needs to be stimulated for the mutual benefit of all.
As the countries represented at this conference all have interests that are related to
these objectives, I look forward to joint efforts that will be beneficial to all.
As background for the need for major advances in the development and utilization of
instrumentation and automation in sewage treatment plants, I would like to mention how
xix
XX John T. Rhett
these needs related to current US programs and objectives in pollution abatement.
Our charter is the legislation entitled "The Federal Water Pollution Control Act
Amendments of 1972". This legislation covers a wide range of activities, including control
of industrial discharges of pollutants, Federal enforcement provisions, research and
development, Federal assistance for municipal projects, and restrictions on discharging
oil and hazardous materials. However, the objective and goals of the Act are expressed in
the very first paragraphs.
The stated objective of the Act is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and
biological integrity of the nation's waters with the following implementing goals:
First, by 1985, elimination of discharges of pollutants into navigable waters.
Second, by 1983, the attainment of water quality which provides for the protection and
propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife, and recreation in and on the waters.
Third, prohibition of the discharge of toxic pollutants in toxic amounts.
Fourth, Federal financial assistance for the construction of publicly owned waste-
treatment works.
Fifth, fostering of areawide waste-treatment management planning processes.
Sixth, maintaining a major research and demonstration effort to develop technology
necessary to eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters, waters
of the contiguous zone, and the ocean.
These objectives and goals are buttressed by the appropriation of many billions of
dollars to see them achieved. To attain these objectives and goals, our law establishes a
pattern for action consisting of permits, effluent limitations, pretreatment of industrial
wastes, and user charges. In all of these, improved and increased instrumentation and
automation is necessary.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I offer this conference the opportunity to use technology to overcome the
pollution which has been largely caused by the application of technology in our highly in-
dustrialized societies. The very growth of our metropolitan areas has been made possible
by the application of new methods and new inventions that were unknown when we were a
smaller nation. However, problems of waste disposal and other forms of pollution have
resulted from these great advances in technology. Now, we have come to the point where
we have to use technology to eliminate the detrimental effects of technological progress.
This conference can play an essential role in bring about the necessary technological
solutions. I hope that we will all rise to the challenge.
THE DGWE'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE
PROMOTION OF INSTRUMENTATION,
CONTROL AND AUTOMATION FOR
WASTE-WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS
R. SURIYADASA
Directorate of Water Engineering, Department of the Environment, UK
THE DGWE
The Directorate General Water Engineering (DGWE) in the Department of the En-
vironment (DOE) was established in 1971 under its present name and is the successor to
the Engineering Inspectorate of the former Ministry of Housing and Local Government.
Its aim is to give professional advice to enable the Secretary of State for the Environment
to fulfil his obligations under the law and to Parliament. The work of the Directorate was
changed from an approach based on technical control to one based on promoting the
effective use of resources in the whole "water" field by forward planning, the provision of
early advice and guidance to local authorities and water undertakings at the formative
stages of a scheme, the initiation and co-ordination of research and development
(especially in the field) and the dissemination of information.
The Development Division has the following special aims within the general role of
DGWE:
(a) to identify areas in which research and development in the water engineering field
are most urgently required;
(b) to prepare, initiate and where appropriate, manage a government programme of
development in this field and to co-ordinate that programme with work being
carried out elsewhere;
(c) to promulgate the results and fill gaps in existing knowledge;
(d) to sponsor and manage large-scale development projects with national and inter-
national implications;
(e) to liaise between pure researchers and field practitioners, serving as a catalyst and to
process and present the results from research in a suitable form for practical, effec-
tive and economic use.
The Development Division has no in-house capacity for direct work. Projects set up by
the Division are operated on a customer/contractor principle in the Rothschild concept.
The financial contributions are made to cover the additional costs that the contractor
(usually a statutory authority) would incur in executing the project to the requirements of
the DGWE. A project is guided by a steering group set up under the chairmanship of a
DGWE representative with members of other research bodies where appropriate and of
course the representatives of the "Contractor".
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