Development of a surface water treatment plant design tool

Abstract

Water is considered a prime substance on earth for survival of all organisms Safe and clean water originates through certain treatment processes, process units and plants. Water treatment plants are one of the crucial facilities in the world today since it involves production of water that is essentially safe and basic to the general public. They are designed and owned by water utility operators particularly NWSC in Uganda who are vested with task of extracting water from its source (rivers and lakes, etc.), treating it and supplying it to the users. Most existing water treatment plants in some parts of Uganda produce water for the public that do not match with the National's water quality requirement following the low technological advancement in the company and the country at large. Their design is being done manually thus making the system insufficient since it involves human errors, bulky work, time consuming and much costs involved through Labor. A computerized water treatment plant design tool that encompasses automation in the design of new water treatment plants will eradicate this problem. This application is simple through inter input data needed for each process that provided the program provide feature that enable the user to change the input data needed for each unit from lists contained different type of these parameters. The user can design and save results for the different water treatment process units under consideration viz plain sedimentation basin coagulation basin, flocculation basin, sedimentation basin and rapids and filter basin regardless of the sequence of operation. This design tool eradicates time wastage, human errors and bulky work that calls for higher costs. This automated design tool will lead to the development of new efficient treatment plants that will ensure production of water for consumption by the public that is palatable at relatively low costs.