The collection of wastewater, its subsequent treatment and its return to the environment is a complicated and expensive process that threatens to get even more complicated in the future with industry drivers such as ever decreasing permit limits, population growth and climate change amongst others with the chief driver to make the industry more efficient and to reduce the costs of what we do as an industry.
The industry has heard if we have better control of our networks and convert out treatment plants into resource recovery factories producing water, bio-solids, nutrients, plastics and whatever else amongst other things then there is a chance to exploit the value of wastewater.
Meanwhile the wastewater side of the industry has been described as being "data rich/information poor." The knowledge of what is happening in the field is not always complete because monitoring is either not there or can be there but be of poor quality.
With the advent of the "Smart Wastewater Industry" we have seen the development of a plethora of solutions mainly focused on the wastewater treatment works with instrumentation and system based control systems which not only save money by increasing the operational efficiency but can also report back on lost opportunities.
The industry is also starting to look towards the wastewater collection network with event duration monitoring examining the performance of Combined Sewer Overflows and also more intelligent systems providing in the very least some sort of active system control and allowing network operators to make informed decisions by not only giving them information of what is happening but what will happen in the next few hours.
In this workshop, a panel of experts, will actively discuss with the gathered audience what it will take to bring these innovations to not only the wastewater treatment works but the holistic wastewater collection and resource recovery system. This is in order to not only to address future pressures but to do so in the most efficient manner and how to turn the Smart Wastewater Industry into something that is “Business as Usual.
This workshop will be chaired by Oliver Grievson who is a member of the management committee of the ICA Specialsit Group of the International Water Association. He is also the Group Manager of the Water Industry Process Automation & Control Group and a Director of both the Sensors for Water Interest Group and Wastewater Education 501 (c) 3.
