Un-
making
wastewater
treatment work
in your community
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
MAV 1974 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
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(J&JVL: Operations and Maintenance
Making Wastewater Treatment Work in Your Community
YVfater, when it drains from our homes and factories into the sewer sys-
tem, is waste water. It carries industrial and domestic wastes, includ-
ing human wastes, through a complex network of pipes to a wastewater
treatment plant.
What we pollute, the treatment plant must unpollute. Polluted water
carries harmful bacteria and viruses. It makes our lakes and rivers ugly
and unhealthy. It's dead water, dangerous even to swim in. Out of necessity
we must clean it.
A wastewater treatment plant is a big water-
cleaning machine. Inside it, a series of tanks,
screens, filters and other processes separate the
wastes from the waters. Like other big ma-
chines, it can't run itself or repair itself, so it
requires a planned program of operation and
maintenance: operation—to make it work;
maintenance—-to keep it working.
what is O&M?
Professional engineers must look at machines
and plants in terms of operation and mainte-
nance, which they call O & M for short. If a
system can't be operated effectively, or if it
is difficult to keep in operation, they know it
can't do its job very well.
When we talk about O & M at wastewater
treatment plants, we're really getting into the
nitty-gritty of water pollution control. In the
war against polluted water, the treatment plant
is our best weapon. O&M makes it work.
It's a war in which we can't call a truce, be-
cause unless someone finds a substitute for
water, we'll continue to pollute it. That means
we'll continue to need well-run, well-kept treat-
ment plants to clean our water. This is espe-
cially true since the law now requires more and
better wastewater treatment than ever before.
The law is the Federal Water Pollution Con-
trol Act and its Amendments of 1972—a very
tough law. Its goal is to end all discharge of
pollutants into the Nation's waters by 1985.
An earlier deadline of July 1983, is set for an
interim goal calling for water clean enough
for recreational uses and for the protection of
fish and wildlife.
The Federal Government has authorized
vast sums of your money to help the States meet
these goals by building new plants and improv-
ing existing plants.
But construction is only a part of the answer.
We should first make sure we're getting our
money's worth out of the plants we've already
built. To do that we must turn our attention
back to the basics. Back to O & M.
better O&M pays
Better O&M means cleaner water. But
attention to O & M pays off even more than
that. It saves money, too. It protects the huge
investment that a community makes when it
builds a wastewater treatment plant by getting
the most out of it.
Your local plant was designed to treat a cer-
tain amount of waste water each day. If you
live in a town of 20,000 people, for example,
your plant is probably designed to accept a flow
of about two million gallons per day (mgd).
This is its design flow. It was also designed to
remove certain percentages of wastes from the
water. These are the plant's design criteria.
Judging from some statistics* published in
1973 by the Environmental Protection Agency
* Statistics were based on an inspection of a limited
number of Federally funded plants after they had
begun operation.
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(EPA), as many as four out of ten treatment
plants may not be meeting their original design
criteria. The major problems with these plants,
according to the EPA survey, were mostly
caused by O & M failures. The most common
problems were:
. . . improper operation by inadequately
trained operators
. . . inadequate laboratory testing
. . . inadequate general maintenance
. . . temporary mechanical breakdowns.
Unless the plant is overloaded with more
waste water than it's designed to handle, most
of its problems can DC solved by improving
O & M performance.
what makes a plant work?
Efficient plant O & M depends on people—
well trained operators and maintenance men,
wise managers and competent supervisors.
skilled laboratory technicians and chemists.
Without them the plant would be useless. Plant
efficiency relies on people efficiency.
What makes people work well? Plant per-
sonnel need training, tools and equipment, de-
cent pa)' and pleasant working conditions.
Giving them these things may cost money,
but not giving them would cost more. Much
more, really, considering the immense cost to
the environment. The point is that we can't get
our money's worth out of the treatment plant
unless we're willing to make investments in
people and provide them with the things they
need to do their jobs. A community may spend
$10 million to build a plant, then give it a
yearly budget so skimpy that adequate O & M
is impossible. Look at it this way: Low
budget = poorly paid employees = less trained,
fewer qualified employees = poor O & M =
foul, unsafe waters. Thus, if your water is still
polluted, your investment in a plant has been
wasted. Millions of dollars are wasted this way.
Something else that helps people to do a
good job is morale. Enthusiasm comes from
knowing your job is important and your
work is appreciated. Employees in a treat-
ment plant know their job is important, but
fhj\ may wonder if their work is appreciated.
Strange as it seems, it's possible to perform a
vital public service and yet get little or no
recognition for it. This is the way it is for many
treatment plant workers. They're invisible.
When we look at our community, we can
easily see the policemen who fight crime and
the firemen who fight fires, but the men and
women who fight pollution aren't nearly as
noticeable. They wear no uniform. Their plant
is usually on the outskirts of town, and many
people don't even know they're there.
But things are looking up! Citizens like you
are learning that the fight against pollution, like
the fight against crime or fire, is one we've got
to win. This country could lose its war on
pollution if front line troops like the staff at
your local treatment plant don't receive the
support of the people they protect.
what can you do?
The first and best thing you can do about
water pollution is to join with your local treat-
ment plant staff in the fight against it. All this
requires is taking an active interest in what's
going on at your local plant. And the most
important thing going on there is—you guessed
it—O & M.
One source of information about the O & M
at your local plant is its permit. The new law
requires each treatment plant to obtain a
permit to discharge into the Nation's waters.
The permit will be issued under the authority
of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimina-
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tion System (NPDES), a cooperative State-
Federal effort. It will not be a license to pollute;
it will be a promise to perform.
Each permit will include a "schedule of com-
pliance." This is a legally binding agreement to
comply, within a certain time schedule, with
State and Federal water quality standards. To
see that the plants actually perform as they
promise in their permit applications, the
NPDES requires periodic monitoring and re-
porting.
The permit system, besides being a necessary
enforcement tool, will provide you with several
opportunities to become informed and have
an efleci on O & M at your local plant. By
law, permit applications, monitoring reports and
issued permits must be made available to you
to read and copy. These documents contain
plant design data, water quality data and
schedules of compliance. With them, you'll be
able iu judge for yourself how well your plant
is doing its job. Permit documents may be
obtained from EPA Regional Offices or locally
from the offices of your treatment facility.
But don't overlook the very best source of
O & M information—the local plant superin-
tendent or members of his staff. They know—
better than anybody—what it will take to
improve O & M at their plants. And what it
takes is your help. You are the voter and citizen;
superintendents' bosses are your employees. The
people who make the budgets and arrange the
priorities for water pollution control in your
community are responsible to you for their
actions. And they know it.
When citizens begin to pay attention to what's
going on(O&M) at their wastewater treatment
plants, local officials will respond accordingly.
An informed public is the most effective
anti-pollution device of all.
To help you become more informed, here's
a brief list of pertinent questions for you to
ask your local officials about O & M:
• What kind of performance record does the
plant have? The goal is zero pollution:
how far do we have to go to achieve that
goal?
• What types of wastes pass through the
plant? Does runoff from rain and snowfalls
pass through? Any special problems with
industrial wastes?
• What, if any, mechanical problems affect
the plant's performance?
• How large is the plant's staff?
Does the plant have a full-time operator?
Who actually hires plant personnel?
What qualifications are required?
Are operators certified by the State?
How are employees trained for their jobs?
Are opportunities for continuing training
provided?
Do salaries compare with those of similarly
skilled and responsible occupations in the
community?
• Does the plant have, or need, its own
laboratory?
What kind of sampling and testing program
exists?
The NPDES permit system will require
frequent self-testing and reporting: how
will this requirement be met?
• What type of maintenance system is there?
Is it a preventive system, or does it merely
respond to breakdowns?
• Is there an O & M manual, written espe-
cially for the plant, that is actually used
by operators?
• Who sets the yearly budget for the plant's
O & M?
Is money paid for water bills and sewer-
use charges set aside to finance water
quality activities, or is it placed in the
community's treasury for general use?
In addition, a visitor to the facility can see
the answers to the following questions himself:
• How does the plant look?
• Is it kept clean?
• Are the grounds landscaped?
• Is the general environment attractive?
What you learn may provide the basis for a
long or short-term program or campaign in
achieving our clean water goals.
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