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 yyastewater is water that we have used for
    various purposes—in our homes, in schools,
 in hospitals, and in industrial plants.
 It is polluted water. Human  and industrial
 wastes—bacteria, chemicals, and
 viruses—must be removed before the water can
 be safely returned to rivers  and lakes.
•To make this water reusable we have systems
 for cleaning it. In most communities,
 wastewater drains into sewer systems which
• carry it through a complex system of pipes to a
 plant for treatment.
 We must clean used water.  Our Nation has
 grown. There are more people  and more
 industries who need and  use water. As a result,
 our water pollution problems have increased,
 and more treatment plants are needed to help
 solve them. That's why Congress authorized
 some $18 billion to help communities like yours
 to build new plants or to  improve the ones they
 have.
 This new construction will help, but it is not
 enough. We must also make sure that treatment
 plants work properly, and that they are kept in
 good repair.
 And that's where you can help. As a community
 resident and as a taxpayer,  you have a
 responsibility to make sure your tax monies are
 well-spent, and that the waterways  in your area
 are kept clean—clean enough for swimming
 and for fishing.

 What is
 a Treatment Plant?
 A wastewater treatment plant is basically a big
 water-cleaning machine. It consists of a series of
 tanks, screens, filters and other devices to
 separate out the  wastes.  Like other big
 machines, the plant can't run itself; it needs
 people who can operate  and maintain it. It
 requires a planned  program of  operation and
 maintenance; operation to make it  work;
 maintenance to keep it working. That's O&M,
 and it is the key  to making  your wastewater
 treatment plant work efficiently.
 Machines and plants must be looked at in terms
 of O&M. If a system .can't be operated
 effectively, or if  it is difficult to keep in
 operation, it can't do its job of  cleaning water
 very well. So when  we talk about O&M at
 wastewater treatment facilities,  we're really

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getting into the nitty-gritty of water pollution
control. In reality, we are in a war against
polluted water and the treatment plant is our
best weapon.
It's a war in which we can't call a truce—we are
all using more and more water and polluting it in
the  process. That means we'll continue to need
well-run, well-kept treatment plants to clean our-
water. This is especially true  since the law now
requires more and  better wastewater  treatment
to protect the  Nation's health and welfare.
The law—the Federal Water  Pollution Control
Act Amendments of 1972—is a tough law. Its
goal is to end all discharges into the Nation's
waters by 1985. An earlier deadline of  July 1983
calls for water clean enough for recreational
uses and for the protection of fish and wildlife.
It is to achieve these goals that Congress
authorized vast sums of your money  to help
build new wastewater treatment plants and to
improve existing ones.
But construction is only part of the answer. To
make sure we have clean water and are getting
our money's worth out of the plants we have or
that we are building, we must  make sure they
have good operation and maintenance.

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How does a
Treatment Plant Work?

A wastewater treatment facility is designed to
treat a specific amount of wastewater each day.
In  a town of 20,000 people, for example, the
plant may be designed to treat a flow of about
two million  gallons per day (2mgd). This figure
is called the plant's design flow. More important
are the plant's design criteria which tell us what
percentage of  waste the plant should  remove
from the water.
According to a survey* published by the U. S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
however, as many as one-third of the treatment
plants may  not be operating as they should. The
survey showed that the major problems were
inadequate  operation and maintenance of the
facilities. The most common faults were:
•  improper operation of machinery by
inadequately trained operators
•  inadequate laboratory tests of wastewater at
various stages of processing, making it hard to
find out if the  process was working properly
•  unsatisfactory maintenance of machinery
and equipment
•  mechanical breakdowns
Unless a plant is poorly designed or is
overloaded  with more wastewater than it is
designed to handle, these problems usually can
be solved by improving its O&M.


What Makes a Plant Work

An efficient plant, one which has good operation
and maintenance, is a plant that has well-
trained people—operators and maintenance
men, laboratory technicians and chemists,
managers and supervisors. The more skilled
and motivated they are, the cleaner our waters
will be, and that is the real payoff.
What makes people work well? They need
training; they need the right tools and
equipment;  they need decent pay; and they need
good working  conditions.
Giving them these things costs money, but not
providing them really costs more—much more
considering the immense cost to  the
•Statistics were based on an inspection of a limited number
of Federally funded plants after they had begun operation.

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environment. Why? Because we can't get our
money's worth out of the treatment plant unless
we're willing to make investments in people. A
community may spend millions to build a new
plant, then give it a yearly budget so small that
adequate operation and maintenance is
impossible.
Look at it this  way:  most of us would not
think of buying a new car and then driving it  •
without periodic tune-ups, oil changes, and
lubrication by  trained mechanics. If we didn't,
we know that one day the car would simply grind"
to a halt, its engine and our investment a
total loss.

Each of us has a similar vested  interest in
making sure that the wastewater treatment plant
in our  community has similar attention and
care so that it functions the way it was designed.
You  have a large investment in your local
treatment plant. And that plant,  like your car,
needs  to be serviced by trained people to
protect that investment.

An Important Job
What helps people to do a good job? They need
to know that their job is important and that their
work is appreciated.
Employees in  a treatment plant  understand
that their job is important, but they may wonder
how much it is appreciated. They perform a vital
public service, but  more often than not receive
little or no recognition for it. Because they wear
no uniform and because the plant is often on the
outskirts of the community, they are invisible.

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We must recognize that the men and women
who fight pollution are protecting our health
and welfare as much as policemen who fight
crime and firemen who fight fires. We must
support these pollution fighters in their work or
the national war on pollution  may be lost.

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What Can You Do?
The best and first thing you can do is to join with
your local treatment plant staff in its fight
against  pollution. This requires very little—only
that you take an active interest in what is going
on  at the plant, especially in operation and
maintenance.

How Do You Start?
A good  source of information is the discharge
permit that the treatment plant is required to
have. The permit is issued under the  National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination  System
(NPDES), a cooperative State-Federal effort
required by law. It is a legally binding agreement
to comply within a certain time with the State
and Federal discharge requirements. It lists
what and how much the plant can discharge into
waterways. It also contains plant design data,
water quality data, and schedules of
compliance.
It is not a license to pollute; it is a  mandate to
perform.
It is an  enforcement tool, and periodic
monitoring and reporting are required to see
that plants are actually performing as promised.
By reviewing the permit document you will be
able to  judge how well your plant is doing its
job. Copies must be made available to you. You
can get a copy of the permit from your treatment
plant staff  or from an  EPA Regional Office.
But don't overlook the best source  of O&M
information—the local plant superintendent
and members of  his staff. They know better than
anyone else what it will take to  improve
operation and maintenance at their plant.

You Are  Important
You are a voter  and taxpayer—that makes you
important.  It means that members of the plant
staff, the people who make the  budgets and
arrange the priorities for water pollution
control  in your community, are  responsible to
you for  their actions. They work for you and they
know it.
When you and other citizens begin to pay
attention to your wastewater treatment plant,
local officials will respond. They welcome
citizen support and interest. That's why you are
the most effective anti-pollution force of all.

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What Questions
Should You Ask Your
Local Officials About O&M?

Here are a few:
   What kind of performance record does the
plant have? The plant's design criteria set the
standards; how  far are we from achieving  or
exceeding those standards?
   What types of wastes are treated by the
plant? Does runoff from  rain and snowfall  pass
through? Are there any special problems with
industrial wastes?
   What, if any, mechanical problems affect the
plant's performance? Are these frequent
problems?
   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?
Compare skills  needed by the technical staff
with skills of other community service
occupations. What are the differences in
salaries?
   Does the plant have its own laboratory?
What  kind of sampling and  testing  program
exists? The  NPDES permit system requires
frequent self-testing and reporting;  how is this
requirement being  met?
   What type of maintenance system Is in use?
Is it a preventive system, or does it merely
respond to breakdowns?
   Is  there an operation and maintenance
manual written  especially for the plant that is
actually used by the operators?
   Who sets the yearly operation and
maintenance budget for the plant ? Is money
collected for water service and sewer-use
charges set aside to finance water  quality
activities, or is  it placed  in the community's
treasury for general use?
Visit your wastewater treatment plant and ask
yourself the following questions:
How does the plant look? Is it kept clean?
Are the grounds landscaped? Is the general
environment attractive?  Is it a desirable
place to work?
What you learn can provide the basis for a long
or short-term program or campaign toward
achieving our clean water goals.

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