ABSTRACT
The demand for water in all cities is increasing, such that most treatment plants are sooner or later pushed to their maximum and often severely overloaded. The result is poor water quality and high operation costs. Optimisation should seek the economical use of chemicals (which in many places are imported and very expensive) without detriment to water quality and it should improve operation to increase plant capacity or improve treated water quality, or both. Plant optimisation uses simple procedures and only a small amount of equipment, glassware, and laboratory space. Engineers and qualified, experienced operators can quite easily learn the procedures for initial assessment and for continued monitoring and refinement.
