Ministerio Medio Ambiente, Medio Rural y Marino (Confederación Hidrográfica del Guadiana)

Areas of Activity: Environmental Quality

Sectors of Operation: Drainage Networks, WWTP

 

 

Catering for an interest in minimizing the effects of discharges to the environment, and in optimizing quality in that process, Adasa has designed, developed, implemented and operated a system allowing discharges from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to be monitored via an automatic network of continuous monitoring stations.

The benefits obtained from an automated wastewater monitoring station network are various, notably including a greater ability to control and manage the system. On one hand, such networks continuously supply a lot of information on the quality of effluent discharged into the environment, allowing us to promptly detect risk situations and to act more quickly to minimize them. On the other hand, an automated wastewater monitoring station network gives the controlling body a powerful tool for learning about the performance of the various WWTPs, allowing it to anticipate possible operational deviations, predicting and minimizing their effects on the environment and, at a higher level, modelling the system.

The possibility of continuous effluent analyses represents a step forward over the conventional monitoring systems used to date. Such conventional systems are based on periodic sampling and subsequent laboratory analysis, typically with monthly frequency, with which it is considerably harder to detect recurrent or more or less sporadic episodes, which, given their ability to harm the receiving environment, need to be detected as a matter of priority. Thus the disadvantages of having only intermittent data are overcome and we are able to ascertain water status continuously, 24 hours a day, and so to ensure that it can be modelled in the event of abnormal episodes or situations.

Moreover, continuous facility monitoring allows the operator to precisely gauge the plant’s performance and to be sure that it is operating optimally.