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Cowes plant has it in the bag!They’re big, black and bulging … and the most cost-effective of waste storage now at the Cowes wastewater treatment plant. By Susan Webster - 27th September 2007 - Back to News Staff at the plant last week commissioned the latest biosolids bags – porous sealed bags each capable of retaining 600 cubic metres of treated waste.
Last Friday’s roll-out brings the total number of bags to seven. They are placed side by side in a bunded lagoon and their job is to consolidate the excess biomass.
Plant operator Chris West explained: "It works a bit like the leaky hose that some people use to water their gardens. We pump the treated waste water into the bags – at that stage it’s about 3% solids and 97% liquids. Over time the filtered liquids drain out through the porous bag, into the underground drainage and back into the treatment tanks.
"The biosolids remain in the bag, becoming drier and more concentrated until, at last, they’re quite dry and friable. That process takes about two years."
The system is very workable and the most cost-effective alternative to handling the end product of … well… end products.
Westernport Water Managing Director David Mawer explained: "The alternative was a centrifuge system to separate solids from liquids but that was going to cost $600,000 to $700,000 plus high ongoing power costs. These bags cost $10,000 each and there’s no power cost.
"The bags are used in rotation and the latest roll out means that the plant has capacity to handle as much waste as Westernport Water can process, even during the peak months."
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: susanw@ptarmigan.com.au
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