AN OFF CENTRE CLARIFIER

THE CASE OF THE OFF CENTER CLARIFIER

Regular readers of this Adda will have no doubt read the Story of the Potato Chip Factory : Here is the story of an STP of a Chip maker of a different kind : A true Blue American Hitech Multinational.

I have a healthy disrespect for a great majority of foreign Multinational Companies, at a level only slightly less virulent than my abhorrence of Plumbing Consultants masquerading as Environmental experts. This, from my interactions and personal experiences with MNC’s in multifarious business enterprises ranging from Soda Pop to great big IC engines.

Both of my favourite Villains foregathered in this case of a botched up Treatment Plant, succeeded in sweeping the S--T under the carpet for nearly one year, until an Auditor from H.O came calling.

It is truly mind boggling to count the number of people and agencies involved in certifying, accepting and running this absolute rubbish of a Treatment Plant !  Let me make the job a little easier for the reader.

HEAD COUNT OF PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE STP

1. 2 Nos. (Two) EHS Managers of the MNC
2. N Nos( Enn) of civil engineers, Managers of the civil construction company ( L&T – Construction Division)
3. N Nos. ( Enn) of Consultants/ flunkeys/ monkeys from Kinetic Service Consultants ( Name changed to protect privacy)
4. N Nos. ( Enn) of Erection crew from the Equipment vendor
5. N Nos. ( Enn) of operating personnel and staff of the operating Agency at the STP
6. N Nos. ( Enn) of the External Facility Management staff employed by the Chip Maker to oversee the operations of the STP
7. N Nos. ( Enn) of KSPCB officers who come visiting to collect “statutory” dues

TOTAL : Sorry ! !   Lost count here.

AT THE CENTRE OF THE PROBLEM

For nearly one year, during the so called Defects Liability Period, the STP never got stabilized, and achieved Zero Treatment.  ( The burden of liability and sufferance apparently devolved on the User and not on the vendor or Consultant). Sewage entered the plant and exited the plant, with little difference in quality, except perhaps ageing by a day in the process. Whatever little bacteria was developed in the brief period of stay in the aeration tank, floated out of the clarifier, without any settlement.  Sand and Carbon filters got choked frequently in the process, and no healthy population of bacteria could be maintained in the aeration tank.

All this while, the above worthies consoled themselves with various specious excuses and reasons for the non performance of the plant.  Not even a cursory effort was made to investigate the cause of all grief.  Meanwhile, I presume, glowing reports were transmitted to their Overseas Head Quarters on a weekly basis of the Excellent performance of the plant.

My presumption regarding the “Glowing Reports” is not without reason.  When I was called in finally to investigate the case, the EHS manager pulled me to the side and with a worried look on his face, asked me whether I could really lick the problem.  My readers by now know of my supreme confidence in my own abilities, and absolute lack of modesty.

With a look of absolute disdain, I told the fellow “ This is Baccha ( baby) plant for me.  Don’t worry. I can set it right in no time “.  Not convinced, the EHS man persisted, and pleaded with me, almost coming to tears “ Sir ! my job is at stake if I do not show satisfactory results from this plant”.  That was the time I realized what fudging must have been going on for over a year, on paper and in reports when, on the ground things were literally falling apart.

My confidence in being able to rectify the plant was based on my inspection of the plant a little earlier in the day.  Within minutes, I had identified the cause of all grief – The core of the Problem.

THE OFF CENTER CLARIFIER

The Clarifier ( Settling tank) was a square tank 10 ft x 10 ft.  There was installed a rotating clarifier rake mechanism, meant to sweep the floor of the tank, and transport all settled solids / sludge         ( bacteria ) to a central hopper, whence, the bacteria would be recycled back to the aeration tank to maintain the desired high level of bacterial population.  Now, a clarifier’s performance is only as good as how effectively and quickly it can transport the settled solids to the central hopper.  For this to happen, it must sweep the entire floor of the tank effectively, quickly, but without too much turbulence to kick up the settled solids.

The Clarifier mechanism at this Chip Maker’s plant was, alas,  fitted off- center of the clarifier tank    ( See Sketch # 1 attached).  This resulted in a “Dead Zone”  of nearly 37 % of the floor area, which was not swept by the rake mechanism : In the Dead Zone, the bacteria stayed for hours together, and under anaerobic conditions, turned septic, generating gas ( Methane etc.) in the classic anaerobic reaction.  The bacterial mass then attached themselves  to the gas bubbles thus generated, levitating and rising up the clarifier and out of the clarifier, in an unsightly mess.

The problem found a quick solution by shifting of the mechanism to the geometrical center of the tank, extending the rake blades to the periphery, Making extreme floor slopes in the four corners of the square tank not swept by the circular motion of the rake blades, all within no time, as promised.  Since that time, I am happy to report, the EHS managers of this facility have not had to fudge their reports.

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                          April 26, 2011

Ecotech

FOOTNOTES :

1. In my meetings with the EHS mangers of this facility, I was initially put off, when during our discussions and my technical presentations, these uncouth fellows were busily typing away on their laptops, least interested in what I was trying to convey.  I forgive them the discourtesy : After all the poor blokes were only trying to keep their jobs secure – the STP be damned. Such is the time bound, superior work culture in an MNC.

2. The concept of “Defects Liability Period” is grossly misunderstood.  This period is meant to be a “Warranty period “ only to provide relief against manufacturing defects in the equipments installed, and warrants free replacement of such defective parts OR replacement of the entire equipment, if parts replacements prove to be of no avail. ( Normal wear and tear items excluded – Oil seals, bearings, Rubber and plastic parts etc. much like in an automobile), irrespective of who runs the Treatment Plant.  And if the vendor is unable to show satisfactory results within say one or two months of commissioning of the Plant ( the normal period within which the STP can be stabilized), the User is not obliged to continue to suffer for the entire Defect Liability Period with a non functioning Treatment Plant,  the Vendor meanwhile merrily running the Plant, and sweeping all defects and lacunae under the Carpet, safely out of view.

It would be prudent, and indeed advisable to bring in a third party with sufficient expertise to run the plant and uncover various Design and Engineering deficiencies and defects during the DLP, and hold the perpetrators responsible – the Builder, the Consultant, the Vendor and the PCB.

A POTATO CHIP FACTORY IN HARIDWAR

A POTATO CHIP FACTORY IN HARIDWAR

(WHICH ALSO PRODUCED SOAP ON THE SIDE!!! )

BACKGROUND OF THE POTATO CHIP FACTORY

XYZ Limited, a highly respected Indian Multinational Company, set up a multi product manufacturing facility in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.  The products manufactured at different manufacturing halls within the campus included Potato Chips, Biscuits , Soaps, Shampoo, creams, etc.  XYZ  recruited necessary senior and experienced manufacturing personnel for these various activities from other established competitors in the respective fields such as Frito Lays, Britannia, Nestle, Hindustan Lever etc., thereby not having to reinvent the wheel all over again.

As per customary practice in XYZ, a consultant was duly appointed for designing and engineering the utilities, plumbing system and alas, also the Wastewater Treatment Plant.  The potato chip wastewater had a separate dedicated Treatment Plant, while the other production units had another common Treatment Plant in the campus.

Now, regular readers of this Adda will no doubt be keenly aware of my revulsion, bordering on disgust of Plumbing Consultants masquerading as environmental consultants without first acquiring requisite knowledge, skill or proficiency in an endeavour which is predominantly an Art : the following story will serve to illustrate my theory or point of view, if you will.

1. PLUMBING CONSULTANTS CAN ONLY CUT AND PASTE

Potato chip making calls for the following stages and operations in the production process, where water is used and wastewaters are generated :

• Destoning  ( Washing and cleaning  the raw potatoes brought in from the fields)
• Peeling  ( Peeling the outer skin of the potatoes – thick skin/ thin skin/ seasonally variable)
• Slicing  ( Slice the potatoes for making the chips)
• Prewashing  ( to wash away loose particles of starch and sugar on the surface of slices)
• Blanching ( a process to inactivate enzymes, gelatinize starch and reduce sugar content –otherwise, in the frying process which follows, the sugar caramelizes, and unsightly brown coloured chips are produced)

In addition to the above wastewaters, there are two other wastes from the factory, which are intermittent “dumps”

1. Caustic boil out once a week : 12-16 KL per batch containing Caustic Soda ( NaOH )
2. Waste oil dump once a day   : 10 KL per batch

Before one embarks on designing a Wastewater treatment plant, one has to study the production/ manufacturing process in detail, understand the requirements of water at each stage of the process, both in terms of quality and quantity.  One has then to characterise the wastewater from each stage again in terms of quantity, quality, pollutional potential, etc.  An Environmental Engineer then investigates ways and means to conserve water, internally pretreat, recycle and reuse water, thereby achieving savings in fresh water consumption, and reduction in wastewater generation.

The water balance proposed by the “Plumbing Consultant”, cut and lifted directly from an existing Frito Lay factory, and pasted on to the XYZ unit in Haridwar, which I will call as the “Worst Case Scenario”.  The Wastewater Treatment Plant was also designed accordingly for a total flow of 21 cum/Hr or approx. 500 cum/day.

When the treatment plant failed to deliver satisfactory results, I was called in to Haridwar by XYZ Ltd., to study the plant and suggest ways to improve performance.  After detailed study of the various production stages, and understanding the requirements of each stage, I proposed a revised Water Balance as the “ Ideal Case”, wherein several internal recycle and reuse strategies were introduced, including a starch recovery stage from one of the waste streams.  These proposals were indeed later implemented as a retrofit by XYZ Ltd.

• Fresh water consumption was reduced by over 50 %
• Wastewater generation was likewise reduced by over 50 %
• Starch was produced as a Byproduct, which was then sold for making glue for use in the paperboard/ carton making and book binding industry

MORAL OF STORY : Plumbing Consultants can never aspire to become good Env. Consultants.

2. PLUMBING CONSULTANTS ARE BLISSFULLY IGNORANT OF SIDE EFFECTS AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THEIR ACTIONS

In the same potato chip unit of XYZ Ltd., there are two intermittent waste dumps as described above :

a.   Caustic boil out once a week : 12-16 KL per batch containing Caustic Soda, NaOH

2. Waste oil dump once a day     : 10 KL per batch

The accursed Plumbing Consultant had proposed a conveyance system for all the wastewaters from the process, as also these intermittent dumps, from the production hall to the Treatment plant located at a considerable distance.   A single common drain line was installed, with two intermediate pumping stages, each stage consisting of a collection tank and pumps for further carriage of the wastes.

Imagine the surprise and also the great consternation of XYZ Ltd., when they discovered that in addition to producing potato chips, they were also producing soap on the side, in the pipelines and pits long the way to the Treatment Plant !!!

Over a period of time, the waste and tramp oil collected in the intermediate tanks were reacting with the caustic dumps also carried along the same line, getting converted into soap -  the classic chemistry of  “Saponification”

Caustic + Fat  = Soap + Water

My recommendation for the above wastes which was later implemented consisted of storing the weekly caustic dump in a tank and gradually dripping it into the sewer line over the week, thereby not affecting pH adversely.

The oil was proposed to be disposed off as slop oil to refiners to manufacture low grade lubricants.

MORAL OF STORY : Plumbing Consultants do not have knowledge of Chemistry/ Chemical Engg. to become good  Env. Consultants.

3. PLUMBING CONSULTANTS WILL HIT ROCK, MISS THE POINT !

Not entirely satisfied by the great harm caused to XYZ Ltd., on account of their ignorance compounded by their casual, cavalier attitude in their above acts of omission and commission, the Plumbing Consultant went on to heap further misery on the hapless Client.

Any Good biological Treatment plant is only as good as the synergistic working of the Aeration tank, the Settling tank and the sludge ( Bacteria / Microbes)  recycle system.  The very many intricacies and nuances of design and engineering of the settling tank are well beyond the limited comprehension of the common Plumbing Consultant.

In the same Treatment plant at Haridwar of XYZ Ltd., the original design called for a water level difference between the Aeration and the settling tank of only 0.3 M.  All is well in this design.  The water gets conveyed to the settling tank, and because of the very marginal difference in levels       ( just sufficient to make the water flow from the Aeration tank to the Settling tank), not much turbulence is caused in the Settling tank, thereby also not disturbing the settled solids/ settling solids in the tank.

At the time of construction however, the Contractor encountered hard rock just beneath ground level at the exact spot earmarked for the Aeration tank.  Presuming to be doing a great favour to XYZ Ltd., by saving on construction time and excavation costs in hard rock, the untutored Plumbing Consultant blithely altered the design, raising the Aeration tank by 2.5m, meaning to avoid thereby tedious blasting and excavation  in hard rock.

Now, Water gushing into the settling tank from the aeration tank from a height of nearly 2.8 m ( the altered level difference) is virtually a torrent, in the nature of a smallish waterfall, and the kinetic energy of this mass of water can only be dissipated when it traverses an equal distance down into the settling tank.  By which time of course, all the settled solids and settling solids are well and truly stirred and kicked up. Solids settlement under a calm and quiescent condition can never occur in the settling tank under these turbulent circumstances.

If solids do not settle in the settling tank, there can be no solids capture and recycle back to the aeration tank : if there are not enough solids ( bacteria) in the aeration tank, no treatment can take place :  the wastewater enters the Treatment Plant, dutifully passes from one unit to the next and finally exits the Treatment Plant in the same condition that it entered the Treatment Plant.

Surely, XYZ Ltd., needed no Treatment plant to achieve “Zero Treatment”.  Adding insult to Injury, the Plumbing Consultant laid the blame for non performance of the Treatment plant to an overload of waste ! I call it an overload of B--l S--t from the Plumbing Consultant.

MORAL OF STORY : Shun Plumbing Consultants like the Plague, if it is a Treatment Plant you want

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                          April 24, 2011

WHY ZERMATT FAILS IN WASTEWATER TREATMENT

WHY ZERMATT FAILS IN WASTEWATER TREATMENT

Shitin is my classmate from Chemical Engineering - IIT Madras class of ’74.  While Shitin went on to the  IIFT in New Delhi ( Foreign Trade mind you,  not Film Technology) for post graduation, I got  a tuition waiver and teaching assistantship at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, and dutifully made my way to the Volunteer State of the USA.

Now, Shitin is a very gregarious and outgoing person, in sharp contrast to yours truly.  While I was away from the homeland, he completed his IIFT, and signed up with Zermatt, a high tech boiler manufacturer in his home town in Maharashtra.  While at it, Zermatt was also a leader in the peripherals required for a boiler, such as good Water Treatment Plants.  Shitin initially was posted in the boilers division, and using our friendship, buttered up my father, who was Technical Head of a Company which required boilers in no mean numbers, and sold my father lock, stock and boiler.

Shitin, good fellow that he is, continued to show great interest in my progress at Vanderbilt, and was already selling his Company – Zermatt to me, if and when I returned to India.  He was very keen that I signed up for a job with Zermatt in the Water and Wastewater Treatment Division.

True to his word, the day I landed in India ( Dec. 31, 1978) after completing my studies, Shitin  lined up a job interview for me  with his Company Director.  Shitin was the Blue Eyed Boy in Zermatt by that time.  Indian Airlines return tickets were promptly sent to me thru India post for a Dakota ( DC 3  ? ) Flight from Bombay to a city next door, when travel by road would have been much more comfortable and preferable, just to demonstrate the High tech culture of Zermatt.  A Company car was in waiting at the makeshift aerodrome, to pick up yours truly and transport me directly to the Director’s abode in the outskirts of the city.  Boy ! was I impressed  or what ?

The interview itself was a damp squib, with the Director telling me to get “ my feet wet” in the business in India : My Salary expectation was way beyond  what Zermatt was prepared to offer.  We shook hands, parted as friends after a couple of glasses of beer.

The story now shifts to almost 20 years after that fateful event.  Shitin was now a director in Zermatt, heading the Water and Wastewater Division.  I cut my teeth in the early years at Dorr- Oliver and later at Voltas in environmental Engineering, in all aspects of the game, starting from basic design, selling, and erection and commissioning of mega treatment projects, hands on. In the year 1986, I moved to Bangalore from Bombay to set up Ecotech Engineering, a well respected ( I hope) Consultancy and Contracting company in the Environmental field, doing good business with a highly respected clientele list.

Shitin calls me up one day and says “ Hey Ananth : I have a problem here in our Company. We do extremely well in Water treatment, but are failing miserably in Wastewater Treatment.  I want you to come and have a look at our setup and tell me where we are going wrong.”

I airdashed to the HQ city of Zermatt – checked into Hotel Blue Diamond ( The one and only good hotel at that time ) and the next morning reported for work at Zermatt.  Shitin unfortunately was away on tour, and I was escorted around the facilities by his less than willing majordomo.  One look around the Wastewater division of Zermatt told me all I wanted to know : Salesmen of every description at every desk,  wearing ties of varying vintage, busy making proposals and selling wastewater treatment plants using Hi Falutin’ acronyms like FAB, SAFF, SBBR, FCUK, #@&% etc., with absolutely no idea of what all these things really meant.

At random, I picked a middle aged gentleperson with apparently good taste in his choice of ties, and asked him what BOD meant to him.  His answer startled me.  Said he “ that is a query you must direct to our technical Division - I only sell and scoot.”.

I had had enough by this time of Zermatt’s Wastewater Division and got dropped back to Blue Diamond for a more satisfactory time at lunch in their restaurant.

Moral of the Story : Wastewater treatment is not about selling and scooting : It is a purely technical service of the highest order.  Both Zermatt and their competitor of the same breed – Zeon Inchange suffer from identical malaise in this respect to this day.  Take my word for it.

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                                      May 30, 2011

NO SHOW AT THE LIPTON FACTORY IN ETAH

NO SHOW AT THE LIPTON  FACTORY IN ETAH

Readers may no doubt be aware that Brooke Bond India Ltd., acquired Lipton India Ltd. to be called Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd. ( BBLIL) before BBLIL itself was sold out to Hindustan Lever somewhere in the mid nineties.

This story is of the Lipton Factory in Etah, Uttar Pradesh, or more specifically of a Manager in that plant, who would not keep an appointment -  a cardinal sin according to the Kodavasal code of ethical conduct.

I take after my father : I am stickler for time, keep my commitments, keep my word.  My father would chide himself for being late, if he was not on the Station platform before the train was shunted in from the cleaning yards.  He would happily spend the next half hour or so at the Higginbothams stall getting himself the latest James Hadley Chase for the trip : As a consequence I am well up on my Chase stories.

Having famously succeeded in licking into shape the Coffee Factory treatment plant in Whitefield, I was in the good books of the powers that be at BBLIL for their other works.  Samiran Das, who for sometime was the manager in the Instant Coffee factory was transferred to the Lipton Instant Tea factory in Etah, Uttar Pradesh.  He invited me to visit Etah to help solve some of the problems there in treatment.  I readily agreed, and laid meticulous travel plans to include a visit also to my other clients in the North : A cigarette factory of ITC in Saharanpur,  a Silk mill of Woolworth in Nagpur and then on to Etah.  Those were the days before  internet and cellphone were invented :  my plans were duly communicated to the various players by STD/ trunk calls and confirmations were obtained.

I was to reach Aligarh, the railhead for Etah at 1700 Hrs. by train from Delhi on the 25^th of May, 1992, where the vehicle from Lipton would transport me to their Guest House in Etah, a distance of about 80 km along NH 91.

Right on the dot at 1700 Hrs., I detrained at Aligarh Junction, exited the station, and went in search of the vehicle with the Lipton Placard.  A couple of rounds in the parking lot proving futile, I decided to wait for some more time for transport to arrive : One does not get unduly worried about punctuality in the Boondocks of India.  After half an hour or so, I got a little edgy.  The now ubiquitous STD/ISD booths were unheard of in those days – there was no easy way to call up the factory to inquire.  I had not come all the way up from Bangalore to be turned back by this little irritant : I took matters into my own hands.

I crammed myself and my suitcase into an overcrowded, dilapidated UP state bus heading towards Etah, and traveled the entire distance standing for nearly three hours.  I set foot in Etah, in the dark of the night, looking for help to guide me to the Lipton factory, where I had been previously assured by Samiran Das that accommodation had been booked.  A creaky Cycle Rickshaw transported me to the gates of the factory, where I was accosted by the security guards, suspiciously eyeing the decrepit looking late night visitor.  Nobody picked the phone at Samiran’s residence : The Guest house had no booking for Dr. Ananth Kodavasal.  I retraced my way back to town near the Bus Stand, where I had earlier spied a number of dimly lit “Guest Houses”.  Without further ado, I plonked into the bed at the first Guest House I was shown by the kindly rickshaw man.

The next morning, I presented myself again at the gates of the Lipton factory, looking more respectable.  Samiran Das was not in the factory.  Indeed, the blighter was not in India at all, having been deputed to  England on training the week before !  I then met his Assistant, an engineer himself, who had no clue whatsoever of the reason or purpose of my visit to Etah.  The absurdity of the situation brought upon by the utter callousness of Samiran Das infuriated me no end.  I gave up on my mission to Etah as a lost cause, and headed back to my Lodgings.

This time around, I did find a better outfitted Express Bus from Etah to Delhi : more importantly, it ran empty for the most part all the way to Delhi.  This circumstance afforded me an opportunity to get greater insight into the life and times of a bus conductor in far off Uttar Pradesh, as he discoursed at length with me throughout the long journey.  The bus traced the same route back to Delhi on NH 91, a distance of about 240 km, via Aligarh, Khurja ( famous for its glazed pottery), Bulandshahr ( a town made famous by innumerable song requests from its citizenry on the Vividh Bharthi Geetmala program), Ghaziabad and then on to Delhi, reaching the Capital around 9 PM that day.

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                          July 02, 2011

Footnote :

I still treasure the small, brightly painted multihued Khurja flower vase at my home, as being the only worthwhile takeaway from that ill fated trip to Etah.  It is a constant reminder to me also, never to disregard and disrespect the sanctity of other people’s time – The  Kodavasal code of ethical conduct.

DOWNFLOW HANGING SPONGE STP

DOWNFLOW HANGING SPONGE ( DHS) TECHNOLOGY

Vs. CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON (CTHD) TECHNOLOGY

Today, I happened to read an interesting Technical article, published by no less than Elsevier, written by personnel  from a couple of obscure Japanese Universities ( the credits in the Journal conveniently do not specify the positions of these worthies in these temples of higher learning).

Jairam Ramesh Our erudite Minister for Env. & Forests must surely read this piece, after his adverse comments on the quality of research in the IIT’s.

The learned article compares treatment performance on Municipal sewage, conducted over 300 days ( One full academic year, I presume) of the conventional Activated Sludge Process  ( ASP) against a combination of the Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket ( UASB), followed by, now hold your breath, the DHS ( Downflow Hanging Sponge ) unit, as an alternative technology for sewage Treatment.

The experiment conducted on a tiny pilot scale, over 300 days, leads the authors to emphatically conclude :

1. Because of the low capital cost of the system and operating costs ( virtually no energy requirement), the system is “ appropriate Technology” for developing and starving nations.

2. The article goes on to add that constructing a 1 MLD STP with ASP technology, or constructing 1 KM of sewers costs almost the same as  constructing 1 KM of Highway in developing countries. ( ???)

3. The performance of the UASB + DHS system is comparable to the ASP system over 300 days on a miniscule pilot scale the tests were carried out

4. And finally in conclusion, the authors proudly pronounce that the system can be a viable alternative for solving the sewage and sanitation problems of developing countries on the verge of starvation.

I like this Technical presentation and conclusion for the following reasons :

1. The Work emanates from a highly technologically advanced nation.
2. In the space of less than one academic working year, the authors have successfully demonstrated the pathetic inappropriateness of the ASP, which has been in use all over the world for over 5 decades now, and is the standard bearer of all treatment technologies.
3. One of the authors of this learned piece happens to be an Indian named Tendulkar ( He is a God after all, isn’t he ? May not be of Environmental Engineering, but what the heck ?)
4. I really appreciate the notion that low cost, low mtce. systems are most appropriate technology only for developing nations.
5. And, finally, it gives me great hope that such pioneering research will give us the impetus to explore other equally inscrutable, and as yet untested treatment methods such as the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Technology (CT-HD ). I believe that should be low tech enough for the underdeveloped nations on this Earth.

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                          May 28, 2011

FOOTNOTE :

Now it dawns on me where the High Tech companies like Zermatt and Zeon Inchange draw their brilliant inspiration from, to come up with their revolutionary technological innovations like FAB, SAFF, SBBR, FCUK, #@&% etc.

ASK

OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS OF BEING AN "EXPERT"

I have been, and continue to be a staunch proponent of  the THREE IMPERATIVES for successful operation of a Wastewater Treatment Plant.  Regular followers of this Adda will by now no doubt know the importance of :

·         Proper Design of a Treatment Plant

·         Proper Engineering

·         Proper Operation and Maintenance

In this last aspect, I put developing and maintaining a Standard Operating Procedure ( SOP) right on top of the priority list.

Alas, I have been guilty of authoring one such SOP which failed ingloriously, to my everlasting shame :  The story runs thus :

It was about twenty years ago that I was called upon by an upcoming Industrial Group which went by the name and style of Woolworth India, aspiring to be Numero Uno in the silk yarn, fabric and textiles business, to design a treatment plant for wastewaters from their silk degumming unit.

To Begin at the beginning, Woolworth first set up a waste silk degumming facility at Malda, West Bengal, converting it to silk yarn.  Malda in those days was a sleepy little village, masquerading as a town, situated on the geographical border of India with Bangla Desh.  Malda has been a leading centre of the silk trade since the days of the Mughals : In later years Malda shot into prominence courtesy the bountiful munificence of the Indian Railways under its large hearted but profligate Minister, the ever colourful A B A Ghani Khan Choudhuri.  The other major industry in Malda was smuggling of goods and humans across the border with Bangla Desh.  Woolworth then shipped the silk yarn to Raipur, ( then in Madhya Pradesh ) now capital of Chattisgarh,  where they set up a yarn dyeing unit, and the dyed yarn was shipped out to their finishing unit in neighbouring Nagpur in Maharashtra, where the yarn was woven and printed to make the final silk fabric.  This was Woolworth’s very own version of the Silk Route.

The treatment of the wastewater from silk degumming called for a first stage of chemical treatment where Sodium Sulfite had to be reduced and precipitated as the Sulfide, followed by a conventional two stage biological treatment process.  The initial trials showed that the design of the treatment plant ( one of the first of its kind in India) was successful.  It was time to start and commission the plant for full scale operations.

I made the long journey to Malda in the middle of the winter season : Catching the flight from Bangalore to Calcutta ( the only one operated by Indian Airlines in those days), marking time at the Guest House till it was time to catch the late night Gour Express from Sealdah to Malda – again a gift to Malda by the above mentioned Railway Minister.

A few stops out of Sealdah is Burdwan. I was on the lookout for the seller of “Bread butter – Bread butter”, not because I craved Bread butter for dinner : on my last trip the rascal had sold me a dummy – Butter oozing out of the periphery between the two slices of bread, bone dry inside ! !

I was roused to wakefulness early the next morning by the slow Clickety Clack, Clickety clack of the train gingerly picking its way across the never ending Farakka Barrage, and after what seemed to be an eternity chugged into Malda Town.

I got down to business in earnest that very morning, calling in all the newly recruited treatment plant operators from the local populace for the mandatory training session. Employing my impeccable Bombay/ Madrasi Hindi ( I am a man of both parts)  over the course of the day,  I believe I succeeded in explaining to them the requisite operations to be carried out in the treatment plant.  At around 6 PM, I called it a day, and told my acolytes that I would be back again the next morning at 0900 hrs sharp for a repeat refresher session of training.

The gang was already in attendance as I approached the treatment plant the next morning, casting puzzled glances hither and thither, remarking with the greatest of surprise that all the pumps, motors, aerators were switched off : no sibilant whirring of motors, no splashing and spraying of aerators did I hear, save bird calls emanating from the multitude of mango trees nearby.

Directly after my departure from the scene the previous evening, the boys had dutifully and diligently switched off all motors, pumps etc., and indeed even the main incomer to the electrical panel board as a measure of abundant caution, and wended their way to respective homes, happy in the knowledge of a day spent well, their minds brimming with new learnings from an “expert”.

“ Lekin Saab, aapne yeh nahin bathaya ki yeh plant 24 hour chalu rakhna hai “ !!! 

( But sir , you did not explain that the plant has to be ON 24 hours in the day !!! )

From that very day, I take nothing, absolutely nothing for granted, assume nothing, when it comes to training people in treatment plant operations, or indeed writing an SOP.

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                          April 18, 2011

Ecotech