Every Wastewater Treatment Plant is unique. Standardisation is virtually impossible ( Water Treatment Companies Pls. note). I have designed treatment plants for a cigarette manufacturer across various units in India. Though the raw material, the production process and the product are the same across all factories, at each location, the Treatment plant is unique. Environmental factors, historical and cultural practices have a large part to play in differentiating wastewater characteristics. Outside each Department of the factory in Munger, Bihar there is a spittoon with a water curtain contraption with a perennial flow of water : the Paan chewing culture of this region has been cleverly accommodated thanks to the abundant supply of water from the Ganges, while saving the factory floors and walls from unsightly blobs of red graffiti.
Here is another example of a unique dual use Treatment plant on Jail Road, Madurai.
WASTEWATER TREATMENT ON THE JAIL ROAD
My report on the working of the WasteWater Treatment Plant at the threads making factory of Madura Coats, Koratti, ( chasing the Island Express) was accepted by the Head office : I am happy to state that a majority of my recommendations were also implemented with satisfactory results, much to the dismay of the old bandicoots in the factory.
I was next tasked with “Upgrading” the WWTP at their Madurai factory on Jail Road India
I was at my wits end to decipher where the Treatment plant began and where it ended, and all the convoluted interconnections and linkages betwixt and between. : such was the profusion and haphazard placement of the various units in the treatment plant. Truly this plant was a Riddle wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma.
I had to crack this puzzle. Clearly, the very first treatment plant was put up not much later than when the factory itself was commissioned over a century ago. In later years, with every expansion of the factory, the Treatment plant was also upgraded. A more extensive ( intensive ? – English is a funny language) scrutiny of the drawing purely out of academic interest, revealed that there had been at least eight such mindless expansions/ additions to the treatment plant which had ultimately spawned this grotesque brontosaurus staring at me out of the A0 size drawing. A detailed census now was certainly in order. The count was :
- Forty odd small, medium, large tanks of all shapes and sizes
- Sixty two pumps of various descriptions ( I am not exaggerating here )
- Several agitators and mixers in tanks at random
- Miles and miles of pipelines
- Miles and miles of cable and cable trays above ground, in the air, from pole to pole
- Several wide roads, intermediate pathways and mule tracks
Since it was humanly impossible to monitor the various units, water levels in tanks, overflow, spillages etc., CCTV cameras were installed at strategic locations to monitor the operations and avoid such emergencies.
An independent enterprise within Madura Coats ran the treatment facilities with its own separate Admin., Purchase, Accounts, Engineering and HR Depts.
My report to the Head office was short. I recommended carpet bombing of the entire facility, and to build a totally new treatment plant with just 6 tanks, 6 pumps and to be run by four operating personnel.
Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal June 09, 2011
Footnote
Alas, my recommendation was not accepted by Madura Coats. An old hand in the Company and a good friend, “Pops” by name undeceived me. When the Jailhouse next door was full to overflowing, the authorities sought temporary accommodation for the inmates in the Treatment plant. The jailbirds would be left blindfolded in the middle of the maze : Slipping, sliding, tripping, going round and round in circles it would be days before these poor souls found their way out, and by that time the jailhouse would be ready to receive them back. Truly, a multifaceted Treatment Plant no Environmental Engineer/ Consultant can even dream of designing – and yes, including the security cameras.
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