Suggested Improvements on Water Treatment Plants for Sustainable Development

Water is a basic human need and acquisition of safe drinking water is a major problem faced by present world. Water treatment plants are used to purify the water in to a quality suitable to be consumed by humans. Though there are a large number of Water Treatment Plants operating in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka most of them are facing common problems which reduce their capacity and decrease their efficiency. In an average plant of capacity between 1000-10,000 m3/day, the capacity should be improved by 21% to provide the existing demand. Sand/gem mining, problems due to floating debris, difficulties in maintenance, insufficient storage facilities, the implemented mechanisms not being suitable for the process, difficulties in maintenance and environmental degradation in the catchment areas are common problems faced by these plants. Key suggestions to improve Water Treatment Plants in Sabaragamuwa Province are to form plants with larger capacities to an area, to leave space for necessary augmentations when building plants, implementing strict actions on sand/gem mining within 2 kilometers from an intake, prevent floating debris to the plant, provide sufficient storage and to conserve catchment areas.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/engineer.v46i3.6786

ENGINEER, Vol. 46, No.03, pp. 69-73 2013