Performance Evaluation of Selected Sewerage Treatment Plants in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka faces a number of water and wastewater issues and water related health hazards. These problems arise primarily due to the increasing level of qualitative and quantitative depletion of water resources owing to over- utilization and continuous discharge of wastewater. Sewerage treatment plants (STP) have been constructed in most places to reduce the degradation of water quality and to ensure a healthy environment. However, the effectiveness in treating sewerage has been a major concern. Therefore, this study was carried out to evaluate the performances of eight STPs representing different locations and management organizations such as government, private sector and community and to investigate the reasons for their performance. The methodology included a checklist survey with 109 performance criteria under five categories such as general, technical, physical, personnel and operational and maintenance, complemented by focus group discussion, formal and informal discussion and stakeholder interviews. The results showed that only 2 out of 8 STPs studied performed well. In general the physical and technical aspects were found to be satisfactory whilst personal and operational and maintenance aspects were poor. This indicates that the construction of technically sound STPs does not necessarily guarantee its success. Recruitment of trained personnel and providing them with responsibilities are required for better performance of STPs. The private sector appears to be performing well in managing the STP compared to government and NGO sectors.

Key words: Institutions; Performance; Sanitation; Sewerage treatment plant; Wastewater

DOI: 10.4038/tar.v22i2.2824

Tropical Agricultural Research Vol. 22 (2): 154-164 (2011)