Assessment of Treatment Plant Performance and Water Quality Data : A Guide for Students, Researchers and Practitioners

Assessment of Treatment Plant Performance and Water Quality Data provides practical indications on how to undertake performance evaluation of water and wastewater treatment units, processes, and plants, using math and statistics as a tool. The objective is to approach the concepts based on the needs and challenges associated with treatment plant performance evaluation, and to use simple language to describe the mathematical calculations and statistical analyses that can be used for this purpose.Written primarily for graduate level students, the concepts and applications will be presented from practice to theory in a simplified and practical way, thus making the book equally beneficial to practitioners and policy-makers, who may have a limited background in math and statistics. Postdoctoral scientists and professors will also find it useful if they are involved in research projects that comprise the assessment of treatment performance.

This book presents the basic principles for evaluating water quality and treatment plant performance in a clear, innovative and didactic way, using a combined approach that involves the interpretation of monitoring data associated with (i) the basic processes that take place in water bodies and in water and wastewater treatment plants and (ii) data management and statistical calculations to allow a deep interpretation of the data. This book is problem-oriented and works from practice to theory, covering most of the information you will need, such as (a) obtaining flow data and working with the concept of loading, (b) organizing sampling programmes and measurements, (c) connecting laboratory analysis to data management, (e) using numerical and graphical methods for describing monitoring data (descriptive statistics), (f) understanding and reporting removal efficiencies, (g) recognizing symmetry and asymmetry in monitoring data (normal and log-normal distributions), (h) evaluating compliance with targets and regulatory standards for effluents and water bodies, (i) making comparisons with the monitoring data (tests of hypothesis), (j) understanding the relationship between monitoring variables (correlation and regression analysis), (k) making water and mass balances, (l) understanding the different loading rates applied to treatment units, (m) learning the principles of reaction kinetics and reactor hydraulics and (n) performing calibration and verification of models. The major concepts are illustrated by 92 fully worked-out examples, which are supported by 75 freely-downloadable Excel spreadsheets. Each chapter concludes with a checklist for your report. If you are a student, researcher or practitioner planning to use or already using treatment plant and water quality monitoring data, then this book is for you!