Innovative STP Solutions By Danfoss Drives

Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) operators face major challenges. Water is the world’s most widely consumed product. Everywhere it is a strategic resource. Everywhere it needs to be carefully stewarded and managed to meet the challenges of: • access to clean drinking water for all, • water pollution and sustainable treatment, • regulatory and environmental issues, even more stringent (exacting standards and regulations for water quality, energy conservation and reduced waste and emissions). WWTP designers and operators are at the forefront of the two first challenges. And they have to confront these challenges on a fiercely competitive, cost-constrained water market.

INTRODUCTION Continual increases in energy costs in the United States affect wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) just as they do other facilities. Energy costs can account for 30 percent of the total op[1]eration and maintenance (O&M) costs of WWTPs (Carns 2005), and WWTPs account for approximately 3 percent of the electric load in the United States. Furthermore, as populations grow and environmental requirements become more stringent, demand for electricity at such plants is expected to grow by approximately 20 percent over the next 15 years (Carns 2005). Energy conservation is thus an issue of increas[1]ing importance to WWTPs. This fact sheet describes possible practices that can be imple[1]mented to conserve energy at a WWTP.