Development of an operational performance indicator system for activated sludge wastewater treatment plants

Sustainable operation, optimisation and performance evaluation of municipal wastewater treatment plants (WwTPs) in Ireland is topical due to the transfer of water and wastewater operational and capital delivery functions from 34 local authorities to a single national water utility in Ireland. This paper describes the development process of a sustainable optimisation indicator (SOI) system for small-to-medium sized activated sludge (AS) WwTPs using a stakeholder-based approach. The SOI system provides a framework of indicators for performance assessment to facilitate continuous sustainable performance improvement of AS WwTP operations. The findings from plant optimisation and stakeholder consultation studies and the mechanism for their contribution to the development of the SOI system indicators and framework are presented. The proposed system is applicable to wide range of stakeholders for the sustainable and improved monitoring, operation and management of AS WwTPs.