IMET® Aerobic Biological Technology Increases Capacity in a Coastal City Wastewater Treatment Plant on Aegean Sea
Coastal town Karaburun, Turkey was struggling to keep up with seasonal tourism surges that overwhelmed its wastewater treatment plant.
IMET Treatment Modules drastically increased the WWTP’s treatment capacity without expanding its footprint, restoring the town’s Blue Flag beach status while producing clean effluent used to irrigate nearby olive groves.
Published in Onsite Installer
Problem:
A coastal city on the Aegean Sea has a renowned tourist area with pristine beaches for domestic and global tourism, with a population of 3,500 during the winter months. During the peak season (April through October) the population reaches 15,000. The city’s 300,000 gpd wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was failing due to this population increase. To meet the treatment requirements, a sizeable WWTP expansion was needed. This solution, however, was geographically and economically unfeasible. The effluent wastewater was reused for the required irrigation of the olive groves on the hillside. This practice, however, caused an unfortunate increase in e-coli and intestinal enterococci population in the sea at nearby beaches resulting in the loss of beaches’ Blue Flag status.
Solution:
Thirty two (32) IMET® Treatment Modules (ITM) were installed into the aeration basin of the existing WTTP infrastructure without any additional construction or expansion.
Result:
The city achieved meeting the effluent requirements at all times by sustainable reduction of COD, BOD and TSS. Treated wastewater continued to be reused for the needed irrigation. The city reported that the implementation of IMET technology achieved significant reduction of e-coli and intestinal enterococci population in the sea, thereby allowing its beaches’ to regain the coveted Blue Flag status. This was a major positive economic impact for the region. While the required effluent quality was maintained, bio-sludge production was also at an extreme minimum. Therefore, with installing ITM Technology, the city also realized major savings from significant reduction of bio-sludge disposal.
Tags:
