Operators and Engineers Working Together Provides for Project Success

Abstract

The ProblemWastewater Treatment Plants are complex multi-million dollar assets with ever changing needs.Two primary categories of individuals are required on a daily basis to insure that these assets are producing high quality effluent that exceeds regulatory standards. These two groups, the operators, who run the day-to-day activities of the facility, and the engineers, who develop the solutions to ever changing challenges at the facility, must work together to provide consistent success. During the course of a design project, an engineer is faced with many challenges and many groups of individuals that need to be satisfied. Operations and maintenance staff are usually an underrepresented group during the design phase of a project, which results in their needs and desires taking a back seat among several of the stakeholders. These challenges can result in loss of time and money to a utility when a project is constructed and under control of the O&M Staff. Lessons LearnedThere are multiple ways that these challenges can be overcome. The first step to overcoming any challenge is to review and evaluate past projects. Several common challenges have been identified that are a result of design errors, omissions, poor communication, lack of coordination, lack of prioritization or apathy. By reviewing these challenges and understanding the project failure modes, we can develop lessons. The majority of these challenges can be mitigated by understanding the breakdown between the Operator and the Engineer. The lessons presented are:1. Lesson 1