Companies and organizations around the world are using computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) more and more to help them manage wastewater. That raises the question, ‘What is CMMS?’ It is software that you use to record and schedule operations for planned or preventive maintenance activities. They are ideal for helping you generate as well as prioritize your work orders where your daily wastewater management is concerned.
What Comprises Wastewater?
The definition of wastewater is a water-borne waste of a particular community. Usually, it is 99.9% pure H₂O and the remaining 0.1% is made up of various pollutants. The source of wastewater are usually homes, light industrial, and local commercial sites including restaurants, clubs, hospitals, caravan parks, commercial laundries, and the like. However, it is not inclusive of surface runoff and roof water. This water can be returned to the surrounding environs or reused once wastewater treatment processes have been employed to rid it of waste. The treatment processes are used to reduce suspended solids, biodegradable organics, pathogenic bacteria, and nutrients.
How to Operate a Wastewater System Properly?
In order to operate the wastewater treatment plant properly, you must ensure that you are in compliance with the various regulations in place. Here are a few things to consider:
Regulation
You will need to start by speaking with your local environmental authority to discuss the industrial wastewater you will be discharging. They will in turn let you know what the requirements are for setting up and maintenance thereafter. With good facility management software, you should be able to keep track of your plans, permits, and compliance obligations as well. You need to make sure that they are always up to date.
The Origin of Wastewater
Whenever you have introduced any new process, you need to be a part of it so that you can know if it will have any wastewater production. Find out which products are used and be sure to run a sample analysis several times on the produced waste so that you can know if there are any compliance concerns.
Characteristics of Incoming Wastewater
You already know how your waste streams are produced in your organization. You will need to review the various reagents and product combinations that cause the production of your wastewater products until you know the variability and character of the water produced, that is the pH, pollutants and temperature among others before you can actually design the treatment system you want. Once that is done, you can then develop various protocols to ensure that your operation remains compliant and continuous. The best CMMS software can keep you on track with the various maintenance schedules and repair tickets.
Measuring the Flow
It is important for you as a wastewater operator to familiarize yourself with the amount of water coming into your facility as well as the number of pollutants in your wastewater. You need to carry out mass balances on the various constituents so as to gain a comprehensive understanding of your process. With these measurements, you will be able to ensure that your system operates optimally.
When it comes to calculating just how much wastewater the treatment system can process, you need to understand the flow rate since it is the most vital factor. Ensuring that all the wastewater you produced is treated fully can be an uphill task, so you don’t want to have any kind of upset since this could mean being out of compliance in some cases, and in the worst case scenario, a huge cleanup.
In the event that you have discharge violations, which can include the presence of particular pollutants, volume issues, or even color changes, you should make sure to return to compliance. With a good CMMS system, you can raise work orders and assign particular operators to this problem. That way, you will stay on top of the progress made, the repair work done, and any parts purchased in relation to the same and be notified once the job is done.
Maintaining Equipment
In a facility that treats wastewater, there are monthly, weekly, and daily responsibilities. Every operator should know what his or her responsibilities are. These may include managing pumps, testing alarms, filtration equipment, probes, and general housekeeping so that the facility can be both orderly and safe. If you have a large facility, keeping track of all this can be tedious at best. CMMS programs are designed to make things easy for you. In the event of a problem, you can raise a work ticket and assign a particular operator to the problem.
Additionally, using CMMS maintenance software you can keep track of all your preventive maintenance, thus managing those daily, weekly and monthly tasks in a more organized manner. Since you will also be getting reports from your EAM, you will know exactly which asset has been looked at, which parts were purchased for its repair or for routine replacement, where it is located, and who did the work.
Preventive maintenance software will also help you manage the productivity of your operators better. Not only will you be able to monitor their work, but you will also be able to ensure that they are not having too much idle time if at all.
The whole idea of getting a CMMSis to help you manage your plant more efficiently. The engineers who have put the software together have made sure to address the various facets of asset management and the goals that you may have including managing the lifecycle of your infrastructure, staying ahead of regulatory compliance, assessing the condition of various assets, managing risk as well as prioritizing projects for the proper use of funding when it comes to making improvements. Other benefits include:
Keeping an inventory of pipes and the plant’s assets – You will be able to organize the various asset hierarchies you have in the assent inventory module. The system comes with a GIS (Geographic Information System) that integrates seamlessly with the stormwater collection, sewer collection, and water distribution systems. With this, you will be able to create reports and geographically manage your sites.
Preventive maintenance and work orders
These are easy to schedule because work orders are created automatically based on the schedule.
Assessing Asset Conditions
The system will facilitate asset assessment conditions that are consistent and will also calculate the ACI (Asset Condition Index) scores so that you always know the asset’s probability of failure. Additionally, CCTV data can be integrated with the asset management system.
Mobile Apps
Using the app, you are able to manage all your service requests, inspections, work orders, parts inventories, asset inventories, and condition assessments on-site wherever you may be. This makes things so much easier for operators and leaves them without an excuse for not inputting the information.
Lifecycle Planning and Asset management
With this software, you can budget accordingly because you will be able to prioritize what is needed and when. You can plan for the lifecycle of each asset, create your funding focus and put together a budget based on trusted information. You can be sure that the thing you are investing in is of the highest priority. The finance department can be sure that they are allocating money towards the right things and not just hemorrhaging funds.
Author bio: Lindsey Walker is the marketing manager for NEXGEN, a Sacramento-based industry leader in designing advanced computerized maintenance management systems and asset management software tools for utilities, facilities, public works, manufacturing, and fleet industries. In her free time, Lindsey enjoys traveling and reading, whic