Today is Friday, weekend in Egypt. Finally some time to relax, and to a put some things on paper. The mission report, recommendations for the companies here, a proposal for a workshop / symposium and of course this text for the World Waternet website.
At the moment we are with five people in Damanhur, a city in the middle of the Nile Delta: Kees van der Drift for water distribution, Loek Stam continuity management, Kees van Beek (KWR) for groundwater, Ramon Imamdi (HWL) for the laboratory and myself for drinking water production.
A short impression of a part of this mission
The day before yesterday we drove in a minibus from our guesthouse in Damanhur to Damietta. Departure at six o'clock in the morning, and together with some employees of the water company from Damanhur and our local consultant dr. Hassan Warda from Alexandria we drove via the coastal road to Damietta, a city on the eastern branch of the Nile. At ten o'clock and some naps later we arrived at the treatment Adlea in Damietta. First, of course catching up with the employees here during coffee and tea. Some people were promoted, and there is now a new plant manager.
Some problems with the drinking water treatment plant
Adlea is a relatively new drinking water treatment plant, producing about 3000 m3 per hour of good drinking water. The treatment consists of a flocculation, sedimentation, rapid sand filtration and addition of chlorine. The main purpose of this visit is to figure out why the filters lose sand. About 30 m3 of sand is disappearing every month. The sand is found in the drinking water storage tanks and in the backwash drain. Together with the managers, engineers and operators we figured out how the filters were constructed and are operated exactly.
We think that the problems are caused by excessive water velocity during the air-water backwash. The sand is washed out to the trough at the top, and it damages the supporting gravel layers, causing the sand to vanish in the underwater chamber. The plant manager, plant engineer and the operators will follow up the recommendations step by step: first one filter without air-water backwash will be operated, and if that goes well then of course all filters will follow. After that the supporting gravel layes will be restored. We all are confident and await the results with much interest.
Work for the windshield wipers
In the evening we returned to Damanhur, after some rain showers on our way. Finally some work for the windshield wipers, after a dusty year of rest.
Loek Stam en René van der Aa
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Field notes
Suitcases full of compliments
14.10.2010
So, day 2 of the 3-day conference is over. We're sitting outside and talk about how everyone experienced today. Just for explanation: World Waternet i...
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