New Technology for Final Effluent Monitoring

Engineers at Intellitect Water (UK) have developed a version of the company’s innovative multiparameter water quality monitoring sonde, the ’Intellisonde FE™’ that has been designed to bring the advantages of online monitoring to a much larger proportion of wastewater treatment plants.

One of the new sondes has been on trial at Wessex Water’s sewage treatment works in Bournemouth. The monitor was installed in January 2010 at the plant’s outfall, adjacent to traditional online monitoring instruments and Wessex Water’s Regional Waste Scientist Mike Robinson, says: "The trial is proceeding very well, with the Intellisonde FE™ producing measurements that closely mirror data from our other monitors and from manual tests."

Occasional sampling and analysis can be lower in cost than online monitoring. However, the main disadvantages are that a pollution incident could go undetected between sampling times and infrequent data does not support process optimisation.

The Intellisonde FE™ will also provide major financial advantages. It is priced for volume deployment, significantly below traditional effluent monitoring systems, which means that it will become cost-effective for a much larger proportion of works and will save the cost of sampler visits and analysis.

From a water company perspective, Mike Robinson says, "If we can prove that the lifetime costs are as low as they appear and if the unit continues to perform reliably, the lack of a requirement for chemicals coupled with a low maintenance requirement will mean that the Intellisonde FE™ could find application at a large number of treatment works."