Use of geographic information system in watershed management of water treatment plants sludge / Uso de sistema de informações geograficas na gestão do lodo das estações de tratamento de agua de uma bacia hidrografica

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2008

RESUMO

Present work investigates the use of geographic information system (GIS) - nowadays a necessary technique for spatial data analysis, broadly used as decision-making aid in many fields - as a tool for watershed management for disposal or beneficial use of water treatment plants (WTP) sludge. Most of times, residuals management is based in conventional data, conditioned to stationary information. Logistic costs for transportation and landfill disposal, usually overcome sludge treatment system operating costs. Several beneficial uses have been proposed for many researchers as better solution rather than landfilling in terms of environmental and economical sustainability. This way, it is considered as raw material rather than residual. GIS appliance aims ease the search for best available alternative, having potential users geographic location as main criteria among other aspects involved in decision process. The territory studied was that of Rivers Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí watershed, in southeastern region of Brazil. Several scenarios were generated and evaluated. The manager here was either a single water company, the consortium of all water companies or a small group of them. For demonstration purpose, ceramic brick plants - whose technical, economical and environmental sustainability was previously demonstrated - were compared to sanitary landfill as final disposal. GIS high potential for WTP sludges planning and management, task that trends to become more and more difficult and complex in a context of a watershed containing several generators of these and other kinds of solid wastes - as municipal wastes, wastewater treatment plant sludge, industrial wastes - that struggle each other under free market rules for scarce and limited sanitary landfills and also for every users of these materials - was demonstrated

ASSUNTO(S)

sistemas de informações geograficas solid wastes management water treatment plant residuals geographic information system watershed management agua - estações de tratamento residuos solidos sludge bacias hidrograficas lodo

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