Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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6 | JULY 2018 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk The Talk: opinion SAFA ELBASHIR, WATER ENGINEER, AECOM Engaging 'returners' will boost women in engineering Ahead of International Women in Engineering Day, Safa Elbashir says that one of the keys for bringing through more female engineers is engaging skilled employees a er a career break M ost people are familiar with internships and work placements to help attract graduate trainees, but it's rare to see placements that support women and men back into the workplace following career breaks. That's why I jumped at the chance when I saw that AECOM had introduced a Returners programme, which is aimed at those with mid to senior level experience who have been out of the workplace for a significant period of time and wish to return to work. A er a ten-year career break to raise a family, the prospect of a programme specifically targeted at people in a similar situation made the return to work far less daunting. I had studied civil engineering in Sudan before moving to Dublin where I took my career break. During that time I gained transferable skills by studying for my masters in Engineering Computation, as well as volunteering online while looking a er my young children. My contribution to voluntary work then progressed to 3 to 4 hours a day as an administrator at Citizens Advice and then as a GIS Planner at Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. My career history also includes hydrological analysis for gauging stations along the River Nile, project management and site supervision. At AECOM I will be working on projects such as developing initial assessments for the River Pinn and Canon Brook flood alleviation scheme to support the Environment Agency, flood data analysis, as well as supporting the team in preparing concept, outline and detailed designs for other projects. The Returners programme offers a paid placement coupled with a structured programme of support including training, coaching and mentoring to help participants reacclimatise in to the corporate landscape, build up their confidence and undertake any training/ knowledge updates as required. The paid placements are six months long and where possible it is anticipated that this will then lead to a permanent role within the organisation at the end. It's a great opportunity to see if the job is right for me and to gain experience. There are many reasons why this programme makes good business sense as well. It enables the company to target an untapped group of highly qualified and experienced professionals and address the skills gap that exists particularly at more experienced levels of our industry. It also helps increase our diversity at senior levels in the business as the programme has been of particular interest to women who have taken time out to start a family. It's essential that we tackle the misconception that engineering is not a career of choice for female students because diversity is a hugely important factor in the workplace. From my experience over the past few weeks in this industry, once you're here, women are treated equally. Now is the time to take action and capture the imagination of future female engineers. SPONSORED BY PAUL BARTER, PRINCIPAL PROCESS ENGINEER, HYDRO INTERNATIONAL Phosphorus: a priority pollutant Phosphorus may be front of mind for wastewater treatment in the UK at the moment, but this emphasis should not mean that other pollutants in wastewater can be neglected T he whole water industry knows that phosphorus removal is going to be a key area over the coming AMP periods in the UK, and there is plenty of evidence that lowering this one constituent in discharges from our sewage treatment plants will dramatically improve the quality of our watercourses and aid the environment. Lots of time and effort has been expended by all parties to find ways to reduce phosphates in discharges, including phosphate recovery from sludge liquor streams, biological removal in BNR plant, and chemical precipitation using alum or ferric. This has shown that very low discharge levels can be achieved, with many old and new technologies achieving consistent removal down to less than 0.2 mg/l on an annual average basis, and some achieving down to 0.1 mg/l. Whilst the emphasis may be seen as something new, a plant in Växjö, Sweden has been successfully meeting a 0.1 mg/l annual average removal target for phosphorus for the last 15 years. This is all great news for the receiving watercourses and the environment, as well meeting our environmental obligations, but we should not lose sight of the other pollutants. BOD remains the key removal objective, and without adequate removal tighter standards for other pollutants become irrelevant. Ammonia is also a priority pollutant and has been the focus of previous AMP periods, but this does not mean the job is complete or that ammonia can be overlooked. There is still plenty to be done in taking this oxygen demand away from our rivers and improving the eco- system. Modifying an existing plant to accommodate treatment improvements can interfere and affect the operation, making it difficult to comply with existing discharge consents. Bolting on multiple tertiary stages to remove ammonia and phosphate adds unnecessary complication, therefore it makes sense to integrate multiple removal mechanisms into a single process. Using an aerated sand filter allows removal of both ammonia (through biological treatment) and phosphorus (through chemical addition and filtration) to be removed in a single stage. Studies have shown that the removal of phosphorus in this manner does not inhibit the biological nitrification process (such as the CIP2 trial with DynaSand Oxys conducted by Anglian Water). It is also possible to combine both phosphorus removal and denitrification in a single process by using filtration with chemical addition (ferric or alum for phosphorus precipitation) and an easily digestible carbon source (such as methanol) which then encourages biomass growth on the media. In the absence of dissolved oxygen, the bacteria utilise the oxygen associated with the nitrates, realising nitrogen gas back to the atmosphere. This approach is being applied at Ratzeburg in Germany using the DynaSand Deni filtration process and is a best practice example of how existing plants can be adapted to meet complex consent requirements using a single tertiary treatment process. So next time you are thinking about a new tighter phosphorus consent, don't lose sight of other factors; all pollutants matter.