IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i9p5120-d548286.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Risk Assessment and Sustainability of Wastewater Treatment Plant Operation

Author

Listed:
  • Irena Tušer

    (Department of Security and Law, AMBIS College, Lindnerova 1, 180 00 Prague, Czech Republic)

  • Alena Oulehlová

    (Department of Military Science Theory, University of Defence, Kounicova 65, 662 10 Brno, Czech Republic)

Abstract

Water and water management, which also includes wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), are considered essential elements critical infrastructure. A disruption of their operation can result in the discharge of wastewater into the environment without having been adequately treated. This can cause health problems, contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water, etc. In order to provide operational safety and sustainability of WWTP operation, it is necessary to establish protection against potential risk activation, together with risk minimization and enhanced preparedness to address the risks. The article deals with the application of risk management stages on the selected object of the municipal WWTP facility in the form of a case study. The risk identification phase consisted of the identification of assets and risks. The assets were grouped together due to the complexity of the WWTP operation. A combination of methods, a safety audit, a checklist and semi-structured interviews were used to identify the risks in three iterations. A risk register was created as a result of the risk identification phase. Subsequently, a risk analysis was carried out, in which the scenarios of the risk impact on the assets were examined, the index levels of probability and impacts were determined, and the risk estimate was performed. The Bowtie Analysis Method was used to illustrate the causes and consequences for one of the critical risks. The result of the study is the risk evaluation identified undesirable and unacceptable risks for which risk management methods were proposed

Suggested Citation

  • Irena Tušer & Alena Oulehlová, 2021. "Risk Assessment and Sustainability of Wastewater Treatment Plant Operation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-17, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:9:p:5120-:d:548286
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/5120/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/5120/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Irena Tušer & Sarka Hoskova-Mayerova, 2020. "Emergency Management in Resolving an Emergency Situation," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-12, October.
    2. S. Revollar & R. Vilanova & P. Vega & M. Francisco & M. Meneses, 2020. "Wastewater Treatment Plant Operation: Simple Control Schemes with a Holistic Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-28, January.
    3. Jayne Lois San Juan & Carlo James Caligan & Maria Mikayla Garcia & Jericho Mitra & Andres Philip Mayol & Charlle Sy & Aristotle Ubando & Alvin Culaba, 2020. "Multi-Objective Optimization of an Integrated Algal and Sludge-Based Bioenergy Park and Wastewater Treatment System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-22, September.
    4. Maria Cristina Collivignarelli & Alessandro Abbà & Gianpaolo Alloisio & Eleonora Gozio & Ilaria Benigna, 2017. "Disinfection in Wastewater Treatment Plants: Evaluation of Effectiveness and Acute Toxicity Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-13, September.
    5. Gabriel Dragos Vasilescu & Codruț Dan Petrilean & Attila Kovacs & Gabriel Victor Vasilescu & Dragos Pasculescu & Gabriel Ioan Ilcea & Diana-Petronela Burduhos-Nergis & Costica Bejinariu, 2021. "Methodology for Assessing the Degree of Occupational Safety Specific to Hydrotechnical Construction Activities, in Order to Increase Their Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-31, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. František Božek & Irena Tušer, 2021. "Measures for Ensuring Sustainability during the Current Spreading of Coronaviruses in the Czech Republic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-22, June.
    2. Maria Cristina Collivignarelli & Alessandro Abbà & Ilaria Benigna & Sabrina Sorlini & Vincenzo Torretta, 2017. "Overview of the Main Disinfection Processes for Wastewater and Drinking Water Treatment Plants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Leticia Gallego-Valero & Encarnación Moral-Parajes & Isabel María Román-Sánchez, 2021. "Wastewater Treatment Costs: A Research Overview through Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-14, April.
    4. Rosa M. Llácer-Iglesias & P. Amparo López-Jiménez & Modesto Pérez-Sánchez, 2021. "Energy Self-Sufficiency Aiming for Sustainable Wastewater Systems: Are All Options Being Explored?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-20, May.
    5. David Palma-Heredia & Manel Poch & Miquel À. Cugueró-Escofet, 2020. "Implementation of a Decision Support System for Sewage Sludge Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-18, October.
    6. Abdul Gaffar Sheik & Eagalapati Tejaswini & Murali Mohan Seepana & Seshagiri Rao Ambati & Montse Meneses & Ramon Vilanova, 2021. "Design of Feedback Control Strategies in a Plant-Wide Wastewater Treatment Plant for Simultaneous Evaluation of Economics, Energy Usage, and Removal of Nutrients," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Paulina Szulc & Jędrzej Kasprzak & Zbysław Dymaczewski & Przemysław Kurczewski, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of Municipal Wastewater Treatment Processes Regarding Energy Production from the Sludge Line," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-29, January.
    8. Tamás Karches, 2022. "Fine-Tuning the Aeration Control for Energy-Efficient Operation in a Small Sewage Treatment Plant by Applying Biokinetic Modeling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-13, August.
    9. Saad M. Alramthi & Gamila H. Ali & Atiah M. Elthagafi & Saad H. Eldosari & Bao-Ku Zhu & Hosam M. Safaa, 2022. "Oxidation Ditches for Recycling and Reusing Wastewater Are Critical for Long-Term Sustainability—A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-14, December.
    10. Svajone Bekesiene & Igor Samoilenko & Anatolij Nikitin & Ieva Meidute-Kavaliauskiene, 2022. "The Complex Systems for Conflict Interaction Modelling to Describe a Non-Trivial Epidemiological Situation," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-24, February.
    11. Bárbara de Matos & Rodrigo Salles & Jérôme Mendes & Joana R. Gouveia & António J. Baptista & Pedro Moura, 2022. "A Review of Energy and Sustainability KPI-Based Monitoring and Control Methodologies on WWTPs," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, December.
    12. Kate Anderson & James Grymes & Alexandra Newman & Adam Warren, 2023. "North Carolina Water Utility Builds Resilience with Distributed Energy Resources," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 53(4), pages 247-265, July.
    13. Celine Marie A. Solis & Jayne Lois G. San Juan & Andres Philip Mayol & Charlle L. Sy & Aristotle T. Ubando & Alvin B. Culaba, 2021. "A Multi-Objective Life Cycle Optimization Model of an Integrated Algal Biorefinery toward a Sustainable Circular Bioeconomy Considering Resource Recirculation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-22, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:9:p:5120-:d:548286. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.