Sludge management in water treatment plants: literature review

Due to the increased environmental concern; there is a considerable pressure on the water authorities for the safe treatment and disposal of sludge. It is very important to choose a suitable sludge treatment and disposal system, which is both economical and technically feasible. In this article, sludge characteristics, quantities and sources will be outlined. A detailed sludge management and treatment methods will be presented. Sludge reuse, incineration, landfilling and disposal were also considered. The study concluded that sludge management should be considered when designing and operating WTPs, adopting beneficial reuse options of sludge will become very essential and it is necessary to investigate the appropriate options for formulating long term sludge management plans under strict environmental regulations. The study recommended that sludge must be treated and disposed of in a safe and effective manner. Great emphasis is to be enforced to minimise the quantity of generated sludge, more studies should be conducted to develop suitable sludge management plans, when applying sludge reuse in agricultural purposes it is highly recommended to investigate the long term effects of sludge reuse, and finally the environmental impacts of different of sludge disposal methods should be evaluated.