A microcomputer model for the evaluation of Sewage Sludge MANagement alternatives (SSMAN);.

摘要

The Clean Water Act requires municipalities to cleanse their wastewaters prior to discharging them into the environment. This cleansing process, wastewater treatment, generates sewage sludge which must be properly managed to protect environmental resources. Sewage sludge management is an integral consideration in wastewater treatment plant operation and can be the most complex and costly part of wastewater management. The need for effective sludge management is continual and growing. The quantity of municipal sludge produced annually has more than doubled since 1972, when the Clean Water Act was passed. In 1989, the approximately 15,300 publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) in the United States generated approximately 8 million dry tons of sewage sludge, or 64 pounds of sludge for every individual in the United States. The volume of sludge is expected to double again by the year 2000 due to population growth, stricter wastewater treatment requirements, and a greater number of better-operated POTWs.; SSMAN (Sewage Sludge MAN agement) is a color-enhanced, menu-driven, user-friendly software package for the understanding, design, and cost evaluation of sludge treatment, disposal, and reuse alternatives. The cost models were developed in conjunction with the USEPA Technology Transfer document entitled "Handbook: Estimating Sludge Management Costs." The purpose of SSMAN is to provide a straight forward method to evaluate sewage sludge management alternatives and the costs of these alternatives. SSMAN contains information on available technologies, applicable regulations, and costs involved. It provides an alternative to the extensive calculations and information gathering that are necessary to compare sludge management alternatives.; The SSMAN program package can be run from any IBM or fully compatible microcomputer using Personal Computer Disk Operating System (PCDOS) 2.0 or a greater, with a minimum of 640 KB of memory space. SSMAN is available in both the dBase III Plus programming language and in a compiled version. The dBase version can be revised or updated. The compiled version can not be easily updated, but allows operation of the program directly from PCDOS. A copy of the diskettes containing the SSMAN programs may be obtained from the Environmental Engineering and Environmental Sciences Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.