Ganol

Upgrade to Kalic enables local disposal of sludge.

Thirty thousand people who live around the tourist hot-spots of Llandudno and Colwyn Bay receive an invaluable service from Dwr Cymru Welsh Water's sewage treatment works at Ganol.

Now the works has been upgraded to achieve even greater efficiencies and treatment standards using Kalic Liquid Lime from Buxton Lime Industries.

The upgrade to Kalic has enhanced the treatment of sludge, enabling it to be recycled locally to agricultural land: the sludge had previously been transported around the region to other treatment sites before recycling at distant locations.

Adding liquid lime such as Kalic to the sludge in effluent treatment is a simple yet highly effective process. It controls odour and helps transform effluent to a sludge that farmers are happy to spread on their fields.

Kalic won the project thanks to its track record. United Utilities Operational Services, which operates water and waste water assets for Dwr Cymru Welsh Water throughout Wales, has used Kalic at several other works such as Lyn Alaw, Bryn Cowlyd, Carno and Cefn Llan.

"I've had good experience of using Kalic for both the lime dosing of drinking water and the liquid liming of sludge," says Alan Jones, capital projects engineer for operations services at United Utilities.

"It makes for a very operator-friendly system, and we know that Kalic systems are efficient and reliable."

Crucially, the Kalic system could be installed within the limited space available inside the Ganol works. Planning constraints would have made it tough to build a new structure as the works is built on a sensitive site at the junction of several major roads and close to residential areas and industrial estates.

Water industry specialist Aquatreat Environmental Engineering installed a Kalic tank, pipeline and in-line mixers at Ganol, completing the work in March 2005.

"This was a fairly complex project to shoe-horn the new system onto an existing asset and it went very well," says Jones.

Alongside operational and cost efficiencies, Kalic also scores on health and safety. It's non-toxic and non-corrosive, and is easy to handle. Liquid liming with Kalic is a fully enclosed process that doesn't give rise to dust or other emissions.

"Treating the sludge to an enhanced standard with Kalic has also made a big improvement to odour control at the works," adds Nigel Eardley, the United Utilities team leader on site.

So it's good news for everyone: the workforce, local residents and farmers.