WWTP training session by ITS Community Services (Abmas) Team at the Office of Public Works, Spatial Planning, Public Housing, and Residential Areas (PUPR PRKP) Tuban District

ITS Campus News – The Community Services (Abmas) Team of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) continues to show concern for various problems faced by the community by helping to provide the right solutions. This time, one of the ITS Abmas teams showed their dedication by providing training on the maintenance and care of the Wastewater Treatment Plant (IPAL) for domestic wastewater managers located in Tuban, East Java.

The Leader of ITS Community Services (Abmas) Team, Ipung Fitri Purwanti, S.T., M.T., Ph.D., revealed even though WWTP has been massively used, not many of its operations are in accordance with procedures. “Therefore, we are here to help the community in improving the quality of their environment so that water pollution can be overcome,” he said.

Ipung explained that Tuban area has used a lot of communal WWTPs, which are liquid waste processing facilities that can be used together. According to his statement, one WWTP can be distributed by 5 to 50 houses. “For one day, WWTP managers were trained to operate and maintain a Domestic Wastewater Treatment System (SPALD) in accordance with standard procedures,” he explained.

ITS Community Services (Abmas) team with the trainees during WWTP training in Tuban, East Java

Furthermore, the lecturer of Environmental Engineering Department ITS said that the WWTP channel in that place is rarely cleaned, so there is a risk of blockage in the WWTP pipe. Besides, the WWTP canals that were not cleaned also disrupted the water treatment system and overloaded it because there was a lot of garbage and mud from residents’ settlements.

For example, an anaerobic wastewater treatment cycle must be cleaned at least once every two to three years. This is caused by the anaerobic process which produces a lot of sludge. If not cleaned, the sludge will settle continuously so that the sludge is eroded into the pipe and causes a blockage. “The maintenance procedure is simple, but it will be fatal if it is not cleaned regularly,” he said.

ITS Abmas Team from Environmental Engineering Department during a Wastewater Treatment Installation (IPAL) training in Tuban

The training, which was held on October 6th, was an invitation from the Public Works and Spatial Planning, Public Housing and Settlement Area Services (PUPR PRKP) Tuban District. ITS Abmas team was invited to help optimize domestic wastewater treatment. “If the river is kept clean, the benefits will return to us, the aquatic biota will be healthier and we will avoid diseases that come from the water,” said the Secretary of Environmental Engineering Department ITS.

According to Ipung, the training which was initiated by Remediation Laboratory of Environmental Engineering Department ITS needs to be implemented in other areas considering the enthusiasm of the participants during the training. “We hope that domestic waste processing can run more optimally and routinely after this training,” he concluded. (ITS PR)