Water Reuse and Environmental Conservation Project (WRECP) - Aqaba Mechanical Wastewater Treatment Plant Preliminary Evaluation Report

Summary

The USAID Water Reuse and Environmental Conservation Project (WRECP) works throughout Jordan in institutional capacity building, pollution prevention for industries, solid waste and wastewater management, and water reuse. The project goal is to protect and conserve scarce resources through regulation, education, and coordination with industry, local communities and the private sector. A major component of the program includes pollution prevention and industrial water management. This Preliminary Evaluation Report (PER) of the Aqaba Mechanical Wastewater Treatment Plant presents improvement recommendations for meeting future flow projections for wastewater treatment and effluent quality requirements to promote increased reuse by industry in the region.

The Aqaba Water Company owns and maintains a 21,000 m3 /day Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in the northwest portion of Aqaba, Jordan. Aqaba is a fast growing area and this trend is expected to continue. Projected future population growth and associated wastewater flows; along with the impacts of seasonal variation for Aqaba; and its popularity as a tourist destination were considered in the “Aqaba Wastewater Collection System Master Plan”, dated July 2010 (Master Plan).

The PER will evaluate the ability of the existing facility components to accept and process the additional flows predicted by the Master Plan in an effort to defer the inevitable treatment plant expansion. The key directives of this study are to accomplish the following:

Assess the performance of the existing biological treatment system using the BioWin model to identify its potential capacity;
Identify a short-term plan that will maximize the capacity of the current facilities with minimal investment while the AWC determines whether to upgrade this facility or construct an entirely new facility and ultimately abandon these facilities, and;
Evaluate alternatives that maximize the current infrastructure, and;
Make recommendations for expanding the WWTP to meet long-term expansion goals outlined in the Master Plan.