Sewage Water Turned Fresh; ECOVE Showing Commitment to Circular Economy

— Peggy Lin, Project Manager, Project Dept.Ⅱ, ECOVE Environment Services Corporation, Group Resource Cycling Business

Dry season is becoming a norm in Taiwan. As a result, the importance of water recycling is increasing every day. The Linkou Water Recycling Center (referred to as: Linkou Water Center) at the junction of Linkou and Bali in New Taipei City is a secondary sewage treatment plant built and operated by the New Taipei City Municipal Government. The plant decontaminates, de-phosphorizes, and disinfects household sewage water for cleaning, watering, and other water reuse. It also regulates the discharge according to the condition of the recovered water. 

ECOVE, Group Resource Cycling Business of CTCI, obtained the outsourcing right of the Linkou Water Center in 2018. Its effort in maintaining the efficiency and operational safety of the water center had been highly praised by the authorities. In addition, ECOVE has successfully turned the plant into a popular facility by offing circular education courses to the neighborhood turning its reputation around as a stereotypical Not-In-My-Back-Yard facility.

ECOVE Introduces Intelligent Systems to Infuse Water Center

Since its operation in 2006, the Linkou Water Center has achieved an average daily sewage treatment capacity of 17,000 metric tons. The sewage from the Linkou area has been collected through various sewage pumping stations and pollution collection areas. The water is intercepted, sedimented, biologically treated, and disinfected before being discharged. Every checkpoint such as recycling tanks and sludge disposal is managed by a professional team.

To improve the operational efficiency of the water center, ECOVE implemented a self-developed Maintenance Management Information System (MMIS) since taking over the plant to establish a database for fault diagnosis. The system is used to define the amount of resources and time required to strictly prioritize operations. Each operation is also monitored by infrared thermal imaging equipment in real-time to ensure quality and time scheduling standards. 

To improve the efficiency of worker inspections, ECOVE had built an electronic inspection system that monitors the status of the whole facility to make sure personnel are in place to check and maintain all equipment. It is intelligent cloud management in work.

In terms of water cleanliness, ECOVE uses microscope on cell phone to observe and compare maintenance data and microbiota  to instantly grasp the state of biological system and water quality. Since taking over the plant, the quality of the discharged water far exceeded designed standards and the stability of the biological system had been better than ever under the operation of ECOVE.

Easing the Strain of TapWater Usage: Free 24-hour Water Withdrawal Service

ECOVE is engaged in the reuse of water resources with the core concept of "Every Resource Counts". The sewage water is regenerated and turned into resources through a complete process. It is clean and clear and can be used inside the plant area for irrigation or for cleaning. Free 24-hour water withdrawal service is provided for the general public, cleaning company, and public water trucks (the amount of recycled water used inside and outside the plant is about 6,000-8,000 metric tons per month. At the same time, the process achieves water conservation and the benefits of water reuse).

The supply of recycled water is open to the relevant government units and the general public for free. It offers countless uses such as flushing, landscaping, watering, car washing and firefighting, etc.

Encouraging Ecological Rehabilitation, Plant Roots in Environmental Education

ECOVE actively explores the environmental characteristics of the Linkou Water Center through the experience of CTCI in environmental education to design environmental education activities with both central characteristics and ecological diversity.

The first activity is water recycling. ECOVE invites people to visit the site and learn about the sewage treatment process. Visitors get to witness the process of the sewage cleaning. The environmental course also teaches about using cell phone microscope. Through the use of a simple instrument, visitors may learn more about the importance of water treatment and cultivate the correct concept of cherishing water resources and, most importantly, implement the knowledge and skills to protect water resources in life. Through the process of environmental education activities, ECOVE conveys the importance of water resources, so that every drop of water can be used to the fullest. It aims to achieve sustainable resources and to generate a call to action for water conservation.

In addition, in terms of ecological restoration, ECOVE hosted the “Unicorn beetles restoration” event based on the local ecological data and invited elementary school children to  learn more about the ecological characteristics of the Linkou Water Center and the importance of ecological diversity. 

Successful Water Treatment Performance Commended by the New Taipei City Government

Huang Ming-Chang, the Section Chief of Wastewater Facilities, New Taipei City Water Resources Bureau, praised ECOVE's "high-performance, high-security, high-reliability" "triple high" project execution capability which improved the management efficiency of the water center. It successfully helped improving environmental sanitation around the Linkou area and reduced pollution caused by domestic sewage in New Taipei City. 
Under the cooperation of the Water Resources Bureau and the ECOVE colleagues, the Linkou Water Resources Recycling Center was highly regarded by the and Planning Agency and the jury members in the “National Public Wastewater Treatment Evaluation” organized by the Construction and Planning Agency in June this year with a high score of A.

Moreover, ECOVE is actively involved in various water resources reuse operations. Currently, it operates 9 gravel purification treatment stations, accounting for more than 50% of the total planned purified water out of the 17 gravel purification treatment sites in Taiwan. The planned purified water volume is 110,000 metric tons per day; as for facilities, two operation and maintenance projects for sewage treatment facilities have been obtained.

ECOVE believes that wastewater and waste recycling are equally important issues and shall continue to put the essence of circular economy into practice  by extending our technical capabilities accumulated from managing incineration plants and gravel purification facilities and use them in water management to effectively reuse sewage water and fulfill our belief of cherishing each and every resource.