An optimal model for the ultimate water-use goals in the Kumasi Metropolis

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Date
1998-02-28
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This thesis is designed to model a water Treatment problem and forms part of an on-going project to apply optimisation technic1ues to real-life firms in Ghana to obtain quantitative answers to questions concerning such situations, to help improve efficiency and quality of the environment. The thesis examines the current water treatment operations of the Barekese Water Headwork’s of the Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation (G.W.S.C), proposes a drinking-water quality target for colour, pH and residual chlorine for adoption and attainment in treated water at the plant, and tries to determine the optimal costs that could be needed to achieve the proposed ( high) quality target for treating 330 million gallons of raw water (as a unit volume) abstracted from the Barekese Dam monthly during the Wet and Dry periods of the year. The study considers that colour, pH and pathogens are the water-quality parameters of concern in the raw water. It further assumes that money spent on procuring water treatment inputs is the only source of treatment cost to the Headwork’s. Thus administrative, operational and maintenance costs are not included in the model. The Simplex Method for linear programming techniques was used to solve the separate problems for each period. It was found out that, averagely, the proposed (high) drinking water quality target if adopted, the overall attainment in a unit volume of raw water abstracted from the Dam, will cost the G.W.S.C. no more than they are currently spending in each month of each period, if optimisation techniques are applied. It was therefore recommended that the proposed drinking water quality target be adopted as working quality criteria at the Barekese Headwork’s, since on average, this quality describes a safer drinking-water compared to the current quality.
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A thesis submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Master of Science in Environmental Science, 1998
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