Selection Of A Control System In Colombia

Selection of a control system in Colombia

In Colombia, according to the last national census carried out by the DANE in 2018, 11 of the 32 departments have coverage in aqueduct and drinking water less than 50%being the most critical: Cordoba 41%, Vaupes 31%, Guainia 28%, It crashed 20%, San Andres 16% and Vichada with 6.4%. Consolidating a total population without drinking water coverage of 13.6 % equivalent to approximately 6.56 million people.

Additionally and according to information extracted from the National Council of Economic and Social Policy (CONPES) of the year 2018, a coverage of the public aqueduct domiciliary service for 2017 of 97.4% in urban land is shown in urban land, in terms of access to drinking waterOn rural land for that year it was 73.2%, for a national total of 92.4%.

Taking into account that the National Water Study report stressed that departments of the center of the country such as Santander, Cundinamarca, Tolima and Boyacá could increase by 20% municipalities that can suffer from drinking water with drinking water. It is estimated that at least 50% of the locations in these regions there is a risk of running out of access to the supply of drinking water as a result of factors such as low natural supply, rainfall reduction or insufficiency in treatment infrastructure.

The Water Quality Risk Index for human consumption (IRCA) gives a value to the degree of risk of occurrence of diseases related to breach of the physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics of water for human consumption.

IRCA assumes a value in the range of 0 (without risk) to 100 (sanitaryly unfeasible). According to the report of the Water and Basic Sanitation Plan, more than 50% of the rural population had to consume water not suitable for human consumption.

A water purification system, manufactured in a compact manner can purify water obtaining high levels of purity, reducing fecal and total coliforms of 99.9 %, turbidity of 98 % and 83 % color. Cataloging the resulting treated water as suitable for human consumption.

Compact manufacturing plants are easy to install and transport. It may include lamellar decantation processes for turbidity reduction, filtration systems and a final water disinfection process prior to supply and distribution. They are suitable for installation in cases where it is required to minimize civil works and labor costs. Plants as a general rule include the following processes: Pre oxidation;Coagulation/flocculation;Lamellar decantation;Filtration;Chemical dosage. Additionally they allow automatic operation with the possibility of remote management with a PLC or in the cloud through GSM communication technologies. 

From the above it is concluded that the Colombian rural sector is facing a serious problem of drinking water supply, which added to the high rates of poverty and vulnerability, propitiates unsafe living conditions for the population. Additionally, the implemented plants lack an efficient control system that allows anticipating drastic changes in treatment quality conditions, making the selection of an efficient control system necessary that can be implemented in a compact water treatment plant for the rural sector.