Risk Assessment Analysis in A Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant

Proceedings
Risk Assessment Analysis in a Municipal Wastewater

Treatment Plant †
Magdalena Łój-Pilch *, Anita Zakrzewska and Ewa Zielewicz
Institute of Water and Wastewater Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, 44–100 Gliwice, Poland;
[email protected] (A.Z.); [email protected] (E.Z.)
* Correspondence: [email protected]
† Presented at Innovations-Sustainability-Modernity-Openness Conference (ISMO’19), Bialystok, Poland,
22–23 May 2019.
Published: 13 June 2019
Abstract: Risk management, an aspect of which is risk assessment, is a process supporting the
proper function of municipal sewage treatment plants. Many factors affect the quality of treated
wastewater. Risk assessment, its analysis, and hierarchization permit the elimination of events with
the most destructive impacts on the purification process.
Keywords: risk management; risk assessment; municipal wastewater treatment plants
1. Introduction
Each operator of a system or technical facility is faced with risk. The more complex the
functions of the system/object, from a technical point of view, the greater the threats to proper
function. Municipal wastewater treatment plants are special facilities. Their exploiters have to deal
with many problems, including variable loads of pollutants, extreme hydraulic loads, and adverse
weather conditions [1,2]. The implementation of the risk management process is to enable better
coping with the effects of adverse events and to prevent their occurrence. In general, the
management process can be divided into two stages: risk assessment and risk control [3]. The
components of the risk assessment are: identification, estimation, and determination of its
acceptability [4]. The subject of the article is to present, using an example, the stages of risk
assessment for estimating risk and determining its admissibility.
2. Material and Methods

The risk identified in an earlier stage of research was analyzed [5]. The occurring risk factors
(inside, outside, internal, external, latent, explicit) were identified, and the types of risk events
(qualitative, operational, ecological, financial) were identified. Based on the obtained results, the
frequency of appearance events (F; see Table 1), and the losses (L; see Table 2) are determined and
presented in the form of a risk matrix (Figure 1).
Table 1. Frequency of appearance (F).
Frequency of Appearance
Occurring Events:
(1/year) (F)
rarely ≤2 1
often 2–4 2
very often ≥4 3
Proceedings 2019, 16, 18; doi:10.3390/proceedings2019016018 www.mdpi.com/journal/proceedings

Proceedings 2018, 16, 18 2 of 3
Table 2. Losses (L).
Type of Risk Amount of Losses (L)

Qualitative 1
Qualitative, operational 2
Qualitative, operational, financial 3
Qualitative, operational, ecological, financial 4
frequency of appearance
Risk often occurring Risk often occurring
often and causing low and causing high
losses losses
Risk rare occurring Risk rare occurring

rare
and causing low and causing high

losses losses
low high
amount of losses
Figure 1. The simplest risk matrix—a risk map [6].
3. Results and Conclusions

The risk admissibility is determined on the basis of legal acts and adopted standards. Generally,
risk levels are: acceptable (low), tolerable (medium), and unacceptable (high) risk. On the basis of the
obtained risk map (Figure 2), individual areas defining risk admissibility can be determined.
Risk often occurring Risk often occurring

frequency of appearance
often

losses losses
Risk rare occurring Risk rare occurring

rare

losses losses
low high
amount of losses
Color scale:
unacceptable risk
tolerated risk
acceptable risk
Figure 2. Risk hierarchy.

Proceedings 2018, 16, 18 3 of 3
Analysis of the risk map along with its hierarchy provides the possibility for better
management of the facility, and an awareness of the possibility of risk. The risk map of the analyzed
wastewater treatment plant is presented in Figure 3.
3
0
1 2 3 4
unacceptable risk tolerated risk acceptable risk events
Figure 3. The risk map of the analyzed object.
All events that occurred in the analyzed period are within the acceptable and tolerated range.
These results indicate good functioning of the analyzed treatment plant.
Author Contributions: M.Ł. analyzed the data and contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools; M.Ł., A.Z.,
and E.Z. wrote the paper.
Acknowledgments: This work was supported by Research Funds For Young Researchers awarded to the
Institute of Water and Wastewater Engineering of the Silesian University of Technology.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
References
1. Andraka, D.; Dzienis, L. Required reliability level of wastewater treatment plants according to European
and Polish regulations. Zeszyty Naukowe Politechniki Białostockiej. Inżynieria Środowiska 2003, 16, 24–28.
2. Żaba, T.; Krolikowski, A.; Królikowska, J. Failure frequency for a small water treatment plant. Inżynieria
Ekologiczna 2011, 24, 215–225.
3. Kulińska, E. Metods for risk analisys in logistics processes. Logistyka 2011, 2, 385–409.
4. Iwanejko, R.; Rybicki, S. M. Risk management for sewage treatment plants. Part I: Does risk management
for sewage treatment plants make sense? Gaz Woda i Technika Sanitarna 2008, 2, 10–13
5. Łój-Pilch, M.; Zakrzewska, A.; Zielewicz, E. Identification of threats that may pose a risk on municipal
sewage treatment plant. Instal 2018, 4, 61–63
6. Zawarska, J. Identyfikacja i pomiar ryzyka w procesie zarządzania ryzykiem podmiotów gospodarczych.
Zarządzanie i Finanse 2012, 1, 65–75
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access
article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Proceedings

Risk Assessment Analysis in a Municipal Wastewater

Published: 13 June 2019

Keywords: risk management; risk assessment; municipal wastewater treatment plants

2. Material and Methods

Table 1. Frequency of appearance (F).

Proceedings 2019, 16, 18; doi:10.3390/proceedings2019016018 www.mdpi.com/journal/proceedings

Table 2. Losses (L).

Type of Risk Amount of Losses (L)

Risk rare occurring Risk rare occurring

and causing low and causing high

Figure 1. The simplest risk matrix—a risk map [6].

3. Results and Conclusions

Risk often occurring Risk often occurring

and causing low and causing high

Risk rare occurring Risk rare occurring

and causing low and causing high

Figure 2. Risk hierarchy.

unacceptable risk tolerated risk acceptable risk events

Figure 3. The risk map of the analyzed object.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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