Abstract for: Dam Level Management During Electricity Production

There has been a significant deviation of water usage and effluent dam levels from design at an electricity production plant. The dynamics of the large effluent production during operations at the plant is not yet understood. Changes in rainfall patterns and excess effluent production have significant impact on the flow of water throughout the power station dams. System dynamics was used to model the consumption of raw water at a coal fired power station by conducting a water balance across each process that uses water such as the cooling system and the water treatment plant. Results obtained from the model runs showed an increase in the water treatment effluents, which can be attributed to inefficient water treatment processes, will result in a 9% increase in recovered water dam levels. Redirecting of the various water streams can allow for the dams capacity not to overflow. Adequate engagements between both engineering and environmental stakeholders can allow for better decision making to efficiently plan for redistribution of water at the power plant.