Int. I. Water, Vol.2, No. I, 2002 35 Blackburn Meadows wastewater treatment works Rui Lima Gab. 23, lnstituto po1itecnico de Bragan¥a, Esco1a Superior de Tecno1ogia e de Gestao, Campus de Santa Apo16nia, Apartado 134 5301-857 Bragan¥a Portugal E-mai1: ruimec@ipb.pt Robert Bachmann Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Sheffield University, Mappin Street, Sheffield, SI 3JD, UK E-mail: R. T .Bachmann @sheffield.ac.uk Abstract: Blackbum Meadows wastewater treatment works is situated in Sheffield, the fourth largest city in England, in the county of South Yorkshire. This treatment plant has a fluidized bed incinerator in order to treat and dispose the sludge. This paper gives a brief overview of the various stages and processes involved in effluent treatment at Blackbum Meadows and assesses the sludge disposal operation. Keywords: Sewage treatment plant; sludge dewatering; sludge incineration; waste water. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Lima, R. and Bachmann, R. (2002) 'Blackbum Meadows wastewater treatment works', Int. I. Water, Vol. 2, No. I, pp. 35-39. 1 Introduction The Blackburn Meadows works is one of the largest in South Yorkshire and discharges treated sewage from a population of 444,000 into the River Don. The present dry weather ( ~\ fl~is 136,000 m3 per day, which is more than the rate of flow in the River Don } upstream of the discharge in dry weather. The incoming sewage comes from the Don Valley interceptor sewer, Tinsley and Blackburn Valley . 2 The new Don Valley interceptor sewer The original combined sewerage system that ran through Sheffield had become overloaded due to an increased population, increased water consumption and increased industrial activity. This led to many water overflows and unscreened sewage being Copyright @ 2002 lnderscience Enterprises Ltd.