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EDWartens UK

Free course · SCADA

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant Automation

How drinking water, wastewater and desalination plants are measured and controlled: the process trains, level, flow and water quality instruments, pump station duty and standby logic, VFDs and pump protection, coagulant and chlorine dosing, filter backwash sequences, RO train control, dissolved oxygen and blower control, SCADA, telemetry and alarms, cybersecurity and compliance data, ending with a pump station control narrative.

See the modules

Free to learn. Verifiable certificate £19 when you pass the final exam (optional, VAT included).

Level
Intermediate
Modules
14
Video
22 hours
Price
Free

Outcome

What you will be able to do

Draw the process train of a drinking water plant, a wastewater plant and an RO desalination plant and name the instruments and control loops on each; scale level and flow signals and convert weir heads to flow; choose and calibrate pH, turbidity, chlorine and dissolved oxygen analysers and work out sample lag; set wet well levels, size the effective volume and write duty, standby, assist and alternation logic; apply the affinity laws, static head and pump protections to VFD-driven pumps; size flow-paced coagulant and chlorine dosing and check CT; write a filter backwash sequence with its permissives and turbidity triggers; control an RO train and decide when to clean from normalized data; control dissolved oxygen with a cascade and most-open-valve logic and set RAS and WAS from SRT; design telemetry, alarms and secure remote access; and write a control narrative, I/O list and test plan for a pump station.

  • Draw water, wastewater and RO process trains with their instruments and control loops
  • Choose level, open channel flow and water quality instruments, scale signals and allow for sample lag
  • Set wet well levels and write duty, assist, standby, alternation and fail-over logic
  • Apply affinity laws, static head, VFD limits and pump protections, and track kWh per m³
  • Size flow-paced coagulant and chlorine dosing, check CT and write a filter backwash sequence
  • Control an RO train and decide when to clean from normalized data
  • Control dissolved oxygen with a cascade and most-open-valve logic, and set RAS and WAS from SRT
  • Design telemetry, alarms and secure remote access, and write a control narrative, I/O list and SAT

Software

None is required. A spreadsheet (LibreOffice Calc is free) is used for the calculations, and any PLC or SCADA software you already use (for example Ignition Maker Edition or CODESYS) can be used to try the pump station logic, but every exercise can be done on paper.

Hardware

None. Any laptop that runs a spreadsheet is enough.

Syllabus

14 modules

Each module has video lessons, notes and a short quiz. The final exam closes the course.

  1. 1Water and wastewater plants: process trains and the automation layers4 lessons
  2. 2Level, flow and pressure measurement in water plants4 lessonsLab
  3. 3Water quality analysers: pH, turbidity, chlorine and dissolved oxygen6 lessons
  4. 4Pump stations: wet wells, set points and duty, standby and alternation5 lessonsLab
  5. 5Pump drives, protection and energy4 lessons
  6. 6Coagulation, clarification and chemical dosing control5 lessons
  7. 7Filtration: filter control and the backwash sequence6 lessons
  8. 8Disinfection: chlorine dosing, residual control, CT and UV5 lessons
  9. 9Membranes and RO desalination: train control and cleaning5 lessons
  10. 10Activated sludge: dissolved oxygen, blowers, RAS and WAS6 lessons
  11. 11SCADA, telemetry and alarm management for utilities5 lessonsLab
  12. 12Cybersecurity, data and compliance reporting4 lessonsLab
  13. 13Capstone: pump station control narrative, I/O list and testing2 lessons
  14. 14Final assessment1 lesson

How it works

How this course works

  1. Watch the video lessonsOne module at a time, at your own pace.
  2. Take the module quizA short quiz at the end of each module shows what stuck.
  3. Keep your notesWrite in My notes beside each module and ask the trainer if you are stuck.
  4. Practise in the labOptionalTry a task from the module in the EDWartens Lab, in your browser.
  5. Sit the final examPass it once you have been through the modules.
  6. Certificate, if you want oneOptionalPaid, and only after you pass. Anyone can check it online.

EDWartens Lab

Practise this in the EDWartens Lab

Run a tank and pump process in the Lab, read the trends and check alarms the way an operator screen would show them.

Works alongside Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant Automation. The Lab is process control practice in your browser: no install, no hardware, free to use. Sign in as a learner and it opens with your account.

Open the free lab See the Lab
Process control: Tune a real process loop.

Levels to try with this course

Optional. Skip it whenever you like: it never blocks your progress or your certificate.

Why practise in a lab

Technical work is judged on what you can do: wiring, commissioning, finding a fault. Doing a task yourself teaches more than watching it a second time, and a lab lets you try it safely before you meet real equipment. It does not replace working on real hardware.

  • Practise safely, so a mistake costs nothing.
  • The lab checks your work like a site test, so you know when it is right.
  • Free, in your browser, with nothing to install.

Certificate

An optional certificate when you pass

Learning is free. Pass the final exam and you can have a certificate for £19, including VAT, with a number employers can check online. It records that you completed a free online course; it is not a regulated qualification or a CPD certificate.

  • Your name, the course, its study time and your final exam score
  • A unique certificate number and a QR code to its verification page
  • Issued by Wartens Ltd; add it to your LinkedIn profile in one click
  • Pay now or after you pass: it is issued the moment you pass the final

How the certificate works

Sample certificate for Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant Automation

Credits

Who made the lessons

The video lessons belong to their creators. EDWartens wrote the study plan, notes, quizzes and the final exam.

Questions

About this course

What is water and wastewater treatment plant automation?
Water and wastewater treatment plant automation is the instrumentation, PLC, SCADA and telemetry that measure and control drinking water plants, sewage and effluent treatment plants, desalination plants and their remote pump stations. It runs the pumps, dosing, filters, membranes and aeration, raises alarms, and produces the records a regulator uses to judge whether the water was safe.
Who is this water treatment automation course for?
It is for instrumentation, electrical and PLC engineers, SCADA and telemetry technicians and plant operators who work in, or want to move into, water and wastewater utilities, desalination plants and the contractors and system integrators that build them. You should already know what a PLC, a 4-20 mA loop and a PID loop are.
Do I need software or a PLC to take the course?
No software or hardware is required. A spreadsheet such as LibreOffice Calc is enough for every calculation, and every exercise can be done on paper; if you have Ignition Maker Edition, CODESYS or a vendor trial tool you can also try the pump station logic in it.
Which standards and regulations does the course cover?
The course explains in its own words the ideas of ISA-5.1 tagging, ISA-18.2 and IEC 62682 alarm management, ISA-101 HMI design, IEC 62443 zones and conduits, DNP3 and IEC 60870-5-104 telemetry, the US EPA surface water treatment and disinfectant rules, WHO drinking water guidance and the Ten States design standards. Local regulations and a competent person always govern real work, especially chlorine handling and confined spaces.
Is the course free to learn, and how long does it take?
Yes, every module, the notes, the worked problems, the practice tasks, the optional project and the final assessment are free to learn. The course takes about 21 hours at your own pace, of which about 13.4 hours is video; the optional lift station project takes about 12 hours more.
What certificate do I get, and how is it verified?
You get a verifiable certificate of completion when you finish the modules and pass the 15-question final at 60 percent. It carries a unique certificate number and a QR code that open a public verification page showing the course, the modules covered and your final score. It is not a water or wastewater operator licence or certification.
What jobs does water treatment plant automation lead to?
It prepares you for roles such as ICA or SCADA engineer at a water utility, telemetry engineer, commissioning engineer for a system integrator, and instrumentation technician at a treatment or desalination plant. Desalination and wastewater programmes in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and sewage treatment plant projects across Asia and Africa, all need engineers who can commission pump stations, dosing, filters, RO trains and SCADA.
Does the course teach SCADA software or PID tuning?
No. Building screens and tags in a platform is taught in Ignition SCADA by Inductive Automation and Siemens WinCC SCADA, loop tuning in PID Control for PLC Engineers, and instrument principles in Industrial Instrumentation and Process Control. This course applies them to water: what to measure, how to control each process, and how to make the system fail safe.

The Professional Module is five live days of Siemens PLC, HMI and SCADA with an instructor, then a resume session and a CPD certificate.

See the Professional Module