Andrew Bales, Chris Mills, Derrik Yee
Abstract:
AguaClara designs low-cost water treatment facilities and desired a tool to estimate and present the capital and operational costs of an AguaClara plant. The goal of the Plant Cost Calculator team is to create such a tool to provide an accurate estimate of the costs associated with construct- ing and operating an AguaClara water treatment plant. The objective of the calculator is to allow users to easily obtain accurate design and operational cost estimates that can be compared to alternative water treatment options, and to make users better aware of the factors that contribute to the final plant cost. At the end of our first semester, the plant cost calculator team has completed the back-end for a working and easy-to-use calculator based in part on data from existing plants in Honduras. Future objectives will include developing a more attractive front-end interface, closer collaboration with WTTSG, and integrating India plant costs into the data used for prediction.
