Sharma, Jwala Raj2010-07-192011-08-242010-07-192011-08-242010-07-19January 20http://hdl.handle.net/10106/4924Reliable cost estimates for construction, and operation and maintenance (O&M) of water treatment plants are essential for their project planning and design. During the planning phases of the project, preliminary cost estimates are developed for major project components, and for screening of alternatives.Construction and O&M cost curves are widely used for developing preliminary cost estimates. This method is time consuming and there is possibility of human errors. Therefore, for this thesis, construction, and O&M cost equations were developed considering historical cost data for different unit operations and processes involved in a water treatment plant. These equations were developed from historical cost data and can be used to develop preliminary cost estimate for different alternative process trains of a water treatment project. The historical cost data were updated to September 2009 costs by using Engineering News Record (ENR) and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) cost indexes, and September 2009 prices of energy and labor.Use of single cost index to further update construction and O&M costs provides a simple and straight forward method for future cost updating using ENR construction and building cost indexes.ENM.S.