Treatment of Wastewater by Stabilization Ponds – Application to Tunisian Conditions

1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 193-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ghrabi ◽  
M. Ferchichi ◽  
C. Drakidès

An experimental study of the domestic wastewater treatment in a series of four pilot-scale stabilization ponds was conducted. The objective was to adapt the treatment by waste stabilization ponds (WSP) to Tunisian conditions. The obtained results show that the average values of removal are about 72% for BOD, 65% for COD and more than 50% for ammonia nitrogen. The phosphate concentration was influenced by release of phosphate from decomposition sediment The elimination of total coliform, faecal coliform and faecal streptococci is between 99.3% and 99.99%. The most rate reduction was registered during the warm months which coincide with the irrigation season. The sediment accumulation is taken mainly in the first pond: the deposition rate is high (5 cm/year). In the three maturation ponds, it ranges from 1.3 to 1.6 cm/year. The WSP can be designed to satisfy Tunisian conditions. Because of favourable climate, loading can be much higher than those reported in the literature and some of the disadvantages of the pond system can be reduced. So we can economize in evaporation of effluent which is considered as a resource of irrigation in agriculture and we can reduce the surface area.

2007 ◽  
pp. 419-428
Author(s):  
R.M. Al-Sa 'ed ◽  
N. Mahmoud ◽  
A. Abu-Madi ◽  
O.R. Zimmo

This paper evaluates the feasibility of using local rock filter as natural media in waste stabilization ponds, A pilot-scale algae-rock filter ponds (ARPs) system was investigated, in parallel with algae-based ponds (ABPs) over a period of 6 months to evaluate the treatment efficacy of both systems. Each system entailed 4 equal ponds in series and was continuously fed with domestic wastewater from Birzeit University. The removal rates of organic matter, nutrients and faecal coliforms were monitored within each treatment system. The results obtained revealed that ARPs system was more efficient in the removal of organic matter (TSS and COD; 86% and 84%, respectively) and fecal coliforms (4 log10) than ABPs (81%, 81%, 3 log10, respectively). Nitrogen was reduced in the ARPs to an average of24 mg N/1; in contrast the ABPs effluent contained 32 mg N/1. Compared to ABP system, passive aerated ARPs option is an efficient, a low-cost and land-saving alternative with effluent quality suitable for restricted agricultural use in rural areas.


2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
O.R. Vélez ◽  
G.E. Fasciolo ◽  
A.V. Bertranou

Arid areas call for imaginative water management solutions to avoid the dangers of water shortages. Growing demands of water for domestic and industrial uses decrease the availability of water for agriculture. It therefore becomes necessary to set up a policy for the use of domestic effluents. For the province of Mendoza, Argentina, with 1,500,000 inhabitants, a master plan was designed as of 1991 for the treatment of domestic effluents and subsequent disposal for irrigation. The guidelines set up by WHO for the use of wastewater in agricultural applications were taken into consideration. At present, the Province of Mendoza has available projects which are either complete, in execution or in the bidding process, entailing secondary treatment capacity with reuse of 320,000 cubic metres/day and an estimated possible irrigation area of 10,000 hectares. With this infrastructure, some strategic lines of action are recommended to establish a policy for the agricultural use of wastewater: (a) to program the use of treated wastewater to avoid discharges to irrigation flows; (b) to develop an institutional scheme for the efficient and safe use of these waters; and (c) develop scientific and technologic know-how to accompany the updated policies.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan J. Schmidt ◽  
Colin M. Ragush ◽  
Wendy H. Krkosek ◽  
Graham A. Gagnon ◽  
Rob C. Jamieson

A majority of communities in the Canadian territory of Nunavut rely on passive waste stabilization ponds (WSPs) for domestic wastewater treatment. Little research has been conducted on the treatment performance of these systems. Therefore, in response to impending federal wastewater regulations, a research program was conducted in order to characterize contaminant removal, with phosphorus a contaminant of particular concern. The performance of WSPs in the Arctic communities of Kugaaruk, Pond Inlet, Grise Fiord, and Clyde River was evaluated from 2011 to 2014. Removal of total phosphorus was highly variable, ranging from 24% (Pond Inlet, 2014) to 76% (Grise Fiord, 2011). The average removal efficiency was 44%. Effluent total phosphorus concentrations generally exceeded 7 mg P/L, partly due to elevated raw wastewater concentrations. Over the course of the treatment season (defined as June to September, when the WSP is thawed), limited additional total phosphorus removal was observed. A fractionation analysis of WSP sediments showed that organic phosphorus and phosphorus bound to aluminum and iron were the predominant forms, which provided insight into primary treatment mechanisms. Further studies on these mechanisms are needed in order to optimize Arctic WSP treatment.


1995 ◽  
Vol 31 (12) ◽  
pp. 275-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. G. H. Dixo ◽  
M. P. Gambrill ◽  
P. F. C. Catunda ◽  
A. C. van Haandel

A series of four pilot-scale, shallow waste stabilization ponds (WSPs), comprising one facultative followed by three maturation ponds with a total design retention time of 20 days, was monitored to observe its ability to remove pathogenic organisms from the effluent of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) digester. The UASB reactor received strong domestic wastewater from the shanty district of a city in north-east Brazil. The raw wastewater had a very high concentration of intestinal nematode eggs of which, on average, 89.6 percent were removed in the UASB reactor. No intestinal nematode eggs were recovered in the effluent of the first maturation pond, making it suitable for restricted irrigation. The removal of eggs in the first pond exceeded predictions made using a recently published model. Faecal coliforms (FC) were reduced by 4.7 log units on average in the pond series -- the final effluent being suitable for unrestricted irrigation. pHs exceeding 10 were attained in the final maturation pond at the sunniest time of day. There was a significant correlation between levels of pH and FC in the ponds, the latter being ≤ 1000 per 100 ml when the former was ≥ 9.1. The removal of FC in the ponds was linear over the range of pH encountered. The findings are consistent with recent work by others suggesting that FC removal in ponds is multi-factorial. The UASB reactor, with a retention time of 7 h, is an efficient primary treatment alternative to an anaerobic pond in a WSP series receiving an extremely strong domestic wastewater. There are potential advantages of using the former in preference to the latter in a series of ponds.


1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 173-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Muttamara ◽  
U. Puetpaiboon

This study evaluated nitrogen removal in Baffled Waste Stabilization Ponds (BWSPs) comprising laboratory and pilot-scale ponds with different number of baffles. The aim was to promote the waste stabilization pond practice for wastewater treatment in tropical countries by increasing nitrogen and organic carbon removal efficiency or reducing the land area requirement through the use of baffles which increased the biofilm biomass concentrations. The experiments started with a tracer study to find out the hydraulic characteristics of each pond. It was shown that the dispersion number decreased with increasing flow length and number of baffles which indicated more plug flow conditions. The deviation of actual HRT from theoretical HRT was computed and the flow pattern suggested the existence of an optimum spacing of baffles in BWSP units. The investigations further revealed that more than 65% TN and 90% NH3-N removal efficiencies were achieved at HRT of 5 days in a 6 baffled pond, which corresponds to the specific area of 34.88 m2m3. TN and NH3-N removal increased with increasing number of baffles in the BWSP units. Combined algal/bacterial biofilm grown on the baffles immersed in the ponds showed potential for increasing the extent of nitrification. COD removal increased with higher number of baffles with its maximum removal efficiency at 6 baffles. Compared with normal WSP, BWSP gave higher TN, NH3-N, COD and BOD5 removal efficiency. The effluent SS concentrations from the laboratory-scale 6 baffled pond were less than 20 mg/L at HRT of 3 days or more.


2013 ◽  
Vol 448-453 ◽  
pp. 604-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Jie Sun ◽  
Xin Nan Deng ◽  
Rui Chen

Research was conducted on pilot-scale, two-stage batch-flow constructed wetland systems for domestic wastewater treatment. Synthetic domestic wastewater was treated in a pre-acidification reactor with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 3 hours and the average removal rate of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia-nitrogen (NH4-N) reached 30% and 13.6%, respectively. The first-stage constructed wetland operated with up-flow and batch feed and drain. One cycle was 12h, including 6h feed and 6h drain. With HRT of 3 days, the effluent COD concentrations fluctuated from 32.5 mg/L to 103.4 mg/L, removal rates varied from 60% to 88%; effluent NH4-N concentrations were in the range of 4.8 mg/L to 10.8 mg/L, removal rates varied from 50% to 70%. The second-stage constructed wetland operated with down-flow, which one cycle was 24h, including 12h feed and 12h drain. With HRT of 1 day, effluent COD concentrations varied from 15.7 mg/L to 48.7 mg/L, removal averaged 53.2%; effluent NH4-N concentrations ranged from 0 mg/L to 0.4 mg/L, average removal exceeded 99%. The spatial variation of COD and NH4-N in the first-stage constructed wetland demonstrated that entrainment of air during draining of constructed wetland could strengthen the removal of COD and NH4-N. Temperature had no significant effect on COD degradation while obviously affected the removal of NH4-N.


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