Chapter 4A

Wastewater Treatment:
Characteristics and Systems

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this learning session
students should be able to;
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Understand what causes water pollution

Recognize the sources of wastewater
State the characteristics of wastewater
Appreciate the importance of w/w treatment
Apply systems used to treat the wastewater
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What is water pollution?

Water pollution is any chemical, physical or
biological change in the quality of water that
has a harmful effect on any living thing that
drinks or uses or lives (in) it.
When humans drink polluted water it often
has serious effects on their health. Water
pollution can also make water unsuited for
the desired use.
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The Sources of Pollution

Water pollution occurs when a
body of water is adversely
affected due to the addition of
large amounts of materials to the
water. When it is unfit for its
intended use, water is considered
polluted.
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Sources of Water Pollution

Domestic and Industrial Sewage, which

contains decomposable organic matter and

pathogenic agents.
Industrial and trade wastes, which contain
toxic agents ranging from metal salts to
complex synthetic organic chemicals.
Agricultural pollutants, which comprise
fertilizers and pesticides.
Physical pollutants, such as thermal pollution
and radioactive substances.
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A heavily polluted stream in Guiyu, China. Along side domestic

rubbish the water is badly polluted with toxic waste from the ewaste recycling yards in the town.

Example of water pollution

Citarum River (West Java)
Most polluted in the world

Polluted River in India

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Kyoto River

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Clean river and

drainage channels in
Kyoto (Aug 2004)

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A River in Seoul,
Korea

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Murky Klang River in KL

A River in KL,
Malaysia

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What is Wastewater?
Wastewater is any water that
has been adversely affected in
quality by anthropogenic
influence.
It comprises liquid waste
discharged by domestic
residences, commercial
properties, industry, and/or
agriculture and can encompass
a wide range of potential
contaminants and
concentrations.

In the most common usage, it refers to the municipal

wastewater that contains a broad spectrum of contaminants
resulting from the mixing of wastewaters from different
sources.
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Wastewater Contaminants

Suspended solids can cause

sludge deposits and anaerobic
conditions in the environment
Biodegradable organics can
cause anaerobic conditions in
the environment
Pathogens transmit disease
Nutrients can cause
eutrophication
Heavy metals toxicity to biota
and humans
Refractory organics toxicity to
biota and humans
Dissolved solids interfere
with reuse
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Characteristics of Wastewater
Physical
The physical characteristics of waste water
include its solid content--suspended organic
matter, floating matter and dissolved matter,
its temperature, color, odor/smell, density,
conductivity, specific gravity, transmittance
and specific weight.
Septic sewage is black (due to precipitation of
iron sulfide)

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Characteristics of Wastewater
Chemical
Municipal wastewater also contains a variety of inorganic
substances from domestic and industrial sources, including a
number of potentially toxic elements such as arsenic, cadmium,
chromium, copper, lead, mercury, zinc, etc.
Among the organic substances present in sewage are
carbohydrates, lignin, fats, soaps, synthetic detergents, proteins
and their decomposition products, as well as various natural and
synthetic organic chemicals from the process industries.
Number of chemicals found in w/w is limitless
Measure of w/w strength often use COD and BOD
COD Chemical Oxygen Demand
BOD Biological Oxygen Demand

Characteristics of Wastewater
Biological
Pathogenic bacteria will be present in wastewater
at much lower levels than the coliform group of
bacteria, which are much easier to identify and
enumerate (as total coliforms/100ml).
Escherichia coli are the most widely adopted
indicator of faecal pollution and they can also be
isolated and identified fairly simply, with their
numbers usually being given in the form of faecal
coliforms (FC)/100 ml of wastewater.
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Characteristics of Domestic
Wastewater

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Municipal Wastewater
Treatment Systems
Pretreatment removes materials
that can cause operational
problems, equalization optional
Primary treatment remove ~60%
of solids and ~35% of BOD
Secondary treatment remove
~85% of BOD and solids
Advanced treatment varies: 95+
% of BOD and solids, N, P
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Pretreatment of Industrial
Wastewaters
Industrial wastewaters must be pretreated
prior to being discharged to municipal
sewer system
Approach is to remove materials that will
not be treated by municipal system
Local authority must monitor and regulate
industrial discharges
Pretreatment requirements set by the law
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Primary
PrimaryTreatment
Treatment

EQUILIZATION

Secondary
Treatment

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24

Sewage
Tunnels
in Developed
Countries

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Treatment Plant

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The Stickney WWTP, located on 570 acres in Cicero, Illinois,

southwest of Chicago, serves 2.4 million people living in Chicago
and 43 suburban communities. Capacity: 1.44 billion gallons per
day.

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Screens
Coarse screens
Function to remove
large objects such as
pieces of wood, plastic
bottles, rags, textile
etc
Size of opening up to
75-100 mm
Cleaned either
manually or
mechanically
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Screens
Fine Screens
Function is to remove
fine contaminants,
debris, plastics that
are not hang on
coarse rack screen.
Opening size small up
to only 13 mm
Most fine screens are
mechanically cleaned

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Grit Chambers
Purpose: remove inert
dense material, such as
sand, broken glass, silt
and pebbles. These
materials is called grit
Grit will cause abrasion
of pumps and other
mechanical devices if
not removed
Grit chambers can be of
rectangular or circular
shape (vortex)

Note : All design and calculation are the

same as water supply grit chamber
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Vortex Grit Chamber

The screened influent enters

tangentially and flows around the
upper chamber
Adjustable, rotating paddles or jet of
air augment the spiraling flow to
create an induced vortex which
settles the grit, transports it to the
center opening of the fixed floor plate
for collection in the lower chamber
The grit solids are removed from the
lower chamber by an air lift or
recessed impeller pump for further
washing and dewatering.

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End of Chapter 4A

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