I.

Characteristics
Of Wastewater
 Variability of Wastewater
and Wastewater Analyses
• Wastewater is not constant in
character from place to place nor
from time to time.
• Techniques commonly used in its
sampling and analysis are subject
to substantial error.
• Combinations of inherent
variability and experimental
error produce considerable
uncertainty regarding the actual
characteristics in any given
situation.
• And extensive testing programs
may be necessary to determine
the actual nature of wastewater.
• For representative samples, it
requires that aliquots be taken
across the depth in
proportion to the velocity profile
and area.
• Analyzing a flow requires that a
large number of samples be taken
in order to define the range of
concentrations to be expected.
 Various test used in
Characterizing Wastewater are
described:
• Precision
– refers to reproducibility of
an analytic technique when it is
repeated on a homogeneous
sample under controlled
conditions.
• Accuracy
– refers to the correspondence
between the measured value
and the actual value.
Relative Error is the difference
between actual and measured
value as a percentage of the
actual value.
 Physical Characteristics

• Sewage is 99.9% percent water

- Fresh Domestic Sewage
- Stale Sewage
Fresh Domestic Sewage

• Slightly soapy
• Has an oily odor
• Cloudy
• Contains recognizable solids
 Stale Sewage

• Has a pronounced odor of

hydrogen sulfide
• Dark gray
• Contains smaller but
occasionally recognizable solids
• As waste ages, its character
changes as a result of biological
and chemical phenomena.
• The change from fresh to stale
requires 2 – 6 hours at a
temperature of 20°C.
 Solid Determinations

1. Total Solid (TS)

2. Suspended Solids (SS) and
Dissolved Solids (DS)
3. Volatile Solids
Other Physical Characteristics

1. Odor
– is produced by gas
production due to the
decomposition of organic
matter or by substances
added to the wastewater.
2.Temperature
– temperature of
wastewater is commonly higher
than that of water supply.
Depending on the location, the
mean annual temperature varies
in the range of 10 – 21°C w/ an
average of 16°C. It affects
chemical reactions during the
wastewater treatment process. It
also stops nitrifying bacteria
activity at about 5°C.
 Chemical Characteristics

Wastewater contains both

inorganic and organic chemicals.
Ordinary sewage treatment is
not directed toward inorganic
contaminants, although the
concentration of phosphorus and
nitrogen are sometimes
significant in biological treatment
processes.
• Phosphorus – is primarily
present in wastewater in the
form of phosphates(salts of
phosphoric acids).
• Nitrogen – may be present in
wastewater in both inorganic
 and organic forms of both
reduced and oxidized state. Its
concentration is determined by
a digestion-distillation process
followed by colorimetric,
titrimetric, or electrophoretic
analysis.
•Alkalinity – is important in
wastewater since It provides a
 buffer against acids produced by
bacterial action in anaerobic
nitrifying system.
The organic constituents of
wastewater may be divided into
organic matter. It is determined by
measuring the dissolved oxygen
used by the microorganisms during
the biochemical oxidation of organic
matter in 5 days at 20°C. The total
quantity of organic material is
measured by determining the
quantity of some oxidizing agent
which is required to convert it to
CO2, H2O, and, other oxidized
end products.
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
- is a measure of the
dissolved oxygen consumed by
microorganisms during oxidation
of reduced substances in waters
and waste. It is determined by
measuring the dissolved oxygen
used by microorganisms during
the biochemical oxidation of
organic matter in 5 days at 20° C.

Where:
BOD – biochemical oxygen demand
L – ultimate biological demand
k – deoxygenation rate constant
t – time
 Total Organic Carbon

-is the amount

of carbon bound in an organic
compound and is often used as a
non-specific indicator of water
quality or cleanliness of
pharmaceutical manufacturing
equipment.
 Total Organic Carbon

- material derived from

decaying vegetation, bacterial
growth, and metabolic activities
of living organisms or chemicals.
 Microbiology of Sewage and
Sewage Treatment

• Naturally, wastewater contains

enormous quantities of
microorganisms.
• They play an important role in
sewage treatment.
• It is largely through biological
digestion that sewage is
converted from a highly
contaminated, infectious liquid
into a relatively stable, inert
sludge and a harmless effluent
needing only chlorination before
it may be discharged into a
receiving stream, leaching bed, or
other disposal area.
• Bacteria have the most number
of quantity. It also plays the most
important role.
• Wastewater also contains algae,
protozoa, fungi and rotifers
• Bacteria – are singled-celled
plants w/c metabolize soluble
food and reproduce by binary
fission. They are capable of
solubilizing food particles outside
their cell wall by means of
extracellular enzymes, and hence
can remove soluble, colloidal, and
solid organic matter from waste.
• Anaerobic Bacteria – it oxidizes
organic matter utilizing electron
acceptors other than oxygen. In
carrying out their metabolic
processes they produce CO2, H2O,
H2S, CH4, NH3, N2, reduced
organics, and more bacteria.
• Aerobic Bacteria – it utilize free
oxygen as an electron acceptor.
The end products of aerobic
 Symbiotic relationship exists
between them and the
saprophytic bacteria w/c oxidize
the organic material in the
waste.
• Protozoa – are singled-celled
animals w/c reproduce by binary
fission. There are many different
species w/ differing shape, size,
motility, and substrate. By
 reducing the number of bacteria
the protozoa alter the food/mass
ratio, thus stimulating further
bacterial growth and further
waste stabilization.
• Fungi – are multicellular
nonphotosynthetic plants.
Because of their different cellular
composition, fungi tend to
predominate over bacteria in
 wastes w/c are deficient in
nitrogen or low pH. Because of
their relatively large filamentous
shape, fungi tend to settle poorly
and are thus difficult to remove
by sedimentation. Their presence
is thus undesirable in waste
treatment processes.
• Rotifers – are the simplest
multicellular animal. They feed
on bacteria and small protozoa,
thus further stabilizing the waste.
Since they require a relatively
high dissolved oxygen content,
their presence is a good
indication of the relatively
stability of a treated waste.
• Bar Screen – is a mechanical filter
used to remove large objects, such
as rags and plastics from
wastewater.
• Grit Chamber – is a chamber
designed to remove sand and
gravel.
• Settling Tank – is normally part of
a process that involves separating
solids from liquid, remove heavy
organic solids; entrained solids settle
by gravity during storage.
• Activated Sludge – is a process for
treating sewage and industrial
wastewaters using air and
biological flock composed of
bacteria and protozoa.
• Aeration Tank – is a place where
liquid is held in order to increase
the amount of air w/in it. The most
 common uses of aeration tanks are
in wastewater recovery, as the high
oxygen levels will increase the
speed at w/c the water is cleaned.
• Sludge Digester – is a biological
process in w/c complex organic
substances like sewage sludges are
biologically dredged. During this
reactions, energy is released and
much of the sewage is converted.
 Sampling

Is defined as obtaining a
representative sample of a
heterogeneous and variable
material. There are essentially
three fundamental methods: grab
sampling, composite sampling, and
continuous sampling.
• A grab sample is simply a portion
of the flow removed in a manner
w/c will enhance the probability
that it is representative of the
flow at the instant it is taken.
Grab samples may be taken
from the discharge of a pump, be
manually dipped from the flow,
or be automatically dipped or
siphoned from the stream.
• A composite sample is a mixture of
grab samples taken over a period
of time, w/ the volume of
individual samples usually being
proportional to the flow at the
time the sample is taken.
Composite samples may be
obtained manually or
automatically, either on a timed
basis or on reaching a specified
 total flow.
• A continuous sample represents
diversion of a small fraction of
the total flow over some period
of time. Continuous samplers are
usually not flow-proportional.
Rather, they extract the sample
at a constant time.
 Typical Domestic sewage
characteristics, mg/L
The variability of
characteristics and inaccuracies of
sampling and testing
notwithstanding, there is some
value in presenting concentrations
of contaminants found in
domestic wastewater.
Parameter Weak Medium Strong

Total Suspended Solids 100 200 350

Volatile Suspended Solids 75 135 210

BOD 100 200 400

COD 175 300 600

TOC 100 200 400

Ammonia-N 5 10 20

Organic-N 8 20 40

PO4-P 7 10 20
II. Sewage
Disposal
 Disposal Techniques

The liquid wastes from industrial

and domestic sources must eventually be
disposed of in some manner, whether by:
•Reuse
•Discharge to surface water
•Injection or percolation to groundwater
•Evaporation to the atmosphere
 Effects of Stream Disposal

1. Concentrations of Pollutants and Natural

Substances
2. Oxygen and Temperature
3. Physical Features
4. Transport of Sediment and Debris
5. Plants and Animals Present
6. Biological Cues
7. Minimum Instream Flow
 Water Quality Modeling

Water quality modeling involves

the prediction of water pollution using
mathematical simulation techniques. A
typical water quality model consists of a
collection of formulations representing
physical mechanisms that determine
position and momentum of pollutants in
a water body.
 Submarine Outfall

A pipeline or tunnel that discharges

municipal/industrial wastewater, storm
water, combined sewer
overflows, cooling water,
or brine effluents from water
desalination plants to the sea. Usually
they discharge under the sea's surface.
 Land Disposal and Treatment

Land Disposal is accomplished by

applying the hazardous waste directly
on the soil surface or incorporating it
into the upper layers of the soil in
order to degrade, transform, or
immobilize the hazardous
constituents. Land Disposal may be
broadly classified into:
1.Slow Rate Systems
2.Rapid Infiltration
3.Overland Flow
4.Wetland
5.Subsurface Techniques
 Land treatment units rely upon
the physical, chemical, and
biological processes occurring in the
topsoil layers to contain the waste.
It uses naturally occurring soil
microbes and sunlight to treat
hazardous waste.
 Selection of a Disposal System

• Stream Disposal
- commonest and cheapest
- provided water quality
standards do not require
advanced treatment.
• Land Disposal
- socially and politically desirable
- economical in water-poor areas
- requires less skill in operation
- quite expensive than discharge to
surface waters
• Evaporation
- practicable only in limited
areas and those areas the
water might be more
profitably used to recharge
groundwater or irrigated crops
Thank you.
The end.
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