Waste Treatment

ACCRA TECHNICAL
UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
REPORT ON A VISIT TO LEGON

WASTE TREATMENT CENTRE
REPORT BY
GIDEON ABBEY COMMEY
01171001D
11TH OCTOBER, 2019
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Report on a trip to Legon waste treatment centre which took
place on the 11th of October, 2019.
The treatment centre treats waste from University of Ghana,

University of professional studies, Legon presec and Achimota.
Apart from Waste water from the university of Ghana campus,
along the way of the other places are lifter pumps just as the
water works have buster stations to help pump the water to the
treatment centre.
There are pressure manholes where the water is left to flow by

gravity from University of Ghana campus. These manholes are
located somewhere in the middle of the school.
At the treatment centre, it is only organic waste that is treated i.e.

waste from domestic home, not from industries and not inorganic.
Any inorganic waste is to be removed.
The waste treatment plant has the intake structure. In the intake
structure is a screen which collects foreign materials which are
solid wastes. There are two pipes connected to the intake, one
from the University of Ghana carrying raw water as it is being
used, the other one carries water a pumping station at Atomic
junction. Since that pipe holds water in the system, biological
process takes place in the pipes and gasses are released i.e.
ammonia gas, carbon dioxide, methane gas as the majority and
hydrogen sulphide and causes the water to change colour to
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blackish or dark colour unlike the one flowing from the Legon
campus which comes as it is used.
Pipes used for the system are HDP (High Density Pipes) and is
resistant to rusting and corrosion.
From the inlet chamber, the water then moves to the Grit
chamber. The work of the grit chamber is to reduce or lower the
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flow rate of the water flowing from the inlet chamber. Any particle
that the screen in the inlet could not prevent from passing get
settled in the grit chamber as the flow rate reduces
From the grit chamber the waste water moves to the Flume
chamber. It is designed with an instrument to calculate the
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volume of water coming from the grit chamber. The system is
designed to create 8850mᶾ of waste per day.
From the flume chamber which is to record the volume of moving water, The
water then moves to Distribution chamber which distributes the water into three
different chambers. Each of these three chambers leads to three different ponds
on the site.
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Each of the ponds has a depth of about 5.8m and in a V-shaped form with lining in
each of them to prevent the waste water precipitating into the ground to pollute
the ground water.
These ponds are called anaerobic ponds and are the first stage of the system. The
ponds are created for settlement of any organic material that passes through the
system.
The ponds also bring something called BOD removal (Biological Oxygen Demand).
Most of the gasses also escape through this system. This system removes about
70% of BOD. Pipes are laid underground from the ponds to other chambers for
treatment to continue.
The whole system takes about 21 days to be treated when it comes to the
system. Because that is waste stabilization pump (WSP), nothing is added to the
treatment process. The system depends on air and sun. The sun helps to kill
excess bacterial in the water.
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From the anaerobic, the next stage is Facultative and is the second stage of the
system. The facultative removes about 30% of BOD. The depth of the facultative
ponds is about 2.5m deep so that much sunlight can penetrate. Around this pond
is rip raps to prevent erosion into the system.
From the facultative, the water moves to the Maturation ponds through pipes
laid underground. This is the third stage of the system. The purpose of the
maturation is to kill more pathogens and remove more nutrients from the system
for aquatic lives not to suffer from getting oxygen.
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The Maturation system or ponds are also further divided into two which is
maturation one and two. At the maturation stage, water is okay to use but
maturation two treats it further due to the area in which the treatment plant is
located and to make sure water leaving the system is good.
To make sure the water is good for use, fishes are brought to grow in Maturation
ponds which mean life supporting starts from this stage of the treatment process.
The treated water at this stage is pure for drinking but because of human
mentality it is waste water, it is only used for agricultural purposes as at the time.
The maturation ponds also have a depth of about 1.2m deep. In these ponds the
water become greenish to tell there is more life in it. The ponds have a freeboard
of 1m so that when it rains the excess passes through the bypass.
This is the stage where sample of the water is taken to the laboratory for tests to
be conducted. BOD, nitrate, nitrogen ammonia, COD etc. are some of the tests
conducted.
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EPA requires water treatment companies to produce a minimum of 50mlg per
liter of BOD but the Legon waste treatment plant produces 17mlg which is far
better for use.
Maturation two is where most of aquatic lives are found and is the final stage of
the waste water treatment process. The excess water at this stage moves to a
stream called the Onyaase river which is now turned to a drainage and finally
finds its way into the sea.
The treatment process starts from
1) Anaerobic stage
2) Facultative stage
3) Maturation stage (one and two).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the visit to the Legon waste treatment centre has helped me to
know how organic waste can be treated for use. It has also helped me to know
the stages in the treatment process and how long it takes to treat the waste
water when the treatment plant is well constructed.

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ACCRA TECHNICAL

CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

REPORT ON A VISIT TO LEGON

GIDEON ABBEY COMMEY

The treatment centre treats waste from University of Ghana,

There are pressure manholes where the water is left to flow by

At the treatment centre, it is only organic waste that is treated i.e.

The treatment process starts from

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