Sewage Treatment and BOD

Sewage Treatment and BOD
http://www.lcusd.net/lchs/mewoldsen/Water_Pollution_LCHS.ppt
Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD)
• BOD: Oxygen is removed from water when organic
matter is consumed by bacteria.
• Low oxygen conditions may kill fish and other organisms.
Sources of organic matter

• Natural inputs-- bogs, swamps, leaf fall, and vegetation
aligning waterways.
• Human inputs-- pulp and paper mills, meat-packing
plants, food processing industries, and wastewater
treatment plants.
• Nonpoint inputs-- runoff from urban areas, agricultural
areas, and feedlots.
Fish Die
BOD Effects on Water Quality
All streams have some capability to degrade organic waste.

Problems occur when stream is overloaded with biochemical
oxygen-demanding waste.
Pollution of Streams and Lakes
flowing water can recover rapidly by dilution and decay
© Brooks/Cole Publishing Company / ITP Water Resources and Water Pollution by Paul Rich
Wastewater Treatment Objectives
• Wastewater treatment systems take human and
industrial liquid wastes and make them safe
enough (from the public health perspective) to
return to the aquatic or terrestrial environment.
• In some cases, wastewater can be clean
enough for reuse for particular purposes.
• Wastewater treatment systems use the same
processes of purification that would occur in a
natural aquatic system only they do it faster
and in a controlled situation.
isis.csuhayward.edu/alss/Geography/ mlee/geog4350/4350c4f01.ppt
Sewage or Wastewater Treatment
• Sewage or wastewater is composed of
sewage or wastewater from:
– Domestic used water and toilet wastes
– Rainwater
– Industrial effluent (Toxic industrial water is
pretreated)
– Livestock wastes
** microbes degrade organic compounds
** elimination of pathogens occurs
Wastewater Treatment
Types of treatment systems include: Septic

Tanks or Wastewater Treatment Plants
(WWTPs).
• Septic Tanks typically treat small volumes
of waste (e.g., from a single household,
small commercial/industral)
• WWTPs typically treat larger volumes of
municipal or industrial waste.
Decentralized Alternatives
• In rural areas or in particular urban communities in the U.S.,
human wastewater will be treated through individual septic
tank systems (pumped or leachfield varieties)
• Wastewater is filtered, microorganisms killed and chemicals
adsorbed and/or diluted in its passage through the soils and
rocks of the leachfield
• In developing countries, urban wastewater is seldom treated
and instead flows raw through collectors to receiving water
bodies (like in the US 100 years ago)
• The solution for many developing nations is centralized
oxidation lagoon systems (but this needs space) or the use
of individual ventilated pit-latrines, especially for shanty
towns and rural villages
Septic Tanks
• Approx. 22 million systems in operation ( 30% of US
population)
• Suitability determined by soil type, depth to water table, depth
to bedrock and topography
• Commonly fail due to poor soil drainage
• Potential contaminants: bacteria, heavy metals, nutrients,
synthetic organic chemicals (e.g. benzene)
Sewage Treatment
Wastewater or sewage treatment is a multistep
process:
1. Primary Treatment (Physical Process)
– Removal of large objects using grates and
screens
– Settling to remove suspended solids (primary
sludge)
• flocculating chemicals are added to enhance
sedimentation
Sewage Treatment
• Secondary Treatment (Microbial Process)
– Supernatant or primary effluent contains high
levels of dissolved organic load (Biological
Oxygen Demand)
– Aeration to stimulate aerobic degradation
• activated sludge reactor
bacteria degrade organic
• trickling filter reactor carbon to CO2
Eutrophication
Accelerated results with human input of nutrients to a lake
© Brooks/Cole Publishing Company / ITP Water Resources and Water Pollution by Paul Rich
Sewage Treatment
• Tertiary Treatment (Physicochemical
Process)
expensive process, sharply
• Precipitation reduces inorganic nutrients
• Filtration (PO4, NO3)
• Chlorination
• Treated water is discharged to waterways
• Used for irrigation
• Recycled into drinking water
Sewage Treatment
Pathogen Removal by Activated Sludge
• More than 90% of E.coli. and Salmonella are
destroyed
• Bacteria are removed by inactivation, grazing by
ciliated protozoa, and adsorption to sludge solids
• Viruses are removed mainly by adsorption process
Anaerobic Digestion of Sludge
• Sludges from the primary and secondary

treatment settling tanks are pumped into an
anaerobic digester
• Sludges contain cellulose, proteins, lipid and
other insoluble polymers
• Anaerobic bacteria digest the sludge to
methane and carbon dioxide
Wastewater Virtual Tours
• Oro Loma Treatment Plant
• San Diego Metropolitan Wastewater Dept.
• Blue Plains Treatment Plant Wash DC

Sewage Treatment and BOD

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sewage Treatment and BOD

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sewage Treatment and BOD

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sewage Treatment and BOD

Sources of organic matter

All streams have some capability to degrade organic waste.

Types of treatment systems include: Septic

• Sludges from the primary and secondary

You might also like