A PRESENTATION ON

CEB707
Water and Waste water
Engineering

1
 Wastewater Quantity Estimation
The flow of sanitary sewage alone in the absence of storms in dry season is
known as dry weather flow (DWF).

Quantity= Per capita sewage contributed per day x Population

 Sanitary sewage is mostly the spent water of the community draining into
the sewer system. It has been observed that a small portion of spent water
is lost in evaporation, seepage in ground, leakage, etc. Usually 80% of the
water supply may be expected to reach the sewers.
 Fluctuations in Dry Weather Flow
 Since dry weather flow depends on the quantity of water used, and as there
are fluctuations in rate of water consumption, there will be fluctuations in
dry weather flow also. In general, it can be assumed that (i) Maximum daily
flow = 2 x average daily flow and (ii) Minimum daily flow = 2/3 x (average
daily flow).
Design Periods & Population Forecast
 This quantity should be worked out with due provision for the estimated requirements of
the future . The future period for which a provision is made in the water supply scheme is
known as the design period. It is suggested that the construction of sewage treatment
plant may be carried out in phases with an initial design period ranging from 5 to 10 years
excluding the construction period.

Design period is estimated based on the following:

 Useful life of the component, considering obsolescence, wear, tear, etc.

 Expandability aspect.

 Anticipated rate of growth of population, including industrial, commercial developments &

migration-immigration.

 Available resources.

 Performance of the system during initial period.

 Population forecasting methods
 The various methods adopted for estimating future populations are given below. The
particular method to be adopted for a particular case or for a particular city depends largely
on the factors discussed in the methods, and the selection is left to the discrection and
intelligence of the designer.

 Arithmetic Increase Method

 Geometric Increase Method

 Incremental Increase Method

 Decreasing Rate of Growth Method

 Simple Graphical Method

 Comparative Graphical Method

 Ratio Method
 Logistic Curve Method
 Wastewater Characterization
To design a treatment process properly, characterization of wastewater is
perhaps the most critical step. Wastewater characteristics of importance in the
design of the activated sludge process can be grouped into the following
categories:

Temperature
pH
Colour and Odour
Carbonaceous substrates
Nitrogen
Phosphorous
Chlorides
Total and volatile suspended solids (TSS and VSS)
Toxic metals and compounds
Temperature
Observation of temperature of sewage is useful in indicating the solubility of
oxygen which affects oxygen transfer capacity of aeration equipments and
rate of biological activity. Normally the temperature of domestic and municipal
sewage is slightly higher than that of the water supply.

pH

The pH of fresh domestic sewage is slightly more than that of the water
supply to the community. However, the onset of septic conditions may lower
the pH while the presence of industrial wastes may produce extreme
fluctuations.
Colour and Odour

Fresh domestic sewage has slightly soapy and earthy odour and cloudy
appearance depending upon its concentration. With the passage of time, the
sewage becomes stale, darkening in colour with a pronounced smell due to
microbial activity.

Carbonaceous substrates

Carbonaceous constituents are measured by BOD, COD or TOC analyses.

While the BOD has been the common parameter to characterize
carbonaceous material in wastewater, COD is becoming more common in
most current comprehensive computer simulation design models.
 Biochemical Oxygen Demand: The BOD test gives a measure of the
oxygen utilized by bacteria during the oxidation of organic material
contained in a wastewater sample. The test is based on the premise that all
the biodegradable organic material contained in the wastewater sample will
be oxidized to CO2 and H2O, using molecular oxygen as the electron
acceptor. Hence, it is a direct measure of oxygen requirements and an
indirect measure of biodegradable organic matter.

 Chemical Oxygen Demand: The COD test is based on the principle that
most organic compounds are oxidized to CO2 and H2O by strong oxidizing
agents under acid conditions. The measurement represents the oxygen
that would be needed for aerobic microbial oxidation, assuming that all
organics are biodegradable.
 Total Organic Carbon: The total carbon analyzer allows a total soluble
carbon analysis to be made directly on an aqueous sample. In many cases
TOC can be correlated with COD and occasionally with BOD values. As the
time required for carbon analysis is generally short, such correaltions are
extremely helpful when monitoring treatment plant flows for efficiency
control.
Nitrogen

The principal nitrogenous compounds in domestic sewage are proteins,

amines, amino acids and urea. Nitrogen may be present in different forms
such as (i) organic nitrogen, (ii) albiminoid nitrogen, (iii) ammonia nitrogen, (iv)
nitrite nitrogen, (v) nitrate nitrogen, depending on the condition of sewage.
The determination of various forms of nitrogen helps in the selection of proper
biological treatment units.
Phosphorous

Municipal wastewaters contain phosphorus in three different forms: 1. organic

phosphorus, 2. orthophosphorus, and 3. condensed phosphorus. When
treating wastewater biologically, bacteria assimilate orthophosphate during
their growth process. However, condensed phosphates must first undergo
enzymatic hydrolysis to the ortho form before they can be assimilated. In
biological wastewater treatment, assimilation is the only means by which
phosphorus is removed, except, possibly, when the water has an unusual
chemical makeup and precipitation onto biological flocs occurs.
Chlorides

Chloride ion may be present in combination with one or more of the cations of
calcium, magnesium, iron and sodium. Chlorides of these minerals are
present in water because of their high solubility in water. Each human being
consumes about six to eight grams of sodium chloride per day, a part of which
is discharged through urine and night soil. Thus, excessive presence of
chloride in water indicates sewage pollution. IS value for drinking water is 250
to 1000 mg/L.
Total and volatile suspended solids (TSS and VSS)

Total solids include both the suspended solids and the dissolved solidswhich
are obtained by separating the solid and liquid phase by evaporation.

Suspended solids are a combination of settleable solids and nonsettleable

solids, which are usually determined by filtering a wastewater sample through
a glass fiber filter contained in a Gooch crucible or through a membrane filter.
Settleable solids are those which usually settle in sedimentation tanks during
a normal detention period. This fraction is determined by measuring the
volume of sludge in the bottom of an Imhoff cone after 1h of settling.

Solids remaining after evaporation or filtration are dried, weighed, and then
ignited. The loss of weight by ignition at 600°C is a measure of the volatile
solids, which are classed as organic material. The remaining solids are
the fixed solids, which are considered as inorganic (mineral) matter. The
suspended solids associated with volatile fraction are termed volatile
suspended solids (VSS), and the suspended solids associated with the
mineral fraction are termed fixed suspended solids (FSS).
Toxic metals and compounds

Some heavy metals and compounds such as chromium, copper, cyanide,

which are toxic may find their way into municipal sewage through industrial
discharges. Determination of these assume importance if such waste is to be
treated by biological process or disposed of in stream or on land.
Thank You