EGERTON UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT

WEEN 444: PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING II

LECTURE NOTES

PREPARED BY
EDWARD W. MUCHIRI
LECTURER, WATER & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING DEPART
EGERTON UNIVERSITY
P.O. BOX 536,-20115, EGERTON
KENYA
Email: edmuchiri@gmail.com

WEEN444: Public Health Engineering II- lecture notes by E.W. Muchiri CEEN, Dept.
 WEEN 444- COURSE OUTLINE
WEEK TOPIC
1-2 Introduction to wastewater processes, Objectives and impacts
2-3 Preliminary Treatment- Screening, FOG removal, Equalization of flow
3-4 - Theory of grit removal and design of grit removal channels
4-5 Primary Treatment process, - Design of Primary Sedimentation tanks
5-6 Theory of Biological treatment of wastewater
6-7 Design of Trickling filters
7 Cat 1
8-9 Activated Sludge Process Design
9-10 Design of Secondary clarifiers
10-11 Sewage sludge treatment and disposal, -Design of sludge digesters
11-12 Design of Waste stabilization ponds
-anaerobic, facultative and maturation ponds
12-13 Treatment of effluent by wetlands
13-14 Design, operation and maintenance of Low cost sanitation systems- Septic tanks
system, cesspool, pit latrines, other onsite sanitation systems
14` Ecological Sanitation
15 Revision and CAT 2
(PREREQUISITE: WEEN 442)
Assessment:
Examination - 70%
Field visit report- 7.5%
Assignments 7.5%
CATS 15%
TOTAL 100%
Students visit: Trip to Kariobangi sewage treatment works and Dandora
Wastewater Stabilization Ponds
References
 Metcalf & Eddy (2003), Wastewater Engineering, Treatment and Reuse, Tata
McGraw-Hill, New Delhi, India
 Duggal K.N.(2010), Elements of Environmental Engineering, S.Chand and
Co.Ltd, New Delhi, India
 Kelley (1997), Environmental engineering,
 Gurcharan Signh, Jagdish Signh (1999), Water supply and Sanitary engineering,
standard publishers distributors, New Delhi, India
 Davis Environmental engineering
 Mara Waste water treatment- WSP
 Other wastewater treatment and environmental Engineering text books in the
library and from the Internet

WEEN444: Public Health Engineering II- lecture notes by E.W. Muchiri CEEN, Dept.
 EGERTON UNIVERSITY
CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
WEEN 444: PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING II C.F. (3.0)

LECTURE NOTES
By: Edward W. Muchiri - Course lecturer, CEEN DEPT.
LECTURE NOTES NO. 1: INTROCUCTIONTO WASTEWATER TREATMENT
PROCESSES AND DESIGN OF SCREENS

1.0. INTRODUCTION
Wastewater contains large amounts of waste products and disease causing bacteria and therefore has to
be treated before disposal to avoid negative consequences to the public and the environment. The
objective of sewage treatment may be summarized as follows:
i) To reduce the sewage strength so that it may not pollute the receiving waters or pollute land
ii) To remove or kill the pathogenic bacteria so that it can be safely disposed without causing any
health hazards
iii) To meet WHO standards for reuse in agriculture

1.1 UNIT OPERATIONS AND PROCESSES

The methods of sewage treatment basically involve combining various physical unit operations
sequentially with biological unit processes, since the chemical processes like coagulation and
flocculation are seldom employed to treat domestic sewage. The physical unit operations include
screens for the purpose of screening heavy suspended matter, grit chambers for the removal of grit,
skimming tanks and grease traps for the removal of floating oil, fat and grease and primary clarifier of
carrying out sedimentation after sewage has received preliminary treatment. The biological process
which are both aerobic and anaerobic may be either attached growth processes with units like trickling
filters or suspended growth processes with units like activated sludge process, aeration tanks, aerated
lagoons, etc.

1.2 PRELIMINARY, PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SEWAGE TREATMENTS

It is evident that the sewage as it arrives at the treatment plant would initially undergo pre-primary
treatment for the removal of heavy suspended matter-faecal solids, kitchen refuse, cloth, waste paper
etc., and inorganic matter like sand, grit and other floating matter. The pre-primary treatment involves
subjecting sewage sequentially to unit processes of screening, removal of grit and other floating matter
and the remainder through sedimentation in primary sedimentation tank or clarifier.
Secondary treatment is a biological process for the treatment of very fine suspended matter, colloids
and dissolved solids in sewage that issue from the primary sedimentation tank. The treatment stabilizes
and makes the sewage completely harmless. The unit processes of secondary treatment are biological
oxidation and synthesis through sewage filters or activated sludge processes, converting sewage into
heavier and bulkier form and then allowing it to settle in secondary settling tank. The separated
sewage-sludge is decomposed anaerobically in sludge digestion tanks and the digested sludge is
disposed of separately in sludge drying beds.
A flow diagram representing the primary treatment and secondary treatment of domestic sewage is
presented in Figures below

WEEN444: Public Health Engineering II- lecture notes by E.W. Muchiri CEEN, Dept.
1.3 PHYSICAL UNITS OPERATION
This is carried out by means of (1) Screens (2) Grit Chambers (3) Skimming Tanks and Grease Traps.
1.3.1. Screens. The first step in the treatment of sewage is to remove floating and suspended matter
such as cloth, paper, kitchen refuse, pieces of wood, cork, hair, fibre, faecal solids etc. The objects to
be achieved in screening are:
a) to prevent the formation of unsightly scum in settling and aeration tanks.
b) to prevent clogging of sprinkler nozzles or the surface of trickling filters.
c) to protect pumping parts, siphons etc., from damage.
d) to prevent formation of sludge banks or unsightly floating matter in the receiving bodies of
water.

WEEN444: Public Health Engineering II- lecture notes by E.W. Muchiri CEEN, Dept.
Screening is accomplished by means of screens, having openings of uniform size, circular or
rectangular in shape. The screening element is comprised of parallel bars, rods or wires, grating, wire
mesh or perforated plate. When composed of parallel bars of rods, it is called a rack or bar screen and
when made from wire mesh, perforated plate etc, it is termed as screen.

1.3.2. Types of screens

a) According to size of opening
Screens may be classified depending upon their sizes of openings as coarse, medium and fine, as
shown in Table 1.1. It is usual in sewage treatment to employ medium bar screens of opening 25 mm
or more.
Table 1.1. Screens and Sizes of Openings

b) According to shape of the screen

These are always fine screens and found in various shapes as shown below:

(i) Mesh screen. They are made from wire fabrics.

(ii) Band screen. Consists of an endless perforated band or belt which passes over upper and lower
roller. This screen affects double screening (screening from each band)
(iii) Perforated-plates screens. They are similar to band screens, but made from endless band of
perforated plates.
(iv) Wing screen. Consists of uniformly spaced radial vanes which rotate on a horizontal axis. Radial
vanes are provided with screens.
(v) Disc screen. Consists of a circular, perforated disc with or without a central cone of similar
material mounted in the centre
(vi) Drum screen. Is a cylinder or cone of perforated plates or wire mesh which rotates on a horizontal
axis.
WEEN444: Public Health Engineering II- lecture notes by E.W. Muchiri CEEN, Dept.
(vii) Shovel vane screen. Are similar to wing screen with semi-circular wings.
(vii.) Cage screen. It consists of a rectangular box with the sides made op of parallel bars. The
upstream side of the cage is, omitted. The bottom and the tap be either solid or perforated steel plates.
Bars are undesirable in the bottom and top because of difficulty in cleaning.

c) According to the condition of movement

Screens are sometimes classified as fixed or moveable depending upon whether racks or screens are
stationary or capable of motion. They may also be classified depending upon the method of cleaning
as hand-cleaned or machine-cleaned. Typical mechanically cleaned screens are shown below:

a)front cleaned, front return chain driven, b) reciprocating rake, c) catenary, d) continuous belt

WEEN444: Public Health Engineering II- lecture notes by E.W. Muchiri CEEN, Dept.
 Typical manually operated screens
The bars slope in the direction of flow, the angle with the horizontal being 30° to 60°. This facilitates
manual cleaning of screens by the upward stroke of the rake. Large plants employ automatically
cleaned screens. Screenings contain 90 to 95 percent or more of water, are offensive and should be
quickly disposed of. It is usual to allow them to drain off for some time on a perforated platform over
the channel. Disposal may be through burial in trenches, incineration and disintegrating in shredders
and returning to the sewage or passing to the sludge disposal plant.

1.3.3. Design Criteria

The design velocity of flow through the screen should ensure complete removal of the material being
screened with undue deposit. Velocities in the range 0.6-1.2 m/s; through the open area for the
maximum flow have been found satisfactory,
Head loss through the screen varies with the quantity and nature of screenings allowed to accumulate
between cleanings. Head loss through the screen is calculated from the following formula :
hl  0.0729Vt 2  Vb2 
hl is the head loss in m. Vt and Vb are the velocity of flow through the screen and before the screen in
m/s. It is usual to keep the value of head loss not exceeding 0.15 m.

1.4. Design Example.

Design a rectangular bar screen with the following data.
Peak design flow = 70 mld.
Velocity of flow at peak design flow in the outfall sewer =1.1 m/sec. Diameter of the outfall sewer =
1.2m., Depth of peak flow in sewer = 1 m., Fall of screen chamber flow with respect to sewer invert
= 0.05 m., Width of the rectangular bars = 10 mm., Clear spacing between bars = 25 mm.

Solution.
Steps (A).Design the bar screen.
Assume
i) Velocity of flow through openings in the bar screen = 0.9 m/sec.
ii) Depth of flow in screen chamber = 1 m.
iii) Bar screen works without clogging.

WEEN444: Public Health Engineering II- lecture notes by E.W. Muchiri CEEN, Dept.
 Peak flow = 70x106 .
103 x 24 x 60 x 60

= 0.81 m3 /s.
Area of openings in the bar screen = flow/ velocity = 0.81/0.9 = 0.9 m2.
Clear width of openings through screen = area/depth = 0.9/1 = 0.9 m.
Number of Spacing = 900/25
Provide 36 clear spacings, each of 25 mm.

Number of bars = 36 +1 =37; Width of rectangular bar = 10 mm. therefore, Total width of the screen
chamber
37 x10 36 x 25
B   1.27m.
1000 1000
(B) Determine actual depth of flow in the screen chamber at peak flow.

Applying Bernoulli's theorem between sections (1) and (2)

v12 v22
Z 1  d1   d2   hl1
2g 2g
where,
d1 and d2 are depths of flow at sections (1) and (2)
v1 and v2 are velocities of flow at sections 1 and 2
 v12 v22 
hl1 is the head loss due to sudden expansion from sewer to screen chamber = k  
 2g 2g 
k is the coefficient of expansion. Assume k = 0.4.

Q 0.81
Now v2  vb   applying Bernoullis
Bxd 2 1.27d 2
2
 0.81 
 
0.4  2  0.81  
2

0.05  1.0 
1.12
 d2   1.27 d 2 
 1.1   
2 x9.81 2 x9.81 2 x9.81   1.27  
Solving by trial and error, d2=1.05m

WEEN444: Public Health Engineering II- lecture notes by E.W. Muchiri CEEN, Dept.
 0.81
v2   0.6m / s
1.27 x1.05
C) Calculate the velocity through openings in the bar screen
design. flow 0.81
v   0.857m / s
Net.area.of .openinings .through.screen 36 x0.025 x1.05
Hence v is satisfactory as it compares with assumed v of 0.9m/s

D) check for head loss through the bar screens

hl  0.0729vt2  vb2   0.0729(0.857 2  0.62 )  0.027m < 0.15m hence OK

REVISION QUESTIONS
1. Explain the purpose, location, cleaning devices and design aspect of screens, How are screening
disposed of?
2. Determine the headloss through a bar screen whose 50% of flow area is block off due to
accumulation of screens (coarse solids). Assume the following conditions: approach velocity
=0.58m/s, area of flow of clean screens =0.21 m2, headloss coefficient for clean bar screens and
clogged bar screens = 0.0729 and 0.084 respectively, velocity of flow through clean screen is
0.92m/s
3. What is the underlying principle of unit operations and processes in the treatment of municipal
sewage or wastewater? Name the various units of treatment involved

WEEN444: Public Health Engineering II- lecture notes by E.W. Muchiri CEEN, Dept.