On-site Waste Water

Treatment
 SEPTIC TANKS
• buried, watertight receptacles designed
and constructed to receive wastewater
from the structure to be served

• separates solids from the liquid, provides

limited digestion of organic matter, stores
solids, allows the clarified liquid to disc
 Products of Septic Tanks
• SCUM: Substances lighter than water (oil, grease,
fats) float to the top, where they form a scum layer.

• SLUDGE: The "sinkable" solids (soil, grit, bones,

unconsumed food particles)settle to the bottom of the
tank and form a sludge layer. Anaerobic bacteria
works

• EFFLUENT: The clarified wastewater left over after

the scum has floated to the top and the sludge has
settled to the bottom. It flows through the septic tank
outlet into the drain field.
 CONSTRUCTED WETLAND
• artificially created water bodies

• typically long, narrow trenches or channels to

promote the occurrence of plug flow conditions

• typically a 1-m deep basin which is sealed with

clay or some other form of lining to prevent
percolation into groundwater

• filled with soil in which reeds are then planted.

Natural Wetland
 CONSTRUCTED WETLAND
• can significantly remove BOD, TSS, nitrogen
and phosphorus, as well as metals, trace
organics and pathogens

• mosquito control and plant harvesting are the

two main operational considerations

• septic tank, a primary settling basin or an

anaerobic reactor commonly precedes
constructed wetlands for sewage treatment.
LAGOON
 LAGOON
• Oxygen is supplied by natural reaeration from the
atmosphere and algal photosynthesis

• Degradation by bacteria releases carbon dioxide and

nutrients used by algae

• Higher life forms such as rotifers and protozoa primarily

as polishers of the effluent.

• Temperature has a significant effect on aerobic pond

operation.

• Organic loading, pH, nutrients, sunlight, and degree of

mixing are major factors
Aerated Lagoon