0% found this document useful (0 votes)
30 views47 pages

Lecture 18

The document discusses wastewater contamination and how it affects water. It defines wastewater and describes its journey through collection systems and treatment processes before being discharged or reused. Various sources of wastewater are identified and contaminants discussed. Mitigation strategies aim to prevent wastewater from contaminating water supplies.

Uploaded by

Divyansh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
30 views47 pages

Lecture 18

The document discusses wastewater contamination and how it affects water. It defines wastewater and describes its journey through collection systems and treatment processes before being discharged or reused. Various sources of wastewater are identified and contaminants discussed. Mitigation strategies aim to prevent wastewater from contaminating water supplies.

Uploaded by

Divyansh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 47

Wastewater contamination

and how it affects water

Hadas Mamane
Tel Aviv University

1
Topics we will discuss today

 What is wastewater
 The Journey of Wastewater - in brief
 Contaminants in Wastewater - in brief
 Contamination of Drinking Water
 Role of Pipelines in Wastewater Management
 Pipeline Problems: Leaks and Pressure Differences
 Risk to Water Quality
 Mitigation Strategies

2
Definition of wastewater

 Wastewater is used water from various sources including


domestic, industrial, commercial and agricultural activities.
 Along with any groundwater infiltration and surface water
and storm-water inflow that may enter the sewer system.
 60 to 90 % per capita of water consumption becomes
wastewater
 Domestic wastewater is 99.9% water and only 0.1% solids

3
Components of wastewater flow

 Domestic (sanitary) wastewater


 Industrial wastewater
 Infiltration: groundwater that
enters the sewage system through
cracks, joints, or other
imperfections in the piping and
infrastructure.
 Inflow: Involves surface water,
often from stormwater, entering
the sewage system through
improper connections or defects.
 Stormwater: Runoff from rainfall
and snowmelt that flows over land
or impervious surfaces (paved
streets, parking lots, building
rooftops).

4
Sewer overflow

6
Blocked or broken sewer pipes

7
Signs of issues in your sewage pipes - Nothing Creative (nothincreative.com)
Wastewater collection systems
 WW collection systems are underground conduits to convey
wastewater and stormwater to the point of disposal

 Three types of collection systems:


 Sewer collection system
 Storm collection system
 Combined collection system
 Separated sewer and storm systems

 Sanitary and storm collection systems are usually designed to


operate under gravity flow conditions
Combined sewer overflows (CSO)

 A combined sewer system


collects rainwater runoff,
domestic sewage, and industrial
wastewater into one pipe.
 Normally, it can transport all of
the wastewater to a treatment
plant.
 When amount of runoff exceeds
the capacity of the system,
untreated stormwater and
wastewater flow into nearby
waterbodies.
 These events, called combined
sewer overflows (CSO)

9
CSO treatment facility

 When the combined sewer


system's capacity is exceeded,
overflow is diverted to the CSO
facility.
 The diverted water first goes
through screening to remove
large debris.
 Then, settling tanks where solids
can settle to the bottom.
 Followed by disinfection

10
Pumping stations (lift stations)
Dry-well pump
 Pumping stations are designed
to move wastewater from
lower to higher elevations
 Key elements include a
wastewater receiving well (wet-
well), pumps and piping with
associated valves, motors, a
Wet-well submersible
power supply system
 Centrifugal pumps are
commonly used
 The pumping station must be
able to adjust to the variations
in wastewater flows
Water drainage systems

 Surface: Ditches and slopes.


 Subsurface: Underground
pipes.
 Stormwater: Gutters and
storm drains.
 Sewage: Sewer pipes to
treatment.
 Gutters: Roof runoff
management.

12
Various designs

13
Sewage contaminating water drains
 Cracked or Broken Sewer Pipes. When these pipes run close to or above water
drainage systems, sewage can leak out and enter the drainage pipes.
 Faulty Pipe Joints. Sewage to escape - especially if the water table is high and
drainage systems are shallow.
 Cross-Connections Between Sewer and Drainage Lines: sewage pipes are
mistakenly connected to stormwater drains or other drainage systems, allowing
sewage to flow directly into them.
 Sewer Backups: During heavy rainfall or flooding, sewer systems can become
overwhelmed, leading to a backup of sewage. For combined sewer system, the
sewage can back up into the drainage system.
 If the sewer system is pressurized or full, sewage can escape through these
openings and into nearby drains.
 Homes with foundation drains that are incorrectly connected to the sanitary
sewer instead of the storm sewer can also be a source of sewage entering the
drainage system, especially if there's a backup or overflow.
 Illegal or improper connections from the sanitary plumbing to storm drains
intended only for rainwater.

14
Sewer pipelines

1.PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride): White plastic, lightweight, corrosion-


resistant, commonly used in residential areas.
2.ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene): Black plastic, similar to PVC
but stronger, good for cold temperatures.
3.Cast-Iron: Thick metal, very strong, prone to corrosion over time.
4.Clay: Ceramic material, brittle, and susceptible to root intrusion.
5.Concrete

15
Rigid vs. flexible
1.Rigid Pipe: Typically made of materials like PVC, ABS, cast iron, clay, and
concrete. These pipes maintain their shape and dimension under soil loads
and are used where precise alignment is necessary.
2.Flexible Pipe: Usually made of materials like HDPE (High-Density
Polyethylene) and sometimes corrugated PVC. These pipes can bend slightly
to accommodate soil movement or to align with pre-existing structures.
The Journey of Wastewater

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/21/3542
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons,
Inc. All rights reserved.
How do we clean wastewater?
Typical organic materials in wastewater

Component Carbohydrate Protein Fat & Oils Av. Composition

Fraction (%) 25-50* 40-60* 8-10* (40-60)#


Av. Formula C10H18O9 C20H32O6N5 C8H6O2 C18H19O9N
MW 282 438 134 393
Carbon (%) 43 55 72 55
Nitrogen (%) 0 16 0 3.6
COD/VSS 1.13 1.55 (2.2) 2.03 1.42 (1.59)

*Percentage of VSS; #Percentage of TS


Biological treatment
1. After primary treatment, the wastewater still
contains organic matter in suspended, colloidal and
dissolved states
2. Secondary treatment removes the soluble and
colloidal organic matter using mainly biological
processes

21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxsbj07GDOk
The role of the biological treatment

• Convert (oxidize) biodegradable matter (soluble and particulate)


into final products
• Promote biological floc or biofilm
• Nutrients removal as Nitrogen and Phosphorus

u1 (organic material) + u2O2 + u3NH3 + u4PO4-3 → u5(new cells) + u6CO2 + u7H2O


Suspended growth

 Suspended growth - bacteria


grow in flocs
 Continuous (CAS) or batch
(SBR) reactors
 Sludge separation by settling or
flotation
 Alternative: Membrane
bioreactor (MBR) to make such
systems more compact + for
excellent effluent quality

23
Normal floc Zooglea ramifera

Filamentous floc Pin floc

24
Treatments for reuse of effluent
Chemical
Activated carbon,
coagulation,
reverse osmosis,
biological or
advanced oxidation
chemical nutrient
processes, soil
removal, filtration,
aquifer treatment
and disinfection

 Treatment technology to achieve the desirable water quality for reuse (EPA, 2012)
 Urban, Agriculture, Environmental, industrial, groundwater recharge
Effluent reservoir
Irrigation with wastewater
The journey

28
Sludge

29
Sources of Wastewater: Industrial

 Industrial wastewater originates


from numerous industrial
processes that utilize water for
various purposes
 This water is usually altered
considerably in the process and
contain contaminants
 Nutrients, suspended
sediments, bacteria, oxygen-
demanding matter, metals, and
toxic substances.
Contaminants in WW

31
Water Pollution

• Sewage
– Wastewater from drains or sewers; includes
human wastes, soaps, and detergents
• Disease-causing agents, threat to public health
• Enrichment
– Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)
• The amount of oxygen that microorganisms need to
decompose biological wastes into carbon dioxide,
water, and minerals
Pollution discharge

25
Water Pollution

• BOD is a critical factor in the health of a waterway


– Large amounts of organic material
(sewage) deposited in water
enables the growth of large
numbers of microorganisms
– These microorganisms deplete
dissolved oxygen, causing fish and
the microbes themselves to then
die
– Anaerobic microorganisms then
flourish, producing toxins and
other chemicals that further
reduce water quality
Some Human Diseases Transmitted by
Polluted Water

Copyri ght © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All ri ghts reserved.

4
Coliforms
• Total coliforms: group of bacteria widespread in nature.
• Total coliform group occur in soil, human feces, animal manure, and outside the
human body. Include genera originate in feces (e.g. Escherichia) and genera not of
fecal origin (e.g. Enterobacter, Klebsiella).
• Fecal coliforms, a subset of total coliform bacteria, present in gut and feces of warm-
blooded animals; more fecal in origin.
• E. coli a species of fecal coliform bacteria specific to fecal material from humans and
other warm-blooded animals.
• E. coli an indicator microorganism for other pathogens that may be present in feces.

http://water.epa.gov/type/rsl/monitoring/vms511.cfm
http://aqua-elite.com/problems-with-water/bacteria-in-drinking-water/
Escherichia coli
• Fecal indicator
• Escherichia coli also known as E. coli is a Gram- negative,
facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium
• Most E. coli are nonpathogenic.
• Several are entero-pathogenic strains
• Fecal coliforms are capable of growth in the presence of bile
salts and produce acid and gas
from lactose within 48 hours at 44 ± 0.5°C.
Fertilizer

• Fertilizers enhance the growth of plants


• Ammonium nitrate
Nitrate in groundwater
https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/109875/why-is-methane-gas-solubility-in-water-higher-than-carbon-monoxide-solubility-in
Water, sanitation and
climate
 Climate change negatively affects drinking
water availability and quality, performance of
sanitation, wastewater and hygiene services.
 For example:
 More-frequent combined sewer
overflows can flood and pollute low-lying
and/or densely populated areas and
receiving waters
 Drought can increase the use of poorly
treated wastewater for peri-urban
agriculture.
 Therefore, it is essential that water,
sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure
and services are adapted to make them
sustainable, safe and resilient to climate-
related risks.
Climate Crises is
Forcing Farmers to
Grow Food in
Sewage Water

Many farms in countries including


China are highly reliant on wastewater
for irrigation

Wastewater use in agriculture is at its


highest where freshwater sources are
limited.

65% of downstream-irrigated croplands


(90 million acres, mostly in China,
India, Pakistan, Mexico, and Iran) are
highly dependent on urban wastewater
flows.
Oxidation ponds
 Oxidation ponds are aerobic system
where oxygen required by the
heterotrophic bacteria by atmosphere
but also by photosynthetic algae.
 A heterotroph is an organism that
cannot fix carbon and uses organic
carbon for growth
 The algae are restricted to only a few
centimeters deep.
 Ponds are constructed to a depth of
between 1.2 and 1.8 m to ensure
maximum penetration of sunlight,
and appear dark green in color due to
dense algal development.
Stopping Diarrhea

 Death by depleting body fluids resulting in dehydration.


 Diarrhea impact on childhood growth and cognitive development
 88% of diarrhea-associated deaths are attributable to unsafe water,
inadequate sanitation, and insufficient hygiene Rotavirus is the
leading cause of acute diarrhea in children under 5
 Most diarrheal germs are spread from the stool of one person to the
mouth of another.
 These germs are usually spread through contaminated water, food, or
objects.
• Diarrheal diseases is second leading cause of death among
children under 5 years
• 1 in every 9 deaths
• 2021 – 444,000 children died from diarrhea
• Rotavirus was the leading pathogen of death of diarrheal
disease
• Children with HIV 11 times higher death rates

You might also like