LECTURE NO.

4
Water and Wastewater

Hydrologic Cycle

Precipitation
Evaporation
Transpiration
runoff
percolation
lake

ocean

SOURCES OF WATER:

1. Groundwater
 Water that has percolated downward from the ground surface
through the soil pores and accumulated within the zone of
saturation
 Groundwater once polluted, its restoration is difficult and longterm.
2. Surface Water
 From rivers and lakes
 Sources of public water supplies because of the high withdrawal
rates they can normally sustain.
 Open to all pollution of all kinds
3. Sea water
 Available in almost unlimited quantities
 Can be converted into fresh water by a number of processes:
desalination, freezing, electrodialysis, reverse osmosis
4. Reclaimed wastewater
 Water that has been treated sufficiently for direct reuse in industry
and agriculture and for limited municipal applications.

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BENEFITS OF WATER:

 most abundant chemical component in biosphere

 all life on earth uses water as the basic medium of
metabolic functioning
 used in the removal/dilution of most natural and
human(made waste
 has the ability to conduct and store heat
 moderates the climate

USES OF WATER:
1. Non-consumptive – leaves the water
available (after treatment if necessary) for
reuse without going through the hydrologic
cycle
 Industrial and thermoelectric power use
 Domestic use
 Recreation
 Municipal water supply and irrigation
2. Consumptive – water is rendered unavailable for further use, either
because of evaporation, extreme pollution, or seepage underground, until
the hydrologic cycle returns it as rain.
 Agriculture use

HUMAN IMPACTS ON THE WATER CYCLE:

1. Changing the Surface of the Earth
 increased runoff causes flooding and increased sedimentation
(decreased infiltration, decreased groundwater, drying of surface
water
2. Polluting the Water Cycle
 Smoke/fume (precipitation)
 chemicals on soil surface such as fertilizers, pesticides, oil, grease
(groundwater/runoff)
 wastes buried in the ground (groundwater)
 water used for washing or flushing waste (groundwater, run-off,
surface waters)
 eutrophication
3. Overdrawing Water Resources
Surface water
 withdrawing should be based on river’s
average annual flow
 damming of rivers diverts flow to
cities/croplands (affects fish and aquatic
organisms, food chains, spawning)
 increased salt concentration in river
estuaries ( bays in which freshwater

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 from a river mixes with seawater;
breeding grounds for many species of
fish, shellfish and water fowl
Groundwater
 depends on rates of recharge
 diminishing surface water
 land subsidence (gradual setting of the land) ; groundwater helps
support the overlying rocks
 sinkholes (underground cavern, drained of its supporting
groundwater, suddenly collapses)
 saltwater intrusion (lowering of the water table or a rapid rate of
groundwater removal may reduce the pressures in the aquifer
permitting salt water to flow back into the aquifer and hence into
wells)

Water Quality

 “When is water dirty?”

 usually judged as the degree to which water conforms to physical,
chemical and biological standards set by the user

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WATER:

1. ODOR
 usually are caused by gases produced by the decomposition of organic
matter or by substances added to the wastewater
 Effects:
at low concentrations, related primarily to psychological stress
offensive odors can cause
(a) poor appetite for food
(b) lowered water consumption
(c) impaired respiration
(d) nausea and vomiting
(e) mental perturbation
can lead to:
- deterioration of personal and community
pride
- interfere with human relations
- discourage capital investment
- llower socio-economic status
 Characterization and Measurement:
a. Character - relates to the mental associations made by the subject in
sensing the odor; determination can be quite subjective
b. Detectability - the number of dilutions required to reduce an odor to
its minimum detectable threshold odor concentration (MDTOC)

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 c. Hedonics - the relative pleasantness or unpleasantness of the odor
sensed by the subject
d. Intensity - the perceived strength of the odor; usually measured by
olfactometer or calculated from the dilutions to threshold (D/T) when the
relationship is established
 Common Odorous Compounds:
a. Amines (Fishy)
b. Ammonia
c. Hydrogen Sulfide (Rotten Eggs)
d. Skatole (Fecal Matter)

2. COLOR
 caused by minerals such as iron and manganese, organic material and
colored wastes from industries
 Measurement: comparison with a standard set of concentration of a
chemical that produces color

3. TURBIDITY
 measure of the light-transmitting properties of water
 Water with enough suspended clay particles (10 turbidity units) will be
visually turbid
 Aesthetically objectionable, particles could harbor pathogens
 Surface water sources (10 to 10000 turbidity units)
 Measurement: based on comparison of the intensity of light scattered by
a sample as compared to the light scattered by a reference suspension
under the same conditions (colloidal matter will scatter or absorb light and
thus prevent its transmission)

4. SOLIDS CONTENT
 Total Solids (TS) – residue on evaporation at 103 o C
 Dissolved Solids (DS) – filtrate after vacuum filtration (180o C)
 Suspended Solids (SS) – residue of vacuum filtration (180 o C)
 Volatile Solids (VS) – volatilized at high temperature (525 o C)
 Fixed Solids (FS) – not volatilized at high temperatures (525 o C)
 TS = VS + FS

5. TEMPERATURE
 Affects:
a. chemical reactions and reaction rates
b. Aquatic life (mortality and change in species of fish)
c. Solubility of Oxygen (less soluble in warm water)
d. Growth of undesirable water plants and fungus
e. Change in microorganisms

6. DENSITY
 mass per unit volume

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CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WATER:
I. INORGANIC CONSTITUENTS
 pH – hydrogen ion concentration
 acid – pH below 7
 alkaline – pH above 7 up to 14

1. ALKALINITY
 results from the presence of the ammona or
hydroxides, carbonates and bicarbonates of
elements such as calcium, magnesium,
sodium, potassium
 helps to resist changes in pH caused by the addition of acids

2. ACIDITY
 results from the presence of acids and dissolution of sulfurous and nitrous
compounds

3. HARDNESS
 amount of calcium and magnesium (in the form of carbonates,
bicarbonates, sulfates, chlorides and nitrates)
 effects: produces scale in hot water pipes, heaters and boilers; hard
waters require considerable amounts of soap to produce foam or lather
 Iron and Manganese – causes color; may be oxidized to form deposits of
ferric hydroxide and manganese oxide (affects water mains and
equipment and reduces capacity of pipes)

4. NITROGEN
 essential for growth; major nutrient or biostimulant
 building block in the synthesis of protein
 forms of nitrogen: total nitrogen is comprised of organic nitrogen,
ammonia, nitrite and nitrate
 measurement:
a. Kjeldahl method (organic nitrogen and ammonia)

b. Colorimetric Technique (nitrite and nitrate)

- the color intensity (light absorbance) is directly
proportional to the concentration of the unknown ion

5. PHOSPHORUS
 essential for growth; major nutrient or biostimulant
 forms of phosphorus:
a. orthophosphates – available for biological metabolism
without further breakdown
b. polyphosphates – complex molecule of P,H and O

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 organic phosphate
 measurement: addition of a substance such as ammonium molybdate
that will form a colored complex with the orthophosphates;
polyphosphates and organic phosphates must be converted to
orthophosphates using an acid digestion step

6. DISSOLVED OXYGEN
 required for the respiration of aerobic microorganisms and all other
aerobic life forms
 quantity of oxygen present in water is governed by:
(a) solubility of the gas
(b) partial pressure of the gas
(c) temperature
(d) purity of the water
 measurement: oxygen probe and meter (the electricity recorded is
proportional to the concentration of oxygen in the electrolytic solution)
Pb electrode : Pb + 2OH- PbO + H2O + 2e-
Ag electrode : 2e- + ½ O2 + H2O  2OH-

II. ORGANIC CONSTITUENT

1. BOD (BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND)

 measurement of the dissolved oxygen used by microorganisms in the
biochemical oxidation of organic matter
 measurement: Standard BOD test ( 5 days at 20 o C in the dark)
2. COD (CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND)
 measurement of the oxygen equivalent of the organic matter that can be
chemically oxidized
 measurement: using a strong chemical oxidizing agent (potassium
dichromate) in an acidic medium

BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WATER:

 Microbiology (Greek micros, small, bios, life,

and logos, study of) – study of microorganisms
and their activities
 Environmental or Sanitary Microbiology –
concerned with microorganisms commonly
found in water, wastewater, air and in some
cases soil that may affect public health,
decompose organic matter or perform a useful
function

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Classification of Microorganisms:
1. Bacteria
 unicellular microscopic organisms; the most important group of
microorganisms
 essential to the nutrient cycle of the ecosystem
 may be pathogenic(disease-causing)
 used in water and wastewater treatment plants
 involved in the self-purification of streams and lakes
 involved in decomposition processes (in landfills, soils, etc.)

2. Virus
 smaller than bacteria (smallest range from 10 to 250 nm)
 have no internal enzymes and therefore cannot grow or metabolize on
their own
 obligate parasites, infecting the tissues of bacteria, plants and animals,
including humans

3. Algae
 group of photosynthetic plantlike microorganisms
 sizes range from microscopic unicellular phytoplanktons to the large
multicellular seaweeds
 all algal cells contain photosynthetic pigments
 important primary producers in the aquatic food chain
 cause problems in water supply ( contribute to taste and odor, clog water
intakes, shorten filter runs, cause high chlorine demand
 algal blooms (excessive growth of algae) forms a blanket of organic
material that interferes with water quality

4. Fungi
 unicellular or multicellular nonphotosynthetic protests that are able to
survive under low pH conditions
 feed on decaying organic matter
 uses a wide range of complex organic substances as food sources and
are much more tolerant of acidic conditions
 useful in biological treatment of some industrial wastes and in composting
of solid organic wastes
 can be divided into 3 groups:
a. molds (filamentous fungi)
b. yeasts (non-filamentous fungi)
c. mushrooms (macroscopic fungi)

5. Protozoa
 are generally an order of magnitude larger than bacteria
 widespread in nature and occur in most habitats where moisture is present
 predators of bacteria and can be found wherever bacteria are prevalent

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  some are parasites capable of causing disease in animals and humans
 used in biological treatment processes

6. Rotifers
 multicellular microorganisms which are sometimes present in the effluent
of biological waste treatment plants
 perform a “polishing” function by consuming organic colloids, bacteria and
algae

7. Crustaceans
 multicellular organisms with a hard body or shell
 some are microscopic in size and serve as food for fish
 considered indicators of normal, unpolluted conditions in receiving waters

Water and Wastewater Microbiology

 Many forms of microbial life can exist in water

provided that the appropriate physical and
nutritional requirements for growth are met.
 In clean water or water with low nutrient
content, the number of microorganisms is
limited but a great variety of species can exist.
 As the nutrient content increases, the number of microorganisms
increases while the number of species is reduced.

Waterborne Diseases:

 Diseases transmitted by water are almost all of intestinal origin.

1. Salmonellosis – caused by a variety of species of Salmonella (the most

common: S. typhimurium); acute gastroenteritis (diarrhea and abdominal
cramps, followed by fever), septicemia (blood poisoning), typhoid fever
2. Shigellosis – caused by the species of the genus Shigella; bacillary
dysentery (acute diarrhea)
3. Cholera – caused by the bacteria Vibrio cholerae (also V. comma);
abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and profuse diarrhea that may lead
to dehydration, shock and death
4. Infectious hepatitis – viral; fever, loss of appetite and energy, headache
and back pains
5. Amebiasis – caused by the protozoan Entamoeba histolytica; stomach
cramps and diarrhea

Indicator Organisms
 used as a surrogate in water testing to determine the presence of
pathogens

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Characteristics:
1. Normal inhabitants of the digestive tracts of warm-blooded animals
2. Plentiful and easily detected
3. Generally harmless
4. Its absence implies the absence of pathogens
5. Its density is related to the probability of the presence of the pathogens
6. Survives slightly longer than the pathogens

Common Indicator Organisms:

1. total coliform ( Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Citrobacter
fruendii and related bacteria)
2. fecal coliform
3. fecal streptococci
4. Clostridium perfringens

Determination of Biological Characteristic:

I. Multiple-tube fermentation technique / MPN (most probable number)
procedure
 a series of dilutions is made
 transfer sample to 5 fermentation tubes containing a suitable lactose
culture medium and an inverted gas collection tube
 presence of gas after 24 hours is considered a positive reaction
 results = no. of positive tubes/total no. of tubes

MPN number of positive tubes 100

100 ml ml of sample in negative tubes ml of sample in all tubes

II. Membrane Filter (MF) method

 passing a known volume of water sample through a membrane filter
that has a very small pore size
 residue on filter are then contacted with an agar that contains nutrients
necessary for the growth of bacteria
 coliform colonies are then counted

Wastewater Treatment

Development of Collection and Treatment

 Before the late 1800’s, the general means of disposing human
excretement was the outdoor privy.
 Late 1800’s, Pasteur discovered the role of bacteria in the spread of
diseases; Use of one-way flow of flushing sewage wastes into natural
waterways.
 Design and construction of sewage treatment facilities.
 US Clean Water Act of 1972; introduction of secondary treatment

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 Treatment Overview
Objectives

Untreated Preliminary removal of wastewater constituents such as

Wastewater Treatment rags, sticks, floatables, grit, and grease that
may cause maintenance or operational
problems with the treatment operations and
processes
removal of a portion of the
Primary suspended solids and organic
Treatment matter from the wastewater
Collected Sludge

removal biodegradable organic

matter (in solution or suspension)
Secondary and suspended solids
Treatment
removal of dissolved and suspended
Treated materials remaining after normal
biological treatment when required for
Wastewater Tertiary/ various water reuse applications
Advanced
Treatment
Treatment of the combined sludge
from the different stages prior to
Ultimate disposal
Disposal Sludge
Treatment

Preliminary Treatment
Grinding /
Comminution

Influent Effluent

Screenings Grit Chamber

 Involves two steps, (1) screening out of debris and (2) settling of grit.
 Debris and grit will damage or clog pumps and later treatment processes.
 Odor removal is also included in this treatment stage. Use of activated

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 carbon in controlling odor is done.

1. Screenings
 Debris are trapped in bar screens (a row of bars mounted about 1
inch apart) and are raked either manually or mechanically.
 Fine screens (0.2 – 0.6 pore sizes) may also be used.
2. Comminution
 Comminutor – grinder used used to reduce the debris to a relatively
fine particle size
3. Grit Settling
 Grit – heavy organics and inorganics that will not decompose in
later biochemical treatment stages (e.g. sand, gravel, glass, egg
shells)
 At approximately 3 m/s, grit will settle by gravity despite horizontal
flow of wastewater.

Primary Treatment Scum

Influent Effluent

Sedimentation Tank
Sludge
 A physical process
 Scum – anything that floats to the water surface (algae, oil and grease,
solvents, non polar, petroleum derived); collected by skimmers
 All the material removed, both particulate organic material and fatty
material is combined to what is referred as raw sludge.
 About 30-50% of particulate organic material settles and removed in
primary treatment stage.
 Reactor configuration may either be circular or rectangular.

Secondary Treatment

Influent Effluent

Reactor Clarifier

Recirculation
Sludge

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  A biological process
 removal biodegradable organic matter (in solution or suspension) and
suspended solids
 SRT – solids retention time; the average amount of time that
microorganisms are kept in the system

Nature of biochemical transformations:

1. Removal of soluble organic matter
 Food source of microorganisms
 Converted to CO2 and cell material called “biomass”
 Takes in carbon as a basic building block of cells
2. Stabilization of insoluble organic matter
 Produces inorganic solids and insoluble organic residue
3. Conversion of soluble inorganic matter
 Nitrates and phosphates

Types of Growth Systems

1. Suspended Growth Systems
 Microbial culture is suspended in the water column
 e.g. activated sludge, sequencing batch reactors (SBR), aerated
lagoons, ponds, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion
2. Attached Growth Systems
 Microbial culture is attached in a medium in the water column.
 e.g. trickling filters, rotating biological contactor (RBC)

Trickling Filters
 consists of a bed of highly permeable media to which microorganism are
attached and through which wastewater is trickled.
 Filter media are usually rocks, varying in size from 50 to 100 mm, with an
average depth of 2 m (6-8 feet)
 Rock filters are usually circular with wastewater distributed by rotary
distributors driven by jet reaction or electrical motor.
 Underdrainage system is a porous structure for the collection of the
treated wastewater and for air circulation.
 Organic material is adsorbed onto biological films attached to the filter
media and is then degraded by the microorganisms.
 As the mircoorganisms grow and thickness of the biological film increases,
the diffused oxygen is consumed before it can penetrate the full depth of
the biological film, resulting in the formation of an anaerobic layer near the
media surface.
 As film thickness increases further, microorganisms near media surface
are deprived of organic matter, enter into the endogenous phase of growth
and lose the ability to cling to the film; the film is washed off by wastewater
(sloughing) and a new film starts to grow.
 Sloughed off material (humus) has high BOD and is removed in a settling

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 tank (humus tank, or clarifier) before effluent is discharged.
 Settled effluent may be recycled to filter (recirculation)
 Trickling filters are also inhabited by worms, insects and snails which feed
on the biological film.

Activated Sludge Process

 Organic matter is introduced into an aeration tank where an aerobic
culture is maintained in suspension; contents in the aeration tank are
referred to as the “mixed liquor.”
 The bacterial culture utilizes the organic wastes to carry out oxidation and
synthesis process in an aerobic environment.
 After a specified period of time, the mixed liquor is passed into a settling
tank where the bacterial cells are separated from the treated wastewater.
Effluent is then discharged.
 A portion of the settled cells is recycled to maintain the desired bacterical
concentration in the aeration tank, and a portion wasted corresponds to
the new growth of cells.
 In the activated sludge process, aeration serves two functions: (1)
supplies oxygen to satisfy the demands of the microbial population in the
mixed liquor, and (2) maintains the mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS)
in suspension.
 Aeration is achieved using either diffusion or mechanical suface aeration.

Rotating Biological Contactors (RBCs)

 Were originally developed in Europe
 Consists of large diameter (usually 1-3 m) plastic discs mounted on a
horizontal shaft and placed in a contour-bottomed tank.
 Discs are usually grouped into trains, each with 4 to 5 stages to increase
treatment efficiency, with at least 2 parallel trains per plant.
 Discs are slowly rotated (1-5 rpm) with about 40% of surface area
submerged in wastewater; surface area is covered with 1-4 mm thick layer
of biomass which is responsible for treatment of the wastewater.
 In rotation, the discs carries a film of wastewater into the air and as the
wastewater trickles down the surface of the disc, it absorbs oxygen from
the air.
 Organisms in the biomass remove both dissolved oxygen and organic
materials from this film of wastewater, further removal occurs as the
surfaces continue rotation through the wastewater in the tank.
 Shearing forces exerted on the biomass as it passes through the
wastewater causes excess biomass to be stripped from discs into mixed
liquor and this prevents clogging of the disc surfaces; stripped solids are
kept in suspension by the mixing action of rotating discs.
 Wastewater undergoes a progressively increasing degree of treatment by
specific biological cultures in each stage; initial stages of media develop
cultures of heterotrophic bacteria while in subsequent stages, nitrifying
bacteria begin to appear, along with protozoa and other higher life forms.

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  No recycling of sludge and generally no recycling of effluent are required;
however, a secondary settling tank is required for removal of sloughed off
material.

Tertiary/Advanced Treatment

 removal of dissolved and suspended materials remaining after normal

biological treatment when required for various water reuse applications.
 Mainly biological nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) removal
 For nitrogen removal process: first stage is aerobic nitrification (ammonia
to nitrite to nitrate) and the second stage is anoxic (anaerobic with nitrate
as oxygen source) denitrification (nitrate to nitrogen gas)
 For phosphorus removal, phosphorus must be in the orthophosphate form.
Removal is either by chemical (addition of coagulant such as alum or lime)
or biological (establish a zone of wherein activated sludge comes into
contact with organic sludge under anaerobic condition)
 Alternating aerobic – anaerobic systems (A/O, A/A/O)

Sludge Treatment

 Sludge is made of materials settled from the raw wastewater and of solids
generated in the wastewater treatment process.
 The higher the degree of wastewater treatment, the larger the residue of
sludge that must be handled.
 Sludge treatment processes are concerned with separating the large
amounts of water from the solid residue.
 The separated water is returned to the wastewater plant for processing.

Basic Process for Sludge Treatment:

1. Thickening
 Separating as much water as possible by gravity or flotation.
2. Stabilization
 Converting the organic solids to more refractory (inert) forms so
that they can be handled or used as soil conditioners without
causing a nuisance or health hazard through processes referred to
as digestion
3. Conditioning
 Treating the sludge with chemicals (coagulants or flocculants) or
heat so that water can be readily separated.
4. Dewatering
 Separating water by subjecting the sludge to vacuum, pressure of
drying.
5. Reduction
 Converting the solids to a stable form by wet oxidation or
incineration.
 These are chemical oxidation process; they decrease the volume of

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 the sludge, hence the term reduction.
Sludge Disposal

 Ultimate disposal may be to five possible disposal sites: air, ocean, outer
space, land, marketplace

Categories of Land Disposal:

1. Land Spreading
 Applying WWTP residuals for the purposes of recovering nutrients,
water, or reclaiming despoiled land such as strip mine spoils.
 Land use intensive
 Are governed by the character of the soil and the ability of the crops
or forest on which the sludge is spread to accommodate it.
2. Landfilling
 Planned burial of WWTP solids at a designated site.
 The solids are placed into a prepared site or excavated trench and
covered with a layer of soil.
 A leachate collecting device must be installed to prevent possible
groundwater contamination
3. Dedicated Land Disposal (DLD)
 The application of heavy sludge loadings to some finite land area
that has limited public access and has been set aside or dedicated
for all time to the disposal of wastewater sludge.
 Does not mean in-place utilization; no crops may be grown.

Utilization
 As soil nutrients
 Composting
 Co-firing with municipal solid waste
 Lime recovery
 Use of sludge to from activated carbon

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