Wastewater Flashcards
Water is a universal _______________
universal solvent
most abundant element on earth
Why do we treat waste water?
To accelerate the natural purification process of water.
Water self recycles, however humans are easily polluting more water than they can purify.
What is a sanitary sewer system
The underground carriage system that transports sewage to the treatment or disposal
Fraction of US population that is on an individual sewage disposal system
1/3
Most sewer systems move waste products at what rate?
two feet per second or faster
Ideal sewage systems move waste products to the treatment facility within _____ days
within 2 days
Manholes are placed every ________ feet apart in a sewage system to ___________
300-500 feet
to monitor for sewage leaks
Heaviest flow of sewage through the waste water treatment plant is during what hours?
3-9 PM
What are the 5 types of waste water
domestic waste industrial waste ground water storm drain runoff municipal waste
What is domestic waste
sanitary waste out of a home, business or institution
What is industrial waste
from a manufacturing plant, hospital, restaurant etc.
What is ground water waste
ground water can infiltrate into the sewer system by cracks in the sewer pipe
What is storm drain runoff
water from rainstorms and runoff from the streets
What is municipal waste
Any sewage or waste water that is going to be treated. Can be sewage from both domestic and plant sources)
Define leachate
Water that has percolated through a solid and leach out some of the constituents
What percent of raw waste water is solids?
- 2%
98. 8% water
What is gray water
a term for fresh waste water
What is septic water
Black colored waste water with rotten egg smell (hydrogen sulfide) undergoing decomposition. waste water becomes septic when it is not moving and anaerobic decomposition occurs.
What percentage of solids in waste water are organic vs inorganic
75% organic
25% inorganic
Average pH of wastewater
6-9
What are the 3 temperature zones of bacteria
Thermophillic zone
Mesophillic zone
Psychrophillic zone
What is the thermophillic zone
hot zone. bacterial grow in 113F to 158F
what is the mesophillic zone
medium zone. bacteria grow in 59F to 112F
What is the psychrophilic zone
cold zone. bacteria grow 35F to 50F
What are saprophytic bacteria
bacteria that feed on all types of dead organic matter
What percent of pathogens die off within 10 hours of being in waste water?
40%
What is anoxia
an absence of oxygen. waste water is said to be anoxic when the dissolved oxygen level falls below 4mg/l
Anoxic waters can no longer support fish life
What does absorption mean
something is taken into the material
What does adsorption mean
something adheres to the material
What is the weight in lbs of one gallon of water
8.34 lbs
One cubic foot of water contains how many gallons?
7.48 gallons
What is the main purpose of waste water disposal
To keep a certain level of dissolved oxygen in the waste water during the treatment process. You don’t want the water to become septic.
What is effluent
The waste water going into the treatment plant
What are the treatment steps
preliminary treatment
primary treatment
secondary treatment
tertiary treatment
What is the communitor?
A heavy duty garbage disposal that grinds up the solids from the bar screens.
What are most of the solids in waste water?
paper and rags
What are grit chambers
Part of preliminary treatment
They slow down the velocity of the waste water to allow heavier solids to settle out quickly.
Usually consists of 2 chambers
removes grit and sand
Where is the grit disposed of?
a sanitary landfill
Primary treatment removed what percent of BOD
40%
What is secondary treatment
BIOLOGICAL process that removes another 55% of the BOD
What is BOD?
Biological oxygen demand. It’s a measurement of raw sewage strength. The strength of sewage is dependent upon the oxidation reduction potential of the bacteria in the sewage.
What is the maximum dissolved oxygen concentration in water at 40F?
10mg/l
If left untreated, raw sewage can use up _____mg/l of dissolved oxygen to purify itself
21 mg/l
What is the BOD test
measures BOD. It’s measured over 5 days period at 20C to determine strength of or potency of sewage.
higher BOD = more oxygen is being used = stronger sewage
BOD is (high/lower) in summer?
BOD is higher. Sewage is stronger.
Quality of waste water is judged by what three qualities?
BOD
Total Solids
Volatile Solids
treatment reduces all three
What is chemical flocculation/coagulation
A process that clumps up harder to settle solids. Alum, polymers and bentonite are often used. Chemical method of flocculating/coagulating.
What is an aeration tank?
A way to oxygenate the waste water. This is the biological method of flocculating/coagulating.
What is a trickling filter or bio-filter
rotary arm sprays waste water over plastic filter beds (use to be rocks). large surface areas have aerobic organisms that consume and oxidize organic wastes. Water trickles down.
can handle 10-30 million gallons/acre/feet/per day
good for large volumnes, large system.
waste water must be carefully maintained as high concentrations of hazardous chemicals can kill off the beneficial bacteria
What are the two ways to flocculate/coagulation?
Chemically (mix chemicals in)
Biologically (aeration tank)
What are some of the things that can occur in tertiary treatment?
rapid sand filter chlorine treatment activated charcoal filtration (removes odor and chemicals) ozone disinfection UV light disinfection nitrate and phosphate removal.
How does aeration work?
Adding oxygen activates growth of aerobic bacteria. The bacteria grow and clump together (aka flocculate) and they get heavier and sink to the bottom.
Three types of sand filters
intermittent
slow
rapid
Intermittent sand filter
sand bed inside shallow trough. 30’’ varied media from sand to gravel
filtration rate of 100,000 acre/feet/per day for 24 hours.
typically facilities have three and they are used one at a time for 24 hours then shut down for 48 so the filter can reabsorb oxygen and maintain it’s aerobic environment
good for smaller systems.
can clog easily and messy to clean
slow sand filter
24’’ of increasing sand sizes and then 15-24’’ of gravel particles
.4 to .8mm sand size
1/8’’ to 2’’ gravel particle size
rapid sand filter
anthracite coal (a form of activated charcoal) then gravel. expensive but works quickly and well.
in extremely large systems which is used more? aeration or filtration?
aeration
Average americans use how many gallons of water per day for personal use
50-100 gallons
What are two pathogenic bacteria known to survive up to two weeks in wastewater?
typhoid and dysentery
What are 4 ways that waste water is reintroduced into the environment
surface disposal (no longer allowed)
tile fields disposal - shallow in ground disposal
subsurface disposal - leach lines 2-5 feet underground
dilution disposal - into large body of nearby water (no longer allowed)