Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
AND WETLANDS
FOR WASTEWATER
MANAGEMENT
PONDS, LAGOONS,
AND WETLANDS
FOR WASTEWATER
MANAGEMENT
MATTHEW E. VERBYLA, PhD
Abstract
Engineered ponds, lagoons, and wetlands have been used for centuries to
treat and manage wastewater, and they are still widely used today. They require very few external energy and material inputs and provide ecosystem
services for communities. This book presents a compilation of guidelines
to design ponds, lagoons, and wetlands for the treatment and management
of domestic or municipal wastewater, agricultural wastewater, and industrial waste. Sufficient detail and clarity is provided for practitioners to use
this book as a reference, and for senior year or graduate college students
to develop an understanding of the design concepts for these engineered
natural treatment systems.
KEYWORDS
waste stabilization ponds; lagoons; constructed wetlands; wastewater
treatment; sanitation; design; operation; maintenance; small flows; industrial wastewater, agricultural waste
Contents
List of figures
xi
List of tables
xiii
Acknowledgments
xv
Chapter 1 Introduction1
1.1 Wastewater Management andSustainability
1
1.1.1 Natural Treatment Systems and the New
Paradigm for Wastewater Management
1
1.1.2 Natural Treatment Systems and Sustainable
Development2
1.1.3 Basics About Wastewater
3
1.1.4 Global Use of Natural Wastewater Treatment
Systems4
1.2 Purpose and Scope of This Book
5
Chapter 2 Biology of Ponds, Lagoons, and Wetlands7
Topics Addressed in This Chapter
7
2.1 Introduction
7
2.2 Classification of Organisms by Energy and
Carbon Source
10
2.3 Biodiversity in Ponds, Lagoons, and Wetlands
12
2.3.1 Prokaryotes
12
2.3.2 Viruses
12
2.3.3 Plants, Algae, and Cyanobacteria
13
2.3.4 Protozoa
14
2.3.5 Macroinvertebrates
15
2.3.6 Fungi
17
2.3.7 Larger Organisms
17
2.4 Biological Transformations of Organic Matter
18
viiiContents
18
19
20
20
21
21
21
22
Contents ix
63
63
64
65
69
69
70
70
71
73
74
76
76
76
77
101
Author Biography
113
Index
115
List of Figures
Figure 1.1. Potential end uses for wastewater and associated sludge
Figure 2.1. The three domains of life (and viruses) with examples
of organisms that may be present in ponds, lagoons,
and wetlands.
10
11
17
33
Figure 3.4. Plan and section view of a typical Parshall flume (left)
and photo of a Parshall flume in Brazil (right).
33
43
45
47
48
Figure 5.1. Free water surface flow constructed wetlands used for
tertiary wastewater treatment in Lakeland, Florida
62
76
List of Tables
Table 2.1.
Table 3.1.
Table 3.2.
15
34
38
Table 3.3.
Table 4.1.
42
48
50
54
Table 4.2.
Table 4.3.
Table 4.4.
Table 4.5.
Table 4.6.
59
Table 4.7.
60
Table 5.1.
64
65
Table 5.2.
Table 5.3.
66
Table 5.4.
Table 5.5.
72
74
Table 5.6.
Table 6.1.
Table 6.2.
84
87
96
99
Table 6.3.
Table 7.1.
Table 7.2.
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge Stewart Oakley, whose short courses on
waste stabilization pond design have inspired thousands of students
and professionals throughout the world, including myself. I first took
Dr.Oakleys short course in 2009 at the AIDIS conference in G
uatemala
City. I acknowledge my PhD advisor Jim Mihelcic, for giving me the
opportunity to study waste stabilization ponds. I would also like to
acknowledge Jerry Hopcroft and Premkumar Narayanan, for helping
review and format the book. Finally, I would like to acknowledge Wendy
Antunez for her help and support.
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
1.1 WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT
ANDSUSTAINABILITY
1.1.1 NATURAL TREATMENT SYSTEMS AND THE NEW
PARADIGM FOR WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT
The paradigm for wastewater treatment is changing. Alterations in population
and climate are causing freshwater to become increasingly scarce. The
management of water resources does not occur in isolationthere are
irrefutable linkages between water, energy, and nutrients in the e nvironment.
The ways water and nutrients are currently managed and the ways e nergy
is currently produced are no longer sustainable. The new paradigm for
the treatment of wastewater is to reclaim water, energy, and nutrients
rather than remove them prior to discharging treated effluent to receiving
waters (Guest et al., 2009). Engineered natural systems have been used
for centuries to manage and treat wastewater throughout the world. In the
aftermath of the industrial revolution, mechanized water-treatment technologies were developed. While many of these mechanized technologies
are highly efficient, they often require high energy and material inputs.
Natural systems require little to no external energy and material inputs.
Mechanized wastewater treatment technologies are certainly appropriate
in a variety of settings, including low-income, middle-income, and rural
high-income regions. These systems are particularly well suited for locations
where wastewater is reused in agriculture, making them particularly
appropriate for the new paradigm of wastewater management with resource
recovery priorities.
Treated wastewater may be discharged to receiving waters, injected
into groundwater, applied to soil, or reused for a particular activity (e.g.,
aquaculture, industrial cooling). If treated water is discharged to receiving
waters (rivers, streams, lakes, oceans, and aquifers), it must be treated to
Injection to
groundwater
Agriculture
Reuse
Untreated
Wastewater
Aquaculture
Ponds,
Lagoons, and
Wetlands
Household
*
Send to
landfill
Application
to soil
Resource
Recovery
Energy
recovery
Sludge
*
Production of
biomaterials
Figure 1.1. Potential end uses for wastewater and associated sludge.
Introduction 3
1.1.3
Wastewater from households contains a variety of contaminants; the pollutants in wastewater are most commonly measured in terms of biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended
solids (TSS), as well as nitrogen (total and ammonia) and phosphorus.
Wastewater produced by households (domestic wastewater) comes from
dishwashing, showering, laundering, and toilet flushing. Wastewater produced by industrial facilities can vary drastically in composition, depending on how the water is used and the type of industry. Industrial facilities
may be required to provide some type of pretreatment prior to discharging
wastewater to a municipal sewer system. Industrial wastewater can contain higher concentrations of contaminants such as salts, heavy metals,
Introduction 5
Pea Varon et al., 2000; Shuval et al., 1986). Although they are most
commonly used in small cities and towns, there are also examples of pond,
lagoon, and wetland systems that serve cities with populations of more
than one million (Mara, 2003).
In the United States, many state health and environmental agencies are
in the process of modifying nutrient effluent limits for wastewater treatment plants, specifically focusing on ammonia nitrogen and p hosphorus.
These stricter effluent discharge limitations have forced many towns and
cities to trade in their pond, lagoon, or wetland systems for mechanized
systems with advanced nutrient removal capabilities. For instance, the city
of East Grand Forks, Minnesota recently chose to abandon its wastewater
lagoon system, after years of pressure from the state Pollution Control
Agency (Jewett, 2015). The city of Polson, Montana had a lagoon system
that boasted treatment costs of only $8.25 per person per year as of 1997,
had been presented with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region
8 award for operation and maintenance, and was achieving effluent BOD
concentrations of 16 mg/L, and TSS concentrations of 38 mg/L (National
Small Flows Clearninghouse, 1997); however, they recently decided to
decommission this system in favor of a mechanized sequencing batch reactor in order to meet stricter discharge regulations (Burns, 2015). The
Missouri Department of Natural Resources is now requiring most lagoon
systems in its state to comply with varying ammonia-nitrogen effluent
concentrations, which generally range between 1 and 3 mg/L, and based
on recent data reported for the NPDES permits, less than half of the 300
lagoon systems in Missouri are currently able to meet these concentrations
on a consistent basis (Espinosa etal., 2016). Another main advantage of
using natural wastewater treatment systems is that they provide ecosystem
services, which can enhance biodiversity, provide habitat for endangered
and threatened species, and serve as a community green space that can
enhance the overall well-being of the local population.
1.2
Index
A
Agriculture, 1
Algae, 8, 1314
Ammonia oxidation, 9
Ammonification, 20, 52
Amphibian conservation, vital
roles in, 2
Anaerobic lagoons, 80, 85
advantages of, 85
for farms, 80
Anaerobic pond, 42
guidelines for designing, 48
sludge deposition in, 94
treating domestic wastewater in
Bolivia, 47
volume of, 47
Animal manure, 80
characteristics of, 81
Animal slaughterhouse (abattoir)
wastewater, 83
Animal waste, 8, 21, 8082
from farms, 80
Archaea, 8, 12, 14
domains of life, 8, 9
Atoms, 11
B
Bacteria, 815
domains of life, 9
Berms, 22, 2930
structural integrity of, 86
Biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD), 3, 49
Biodiversity, 5, 7, 80, 83, 92
loading rate, 49
in ponds, lagoons, and wetlands,
1218
protection of, 8
removal of, 39, 4748, 52, 58
Biological transformations of
organic matter, 18
Biosolids pond, 42
BOD. See Biochemical oxygen
demand (BOD)
Boiler slag, 86
Bottom ash, 86
Bulrush, 74
monocultures of, 75
C
CAFOs. See Concentrated animalfeeding operations (CAFOs)
Carbon cycle, 19
Carbon source, 1012
Cattails, monocultures of, 75
Chemical coagulants, 58
Chemical oxygen demand (COD),
3, 52, 83, 85
Chemical reactor theory models, 38
Chemical treatment of on-site
soils, 29
Clearing costs, 27
Coal ash surface impoundments,
design and operating
requirements, 8791
Coal combustion residuals, 8586
hazardous nature of, 86
Coarse bar screens, 44
116 Index
Enhanced flocculation, 72
Eukarya, 8
domains of life, 910
Eukaryotic organisms, 910
Eutrophication potential, 26
Evapotranspiration, 7071
daily rate of, 71
Excavation, 27
F
Facultative pond, 42, 4851
loading rate and size of, 5051
primary, 4849
secondary, 4849
types of, 48
Fecal coliforms, removal of, 39
Floating aquatic plant treatment
systems, 61
Floating macrophyte ponds
(wetlands), 42, 5860
parameters for design of, 60
used in wastewater treatment
ponds, 59
Flood zones, 25
Flow control structures, 3033
Flue-gas desulfurization, 8586
Fly ash, 8586
Food processing waste, 8385
characteristics of, 84
Free-living helminths, 7
Free water surface flow
wetlands,62
hydraulic design, 7071
hydraulic retention times for, 73
loading rate approach, 7173
ranges of values for, 74
reactor theory approach, 7374
use of internal obstructions in, 71
Fungal cultures, addition of, 85
Fungi, 17
G
Groundwater, 1, 93
monitoring, 8990
Index 117
H
Habitat restoration, 2627
Harbor floating lemna
(duckweed), 8
Hazardous substance, 85
High-rate algal pond, 42
Horizontal free water surface,
6162
Horizontal subsurface flow
wetlands, 62
aspect ratio (L/W) for, 64
hydraulic conductivity of media
used for, 64
ranges of values for, 65
water level in, 63
Household, water use in, 4
Human waste, 8
Hydraulic conductivity of
media, 64
design recommendations for, 64
Hydraulic design of wastewater
systems
flow control structures, 3033
free water surface flow wetlands,
7071
inlets and outlets, 30
I
Industrial waste, 79
Industrial wastewater, 34
animal waste, 8082
coal combustion residuals,
8586
food processing waste, 8385
pulp and paper mill waste, 8692
Inhibitory phenolic substances, 85
In situ lining materials, 28
Irrigation, 45
M
Macroinvertebrates, 8, 1516
Macrophytes, 8
emergent, 75
Maturation/polishing pond, 42,
5253
ammonia and total nitrogen removal, 5657
periphyton ponds, 56
phosphorus removal, 5758
removal of pathogens and fecal
indicator organisms, 53, 56
Mechanically aerated ponds,
42, 52
Mechanical treatment, 29
Mechanized wastewater treatment
systems, 3
L
Lagoons, 35, 7, 85, 92. See also
Specific types
anaerobic, 80, 85
biological community in, 7
118 Index
Mechanized water-treatment
technologies, 1
Microbes, 12
Microbial communities, growth
of, 72
Microbial metabolism, 11
electron and redox tower of, 11
Microorganisms
associated with disease, 2122
diversity of, 10
in ponds, lagoons, and
wetlands,11
Missouri Department of Natural
Resources, 5
Molecules, 11
Monoculture systems, 75
N
Natural antimicrobial properties, 85
Natural wastewater treatment
systems, 4, 8
advantage of using, 5
algae and macrophytes in, 8
basics about, 34
malfunction of, 9
and management, 12
mechanisms and guidelines for
removal of pathogens, 5455
nutrients in, 9
and sustainable development, 23
use of, 2, 45
Nitrification process, 9, 72
Nitrogen
cycle, 20
removal of, 39
No-discharge pond, 42
Nuisance organisms, 2122
Nutrient transformation process, 72
O
Oil mill wastewater, 83, 85
Olive oil wastewater, 83, 85
On-site soils, chemical treatment
of, 29
Organisms, 1718
Index 119
R
Rate of infiltration, 71
Reactor theory approach, 6970
design approaches, wastewater
treatment, 3740
free water surface flow wetlands,
7374
horizontal subsurface flow wetlands, 6465
vertical flow wetlands, 6970
Reduction, 11
Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA), 86
Respiration, 9
Routine monitoring for pond,
lagoon and wetland
systems,95
Rubber-based membranes, 29
S
Screening, pretreatment of pond
system, 4446
Secondary facultative ponds,
4849
Sewer collection system,
characteristics of, 4
Site selection, 2324
economic considerations, 2728
environmental considerations,
2527
social considerations, 2425
Slaughterhouse waste, 83
Slaughterhouse (abattoir)
wastewater, 83
Slopes, 2930
Sludge accumulation
annual rate of, 94
rate, 94
Sludge deposition, rate of, 95
Sludge management, 9495
Soil characterization, 25
Start-up period for wastewater
ponds, lagoons, 93
Stormwater, compounds found
in,11
Substrate
free water surface flow
wetlands,77
horizontal subsurface flow
wetlands, 76
vertical flow wetlands, 7677
Subsurface flow wetlands, 61
Subsurface wetlands, 65
aspect ratios for, 64
Sulfur cycle, 21
Surface loading method, 71
Surface water, 93
T
Tanks-in-series (TIS) model, 65
Techniques used for the operation
of, 6668
Tertiary wastewater treatment, 62
Total suspended solids (TSS), 3
Transformation of organic
material, 17
Treatment and discharge
approach, 2
V
Vertebrates, 8
animals, 8
Vertical flow wetlands, 62, 65
loading rate approach, 69
reactor theory approach, 6970
techniques used for the operation
of, 6668
Viruses, 8, 1213
domains of life, 9
Visual and sensory cues, 95
Volatile solids, 95
W
Wastewater
basics about, 34
characteristics and flow rates, 4
compounds found in, 11
design of, 3
domestic, 79
lagoon system, 5
120 Index
Wastewater (continued)
organic material in, 94
pollutants in, 3
potential end uses for, 2
pretreatment, 4
primary treatment, 4
produced by households, 3
produced by industrial facilities, 3
secondary treatment of, 4, 7172
tertiary treatment, 4
Wastewater ponds
operation and maintenance tasks
for, 9698
start-up period for, 93
visual and sensory cues for
malfunction issues in, 99100
Wastewater treatment, 1, 41, 72
anaerobic ponds, 4748
in Brazil, 45
configurations, 43
facultative ponds, 4851
fundamental roles in, 7
lagoons, 72
maturation and polishing ponds,
5253
ammonia and total nitrogen
removal, 5657
periphyton ponds, 56
phosphorus removal, 5758
removal of pathogens and fecal
indicator organisms, 5356
mechanically aerated ponds, 52
physical design and construction
considerations for, 3436
plants, 5
pretreatment
grit removal, 46
screening, 4446
stages of, 4
system, floating aquatic plants
from, 76
technologies, 85
technologies for, 45
Water hyacinth ponds, 61
Water quality
discharge standards, 2
parameters, 40
Water resources, management of, 1
Water use in household, 4
Well-being of community
members, 23
Wetlands, 35, 7, 92. See also
Specific types
biological community in, 7
long-term maintenance activities
in, 9495
operation and maintenance tasks
for, 9698
physical design and construction
considerations for, 3436
visual and sensory cues for
malfunction issues
in, 99100
Wineries, 85
Z
Zeolite, 77
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