Chapter One

Introduction

Background Research

Wastewater refers to all effluent from household, commercial establishments and

institutions, hospitals, industries and so on. It also includes storm water and urban runoff,
agricultural, horticultural and aquaculture effluent. Sewage is also wastewater. It is
wastewater originating from toilets and bathroom fixtures, bathing, laundry, kitchen sinks,
cleaners, and similar dirty water that is produced in households and public places. Water
used to irrigate turf and gardens, swimming pools, roof drainage, surface runoff and storm
water are all wastewater but not classified as sewage. Wastewater comes in three main
types namely Blackwater, Graywater and Yellow water.

Blackwater is wastewater that originates from toilet fixtures, dishwashers, and food
preparation sinks. It is made up of all the things that you can imagine going down the
toilets, bath and sink drains. They include poop, urine, toilet paper and wipes; body
cleaning liquids, anal cleansing water and so on. They are known to be highly contaminated
with dissolved chemicals, particulate matter and is very pathogenic.

Graywater is wastewater that originates from non-toilet and food fixtures such as
bathroom sinks, laundry machines, spas, bathtubs and so on. Technically it is sewage that
does not contain poop or urine. Graywater is treated very differently from Blackwater and
is usually suitable for re-use.

Yellow water is basically urine collected with specific channels and not contaminated with
either Blackwater or Graywater.
One of the most pressing problems of today is water scarcity. It has been estimated that
one in three persons will face water scarcity by the year 2025 in India (IWMI 2003) or
around 2.7 billion people worldwide by the same time (UN Report 2003). In the recent
past, there is comparatively increased awareness among the governments and bodies
dealing with water management to address the challenges related to water security.
Measures to reduce water usage through increased awareness, installation of rainwater
harvesting and gray water (GW) treatment systems are seen as promising solutions,
especially in developing countries that are more vulnerable to water scarcity (NEERI
2007a). GW reuse is increasingly emerging as an integral part of water demand
management, providing water for non-potable residential and industrial use (EA Report
2001). Moreover, the economics of wastewater management and treatment have become a
crucial topic of discussion due to the following reasons (Poyyamoli et al. 2013):

 Wastewater management is a significant and growing problem, especially in urban

areas of both the developed and developing world.
 The available fresh water sources are dwindling and are getting scarce.
 Increase in fresh water pollution due to human activities.
 Increase in health hazards and ecosystem damage due to uncontrolled discharge of
wastewater into streams and oceans.
 The inefficient or ineffective system of wastewater treatment in developing
countries.

In general, gray water means wastewater generated from domestic activities such as bath,
hand basins, washing machines, dishwashing, laundry and kitchen. It does not include
wastewater from toilet. It is considered to be the largest potential source of water reuse
option at point source, accounting for around 50–80 % of the total water use (Christova-
Boal et al. 1996; Eriksson et al. 2002; Jamrah et al. 2006). Recent scientific advancement in
cost-effective GW treatment for non-potable reuse (including gardening, irrigation and
toilet flushing) suggest that there is a great potential for GW reclamation and reuse in the
developing world. However, reclamation and reuse of GW from bathroom/shower sources
alone is of particular interest to urban reuse due to its low pollution load and high
availability (Jefferson et al. 1999). In addition, GW from kitchen sources is considered to be
less favorable for reuse due to its high concentration of pollutant load.

The number, lifestyle, age, presence of children, health status and water usage patterns of
the occupants are found to affect the characteristics of GW generated in a household (NSW
2007). The composition of gray water varies widely from household to household and is
highly dependent on the detergents, cosmetics and other personal habits of residents.
Gray water from homes with children tends to contain higher counts of coliform than the
homes without children. Gray water is typically characterized by very high concentrations
of biodegradable organic material, such as fats and oils from cooking, and xenobiotic
compounds and other residues from soap and detergents. Though the presence of
pathogenic microbes is minimal in GW (Mara and Kramer 2008), it favors the growth of
microbes and can turn anoxic, emanating foul odor if left untreated for more hours.

The shortage of potable water is one of the major challenges that many countries are facing
today; the situation is becoming very serious and is worsening as many of these countries
are experiencing drought (WHO 2006). Today, an inadequate supply of freshwater is one of
the principal causes of public health problems facing many developing countries (WHO
2006; Katukiza et al. 2015). South Africa is a semi-arid country with spatial and temporal
variability in the amount of rainfall received, coupled with high rates of evapotranspiration
(Bakare et al. 2016). In South Africa, and around the world, there has been an increase in
demand for freshwater, placing pressure on the ability of natural systems to provide an
adequate quantity and quality because of population growth, urbanization and/or
industrialization (Carden et al. 2006). This has led to large scale interest in the application
of water reclamation and reuse of domestic, mining and industrial wastewater as
alternative water supply sources (Carden et al. 2006; Edwin et al. 2014). The requirement
for freshwater is becoming critical to sustaining development and economic growth in the
Southern Africa region. The development of water reuse schemes in South Africa has been
generally slow compared to some other developed countries. It is only recently that some
water authorities in South Africa have begun to shift their focus to identify various water
reuse and recycling schemes. It has been suggested that the large amount of greywater
generated from South African households could be treated with simple technologies and
reused for non-potable needs, such as toilet flushing and outdoor irrigation (Carden et al.
2006).

Greywater makes up to about 60–70% of domestic wastewater volume in most developed

countries (Friedler 2004; Edwin et al. 2014). The generation of greywater is directly
related to the consumption of water in a household and is dependent on a number of
factors including the level of service provision, tolerance of residents to pollution and the
communities’ level of awareness of health and environmental risks (Carden et al. 2006).
According to (Carden et al. 2006), it could be assumed that greywater accounts for virtually
all water usage in non-sewer areas except for that which is used for drinking purposes, that
which is used consumptively in cooking and the water that remains on the surfaces of
washed articles. A variety of research has been conducted to characterize greywater
generated from various sources in order to determine greywater quality (Friedler 2004;
Jefferson et al. 2004; Abu Ghunmi et al. 2008; Antonopoulou et al. 2013; Bodnar et al. 2014;
Edwin et al. 2014; Katukiza et al. 2015).
The quality of greywater depends on the source from which it is drawn as well as the use to
which this water is put, but there are general characteristics that apply to greywater
(Carden et al. 2006).

Greywater can be divided into two categories based on pollutant loads: high pollutant load
and low pollutant load (Friedler 2004). According to (Li 2009), greywater generated from
household kitchens and those from the laundry are higher in organics and physical
pollutants compared to bathroom and mixed greywater. Various factors, such as the
number of residents in a household, age distribution, living standard, residents’ cultural
habits and the quality of the water supplied to the household, may have an influence on the
greywater characteristics and result in a wide variation in the quality of greywater
generated from different households and from various sources within a household (Morel
& Diener 2006).

In terms of basic water quality parameters, greywater is considered to be comparable to

low or medium grade wastewater (Friedler 2004); however, there are several key
differences in the quality of greywater that need to be considered in order to narrow in on
the specific challenges involved in its treatment and reuse. Soaps and detergents are often
alkaline, so the pH of greywater tends to be in the range 7–8 (Jefferson et al. 2004) and,
unlike wastewater that can contain high concentrations of N, P and K, only minor quantities
of nutrients have been detected in greywater samples, rarely exceeding 5 mg/l (Jefferson et
al. 2004). Many researchers have documented that greywater constituents are partly
recalcitrant, i.e. slowly or even non-biodegradable (Friedler 2004; Jefferson et al. 2004).
According to Dixon et al. (1999), biodegradation of greywater starts under anaerobic
conditions within 2 days of storage. The maximum biodegradability of greywater under
anaerobic conditions measured as chemical oxygen demand (COD) has been found to range
from 60 to 80% while under aerobic conditions it has been found to be above 85%
(Elmitwalli & Otterpohl 2007; Zeeman et al. 2008). The BOD: COD ratio of greywater has
been reported to be substantially low varying from 0.25 to 0.64 (Friedler 2004; Jefferson et
al. 2004), thus indicating that greywater generated from households are slowly, or even
non-biodegradable.

To maintain a healthy human population and to prevent waterborne diseases, proper

wastewater treatment is necessary. There are two types of biologically-based wastewater
treatment processes: aerobic and anaerobic wastewater treatment.

Aerobic processes use bacteria that require oxygen, so air is circulated throughout the
treatment tank, these aerobic bacteria then break down the waste within the wastewater.
Some systems utilize a pre-treatment stage prior to the main treatment processes, as well
as more treatment and sanitizing prior to release into the environment.
Anaerobic bacteria (bacteria that live in environments that contain no oxygen) transform
organic matter in the wastewater into biogas that contains large amounts of methane gas
and carbon dioxide. Energy-efficient process is often used to treat industrial wastewater
that contains high levels of organic matter in warm temperatures, it can be used as a pre-
treatment prior to aerobic municipal wastewater treatment.

In this study my concentration is to treat greywater with both aerobic and anaerobic
process separately then compare their parameters and net energy balance.
Problem Statement

In certain parts of the world, especially in developing countries, wastewater is pumped

directly into the sea or into fresh water bodies without any form of treatment. In other
parts of developed countries, lack of adequate wastewater treatment infrastructure,
maintenance and outdated systems heavily compromise wastewater treatment efforts.
Fresh water bodies and marine waters into which wastewater is discharged may be
polluted and rendered unsafe for human use. Depending on what is discharged, aquatic life
may be harmed too. There is water scarcity in many places in the world. Wastewater
discharged on lands can leach into underground water tables and potentially contaminate
aquifers and underground water. If discharged in freshwater bodies, it may render water
sources unsuitable for use. All ecosystems are connected and they all ultimately depend on
water. Similarly, all water (surface and underground) is connected. This means careless
wastewater discharge can have some serious ripple effect. One common effect of
wastewater is the eutrophication of fresh water bodies and oceans. If one part of the
ecosystem chain is destroyed, it can upset its entire food chain.

Microbiological contaminants of household greywater have received much attention in

recent research (Dixon et al. 1999; Ottosson & Stenström 2003; Birks & Hills 2007) due to
their ability to cause human illness. Microbial pathogens are often considered the most
significant health concern associated with greywater reuse. Reviews of various
characterization studies that include microbial parameters show that kitchen sink and
dishwasher effluent are often the most highly contaminated due to the presence of food
and grease particles and warn of high Salmonella counts in these streams (Birks & Hills
2007). Other sources, such as water from the bath, hand basin and clothes washing
machine, are the principal contributors of organisms of faecal origin, attributable to the
washing of soiled clothing or diapers, hand washing after toilet use and bathing. Ottosson &
Stenström (2003) outline the full spectrum of hazardous microbial agents potentially
present in household greywater and provide an outline for assessing the health risks they
present. Pathogenic organisms identified include faecal bacteria, Campylobacter,
Salmonella, Legionella, enteric viruses (especially Rotavirus), and protozoa, including
Giardia and Cryptosporidium (Ottosson & Stenström 2003).
A major problem with the use of greywater for irrigation is the widespread use of it,
untreated, for watering the lawn and garden. The Western Australian Code of Practice of
the use of greywater specifies that untreated greywater can be applied manually, by using a
bucket to collect water from the bath or shower or by a diversion system to water lawns
and gardens, without a permit from the council (Maxey, 2005; DOH, 2005, 2010).
Greywater regulation has been developed mainly to safeguard public health. Despite the
regulations, the increasing use of greywater on gardens has become unsustainable
(Maimon et al., 2010), because of the increasing number of household chemicals (Eriksson
et al., 2009).

The use of unknown quantities and combinations of chemically complex cleaning products
from the negligent homeowner causes excess salts, nutrients and pollutants in soils. For
instance, Carden et al. (2007) reported that soil salinity increased as a result of long-term
disposal of greywater in a non-sewer area in South Africa. The infiltration, hydraulic
conductivity and aggregate stability of the soils have been affected (Misra and Sivongxay,
2009). In addition, the disposed contaminants into waterways or leaching into shallow
aquifer may adversely affect the environment. The heavy usage of chemical pollutants, for
example, boron from laundry detergents, can be toxic to plants while surfactants can alter
soil properties if highly concentrated (Redwood, 2010). Synergistic effects may also occur
when a plant receives unacceptable levels of nutrient for plant growth, leading to the
imbalance of nutrients. Conditions such as dry continents and sandy soils pose particular
challenges for water and nutrient management for plants, because of the relatively low
water holding and nutrient-retention capacities of these substrates. There is concern with
the long-term sustainability of the dedicated irrigation areas due to high P loading, which
can be up to 120 kg P/hectare/year (Beal et al., 2008) and the high salinity of greywater
(Al-Hamaiedeh and Bino, 2010; Wiel-Shafran et al., 2006). Furthermore, the imbalance of
greywater irrigation and rainfall with high evapotranspiration rates and insufficient
biological uptake for decomposition may possibly leach the excess nutrients or
constituents to the groundwater and waterways.
Aim and Objective of Study

The aim of this study is to compare and evaluate the effectiveness and the potential of

greywater treatment using Aerobic and Anaerobic treatment system. The objectives of this

study are:

i. To evaluate treatment efficiency in terms of COD, Nitrogen, Phosphors, and

Potassium removal.
ii. To study the effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on both systems.
iii. To compare the energy net balance between both systems.
iv. To check the result of this study against the standers of department of irrigation in
Malaysia.