Part 8: Wastewater flow and characteristics

Once used for its intended purposes, the water supply of a community is
considered to be wastewater
Definitions
• Sanitary (Domestic) wastewater refers to discharge from residences,
business buildings, and institutions
• Industrial wastewater is the discharge from manufacturing plants
• Municipal wastewater is the general term applied to the liquid collected in
sanitary sewers and treated in a municipal plant

Storm runoff water in most communities is collected in a separate storm

sewer system

 Domestic wastewater
• The volume of wastewater from a community varies from 50 to 250 gal per
capita per day (gpcd)—depending on sewer uses ……. However, a common
value used for domestic wastewater flow is 120 gpcd (450 L/person .d)

…………………see table 9-1 page 313 (wastewater flow for various kinds
of establishments and services

• The organic matter contributed per person per day in domestic wastewater is
about 0.24 lb (110 g) of suspended solids and 0.20 lb (90 gr) of BOD in
communities where a substantial portion of kitchen wastes is discharged
through garbage grinders

• Design data should consider wastewater quantity and organic strength—

(BOD and total solids) based on actual measurements taken throughout the
year to account for variations resulting from seasonal changes and other
factors
……………..See table 9-2 page 314 for other composition of wastewater

• Sedimentation of a typical domestic wastewater reduces BOD about 35%,

and suspended solids 50%
Loadings on treatment units are often expressed in terms of pounds
of BOD or pounds of solids per day, as well as quantity of flow per
day
Example 9-1 page 315: sanitary wastewater from a residential community is 120 gpcd,
containing 200 mg/L BOD and 240 mg/L suspended solids. Compute the bounds of BOD and SS
per capita
Solution:

Example 9-2 page 315: Industrial wastewater (Table 9-4) has a total flow of 2930000gpd, BOD
of 21600lb/day and SS of 13400 lb/day. Calculate the BOD and SS concentration
Solution:

Example 9-3 page 315: An aeration basin with a volume of 300 m3contains a mixed liquor
(aeration activated sludge) with a suspended solids concentration of 2000 mg/L. How many Kg
of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) are in the tank?
Solution:

 Industrial wastewater
 Industries discharge wastewater to city sewers after pretreatment…..
……………uncontaminated cooling water is sent to the storm sewer
See table 9-3 page 316 for average characteristics of industrial wastewater

• A sewer code, user fees & separate contracts between an industry & a city
can provide adequate control and sound financial planning

• EPA pretreatment standards enforce three general types of discharge:

– Prohibited discharges—national standards applicable to all industrial
dischargers
– Categorical discharges—standards stated in an NPDES permit for
publicly owned treatment plants
– Local pretreatment limits—developed to address specific needs &
capabilities of individual treatment plants
 Quantity and strength can be related to the number of persons required
to contribute an equivalent quantity of wastewater

Example 9-4 page 318: A dairy processing about 250000lb of milk daily produces
an average of 65100 gpd of wastewater with a BOD of 1400 mg/l. The principal
operations are bottling of milk and making ice cream with limited production of
cottage cheese. Compute the flow and BOD per 1000lb of milk received and the
equivalent populations of the daily wastewater discharge.
Solution:

Example 9-5 page 318: A meat processing plant slaughters an average 500000 kg
of live beef per day. The majority is shipped as dressed halves with some
production of packaged meats. Blood is recovered for a salable by-product, paunch
manure (undigested stomach contents) is removed by screening and hauled land
burial, and process wastewater is settled and skimmed to recover heavy solids and
some grease for inedible rendering with other meat trimmings. After this
pretreatment, the waste discharged to the municipal sewer is 4500 m3/day
containing 1300 mg/L BOD. Calculate the BOD waste per 1000 kg LWK (live
weight kill) and the equivalent population of the daily wastewater flow.
Solution:
 Infiltration and inflow
Infiltration is groundwater entering sewers & building connections through
defective joints and broken or cracked pipe and manholes

Inflow is water discharged into sewer pipes or service connections from:

• Foundation drains; roof leaders; cellar & yard area drains
• Cooling water from air conditioners
• Other clean-water discharges from commercial and industrial
establishments
Excessive infiltration/inflow creates serious problems:
• Surcharging of sewer lines with backup of sanitary wastewaters into
house basements
• Flooding of street and road areas
• Overloading of treatment facilities
• By-passing of pumping stations and treatment works

Actual inflow & infiltration rates may be determined as in the following example

Example 9-6: page 319 : Calculate the infiltration and compare this quantity to the
average daily and peak hourly domestic wastewater flow for the followings
Sewered population=24000 persons
Average domestic flow = 100 gpcd
Peak hourly domestic flow= 240 gpcd
Infiltration rate = 500 gpd/mile.in of pipe diameter
Sanitary sewer system is:
4-in building sewers =36 in
8-in street laterals = 24 miles
10-in submains =6 miles
12 in trunk sewers = 6miles
Solution:
  Municipal wastewater
 Flow in sanitary sewers is a composite of:
o Domestic and industrial wastewaters
o Infiltration and inflow
o Intercepted flow from combined sewers
 Collector sewers must have hydraulic capacities to handle maximum hourly
flow….Including domestic, infiltration and additional discharge from
industrial plants
 New sewer systems are usually designed on the basis of an average daily per
capita flow of 100 to 120 gall (400-480 L) which includes normal infiltration
however, pipes must be sized to carry peak flows that are often assumed to
be
o 400 gpcd ( 1500 L/person.d) for laterals and submains when flowing
full
o 250 gpcd ( 950 L/person.d) for main, trunk, and outfall sewers
o In case of interceptors, collecting from combined sewer system, 350%
of the average dry weather flow

Various equations have been developed to determine peaking factors for

wastewater flow......Some equations use population as a denominator, others
use flow as a denominator

This equation was empirically derived based on flow:

See Figure 9-2

The flow patterns from a separate sanitary

sewer system to the wastewater treatment
plant is illustrated in figure (a) below.

Hourly flow rates ranges from 40-190% .

Lowest flow occurs in early morning and peak
(max.) near midday.
Flow drop sharply and rise again between 6
and 7 pm in residential communities
The BOD and Ammonia concentration in
wastewater vary with the time of day in a
pattern that may not follow flow variation
Ammonia closely follows flow variation But,
for this community, BOD strength rises in the
afternoon and continues through the evening
Waste strength is greatest as peak noon flows
subside and are lowest during the night when
activity is at its lowest and slow pipe
velocities permit settling of solids within the
collection system

NOTE: quantity and characteristics varies from season to another,……Summer

discharge frequently exceed winter flows by 10 to 20 % and industrial
contributions are reduced on Sunday…..(Friday in jordan)

NOTE: All of these factors must be considered in assessing community

wastewater flow and strength variations

Flow calculations
Example 9-7 page 321: The sanitary and industrial wastewater from a community
consists of domestic wastewater from a sewered population of 7500 persons,
potato processing waste of 30000 gpd containing 550lb of BOD, and creamery
wastewater flow of 120000 gpd with BOD concentration of 1000 mg/L. Estimate
the combined wastewater flow in gallons per day and BOD concentration in mg/L
Solution:
Example 9-8: A city with sewered population of 145000 has an average
wastewater flow of 18.9 mgd with an average BOD of 320 mg/L. An inventory of
the industrial wastewater entering the sanitary sewer system is given in table 9-4
(a) compute the equivalent populations for this municipal wastewaters (b)
Determine the per capita contribution of sanitary wastewater flow and BOD based
on the city's population excluding the industrial wastewaters (c) Calculate the peak
flow factor and peak flow
Solution:

 Evaluation of wastewater
Composite samples representing specific time periods are tested to appraise plant
performance and loadings (Weekday specimens collected over a 24hr period are
most common)……………………..
To be representative of the entire flow, samples should be taken where the
wastewater is well mixed
A composite sample is a mixture of individual grabs proportioned according to the
wastewater flow pattern.
Common laboratory analyses to define characteristics of municipal
wastewater are
o BOD…. BOD and flow data are basic for the design of biological
treatment
o Suspended Solids ….. concentration of S.S. relative to BOD
indicates to what degree OM is removable by primary settling
 o Other parameters to be tested are included in table 9-2 page 314
such as (volatile SS, COD, Inorganic N, total N , soluble
phosphorous as P, total phosphorous as P)

Grab Samples: represent conditions at the time of sampling only and can't be
considered to represent a longer time period
The portion of sample needed per unit flow is designated as the multiplier

Multiplier = V of composite sample desired / average flow rate *number of portions

Example 9-9 page 324:

Hourly samples were taken of the wastewater entering a treatment plant. The
record flow pattern is given in figure 9-3. Tabulate the portions to be used from the
hourly grabs to provide composite samples for the 24-hr duration and during the
period of maximum 8-hr loading, between 9 am and 5 pm. The composite sample
volumes needed for laboratory testing are approximately 2500 ml.
Solution: