2018

Domestic Sewage Management

Contents
1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 3
Domestic Sewage ................................................................................................................................ 3
2 Characteristics of waste water........................................................................................................ 5
2.1 Temperature ........................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Colour ...................................................................................................................................... 5
2.3 Odor ........................................................................................................................................ 5
3 Waste water management ............................................................................................................. 6
3.1 Reuse ....................................................................................................................................... 6
3.2 Recycle .................................................................................................................................... 7
3.3 Discharge................................................................................................................................. 7
4 Motivational factors for recycle/ reuse .......................................................................................... 8
5 Municipal Wastewater in India ....................................................................................................... 9
6 Present Practices of Wastewater Reuse ......................................................................................... 9
7 Wastewater treatment ................................................................................................................. 11
7.1 Disposal or Reuse .................................................................................................................. 12
7.2 Processes used ...................................................................................................................... 13
A. Phase separation ................................................................................................................... 13
B. Sedimentation ....................................................................................................................... 13
C. Filtration ................................................................................................................................ 14
D. Oxidation ............................................................................................................................... 14
E. Polishing ................................................................................................................................ 15
8 Wastewater treatment plants ...................................................................................................... 16
8.1 Sewage treatment plants ...................................................................................................... 16
8.2 Tertiary treatment ................................................................................................................ 17
8.3 Industrial wastewater treatment plants ............................................................................... 18
8.4 Agricultural wastewater treatment plants ........................................................................... 19
9 National status of waste water generation & treatment ............................................................. 20
9.1 Government Plans on Sewage Treatment ............................................................................ 22
10 References ................................................................................................................................ 24
1 Introduction
Domestic Sewage

Domestic sewage is the used water from houses and apartments, mostly
coming from the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry sources. Things like
dishwashing, the garbage disposal, and of course baths and showers
are included in the mix.

Definition

The wastewater from residences and institutions, carrying bodily wastes

(primarily feces and urine), washing water, food preparation wastes,
laundry wastes, and other waste products of normal living, are classed
as domestic or sanitary sewage.
The term sewage is nowadays regarded as an older term and is being
more and more replaced by "wastewater".
Water is vital to the existence of all living organisms, but this valued
resource is increasingly being threatened as human populations grow
and demand more water of high quality for domestic purposes and
economic activities.

 Wastewater is generally divided into two categories: black water

and gray water.

 Black water refers to toilet waste and gray water refers to the
remaining wastewater from sinks, showers, laundry, etc.

 The septic tank provides primary treatment of both types of

wastewater by settling out the solids and providing space for
floating scum to be retained. Relatively clear, but not clean, water
is discharged from the septic tank to the absorption field. The soil
provides for further treatment when the waste water percolates
through the soil profile.

 Untreated or improperly treated wastewater contains biological

contaminants known to cause disease.
 Wastewater is not safe to drink, and discharging this water directly
into the environment (onto the ground or into a water body) can
pose health and safety problems.

 After all, this water is part of the water cycle and will eventually
make its way into a source for our water supply.

 The wastewater must be properly managed to protect human and

environmental health and safety.

Figure: Greywater (a type of wastewater) in a settling tank

2 Characteristics of waste water
2.1 Temperature
Changes in waste water temperatures affect the settling rates, dissolved
oxygen levels, and biological action.

The temperature of wastewater becomes extremely important in certain

wastewater operations has sedimentation tanks and recirculation filters.

2.2 Colour
The colour of waste water containing Dissolved Oxygen (DO) is normally
gray.

Black – colour waste water usually accompanied by foul odors,

containing little or no DO, is said to be septic.

2.3 Odor
Domestic waste water has a musty odor.

Bubbling gas and foul odor may indicate industrial wastes, anaerobic
(septic) conditions,.
3 Waste water management
Wastewater management encompasses a broad range of efforts that
promote effective and responsible water use, treatment, and disposal
and encourage the protection and restoration of watersheds.

Figure: Water Waste Storage Tank

3.1 Reuse
• Some relatively clean wastewater can be reused without treatment
• Gray water is wastewater generated by washing, laundry, and bathing
(not from toilets)

•50-80% of domestic wastewater •Reused for irrigation or flushing toilets

3.2 Recycle
• Wastewater can be treated (on-site or off-site) and reused for
nondrinking purposes

•Closed-loop treatment systems are often used to capture, treat, and

reuse wastewater on-site

•Wastewater reclamation involves treating the wastewater and using it

for a different purpose

Figure: Water Recycling

3.3 Discharge
• Wastewater is transported to an (on- site or off-site) treatment facility,
treated, and discharged into a water body

• These treated water can be discharged and reused, which can be used
for watering in gardens or other washing purposes
4 Motivational factors for recycle/ reuse

Motivational factors for recycle/ reuse • In order to avoid environmental

problems arising due to discharge of treated/untreated wastewater to the
environment is another factor that encourages reuse. While the nutrients
in wastewater can assist plant growth when reused for irrigation, their
disposal, in extreme cases, is detrimental to ecosystems of the receiving
environment.

Major among the motivational factors for wastewater recycle/reuse are:

– Opportunities to augment limited primary water sources;

– Prevention of excessive diversion of water from alternative uses,

including the natural environment;

– Possibilities to manage in-situ water sources;

– Minimization of infrastructure costs, including total treatment and

discharge costs;

– Reduction and elimination of discharges of wastewater (treated or

untreated) into receiving environment;

• Reuse of wastewater can be a supplementary source to existing water

sources, especially in arid/semi-arid climatic regions. RECYCLE/
REUSE are considered as a method of water resource management.
5 Municipal Wastewater in India
It is expected that, Gross wastewater generation (mld) by 2051 in India
will reach to 120000 mld. It is estimated that about 38,254 million liters
per day (mld) of wastewater is generated in urban centres comprising
Class I cities and Class II towns having population of more than 50,000
(accounting for more than 70 per cent of the total urban population).

6 Present Practices of Wastewater Reuse

Conventionally, sewage is collected through a vast network of sewerage

systems and transported to a centralized treatment plant, which is
resource intensive. Instead of transporting it long distance for centralized
treatment, the Central Pollution Control Board is promoting decentralized
treatment at the local level using technology based on natural
processes.

 After proper treatment, sewage can be used in pisciculture,

irrigation, forestry, and horticulture.
 Conventional treatment generates sludge, which acts as manure.
The sludge can also be used for energy recovery. Some STPs in
the country are recovering this energy and utilizing it.
 The wastewater may be given some form of terminal treatment
before its application on land. The remaining nutrients, organics,
 and water enter the natural system of recycling and are used by
plants and microbes in soil or are retained by the soil.

The principal of reuse/recycling of wastewater differs from the age-old

sewage farming practices as the present technology, that is, ‘Land
Treatment’ means a controlled application of pre-treated wastewater on
land surface to achieve a designated degree of treatment through
natural bio-geochemical process wastewater reuse.

This involves:

(i) slow rate(SR)—

(a) Treatment of applied wastewater based on assimilative

capacity of soil,

(b) Economic return from reuse of water and nutrients to

produce marketable crops,

(c) Water conservation;

(ii) rapid infiltration (RF)—

(a) Groundwater recharge,

(b) Recovery of renovated water;

(iii) Overland flow (OF)—

(a) Wastewater treatment with the help of low permeable and

sloping land,

(b) Recycling of renovated water from the system,

(c) Crop production.

 New generation of sewage treatment technologies such as

membrane bioreactor (MBR) can treat the wastewater near to the
quality of river water. With suitable renovation this treated sewage
can also recharge flood plains of river in e systems to ensure
perennial flow of rivers.
7 Wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment is a process used to convert wastewater into
an effluent (out flowing of water to a receiving body of water) that can be
returned to the water cycle with minimal impact on the environment or
directly reused. The latter is called water reclamation because treated
wastewater can then be used for other purposes. The treatment process
takes place in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), often referred to
as a Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) or a sewage treatment
plant. Pollutants in municipal wastewater (households and small
industries) are removed or broken down.

Figure: Simplified process flow diagram for a typical large-scale treatment plant
 Figure: Sewage treatment plant

7.1 Disposal or Reuse

Although disposal or reuse occurs after treatment, it must be considered
first. Since disposal or reuse are the objectives of wastewater treatment,
disposal or reuse options are the basis for treatment decisions.
Acceptable impurity concentrations may vary with the type of use or
location of disposal. Transportation costs often make acceptable
impurity concentrations dependent upon location of disposal, but
expensive treatment requirements may encourage selection of a
disposal location on the basis of impurity concentrations.
Ocean disposal is subject to international treaty requirements.
International treaties may also regulate disposal into rivers crossing
international borders. Water bodies entirely within the jurisdiction of a
single nation may be subject to regulations of multiple local
governments. Acceptable impurity concentrations may vary widely
among different jurisdictions for disposal of wastewater to evaporation
ponds, infiltration basins, or injection wells.

7.2 Processes used

A. Phase separation

Figure: Clarifiers used for wastewater treatment

Phase separation transfers impurities into a non-aqueous phase. Phase

separation may occur at intermediate points in a treatment sequence to
remove solids generated during oxidation or polishing. Grease and oil
may be recovered for fuel or saponification. Solids often require
dewatering of sludge in a wastewater treatment plant. Disposal options
for dried solids vary with the type and concentration of impurities
removed from water.
Production of waste brine, however, may discourage wastewater
treatment removing dissolved inorganic solids from water by methods
like ion exchange, reverse osmosis, and distillation.

B. Sedimentation
Solids and non-polar liquids may be removed from wastewater
by gravity when density differences are sufficient to overcome dispersion
by turbulence. Gravity separation of solids is the primary treatment
of sewage, where the unit process is called "primary settling tanks" or
"primary sedimentation tanks". It is also widely used for the treatment of
other wastewaters. Solids that are heavier than water will accumulate at
the bottom of quiescent settling basins. More complex clarifiers also
have skimmers to simultaneously remove floating grease like soap scum
and solids like feathers or wood chips. Containers like the API oil-water
separator are specifically designed to separate non-polar liquids.

Figure: Primary settling tank of wastewater treatment plant in Dresden-Kaditz, Germany

C. Filtration
Colloidal suspensions of fine solids may be removed by filtration through
fine physical barriers distinguished from coarser screens or sieves by
the ability to remove particles smaller than the openings through which
the water passes. Other types of water filters remove impurities by
chemical or biological processes described below.

D. Oxidation
Oxidation reduces the biochemical oxygen demand of wastewater, and
may reduce the toxicity of some impurities. Secondary
treatment converts organic compounds into carbon dioxide, water,
and bio solids. Chemical oxidation is widely used for disinfection.

Figure: Aeration tank of an activated sludge process at the wastewater treatment plant in Dresden-Kaditz, Germany
 a. Biochemical oxidation
Secondary treatment
Secondary treatment by biochemical oxidation of dissolved and
colloidal organic compounds is widely used in sewage treatment and is
applicable to some agricultural and industrial wastewaters. Biological
oxidation will preferentially remove organic compounds useful as a food
supply for the treatment ecosystem. Concentration of some less
digestible compounds may be reduced by co-metabolism. Removal
efficiency is limited by the minimum food concentration required to
sustain the treatment ecosystem.
Chemical oxidation

Figure: Edward Frankland, a distinguished chemist, who demonstrated the possibility of chemically treating sewage in
the 1870s

b. Redox
Chemical oxidation may remove some persistent organic pollutants and
concentrations remaining after biochemical oxidation. Disinfection by
chemical oxidation kills bacteria and microbial pathogens by
adding ozone, chlorine or hypochlorite to wastewater.

E. Polishing
Polishing refers to treatments made following the above methods. These
treatments may also be used independently for some industrial
wastewater. Chemical reduction or pH adjustment minimizes chemical
reactivity of wastewater following chemical oxidation. Carbon
filtering removes remaining contaminants and impurities by chemical
absorption onto activated carbon. Filtration through sand (calcium
carbonate) or fabric filters is the most common method used in municipal
wastewater treatment

8 Wastewater treatment plants

For plant species utilized in water treatment, see Organisms involved in
water purification.

Wastewater treatment plants may be distinguished by the type of

wastewater to be treated, i.e. whether it is sewage, industrial
wastewater, agricultural wastewater or leachate.

Overview of the wastewater treatment plant of Antwerpen-Zuid, located in the south of the agglomeration of Antwerp
(Belgium)

8.1 Sewage treatment plants

A typical municipal sewage treatment plant in an industrialized country
may include primary treatment to remove solid material, secondary
treatment to digest dissolved and suspended organic material as well as
the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, and – sometimes but not always
– disinfection to kill pathogenic bacteria. The sewage sludge that is
produced in sewage treatment plants undergoes sludge treatment.
Larger municipalities often include factories discharging industrial
wastewater into the municipal sewer system. The term "sewage
treatment plant" is now often replaced with the term "wastewater
treatment plant". Sewage can also be treated by processes using
"Nature-based solutions".
 Figure: Process flow diagram for a typical treatment plant via subsurface flow constructed wetlands (SFCW)

8.2 Tertiary treatment

Tertiary treatment is a term applied to polishing methods used following

a traditional sewage treatment sequence. Tertiary treatment is being
increasingly applied in industrialized countries and most common
technologies are micro filtration or synthetic membranes. After
membrane filtration, the treated wastewater is nearly indistinguishable
from waters of natural origin of drinking quality (without its minerals).
Nitrates can be removed from wastewater by natural processes in
wetlands but also via microbial denitrification. Ozone wastewater
treatment is also growing in popularity, and requires the use of an ozone
generator, which decontaminates the water as ozone bubbles percolate
through the tank, but this treatment is energy intensive. The latest and
very promising treatment technology is the use aerobic granulation.
8.3 Industrial wastewater treatment plants
Disposal of wastewaters from an industrial plant is a difficult and costly
problem. Most petroleum refineries, chemical and petrochemical plants
have onsite facilities to treat their wastewaters so that the pollutant
concentrations in the treated wastewater comply with the local and/or
national regulations regarding disposal of wastewaters into community
treatment plants or into rivers, lakes or oceans.
Industrial wastewater plants may reduce raw water costs by converting
selected wastewaters to reclaimed water used for different purposes.
Industrial wastewater treatment plants may reduce wastewater treatment
charges collected by municipal sewage treatment plants by pre-treating
wastewaters to reduce concentrations of pollutants measured to
determine user fees.
An industrial wastewater treatment plant may include one or more of the
following rather than the conventional primary, secondary, and
disinfection sequence of sewage treatment:
 An API oil-water separator, for removing separate phase oil from
wastewater.
 A clarifier, for removing solids from wastewater.
 A roughing filter, to reduce the biochemical oxygen demand of
wastewater.
 A carbon filtration plant, to remove toxic dissolved organic
compounds from wastewater.
 An advanced electrodialysis reversal (EDR) system with ion
exchange membranes.

8.4 Agricultural wastewater treatment plants

Agricultural wastewater treatment for continuous confined animal

operations like milk and egg production may be performed in plants
using mechanized treatment units similar to those described under
industrial wastewater; but where land is available for ponds, settling
basins and facultative lagoons may have lower operational costs for
seasonal use conditions from breeding or harvest cycles.
Leachate treatment plants are used to treat leachate from landfills.
Treatment options include: biological treatment, mechanical treatment
by ultra filtration, treatment with active carbon filters and reverse
osmosis using disc tube module technology.
9 National status of waste water generation &
treatment

 During 2015, the estimated sewage generation in the country was 61754
MLD as against the developed sewage treatment capacity of 22963 MLD.
Because of the hiatus in sewage treatment capacity, about 38791 MLD
of untreated sewage (62% of the total sewage) is discharged directly into
nearby water bodies
 The five states viz Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi &
Gujarat account for approximately 50% of the total sewage generated in
the country. Maharashtra alone accounts for 13% of the total sewage
generation in the country.
 Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi , Uttar Pradesh & Gujarat account for 67%
of the total sewage treatment capacity installed in the country.
 No sewage treatment plant has been established in seven states/UTs viz.
Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Daman Diu, Nagaland , Assam &
Tripura
 The capacity of STPs installed in the two states viz. Himachal Pradesh &
Sikkim is adequate to treat the total quality of sewage generated in
these states.

Figure: Status of sewage generation and treatment

State-wise details of sewage generation in urban areas and treatment
capacity available

Sl.No. State/UnionTerritory Sewage Generation ,in urban Installed

areas (mld) Treatment
Capacity (mld)
1. Andaman &Nicobar 22 -
Islands
2. Andhra Pradesh 2871 247 .27
3. Arunachal Pradesh 50 -
4. Assam 703 0.21
5. Bihar 1879 124.55
6. Chandigarh 164 314 .5
7. Chhattisgarh 951 -
8. Dadra & NagarHaveli 26 -
9. Daman & Diu 29 -
10. Goa 145 74.58
11. Gujarat 4119 3062.92
12. Haryana 1413 852.7
13. Himachal Pradesh 110 114.72
14. Jammu & Kashmir 547 264.74
15. Jharkhand 1270 117.24
16. Karnataka 3777 1304.16
17. Kerala 2552 152.97
18. Lakshadweep 8 -
19. Madhya Pradesh 3214 482.23
20. Maharashtra 8143 5160.36
21. Manipur 132 -
22. Meghalaya 95 1
23. Mizoram 90 10
24. Nagaland 92 -
25. Delhi 4155 2693.7
26. Odisha 1121 385.54
27. Puducherry 136 68.5
28. Punjab 1664 1245.45
29. Rajasthan 2736 865.92
30. Sikkim 24 31.88
31. Tamil Nadu 5599 1799.72
32. Telangana 1671 685.8
33. Tripura 154 0.05
34. Uttar Pradesh 7124 2646.84
35. Uttarakhand 495 152.9
36. West Bengal 4667 416.9
Total 61948 23277
9.1 Government Plans on Sewage Treatment

 Government Plans 'one City, One Sewage Treatment Plant (STP)

Operator' Strategy For Critical Clean Ganga Mission
o The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), which is executing
the mission on behalf of the ministry, has sanctioned 97 sewerage
infrastructure projects at a cost of Rs 14,127 crore to abate
pollution in the 2,525-km long river. Of these, 11 are proposed to
be completed under the hybrid annuity model.
o Eighty-nine sewage treatment projects have been taken up in 56
towns along the mainstream of the Ganga. These projects are
estimated to create another 1,525 MLD capacity.

Figure : Sewage treatment plant in Kanpur

 HYDERABAD: As many as 10 Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) are being
planned at 10 major hospitals across the state on a pilot basis. The first
STP will come up at MGM Hospital in Warangal and will become fully
operational in the first week of July. STPs will be established at all other
major hospitals in the state in phases
 New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced that
150 MGD of treated water will be added to the city's total 900 MGD
supply. This will be by taking treated water from the Sewage Treatment
Plants (STPs) of Coronation Pillar in Burari, and Rithala, and flowing it
back into Yamuna at Palla, north Delhi.
10 References
1. Wikipedia
2. Online links
a. http://www.unwater.org/app/uploads/2017/05/UN-
Water_Analytical_Brief_Wastewater_Management.pdf
b. http://efc.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Chapter1-
web.pdf
c. https://www.slideshare.net/samyukthasamy1/waste-water-
management-57676558
d. https://www.greenfacts.org/en/wastewater-management/l-
2/index.htm
3. News Articles
4. Government website :
http://www.sulabhenvis.nic.in/Database/STST_wastewater_2090.a
spx