1.

Salient features of DAO 08-2017

a. Transform DENR programs and projects into Gems where household members create sustainable
goods and services for the rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems.
- Changing projects and programs of Department of Environmental and Natural Resources into
green economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities and that
aims for sustainable development without degrading the environment.

b. Create viable community enterprises where households are the focal members create sustainable
goods and services for the rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems.
- Building a community wherein the main point of interest are the household members that will
serves as the instrument on preserving and restoring the quality of the environment be it in
agriculture, industry or other sector.

c. Accelerate the rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems and promote the protection of the environment
through the creation of green jobs.
- Creating green jobs that can produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment or
conserve natural resources, and may include research and development, installation and
maintenance services. Using green technologies for the development and application of
products, equipment and systems that meets the needs of the present generation without
comprising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs and that is conducted
without depletion of natural resources.

2. Units of Measurement:
a. Turbidity
The definition of Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by suspended solids
that are usually invisible to the naked eye. The measurement of Turbidity is an important test when
trying to determine the quality of water. It is an aggregate optical property of the water and does not
identify individual substances. The term Turbidity (also called haze) can also be applied to
transparent solids like plastic and glass.

Units of Turbidity:
i. . Nephelometric turbidity unit
A unit measuring the lack of clarity of water, used by water and sewage treatment plants,
in marine studies, and so on. Symbol, NTU, or ntu. Water containing 1 milligram of finely divided
silica per liter has a turbidity of 1 NTU. The NTU replaced the Jackson turbidity unit.
The NTU is measured with an electronic instrument called a nephelometer. The water to be
measured is placed in a standard container. A light beam passes through the water and strikes a
 sensor on the other side of the container. A second sensor is mounted at right angles to the beam,
measuring light scattered by particles in the water. From the ratio between the light intensities at
the two sensors the turbidity in NTU can be calculated.
To calibrate the device a standard solution is needed. An early approach was to suspend a
measured mass of silica in a measured volume of distilled water. In another approach, defined
quantities of reagents were mixed to produce a fine precipitate. The current technique employs
microspheres of polymer, which led to a new turbidity unit, the Formazin turbidity
unit (FTU). Measurements in NTU and FTU are roughly equivalent.

ii. Jackson turbidity units

An obsolete unit used in measuring the clarity of water: the lower the value, the clearer the
water. Symbol, JTU or Jtu. Also called a Jackson Candle unit. Water containing 100 parts per
million silica had a turbidity of 21.5 JTU. The scale was, in fact, built around suspensions of silica,
in the form of diatomaceous earth.
The test relied on the human eye. The flame of a standard candle was viewed through a vertical
tube. The tube was gradually filled with the water to be measured until the flame was no longer
distinct. The depth of water in the tube, which had a scale marked in JTU, indicated the turbidity.
Both the unit and the measuring technique are obsolete; however, measurements in the units that
replaced it (NTU and FTU) are numerically close to JTU measurements, but with a much lower
margin of error.

iii. Formazin turbidity unit

A unit used to measure the clarity of water and beer. The ISO¹ refers to the units as FNU
(Formazin Nephelometric Units). The technique is the same as that for the NTU, but the calibration
uses microspheres of the polymer formazin.
Directions for the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) test for the “Haze
(Total) of Beer after Chilling” states² “1000 formazin turbidity units (FTU) on empirical formazin
turbidity scale represents reflectance of insol. reaction products of 0.0725 g hydrazine sulfate
with 0.7250 g hexamethylenetetramine dild to 1 L.”

b. Color
Two terms are used to describe color. ‘True color’ is the color after particulate matter has
been removed (usually by filtration through a 0.45 micrometer pore size filter). ‘Apparent color’ is
what one actually sees; it is the color resulting from the combined effect of true color and any
particulate matter, or turbidity. In turbid waters, the true color is substantially less than the apparent
color.
 Colour can be measured spectrophotometrically or using a visual comparator. In both cases,
the standard unit of measurement is the Hazen unit (HU). True colour is often quoted as True Colour
Units, or TCU; however, the numerical values are identical. Hazen units are defined in terms of a
platinum–cobalt standard (APHA Method 2120B 1992). This standard was developed for the
analysis of colour in natural waters with a yellow-brown appearance, and is not applicable to waters
with different colours.

A unit of true color (UTC), or a platinum-cobalt unit, refers to the quantity of color revealed
under specified sampling conditions, by a control solution containing 1 mg of platinum per litre.

c. Odor
An odor, or odour, is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are
generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive by
their sense of smell. An odor is also called a "smell" or a "scent", which can refer to either a
pleasant or an unpleasant odor.
Odor concentration is an odor's pervasiveness. To measure odor sensation, an odor is
diluted to a detection or recognition threshold. The detection threshold is the concentration of an
odor in air when 50% of a population can distinguish between the odorous sample and an odor-
free reference sample. The recognition odor threshold is usually a factor of 2 to 5 times higher
than the detection threshold.
The measurement of odor concentration is the most widespread method to quantify odors.
It is standardized in CEN EN 13725:2003. The method is based on dilution of an odor sample to
the odor threshold. The numerical value of the odor concentration is equal to the dilution factor that
is necessary to reach the odor threshold. Its unit is the European Odour Unit, OUE. Therefore, the
odor concentration at the odor threshold is 1 OUE by definition.
Odour concentration measured by olfactometry is expressed as "odour units" (OU) (mostly
in North America) or "odour units per cubic meter"(OU/m3 ) (in Europe). Schmidt (2002) defines
"odour units" as the volume of diluent required to dilute a unit volume of odour until the detection
threshold of the odour is obtained. Alternatively, "odour units per cubic meter" is defined as the
concentration of odour in one cubic meter of air at the panel detection threshold of the odour. In the
field of air pollution control, the pollutant concentration is commonly expressed as mass per unit
volume (g/m3 ). Therefore, the unit OU/m3 seems logical to use for expressing odour
concentration, but OU is not a mass measurement. The European standard defines a
European reference odour mass (EROM), which is equivalent to 123 µg n-butanol evaporated into
1 m3 of neutral gas (air). This leads to a definition of the European odour unit, denoted as OUE by
some researchers, which is the amount of odorant(s) that, when evaporated into 1 m3 of gas air at
standard conditions, elicits a physiological response from a panel (detection threshold) equivalent
to that by one EROM. Therefore, the odour concentration is expressed as OUE/m3 , or simply
OU/m3 .
3. . Suspended Growth (Activated Sludge) Process
The Suspended growth process was developed in 1914 by Arden and Lockett. It was so called
because it involved the production of an activated mass of micro-organisms capable of aerobically
stabilizing the organic content of a waste. Waste water is introduced into an aerated tank of micro-
organisms which are collectively referred to as activated sludge or mixed liquor. Aeration is achieved by the
use of submerged diffused or surface mechanical aeration or combinatidns thereof, which maintain the
activated sludge in suspension. Following a period of contact between the waste water and the activated
sludge, the outflow is separated from the sludge in a secondary settlement tank. To maintain the desired
micro-biological mass in the aeration tank, sludge is returned to the aeration tank (RAS) while an excess
due to biological growth is periodically or continuously wasted (WAS). The concentration at which the
mixed liquor is maintained in the aeration tank affects the efficiency of treatment. The basic unit of
operation of the activated sludge process is the floe. The floe is suspended in the aeration tank and
consists of millions of aerobic micro-organisms (bacteria, fungi, yeast, protozoa, and Worms), particles,
coagulants and impurities that have come together and formed a mass. This mass is irregular in shape and
helps to collect pollutants, both organic and inorganic, in the waste water by adsorption, absorption or
entrapment. To operate the process on a continuous basis, the floe must be separated in the secondary
settlement tank and returned to the aeration tank.

Figure 1. Activated Sludge Process

Attached Growth (Biofilm) Processes
Attached growth, biofilm and fixed film are terms relating to a treatment process where bacterial
growth attaches itself to a surface. The resulting film or slime contains the micro-organisms necessary to
treat the applied waste water.
Fixed film processes can be sub-divided into units with:
 packed media (percolating filters and some submerged filters); and
 moving or buoyant media (rotating biological contactors and other submerged filters)
Biofilm processes are usually preceded by primary settlement to remove gross settle able solids which may
interfere with oxygen transfer to the micro-organisms, block the filter media or result in high solids yields.
Biofilm processes are categorized as:
 Percolating or trickling filters - these are made up of beds of packed media. The medium provides
support for the growth of micro-organisms and applied waste water flowing in a downward direction
through a medium provides food for these microorganisms. Thus, the micro-organisms feed upon
and remove the substances contained in the waste water. The media used are highly permeable;
the word "filter" does not imply any straining or separation of solid material. Many variations on the
arrangement of structure, media and distribution systems are available.
 Rotating biological contactors (RBC) - these units allow the growth of a biofilm on large diameter
discs or structured modules. A central horizontal shaft rotates the discs or modules thereby
exposing the biofilm sequentially to the waste water and to the atmosphere.
 Submerged (aerated) filters - these units have been commercially developed over the last ten
years with claims of high loading rates and efficiencies and low land area requirements. They are
intensive biofilm processes where large quantities of biomass are supported inside a tank through
which the waste water is passed. A submerged aeration system is required in aerobic processes.
The larger submerged filters tend to be highly engineered unit processes although simpler package
versions have been developed for use as small waste water treatment plants

Activated Sludge System

Method and installation description
Aerobic water purification based on biological oxidation with active sludge is primarily used to
remove organic fraction from waste water. In addition to the removal of organic substances, this purification
method is also able to eliminate nitrogen and phosphorus, though to a lesser extent.
Sludge floccules contain aerobic micro-organisms. This active sludge is a mix of microscopic organisms:
bacteria, protozoa, rotifers etc. If sufficient oxygen is present, these organisms are able to oxidise organic
components in the wastewater (influent) into CO2 and water. This process is referred to as dissimilation.
However, part of the organic material is used to create new biomass. This is referred to as assimilation.
The rising sludge concentration can be controlled by regularly removing the biomass from the system.
However, if an aerobic purification system is only operated at a very low load, there will often be low sludge
growth. The reaction for the oxidation of organic matter can be explained as follows:
wastewater + biomass + O2 -> CO2 + H2O + new biomass

Types of implementation:
Conventional active sludge system
A conventional active sludge system consists of an aeration tank, which is used for biological degradation,
and a sedimentation tank, where the sludge in separated from the treated wastewater (see method diagram
1). Sludge floccules with a good structure and high density are recommended in order to successfully
complete this step. The aeration basins are sometimes preceded by a mixing tank (selector), where the
influent is intensively mixed with sludge. The aim of this is to prevent the growth of thread-forming bacteria.
A conventional active sludge system is generally more successful in realising sedimentation, compared to
an SBR, due to the specific function of the sedimentation tank (conical in shape, featuring a scraper).

Diagram 1. Conventional System

SBR (Sequencing Batch Reactor)

In an SBR, the various purification processes are performed consecutively in the same basins. A
standard cycle involves filling, aeration, sedimentation and drainage. An SBR is thus perfectly suited to
waste flows that are released in batches. A buffer must be implemented for continuous waste flows. An
SBR can be used to consecutively perform various biological processes, like nitrification and denitrification.
These process times are flexible and can be easily modified (e.g. longer sedimentation time for slit that
does not settle easily). An SBR system is better at preventing thread-forming bacteria because the system
acts as a selector during the supply phase.
 Diagram 2. SBR Type

Membrane bio-reactors
In membrane bio-reactors, the sedimentation step is replaced by membrane separation.