10/15/2020 OneNote

Sewage Disposal System

Thursday, October 15, 2020 8:26 PM

Sewage System Management

• Collection and safe disposal of human waste are critical problems of environmental health.
• When human wastes are deposited in a pit, disease-causing organisms do not move horizontally in the soil or move by itself; it is carried through
water flows pests and other vermin, thus, causing contamination.
• Sewage is a poisonous waste and is a mixture of liquid, feces, toilet paper and food wastes produced by people that must be disposed of before
used water can be returned to the environment.
• 50% of sewage solids is organic and subject to rotting; as it decomposes, it becomes odorous and dark in color. Fresh or stale, it contains harmful
organisms which causes diseases.
• In order to make the sewage non-toxic, it is broken down into water, gases, and solids

Sewage Disposal System

• Getting rid of sewage and effluent is called sewage disposal. If sewage is not disposed of or contained correctly, people may encounter it and get
very sick.
• A system for the treatment and disposal of domestic sewage by means of a structure or mechanical treatment, all designed to serve a single
establishment, development or building.
• The purpose of sewage disposal is to produce an environmentally safe fluid waste stream (or treated effluent) and a solid waste or sludge
suitable for discharge or reuse back into the environment.
• There are different ways to dispose of sewage. Whichever method is used, it is important to make sure that it does not:
- cause dangerous conditions which allow people to come in contact with disease-causing germs
- cause pollution of a water supply
- allow the breeding of insects, such as mosquitoes or cockroaches which can carry disease-causing germs inside or on their bodies as a result of
eating or walking in sewage
- produce bad smells

Sewage System Terminology

• Absorption Field - A subsurface leaching area within the soil that receives the liquid effluent from the distribution laterals and distributes it over a
specified area where it can seep into the soil.
• Aerobic Bacteria - Odorless, highly efficient strains of sewage digesting bacteria that live only in the presence of oxygen.
• Anaerobic Bacteria - Less efficient strains of sewage digesting bacteria that live only in the absence of oxygen.
• Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) – measures the amount of oxygen required by aerobic organisms to decompose organic matter under aerobic
conditions.
• Biomat - Black, slimy growth and by-product of anaerobic bacteria that grows at the interface of the distribution component and the surrounding
soil. If neglected, the biomat becomes impermeable and can cause septic system backups and failure.
• Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) – measures the amount of oxygen required for the chemical oxidation of the organic and inorganic constituents
present in the wastewater by chemical reaction.
• Effluent - Wastewater which flows out of a septic tank.
• Influent - Raw, untreated sewage and wastewater which flows into a septic tank.
• Septic - Putrefactive, rotten, to make rotten. Lacking oxygen.
• Sewage - the liquid wastes conducted away from buildings/structures, also of the storm water.
• Sewer - a pipe or conduit for carrying sewage and waste liquids.
• Sewerage - a comprehensive term, including all construction for collection, transportation, pumping, treatment and final disposition of waste.

Sewage Disposal Component

• The septic tank
• A drain field
• The soil beneath the drain field

Classification of Sewage Disposal System

On-site disposal systems
• All the liquid waste from the toilet, bathroom, laundry and sink goes into pipes which carry it to a septic tank.
• The effluent from the tank is then disposed of through effluent disposal drains often referred to as leach or French drains.
• Both methods of disposing of liquid waste are on-site disposal systems. They must be installed and maintained properly.
• In these systems, the effluent is soaked into the surrounding soil. Some soils don't allow good soakage such as clay or similar soils.
• On-site disposal systems cannot be installed in all situations. For example, they cannot be installed:

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○ in areas that flood regularly
○ in areas that have a high water table (where the underground water is close to the surface)
○ where the amount of wastewater to be disposed of is large
○ near to drinking water supplies

Effluent (wastewater) disposal system

• In this method the effluent from the community is carried by large pipes to the lagoon.
• These pipes serve all the houses and other buildings in the community.
• The sewage may be either be treated in septic tanks at the houses or buildings or at the lagoon.
• There are no leach or French drains.

Full sewage system

• All the sewage from the toilet, shower, laundry and other areas enters waste and sewer pipes directly and is pumped to a lagoon.
• There are three types of full sewage system:
○ The sewage enters the lagoon without treatment
○ The sewage goes through a series of cutting blades which help break up the solid matter before it enters the lagoon. These blades are called
macerators.
○ The sewage may be treated in a large septic tank just before it enters the lagoon.

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The Septic Tank

• Cesspool – a hole in the ground lined with stones, bricks, or concrete hollow blocks laid in a manner as to allow raw contaminated sewage to
leach into the soil; the organic wastes are disposed of by disintegration process.
• Privy – a sealed concrete vault also constructed for the collection of raw sewage; the organic wastes are also disposed of by disintegration
process.
• Septic tank – a receptacle used to expedite the decomposition of the elements in a raw sewage waste; raw sewage is composed of water and
settleable solid called organic materials that can be liquified and precipitated in a short time.

Primary Functions of a Septic Tank

• to create a holding space where some of the solids can be separated from the liquids
• to break down solids through a biochemical process involving the bacteria
• to store the settled solids until pumping occurs
Therefore, the septic tank is designed to accomplish two tasks:
1.Clarification - a function of the detention time and the water extraction method
2.Treatment - consists of biological treatment by anaerobic digestion

Decomposition of Organic Materials

• Aerobes (aerobic bacteria) function in the presence of material oxygen; decomposition by the bacteria is not accompanied by unpleasant odors
and has no definite time and could be within a matter of hours
• Anaerobes (anaerobic bacteria) thrives in the absence of free oxygen; decomposition by these bacteria, called putrefaction, is accompanied by
bad odors; sewage that turns dark and smelly due to anaerobic decomposition is called septic.
• Facultative bacteria function with or without free oxygen.

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Septic Tank Size

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