SOURCES OF SEWAGE AND QUANTITY ESTIMATION OF SEWAGE

Introduction
The sewage collected from the municipal area consists of wastewater generated from the
residences, commercial centers, recreational activities, institutions and industrial wastewaters
discharge into sewer network from the permissible industries located within the city limits.
Before designing the sewer, it is necessary to know the discharge i.e., quantity of sewage, which
will flow in it after completion of the project. Accurate estimation of sewage discharge is
necessary for hydraulic design of the sewers. Far lower estimation than reality will soon lead to
inadequate sewer size after commissioning of the scheme or the sewers may not remain adequate
for the entire design period. Similarly, very high discharge estimated will lead to larger sewer
size affecting economy of the sewerage scheme, and the lower discharge actually flowing in the
sewer may not meet the criteria of the self cleansing velocity and hence leading to deposition in
the sewers. Actual measurement of the discharge is not possible if the sewers do not exist; and
where the capacity of the existing sewers is inadequate and need to be increased, still actual
present discharge measurement may not be accurate due to unaccounted overflow and leakages
that might be occurring in the existing system. Since sewers are design to serve for some more
future years, engineering skills have to be used to accurately estimate the sewage discharge.

Sources of Wastewater

The major sources of raw sewage are domestic sewage, industrial sewage, storm water and
infiltration form groundwater.

a. Domestic (sanitary) wastewater

Domestic sewage consists of waste from toilets, lavatories, urinals, bathtubs, showers, home
laundries, and kitchens. It also includes similar wastes from institutional and commercial
facilities such offices, restaurants, hospital. Clearly the characteristic of water from commercial
facilities will vary greatly between them.

b. Industrial sewage
Industrial waste, depending upon the source, has characteristics that are different from domestic
waste. Some of these wastes are dangerous to plant operators as well as to the treatment plant
and collection system. Industrial waste sources include, but are not limited to, laundry and dry-
cleaning plants, metal-cleaning and plating processes, paint spray booths, aircraft and vehicle
cleaning racks, boiler plants, photographic processing systems, and fire-fighting activities. Most
industrial waste requires pre-treatment before being introduced into a collection system at their
source.
Industrial wastes can also be very high or low in pH because of acids and/or bases used in their
processes. You may expect intense colours in wastes from painting areas. Grit, salt, and dirt
levels may be high from vehicle wash racks. Radioactive wastes must never be dumped into
regular collection systems. They must be handled separately and, in most cases, very carefully.
Explosive or flammable liquids can often enter the system from fuel storage areas. These liquids
also create a dangerous fire hazard in a sewage treatment plant.

c. Storm water
Storm water should be excluded from the sewage collection system as much as possible. Heavy
input of storm water can disturb the operation of a treatment plant by sending it too much water,
a problem called hydraulic overloading.

Very large paved or roofed areas should not be drained into the sanitary collection system.
Maintenance personnel should prevent storm water infiltration as much as possible by ensuring
manholes are sealed, pipes are not cracked or broken, and all leaking joints are repaired.

d. Infiltration into sewer

Presence of high groundwater results in leakage into the sewer and in an increase in the quantity
of wastewater to be managed and expenses of disposing it. The amount of infiltration will vary
from about 0.01 m3/mm.km. day to 1.0 m3/mm.km.day. During heavy rains there may be
leakages through manhole covers and inflow and increased infiltration depending on the type of
material and workmanship.

VARIATION IN WASTEWATER FLOW RATES

The amount of wastewater produced fluctuates from season to season and hour to hour.
Changing seasons also affect the pattern flow. Peak flow of domestic wastes normally reaches a
plant just after breakfast and for several hours in the early evening. Industrial wastes may reach
the plant during the industry's period of operation. If the industry has two or three shifts, flow
will be more constant.

The size and topography of the area served by a treatment plant also affects the flow pattern.
Small plants may have large differences between peak and low flow periods. Larger plants
normally have more uniform rates of flow. The period of lowest flow is usually between
Midnight and 0500 hours. Unusual flow patterns help operating personnel identify and correct
abnormal surges in flow in the wastewater system.

Short-term variations
The variation observed in wastewater flow observed at treatment plants tend to follow a
somewhat diurnal pattern, minimum flow occurs in the early hours if the morning when he water
consumption is lowest and the base flow essentially consists of infiltration and small quantities
of sanitary sewage.

First peak flow generally occurs in the rate morning when the peak of morning water use reaches
the treatment plant. The second peak flow generally occurs in early evening between 7 pm and 9
pm, but this will vary with size of community and length of sewer

Typical shorterm wastewater flowrate variation at treatment plant

When extraneous flows are minimal, wastewater discharges are closely parallel to water
consumption curves, but with a lag of several hours.

Seasonal variations
Magnitude of seasonal variations in residential areas will depend with the community and
seasons activities. For example an area largely serving resort activities may record reduced flow
rates during particular times of the year when recreational occupancy is depressed. Generally
flow rates increase in hot weather and during rainy season due to infiltration.
WASTEWATER QUANTITY ESTIMATION

The flow of sanitary sewage alone in the absence of storms in dry season is known as dry
weather flow .The quantity wastewater produced is determined is determined by the following
equation.

Design discharge =Per capita sewage contributed per day x Population

Sanitary sewage is mostly the spent water of the community draining into the sewer system. It
has been observed that a small portion of spent water is lost in evaporation, seepage in ground,
leakage, etc. Usually 70-80% of the water supply may be expected to reach the sewers.

Fluctuations in Dry Weather Flow

Since dry weather flow depends on the quantity of water used, and as there are fluctuations in
rate of water consumption, there will be fluctuations in dry weather flow also. In general, it can
be assumed that

(i) Maximum daily flow = 2 x average daily flow and

(ii) Minimum daily flow = 2/3 x (average daily flow).

Population forecasting methods (covered in pHE 1.Revise accordingly)

Example
A city has a projected population of 60,000 spread over area of 50 hectare. Find the design
discharge for the separate sewer line by assuming rate of water supply of 250 LPCD and out of
this total supply only 75 % reaches in sewer as wastewater. Make necessary assumption
whenever necessary.
Solution