DEWATS-decentralized waste water

treatment system
DWTRU-decentralized waste water
treatment and reuse
 Why decentralizing?
• It can serve as a smart alternative for
communities considering new approaches to
save resources and using technology
efficiently.
Process of a small scale STP
Policy and regulatory framework
 Advantages of dewats over a
centralized system
• Local water reuse
• Sustainably contributes to water conservation and pollution
abatement
• Cost effectiveness
 Construction using locally available materials
 Low operation and maintenance
• Flexibility
• Modularity
• Stage wise implementation
• Remote places, where the sewer line connection is not
available
• Biogas generation
Strategic planning
Key stakeholders
 Classification of Key Small-Scale
Sanitation Technology families
Technology Family
Suspended Growth Processes
Attached Growth Processes
Anaerobic Baffled Reactor (ABR) Based
Systems
Constructed Wetlands and Soil Filtration
Systems
Other Systems
Examples
Conventional Activated Sludge Process
(ASP), Extended Aeration (EA), Oxidation
Ditch, Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR),
Membrane Bioreactor (MBR)
Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR),
Submerged Aerated Fixed Film Reactor
(SAFF), Rotating Biological Contactor
(RBC)
DEWATS, DTS
Horizontal-Flow, Vertical Flow and Hybrid
Constructed Wetlands, CAMUS-SBT, SIBF,
Phytorid, SPISF
CAACO/FICCO, EADOx, Pond Systems,
DRDO Biodigester
 SBR
• It is a fill and draw type activated sludge system. In this system, wastewater is added to a single batch reactor, treated to
remove undesirable components, and then discharged. The conventional activated sludge systems and SBR processes are
the same but the difference between the two technologies is that the SBR performs equalization, biological treatment, and
secondary clarification in a single tank using a time controlled sequence. Equalization, aeration, and clarification can all be
achieved using a single batch reactor.
• All the SBR systems have five steps in common, which are carried out in sequence as follows.
Fill: Wastewater flows in to the reactor and mixes with the biomass already present in the reactor. Filling of influent can be
varied to create the following three different conditions
Static Fill: Under a static-fill condition, influent wastewater enters into the reactor with no mixing and/or aeration. Static fill is
used when there is no need to nitirification or denitrification.
Mixed Fill: Under the condition of mixed-fill, influent is mixed with biomass present in the reactor but the aeration remains off.
As there is no aeration, an anoxic condition appears. Anaerobic conditions can also be achieved during the mixed-fill phase.
Aerated Fill: In condition of aerated-fill, both the aeration and the stirrer are switched on. Aerobic and anoxic environment are
created inside the reactor by keeping on/off oxygen supply to the reactor. During the aerobic condition nitrification takes
place. Aerated Fill can reduce the aeration time required in the react step.

• React: Depending on the conditions applied: anaerobic, anoxic or aerobic reactions, substrate present in the waste water are
consumed by the biomass.
• Settle: After sufficient time of reaction, aeration and mixing is stopped and biomass is allowed to settle from the liquid
resulting in clear supernatant.
• Decant: Clear supernatant (treated waste water) is removed from the reactor.
• Idle: This is the time between cycles which is used to prepare the SBR for next cycle. It is also used to adjust the cycle time
between the SBR reactors. Sludge wasting is also performed during this phase.
 MBBR
• Moving bed biofilm reactor was developed by Norwegian company, Kaldnes
Miljoteknologies.
• This is mainly attached growth process where media is not stationary and it moves freely in
the reactor to improve substrate removal kinetics. Small cylindrical shaped polyethylene
carrier elements (sp. density 0.96 g/cm3 ) are added in aerated or non-aerated basins to
support biofilm growth.
• Cylinders of 10 mm ø and 7 mm thick with a cross inside are popularly used.
• The biofilm carriers are retained in the reactor by the use of a perforated plate (5 x 25 mm
slots) at the tank outlet.
• Thus, this media having larger size cannot escape the reactor along with the effluent.
• Air agitation or mixers are used to continuously circulate the packing and to keep it moving
so as to establish optimum contact with substrate present in wastewater and bacteria
attached to the media.
• Packing may fill 25 to 50% of tank volume, with specific surface area of about 200 to 500 m2
/m3 of bulk packing volume. This arrangement offers advantage that no return sludge is
required and since the media is moving, there is no chance of blocking the media which may
require back washing.
• A final clarifier is used to settle sloughed solids. Another advantage is use of more efficient
fine bubble aeration equipment is not required, which would require periodic drainage of
aeration tank and removal of packing for cleaning of diffusers.
Usage of technologies
 Analysis of technologies
• SBR and MBBR showed removal efficiency of 90-92% for
BOD and 88- 90% for COD
• ABR based systems showed a removal efficiency of 60-96%
for COD and 70-98% for BOD
• ABR based systems (Settler-ABR-PGF) were also able to
provide good quality treated effluents
• For the areas with no land constraint whereas availability of
uninterrupted power supply is a major problem, ABR based
system with PGF seems to be a good option
• Constructed Wetlands, Soil Filtration and Anaerobic Baffled
Reactor Based Systems have the lowest costs due to low
operational expenditures over a system’s lifetime
 Systematic assessment of small scale
sanitation in india by 4s (jan 2016-june 2018)
• 4s-small scale sanitation scaling up
• Eawag partnering with IIT madras and BORDA
• Funded by Bill & Melinda gates foundation
• AIM
• The aim is to understand the performance of
existing systems and the factors that influence
sustainability, such as design, O&M,
management, and socio-cultural as well as
financial aspects
• To develop evidence based policy
recommendation
• An estimated of 20000 sstp’s are in operation
today through out the South Asia
• 308 companies
• The 2.5 year research project will have three key
outcomes
 A landscape study and institutional analysis of small-scale sanitation
in South Asia
 A detailed socio-economic and technical evaluation of more than 300
units in India, Nepal, and Pakistan, including in-depth performance
monitoring of selected systems through sampling campaigns
 Policy recommendations for the improvement of the regulatory
framework, sanitation system design, implementation and O&M
guidelines based on the evaluation findings
 Insights from the assessment of 300
systems(4s)
• Capital costs & space – reasons for selecting a
technology
• O&M if often outsourced to professional
service providers or engineers who designed
the systems
• Planning beyond installation level is needed to
identify the most economical size and location
of treatment plants
 Results of evaluation
• BOD, COD, TSS: Any technology if combined with the
right tertiary treatment units and operated correctly
has the potential to achieve quite stringent standards.
• Nutrients: Only very few technologies: SBR, MBR.
Microbial quality of effluent is consistently not met in
most systems analysed. Disinfection systems not
operated properly. High organic content affect the
performance.
• Solids management: A major issue. Majority of the SSS
systems studied do not consistently treat and safely
dispose of the sludge they produce.
• Water reuse practices: Good impact of the water reuse
policies established over the last decade… Reclaimed
water from SSS systems is commonly used for toilet
flushing and gardening.
Water reuse practices
Sludge management practices
Karnataka state decentralized sewage
treatment plants
 Karnataka state policy

City Mandating Agency Type and size Requirement

Bengaluru State Residential Must have on-

(Outside PollutionControl apartments, built up site STP and
Sewered Areas) Board(KSPCB) area > 5000 m2 Reuse 100%
OR No of units >50 (Zero
Discharge)

Bengaluru Pollution Control Residential Must have on-

(Within Sewered Board (KSPCB) apartments, built up site STP and
Areas) area > 20000 m2 Reuse 100%
(Zero
Discharge)
KSPCB reuse standards for the effluent
Parameter Urban Reuse (Bengaluru) Standards
Reuse Standards (Japan)
pH 6.0 -9.0 5.8-8.6
BOD < 10 mg/l < 20 mg/l
TSS Not specified 5
O&G Not specified -
Turbidity < 2 NTU -
E. Coli NIL NIL
Res. Cl > 1 PPM 0.1 mg/l
 INFERENCES
• A majority of the installed systems (70%)
employ Activated Sludge process(ASP) while
20%use Sequential Batch Reactor (SBR) for
secondary treatment.
• About 70% are small STPs with <200 thousand
liters per day (KLD) (m3/d) treatment
capacity.
• The most common Sludge handling method
employed is the Filter press(>90%).
• There are now more than 4300 small-scale systems,
which currently treat 10% of the city’s wastewater
• Most commercial establishments with STPs re-use
treated water for flushing, cooling towers and
landscaping saving up to 70% of fresh water.
• Large residential apartments or gated communities can
save about 40% of water requirement by re-using
treated water for flushing and gardening.
• Karnataka state pollution board doesnot have the
manpower to inspect STPs or penalise offenders
• Up to 70% of these decentralized STPs do not function
properly due to various reasons, but high O&M costs is
a primary cause.
 Problems and challenges faced by
STPs
• Lack of a clear policy framework for small scale
sanitation
• In urban dwellings, there is no separate space provided
for SSTPs
• No proper sludge management
• Nutrient removal in ABR based system are meager
• Stake holders who were not involved in the design
phase were managing systems
• Lack of public awareness
• O&M and quality control are major issues
Objective of a case studies of existing
small-scale STP in Hyderabad
• To assess the real challenges of existing small-
scale sanitation systems
• To analyze and determine in which contexts a
small-scale approach is optimal and
sustainable