Waste Stabilization Ponds

Process Description
• Waste Stabilization Ponds (WSPs) are large, shallow
artificial man-made lagoons/basins in which raw
sewage is treated entirely by natural processes
involving both algae and bacteria.
• The rate of treatment in WSP is slower than in
conventional wastewater treatment, and so
hydraulic retention times are longer and measured
in days rather than in hours.
• They are the most cost-effective, reliable and easily-
operated methods for treating domestic and
industrial wastewater.
Cont…
o Before treatment in the WSPs, the wastewater first
subjected to preliminary treatment such as:
o Screening and
o Grit removal

Grit chamber

Gate

Screening
 Types of Waste Stabilization Ponds and
Their Specific Uses
• WSP systems comprise a single string of anaerobic,
facultative and maturation ponds (depending on the
effluent quality required) in series, or several such series
in parallel.
• In essence, anaerobic and facultative ponds are designed
for removal of BOD, and maturation ponds for pathogen
removal.
• In most cases, only anaerobic and facultative ponds will
be needed for BOD removal when the effluent is to be
used for restricted crop irrigation and fish pond
fertilization.
 Treatment Mechanism and Basic Design Principles

1. Anaerobic ponds
• Anaerobic ponds are commonly 2 – 5m deep and receive
wastewater with high organic loads (in the range of 100 to 350 g
BOD/m3/day)
• They normally do not contain dissolved oxygen or algae.
• BOD removal is achieved by sedimentation of solids, and
subsequent anaerobic digestion in the resulting sludge.
• The process of anaerobic digestion is more intense at
temperatures above 15o C.
• A properly-designed anaerobic pond will achieve about a
40% removal of BOD at 10oC, and more than 60% at 20oC.
• The anaerobic bacteria are usually sensitive to pH < 6.2.
• A shorter retention time of 1 - 5 days is commonly used.
Cont…
2. Facultative Treatment Ponds (FPs)
• Facultative Treatment Ponds are the simplest of all WSPs and
consist of large shallow ponds (depth of 1 to 2m) with an
aerobic zone close to the surface and a deeper, anaerobic zone.
• There are two types of facultative ponds:
– primary facultative ponds that receive raw wastewater (after
grit removal), and
– secondary facultative ponds receiving settled wastewater
usually from the anaerobic pond.
• In primary facultative ponds, the functions of anaerobic and
secondary facultative ponds are combined.
• This type of pond is designed generally for the treatment of
only slightly polluted wastewater and in sensitive locations
where anaerobic ponds’ odour would be unacceptable.
 Cont…
• As a complete process, the facultative pond serves to:
– Further treat wastewater through sedimentation and aerobic
oxidation of organic material
– Reduce odour
– Reduce some disease-causing microorganisms if pH raises
– Store residues as bottom sludge
• FPs can result in the removal of 80 to 95% of the BOD5
which means an overall removal in the order of 95% over
the two ponds (AP and FP).
• Total nitrogen removal in WSP systems can reach 80% or
more, and ammonia removal can be as high as 95%.
• The HRT for a facultative pond lies between 5 to 30 days
 3. Aerobic / Maturation Ponds (MPs)
• Maturation are essentially designed for pathogen removal
and retaining suspended stabilised solids.
• The size and number of maturation ponds depends on the
required bacteriological quality of the final effluent.
• The principal mechanisms for faecal bacterial removal in
facultative and maturation ponds are HRT, temperature,
high pH (> 9), and high light intensity.
• Faecal bacteria and other pathogens die off due to the
high temperature, high pH or radiation of the sun leading
to solar disinfection.
• Some microorganisms such as protozoan cysts and
helminth eggs are also removed by sedimentation.
• Maturation ponds are shallower (1 to 1.5m), with 1m
being optimal.
• The recommended hydraulic retention time is 15 to 20
days
Cont…

Comparison of the treatment performance of different

waste stabilization ponds
Pond BOD Removal Pathogen Removal HRT
Anaerobic Pond 50 to 85% 1 to 5 days
Facultative Pond 80 to 95% 5 to 30 days
Maturation Pond 60 to 80% 90% 15 to 20 days
Maturation pond Facultative pond Anaerobic pond
Figure : Typical scheme of a waste stabilization system
 Advantages of WSP

• Can be built and repaired with locally available

materials
• No external energy required for operation
• Low in construction and very low operating costs
• High reduction in pathogens
• Can treat high-strength wastewater to high quality
effluent
• Generally reliable and well-functioning
• Effluent can be reused in aquaculture or for irrigation in
agriculture
 Disadvantages of WSP

• Requires large open land surfaces far away from homes

and public spaces
• May promote breeding of insects in the pond (e.g. flies,
mosquitoes)
• De-sludging (normally every few years) and correct
disposal of the sludge needs to be guaranteed
• Anaerobic ponds can cause bad odours if poorly designed
• Not always appropriate for colder climates.
Physical and Process Design
1. Physical Design of WSP

i. Pond Location
• Odour release from anaerobic ponds is most unlikely to be a
problem in a well-designed and properly maintained system.
• Ponds should be located at least 200m (preferably 500m)
downwind from the community they serve and away from any
likely area of future expansion.
• Ponds should not be Located within 2 km of airports.
• The length of the pond lies in the direction of the prevailing
wind direction.
– To facilitate wind-induced mixing of the pond surface layers
Cont…
ii. Pond Configurations
• Configurations can includes either
– series or
– parallel operations
• The advantages of series operation is improved treatment
because of reduced short circuiting and
• The advantages of parallel configuration is that the loading
can be distributed more uniformly over a large area.
Cont…
iii. Inlet and Outlet Structures
• The inlet to anaerobic and primary facultative ponds should
discharge well below the liquid level so as to minimize short-
circuiting and thus reduce the quantity of scum.
• Inlets to secondary facultative and maturation ponds should
also discharge below the liquid level, preferably at mid-depth
in order to reduce the possibility of short-circuiting.
• The outlet of all ponds should be protected against the
discharge of scum by the provision of a scum guard.
• In anaerobic and maturation ponds, where algal banding is
irrelevant, the take-off should be nearer the surface.
 2. Process Design of WSP

1. Effluent Quality Requirements

• The general WHO guideline standards for the discharge of
treated wastewaters into inland surface waters are given in the
Environmental Protection Rules
• The most important effluent limits for WSP design are as
follows:
Parameter Effluent limit
BOD 30 mg/l
Suspended solids 100 mg/l
Total N 100 mg N/l
Total ammonia 50 mg N/l
Free ammonia 5 mg N/l
Sulphide 2mg/l
pH 5.5 – 9.0
 Cont…

2. Design Parameters
• The most important parameters for WSP design are:
– temperature
– net evaporation
– Flow
– BOD
– Loading and Retention Time
• Faecal coli-form and helminthes egg numbers are also important
if the final effluent is to be used in agriculture or aquaculture.
Desludging and Sludge Disposal

• Anaerobic ponds required desludged when they are one

third full of sludge (by volume).
• This occurred every n years where n is given by

v
n
3 ps
• Where v = volume of anaerobic pond, m3
p = population served
s = sludge accumulation rate, m3/capita year
Design of Anaerobic Ponds
Design
• Designed without risk of odour & nuisance on the basis of
volumetric BOD loading (v , g/m3/d), which is given by:
LiQ
v 
V
• Where Li = influent BOD, mg/l
Q = flow, m3/d
V = anaerobic pond volume, m3
• The permissible design value v increases with temperature (T)
• (Mara and Pearson, 1986 and Mara et al., 1997) recommend the
design values given in table below.
• Volumetric loading rate λv: linear increase (Arthur 1983)
• At 120c, λv = 0.1kg BOD At 300c, λv = 0.4kg BOD
m 3 day m 3 day
to maintain anaerobic conditions to avoid odour release
Cont…
• Table: Volumetric loading (g/m3/d)

Temperature (0C) Volumetric loading (g/m3d) BOD removal (%)

< 10 100 40

10 - 20 20T - 100 2T + 20

20 - 25 10T + 100 2T + 20

> 25 350 70

Source: Mara and Pearson, 1986 and Mara et al., 1997

Cont…

• The mean hydraulic retention time in the pond (, d) is

determined from:
V
  HRT 
Q
• Retention times in anaerobic ponds < 1 day should not
be used.
• If the above equation gives a value of  < 1 day, a value
of 1 day should be used and the corresponding value of
V recalculated from the above equation.
Design of Facultative Ponds
Design
• Design: based on surface loading rate s (BOD/ha/day)

Arthur (1983): s  (20 * T )  60

Arceivala: s  375  (6.25 * L)
McGarry and Pescod: s  60(1.099) T
Mara: s  350(1.107  0.002T )T 25

• Retention time (f, d)

Af D
f 
Qm
Where D = pond depth, m (usually 1.5 m)
Qm = mean flow, m3/d
Cont…
• The mean flow is the mean of the influent and effluent flows
(i and e ), the latter being the former less net evaporation
and seepage. Thus, the above equation becomes:
Af D
f 
1
(Qi  Qe )
2
• If seepage is negligible, Qe is given by:
Q f  Qi  0.001A f * e
• Where e = net evaporation rate, mm/day.
2Af D
f 
(2Qi  0.001A f * e)

• A minimum value of f of 5 days should be adopted for

temperatures below 20oc, and 4 days for temperatures above
200c.
Design of Maturation Ponds
Design
i. Faecal Coliform Removal
• The method of Mara’s (1974) is generally used to design a
pond series for faecal coliform removal.
• This assumes that faecal coliform removal can be modeled
by first order kinetics in a completely mixed reactor.
• The resulting equation for a single pond is thus:
N e  N i (1  kT * HRT )
Where Ne = number of FC per 100 ml of effluent
Ni = number of FC per 100 ml of influent
kT = first order rate constant for FC removal, d-
HRT = hydraulic retention time, d
 Cont…
• For a series of anaerobic, facultative and maturation ponds,
the above equation becomes:
Ni
Ne 
(1  kT * HRT anearobic) * (1  kT * HRT facultative ) * (1  kT * HRT maturation,n ) n
Where:
Ne = number of feacal coliform per 100 ml effluent
Ni = number of feacal coliform per 100 ml influent
kT = first order temperature dependent rate (day-1)
n = number of maturation ponds (each pond the same
hydraulic retention rate (HRT)
• Aurthur: A series of n maturation ponds with total HRT of 5 days
• WHO: 1 maturation pond of 5 d or several maturation ponds of 3 d
• Arthur: kT  2.6(1.19)T 20
• WHO, 1987: kT  2.0(1.07)T 20
 Cont…
ii. Helminth Egg Removal
• Analysis of egg removal data from ponds (Ayres et
al.1992) has yielded the following relationship which is
equally valid for anaerobic, facultative and maturation
ponds:

Where R = percentage egg removal

θ = retention time, d
Cont…
iii. Nutrient Removal
• Pano and Middlebrooks (1982) present equations for
ammonical nitrogen (NH3+ and NH4+) removal in individual
facultative and maturation ponds.
• Their equation for temperatures below 20oC is:

• And for temperatures above 20oC:

Ci
Ce 
  A 
 
1  5.035 * 10  3 *  exp(1.54 * ( pH  6.6))  
  Q  
• Where:
 Hydraulic Balance

• To maintain the liquid level in the ponds, the inflow must

be at least greater than net evaporation and seepage at all
times. Thus:
Qi ≥ 0.001A (e + s)

Where Qi = inflow to first pond, m3/d

A = total area of pond series, m2
e = net evaporation (i.e. evaporation less
rainfall), mm/d
s = seepage, mm/d
 Hydraulic Balance

• Seepage losses must be at least smaller than the inflow less net
evaporation so as to maintain the water level in the pond.
• The maximum permissible permeability of the soil layer
making up the pond base can be determined from d’Arcy’s
law: Qs L
k
86400 A h

Where k = maximum permissible permeability, m/s

Qs = maximum permissible seepage flow
(= Qi – 0.001Ae), m3/d
A = base area of pond, m2
Δl = depth of soil layer below pond base to aquifer or, m
Δh = hydraulic head (= pond depth + Δl), m
 Hydraulic Balance

• The following interpretations may be placed on values

obtained for the in situ coefficient of permeability:
– k > 10-6 m/s: the soil is too permeable and the ponds must be
lined;
– k > 10-7 m/s: some seepage may occur but not sufficiently to
prevent the ponds from filling;
– k < 10-8 m/s: the ponds will seal naturally;
– k < 10-9 m/s: there is no risk of groundwater contamination
– If k > 10-9 m/s and the groundwater is used for potable supplies,
further detailed hydrogeological studies may be required)