Oxidation Ponds

• Stabilisation ponds are open flow through

earthen basins, specifically designed and
constructed to treat sewage and
biodegradable industrial waste waters
• Such ponds provide comparatively long
detention period extending from a few days to
several days,during which time the wastes get
stabilised by the action of Natural forces
 Construction Details
• A typical plan and section of an oxidation pond is shown
• It is an earthen pond, dug into the ground with shallow depth
• The pond should be atleast 1.0m deep to discourge growth of aquatic
weeds
• Should not exceed 1.8m or so, as otherwise the pond may turn into a
deeper anaerobic pond rather than remaining facultative in charcter
without giving foul odours
• The detention time in the pond is usually 2 to 6 weeks depending upon
sun light and temperature
• In cold countries , higher time to be adopted
• Better efficiency of treatment is obtained, if several ponds are placed in
series, so that the sewage flows progressively from one to another
unit,until it is finally discharged
• The effluent should be entered at centre above or below the liquid
surface for a uniform mixing of the influent with oxygen saturated pond
liquor
• The outlet should provide withdrawal of effluent from different depths
of pond
 Advantages and Disadvantages
• These ponds are quite suitable in hot dry
countries like India and places where 200 or more
sunny days are expected per year
• Especially for small cities or towns where
largeland are cheaply available at about 0.5 to
1km away from the habitation
• Treatment is very cheap
• The capital cost being 10 to 30 % of that of the
conventional plant ( using trickling filters or
activated sludge process)
• Maintenance cost is less
• No skilled supervision required
• Quite flexible and do not get upset due to
fluctuations in organic loading
Disadvantages
• Nuisance due to Mosquito breeding and Bad odours
• To avoid mosquito breeding, the banks of ponds should
be kept clear of any grasses and bushes etc
• And to avoid bad odours the oxidation ponds should be
located suffiently far from the residential areas
• odours may lso be kept under control by avoiding the
overloading
• However when a pond gets overloaded, the algae
growth may be stimulated by adding sodium
nitrate,which is both a plant food and as oxidising
agent
• Stabilisation ponds may be classified as
aerobic, facultative or anaerobic depending
upon the mechanism of purification
• In a totally aerobic pond, the stabilisation of wastes is brought
about by aerobic bacteria
• The oxygen demand of such bacteria in met by the combined action
of algae and other microorganisms called algal Photosynthesis
• In this symbiosis, the algae(which are microscopic plants) while
growing in the presence of sunlight, produce oxygen by the action
of Photosynthesis
• This oxygen is utilised by bacteria for oxidising organic matter
• The end products of the process are carbondioxide,ammonia and
Phosphates, which are required by the algae to grow and continue
to produce oxygen
• In anaeroic pond, however the stabilisation of
waste is mainly brought about by the usual
anaerobic conversion of organic wastes to
carbon dioxide, methane and gaseous end
products, with eruption of foul odours and
pungent smells
• In Facultative pond, the upper layers work
under aerobic conditions, while the anaerobic
conditions prevail in the bottom layers
• The upper aerobic layer of the pond acts as a
good check against the evolution of foul
odours from such a pond
• Aerobic bond- very small depths such as below
0.5m and still then may require occasional stirring
to prevent anaerobic conditions in the settled
sludge.Itis therefore practically difficult to
construct and use such aerobic ponds
• Facultative Pond- depth varying from 1.0m- 1.5m.
Most widely used for treatment
• Anaerobic pond-Deeper ponds in the depth range
of 2.5m to 4m
• Treatmond ponds have been used to treat
wastewaters for many years especially for small
communities
• The term oxidation pond was originally referred
to that stabilisation pond which received partially
treated sewage ; whereas the pond that received
raw sewage was used to be called a sewage
lagoon; but in recent years the term oxidation
pond has been widely used as a collective term
for all types of ponds and most particularly the
facultative stabilisation ponds
• Results of Oxidation Pond:
Oxidation of organic matter and production of
algae,which are discharged with the effluent
This results in a net reduction in BOD, since the
algae are more stable than the organic matter
in wastewater and degrade slowly in the river
stream into which the effluent is discharged
• Throwing their effluents in rivers ,just upstream
of some lakes or reserviors are therefore
generally not preferred, as the discharged algae
may settle in the reservoirs and cause anaerobic
decomposition and other water quality problems
• Howerver the effluent from oxidation pondscan
beeasily used for land irrigation, particularly at
places where they cannot be discharged into river
streams