REM 627.

Pollution Control;
Fall 2018

Sewage Collection System

By:
Prof. Dr. Hassan Mahmud,
Ph.D. in Chem./Env. Engineering (Canada)
M. A. Sc. in Civil/Env. Engineering (Canada)
M.S. in Chem. Engineering (Bulgaria)

Class Note 4
 Outline
• Definations
• Quantity & Characteristics of Wastewater
• Sewer Basics
• Sewage Pump Stations
• Alternative Collection Systems

Prof. Mahmud
 Definitions
• Sewage: The wastewater from domestic and non- domestic
sources, carrying body wastes (primarily feces and urine), washing
water, food preparation wastes, laundry wastes, and other waste
products of normal living, are classed as sewage.
• Sewer: Sewers are under ground pipes or conduits which carry
sewage to points of treatment or disposal.
• Sewerage: The system of sewers is called sewerage or sewerage
system and includes pipes, manholes and other structures.
• Infiltration: Infiltration is the process by which water on the ground
surface enters the sewers through leaks from loose joints or cracks.
• Inflow: Inflow is the water which inters the sewers from manholes
during rain.

Prof. Mahmud
 Definitions (Cont.)
• Grey water: Grey water is used water from bathroom
sinks, showers, tubs, and washing machines.
• Black water: Black water is used to describe wastewater
containing feces, urine and flush water
• Yellow water: Urines from separated toilets and urinals.
• Brown water: Brown water without urine or yellow water.

Prof. Mahmud
 How much wastewater do we
produce each day?
Source Average Daily Flow
Domestic sewage 60-120 gal/capita
These values are
Shopping centers 60-120 gal/1000 ft2 total floor rough estimates only
area
Hospitals 240-480 gal/bed
and vary greatly by
Schools 18-36 gal/student location.
Travel trailer parks
Without individual 90 gal/site
hookups
With individual 210 gal/site
hookups
Campgrounds 60-150 gal/campsite
Mobile home parks 265 gal/unit
Motels 40-53 gal/bed
Hotels 60 gal/bed
Industrial areas
Light industrial area 3750 gal/acre
Heavy industrial 5350 gal/acre
Source: Droste, R.L., 1997. Theory and Practice of
Water and Wastewater Treatment
Prof. Mahmud
Other Contributions to Wastewater Flows

• Infiltration
– Older sewer pipe did not have water-tight joints
– Sewers follow topography, which means many follow
stream-beds or drainage swales where groundwater
is high
– Since sewers are not under pressure, groundwater
can enter in through joints (as well as sewage leak
out if ground water is lower than pipe)
– Infiltration rates vary by depth of groundwater, type of
pipe joint, and pipe diameter

Prof. Mahmud
How do we quantify water pollution?
BOD - Biochemical Oxygen Demand
COD - Chemical Oxygen Demand
DO - Dissolved Oxygen Levels
TKN - Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen
Pathogen Levels (Coliforms)
NO3-N - Nitrate nitrogen
Suspended Solids
Aquatic Organisms or lack of (algae, fish, etc.)
Heavy Metals
Toxicity
Prof. Mahmud Wastewater Characteristics
Ref: Reynolds, 1996, Unit Operations and Processes in Env. Engineering
Prof. Mahmud Wastewater Characteristics
 Older Systems Have/Had
Combined Sewers
• Sanitary sewer also collects storm water
runoff
• Quantity is highly variable and site specific
• CSO: Combined Sewer Overflow
– Wastewater flows greatly increase during a
storm
– If capacity of sewer or treatment systems are
exceeded, some of the combined waste is
discharged with minimal to no treatment

Prof. Mahmud
CSOs

Prof. Mahmud
 Reducing CSOs
• Install separate storm and sanitary sewers
– Standard for all new construction
– Very expensive for existing systems
• Build pipes and treatment plants large enough to
handle all flows
– Very, very expensive – not feasible
• Store combined sewage, then pump to treatment
plant when storm ends and flows are back to
normal
– This option has been selected by many cities

Prof. Mahmud
 Seattle’s CSO Projects include
tunnels and pump stations

Milwaukee Deep Tunnels can

store over 400 million gallons of
combined flows
Wastewater is pumped to treatment
plant when flows subside (no storm)

Prof. Mahmud
 Design Considerations
• Design period (25 to 50 years)
• Elevation to support gravity flow
• Flow velocity
• Size of the sewer lines
• Sewer materials
• Erosion & Corrosion
• Load bearing capacity
• Ease and economy in maintenance
• Safety to personnel and public

Prof. Mahmud
 Elevation of the Sewer Pipes
• Most sewers are designed to flow by
gravity (water flows down-hill)
– Includes sewer pipe from home to septic tank
or to a municipal collector pipe
– Gravity sewers must follow the topography of
the land
– Where gravity flow is not possible, pumps are
used
• Individual unit pump
• Large municipal lift (pump) station

Prof. Mahmud
 Elevation of the Sewer Pipes
(Cont.)
• Should be more than 1 meter below
ground
• Should be more than 0.9 meter below
basement
• Should not be above the water line

Prof. Mahmud
 Hydraulics of Sewers
• Most sewers designed to flow at a velocity of 2.0 ft/sec
when flowing half-full
– Do not want pipe to flow full at peak flows
– Do not want pipe flow velocity too low—can’t transport
solids
• Most designs are complex, but use basic hydraulic
equations for computing necessary size and slope
• The high velocities can cause turbulence. The Reynolds
number of the flow if it is more than 2000 turbulence sets in.
If there is turbulence then it will be easier for gases to
escape from the solution so turbulence should be avoided
as much as possible.
Prof. Mahmud
 Manning Equation for Pipe Flow
• Manning Equation
1.486 2 / 3 1/ 2
V R S
n

V = velocity (ft/sec)
n = coefficient of roughness (dependent upon pipe
material/condition)
R = hydraulic radius = area/wetted perimeter (ft)
S = hydraulic slope (assumed to be slope of pipe)
(ft/ft) [ 2 l/s =So/1000=6, 3 l/s = 4 etc]
Prof. Mahmud
 Size of Sewer Pipes
• Collector pipes (pipe in street) is minimum 8 inches diameter (to
allow cleaning)
• Service pipes (home or building to collector is 4 to 6 inches diameter
• Size of the main lines would depend on flow based on steady,
uniform, free surface flow conditions such that the actual flow depth
divided by the diameter of the sewer should always be less than 0.8.
• Gravity sewer pipes have no bends, manholes used to make
transitions in direction and pipe size. Manholes are provided at all
the junctions
• Pipe sections between manholes are at a constant grade or slope
(S)
• Distance between manholes would based on the area and cleaning
methods

Prof. Mahmud
 Typical Manhole

Fig 5.1, p 134

Prof. Mahmud
 Sewer Materials
• Selection of materials should be resistant to acid, gas, solvent,
erosion, corrosion, etc
• Should be strong, cost effective and ease of installation
• Depending on the size, pressure and other conditions, PVC, Ductile
iron pipe, RCC, Glass fiber reinforced plastics (GRP) and other
materials are used.

PVC
Ductile iron pipe GRP
RCC pipe
Prof. Mahmud
 Erosion and Corrosion
• Design the system such that the sewers can resist
erosion and corrosion.
– Erosion comes because this sewage may have lot of suspended
matter and other material which can abrade against the sewer
walls and then can erode.
– Corrosion occurs because of release of hydrogen sulphide gas.
The wastewater which is being carried in a sanitary sewerage
system contains lot of sulphates and because of that sulfuric
acid can get produced and that can lead to corrosion.
• DO is important, high DO will reduce corrosion
• High temperature helps chemical reaction
• Conc. of organic maters and metals
• pH

Prof. Mahmud
 Load Bearing Capacity
• Design of sanitary sewer system should
withstand backfill, impact and live loads.
The sewers are made underground, there
is a lot of cover above this and the backfill
and they are also laid under the roads so
there will be traffic load that is coming from
these loads which gets transferred to
these sewers so they should withstand
that backfill, impact and live loads.
Prof. Mahmud
Ease and Economy in Maintenance.

• Sewer system requires constant maintenance

otherwise the system will not perform to what we
want.
• Hence the maintenance factor should be
considered at the design stage itself. Of course
the economy is always important in design of
any system so whatever is the sanitary
sewerage system that we are designing it should
have a minimum capital cost plus minimum
operating and maintenance cost.
Prof. Mahmud
 Safety to Personnel and Public
• Safety to personnel and public is also very
important while designing a sanitary sewer
system. Because people will be getting into the
sewer system through manholes for the
maintenance and they should be taught properly
about the dangers of health risks and things like
that before they get into the sewer system and
that should be considered while designing a
proper sewer system.

Prof. Mahmud
 Pump Stations
• Pump (lift) sewage from low to higher
elevation, generally from end of one
gravity sewer section to another, higher
section
• Consist of a wet well and pumps
• Wet well forms a place for wastewater to
collect and be pumped from

Prof. Mahmud
Pump Station

Prof. Mahmud
 Alternative Collection
Systems
• Applications
– Small community with failing septic systems
– New, small developments
– Areas where gravity sewers are not feasible
• Homes along edge of lake
• Areas with unstable soil
• Areas with flat terrain
• Rolling land with many small elevation changes
• High water table
• Restricted construction conditions
• Rock
• Urban development in rural areas
• Types of Alternative Systems
– Pressure sewers
– Vacuum sewers
– Small diameter gravity sewers
– Sewage vacuum truck
Prof. Mahmud