Influence of rain events on the efficiency of a compact wastewater treatment plant: a case study on a university campus
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Influence of rain events on the efficiency of a compact wastewater treatment plant: a case study on a university campus aiming water reuse for agriculture Louidi Lauer Albornoz 1,2 & Tiago Carrard Centurião 2 & Alexandre Giacobbo 1 Andréa Moura Bernardes 1
&
Jane Zoppas-Ferreira 1 &
Received: 6 March 2020 / Accepted: 10 July 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract In this study, the efficiency of contaminant removal from a compact wastewater treatment plant (CWTP) in a university campus under different rain conditions was evaluated. Wastewater samples were collected weekly for 1 year and the physicochemical parameters were monitored. Removal efficiency higher than 77%, reaching values above 95% for samples with lower wastewater flow rates, was found for biological oxygen demand (BOD) and total and fecal coliforms. The pH values remained in the range of 6.0–8.0. However, pH values below 6.8 impaired the nitrification rate and, therefore, the removal of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) and ammonia was lower than the expected, with concentration values above those set by the Brazilian regulation for wastewater discharge. The results show that the flow rate of wastewater at the entrance of the CWTP is directly related to the rain events, thus affecting its efficiency, mainly in the removal of total solids, turbidity, and organic matter. The assessment of the treated wastewater reuse on site for agricultural purposes showed to be a prominent and more sustainable alternative regarding the discharge of wastewater into water bodies. Keywords Compact wastewater treatment plant . Biological treatment . Domestic wastewater . Rain . Decentralized system . Wastewater reuse
Introduction Clean water and wastewater treatment are the sixth objective of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for the year 2030 and for developing countries, with large populations dispersed over large areas, such as Brazil, the failure on reaching these goals will result in thousands of deaths caused by waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, polio, and schistosomiasis (UNDP 2020). For this reason, a large number Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues * Louidi Lauer Albornoz [email protected] 1
Post-Graduation Program in Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (PPGE3M), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves n. 9500, Porto Alegre CEP: 91.509-900, Brazil
2
LADETEC, IPH, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves n. 9500, Porto Alegre CEP: 91.509-900, Brazil
of decentralized wastewater treatment plants, employing different technologies, have been installed around the world, mainly in developing countries, as a solution to the shortcomings of centralized systems (Massoud et al. 2009; Singh et al. 2015). In fact, the effectiveness and the robustness of centralized and decentralized systems have been discussed, and nowadays developed countries are rethinking their sanitation systems to also apply decentralized wastewater tre
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