Sewage Characteristics

Characterization of wastes is essential for an effective and economical waste management

programme. It helps in the choice of treatment methods deciding the extent of treatment,
assessing the beneficial uses of wastes and utilizing the waste purification capacity of natural
bodies of water in a planned and controlled manner. While analysis of wastewater in each
case is advisable, data from the other cities may be utilized during initial stage of planning.

Domestic sewage comprises spent water from kitchen, bathroom, lavatory, etc. The factors
which contribute to variations in characteristics of the domestic sewage are daily per capita
use of water, quality of water supply and the type, condition and extent of sewerage system,
and habits of the people. Municipal sewage, which contains both domestic and industrial
wastewater, may differ from place to place depending upon the type of industries and
industrial establishment. The important characteristics of sewage are discussed here.

Temperature

The observations of temperature of sewage are useful in indicating solubility of oxygen,

which affects transfer capacity of aeration equipment in aerobic systems, and rate of
biological activity. Extremely low temperature affects adversely on the efficiency of
biological treatment systems and on efficiency of sedimentation. In general, under Indian
conditions the temperature of the raw sewage is observed to be between 15 and 35°C at
various places in different seasons.

pH

The hydrogen ion concentration expressed as pH, is a valuable parameter in the operation of
biological units. The pH of the fresh sewage is slightly more than the water supplied to the
community. However, decomposition of organic matter may lower the pH, while the
presence of industrial wastewater may produce extreme fluctuations. Generally, the pH of
raw sewage is in the range 5.5 to 8.0.

Colour and Odour

Fresh domestic sewage has a slightly soapy and cloudy appearance depending upon its
concentration. As time passes the sewage becomes stale, darkening in colour with a
pronounced smell due to microbial activity.

Colour: Color in water may result from the presence of natural metallic ions (iron and
manganese), humus and peat materials, plankton, weeds, and industrial wastes. Color is
removed to make a water suitable for general and industrial applications. Colored industrial
wastewaters may require color removal before discharge into watercourses.
The term “color” is used here to mean true color, that is, the color of water from which
turbidity has been removed. The term “apparent color” includes not only color due to
substances in solution, but also that due to suspended matter. Apparent color is determined on
the original sample without filtration or centrifugation. In some highly colored industrial
wastewaters color is contributed principally by colloidal or suspended material. In such cases
both true color and apparent color should be determined.

The visual comparison method is applicable to nearly all samples of potable water. Pollution
by certain industrial wastes may produce unusual colors that cannot be matched. In this case
use an instrumental method. A modification of the tristimulus and the spectrophotometric
methods allows calculation of a single color value representing uniform chromaticity
differences even when the sample exhibits color significantly different from that of platinum
cobalt standards. For comparison of color values among laboratories, calibrate the visual
method by the instrumental procedures.

Observe sample color by filling a matched nessler tube to the 50-mL mark with sample and
comparing it with standards. Look vertically downward through tubes toward a white or
specular surface placed at such an angle that light is reflected upward through the columns of
liquid. If turbidity is present and has not been removed, report as “apparent color.” If the
color exceeds 70 units, dilute sample with distilled water in known proportions until the color
is within the range of the standards.

a. Calculate color units by the following equation:

where:A = estimated color of a diluted sample and

B = mL sample taken for dilution.
b. Report color results in whole numbers and record as follows:

Color Units Record to Nearest

1—50 1
51—100 5
101—250 10
251—500 20

Odour: One of the most common methods for measuring odor in water is the threshold odor
test. It involves a series of flasks presented to an observer, who is told that some of the
samples contain odors and that the series is arranged in order of increasing concentrations.
The observer is also given a known odor-free blank for reference during the test. The
observer compares the flasks in ascending order with the blank and then notes whether an
odor is detected in any sample flask. Individuals vary in their reactions to certain types of
odors. An odor stimulus that is agreeable to one may be disagreeable to another. Such
differences complicate the attempts to predict the odor intensity of the mixtures

Solids

Though sewage generally contains less than 0.5 percent solids, the rest being water, still the
nuisance caused by the solids cannot be overlooked, as these solids are highly degradable and
therefore need proper disposal. The sewage solids may be classified into dissolved solids,
suspended solids and volatile suspended solids. Knowledge of the volatile or organic fraction
of solid, which decomposes, becomes necessary, as this constitutes the load on biological
treatment units or oxygen resources of a stream when sewage is disposed off by dilution. The
estimation of suspended solids, both organic and inorganic, gives a general picture of the load
on sedimentation and grit removal system during sewage treatment. Dissolved inorganic
fraction is to be considered when sewage is used for land irrigation or any other reuse is
planned.

Nitrogen and Phosphorus

The principal nitrogen compounds in domestic sewage are proteins, amines, amino acids, and
urea. Ammonia nitrogen in sewage results from the bacterial decomposition of these organic
constituents. Nitrogen being an essential component of biological protoplasm, its
concentration is important for proper functioning of biological treatment systems and
disposal on land. Generally, the domestic sewage contains sufficient nitrogen, to take care of
the needs of the biological treatment. For industrial wastewater if sufficient nitrogen is not
present it is required to be added externally. Generally nitrogen content in the untreated
sewage is observed to be in the range of 20 to 50 mg/L measured as TKN.

Phosphorus is contributing to domestic sewage from food residues containing phosphorus

and their breakdown products. The use of increased quantities of synthetic detergents adds
substantially to the phosphorus content of sewage. Phosphorus is also an essential nutrient for
the biological processes. The concentration of phosphorus in domestic sewage is generally
adequate to support aerobic biological wastewater treatment. However, it will be matter of
concerned when the treated effluent is to be reused. The concentration of PO4 in raw sewage
is generally observed in the range of 5 to 10 mg/L.

Chlorides

Concentration of chlorides in sewage is greater than the normal chloride content of water
supply. The chloride concentration in excess than the water supplied can be used as an index
of the strength of the sewage. The daily contribution of chloride averages to about 8 gm per
person. Based on an average sewage flow of 150 LPCD, this would result in the chloride
content of sewage being 50 mg/L higher than that of the water supplied. Any abnormal
increase should indicate discharge of chloride bearing wastes or saline groundwater
infiltration, the latter adding to the sulphates as well, which may lead to excessive generation
of hydrogen sulphide.

Organic Material

Organic compounds present in sewage are of particular interest for environmental

engineering. A large variety of microorganisms (that may be present in the sewage or in the
receiving water body) interact with the organic material by using it as an energy or material
source. The utilization of the organic material by microorganisms is called metabolism. The
conversion of organic material by microorganism to obtain energy is called catabolism and
the incorporation of organic material in the cellular material is called anabolism.

To describe the metabolism of microorganisms and oxidation of organic material, it is

necessary to characterize quantitatively concentration of organic matter in different forms. In
view of the enormous variety of organic compounds in sewage it is totally unpractical to
determine these individually. Thus a parameter must be used that characterizes a property that
all these have in common. In practice two properties of almost all organic compounds can be
used: (1) organic compound can be oxidized; and (2) organic compounds contain organic
carbon.

In environmental engineering there are two standard tests based on the oxidation of organic
material: 1) the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and 2) the Chemical Oxygen Demand
(COD) tests. In both tests, the organic material concentration is measured during the test. The
essential differences between the COD and the BOD tests are in the oxidant utilized and the
operational conditions imposed during the test such as biochemical oxidation and chemical
oxidation. The other method for measuring organic material is the development of the Total
Organic Carbon (TOC) test as an alternative to quantify the concentration of the organic
material.

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD):

The BOD of the sewage is the amount of oxygenrequired for the biochemical decomposition
of biodegradable organic matter under aerobic conditions. The oxygen consumed in the
process is related to the amount of decomposable organic matter. The general range of BOD
observed for raw sewage is 100 to 400 mg/L. Values in the lower range are being common
under average Indian cities.

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD):

The COD gives the measure of the oxygen required forchemical oxidation. It does not
differentiate between biological oxidisable and nonoxidisable material. However, the ratio of
the COD to BOD does not change significantly for particular waste and hence this test could
be used conveniently for interpreting performance efficiencies of the treatment units. In
general, the COD of raw sewage at various places is reported to be in the range 200 to 700
mg/L.

In COD test, the oxidation of organic matter is essentially complete within two hours,
whereas, biochemical oxidation of organic matter takes several weeks. In case of wastewaters
with a large range of organic compounds, an extra difficulty in using BOD as a quantitative
parameter is that the rate of oxidation of organic compounds depends on the nature and size
of its molecules. Smaller molecules are readily available for use by bacteria, but large
molecules and colloidal and suspended matters can only be metabolized after preparatory
steps of hydrolysis. It is therefore not possible to establish a general relationship between the
experimental five-day BOD and the ultimate BOD of a sample, i.e., the oxygen consumption
after several weeks. For sewage (with k=0.23 d -1 at 20oC) the BOD5 is 0.68 times of ultimate
BOD, and ultimate BOD is 87% of the COD. Hence, the COD /BOD ratio for the sewage is
around 1.7.

Toxic Metals and Compounds

Some heavy metals and compounds such as chromium, copper, cyanide, which are toxic may
find their way into municipal sewage through industrial discharges. The concentration of
these compounds is important if the sewage is to treat by biological treatment methods or
disposed off in stream or on land. In general these compounds are within toxic limits in
sanitary sewage; however, with receipt of industrial discharges they may cross the limits in
municipal wastewaters.