Sewage and Organic Wastes

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Sewage and Organic Wastes
TREN 3P14 Sustainable Integrated Waste
Management David T. Brown
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Water Pollutants

• anthropogenic origin (e.g. industrial effluent,
  municipal sewage, tourism operations)
• natural origin (e.g. silt, mineral nutrients,
  wild animal wastes)

• toxics
• nutrients
• suspended matter
• pathogens
• thermal pollution
• dissolved gases

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Significant concern in the tourism industry

• Water quality
• Water quantity
• Aesthetic concerns
• Disease and pathogens
• Local equity issues

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Controlling Water Pollution

• Upstream
• before the problem occurs
• Downstream
• after the problem occurs

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Upstream Methods of Controlling Water Pollution

• process modification in industry elimination of
  pollutants and toxics
• avoidance of direct discharge into
• water bodies
• storm sewers
• sanitary sewers
• identification of storm drains (e.g. Yellow Fish
  Road project)

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Upstream Methods of Controlling Water Pollution

• decoupling of storm and sanitary sewers
• runoff control
• increasing absorptive surfaces
• avoiding erosion
• maintaining streambank and shoreline vegetation
• legislation and regulation guidelines and laws
  establishing limits on discharge

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S E W A G E

• Neolithic revolution
• small towns and settlements -gt human excreta
  control generally non-problematic

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S E W A G E
In days of old When knights were bold And
toilets werent invented Theyd leave their
loads Upon the roads And walk away contented.
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S E W A G E

• Post - Neolithic revolution
• Large towns and cities -gt
• human waste control became a problem
• high-density living required technologies for
  handling human wastes in urban areas
• chamber pots and open gutters
• pit privies / trench latrines/ outhouses
• septic systems and variants
• centralized sewage collection and treatment
  systems

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"Our excreta--not wastes, but misplaced
resources--end up destroying food chains, food
supply and water quality in rivers and
oceans....How did it come to pass that we devised
such an enormously wasteful and expensive system
to solve a simple problem? - Sim van der
Ryn, The Toilet Papers (1978)

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Downstream Methods of Managing Sewage Small scale

• Temporary /short term
• packing it out
• single-use holes
• pit privies
• trench latrines

Meyer, Kathleen. 1989. How to shit in the woods
an environmentally sound approach to a lost
art. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, Calif.
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Downstream Methods of Managing Sewage Small scale

• Long-term
• outhouses
• settling ponds
• septic tanks
• septic fields
• composting toilets

van der Ryn, Sim. 1978 (republished and revised
1999). The Toilet Papers Recycling Waste and
Conserving Water. Chelsea Green Publishing,
Vermont. Online edition available at
www.brocku.ca/tren/courses/tren3p14/2006/ToiletPap
ers.pdf
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Tourism operations
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Tourism operations
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Tourism operations
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Land-based wastewater treatment Surface spray
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Land-based wastewater treatment Overland flow
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Land-based wastewater treatment Subsurface
infiltration
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Downstream Methods of Sewage Treatment Large
Scale
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Downstream Methods of Sewage Treatment

• domestic sewage treatment
• preliminary screening and removal of large
  contaminants
• primary straining and settling of solids
• secondary removal of biodegradable organic
  matter and nutrients
• tertiary removal of residual dissolved nutrients
  and pollutants

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Downstream Methods of Sewage Treatment

• effluent treatment processes
• mechanical filtering, gravity separation
• chemical flocculation, coagulation
• biological microbes or macrophytes
• aerobic or anaerobic
• disinfection chlorination, ozonation, etc.
• (pathogen control)

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Downstream Methods of Sewage Treatment

• physical plant/ engineered approach (usually
  centralized, large scale)
• constructed wetland approach (centralized or
  decentralized, large or small scale)

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Primary Sewage Treatment
GRIT CHAMBER
SETTLING TANK
CHLORINATION TANK
BAR SCREEN
outflow
Raw sewage
Sludge
SLUDGE DIGESTER
SLUDGE DRYING BED
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Secondary Sewage Treatment
AERATION TANK
GRIT CHAMBER
SETTLING TANK
SETTLING TANK 2
BAR SCREEN
outflow
Raw sewage
CHLORINATION TANK
Air pump
Methane
Activated sludge
SLUDGE DIGESTER
SLUDGE DRYING BED
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Constructed Wetland
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Constructed Wetland
EXPERIMENTAL CELLS
S.W.A.M.P. (SEWAGE WASTE AMENDMENT MARSH
PROJECT) Niagara on the Lake, Ontario
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Constructed Wetland
EXPERIMENTAL CELLS
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Constructed Wetlandmacrophytes
Cattails and Water Hyacinth
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Large scale constructed wetland
Saha Pat Industrial Park, Laem Chabang, Thailand
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Settling tank
Saha Pat Industrial Park, Laem Chabang, Thailand
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Sludge dewatering and drying
Saha Pat Industrial Park, Laem Chabang, Thailand
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Aeration pond
Saha Pat Industrial Park, Laem Chabang, Thailand
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Outflow into constructed wetland
Saha Pat Industrial Park, Laem Chabang, Thailand
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Large scale constructed wetland
Saha Pat Industrial Park, Laem Chabang, Thailand
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Waterless toilet technologies

• Clivus Multrum composting toilet
• converts human and organic wastes into odourless
  compost

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Waterless toilet technologies

• Scalable
• Waterless
• Low energy
• Suitable for remote areas
• Now CSA approved

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Water and Legislation

• multijurisdictional
• federal, provincial, and municipal areas of
  responsibility
• multifaceted
• laws and regulations deal with
• conservation and management of water resources
  protection of aquatic life
• pollution and liquid discharge
• drinking water standards

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Federal Water Legislation (in areas of federal
jurisdiction)

• Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA)
  regulates the release of specified toxic
  substances, the concentration of nutrients in
  products (e.g. nitrates, phosphates) national
  regulations for pulp and paper mill effluents
• Fisheries Act forbids the depositing of
  deleterious substances in any waters frequented
  by fish regulates aquatic toxicity testing
  regulates pulp and paper mill effluents and
  requires monitoring of effects on fish habitat

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Provincial Water Legislation

• Ontario Water Resources Act Section 30(1)
  prohibits the discharge of any material into any
  water body, shoreline, or bank that may impair
  the quality of the water
• Environmental Protection Act (EPA) Subsection
  14 prohibits discharge of any contaminant into
  the natural environment that causes or is likely
  to cause an adverse effect

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• Water Quality Guidelines, Policies, and
  Objectives
• cover water quality for many types of water uses
  and aquatic environments (e.g. water storage
  structures, sewage plant discharge, drinking
  water quality objectives and treatment
  requirements, etc.)
• legally enforceable when incorporated into a
  Certificate of Approval or a Control Order
• Banned and Phased-Out Chemicals
• primary and secondary lists of substances to be
  banned, phased out, or reduced in use due to
  their persistence in water or aquatic systems

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• Drinking Water Municipalities are responsible
  for conforming to provincial water quality and
  treatment guidelines for drinking water from
  surface and ground sources

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• MISA (Municipal, Industrial Strategy for
  Abatement)
• program aimed at the virtual elimination of
  persistent toxic contaminants from all discharges
  into Ontario waterways
• dealt with direct dischargers (into surface
  waters, e.g. sewage treatment plants, certain
  industries) and indirect dischargers (into
  municipal sewer systems).

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• Objectives
• identify and measure toxic substances in
  discharges
• increase emphasis on control technlogy
• pollution prevention and reduction in multi-media
  transfer of pollutants
• strengthen abatement and enforcement mechanisms
  -gt eventual virtual elimination of persistent
  toxic substances

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• Municipal-Industrial Strategy for Abatement
  Advisory Committee was eliminated by Harris
  government, and MISA program severely weakened.
• Avenues for both public input and
  multi-stakeholder input to government
  decision-making were removed.
• Starting in 1995, the Harris Government
  weakened or revoked nearly every environmental
  protection law in Ontario and numerous
  regulations under these laws.

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• Every aspect of environmental protection was
  affected, including controls on air pollution,
  water pollution, pesticides, waste disposal and
  recycling, urban sprawl, energy use and climate
  change, natural heritage and biodiversity
  protection, mining, and forestry.
• DETAILS
• Canadian Environmental Law Association
  (http//www.cela.ca/) Environmental
  Deregulation in Ontario - 1996-2000
  http//62.44.8.131/coreprograms/detail.shtml?x17
  80

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Municipal Water Legislation

• Discharges to Sewers Municipal sewer use by-laws
  regulate substances which can be discharged to
  sanitary, combined, or storm sewers. Based on MOE
  Model Sewer Use Bylaw.
• In absence of municipal by-laws, the Ontario
  Clean Water Agency regulated these parameters.
• Harris Government Bill 107 promoted
  privatization of municipal water and sewer
  infrastructure without voter assent.
• Budgets for monitoring and regulation were
  slashed.

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Walkerton

• E. Coli contamination of municipal water supply
  from cattle manure results in hundreds of
  illnesses and seven deaths, including two-year
  old child
• Tragedy deemed preventable
• Incompetent management by Koebel brothers
  (managers of water supply), lack of adequate
  water testing, excessive budget cutbacks and
  deregulation all identified as factors in tragedy

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Further Details

• The Walkerton Tragedy http//www.canoe.ca/EcoliTr
  agedy/
• Walkerton Flash presentationhttp//www.canoe.ca/
  EcoliTragedy/Walkerton.swf
• Walkerton Inquiry reporthttp//www.attorneygener
  al.jus.gov.on.ca/english/about/pubs/walkerton/part
  1/

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• 2002 Tory government introduced
• Safe Drinking Water Act
• Sustainable Water and Sewage Systems Act
• to guard against another water tragedy like
  Walkertonhttp//www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/water/
  sdwa/index.htm
• Act authorized the government to implement key
  recommendations in Walkerton inquiry report

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• Acts criticized as inadequate, as source
  contamination concerns not addressed
• Tories defeated in 2003
• Liberal government elected 2003
• Introduced Clean Water Act (Dec 2005)

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Clean Water Act(received Royal Assent on October
19, 2006)

• The Act ensures that communities are able to
  identify potential risks to their supply of
  drinking water, and take action to reduce or
  eliminate these risks.
• Municipalities, conservation authorities,
  landowners, farmers, industry, community groups
  and the public all work together to meet common
  goals.
• http//www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/DBLaws/Source/Statutes
  /English/2006

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• Other related Ontario government initiatives
• Watershed-based source protection planning
• Revision of Permits To Take Water
• Nutrient Management
• Groundwater Studies