CHAPTER 1

Basic Design Considerations

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Civil Engineer

Construction
Structure
Hydraulics & Hydrology
Geotechnics
Highway & Transportation
Environmental Engineering
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Environmental Engineering
Water Treatment and Supply
Domestic Wastewater Treatment
Air Pollution Control
Solid Waste Management
Industrial and Hazardous Waste Management
Water Quality Management
Environmental Management
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Role of Civil-Environmental Engineer

Wastewater Treatment System

1. Planning
2. Evaluation
3. Design
4. Construction
5. Operation and maintenance
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Design Life

▪ Design life = Design period.

▪ Design life is the number of years during which the project will be expected to
meet the community’s requirements (ranging from 5 - 10 years excluding the
construction period).
▪ Design life is estimated based on the following:
1. Useful life of the component, considering obsolescence, wear, tear, etc.
2. Expandability aspect.
3. Anticipated rate of growth of population, including industrial,
commercial developments & migration-immigration.
4. Available resources.
5. Performance of the system during initial period.
6. Amount and availability of investment.
7. Hydraulic constraints of the systems designed
8. Life of the material and equipment.
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Service Area and Site Acquisition

1. The included physical, 2. Wastewater treatment plant can
chemical and biological degrade the amenity of its
reactions that occur in the surrounding, especially in
wastewater treatment plant residential areas.
lead to waste emissions
comprising of the following:
3. Careful consideration of siting is
▪ Gases and vapors (contain
bacteria and viruses) required to minimize plant
nuisance to the public.
▪ Noise
▪ Vibration 4. Sufficient land needs to be set
▪ Unwanted solid matter aside during the planning stage
▪ Undesirable by-product (i.e., regional treatment plant
liquors containing highly development and the proper
concentrated pollutants sewerage planning for housing,
▪ Heat commercial and institutional
developments).
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Service Area and Site Acquisition
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)

Population equivalent is a parameter used in the conversion of

contribution of wastes from industrial establishments for accepting into
sanitary sewer systems.

The design flow and organic loading shall be estimated on the basis of the
estimated contributory population and shall include infiltration flows
allowances.
Average design flow
The average daily design flow shall be based on 225 lpcd (Liter per
capita per day).
Average daily flow = Design flow rate x PE
Design organic loadings
• The organic loading from domestic sewage shall be normally based on
55 g of BOD (5 days at 20C)/ person/day.
The strength of industrial sewage is written as
Std. BOD5 = (Std. BOD5 of domestic sewage per person per day) x PE
= (55 g BOD5 per person per day) x PE
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)
Table 1 : Recommended population equivalent

Estimation of average design daily

flow from various premises
The average design daily flow may be
estimated from a given premises can
be determined by using the following
equation:

Average daily flow = Design flow rate x PE

Table 1

This calculation be used as the

minimum requirement for the purpose
of computing the average design daily
flows.

[Refer to MSIG Vol.4, Section 1.5 (Guideline for

Design Calculations), Page 6-7]
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)
Table 2: Effluent discharge standards to Malaysian inland waters

Industrial wastewater
Where it is permitted into
a sewerage system, the
design flows shall be
based on the minimum
requirements in Table 2.
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)

Industrial wastewater (Cont’d)

[Refer to Section 1.2.5 MS1228:1991 (Page 6)]
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)

Peak flows
• The peak hourly flow, which will required in the design of sewers,
pumping stations and components of the treatment plants shall be
determined from the following formula:

Peak flow factor = 4.7 x p-0.11

where p is estimated equivalent population, in thousand.
[Refer to MS1228:1991, Section 3.6 (Peak flows), Page 12]

Infiltration
• While the sewerage system shall be designed cater for unavoidable
amount of infiltration, which arises from faulty joints, cracked sewer
pipes and manholes
• Infiltration into the sewerage system be minimized through proper
selection of construction technology and materials, proper supervision
of construction and field testing of the components of system for water
tightness.
[Refer to MS1228:1991, Section 3.7 (Infiltration), Page 12]
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)
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Design of Population Equivalent (PE)

1. Average daily flow, Qavg = Design flow rate x PE

2. Peak Flow Factor (PFF) or Peaking Factor = 4.7 p – 0.11

(where p is population equivalent (PE) in thousand)

3. Peak Flow, Qpeak = Peaking factor x Qavg

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Effluent Control and Act (EQA 1974 & MS 1228)
• The Environment Quality Act (EQA) 1974
specifies two standards for effluent
discharge.
• Standard A for effluent discharge located
upstream of raw water intake points
• Standard B for effluent discharge located
downstream of the raw water intake
points.
• The current Third Schedule of the
Environmental Quality Act 1974, under the
Environmental Quality (Sewage and
Industrial Effluents) Regulations 1979,
regulations 8 (1), 8 (2) and 8 (3) has been
revisited and the Department of
Environment (DOE) has proposed 8th
Schedule for the Act which stipulate
effluent discharge limits for parameters
specific to domestic wastewater.
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Effluent Control and Act (EQA 1974 & MS 1228)
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Alternative Processes for Wastewater Treatments

Due to physical, economic or technology constraints, these are

several alternative processes that could be adopted to treat
wastewater:

Constructed wetlands
Extended aeration
Pond system
Rotating biological contactor
Sequencing batch reactor
Trickling filter
Sand filter
On-site septic system
Stabilization ponds
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Choice of Appurtenances
Sewer appurtenances are the various accessories
on the sewerage system and are necessary for the
efficient operation of the system.

• They include manholes, lamp holes, street inlets, catch

basins, inverted siphons, and so on.
Manholes:
✓ Manholes are the openings of either circular or
rectangular in shape constructed on the alignment of a
sewer line to enable a person to enter the sewer for
inspection, cleaning and flushing.
✓ They serve as ventilators for sewers, by the provisions
of perforated man-hole covers.
✓ Also they facilitate the laying of sewer lines in
convenient length.
✓ Man-holes are provided at all junctions of two or more
sewers, whenever diameter of sewer changes,
whenever direction of sewer line changes and when
sewers of different elevations join together.
Choice of Appurtenances – Special Man-holes (Continued)27

Junction chambers Drop man-hole Flushing man-holes

Lamp-manholes Street inlets Catch Basins

Inverted siphon
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Plan Layout

Plant layout is the arrangement of designed treatment

units on the selected site.

• The components that need to be included in a treatment plant,

should be so laid out as to optimize land requirement, minimize
lengths of interconnecting pipes and pumping heads.
• Access for sludge and chemicals transporting and for possible
repairs, should be provided in the layout.
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Siting of Treatment Plant

Siting is the selection of site for treatment plant based on

features as character, topography, and shoreline.
• Site development should take the advantage of the existing site
topography.
• The following principles are important to consider:
✓ A site on a side-hill can facilitate gravity flow that will reduce pumping
requirements and locate normal sequence of units without excessive
excavation or fill.
✓ Site development should minimize the alteration of the existing
naturally stabilized site contours and drainage.
✓ The developed site should be compatible with the existing land uses
and the comprehensive development plan.
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Hydraulic Profile

Hydraulic profile is the graphical representation of the hydraulic grade

line through the treatment plant.

✓ If the high water level in the receiving water is known, this level is used
as a control point, and the head loss computations are started backward
through the plant.
✓ If the total available head is less than the head loss through the plant,
flow by gravity cannot be achieved. In such cases pumping is needed to
raise the head so that flow by gravity can occur.
✓ The hydraulic profiles are prepared at peak, average design flows and at
minimum initial flow.
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Hydraulic Profile
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Hydraulic Profile
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Economics of Treatment Plants

▪ High investment costs are closely dependent upon an engineer

decision in terms of technological option to achieve very high
environmental standards for the wastewater treated.
▪ Environmental standards should be based upon the optimum level
of pollution subjected to safe health requirements and overall
environmental gains.
▪ This means that investments on wastewater treatment plants must be
based on cost-effectiveness (CE) considerations, allowing a
gradually crescent environmental standard implementation process.
▪ If CE procedure is followed, wastewater treatment will have higher
social gains per monetary unit of investment in the initial stages of
implementation due to an achieved less degraded watercourse.
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Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

EIA is a study to identify, predict, evaluate and

communicate information about the impacts
on the environment of a proposed project and
to detail out the mitigating measures prior to
project approval and implementation.

EIA documents for the impact assessment on wastewater treatment plant:

1. Description of the proposed project

2. Description of the environment
3. Identification of possible impacts
4. Proposed measures to prevent, reduce or mitigate the adverse.

http://www.doe.gov.my/eia/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/EIA-Procedure-and-Requirements-
in-Malaysia.pdf
 Essential Design Considerations

Solids (TS, DS, VS, fixed solids, mineral solids)

Color
Physical
characteristics
Odor

Temperature
characteristics of

Organic contents (BOD, COD, fats, phenols, surfactants, oil and grease)
Strength and

wastewater

Chemical
characteristics Inorganic contents (Alkalinity, chlorides, nitrogen, Sulphur, phosphorus, heavy
metals, pH, carbohydrates)

Gases (Oxygen, methane, hydrogen sulfide)

Animal

Plants

Biological
Protista
characteristics

Pathogenic organisms

Viruses
 Essential Design Considerations
Daily variation
Flow rates and their

Seasonal variation
fluctuations

Maximum and minimum fluctuations

Definitions of various flow rates

Useful ratios
Mass loading

Variations in
mass loading

Detention time (Hydraulic retention time, HRT)

Flow through velocity of

horizontal velocity, Vh

Settling velocity, Vs

Surface loading rate (SLR) or overflow rate (OFR)

Weir loading rate (WLR)

Design criteria

Organic loading

Food-Microorganism (F/M) ratio

Mean cell residence time (MCRT) or solids retention time (SRT)

Hydraulic loading

Volumetric loading

Length: Breadth: Depth ratio

 Essential Design Considerations

Hydraulic Flow Diagram HFDs are necessary for the following reasons:

1) Provide hydraulic gradients from which it can

be ensured whether the gradient is sufficient
for the flow of wastewater from one unit to
another by gravity.
2) Will help to check against the backflow of
wastewater from succeeding units to
proceeding units, particularly at peak flows.
3) Will help to ensure that no backflow or
flooding of units takes place when final
effluent is disposed into natural streams,
especially in the rainy season when streams
usually get flooded.
4) Will be useful in computing the required
heads for the pumps during design
calculations of pumping stations.
5) Useful for checking the hydraulic losses
between the units.
End of Chapter 1

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