Wastewater Quantity Estimation

The flow of sanitary sewage alone in the absence of storms in dry season is known as dry
weather flow (DWF).

Quantity = Per capita sewage contributed per day x Population

Sanitary sewage is mostly the spent water of the community draining into the sewer system. It
has been observed that a small portion of spent water is lost in evaporation, seepage in ground,
leakage, etc. Usually 80% of the water supply may be expected to reach the sewers.

Dry weather flow (D.W.F):

The D.W.F is the flow through the sewers that would normally be available during non-rainfall
period. It is consist mainly from domestic sewage and industrial wastewater.

Table 1: Typical wastewater flow rate from different sources in the United States.

# Source Flow, L/unite.d

Unite Range Typical
1 Individual home Person 155-268 200
2 Apartment Bedroom 380-570 450
3 Hotel Guest 150-230 190
4 Restaurant Customer 26-40 35
5 Office Employee 26-60 50
6 Shopping center Employee 26-50 40
7 Theater Seat 8-15 10
8 Hospital Bed 660-1500 1000
9 School Student 40-80 60
10 Airport passenger 11-19 15
11 Transportation terminal Employee 30-80 60

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Example 1:

Estimate the daily quantity of wastewater produced by airport facility based on the following:

20 airport employee

4000 passenger per day

A hotel with 50 rooms for double persons

A restaurant services 1000 persons daily.

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Solution:

20 * 60 = 1200 L/d from employees

4000 * 15 = 60000 L/d from passengers

50 * 2 * 190 = 19000 L/d from hotel

1000 * 35 = 35000 L/d from restaurant

Total = 1200 +60000 + 19000 + 35000 = 115200 L/d = 115.2 m3/d

Infiltration wastewater

Infiltration is the water that enters sewers through poor joints, cracked pipes, and the walls of
manholes. Because infiltration may be nonexistent during dry weather, the dry-weather flow may
be considered as the sanitary sewage plus the industrial wastes. In wet weather, infiltration will
be greatly increased as groundwater levels rise. Some sewers may be located below the
groundwater table and therefore have some infiltration at all times. Sewers that are constructed in
or close to stream beds are especially likely to have high infiltration.
The amount of infiltration to be expected will depend upon the care with which the sewer system
is constructed, the height of the groundwater table, depth of sewer underground, the character of
the soil, and type, size, length of sewers.
Q Infiltration (L/d) = 45 * Km length * mm
= 3-5% of peak hourly flow
= 10% of average flow

Example 2:
Calculate the infiltration wastewater flow and compare its quantity to the average daily and peak
hourly domestic wastewater, use the following information:
Population = 24000
Average domestic wastewater flow = 300 Lpcd

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Peak hourly domestic wastewater flow = 900 Lpcd
Sanitary sewer system:
100 mm sewer = 58 km
200 mm sewer = 38 km
250 mm sewer = 10 km
300 mm sewer = 10 km
Solution:
Q Infiltration (L/d) = 45 * Km length * mm
Q Infiltration (L/d) = 45 * (100*58 + 200*38 + 250*10 + 300*10)
= 850,000 L/d
Q average = 24000 * 300 = 7,200,000 L/d
% (Q Infiltration / Q average )* 100 = (850,000/ 7,200,000) *100 = 11.8 % (criteria 10%)
Q Peak = 24000 * 900 = 21,600,000 L/d
% (Q Infiltration / Q Peak )* 100 = (850,000/ 21,600,000) *100 = 3.9 % (criteria 3-5%)

Population Equivalent

Population equivalent is a parameter used in the conversion of contribution of wastes from

industrial establishments for accepting into sanitary sewer systems.

PE = (Total BOD5 of the industrial wastewater (kg/d) / BOD5 value per capita per day

Example 3:

A combined wastewater comes from population of 2000 persons (with producing of 400 L/c.d
and BOD5 of 100 mg/L), dairy plant, and poultry plant. The dairy wastewater is 76 m3/d with
BOD5 concentration of 900 mg/L. The poultry wastewater is 60 m3/d contained 68 kg of BOD5.

Estimate the total combined BOD5 concentration in mg/L. Then compute the BOD5 population
equivalent for dairy plant, and poultry plant. Finally find the total population.

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Solution:

Weight of BOD5 for population = (2000*400*100)/106 = 80 kg/d

Weight of BOD5 for dairy plant = (76*900)/103 = 68.4 kg/d

Weight of BOD5 for poultry plant = 68 kg/d

Total weight of BOD5 = 80 +68.4 + 68 = 216.4 kg/d

Q total = Q population + Q dairy + Q poultry

Q population = (2000*400)/103 = 800 m3/d

Q total = 800+ 76 + 60 = 936 m3/d

Combined BOD5 = (216.4 *1000)/936 = 231.1 mg/L

PE = (Total BOD5 of the industrial wastewater (kg/d) / BOD5 value per capita per day

PE for dairy plant = 68.4 / (400*100*10-6) = 1710

PE for poultry plant = 68 / (400*100*10-6) = 1700

Total population = 2000 +1710 +1700 = 5410

Wastewater Characterization

To design a treatment process properly, characterization of wastewater is perhaps the most

critical step. Wastewater characteristics of importance in the design of the activated sludge
process can be grouped into the following categories:

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Figure 1: Wastewater's physical characteristics.

Figure 2: Wastewater's chemical characteristics.

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Figure 3: Biological water quality characteristics.

Table 2: Typical composition of untreated domestic wastewater