Abstract

SALES DE MAGALHAES, Adriana Barbosa; XAVIER BASTOS, Rafael Kopschitz; SANCHEZ ORTIZ, Iván Andrés  and  ALVES DE MAGALHAES, Marcos. Performance of a Series of Polishing Ponds in the Treatment of Sanitary Sewage. Cienc. Ing. Neogranad. [online]. 2023, vol.33, n.1, pp.105-118.  Epub June 30, 2023. ISSN 0124-8170.  https://doi.org/10.18359/rcin.6636.

the main objective of this research was to evaluate the functioning of a system of polishing ponds on a pilot scale in the post-treatment of urban sewage discharged from an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor and followed by a submerged aerated filter. The following variables were analyzed: transparency, temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, alkalinity, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), ammonia (NH3), organic nitrogen, nitrate (N-NO3), total phosphorus (TP), orthophosphate (PO4 3-), total suspended solids (TSS) and chloro- phyll-a. In addition, the planktonic communities were also identified and quantified. During the study period, the pond system registered the following mean and standard deviation of the removal efficiencies: 32.9±31.7% of BOD, 26.5±33.9% of COD, and 29.0±49.6% of TSS; good performance was observed in the removal of nitrogen compounds, and the following results were obtained: 58.4±28.1%, 87.5±15.4%, 24.4±42.6%, and 9.4±51.8%, respectively for TKN, NH3, organic nitrogen, and N-NO3; and 26.9±25.8 of TP and 34.3±32.7% of PO4 3-. During the research period, the planktonic community was represented by the following classes: Chlorophyceae, Euglenophyceae, Cyanobacteria, Cryptophyceae, Zygnemaphyceae, Chrysophyceae, and Dinophyceae; concurrently, the zooplankton registered low densities and was represented by the Rotiferous, Copepod, and Cladocera groups. The results help us understand the performance of polishing ponds in treating sanitary effluents.

Keywords : water quality; pollutant removal; stabilization ponds; sanitary effluent treatment 5.

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