5/19/2012

WASTEWATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL

ENGINEERING

Ms. N.S. Miguntanna,

Senior Lecturer,
Faculty of Engineering,
University of Ruhuna 1

LECTURE 3- Sewage systems

and Design

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Sewer

What is sewer?
Sewer is an artificial conduit or system of
conduits used to remove sewage and to
provide drainage.

Sewage - Introduction
Sewage is the mainly liquid waste containing some
solids produced by humans which typically consists of
-washing water
-faeces
-urine
-laundry waste
-other material from household and
industry

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Sewage – Introduction Contd:

• Sewage is created by residences, institutions,
hospitals and commercial and industrial
establishments.
• Raw influent (sewage) includes household
waste liquid from toilets, baths, showers,
kitchens, sinks, and so forth that is disposed of
via sewers.
• In many areas, sewage also includes liquid
waste from industry and commerce.

History
In the 20th century developed world,
Sewers are usually pipelines that begin with
connecting pipes from buildings to one or more
levels of larger underground horizontal mains,
which terminate at sewage treatment facilities.
Vertical pipes, called manhole, connect the
mains to the surface.
Sewers are generally gravity powered, though
pump may be used if necessary.

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Process overview
• Sewage can be treated close to where it is created (in
septic tanks, bio filters or aerobic treatment
systems), or collected and transported via a network
of pipes and pump stations to a municipal treatment
plant.
• Sewage collection and treatment is typically subject
to local, state and federal regulations and standards.
• Industrial sources of waste water often require
specialized treatment processes.
• Conventional sewage treatment involves three
stages, called primary, secondary and tertiary
treatment.
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Process overview Contd:

• First, the solids are separated from the waste water
stream.
• Then dissolved biological matter is progressively
converted into a solid mass by using indigenous,
water-borne micro-organisms.
• Finally, the biological solids are neutralized then
disposed of or re-used, and the treated water may be
disinfected chemically or physically (for example by
lagoons and micro filtration).
• The final effluent can be discharged into a stream,
river, bay, lagoon or wetland, or it can be used for the
irrigation of a golf course, green way or park.
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Sewer Systems
STORM SEWER SYSTEM
[Storm Drains/Stormwater Drains/
Surface Water System]

SANITARY SEWER SYSTEM

[Foul Sewer]

I. Storm Sewer System

STORM SEWER is designed to drain excess
rainfall and groundwater from paved streets,
parking lots, sidewalks, and roofs.
STORM SEWERS vary in design from small
residential dry wells to large municipal systems.
STORM SEWERS are present on most
motorways, freeways and other busy roads, as
well as towns in areas which experience heavy
rainfall, flooding and coastal towns which
experience regular storms.

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I. Storm Sewer System

Ideally, STORM SEWERS should be separate from

SANITARY SEWERS, though in some places the
runoff from storm sewers is subjected to
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT when there is
sufficient capacity to spare.

I. Storm Sewer System

Most drains have a single large exit at their point of
discharge (often covered by a grating to prevent access by
humans and exit by debris) into either a canal, river, lake,
reservoir, ocean and spread out into smaller branches as
they move up into their catchment area.

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I. Storm Sewer System

Storm sewers may discharge into
-individual dry wells.
-man-made excavations (recharge basins).

Pipes characteristics
-can come in many different shapes.
-have many different features.
-several different materials can also be
used.

II. Sanitary Sewer System

Sanitary sewer is a type of underground
carriage system for transporting sewage from
houses or industry to treatment or disposal.

Sanitary lines generally consist of laterals,

mains, and manholes (or other various forms
of traps).

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Types of Sewer System

 SEPARATE SEWER SYSTEM

 COMBINED SEWER SYSTEM

Separate Sewer System

• Separate sanitary sewer systems are designed to
transport sewage alone.
• In communities served by separate sanitary sewers,
another pipe system is constructed to convey storm
• water run-off directly to surface waters.
• Most municipal sewer systems constructed today are
separate sewer systems.
• Although separate sewer systems are intended to
transport only sewage, all sewer systems have some
degree of inflow and infiltration of surface water and
groundwater, which can lead to sanitary sewer
overflows. 16

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Separate Sewer System

A separate sewer system is a

type of sewer system which
one pipe system carries
wastewater and another
separate pipe system carries
stormwater.

Combined Sewer System

A combined sewer is a
type of sewer system
which provides partially
separated channels for
sanitary sewage and
stormwater runoff. This
allows the sanitary
sewer system to
provide backup
capacity for the runoff
sewer when runoff
volumes are unusually
high, but it is an
antiquated system that
is vulnerable to sanitary
sewer overflow during
peak rainfall events.

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Sewerage Options
Centralised system
• Conventional gravity collection
• Pressure pipework (pumped or rising mains)
• Vacuum sewerage
Decentralised sewerage systems
• Common Effluent Drainage
• Variable grade sewers
• Septic tank effluent pumping
• On-site sewerage management
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Sewerage Options -Schematic of Centralised and

Decentralised Approaches

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Sewerage Collection System

• Reticulation sewers: network of pipes including
property connections that receives sewage
from premises.
• Branch sewers: network of pipes that connect
the reticulation pipes within a reticulation
area.
• Trunk sewers: connect the branch sewers and
transport to sewage to treatment works.
• Transport system may also include sewage
pumping stations.
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Sewer Materials and Appurtenances

Piping
• Pipes can come in many different shapes
(rectangular, square, bread loaf shaped, oval
and, more commonly, circular)
• Several different materials can also be used,
such as brick, concrete, metal and even plastic
in some cases.

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Sewer Materials and Appurtenances

Contd:
Outlet
• Most drains have a single large exit at their
point of discharge (often covered by a grating)
into a canal, river, lake, reservoir, sea or ocean.
• Other than catch basins, typically there are no
treatment facilities in the piping system.
• Small storm drains may discharge into
individual dry wells.
• Storm drains may be interconnected using
slotted pipe, to make a larger dry well system.
• Storm drains may discharge into man-made
excavations known as recharge basins. 23

Sewer Materials and Appurtenances Contd:

Precast Sewers
• In Central Europe, a special type of technology has
been developed which systematically splits up the
various elements of a construction planned in situ
concrete in order to have them produced as pre-cast
concrete parts which, then, only need to be
assembled at the construction site.
• This system is called "Pre-cast parts with in situ
concrete finishing".

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Sewer Materials and Appurtenances Contd:

• The main advantages of precast concrete are:
opportunity to have a separate production because a part
of the required products.
Pre-casting takes place in work sheds and therefore
weather conditions are irrelevant.
Pre-cast concrete parts have a different rate of production
than at the construction site. One could therefore stock
supply and only deliver the amount required to the
construction site.
This production technology is extremely precise when it
comes to measuring.
The surface of the pre-cast concrete elements is smooth
due to being produced in pallets (steel form work). Plastering
is not required as very often the concrete surface is good
enough for paint work. 25

Sewer Materials and Appurtenances Contd:

Strength and Bedding of Sewers
Depends on the method of installing the pipe in the trench,
i.e., class of bedding, type of backfill materials and soil
compaction effort, etc.
Infiltration and Sewer Joints
• Joints should be designed to make sewers watertight,
root-resistant, flexible, and durable.
• It has been experimentally demonstrated that joints
made from rubber gasket and hot- poured bituminous
material produced almost no infiltration, whereas
cement -mortar joints cause excessive infiltration.

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Sewer Materials and Appurtenances Contd:

Corrosion of Sewers
• Pitting corrosion, or pitting, is a form of extremely
localized corrosion that leads to the creation of small
holes in the metal.
• The driving power for pitting corrosion is the lack of
oxygen around a small area.
• Corrosion can be initiated by a small surface defect,
being a scratch or a local change in composition, or a
damage to protective coating.
• Polished surfaces display higher resistance to
corrosion.

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Sewer Materials and Appurtenances Contd:

Manholes

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Sewer Materials and Appurtenances Contd:

• A manhole (alternatively utility hole, maintenance
hole or access chamber) is the top opening to an
underground utility vault used to house an access
point for making connections or performing
maintenance on underground and buried public
utility and other services including sewers,
telephone, electricity, storm drains and gas.
• Manholes are generally found in urban areas, in
streets and occasionally under side walks.
• They are usually in circular shape to prevent
accidental fall of the cover in the hole.

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