Trench DocsWastewater Quality
Composition of domestic wastewater
The 'typical' ranges of constituent levels for septic tank effluent and sullage shown in the Comment boxes are taken from: Policy Options Paper-The Use of Greywater. Queensland Dept. of Primary Industries (Rural and Resource Development), January 1996. Some of the figures have been rounded, and in the case of TDS, the values in Trench have been estimated by multiplying the published electrical conductivity values by 0.6.
Click More for further constituents from the Queensland Policy Options Paper, and 'typical' compositions of various wastewater from other published sources.
Pollutant distribution of domestic wastewater
| % in greywater | pollutant | % in blackwater |
|---|---|---|
| 65 | Flow | 35 |
| 65 | BOD5 | 35 |
| 40 | Suspended Solids | 60 |
| 20 | Nitrogen | 80 |
| 70 | Phosphorus | 30 |
| low | Pathogens | high |
Examples of wastewater quality
| (a) | (b) | (c) | (d) | (e) | (f) | (g) | (h) | (i) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pH | 7.1-8.3 | 7.4 | 7.0 | 7.3 | 6.5-8.0 | 6.1 | |||
| Conductivity [µS/cm @ 25°C] | 580 | 600 | 300-800 | ||||||
| Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5) [mg/L] | 123 | 200-560 | 175-420 | 250 | 160 | 100-500 | 200 | 5 | |
| Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) [mg/L] | 150-170 | 1-2000 | 500-700 | 500 | 64 | ||||
| Total Organic Carbon (TOC) [mg/L] | 110 | 220 | 250 | ||||||
| Disolved Oxygen [mg/L] | 0 | ||||||||
| Suspended solid (TSS or NFR) [mg/L] | 54 | 550 | 120-230 | 220 | 115 | 100-500 | 210 | 4 | |
| Total Nitrogen (TN) [mg/L] | 30-60 | 70-170 | 9-12 | 50 | 12 | 20-80 | 35 | 16 | 6 |
| Organic Nitrogen [mg/L] | 10-20 | 55 | 6-17 | 25 | 8 | 1 | |||
| Ammonia Nitrogen (NH3-N) [mg/L] | 20-40 | 14 | 2-6 | 25 | 5 | 10-30 | 22 | 7 | 0.05 |
| Nitrate Nitrogen (NO3-N) [mg/L] | 0.3 | 5-30 | 0.5 | 4 | |||||
| Total Phosphorous (P) [mg/L] | 8 | 5-30 | 10 | 6 | 4 | ||||
| Phosphate Phosphorous (PO4) [mg/L] | 20-30 | 8 | 30-40 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | ||
| Chloride (Cl) [mg/L] | 75-95 | ||||||||
| Sulphate (SO4) [mg/L] | 35 | 25-100 | |||||||
| Sodium (Na) [mg/L] | 70 | 73 | 70-300 | ||||||
| Calcium (Ca) [mg/L] | 27 | ||||||||
| Magnesium (Mg) [mg/L] | 14 | ||||||||
| Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) | 4.0 | ||||||||
| Alkalinity [mg/L as CaCO3] | 400 | ||||||||
| Faecal coliforms [million CFL/100 mL] | 1-100 | 50 | 20 | 0.002 |
- (a) Conventional septic tank effluent before absorption or other treatment (various sources)
- (b) BLACKWATER (various sources)
- (c) GREYWATER (various sources)
- (d) Combined BACKWATER and GREYWATER (various sources)
- (e) Average GREYWATER (from Qld. Dept Primary Ind. Policy Options Paper 'The Use of Greywater. Jan 1996)
- (f) Average RAW SEWAGE (from Qld. Dept Primary Ind. Policy Options Paper The Use of Greywater, Jan 1996)
- (g) Average INFLUENT for six Tasmanian municipal primary treatment lagoons
- (h) Average EFFLUENT from the same six Tasmanian municipal treatment lagoons
- (i) Average EFFLUENT from intermittent, medium flow sand filter treating lagoon effluent at Campbell Town. Tas. (g). (h) and (i) from DELM 'Design and Management of Tasmanian Sewage Lagoon Systems'.