Ecosan – some examples of multiple
use of household wastewater
Adriaan Mels, Okke Braadbaart, Jules van Lier and Grietje
Zeeman
Lettinga Associates Foundation
for Environmental Protection & Resource Conservation
Outline
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SWITCH
A bit of history on excreta reuse
The constraints nowadays
What are the recyclable components
Examples (Jordan, Beijing, Lima, Sweden, Netherlands)
Multiple use of municipal wastewater
Linear flow of conventional systems
Circular flow of Ecological
Sanitation
Otterpohl, 2000
SWITCH – Ecological sanitation
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Adoption and performance of established (demo) projects
Fate and removal of micro pollutants
Nutrient demand around a number of mega-cities
Innovative transport systems
Technical standards
Adoption and performance
Drivers (and barriers)
Performance (technology selection tool)
 Public health and environmental protection
 Resources (re)use
 Technical performance
 Financial performance
 User aspects (acceptance, noise, smell, vermin, O&M)
 Robustness
Row of toilets in Ephesus, Turkey, from 1st Century
Feces and urine collection in Netherlands for agricultural
use (1850-1950s)
Uit: De Prijs van Poep, NOVIB
Separate collection and use of flows
Black water: handle with municipal
organic waste
Urine
Urine: use as fertilizer
Grey water: local treatment and use for toilet flush, laundry, car wash, irrigation
Distribution of nutrients
Nitrogen (13 g / cap.day)
Phosphorous (2 g / cap.day)
9%
21%
11%
53%
Urine
26%
80%
Feces
Grey water
Volume = 1.4 l per day
per person on average
Potassium (4 g / cap.day)
10%
20%
Distribution of wastewater flows
Volumes (l / cap. per day)
1.5
34.8
Total 127 l / cap per day
(The Netherlands)
91.3
Grey water
Toilet flush
Black water (urine and feces)
Grey water (2/3 of total
wastewater) is relatively clean and
can be treated locally
Evolution of global water use
Global depletion of P reserves
‘Available' phosphorus reserves (%)
100
2% growth
80
2.5% growth
3% growth
60
40
20
apatite
0
2000
2010
2020
2030
2040
2050
2060
2070
year
Source: Driver et al. (2001)
World population not served with improved sanitation
Source: Huber Technology
Examples of multiple use approaches
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Urine re-use in agriculture (Sweden, Peru)
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Grey water reuse for toilet flushing and
landscaping (Beijing, Netherlands)
Urine sorting toilets
Anno 1900
Anno 2005
Palsternackan Stockholm (constructed 1995):
51 appartementen, 160 bewoners (urine separation)
Collection and storage system
Urine use in agriculture
Urine is stored for 6 months (to remove remaining
pathogens) and is directly used in agriculture
PERU
OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Peru
CAPITAL: Lima
AREA: 1,285,215 km2
COASTLINE: 2,414 km
ESTIMATED 2005 POPULATION: 27,925,628
Residual water
Latrine
AREA 1 - CENCA
• A pilot project with 55 dry ecological
toilets in two human settlements (slums)
at the East of Lima, called Los Topacios of
Nievería and Casa Huerta la Campiña of
Cajamarquilla
AREA 1 - CENCA
No-mix toilet
Wetlands for grey
water
Composting
chambers
AREA 2 - ALTERNATIVA
• A pilot project in Ciudad Nuevo Pachacutec in
Ventanilla with the construction of:
- 17 water reservoirs of 1500 m3
- 837 public water taps
- 140 ecological toilets + green gardens +
rabbits
AREA 2 - ALTERNATIVA
No-mix toilet
Fat Keeper
Wetland
Baño Ecológico
Sistema de
tratamiento
Men
urinal
Sistema de riego
Green garden
Rabbits
Why area matters for system performance
CENCA
ALTERNATIVA
House property
Inheritance
Donation from government
Middle income (Soles/month)
340
530
NGO involvement after project
finished
Yes
No
Inhabitants selected sanitation
technology
Yes
No
Inhabitants designed their toilet
Yes
No
Inhabitants paid for the toilet
Yes (only the 40%)
No
Tap water
Yes
No
Toilets close to each other
Yes
No
Inhabitants manage the system
Yes
No
Users identified with the system
Yes
No
Separate collection and treatment of grey water
Brown water
70 - 100 l /cap. per day
Evt. urine
Grey water
Rain water
Grey water treatment and reuse in Drielanden, Groningen
Constructed wetland
Urban wasterscape
Population (in millions)
Beijing, a rapidly growing city
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
Time
Source: Bureau of Statistic of Beijing Municipality
… and a very water scarce city
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Current water availability is < 300 m3 per capita per year
Severe overexploitation groundwater
The shortfall between water supply and demand is
estimated to be around 1.8 billion cubic meters by 2010
Wastewater reuse planning
Figure 1. Wastewater reuse planning for the Beijing central region (source: Jia et al., 2005)
Wastewater reuse planning
Current situation of wastewater reclamation systems in
urban Beijing (note: this does not include wastewater
reuse for agricultural irrigation and industrial reuse:
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four centralized wastewater treatment plants for
reclamation with total treatment capacity of 255,000
m3/day.
300 - 400 decentralized wastewater reclamation systems
with treatment capacity of 50,000 – 60,000 m3/day
source: Water Saving Office,2006
‘Management regulation on the construction of
wastewater reclamation facilities in Beijing’ (1987)
In this regulation the Beijing Municipal Government issued
that:
 hotels with construction areas exceeding 20,000 m2 and
 all public buildings with construction areas exceeding
30,000 m2
should build a decentralized reclamation facility.
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As of 2001 also new residential areas exceeding 50,000
m2 fall under this regulation
Five cases presented (of 9 investigated)
Beiluchun Residential Area
Beijing Jiaotong University
Beijing Normal
University
Xin Bei Wei Hotel
BOBO Garden House Residential Area
Technologies and capacities
Item
Beijing
Jiaotong
University
Beiluchun
Residential
area
Beijing
Normal
University
Xin Bei Wei
Hotel
Established in
Influent source
1993
Grey
wastewater
2001
Mixed
wastewater
Activated
sludge
1999
Mixed
wastewater
Aerated
Ceramic
Filter
Activated
sludge
2002
Grey
wastewater
Contact
oxidation +
disinfection
Maximal reclamation capacity
(m3/day)
200
640
720
120
1,200
Average reclamation (m3/day)
150
600
400
80
3001
Main treatment technology
1
Another 700 m3 per day are treated and than discharged to the sewer system
BOBO
Garden
House
Residential
area
2003
Mixed
wastewater
Contact
oxidation +
Activated
sludge
Beijing Rainbow Hotel (max. 120 m3 / day)
Flocculater
adding
machine
Disinfector
Reclaimed
water
Wastewater
Grid
Bumpertank
tank
Buffer
Biological
contact
oxidation
reactor
Erect
sedimentation
tank
Machine
filtration
tank
Reclaimed water
storage tank
Harvesting mixed wastewater
Black water
150- 250 l / capita per day
Grey water
Rain water
Centralised wastewater harvesting
Use of mixed wastewater in the Efteling, The Netherlands
 Situated in relatively dry area
 Restrictions on use of ground water
 Uses approximately 550.000 m3/year municipal effluent
 Aim: irrigation of golf courts and supply of water systems
of the park
Case Study: Jordan
 Irrigated agriculture accounts for almost 65% of all current water use
 Irrigated agriculture water demand is expected to increase only slightly:
1998
863*106 m3
2020
890*106 m3
 Generation of reclaimed wastewater is expected to increase drastically:
2001
73*106 m3
2020
265*106 m3
“It is mandatory that all treatment plant projects must include a fully designed
and feasible reuse scheme”
Conveyance sewer (40 km)
to Desert-WSP system
As Samra WSP
Conveyance pipeline (40 km)
Amman (170.000 m3
sewage/day)
Overview 200 ha Pond System at “Khirbet As Samra” in Jordan
Effluent use for agricultural irrigation
“Khirbet As Samra” Waste Water Stabilisation Ponds
Actual situation:
System loaded with 2 x design flow: HRT = 20 days
Current problems
- Effluent BOD: 150-200 mg/l
- Little pathogen removal
- Odour problems
- High gas production in anaerobic ponds
-Up to 15% of incoming wastewater evaporates
- Concomitant salt increase
Research: Implementing anaerobic treatment before ponds
screens
grit
chamber
high-rate
anaerobic
treatment
Raw sewage
Existing
stabilisation
ponds
Treated effluent
Sludge
sludge
drying
beds
Anaerobic treatment followed by stabilization ponds
Cavalcanti et al. (2003)
show that at an HRT of
10 days a removal of
99.99% of E-coli is
achieved (i.e. compliance
with WHO standards for
unrestricted irrigation)
Post treatment in pond systems, Bucaramanga, Colombia
Advantage:
Combines storage and treatment
Relatively cheap when land is available
DMW CORPORATION, Japan
UASB Results “Sewage treatment”
Results two-stage
pilot trials Middle
East (Jordan):
COD Removal:
BOD Removal:
SS Removal:
Pathogen Removal:
- Coliforms:
- Helminth eggs:
up to 80%
up to 85%
up to 80%
70 - 90%
up to 100%
Potential CH4 production in Amman
(at 170.000 m3 sewage/day):
17,500 m3/day
 2 – 2.5 MW
Thanks for your attention
Lettinga Associates Foundation
for Environmental Protection & Resource Conservation