Jose Valles
Sewer Science LAB
Test DAILY: Testing Rational and Protocol pages 6 – 9.
 pH: Is a measurement of how acidic or basic a solution is. pH
is important because life need a pH of 7 neutral range.
 Ammonia: The Primary source of ammonia (NH3) in
wastewater is urine. Reasons why ammonia should not be
dumped in lake/ Bay/ Ocean. First, ammonia is highly toxic.
Second, bacteria that naturally exist in a lake/ Bay/ Ocean
will attack the ammonia in a reaction that requires oxygen.
So when the bacteria react with the ammonia, they will be
stealing dissolved oxygen from the water. That dissolved
oxygen is needed in the water for survival of fish and other
species.
 Turbidity: Wastewater contains solid matter of different
sizes. Fine particles of matter are suspended in the water will
cause the light passing through the water to scatter.
Suspended particles are a problem for fish, since fine
particles can interfere with oxygen absorption in their gills.
Turbidity is an important measurement because it gives a
good indication of the concentration of these particles. Clean
pure water has a turbidity of zero.
 COD (chemical oxygen demand): Is a measure of the amount
of oxygen that would be needed to destroy all the pollution in
the water.
o The higher the COD, the more polluted the water.
Data Day # 1
1st Sedimentation Tank
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Jose Valles
 Mix Wastewater
 Material:
Waste Substance
1. Dried used coffee grounds
2. Ground-up breakfast cereal
3. Ground-up pet food
4. Cut-up plastic
5. Baking Soda
6 Torn-up toilet paper pieces
7. Ammonia
8. Vegetable oil
Recommended
Amount (Range)
5 to 8 grams
2 to 4 grams
2 to 4 grams
1 to 4 grams
3 to 4 grams
2 to 6 grams
5 to 10 ml
10 to 20 ml
Amount
Used
6.82 g
3.35 g
3.08 g
1.81 g
3.73 g
4.26 g
10 ml
20 ml
 Test “Raw” Wastewater /Sewage.
- pH = 6
- Ammonia Concentration (mg/Liter) = 12
- Turbidity = 65
- Chemical Oxygen Demand (mg/Liter) = 790
The water here was very nasty looking and it made me think of
feces. If this were a actual representation of actual sewer than I
would not want to be next to the real thing.
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Food
Food
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Jose Valles
Primary Treatment = Sedimentation / Settling. Let tank sit for
24 hours.
 Mixture separates by density:
o Floaties @ top
o Sediment @ bottom
o MIDDLE layer of dissolved matter
Data Day # 2
MIDDLE layer of dissolved matter is NOW removed into Aeration
Tank
 Test this middle layer of dissolved matter. This data
represents results from the Primary Treatment.
- pH = 7
- Ammonia Concentration (mg/Liter) = 12
- Turbidity = 36
- Chemical Oxygen Demand (mg/Liter) = 520
Secondary Treatment = Biological Treatment
 ADD activated sludge = microorganisms EAT the dissolved
ammonia and food nutrients (C-H-O) in the wastewater.
Here the solids leveled out and you could see what would float and
what wouldn’t. We took out the water that was in the middle
because it just had small microscopic particulates
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Jose Valles
Data Day # 3
 Test wastewater from aeration tank to see the effects of the
secondary treatment.
 Test:
o pH = 7
o Ammonia Concentration (mg/Liter) = 6
o Turbidity = 48
o Chemical Oxygen Demand (mg/Liter) = 100
 Microscope Data
 Transfer wastewater to Secondary Sedimentation Tank
o Add aluminum sulfate / mix / allow 24 hours for
microbes to settle out of the solution to the bottom of
the tank = Flocculation.
We used the bacteria cleanse to clean the very small particulates.
This was the time when the level of ammonia changed drastically
from 12 to 6 almost by half. The water after looked somewhat clean
but it still had some particulates on the bottom
Data Day # 4
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Jose Valles
 Tertiary / Advanced Treatment = Filtration
Pour wastewater through the filtration column of charcoal
and sand.
 Test this filtered water:
o pH = 7
o Ammonia Concentration (mg/Liter) = 4
o Turbidity = 11
o Chemical Oxygen Demand (mg/Liter) = 36
“Acceptable COD” < 40
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Jose Valles
When the water came it looked really cleat and it looked as if it
was tap water
 Summary Data Chart –
TEST
Date
Data Day 1
Date
Data Day 2
Date
Data Day 3
Date
Data Final
Raw
Sewage
(Start)
Primary
Treatment 
Sedimentation
Secondary
Filtration 
Treatment 
Advanced
Biological (eat) Treatment
pH
9
7
7
7
Ammonia
12
12
6
4
Turbidity
65
36
48
11
COD
790
520
100
36
(x 2)
Graph test data over the treatment period:
pH graph / ammonia graph / turbidity graph / COD graph
pH:
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Jose Valles
When I look at the pH I see that when the sediment treatment took
place it let the toxins settle and made the pH level
COD:
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Jose Valles
The Cod is the measure of the amount of oxygen that would be
needed to destroy all the pollution in the water. When we look at the
Raw sewage compared to the advanced filtration we see how it gets
increasing less throughout each project.
Ammonia:
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Jose Valles
When looking at the Ammonia is see that before the biological
treatment it was very high. But after the biological organisms had a
chance to get in there they ate the combination that formed the
ammonia
Turbidity:
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Jose Valles
Turbidity is the clarity of the water. The turbidity is lowered which in
this case means it is clearer at a pretty much constant rate.
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