Feasibility Study of Intermittent Slow Sand Filtration for Agricultural Reuse of Reclaimed Water

A pilot study was performed to examine the feasibility of intermittent slow sand filtration for agricultural reuse of reclaimed water. The effluent of biofilter for 16-unit apartment was used as influent to the slow sand filtration system at 0.6 $m^3$/day loading rate using 15 seconds spray in every 10 minutes on the about 1 $m^2$ surface area and 0.5 m depth. The influent concentrations of total coliform (TC), fecal coliform (FC) and E. coli were in the range of 10.000 MPN/100 mL. and they were reduced to less than 1,000 MPN/100 mL after filtration with average of 320, 270, and 154 MPN/100 mL, respectively, showing over 95 % removal. Turbidity and SS were improved effectively and their average concentration was reduced to 0.8 NTU and 1.7 mg/L, respectively, and removal rate was about 50 %. Average BOD and COD concentrations were also reduced substantially to 2.6 and 25.8 mg/L with about 55 and 21 % removal rate, respectively. Nutrients removal was relatively low and removal rate for T-N and T-P was low however, remaining nutrients might be beneficial and less concerned in case of agricultural reuse. The concentration of biofilter effluent used in this experiment was in the range of secondary treatment effluent but slightly stronger than the one from existing wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Therefore, intermittent slow sand filtration might be also applicable to the effluent from WWTPs as long as its agricultural reuse is available. Considering stable performance and effective removal of bacterial indicators as well as other water quality parameters, low maintenance, and cost-effectiveness, the intermittent slow sand filtration was thought to be an effective and feasible alternative for agricultural reuse of reclaimed water. This paper is a preliminary result from pilot study and further investigations are recommended on the optimum design parameters before full scale application.

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