Operational Challenges of Sewage Treatment Plants in Hilly Cold Climate: A Case Study of Shimla,

India

Section A -Research paper

Operational Challenges of Sewage Treatment Plants in Hilly

Cold Climate: A Case Study of Shimla, India
Sanjeev Kumar1*, Ran Vijay Singh2 and Kunal Kumar3
1. Ph.D Scholar, B.I.T. Sindri, Jharkhand University of Technology (JUT) and Assistant Manager
Environment, Coal India Limited Email: [email protected]
2. Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, B.I.T Sindri, JUT
3. Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, B.I.T Sindri, JUT

ABSTRACT
The underperforming treatment plants are pathways for transmission of infectious disease
like Hepatitis E Viruses (HEV) which poses global health threat. The sewage treatment plant
situated in hilly and cold climate of Shimla was underperforming which caused various
episode of HEV induced jaundice outbreak thus in this research performance evaluation an
efficient tool is used to identify the operational challenges of sewage treatment. The stratified
sampling is used to determine the physiochemical parameters of inflow-outflow of each
process to assess the performance of sewage treatment. The overall removal efficiency of
Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5) and Total
Suspended Solids (TSS) are found to be 82%, 75% and 79% respectively which was lowered
by 10 to 15% during winter season. Topographical undulation and flow variation might be
the reason of shock load and significantly high flow velocity. High strength sewage and
lowered bioactivity during cold weather has caused poor quality effluent which might be
enhanced by optimal dosage of alum in clariflocculator. Virus load test and optimum
disinfection of effluent may restrict viruses to cause disease outbreak. Present research
indicates that similar field study can achieve the social sanitation and conservation of river in
developing countries.
Keyword: performance evaluation, sewage treatment plant, operational challenges,
physiochemical parameter, stratified sampling, removal efficiency.

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Wastewater engineering is a well-established field although performance of sewage treatment
plant based on meticulously tested technology faces operational challenges at grass root level.
Performance of pilot plant and actual in situ treatment plant usually falls apart especially in
developing country in spite of the fact that both have same working principle. Major
challenges ascribed to underperforming sewage treatment facilities are lack of assurance and
disoriented decision making by the administrator of municipal authority (Al‐Sa'ed &
Tomaleh 2012). Effluent of sewage treatment plant are major carriers of pathogen into
discharge water bodies and raw water sources (Monedero et al. 2018). Performance of every
STP varies greatly even their working principle and technology is same (Hasan et al. 2019).
That has been palpable by the fact that in India 659 towns are located on the bank of 317
identified severely polluted river sections of 275 rivers (CPCB 2018). Polluted river sections
creates threat to critical as well as chronic public health and hygiene issues. Untreated or
partially treated sewage may cause stress to public health conditions (Chatterjee et al. 2016).
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Operational Challenges of Sewage Treatment Plants in Hilly Cold Climate: A Case Study of Shimla,
India

Section A -Research paper

The major problems concomitant with sewage treatment are designed capacity of plant is less
than that of sewage generated, sewage collection network capacity is less than the treatment
plant capacity and most important floundering sewage treatment plants. The underperforming
treatment plant are pathways for transmission of infectious disease like Hepatitis E Viruses
(HEV) which poses global health threat (Schaeffer et al. 2018). Khuroo et al. (2016) swotted
the epidemics of HEV and found that this fecal-oral route transmissible disease can develop
into epidemics in few weeks. Infected individuals excrete the HEV through their stools and
vomitus at high concentrations in sewage water. Asymptomatic people may also shed large
amount of viral particles through their stools in sewage (Sano et al. 2016; Schaeffer et. al.
2018). Microorganism are widely disseminated in surface water bodies through discharge of
treated and untreated sewage (Kokkinos 2015). The water supply system become vulnerable
to community and may cause immediate epidemics if virus infected water get mixed with raw
water source.
Sewage generation in India is about 61754 MLD against the current treatment capacity of
22963 MLD as a result 62% of sewage found its pathway leading into the nearby inland
water bodies without treatment (Kamble 2019). Disposal of sewage without treatment causes
direct and indirect exasperation for ecology and biodiversity in the river. There are 193
CETPs and 920 STPs operating in India (MoEF&CC 2016) and performance evaluation of
195 STPs out have these had been carried out by CPCB and sponsored by Ministry of
Environment, forest and Climate Change Government of India under National River
Conservation Plan (CPCB 2013). The study report comprises of performance evaluation
information of sewage treatment plant constructed under the various national and state level
river action plan. The data represents that out of total 152 STPs, 30 are not operative, 28 are
under performance, 49 have surpassed BOD discharge limit and 7 surpassed COD discharge
limit (CPCB 2013). Treatment plants which are neither assessed under National River
Conservation Plan (NRCP) nor evaluated by operating agencies or eluded due to lack of,
resources, expertise and funds. STPs incapable to treat the sewage to a anticipated level due
to faulty design, operational challenges, slackness, power shortage and rare maintenance and
inferior technology (CPCB 2013).
Performance evaluation is an impressive tool to answer the question “weather the any system
is serving its envisioned purpose economically and efficiently or not?” The impact of effluent
on receiving body and ecology can be assessed by performance evaluation of STPs. Products
outcome of performance evaluation are elementary information for planning and design for
installation of new sewage treatment facility or retrofitting, enhancement and extension of
existing STPs. Performance evaluation is a incessant process which augments the whole
installation and operation of STPs to achieve greater of efficiency and economy.
Sewage treatment plants be made up of sequential process through which sewage or
wastewater flows and get treated before discharge. Wastewater treatment plants are usually
categorised based on diversity of technologies. The technologies are mainly classified as
natural, conventional, modified and advanced technology of treatment. The methodology of
performance evaluation remains similar for all types of treatment technology but the testing
parameters and operational parameters are technology dependent (Metcalf & Eddy 2003).
Performance evaluation of STPs situated in hilly zone have not got much admiration. It has
been observed through literature review that effect of low temperature over efficiency of
STPs had required much more attention of researcher. In developed countries, wastewater

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Operational Challenges of Sewage Treatment Plants in Hilly Cold Climate: A Case Study of Shimla,
India

Section A -Research paper

treatment plants are fully based on system automation, sensors and supervisory control and
data acquisition (SCADA) system which collects data on real time basis thus performance
evaluation is much easier task. In developing country as India where maximum of plants are
manually operated and be governed by manual laboratory data, performance evaluation
remain as burdensome, time taking and expensive affair.
The present study aims to determine the operational challenges faced by sewage treatment
plant located in a hilly, cold and cloudy climate of Shimla by using performance evaluation
as a tool. The study may be helpful in avoiding the risk of jaundice outbreak due to Hepatitis
E or any other virus spreading through fecal-oral route in the city. Main objective of this
research is to evaluate the effect of temperature and hilly terrain in terms of sewage
characteristics, operational parameter and efficiency of the sewage treatment plant.
2.0 Study Area and Status of Sewage Treatment
The present research have addressed the HEV epidemics occurred in Shimla a class I city of
India and capital of Himachal Pradesh. Shimla was designated summer capital of British era
India before independence (CSE 2011). The city is a hill station located on the slanting spur
of the central Himalaya range. Planning commission of India demarcated and classified
Shimla as a hilly town with average slope of 30 percent. Climate of Shimla is predominantly
cold and cloudy. The average temperature varies 15-25˚C in summer and 0-13˚C in winter.
The city records average rainfall of 900 mm and snow fall occurs in last week of December.
According to Municipal Corporation Shimla, over-all profile of the regular floating
population is approx. 75000 and permanent population is around 1,69,758 within the
municipal corporation area. Total urban population can be accounted as 2,01,500 (MC
Shimla 2011). Shimla is one of the desired destination for domestic and foreign tourists.
Shimla accommodates large number of visitors during summer as well as from Christmas to
New Year. The sewage networks of Shimla is too old and not sufficient to accommodate the
urban population and floating tourist population. In 2005, expansion work for sewage
network was initiated and new sewers were laid, along this six new decentralised sewage
treatment plants were also constructed. The six treatment plants constitute total installed
capacity of 35.63 MLD and total length of the sewer network was 220.6 km (CSE 2011 and
MC Shimla 2011). The major sewage treatment plant of Shimla were underperforming and
faced operational challenges which was purview of this research. The critical situation had
raised up the threat to public hygiene and caused severe episodes of jaundice outbreak in
2007 and 2010 (CSE 2011 and MC Shimla 2011). The recent lethal jaundice outbreak
epidemic of 2015-16 had affected more than ten thousand people and few fatality. The fig. 1
shows the location of Shimla city and HEV affected area. The epidemic had occurred due to
underachieving Sanjjauli Maliana STP which effluent was found its pathway into Ashwini
Khad stream. Ashwini Khad is an inland surface raw water source for Ashwini Khad water
treatment plant which is positioned in the downstream of Sanjauli Maliana STP.

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Operational Challenges of Sewage Treatment Plants in Hilly Cold Climate: A Case Study of Shimla,
India

Section A -Research paper

Fig. 1 Location of study area and Sanjauli Malyana Sewage Treatment Plant
2.1 Design and Construction of Sewage Treatment Plant
The current study has taken Sanjauli Malyana STP to apply the performance evaluation tool
in such a mean that operational challenges can be addressed in order to lessen the risk of the
episodes of jaundice outbreak. The fig. 1 shows the location of Sanjauli Malyana STP. The
sewage treatment plant has designed capacity of 4.44 MLD and operated under the esteemed
supervision of engineers and managers of Himachal Pradesh Irrigation and Public Health
(HPIPH) Department of city Shimla and Municipal Corporation Shimla. Sanjauli Malyana
STP is based on extended aeration activated sludge process followed by physiochemical
process of coagulation and flocculation. Screens and grit are provided for pre-treatment of
sewage. Filter press and sludge drying beds are provided for sludge handling and disposal.
All the treatment process and flow diagram is indicated in fig. 2.

Fig. 2 Flow diagram of Sanjauli Malyana Sewage Treatment Plant

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Operational Challenges of Sewage Treatment Plants in Hilly Cold Climate: A Case Study of Shimla,
India

Section A -Research paper

3.0 MATERIALS AND METHODS
3.1 Data collection
The data collection was done in the winter season in order to study the effect of low
temperature and cloudy weather of Shimla on performance of sewage treatment plant. Author
took utmost care to obtain the representative sample as well as to reduce the error in the
testing and analysis.
3.2 Sampling techniques
Stratified Random Sampling method had selected with two stratum viz. temporal strata
consist of Daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal variation and spatial strata comprised of
variation of location. The stratified sampling was reported appropriate for performance
evaluation of sewage treatment plant by Zhang (2007). By assessing an inclusive standard
deviation (standard deviation generated in total after sampling and analysis) the essential
number of samples for a water sampling may be projected to obtain a reliable statistical
results (APHA 2012).
3.3 Physiochemical Parameters
Physiochemical parameters of sewage are major indicators to evaluate the performance of
sewage treatment plant. . Hourly inflow variation to the plant was studied to visualise flow
fluctuation pattern. Flow velocity through screen and grit chamber were measured and
compared with their design value using t-test. Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Biochemical
Oxygen Demand (BOD5) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) selected to evaluate the
Influent and effluent characteristics as well as degree of treatment in each process and overall
STP. These parameter were found most suitable to carry performance evaluation of STP
(CPCB 2013; Chatterjee et al. 2016; Okubo et al. 2016; Von Sperling et al. 2001).
Operational parameter of biological process was determined in terms of mixed liquor
suspended solid (MLSS), mixed liquor volatile suspended solid (MLVSS) and sludge volume
index (SVI). Temperature was taken as control parameter to study the effect of winter season
over the efficiency of plant and operational parameters. Jar test was conducted to determine
the performance of the physiochemical process that is coagulation and flocculation installed
in the STP as polishing unit. Most probable number (MPN) test was performed to evaluate
the total coliform in effluent sample just before the discharge into the stream. Sludge wasted
from extended aeration process was allowed to stabilise through aeration inside the
laboratory. Aerators are used to provide aeration and reduction of biomass and moisture is
monitored regularly until constant VSS is observed. Similar study was performed by Özdemir
et al. (2014) to determine stability of sludge obtained from extended aeration. Hourly power
consumption was compared with hourly flow variation of STP to evaluate the energy
efficiency. The testing methodology is adopted as standardised by APHA (2012). Table 1
contains the testing methods employed to evaluate the sewage parameters. The laboratory test
were performed inside the laboratory of the Sanjauli Malyana Treatment plant and
environmental laboratory of CEEE, NIT Hamirpur.
Table 1 Parameters observed and their testing methods
Sl no. Parameter Testing methods
1 TSS/MLSS/MLVSS Gravimetric Method
2 BOD5 Winkler’s Method
3 COD Closed reflux method
4 Settled Sludge Volume Column Settling Method
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5 Total Coliform MPN

3.4 Data analysis and data validation

Statistical analysis were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics v21. Descriptive statistics
were determined for the data maintained by establishment (laboratory logbook) and
laboratory experimental results (experimental data set) obtained by the author. The data of
laboratory log book register had been validated through relating it with experimental data set.
Equal number of samples from laboratory log book and experimental data set were selected
randomly for each parameter and both samples were compared using t-test.
4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Flow characteristics
The average daily inflow for Sanjuali Maliana STP had observed to be 1.61 MLD and while
it’s designed capacity is 4.44 MLD. The fig. 3 shows hourly variation averaged over the
monthly data , hourly variation averaged over the total six month data (Overall) and average
daily inflow averaged over six month hourly data (Average). The inflow decreases more
rapidly after midnight in winter season. In month of sepetember at Sanjauli Maliana plant
there was a thunderstorm observed due to which interpreted by peak observed at 16:00 hrs in
graph. Flow peak factor had found to be 2.8 compared to 2.5 designed value. The variation
indicates the need of identification of all sources of raw sewage and their characteristic
during dry and wet weather that are reaching to inlet as accentuated by Hasan et al 2019.
4.5

4
September October
3.5
November December

3 January February
Flow in mLD

2.5 Overall Average

2
Thunderstrom

1.5

0.5

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Time in hrs
Fig. 3 Hourly inflow variation
4.2 Hydraulic characteristics of Screen and Grit
Hydraulic characteristics parameter shows the performance of installed screen and grit
chamber. Range of velocity of flow at approach, velocity of flow through and head loss are
shown in table 2 for the screens. Velocity of flow at approach and velocity of flow throgh
were found higher than designed value in most of the observation. The higher flow velocity
value may cause the occurrence of scouring of coarse material which has stuck in the screen.
The performance of grit chamber was assessed by its velocity of flow and surface loading

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rate. Surface loading rate is an indirect measure of settling velocity. The grit chamber of
Sanjauli Maliana STP was designed to sediment the grit particle having high specific gravity
(2.65) and measures size of 15 mm or greater with 100% efficiency. Velocity of flow at
approach and through was observed experimentally and compared with the theoretical
velocity calculated trough design formulae. The comparison has been analysed by applying t-
test for independent sample and result inference are reported in the table 3.
Table 2 Hydraullic characteristic of installed screen channel
Parameters Sanjauli Maliana STP Design Value
Min Max Mean
Velocity of flow at Approach (m/s) 0.29 1.33 0.750 0.3-0.6
Velocity of flow Through 0.63 1.90 1.509 0.8-1.0
(m/s)
Head Loss 0.02 0.24 0.132 0.15-Manual cleaning
(m)
0.15-0.6-Mecahnical Cleaning

Table 3 Hydraullic characteristic of grit channel

Parameters Sanjauli Design t-test inference
Maliana Value
STP
Velocity of Observed 0.236 Theoretical velocity are found
Flow 0.25-0.4 significantly higher with the observed
(m/s) Theoretical 0.254 velocity in both STP

Insignificant difference has found

HRT (s) 60.67 45-90
with Test value 60 seconds
Surface Loading Rate Found significantly lower value in
(SLR) 293 970 actual with respect to designed value.
(m3/m2/day)

4.3 Influent and effluent characteristic

The fig. 4 shows monthly variation of COD, BOD and TSS respectively for the influent as
well as effluent against the temperature of sewage and atmosphere (ambient temperature).
Influent COD significantly increased with temperature decrement. COD of effluent exceeded
the standard discharge limit of 250 mg/L almost every day in winter season. BOD of effluent
shows alike trend as COD in fig. 5. The influent BOD was extremely high throughout the
winter season as well as effluent BOD exceeded the standard discharge limit of 30 mg/L. The
fig. 6 shows trend of TSS variation of inflow and outflow of STP. Influent TSS increased
slightly during winter season and effluent TSS exceeded the standard discharge limit of 100
mg/L during the winter season.

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1400 30
1300 COD_in COD_out
Std limit Sewage Temp
1200 25
1100
1000
900 20

Temperature
COD in mg/L
800
700 15
600
500 10
400
300
200 5
100
0 0
August September October November December January February
Fig. 4 COD of inflow and outflow w.r.t. temperature of sewage and ambient temperature

390 30
BOD_in BOD_out
360
Std limit Sewage Temp
330 25
300
270
20
240

Temperature
BOD in mg/L

210
15
180
150
10
120
90
60 5

30
0 0
August September October November December January February
Fig. 5 BOD of inflow and outflow w.r.t. temperature of sewage and ambient temperature

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Section A -Research paper

1200 30
TSS_in TSS_out
Std limit Sewage Temp
Amb Temp
1000 25

800 20

Temperature
TSS in mg/L

600 15

400 10

200 5

0 0
August September October November December January February

Fig. 6 TSS of inflow and outflow w.r.t. temperature of sewage and ambient temperature
4.4 Efficiency of plant
Efficiency of STP has been indicated in fig. 7 and 8. The graph evidently shows that the
removal efficiency of COD, BOD and TSS decreased with temperature decreasing trend. The
treatment inside the STP comprised of three stages preliminary treatment, secondary or
biological treatment through extended aeration and physiochemical treatment using
coagulation and flocculation. The biological treatment efficiency and efficacy is temperature
depended thus efficiency of secondary treatment droped during winter season. Similar
temperature effect have been found by Singh & Viraraghavan (2003), Kettunen & Rintala
(1997), Lew et al. (2003), Uemura & Harada (2000) and Coutts & Christianson (1974) on
biochemical process of sewage treatment.
90.00
Overall Screen And Grit Extended Aeration Physiochemical
80.00
Removal Efficiency in Percentage

70.00

60.00

50.00

40.00

30.00

20.00

10.00

0.00
TSS Removal BOD Removal COD removal
Fig. 7 Removal efficiency of Physiochemical parameters TSS, BOD and COD in each
treatment process and overall.

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100 30
TSS Removal efficiency BOD Removal Efficiency
COD Removal Efficiency Sewage Temp
90
Amb Temp
25
80
Removal Efficency in percentage

70
20

60

Temperature
50 15

40

10
30

20
5

10

0 0
August September October November December January February

Fig. 8 Month wise removal efficiency of TSS, BOD and COD w.r.t. temperature of sewage
and ambient temperature

4.5 Operational parameters of extended aeration

Operational parameters that has important significance but were not tested by plant personnel
on daily basis has been studied through laboratory experiments by the author and results are
represented in table 4. Operational parameters are not in compliance of the designed value
due to operational slackness. Sludge wasting of settled sludge and Sludge Volume Index
(SVI) are excessively deviated from optimal design value due to inaccessibility of sludge
disposal facility at the existing plant. Installed filter press is not produced dry cakes
successfully thus was found idle. The sludge drying beds are very less to manage the excess
sludge from reactor thus amount of sludge wasting is very low and recycled sludge has large
amount of inactive biomass. SVI value has also be found very low because settled sludge
inside the secondary clarifier become more dense due to overburden pressure of accumulated
sludge resulted from less sludge wasting. The storage of excess sludge inside the secondary
clarifier sternly disturbs the performance of biochemical reactor. Operational parameter of
secondary clarifier observed in study has been shown in table 5. HRT value calculated during
design itself is very high. Meagre flow through secondary clarifier results all operational
parameters significantly below the acceptable range during operation. The settling property is
very poor since there is no clear effluent found during experiment, however a quite good
amount of sludge observed settled in bottom.

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Table 4 Operational parameters of biochemical reactor of extended aeration ASP
Parameters Observed Value Design value

Flow in MLD 1.6 (avg) 4.44 (capacity)

3.66 (peak)
BOD (mg/L) 255 350
COD (mg/L) 1381 750
BOD/COD ratio 0.18 .4-.6
MLSS (mg/L) 4330 4000
MLVSS/MLSS ratio 0.82 .75
HRT in hrs 38.49 24
SRT in days 27 30
volume (m3) 2566 (2 tank) 5132 (3+1 tank)
F/M ratio 0.03 0.1
Xr (mg/L) 12140 10000
Xe (mg/L) 249 75-130
Qw (m3/day) 1.07 15-60
Volumetric Loading rate (kg BOD/m3/day) 0.16 0.2-0.4
Qr/Q (required) ration 0.55 0.66
SVI 73.85 80-120
O2 required as (kg/day) (with altitude correction) 851(4 aerators) 1838(8 aerators)

Table 5 Operational parameters of secondary clarifier at STP

Parameter Observed Value Design value
Volume (m3) 1345 1345 (2 tank)
Overflow Rate (m3/m2/day) 2.4 8-15
HRT (h) 14.83 1.5-2.5
7.22 ( as per DPR*)
Solid Loading Rate (Kg BOD/m2/day) 6 25-120

Weir Loading Rate (m3/m/day) 20 185

*Detailed project report

4.6 Total Coliform
Effluent at outlet of Sanajuli Maliana sewage treatment plant had been tested for presence of
indicator microorganism total coliform using MPN method with using five tubes

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fermentation technique. The biologically cultured sample in controlled laboratory condtions
is observed under bright field microscope after applying gram staining technique for the
identification of E.coli. The results obtained from MPN has shown in table 6.
Table 6 Total coliform before and after disinfection
Particulars Effluent without Disinfection Standard Limit
disinfection provided to
Effluent using
Bleaching
powder
(5 mg/l)
0.1 0.01 0.001 0.1 0.01 0.001 -
Dilution
Result 5 4 4 2 2 1
MPN Table 35000 1200 1000
(as total coliform/100ml)
Thomas formula 35524 1161 1000
(as total coliform/100ml)

4.7 Power consumption

Power consumption is an imperative data for performance evaluation and energy auditing of
STP. The fig. 9 shows the power consumption data averaged over hourly variation plotted
with respect to inflow through plant over semi logarithmic graph. The variation in power
consumption indicates constant trends with respect to flow. The result demonstrates that there
is a overall power usage of 400-500 kWh / MLD of sewage treated by the STP.
100
Flow Power

10
Logarithmic Scale

1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Time in hrs

0.1
Fig. 9 Semi log plot of hourly power consumption w.r.t hourly flow variation.

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4.8 Operational Challenges
Identification of operation challenges during the working of STP in situ would be a crunch
point in solving these issues. Desirable efficiency and performance of STP can be achieved, if
plant management is able to address the key aspect of the operational problem discussed
subsequently.
4.8.1 Shock load
The lesser amount of flow during night may cause sedimentation of solids in sewers which
may washed out by peak flow observed in next early morning thus the value of COD, BOD
and TSS are observed substantially high in samples collected in the morning. Settlement
occurs since the sewer network has undulation due to hilly terrain. STP experiences a severed
shock load as high flow and high volumetric loading rate observed every morning especially
winter days. The shock load was evident from the test result of samples collected during peak
flow in morning as shown in table 7. Capodaglio (2004) has studied effect of wet weather
flow on performance of STP and found that a small rainfall for duration greater than time of
concentration for the STP can cause high pollutant in sewage during first flush. The high
pollutant due to first flush had observed for 2-6 times of average flow which is similar in
present study. The plant are experiencing the high pollutant load every day. It has been
observed that the amount of grit was quite high during first flush which in turn caused lower
BOD/COD as found in present study.

Table 7 Inflow characteristics during peak flow in the morning

Day Time COD BOD (mg/L) TSS (mg/L) Conductivity
(mg/L) (µS/m)
Day 1 8AM 2000 440 722 1545
9 AM 2600
11 AM 720
Day 2 8AM 1733 400 1450 1730
9 AM 2533
11 AM 1280
Day 3 8AM 2667 370 1150 1506
9 AM 2267
11 AM 1067
Day 4 8AM 2133 520 900 1536
9 AM 2000
11 AM 1360
Designed 375 750
Capacity

4.8.2 Chaotic flow with high velocity

The high chaotic velocity indicates the high probability of scouring of coarse material which
were trapped in the screen. High velocity of flow occurs due to the difference of ground
elevation between source of sewage generation and plant which is 200 to 700 meter. Von
Sperling et al. (2001) had observed the decrease in effluent quality due to variation in flow
which has been evident in the present study. The flow variation can be abridged by installing
equalization tank at inlet. In grit chamber the theoretical velocity of flow was significantly
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higher than the experimentally observed velocity of flow but both values were within the
range of designed value which means the unit is working fine. Vasudevan et al. (2014) has
observed similar results in aeration tank by studying hydraulic characteristic using rhodamine
tracer dye and found that the dead storage volume affects the performance of the unit. Dead
storage can be reduce by frequent grit removal. The t-test has shown the requirement of
equalization tank at the STP inlet to achieve the design speed of screen and grit channel.
4.8.3 Effect of temperature
Removal efficiency of parameters TSS, BOD and COD dropped around 10 to 15 percent during
extreme winter condition. Very High strength sewage influent and less biochemical activity
during winter season restricts the performance of sewage treatment plant. STP was not
capable to treat the sewage water during winter season up to the desired standards. The
effluent of STP has not found safe for disposal in the inland surface water bodies this may
cause stress over inland surface water bodies which itself have low flow in winter season.
The disposal may cause the disease outbreak caused by bacteria, viruses and other
microorganisms that spread through fecal-oral route (Rajemahadik and Mendapara 2020).
Augmentation of performance of sewage treatment operation was very much required during
winter season. The elevated performance can be attained by either increasing efficiency or
efficacy of existing treatment system or introducing new polishing unit. During winter
season, there was very lesser flow in discharge water body which itself is not adequate to
dilute the high pollutant level of discharged effluent. The high pollutants in effluent and
lesser flow in discharge body causes severe threat to ecology as well as public hygiene and
sanitation in downstream zone of stream.
4.8.4 Impact of sludge wasting and disposal of the wasted sludge
Sludge wasted from the extended aeration treatment process is considered to be organically
stable because designed SRT is very high. Recent research has found that the sludge wasted
from extended aeration process is not stable even the treatment is conducted under controlled
laboratory conditions. The sludge wasted from extended aeration ASP has allowed to
decompose in an aerobic reactor inside a laboratory with continuous air supply. The result
were monitored in terms of percentage of VSS (biomass) and moisture content over 60 days
(time required to achieve constant VSS) of continuous aeration is presented in fig. 10. This
study has shown similar results discussed by Ozdemir et al. (2014). The wasted sludge is not
fit for disposal and may cause disease outbreak if it get mixed through surface runoff.

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100

90
PERCENTAGE BIOMASS

80 MOISTURE

Day 60
percentage

70

60 Day 1

50

40

30
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
days
Fig. 10 Percentage reduction in biomass and moisture w.r.t time during stabilization through
aeration.

4.8.5 Unskilled operation:

Sampling and laboratory testing had found improper since personnel employed at plant are
either unskilled or semi-skilled. The sampling techniques were improper thus representative
sample were not collected. Data validation using t-test revealed that the MLSS, TSS and
COD test results were significantly different from the test result obtained by author. The
reason of error in result was due to higher least count pipette was selected for COD test, non-
standard test method of MLSS test and clogging of glass fibre filter used in TSS test.
Chatterjee et al. (2016) and Kamble et al. (2019) has observed that unskilled operations were
more vulnerable than the faulty design with respect to performance of the treatment plant. In
case of hilly terrain and climate, the plant operators and their skills become more perilous
factor. Plant management was not good enough to achieve an attainable efficiency. Active
biomass and optimal oxygen level are two most vital monitoring parameter of any type of
ASP process. The average monthly variation of MLSS content has shown in the fig. 10.it has
been observed that throughout the operation MLSS is not maintained according to design
value which causes fluctuation in Food/Microorganism ratio thus overall performance of
extended aeration ASP get distressed. In order to boost the performance of biochemical
process at Sanjauli Maliana STP, regular monitoring of MLSS and sludge recycling must be
done vigilantly. Dissolved Oxygen of aeration tank at Sanjauli Maliana STP has found zero
most of the time. The reason may be the low voltage power and poor management in
maintenance of aerators. Diffused aerators have also been installed along with surface
aerators but they don’t operate simultaneously because electric transformer capacity was not
sufficient.

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4500
5a-mlss 5c_mlss MLSS_required

4000

3500

3000
MLSS in mg/L

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
August September October November December January February

Fig. 11 Month wise average MLSS found in 5a and 5b aeration tank.

4.8.6 Inefficient policing unit

The study shows lesser efficiency of physiochemical process reported by plant personnel with
respect to the experimented value which indicates that coagulation flocculation process is
underperforming due to operational negligence. There is an urgent need of optimization of
physiochemical process that is coagulation flocculation in order to realise an acceptable
efficiency of removal through policing unit. There is also a need of proper disinfection in
plant since the total coliform value exceeding the standard limit.

4.8.7 Inappropriate power consumption

The trend of power consumption do not follow the variation of inflow. Panepinto et al.
(2016) has developed an equation for power consumption and found that power consumption
depends on flow of wastewater treatment plant. Power consumption should be optimised
because it will enhance removal efficiency and reduce the power cost.

5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

An equalization tank may be installed at the inlet to moderate the effect of shock load and
high velocity. Cold weather in the winter lowers the biological activity thus efficiency of
biological process get reduced in the STP. City discharges high strength sewage in the winter
season due to high tourist floating population. High strength sewage and lowered biological
activity results major offset between effluent quality and its standard limit. Skilled operation,
intensive laboratory testing and plant management are key aspect to deal with these issues.
Low sludge wasting may cause less active biomass in return sludge. The sludge from
extended aeration has not found stable thus it require proper digestion before disposal.
Construction of sufficient number of sludge drying bed is recommended to competent
authority during this study which was started promptly. Physicochemical process of
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coagulation and flocculation using alum may be sufficient to polish the effluent from
biological process but it requires regular assessment for optimal dosage and skilled operator.
Proper disinfection through optimal dose of bleaching powder may restrict the HEV and
other viruses to cause disease outbreak. During the study it was observed that similar field
study would bring radical turn to overcome the operational challenges of STP especially in
developing countries like India.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The study was undertaken jointly by the Himachal Pradesh Irrigation and Public Health
(HPIPH) Department, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh and Centre for Energy and Environment
Engineering (CEEE), National Institute of Technology (NIT) Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh.
The authors are thankful to HPIPH department Shimla and MC Shimla for providing the
permission and technical support during study.

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