Table 10.2 Performance of different treatment technologies
| On-site systems | Cluster | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raw domestic wastewater | Septic tank | AWTS | Sand filter | SBR | Extended aeration | Constructed wetlands | Packed bed sand or textile filter | |
| BOD5g/m3 | 200-300 | 120-150 | 15-40 | 5-15 | 3-9 | < 30 | 5-15 | < 5 |
| Suspended solids g/m3 | 260-400 | 40-120 | 20-60 | 5-20 | 2-19 | < 30 | 5-20 | < 5 |
| Total nitrogen g/m3 | 30-80 | 40-6018 | 25-50 | 2-9 | < 7 | 5-30 | ||
| Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN) g/m3 | 30-80 | 40-60 | 25-50 | 30-50 | 5-30 | |||
| Total phosphorus g/m3 | 10-20 | 10-15 | 7-12 | 5-10 | 1-10 | < 8 | 5-10 | |
| Faecal coliform cfu/100ml | 106-108 | 103-105 | 10-103 | 10-103 | < 104 | 300-1000 | 1000 | |
Note:
Some of the systems shown are able to treat raw effluent directly (septic tank, AWTS, SBR, extended aeration); others are secondary and/or tertiary systems requiring some sort of preceding treatment (sand filter, constructed wetlands, packed beds).
Footnotes:
17 Many of these systems can also be designed in different ways and built with different sizes to achieve different treatment objectives (eg, a large, constructed wetland will generally work better than a small one treating the same flow).
18 T Gardner, P Geary, I Gordon. Ecological sustainability and on-site effluent treatment systems. Australian Journal of Environmental Management 1997, 4: 144-156.
