Efficiency of Sequential Batch Reactor (SBR) based sewage treatment plant and its discharge impact on Dal Lake, Jammu & Kashmir, India

Abstract

Dal Lake is the second largest and most beautiful Lake in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and is the major centre of tourist activities. Due to the continuous increase in the population, the generation of domestic wastewater also increased. The present study was carried out to assess the efficiency of Sequential Batch Reactor (SBR) based Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) located at Brari Numbal and its discharge impact on the physicochemical properties of Dal Lake. The sample was collected from the selected sampling sites (inlet and outlet of SBR based STP, upstream, confluence zone, and downstream of Dal Lake) for five months (November 2019 to March 2020) and analysed using the standard methodologies. The plant shows maximum removal efficiency for BOD (79.85%) although the effluent BOD was found above the standard limit. The minimum removal efficiency of the plant was observed in the case of pH (3.46%). The gain in the case of DO was observed +851.55%. All the sites of Dal Lake were found polluted but the confluence zone and downstream were more polluted in comparison to the upstream due to the discharge of STP outlet into Dal Lake with higher BOD and COD (21.39% increase in BOD, 43.29% increase in COD; 80.10% increase in iron, 65.61% increase in ammonical nitrogen, and 101% increase in phosphate concentration). Besides this, discharge of the huge quantity of untreated wastewater from the city into the lake is also responsible for the degraded water quality of Dal Lake. It can be concluded that efficiency of the plant was in moderate condition and it needs further modifications. This is the first study showing the impact of SBR-STP effluent on Dal Lake.

Impact of Domestic and Industrial Effluent Disposal on Physicochemical Characteristics of River Malin at Najibabad City, India

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“…This is the reason for the increase in COD readings. The levels of COD and BOD in the river water are affected by the disposal of solid and liquid waste (Rather and Dar, 2020;Ruhela et al, 2020;Ahamad et al, 2023). According to Simeon et al (2019), the COD of Silver River ranged from 46.5 to 54.3.…”

Enhancement of SBR’s treatment under organic shock load

“…The SBR is a fill-and-draw activated sludge system in which a single batch reactor can achieve equalization, aeration, and clarification processes, this method of biological treatment offers a powerful system, uncomplicated operation, and great adaptability in processes [5]. Despite the many advantages of this system, it still suffers from some problems, such as shock loads, the reactor's effectiveness was found to be relatively low in case of shock loading conditions [6,7] however, by providing appropriate levels of organic loading rates (OLRs), the biological wastewater treatment system is stimulated to maintain a diverse microbial community and promote efficient processes for converting nitrate and removing phosphorus [8].…”

Effect of Organic Loading Rates on Performance of Treating Dairy Wastewater in a Lab-Scale Sequencing Batch Reactor

“…SBR is operated with five consecutive stages, such as wastewater loading, treatment, sedimentation, decanting treated wastewater, and sludge discharge [6]. The biggest advantage of SBR is flexibility in operation, e.g., the aeration and settling times in the reactor could be changed simply [7].…”