Performance of Anaerobic Baffled Reactor for Decentralized Wastewater Treatment in Urban Malang, Indonesia

Abstract

In order to assess the impact of the Sanitation by Communities (SANIMAS) program for community-led sanitation in Indonesia (established in 2002), this research work was conducted with the aim of characterizing the current performance of anaerobic baffled reactors (ABRs), which were deployed in high numbers for the provision of domestic wastewater treatment in densely populated urban areas in Malang (Indonesia). Small and decentralized sewage treatment facilities serve ≈3% of the total population in Malang, including 89 ABR treatment plants. Our findings reveal that only 14% of the 89 ABRs in Malang have an acceptable performance with regard to pollutant removal and integrity of their building structure, but the majority of them produce a treated effluent of poor quality, according to discharge consents set by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia (Regulation No. P.68/2016). Clearly the lack of consistent operation and maintenance practices have had a detrimental effect on these decentralized sewage treatment systems, despite their robustness and buffer capacity to cope with changes in organic and hydraulic loading rates. Urbanization will continue to exert pressure on the provision of sanitation services in lower and middle economies, and the role of decentralized sewage management systems is expected to be prominent in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals era (2015-2030); however, sustainable service delivery must be conceived beyond the provision of sanitation infrastructure.

Digitalisation for Water Sustainability: Barriers to Implementing Circular Economy in Smart Water Management

“…The same problems are found in some areas in other countries, such as Indian, Belgian, and Dutch [1,58]. Another global topic is the decentralized system implementation for sustainable development, such as cases in India, Indonesia, and Finland [84][85][86].…”

Key criteria for considering decentralization in municipal wastewater management

“…Another important wastewater management decentralization aspect is a greater involvement of users in system planning, implementation, and operation. Sixty-eight percent of the experiences reviewed considered community participation fundamental for achieving ownership of both the decentralized system and the technological alternatives ( Caicedo and Bernal, 2014 ; Saliba et al., 2018 ; Yulistyorini et al., 2019 ). There is a direct relationship between system user interest, environmental awareness, and participation and the cases in which water resources are scarce.…”

“…There is a direct relationship between system user interest, environmental awareness, and participation and the cases in which water resources are scarce. The most successful cases (lasting over time) are those in which there is a greater user knowledge about how decentralized treatment systems operate ( Caicedo and Bernal, 2014 ; Capodaglio, 2017 ; Yulistyorini et al., 2019 ).…”

Performance Evaluation of a Field-Scale Anaerobic Baffled Reactor as an Economic and Sustainable Solution for Domestic Wastewater Treatment

“…al. [28] and were relatively less dependent on temperature [7]. The values for the second year of observation were generally higher than the first year, reflecting an inoculum effect following sludge removal.…”