Mobile Wastewater Treatment for Villages and Towns Municipal 

Domestic Wastewater in Villages and Small Towns: Why Are Mobile Wastewater Treatment Units Solutions Vital?

Sound wastewater management (sewerage and treatment services) is a significant challenge in small settlements and rural areas. A significant portion of the global population (around 15-25%) lives in these small, isolated settlements (typically fewer than 2,000 people) without a centralized sewer system. Establishing centralized wastewater collection and treatment systems is often difficult, expensive, and impractical because these areas are composed of scattered and remotely located residences. This makes on-site and mobile treatment solutions crucial.

Risks of Generated Wastewater

Domestic wastewater can contain high concentrations of organic and inorganic pollutants, as well as pathogenic microorganisms. If wastewater is discharged directly into a receiving body such as a stream or river without treatment, it can cause serious pollution of the aquatic environment and, with the resulting deterioration of water quality, may render it unusable for drinking purposes in the future. 1. Public Health Risks (Pathogens): Harmful microorganisms (pathogens) found in wastewater cause various waterborne diseases, such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery, polio, and jaundice. Wastewater contains bacteria, viruses, helminth eggs, and protozoan cysts that pose a risk to human and animal health.

• For example, Shigella dysenteriae causes bacillary dysentery, which causes severe diarrhea, while Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli cause gastroenteritis.

• Helminth eggs can survive in the environment for long periods (for example, Ascaris sp. eggs can survive for up to seven years), and only one egg or cyst may be sufficient for these organisms to infect a host.

• Uncontrolled land use of sewage sludge can also pose a public health threat due to the risk of contact with pathogenic organisms.

2. Environmental Pollution Risks:

• Oxygen Depletion and Organic Pollution: Organic matter in wastewater causes dissolved oxygen depletion, anaerobic conditions, and fish kills. Unremoved organic matter continues to biodegrade even as it flows through sewers.

• Eutrophication: Nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in wastewater accelerate eutrophication in receiving waters (lakes and reservoirs), leading to undesirable algae growth and degrading water quality.

• Suspended Solids (SS): Their release into the receiving water is aesthetically undesirable and leads to scum and sludge deposits on the water surface.

• Groundwater Pollution: Individual wastewater facilities (such as infiltration wells) pose the greatest risk of groundwater pollution and should be located at least fifteen meters away from drinking water wells.

Conveniences Offered by Mobile (Packaged) Units

Wastewater disposal in small settlements is generally accomplished with on-site facilities. Compared to centralized treatment plants, the use of mobile or packaged plants offers several significant advantages for these regions:

1. Compactness and Rapid Installation:

• Packaged treatment plants are generally manufactured with capacities ranging from 10 to 400 m³/day.

• Their greatest advantages are their rapid installation and the reduced engineering requirements during the design phase.

• Advanced technologies such as Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) systems are also highly suitable for small settlements, hotels, and resorts. One of the main advantages of MBRs is their reduced space requirements.

2. Ease of Operation and Low-Cost Alternatives:

• Systems such as extended aeration activated sludge systems and their modifications, Oxidation Trenches, are easier to operate because they do not require primary sedimentation and sludge digestion units. These systems are generally suitable for small and medium-sized towns.

3. High Efficiency and Environmental Protection:

• MBR systems provide high-quality effluent, which in some cases may mean no need for additional disinfection. MBRs allow for high volumetric loads and low sludge production.

• Extended aeration systems have BOD removal efficiencies of 97-98% and support the reuse of treated water.

• In small treatment systems, careful selection of the appropriate system and technology, as well as adherence to principles such as safety, aesthetics, and economy, is crucial.

In order to solve the wastewater problem in villages and small cities, on-site treatment solutions such as package treatment plants have great potential, considering local conditions, costs and ease of operation.