Lagoon and Oxidation Ponds

Lagoons and ponds have many applications ranging from complete raw waste treatment to polishing a secondary plant's effluents. The applications have certain characteristics in common: they are each engineer-designed and uncovered and do not use metal or concrete tanks. A lagoon is a pond of engineering design that receives waste that has not been settled or exposed to biological oxidation prior to entering it.

Figure 7.21.9 is a simple flow-sheet representing the raw sewage lagoon. Simplicity is the main feature of the raw sewage lagoon. Since it is constructed by excavation and diking, it is a low-cost system that can be constructed rapidly. Operator attention is minimal, and the flow through the system is usually by gravity unless recirculation is provided. The raw sewage lagoon usually has a bar screen placed in the influent and can have a Parshall flume with a drum recorder to determine the inflow to the lagoon.

Recirculation can reduce the buildup of bottom solids near the inflow entrance point into the pond. The raw sewage pond is usually a facultative aerobic system, which means that anaerobic conditions exist at and near the bottom and aerobic conditions prevail in the upper layers of the pond most of the time. Facultative organisms can function under either aerobic or anaerobic conditions.

A series of ponds is frequently used when it comprises the sole treatment. The number and size of the ponds are functions of the effluent quality, incoming waste load, temperature, and climate. Part B in Figure 7.21.9 shows a mul-

FIG. 7.21.9 Raw sewage lagoon flow sheets. A, Single pond system; B, Multipond facultative aerobic lagoon system; C, Anaerobic-aerobic pond system.

FIG. 7.21.8 Typical multistage, trickling-filter, recirculation flow sheets.


tipond facultative system flow sheet with the corresponding detention times.

The primary pond designed as an anaerobic pond is becoming more popular. Part C in Figure 7.21.9 is a typical flow sheet for an anaerobic-aerobic pond system. Ponds A, B, and C are each anaerobic ponds, and the flow arrangement provides flow through any two of the anaerobic ponds in the series (AB, AC, and BC). This arrangement permits one pond to serve as an anaerobic digester.

The second anaerobic pond produces a higher quality effluent than does a single pond, thus reducing the load and size of the facultative pond. An anaerobic pond is normally used for six months to a year as the anaerobic digester. A pumped recirculation of about 25% of the total flow is common. The raw sewage lagoon can have additional ponds (D in Figure 7.21.9) in the series after the facultative pond for additional polishing treatment.

The oxidation pond, as opposed to the raw sewage lagoon, receives influent that has undergone primary treatment. A maturation pond provides a final, polishing treatment step that follows some form of secondary treatment. Therefore, the maturation pond is a form of tertiary treatment. Mechanically aerating the oxidation pond improves treatment and reduces the pond size. When mechanical aeration is provided, floating surface aerators are almost universally used. The series flow in ponds buffers against shock loadings.

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