Bioelectronic system of monitoring the quality of gas emissions of a wastewater sludge incineration plant

Summary

In 2010 the Russian Academy of Sciences Research and Development Centre for Environmental Safety in St. Petersburg (RASRDCES) under the contract with GUP St. Petersburg Vodokanal developed and commissioned a bioelectronic system of monitoring gas emissions of the incineration plant where the sludge from the South-West wastewater treatment facilities was subject to incineration. As a result an indigenous biological monitoring station was developed and commissioned that was based on the long-term real-time monitoring of the functional status of the biological indicators, i. e. pulmonary shellfish – Achatina fulica and Achatina achatina giant African snails. The station provides for continuous in-process monitoring the dynamics of gas emissions of the wastewater sludge incineration plant with the help of the bioelectronic system based on the developed in RASRDCES noninvasive methods of monitoring the functional status of the shellfish that is acting as a biological indicator.

Key words

biological monitoring , variational pulsometry , reactors , ambient air , sanitary protection zone , bioindicator

Special aspects of substantiating sanitary protection zones
for the municipal wastewater treatment facilities

Summary

A comprehensive hygienic assessment of the municipal wastewater treatment facilities (with a capacity of 73 and 180 thousand m³/day of domestic and industrial wastewater) as sources of the chemical and physical impact on the ambient air and public health is presented. The studies were carried out in a city in the Moscow Area with a population of more than 150 thousand residents. The characteristics of the wastewater disposal system including wastewater treatment technology, standard equipment of the treatment facilities, technical operation parameters, composition and amount of emissions are typical for the Russian small cities including the cities in the Moscow Area with a population of 100–2000 thousand residents. It was stated that the maximum input into the gross emission was given by sludge beds (68%), aeration tanks and secondary settlers of the biological treatment process (12.4 and 5.3%). It is shown that the impact of the chemical and physical factors on the ambient air and public health (following the methodology of the assessment of the noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic effect occurrence) does not exceed the hygienic regulations and permissible risk values. Based on the results of the study a system of criteria that can be recommended for the substantiation of the sanitary protection zones for the wastewater treatment facilities is proposed.

Key words

wastewater , sewerage treatment facilities , ambient air , sanitary protection zone , public health