Performance of as-Samra waste stabilization pond system

Abstract EN

The As-Samra waste stabilization pond system consists of 30 ponds occupying an area of approximately 181 hectares and receiving wastewaters generated by a population of approximately 1.5 million in Jordan’s major cities: Amman and Zarqa.

The ponds are arranged in three treatment trains consisting of ten in-series ponds.

The BOD loading to the ponds exceeded the design capacity from the start of operation in 1985.

Nevertheless, the organic loading continued to increase and by 1994, the BOD loading exceeded the design capacity by more than 170 percent, the accumulated sludge filled the first three anaerobic ponds, and the quality of the effluent exceeded 120 mg/1 BOD and 150 mg/1 TSS.

The failure of the system to meet its treatment objectives resulted from poor projection of local data and design criteria.

The lack of locally developed design data resulted in the utilization of modified data reflecting the experience of industrial countries.

The historical performance of the system, in terms of BOD, TSS, total coliform (TC), and fecal coliform (FC), during the period 1986 to 1994, is presented and discussed.

The hydraulic characteristics of each treatment train corresponded to a plug flow reactor with small axial dispersion.

A plug flow reactor model was used to estimate the variations of the BOD first-order reaction rate constant in the system during nine years of operation.