Dear Peter,
just a quick reply.
a) Do you have experience with non stabilized sludge in these bags? I did not know that these bags serve for non stabilized sludge. Do you not create an anaerobic environment in the inner part of the bag at least?

b) In Brazil these bags are not seen as so cheap. Investment costs are cheap but as you have to replace the bag when full, the operational costs are relatively high.

c) How do you fill the bags? At least here (in Brazil) the recommendation is to have a pressure of at least 15 meter (1,5 bar), normally the trucks are not made for high pressure.

It would be nice to know something about your background, I missed your introduction somehow.

Regards
Christoph

In Yucatan Mexico we tested several options to treat septage and the ones which worked best are an intermetent constructed wet land to separate and degrade solids and waste water treatment ponds to treat the water once it drains from the wetland, the other option if temperature is below 24 degrees C, is composting with organic garden wastes we used wood chips from the cities green areas, see diagrams and photos in the attached document, in spanish

You might want to try using the geosynthetic bag (geobag) system which has been successfully tested in trials in Malaysia for faecal sludge collected from on-site treatment systems. The setup is simple and cost effective as well as efficient. Enclosed is a brief description of the system and photos to show how it is done.

the book mentioned by Florian mentions detail technical aspect for septage management. An Advisory Note on Septage Management, issued by Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, may also been seen. It does not mention much technical detail. However, it has described about Sand filter with a design.

Pawan

Not sure how relevant to your work, but the document I uploaded here gives some good insights into fecal sludge treatment difficulties.

Concerning the idea of sludge drying beds in the city: Besides the obvious odour problem it might also result in a lot of (potentially hazardous?) dust by air-erosion given the long dry periods between monsoon seasons.

The new book on feacal sludge management by Sandec/IHE has a good overview on treatment options for septage: www.eawag.ch/forschung/sandec/publikationen/ewm/dl/fsm_5.pdf

Full book: www.eawag.ch/forschung/sandec/gruppen/EW...cts_ewm/fsm/index_EN

Hi All,

We are working on Septage Management Plan (SMP) in one of the city in India. Currently there are total 8000 households in the city. Also, Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) is not present.
We are thinking to propose Sludge Drying Beds (SDB) for treatment of Septage from septic tanks for the city. We have suggested emptying cycle of septic tanks as 3 years.

Can someone suggest, if there are any other better options for the treatment of Septage & Cost implication for the same?


Many Thanks,
Upasana Yadav