Domestic Waste Water Purification by Bio filter CombinedCanna Indica Bed

Abstract

In the current scenario, as fresh water is becoming scarce, it is the need of the hour to find out a replacement for the fresh water that is used for a various domestic purposes such as washing and bathing. The used domestic water consist of organic matters like, vegetable waste, oils, detergents, dirt from floors, soap and oil used in bathing and washing. This water is referred to as “greywater” or “sullage” and mainly contains dissolved and suspended solids, phosphates, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and nitrates. These degradable contaminants use up oxygen in the degradation process. About 60 percent of used fresh water inside a house will be converted to greywater. In this work, the Sullage or greywater samples are to be collected from an apartment complex and are to be treated by passing it through a lab scale setup that consists of a sedimentation tank, a bio filter, an aeration tank and finally beds of Canna Indica which will reduce the phosphate level. The aim of this project is to reduce the BOD, COD, and turbidity, pH and phosphate levels and reuse the same for other household purposes. This treatment process is economical and simple when compared to the conventional setup. The untreated and treated water samples were tested for BOD, COD, and pH and turbidity levels and the results are represented graphically. The treatment efficiency for each parameter is also found out and tabulated. It is found that the BOD removal is enhanced by 19.3%. The amount of phosphate present in the treated samples is also determined and found to be satisfactory. Since domestic uses like flushing or cleaning of toilets, floors, yards and for gardening need not be of potable quality, the treated greywater can be replaced for such uses. This helps in saving the fresh water usage for the above domestic purposes and at the same time helps in alleviating water scarcity.