Impacts of High-Strength Boat Waste on Activated Sludge Processes
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 5
Abstract
Decisions to accept side-stream wastes at municipal wastewater treatment facilities require knowledge about potential impacts on plant operations. Among potential waste streams, coastal communities are increasingly asked to accept boat waste (sometimes termed boat sewage). Boat waste is black water (water from toilets) from recreational boats and yachts. Efforts to decrease the discharge of boat waste directly into natural waters have resulted in increased requests to wastewater treatment plants located near boat-waste pump-out facilities to accept this waste stream. In this study, boat waste is characterized from pump-out facilities on the Salish Sea (located in the northwest corner of Washington State, USA). Impacts on activated sludge function of shock loading up to 10% boat-waste volumes were evaluated. Measured concentrations showed boat waste to contain the ammonia, the chemical oxygen demand (COD), the reactive phosphorus, the salinity, and the total suspended solids (TSS) of typical sewered wastewater. When added to activated sludge, boat waste often increased oxygen uptake rates, settleability, and foaming. These responses were primarily linked to boat-waste strength, although deodorants added by boat owners were also implicated. Quadrupole time-of-flight liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/Q ToF-MS) was used to compare organic compounds within boat waste and three common deodorant products. These results documented that shock-loading boat waste can create conditions leading to treatment upset and that results differ between sources of activated sludge. Continued research is required to evaluate the potential for adaptation of activated sludge microbial communities to boat-waste impacts, including high-nitrogen ammonia loadings.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
This project was funded in part by a grant from Washington Sea Grant, University of Washington, pursuant to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Award No. NA14OAR4170078 and a grant from the Washington State Parks Clean Vessel Act Program, pursuant to US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) Award No. F15AP00488. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA, the USFWS, or any of its sub-agencies. Washington Sea Grant personnel (Aaron Barnett and Bridget Trosin) and Washington State Parks (Alan Wolslegel and Catherine Buchalski Smith) provided introductions critical to San Juan County sample access and valuable insights on the Clean Vessel Act. Alex Gipe, Zhenyu Tian, and Katherine Peter assisted with chemical profiling. Yash Chaudhary, Khaled Salam, Amberose Longrie, Benjamin Therrien, Margot Amitrano, Elizabeth Guilford, Keenan Ferar, and Sterling Bath assisted with field trip preparation and sample processing. The authors thank the staff at Friday Harbor Wastewater Treatment Plant, Eastsound Wastewater Treatment Plant, and King County Metro-Wastewater Treatment Division for access to activated sludge from their facilities, and Terry and Sons Mobile Pump-Out and the Port of Friday Harbor for access to recreational boat waste from their pump-out vessels. University of Washington Engineering librarian Julie Cook assisted with the literature review.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 5 • May 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 26, 2019
Accepted: Oct 1, 2019
Published online: Feb 19, 2020
Published in print: May 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Jul 19, 2020
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