Deep-bed filtration of SBR effluent for agricultural reuse: pilot plant screening of advanced secondary and tertiary treatment for domestic wastewater

A wastewater reclamation program has been proposed as a means of supplying a major part of agricultural water demand in Israel. This program may solve the two fold problem of a national water shortage combined with continuous contamination of groundwater resources by inadequately treated wastewater. A pilot-scale investigation of an advanced treatment scheme incorporating a sequencing batch activated sludge system, followed by deep-bed granular filtration, has been started. It is aimed at the development of design and operation guidelines for such systems to be applied on a full scale. Preliminary results presented herein indicate that the sequencing batch reactor system is capable of producing high-quality, low-suspended-solids effluent to be further polished by granular filtration. A single medium quartz sand filter operated under a high variety of filtration velocities and inflow turbidities with no chemicals added, demonstrated good performance and supplied basic design information to be applied in further investigation.