Study of municipal aerated lagoon system in Ste-Julie, Quebec

The design or improvement of a biological wastewater treatment system requires the characterization of influent wastewaters, the characterization of the microbial community in the system, and a knowledge of the rates of biological reactions. The wastewater treatment system of the city of Ste-Julie (Quebec) consists of four facultative aerated lagoons operating in series. Batch reactor experiments were performed with the municipal wastewater of Ste-Julie to simulate the biological processes occurring in the lagoon system. The first, second, and third lagoons were characterized in terms of soluble BOD, soluble COD, total solids, total suspended solids, volatile suspended solids, and TOC. The influent wastewater is classified as weak wastewater containing a relatively low concentration of soluble BOD compared to total BOD. The microbial communities in the first three lagoons were characterized using the BIOLOG redox technology which allows the simultaneous testing of the populations for the utilization of 95 carbon substrates. Finally, the specific initial BOD or TOC removal rates were determined for the first three lagoons. (Abstract shortened by UMI.