ASSESSING THE POTENTIAL OF COMPOSTING SLUDGE GENERATED FROM WATER TREATMENT PLANT

Abstract

Most water treatment plants produce large amounts of sludge resulting from drinking water treatment processes such as flocculation and filtration. As disposal of the sludge is becoming expensive and difficult because of the limited available land for disposal and the high landfill tipping fee, beneficial use options have been proposed for the materials. For applications where the sludge is placed in direct contact with the environment, concerns have been raised by regulators concerning the chemical characteristics of the sludge and potential risks to humans and the environment. To address this concern, drinking water sludge must be properly characterized for chemical and physical compositions and find out alternative ways to utilize it for agricultural purposes. For this study purpose, the sludge was collected from the Vavunathivu drinking water treatment plant from February 2023 and analyzed physical and chemical parameters by adopting standard analytical methods. Sludge, a byproduct of wastewater treatment plants, is a valuable material for composting because of its high nutritional content of the material. It is important to define the physical and chemical features of sludge before using it in composting to verify its acceptability for usage. The purpose of this study is to present a summary of sludge characterization techniques, such as, pH, EC, moisture content, temperature, and nutrient content such as N,P,K and Total Carbon that can be used to evaluate sludge quality for composting. Sludge characterization is a crucial step in determining the suitability of sludge for compost making. When considering the results, the color was darkened with the weight range of sludge. Samples had a finer texture than regular compost. The pH values were increased with the sludge rate. All the 5 treatments were within the standard pH range (5.5-8.0). The EC of composts showed high variations respectively, The study also stresses the significance of following adequate handling and safety measures when utilizing sludge in composting and evaluates the potential risks involved. Based on the findings of this study, sludge may be a useful resource for composting; nevertheless, proper characterization and monitoring are required to guarantee the compost's safety and quality.