New insights on water mixing and aeration in waste lagoons
Annual Conference
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Man-made lagoons have been used worldwide for the treatment of domestic and industrial wastewater, it seems,forever. And, at the same time, many humans attempt to satisfy their need for leisure time activities on natural,and manmade, inland bodies of water located within, or close to, their place of habitation. All waste lagoons were first designed and thoughtfully planned considering their locations, soil makeup, and waste reduction processes prior to being implemented. And, either natural or designed recreational ponds went through the same process of engineering critique prior to releasing the public to their leisurely pleasures. In the case of waste lagoons, the biological process of organic waste reduction is always a consideration of the designs. For recreational ponds waste reduction is not considered a problem, so it is not usually addressed in the design phase. In all such designs a number of natural, “known” natural phenomena are discussed and accepted as fact. Natural and man-made mixing of water is one of the assumptions that is, not only taken for granted, but addressed far too often as “acceptable knowledge” without new thought or insight. In fact, water movement and mixing within any body of water is the key to its success as either a waste elimination process container, or a viable, long-lived healthy recreational pond. In a closed, or contained body of water, it is the ability of the water to mix properly that will determine its biological efficiency in organic waste reduction.
This paper will address the following topics;