A Basic Experiment for a Small Sewage Treatment System Using Aquatic Plants and Microbes

소형 식물·미생물 정화조 시스템 개발을 위한 기초 실험

The rate of sewage treatment in South Korea was 68% in the late 1999. Sewage treatment is mostly made near big cities such as Seoul and Busan, and it is little in rural areas. Wastewater from households goes to streams directly without treatment in rural areas and pollutes streams. It is necessary to improve the progress for treatment of nutrients such as N and P which cause eutrophication in streams and lakes, because sewage treatment system in South Korea focuses on treatment of basic organic matters. Therefore it will contribute to improve discharged water quality if small sewage treatment systems by aquatic plants and microbes are introduced to rural areas where are not connected to local sewage treatment facility. This experiment was conducted to find out the best way using aquatic plants and microbes to purify wastewater from households through individual sewage treatment system. Phragmites communis, Iris pseudoacorus, Acorus calamus var. angustatus, Typha orientalis and Oenanthe javanica were used for this experiment. BOD, COD, SS, T-N and T-P were analyzed following standard methods for wastewater. The result shows that wastewater was roughly purified through pebbles and sands, and highly purified through aquatic plants and microbes especially in T-N and T-P. Iris pseudoacorus is the most effective in reduction of COD and BOD level. This system will work even in winter when plants die because microbes will be still working.