Septic Tank Design

Assignment

In

Advanced Water and Wastewater Engineering

By

Raji, M.O.
(05/30GB090)

Department of Civil Engineering

University of Ilorin, Nigeria

CVE 691 Course Lecturer: Dr. A.A. Aremu

March, 26th 2013

Calculation
1. Design a septic tank for the following data;
Number of people = 100
Sewage/Capacity/day =120 litres
De-sludging period =1 year
What would be the size of its soak well if the effluent from septic tank is to be
discharged in it, assume percolation rate of the soak well is to be 1250 l/m3/d?
Solution
Quantity of the sewage produced per day =12,000litres/day
The capacity of the tank = quantity of the sewage produced during the detention period

= 12000 × 24⁄24 = 12,000𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠

Assuming:
The rate of sludge deposit = 30litres/capita/year
De-sludging period = 1 year

The quantity of sludge deposited = 30 × 100 × 1 = 3,000𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠

Total required capacity of the tank= 12,000 + 3,000 = 15,000𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠 = 15𝑚3
15
Assuming the depth of the tank as 1.5m, the cross-sectional area of the tank= 1.5 =

10𝑚2
Using an L: B as 4:1, we have
4𝐵 2 = 10

𝐵 = √2.5 = 1.5𝑚
𝐿 = 4 × 1.5 = 6𝑚
Adding 0.3m for freeboard, overall depth 1.5 + 0.3 = 1.8𝑚
Hence, tank size= 𝟔. 𝟎𝒎 × 𝟏. 𝟓𝒎 × 𝟏. 𝟖𝒎

Design of soak well

Assuming percolation rate = 1250𝑙/𝑚3 /𝑑𝑎𝑦

2
Sewage outflow = 12,000𝑙/𝑑
12000
Volume of filtering media required for the soak well = = 9.6𝑚3
1250

4.8×4
Therefore, the diameter of soak well required, 𝐷 = √ = 2.47𝑚 = 2.5𝑚
𝜋

Therefore, the diameter of soak well = 𝟐. 𝟓𝒎

Question 2.
Estimate the size of a septic tank (Length to Width ratio 2.25, liquid depth 2m with
300mm free board), De-sludging interval in years and the total trench area (m2) of the
percolation field for a small colony of 300 people. Assume water supply of 100 litres per
capital per day. Waste water flow at 80% of water consumption, sludge production of
0.04m3/capital/year and retention time of 3 days at start up. De sludging is done when
the tank is one-third full of sludge. A percolation test indicated an allowable hydraulic
loading of 100l/m2/day.
Solution
1. Septic tank
𝐿
Given 𝐵 = 2.25

𝐷 = 2𝑚
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 = 0.3𝑚
𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 300
𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑 = 100𝑙/𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎/𝑑𝑎𝑦
𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 = 80%
𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 100𝑙/𝑚2 /𝑑𝑎𝑦
𝑠𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 = 0.04𝑚3 /𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎/𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟
𝑅𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 = 3𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠

Water supplied to the colony= 100 × 300 = 30,000𝑙/𝑑

Sewage produced= 80% 𝑜𝑓 30000 = 24,000𝑙/𝑑
Sewage retained= 24000 × 3 = 72,000𝑙 = 72𝑚3

If de-sludging is done when the tank is filled up to 1⁄3 𝑟𝑑 of its capacity.

Capacity= 𝑠𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 + 𝑠𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝐶 = 72 + 𝐶⁄3

∴ 2⁄3 𝐶 = 72𝑚3

3
𝐶 = 108𝑚3
Assume 𝐷𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑕, 𝐷 = 2𝑚

𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑘 = 108⁄2 = 56𝑚2

𝐿
= 2.25
𝐵

∴ 𝐿 = 2.25𝐵
𝐵 × 2.25𝐵 = 56
𝐵 = 4.9𝑚
𝐿 = 2.25 × 4.9 = 11.10𝑚
Overall depth= 2.0 + 0.3(𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑) = 2.3𝑚
Hence, dimension of the tank= 𝟏𝟏. 𝟏𝟎𝒎 × 𝟒. 𝟗𝟎𝒎 × 𝟐. 𝟑𝒎

2. Soak well

Sludge volume removed in desludging= 𝐶⁄3 = 108⁄3 = 36𝑚3

3
𝑠𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 = 0.04 𝑚 ⁄𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎. 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 × 300𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑠 = 12𝑚3 /𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟

Sewage outflow= 72𝑚3

36𝑚3 of sludge will therefore be produced in 1⁄12 × 36𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 = 3𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠

Hence, desludging interval= 𝟑𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔

Hydraulic loading of percolation trench= 100𝐿/𝑚2 /𝑑𝑎𝑦

Outflowing sewage per 3 days= 72𝑚3
Outflowing sewage per 1 day= 24𝑚3 = 24,000𝐿/𝑑

24,0000 𝐿/𝑑
Trench area required= 100 𝐿/𝑚2 /𝑑 = 𝟐𝟒𝟎𝒎𝟐