Wastewater management in rural human settlements using village ponds

Abstract

Village ponds, which once served as water sources in rural human settlements, have become dumping sites for waste and posing serious environmental and health problems. There is a need for the improved management of the rural sewage and storm waters, and improving the health of the village ponds so that the ponds can again become important water resource in the rural settlements. A study has been instituted in this direction. Two village ponds, located in village Chappa, Barnala district, Punjab state, have been selected for the study. The study involved quantification and characterization of both the village sewage and the storm water, modification of the village ponds into water treatment and storage systems, and developing structures for facilitating reuse of the treated pond water and disposal through groundwater recharging. The wastewater treatment technologies employed are supposed to be on-site, low cost, low technology, requiring no trained man power and conventional energy sources and using locally available agricultural skills. This paper describes the strategies followed, methods adopted and results obtained so far. Storm water samples and sewage samples collected at the inlets and at the different depths from different locations of the village ponds have been analyzed characterization in terms of total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nutrients (total, nitrate, nitrite, ammonical and organic nitrogen, and total phosphorus), chlorides, chlorophyll, sulfates, alkalinity, and coliform count. The results obtained are reported in this dissertation.