Engineered Sewage Treatment System in Selected Niger Delta Environment

Abstract

Water is life. Unfortunately, there has become a great scarcity of this precious liquid due to anthropogenic/human activities which have generated wastes, especially sewage that has not been adequately treated in the country, more especially in the poverty-stricken Niger Delta area of Nigeria. The few freshwater bodies not only serve a means for domestic use, including drinking, but it is also used as a means of direct sewage disposal both by the locals and other related unabated activities, thereby increasing the prevalence of water-borne diseases.  A locally designed sewage plant “engineered sewage treatment system” (ESTS) was therefore designed and developed with local materials like palm kernel shell (PKS), periwinkle shell (PWS), charcoal, fine, and coarse sand to treat domestic wastewater and improve the quality of the available water source within the local communities. The ESTS was operated for three months, and weekly monitoring carried out. The analysis of the treated effluents showed a significant reduction in the levels of contaminants as most of the physicochemical and biological parameters were within acceptable limits by the World Health Organization/Federal Ministry of Environment (WHO/FMEnv). The quality of treated sewage water improved when subjected to treatment by ESTS and compared well to the borehole water, which served as control. The results of the treatment process showed a 93% to 100% treatment efficiency of ESTS in the removal of F. coliform, E. coli, Streptococcus and Clostridium from the sewage. This high-efficiency rate has provided a holistic and affordable (cost-effective) means to curb the proliferation of water- borne diseases and help improve water quality in riverine communities.