TITLE: Treatment and Monitoring of Nutrients, Odour and Sludge at a Small-
Town Demonstration Wastewater Treatment System

This report details the research work carried out as part of the EPA ERTDI large-scale study award (Treatment and Monitoring of Nutrients, Odour and Sludge at a Small-Town Demonstration Wastewater Treatment System, 2006-ET-LS-12-M3). The treatment of wastewater from small towns with population equivalents (PEs) in the range 200-5,000 PE gives rise to problems different to those encountered in the treatment of wastewater from larger conurbations. While the physical, chemical and biological processes can be similar for small and large population systems, it may be necessary, due to, for example, large flow and concentration variations, to design small-town systems differently to ensure that they work efficiently, economically and with minimum supervision. In order to develop design guidelines for sustainable small-town treatment systems, it was considered necessary to construct a facility capable of examining proprietary and novel technologies that: = Are simple, robust and cheap to build and operate; = Can remove organic carbon, nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), solids, odours, microorganisms, fats, oils, greases, and recalcitrant compounds (slowly or non-biodegradable compounds such as antibiotics, pesticides and hydrocarbons) from typical Irish wastewater streams to high standards; = Treat resultant sludges on-site or locally; and = Can be monitored and controlled remotely. Such a facility was proposed, designed, constructed, commissioned and operated by researchers in Civil Engineering, National University of Ireland (NUI), Galway at Galway County Council?s Tuam Wastewater Treatment Plant (TWWTP) and is known as the NUI Galway/Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Water Research Facility (WRF). In this study, the WRF treated a controllable portion of the municipal wastewater entering the TWWTP. The Pumped Flow Biofilm Reactor (PFBR) system a wastewater technology previously invented and developed by the project team was installed and operated at the WRF, and was tested under a series of biological and hydraulic loading rates to establish optimum operating conditions for achieving highquality secondary treatment. Maximum 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), suspended solids (SS) and ammonium-nitrogen (NH4-N) removals of 96%, 93% and 88%, respectively, were achieved giving average effluent concentrations of 12 mg BOD5/l, 11 mg SS/l and 4.7 mg NH4-N/l. A number of other novel waste, water and wastewater treatment technologies were also installed at the WRF. These technologies included a single-house wastewater treatment system, a sludge woodchip filter system, a new small-/medium-scale wastewater treatment system, and a tertiary treatment system. The performances of these technologies are also described in this report. The WRF now has the potential to treat the influent wastewater to non-potable reuse standards. The WRF is a world-class infrastructure for research and technology development.

Go back to top of page Top

Go back to top of page Top

Please Read Carefully Before Downloading

It is important for the EPA and the Environmental Research Community to know that the data and information products we distribute are useful to the user community we support. One way of doing this is by tracking the use of data and information in publications. Parts of or all of the datasets, data, or digital information products available here can be freely downloaded for further use in scientific applications under the condition that the source will be properly quoted in published papers, journals, websites, presentations, books, etc. Whenever possible the EPA strongly urge you to cite the use of these data, information, and web resources in the reference section of your publications. For convenience an automatically generated citation is available below which can be used immediately for citation purposes.

EPA SAFER Data Download Disclaimer: Before downloading any of the data or information objects below you are kindly asked to read the data download disclaimer Read Disclaimer (Opens in New Window). Downloading data or information objects from SAFER-Data indicates an acceptance of the data download disclaimer and the conditions outlined within it.

Suggested Citation Information

The information supplied in the table below should be provided with all citations to this electronic resource. You are requested to format each of the fields below as required by the specific bibliographical style you are using.

An example of this citation in proper usage:

O'Reilly, E.   "National Centre for Water and Wastewater Research and Demonstration". Associated datasets and digitial information objects connected to this resource are available at: Secure Archive For Environmental Research Data (SAFER) managed by Environmental Protection Agency Ireland https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/resource?id=fbe5a0fc-6afd-102f-8c70-b53a025bc1b8 (Last Accessed: 2025-01-16)

Permalink

Go back to top of page Top

SAFER-Data Display URL	https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=243
Resource Keywords	Wastewater Research Galway Ireland
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code	2006-ET-LS-12-M3
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme	Waste and Resource Management
Resource Availability:	Public-Open
Limitations on the use of this Resource	Any attached datasets, data files, or information objects can be downloaded for further use in scientific applications under the condition that the source is properly quoted and cited in published papers, journals, websites, presentations, books, etc. Before downloading, users must agree to the "Conditions of Download and Access" from SAFER-Data. These appear before download. Users of the data should also communicate with the original authors/owners of this resource if they are uncertain about any aspect of the data or information provided before further usage.
Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download):	2
Project Start Date	Sunday 1st January 2006 (01-01-2006)
Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Sunday 1st January 2006 (01-01-2006)
Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Wednesday 1st December 2010 (01-12-2010)
Published on SAFER	Monday 28th November 2011 (28-11-2011)
Date of Last Edit	Monday 28th November 2011 at 10:41:43 (28-11-2011)
Datasets or Files Updated On	Monday 28th November 2011 at 10:41:43 (28-11-2011)

Go back to top of page Top

Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
Three local authority sites in Co. Galway were considered for the location of the WRF: Moycullen, Oughterard and Tuam. All three sites are existing Galway County Council wastewater treatment plants of varying ages and sizes within 30 km of NUI Galway. Tuam was considered to be the most suitable for the following reasons: Adequate land was available on-site belonging to Galway County Council; There were existing facilities on-site, such as a small laboratory and toilet/washing facilities; and Location and access. Influent wastewater was pumped to the WRF from the nearby TWWTP, which had been commissioned in 1996 with a design PE of 25,000. In 2006, Tuam had urban and environs populations of 2,997 and 3,888, respectively, and average daily flows to the TWWTP of 5,000 m3/day (CSO, 2010 (http://www.cso.ie); GCC, 2010). A parallel dual-stream conventional activated sludge process was employed at the TWWTP with the capacity to pass the secondary effluent through a sand filter to effect tertiary treatment

Go back to top of page Top

In this section some supplementary information about this resource is outlined. Lineage information helps us to understand why this project was carried out, what policy or research requirements did it fulfil, etc. Lineage is important in understanding the rationale behind the carrying out of a project or the collection of a specific dataset etc. Links to web sites, applications, papers, etc are outlined to provide you with additional information or supplementary reading about the project or dataset

Any links supplied by the resource owner are stored such that they will open in a new window. Following such a link may lead to a 3rd party website over which EPA has no control in regards to contents or suitability.

Go back to top of page Top

The following is a list of similiar projects and resources on SAFER. Usually these resources share a similiar thematic area to the resource National Centre for Water and Wastewater Research and Demonstration you are currently viewing. You can view the full description for these projects and resources by using the links supplied.

• State of Knowledge Report: Development of specific bacterial detoxification enzymes as bioindicators and biosensors of environmental pollution (2009) View Full Metadata Description
• Critical Analysis of the Potential of Mechanical Biological Treatment for Irish waste Management View Full Metadata Description
• DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR ORGANICWASTES FROM INTENSIVE PIG AND POULTRY UNITS View Full Metadata Description
• Environmental Technology: Development of an Alum Sludge-Based Constructed Wetland System for Improving Organic Matter and Nutrients Removal in High-Strength Wastewater View Full Metadata Description
• Development of an Industry-Led Quality Standard for Source-Separated Biodegrable Material Derived Compost View Full Metadata Description

Go back to top of page Top