2.

0 Chapter 2: Sanitary/Sewerage System

2.0.1 Introduction
Sewerage systems are one of the most important infrastructures in construction of
residential, industrial or commercial project as it determines the quality of life enjoyed by a
community. It consists of a network of underground sewer pipes, pump stations, sewage
treatment plants and sludge treatment facilities. This system usually operates based on by gravity
due to the slope of the pipe which reduces the high cost required for pumping. Sewerage system
is very important as it helps people to transport the wastes or sewage away from their places.
Therefore, the system must be functioning well because improper functioning system will lead to
pollution and contamination of various aspects of our surrounding which affect human life and
health. Hence, regular maintenance must be done to the existing sewerage system and
appropriate design must be applied to the new sewerage systems to ensure the sewerage systems
are in good condition.
Sewers are further classified into a few categories, which depend on the type of
wastewater that each of it carries. For example, storm sewers are designed to carry stormwater
from roofs, paved areas, pavements and roads; industrial sewers are designed to carry wastewater
generate from the industry; sanitary sewers are designed to carry the waste water from cooking
and washing and the wastes from toilets. There is another type of sewer which is known as
combined sewers. These types of sewers are designed to carry stormwater, industrial wastes, and
domestic sewage. In Malaysia, many towns and cities use the separate sewer system. The
wastewater is transported in separate pipes from storm sewers, industrial sewers and sanitary
sewers. This system will not experience CSOs (Combine Sewer Overflows) which usually
happen to combined sewer. The flooding will cause by stormwater only.
2.1 Sewerage System in Malaysia
The sewerage system is designed to collect wastewater or foul sewage generated from
residential, industrial and commercial areas through sewer pipes and discharges it to the
treatment plants or facilities to ensure the sewage is released to the natural water bodies in an
appropriate condition and quality (Geoffrey, 2004). In Malaysia, sewerage systems range from
simple toilet with little or no treatment provided to modern sewage treatment plants that treat the
sewage to the desired quality accordance to environment standard. There are two main types of
sewerage system in Malaysia. A premise sewerage system is either connected to a public sewage
treatment plant or an individual septic tank. Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) is responsible to
provide service and maintenance to public sewage treatment plants and all the underground pipes
and also provide desludging services to individual septic tanks (Abd Aziz, 2006).
IWK decided to divide the underground pipe into two sections, public pipe and private
pipe (Figure 2.1) to make sure that all underground pipes operate without any problem. Public
pipe is under the responsibility of IWK and the private pipe is under individual responsibility. An
individual needed to pay for the IWK services when the private pipe needed for maintaining,
repairing or servicing. (Abd Aziz, 2006).
2.1.1 Indah Water Konsortium
Indah Water Konsortium, a company owned by Minister of Finance Incorporated, is
Malaysia's national sewerage company which has been entrusted with the task of developing and
maintaining a modern and efficient sewerage system for all Malaysians. In 1994, the Federal
Government awarded the company the concession for nationwide sewerage services which prior
to that, was under the responsibility of local authorities. Since then, Indah Water has taken over
the sewerage services from local authorities in all areas except the States of Kelantan, Sabah,
Sarawak, Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru and Majlis Perbandaran Pasir Gudang.
A modern and efficient sewerage system is vital for the country so as to ensure that
wastewater is treated before being discharged into our rivers. This will help preserve the
country's waste resources, protect public health and provide a cleaner and safer environment. In
June 2000, as testimony of the Government's seriousness in ensuring that a proper and efficient
sewerage system will be successfully put in place and maintained, the Government, through the
Minister of Finance Incorporated, took over the entire equity in Indah Water from its previous
private owners.
Indah Water is now well-positioned to undertake the vital task of ensuring that
Malaysians today and in the future will be able to enjoy a clean and healthy environment through
a proper and well-maintained sewerage system.
2.2 Types of sewerage systems
There are 3 types of sewerage systems which are:
1. Separate system
2. Combined system
3. Partially separate system
2.2.1 Separate systems
Separate sewer systems are designed to convey wastewater and stormwater in separate
pipes. Sanitary sewer systems collect and transport wastewater while the storm sewer systems
collect and transport stormwater runoff. Sanitary sewer systems may also collect wet weather
flow via illicit connections from house drains or storm sewers, as well as through defects in the
pipes and manholes. The construction costs can be higher than for the combined sewer system
because two separated networks are necessary. It provides a high level of hygiene and comfort.
In a properly constructed separated system the sewage is transported in a closed system directly
to the treatment plant and cannot overflow into the environment.
2.2.2 Combined systems
The combined
2.3 Various pattern of collection system
2.3.1 Factors affect the patterns of collection used
1. Topography- hilly of flat land
2. Location- town area or remote area
3. Method of treatment- city sewage or septic tank
4. Type of sewage- domestic or industrial
5. Population of the area- dense population or small population
2.2 Transportation of Wastewater
Wastewater is usually transported through sewer pipes that are connected to the sewer
mains by clay, cast-iron, or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes that range from 80-100mm diameter.
The large sewer mains can be located about 1.8m deep or more than that along the centerline of a
street or pathway. The small and large sewer pipes are made by different material, in which the
smaller sewer pipes are made of clay, concrete, or asbestos cement, and the large sewer pipes are
made of reinforced concrete construction. The flow of wastewater is different from water-supply
system. The water supply is transported to each house by the application of pressure. However,
the wastewater from each house is flows through sewer pipes by gravity. Therefore, the sewer
pipe must lay on slope surface to allow the wastewater to flow at a velocity of at least 0.8m/s and
not more than 4m/s. (MS1228:1991). If the wastewater flows at velocity lower than 0.8m/s, the
solid material tends to settle in the pipe which will lead to blockage. Storm-water mains have
similar structure as sanitary sewers, but they have a much larger diameter than sanitary sewers.
In certain places, the urban sewer mains are connected to interceptor sewers, which can then join
to form a trunk line. The trunk line will then discharge the wastewater into the wastewater-
treatment plant. This transportation process is shown in Figure 2.2. As the interceptors and trunk
lines will carry the wastewater discharge from sewer main, they are usually made of brick or
reinforced concrete which can carry more load than the other pipe. Sometimes, they are large
enough for a truck to pass through them. (Norhan Abd Rahman [Link], 2007)
2.3 Theory of sewerage system
In designing a sewerage pipe network, the pump stations and sewage treatment plants are
required to carry and pump volumetric flow rate. The flow rates are usually measured in cubic
meter per second (m3/s) and need to be calculated for both existing land use and for expected
future development. There are two parameters that are used to calculate expected flow rates. One
of the parameters is per capita flow. This per capita flow of 225L/person/day is an average daily
flow, which means a person will produce 225 liters of sewage in a day. Another design
parameter named “population equivalent” (PE) of a catchment can also be used to calculate the
flow rate. PE is not a measure of population. However, it is used to measure the estimated
number of people that use the sewage facilities. In residential areas, the PE is a direct
measurement of the population in an area which is calculated as five per dwelling. The PE has a
different method of measurement in commercial area. It is calculated from the floor area and this
PE value is considered to be proportional to the number of people using a premise during the day
which does not reflect the population living in an area.
2.4 Sewage Treatment Objectives
As populations increase by leaps and bounds, it places more pressure on the environment
and threatening sources of fresh water supplies, it was recognized that the problem of 'human
waste' needed proper management. From the early 1900s there has been a steady evolution of
sewage treatment into today's modern sewage treatment plants producing high quality effluent,
which can be safely discharged to the environment or reused.
More recent developments in sewage treatment have been to improve the reliability and
efficiency of treatment systems to treat sewage to meet standards and reduce the land area
occupied by treatment works through accelerating natural treatment rates under controlled
conditions. However, despite these developments sewage treatment systems are still mainly
concerned with the removal of suspended and floatable materials, the treatment of biodegradable
organic and in some cases the elimination of pathogenic organisms. Sewage treatment methods
may be classified into physical unit operations, chemical unit processes and biological unit
processes.

2.4.1 Physical Unit Operations

Physical unit operations are treatment methods, which use the application of physical
forces to treat sewage. These include screening, mixing, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration
and flotation.
2.4.2 Chemical Unit Processes

Treatment methods in which the removal or conversion of pollutants by the addition of

chemicals or by chemical reactions are known as Chemical Unit Processes. These include
precipitation, adsorption and disinfection.
2.4.3 Biological Unit Processes
 Biological unit processes describe methods, which remove pollutants by biological
activity. Biodegradable organic substances are converted into gases that escape to the
atmosphere and cell tissue is removed by settling.

2.5 Sewage Treatment Methods

Historically unit operations have been grouped together to provide various levels of treatment.
Preliminary and/or Primary Treatment refers to physical unit operations and is the first stage of
treatment applied to any sewage. Secondary Treatment refers to biological and chemical unit
processes, while Tertiary refers to combinations of all three.
2.5.1 Preliminary Sewage Treatment
Preliminary sewage treatment is defined as the removal of sewage constituents that may cause
maintenance or operational problems with the treatment operations. This includes screening and
comminution (grinding) for the removal of debris and rags, grit removal by sedimentation and
flotation for the removal of excess oil and grease.
2.5.2 Primary Sewage Treatment
In primary treatment screening and sedimentation remove some of the suspended solids and
organic matter. The effluent from primary treatment will contain high amounts or organic matter.
2.5.3 Secondary Sewage Treatment
Secondary sewage treatment is directed at the removal of biodegradable organic and suspended
solids, mainly using biological unit processes. Disinfection may be included in secondary sewage
treatment.
2.5.4 Tertiary Sewage Treatment
Tertiary sewage treatment includes the removal of nutrients, toxic substances including heavy
metals and further removal of suspended solids and organic. Effluent from tertiary treatment is of
a high standard and suitable for reuse.
There is no plan to build tertiary treatment systems in Malaysia. The focus has been providing a
basic standard of preliminary, primary and secondary treatment.
2.6 Sanitary systems