Improved septic tank with constructed wetland - A promising decentralized wastewater treatment alternative in Vietnam

Content - Summary

The decentralized wastewater management approach has a true potential in Vietnam, also in urban and peri- urban areas where centralized wastewater collection and treatment systems are often not affordable. In urban areas of Vietnam, the conventional septic tank is the most common on-site wastewater treatment facility. However, the system has a limited treatment performance, and can not provide the treatment required to reach national effluent standards and to avoid water pollution. This paper presents an innovative way to improve the treatment efficiency of septic tanks. The Improved Septic Tank, also known as Baffled Septic Tank with or without Anaerobic Filter (BAST or BASTAF), developed and studied at the Centre for Environmental Engineering of Towns and Industrial areas (CEETIA), Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, represents a valuable and promising alternative to the conventional septic tank.

This study clearly demonstrated the potential of STAF, BAST and BASTAF as alternatives to the conventional septic tank for the pre-treatment of domestic wastewater on a household or neighborhood level. By simple means (baffling of the septic tank or introduction of an anaerobic filter stage), the treatment performance of septic tanks could be increased to between 80 and 90% removal of COD and TSS, especially in regions with high ambient temperature throughout the year.

Bibliographic information

Nguyen, A., Pham, N., Nguyen, T., Morel, A. Tonderski, K. (2007). Improved septic tank with constructed wetland - A promising decentralized wastewater treatment alternative in Vietnam. SDC (Swiss Development Coorperation)

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East Asia & Pacific English

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