RESUMO
The objective of this study was to evaluate the treatment efficiency of a gravel contact oxidation treatment system which was newly constructed under the riverbed of Nan-men Stream located at the Shin Chu City of Taiwan. The influent and effluent water samples were taken periodically for the analyses of pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, total suspended solids, five-day biological oxygen demand, NH4[+]-N. The results showed that the average removal rates of five-day biological oxygen demand, total suspended solids and NH4[+]-N were 33.6% [between -6.7% and 82.1%], 56.3% [between -83.0% and 93.4%] and 10.7% [between -13.0% and 83.3%], respectively. The calculated mean first order reaction rate constant for five-day biological oxygen demand was 4.58/day with a standard deviation of 4.07/day and for NH4[+]-N was 2.15/day with a standard deviation of 5.68/day. Therefore, it could be said that this gravel-contact-oxidation system could effectively remove biological oxygen demand, total suspended solids, and NH4[+]-N in river water at a relatively short hydraulic retention time, although its pollutant treatment efficiency was not quite stable. However, to reach better or more stable treatment efficiency, aeration might sometimes be necessary to increase the dissolved oxygen in influent river water. And, longer hydraulic retention time of the system might also be required to increase NH4[+]-N removal efficiency