ABSTRACT
Water treatment for human uses is a vital asset to economic development. This article focuses on a combination of physical, biological, and chemical processes. Methods of water treatment require concrete or steel base structures, rendering them heavy, costly, and time-consuming to establish. Water treatment systems should be economically viable and practicable in design for developing societies; hence, structural builds should be simplified. Novel structures, a series of polyethylene cyclonic ponds for water treatment, were built and tested. Tanks were equipped with a settled material central outlet, water side outlet, and a pump shower system that enabled sludge removal without mechanical intervention. A freely flowing vortex was produced, aerated, given a biological treatment, and finally mixed with a chemical treatment step. Test establishment of the batch system enabled improvement in water quality, with removal performance as follows: TSS (total suspended solids) = 98%, UV254 absorbance = 50%, DOC (dissolved organic carbon) = 56%, and turbidity=95%. The batch system builds of the current study required short construction time and were economically priced. Cyclonic ponds are suited to diverse usage. The value may be felt in the improvement of water quality for human consumption, utility, and ecosystem services to counter the extensive pollution caused by oil and gas extraction and other industries.
