Discussion on the operation of village sewage treatment plants

At present, there are problems such as multiple management and unclear responsibilities in the construction and operation of rural sewage treatment facilities. In terms of management, there is a lack of effective management mechanisms, which leads to problems such as poor operation and maintenance of facilities.

1. Analysis of the current situation of village sewage stations:

In some areas, rural domestic sewage is discharged directly without treatment, lacking sewage collection pipe networks and treatment facilities. The collection and treatment of domestic sewage is more difficult due to the scattered households, large terrain differences, wide regional distribution, high construction difficulty, equipment investment funds, and operation and maintenance funds.

The influence of village sewage treatment stations mainly includes residents' washing, bathing, kitchen toilet flushing wastewater, etc. Some areas have wastewater from individual livestock breeding, small workshops in villages, and agricultural product processing. The characteristics of rural sewage are complex influent water quality and uneven composition; uneven water discharge, with the characteristics of concentrated discharge in the morning, noon and evening. In addition, the distribution of the built sewage stations is relatively scattered, and the treatment scale varies. The overall planning and design should refer to the distance between villages and the distribution of pipe networks.

Fig. HYHH sewage treatment equipment on-site photos

2. Difficulties in managing village-level sewage treatment stations

(1) Currently, most rural areas lack sewage collection pipes, and sewage can only be discharged into farmland or rivers behind houses, resulting in increasing pollution of rural rivers.

(2) The operating unit price of rural sewage treatment stations is low: Village sewage stations are far away and scattered, resulting in actual operating costs far exceeding the government's unified price limit, causing most operating companies to suffer long-term losses and therefore unable to carry out fine management.

(3) The main components of rural sewage are complex, with large daily variations, and different operating parameters in different seasons. Due to the different water use habits of rural residents in different regions, there are great spatial differences in the amount and discharge patterns of domestic sewage, which makes it impossible for sewage treatment equipment to operate continuously and to make accurate process parameter adjustments. This objectively determines the current situation of high difficulty and high cost in the operation of rural domestic sewage treatment.

(4) Rural sewage stations have incomplete supporting facilities, lack of standardized sludge yards and complete sets of sludge dewatering equipment, so extremely high sludge concentration and extremely long sludge age are also important factors affecting water quality.

(5) Some places blindly purchase rural sewage treatment equipment without analyzing and testing the actual water quality discharged from the village, and then decide on what kind of treatment process is suitable. A single treatment model or technical solution cannot solve the problems of all villages.

(6) The rainwater and sewage are combined in the pipeline network. During the rainy season, the water inflow to most village-level Sewage Treatment Plants will exceed the designed treatment capacity, and the water quality cannot be guaranteed. There is even a risk of flooding the plants.

3. Analysis and suggestions on professional operation and management of village sewage treatment

(1) Increasing investment in village sewage stations: Improve the rural sewage collection network and strive to achieve full coverage of sewage treatment equipment.

(2) Adjustment of design mode: Relatively concentrated villages should build medium-sized sewage treatment plants and improve sewage collection pipe networks and pumping stations. Villages far away are suitable for decentralized treatment mode, and the corresponding sewage treatment process and treatment scale should be designed according to the permanent population, drainage volume, drainage water quality, and rainwater and sewage diversion in the village.

(3) Facilities recommendations: The village-level sewage treatment station has no desludging equipment and no standardized sludge dump. It is recommended to add more.

(4) Improve the management system: compile detailed management ideas such as the village sewage treatment station operating procedures, safety inspection management system, safety emergency plan, and water quality plan.

(5) Increase the operating fee standard: The relatively scattered village-level sewage treatment stations are affected by factors such as daily inspection distances, uneven water volume and quality, unconditional on-site presence, and lack of supporting equipment. It is necessary to appropriately increase the unit price of village sewage treatment operations to avoid the current situation of long-term losses for professional operating units.