Planted Sludge Drying Beds in Treatment of Faecal Sludge from Ouagadougou: Case of Two Local Plant Species

Abstract

Management of wastewater is a concern of developing countries. In Burkina Faso, an on-site septic system installed on the property is predominant and those systems product high quantities of faecal sludge which are not treated adequately before discharge. Our country is mainly fed by surface water, while water is the main vector of many diseases. So it is very important to manage efficiently wastewater and faeces. The treatment of faecal sludge by planted beds can use local persistent emergent plants like Andropogon gayanus (LPA) and Cymbopogon nardus (LPN). Those planted beds are compared to a non-planted bed (sludge drying bed) (LT). Treating raw sludge (BB) we got the yield over 90% concerning the biological oxygen demand (BOD 5 ) for the LPA while the two others gave performances of 75% and 76% respectively. Regarding the chemical oxygen demand (COD), LPN gave better yields with 77% of removal against 71% and 69% for LPA and LT respectively. Overall, the pilots assured removal of orthophosphates varying between 77% and 79%, while the Kjeldahl nitrogen is removed by the various beds with respective fields of 94%, 96.5% and 97.5% for LPN, LPA and LT. The microbiological pollution abatement is in the order of 1 log unit on average for all beds.