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Description
Presentation #1: Owasco
Lake, located in Cayuga County is one of the New York Finger Lakes and
encompasses an area of approximately 6,660 acres.The lake serves as the primary source of
drinking water for the City of Auburn and the Town of Owasco.The lake is also a popular spot for fishing
and recreational activities.Owasco Lake
is on the NYS impaired waterbodies list due to high bacteria counts along the
north shore and a recent surge of blue-green algae blooms (cyanobacteria) which
are fueled by non-point source nutrient pollution from runoff, wildlife,
agriculture, and lakefront septic systems. Historically the algal blooms have
been limited to nearshore areas.However, in 2020, although the overall phosphorus loading seemingly
decreased, data has shown an increase of cyanobacteria in open water.Coastal Wastewater Solutions, LLC was
contracted by The Nature Conservancy to provide a review of the current state
of phosphorus removal and loading associated with septic systems and develop
and implement phosphorus and nitrogen reducing septic system demonstration
program to assist in the advancement of these initiatives.
Presentation #2: Incomplete treatment of wastewater is a source of
anthropogenic nitrogen pollution that has adverse effects on water bodies,
aquatic life, and public health. In addition, freshwater resources continue to
become overstressed by growing human needs, prompting some communities to
utilize seawater for toilet flushing instead of potable water. This research
investigates constraints and solutions towards construction of robust and sustainable
onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) with biological nitrogen removal for
systems that use salt water for toilet flushing. Keeping sustainability in
mind, a laboratory scale OWTS was designed to make use of passive treatment
options, meaning limited to no inputs of energy and chemicals. The system
treated domestic wastewater with added salts to bring the salinity to 1.5% and
3.0% to mimic different OWTS seawater flushing scenarios. No salt added
wastewater was used as a control. Trickling columns achieved 76% conversion of
ammonia to oxidized nitrogen (NOx) under non-saline conditions and 72%
conversion at 1.5% and 3.0% salinity. Microcosms were constructed to evaluate
different industrial and agricultural waste stream electron donors for denitrification
at 3.0% salinity with freshwater controls. Electron donors used were sulfur
pellets, sugar cane bagasse, banana stem, and pine chips, with pine chips and
banana stem showing the best nitrogen removal rates. Results show biological
nitrogen removal as a viable sustainable option.