Design and feasibility analysis of a low-cost water treatment plant for rural regions of Bangladesh

Abstract

In this paper, a decentralized low-cost water treatment plant is designed using empirical equations. From the analysis of water quality of Bangladesh, it is seen that the standard level of water quality is not maintained in Bangladesh. First, the primary treatment plant is designed including septic tank and anaerobic pond design. But only primary plant is not enough for the removal of impurities, for this reason secondary treatment plant is designed considering facultative pond, wetland and sand filter. Wetland and facultative pond can remove almost 70% of N and 55-60% of P. The designed plant has an efficiency of 65% in both N and P removal and the effluent amount will be 8.1 mg/L and 1.5 mg/L respectively. The other parameters like arsenic and BOD are also discussed in this paper. Finally, a detailed feasibility analysis of the plant is discussed including environmental impact, technical analysis and installation and running cost. The installation cost of the plant is around 650-700 dollar, whereas a conventional water treatment plant of the same capacity costs 2000-3000 dollar approximately. The designed plant is very much compatible for a big family or two-three small families. Finally, some recommendations are provided which may be considered as future research work.