Project for sewage treatment in the Arctic

Objectives

• Develop improved techniques for sewage treatment operations in challenging Arctic conditions

Deliverables

• A computer model for waste stabilization pond performance evaluations in Arctic conditions

Activities

• Develop an Arctic-specific model of a waste stabilization pond that:
  • accounts for both aerobic and anaerobic degradation of organic materials in the wastewater
  • considers the periodic nature of the operation and the partial or complete freeze of the pond during winter
• Collect data from the Yellowknife lagoon and calibrate the model on this information
• Expand the model's capabilities to include the quantification of ammonia, phosphorous and algal bloom levels in the lagoon effluent

Collaborators

• Elkan Environmental Engineering (Grand Prairie, Alberta)
• City of Yellowknife
• Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA), Northwest Territories
• Community and Government Services, Government of Nunavut

Results

• This new model will help the City of Yellowknife with the long-term planning of its lagoon at Fiddler's Lake, including:
  • estimating how the lagoon will perform with an anticipated population increase
  • looking into possible ways to control various effluent constituents toward achieving water quality compliance

Project team

Andrew Colombo, Associate Research Officer, Construction Research Centre, NRC

Andrew is the project manager and has been responsible for coordinating stakeholders, promoting the model's development, and field testing at Dettah, NWT and Yellowknife.

Yehuda Kleiner, Principal Research Officer, Construction Research Centre, NRC

Yehuda has been responsible for modelling hydraulic aspects of lagoons and refining the ice layer model. He has conducted field sampling in Dettah and Fiddler's Lake.

Boris Tartakovsky, Senior Research Office, Energy, Mining and Environment Research Centre, NRC

Boris is the scientific lead of the project, focusing on the bio-chemical modelling of lagoon processes.

Shuang Liang, Assistant Research Officer, Construction Research Centre, NRC

Shuang is busy with the characterization of algal blooms, nitrogen and phosphorous. She has also joined the project team for sampling at Fiddler's Lake.

Ehsan Roshani, Associate Research Officer, Construction Research Centre, NRC

Ehsan is primarily responsible for coding the model into Matlab and developing the software's user interface.