Abstract:
The health and livelihood of Addis Ababa city residents, as well as the agricultural
communities downstream of Akaki River is affected by Kalitiy municipal wastewater
treatment plant performance. Thus, the plant pollutant removal efficiency should be
monitored for safer reuse and reduced risk of water-borne diseases. The main objective
of this research was to evaluate the performance of Kalitiy wastewater treatment plant to
understand the status of the treatment plant and to check its effluent compliance with
national and international standards. Samples were taken at inlet of the treatment plant, ,
from Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) effluent, from trickling filter effluent and
at outlet of the treatment plant from 18 April 2022 to 6 May 2022, three times per
sampling point. The samples were then analyzed according to relevant standard methods.
Overall average removal efficiency of the treatment plant for chemical oxygen demand
(COD), Biological oxygen Demand (BOD), Total suspended solids (TSS) and ammonium
(NH4), were 90.5, 97.4, 96.4 and 67%, respectively. The concentration of sulfate
increases passing through each treatment units. However, the values of hydrogen power
(pH) and conductivity show variation throughout the plant. The overall total nitrogen
and phosphorus removal efficiencies of the waste treatment plant were 28.4 and 46%,
respectively. On other hand, the influent Faecal Coliform (FC) count of 46000 FC/100ml
was reduced to 6 FC/100ml, indicating 99% FC removal. The removal of pH, COD,
BOD, TSS, SO4, NH4, Fecal Coliform were satisfactory; while, the effluent concentration
of total nitrogen, total phosphorous and conductivity were beyond recommended limits.
The result showed that the treatment plant is efficient in terms of removing most of the
parameters analyzed and it is proved that the overall efficiency of the plant is acceptable
to use the effluent for irrigation purpose. However, the plant has limitation in terms of
some basic nutrient removal.
Keywords: wastewater treatment, Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket, trickling filter,
waste reuse, performance evaluation.