Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2009ND191B

Fate of Biodegradable Dissolved Organic Nitrogen in Fargo Wastewater

Institute: North Dakota
Year Established: 2009 Start Date: 2009-03-01 End Date: 2011-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $17,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $34,000

Principal Investigators: Khan Eakalak

Project Summary: Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) usually represents a significant portion of nitrogen in the final effluent of wastewater treatment plants. The biodegradability of effluent DON is an important issue because biodegradable DON (BDON) can support algal growth and/or consume dissolved oxygen. As a result, several wastewater treatment plants in the United States recently have started to measure BDON in the final effluent in order to quantify how much of their effluent DON can potentially contribute to eutrophication and oxygen depletion in receiving waters. The fate of BDON through the Fargo, North Dakota, WWTP has not been investigated in the past. In addition, there has been no report on effluent BDON from BOD and nitrification trickling filters since the process is less common in wastewater utilities. Although the Fargo WWTP is currently subjected to only a NH3-N discharge limit, it is possible that the plant will be regulated on other N species or TN in the near future due to the more demanding regulation trend. Limiting effluent BDON will be crucial to meet the future discharge permit and to improve the quality of the Red River. The objectives are to evaluate the eutrophication and oxygen depletion potentials of the Fargo WWTP effluent based on BDON content and photodegradability; and to examine BDON removal efficiency of different treatment units in the Fargo WWTP.