ABSTRACT
Using several bulldozers to dig a large hole in the ground and filling the hole with millions of gallons of water to form a pond, a lake, or a reservoir is not rocket science. It’s easy; anyone can do it. However, if you are constructing an operational wastewater stabilization pond that must meet National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements, a significant amount of engineering and design thought is required for proper construction. This is the case no matter how carefully coefficients are evaluated and biological or kinetic models reviewed. If sufficient consideration is not given to optimization of the pond layout and construction, the actual efficiency of the system may be far less than the calculated efficiency. Additionally, the biological factors affecting wastewater pond performance must be understood so that a reasonable estimate of the hydraulic retention time (HRT) required to achieve a specified efficiency is incorporated into the design. Nevertheless, it is the physical factors, such as length-to-width ratio, placement of inlet and outlet structures, and redundancy in design that determine the actual treatment efficiency that can be achieved (Crites et al., 2006; Shilton, 2005).
