METHODOLOGY

The determination of the design capacity is indispensable when it comes to the design of
wastewater facilities such as sewer conveyance systems. The determination of wastewater
flowrates revolves around the following activities;

 Selection of a design period

 Estimation of the population and commercial and industrial growth
 Estimation of wastewater flows
 Estimation of infiltration and inflow
 Estimation of the variability of the wastewater flowrates

DESIGN PERIOD

Design period is estimated based on the following:

 Useful life of the component, considering obsolescence, wear, tears etc.

 Expandability aspect
 Anticipated rate of growth of population, including industrial, commercial developments
and migration-immigration
 Available resources
 Performance of the system during the initial period

According to the draft practice manual for sewerage and sanitation services in Kenya,2008, it is
recommended that a 10-20-year design period be adopted for the design of trunk sewers. This is
to mitigate against errors in forecasting of population growth especially taking into consideration
that there are a number of uncertainties in presiding over future land use patterns and directions
of growth in a developing city

Moreover, in Kenya and to a smaller scale the city of Nairobi, there is the issue of few resources
and capital available to undertake long term projects like the construction of sewerage
infrastructure with longer design period of 25 to 50 years as adopted in first world countries like
the United States of America
POPULATION FORECASTING

The various methods used for estimating population include;

 Arithmetic increase method; based on the assumption that population increases at a

constant rate. It is better applicable to large and established cities only because those
large cities which are near saturation grow at an approximately fixed rate.
 Geometric increase method; is typically exponential in growth thus should be limited to
new cities for only a few decades
 Incremental increase method; suitable for an average size town under normal condition
where the growth rate is found to be in increasing order
 Decreasing rate of growth method
 Simple graphical method; the population curve is smoothly extended for getting future
population. This extension should be done carefully and requires proper experience and
judgement
 Logistic curve method

To estimate the future population for the design of a trunk sewer to serve our case study area, the
incremental increase method will be used. The present population will be obtained by counting
the number of households per flat and working with an average of 6 persons per household.
Every institution within the bounds of the study area will be visited including local health
centers, recreational facilities, schools among others and Table 6.4 used to determine their water
demand

COMPONENTS OF WASTEWATER

The components that make up the wastewater flow in a community depend on the type of
collection system used and may include the following:

 Domestic or sanitary wastewater; Wastewater discharged from residences, commercial

(e.g., banks, restaurants, retail stores), and institutional facilities (e.g., schools and
hospitals).

The table below shows the average water supply based on assessment of the demand in various
developing countries around the world
Table 6.3 Daily Average Water Supply per capita according to Class of Dwelling (sewer manual)

Class of dwelling Description Daily average

water supply per
capita
(L/person/day)
High class detached houses, Two or more toilets and 150-260
exclusive apartment houses three or more taps per
household
Middle class ordinary houses, One toilet and two taps 110-160
apartment houses per household
Low level room for rent, Minimum one tap per 55-70
substitute houses provided by household, shared toilet
government, divided houses

The recommended consumption rates for Kenya according to the Ministry of Water and
Irrigation Water Practice Manual, 2005 are listed in Table 6.4 below

consumer unit Rural areas Urban areas

High Medium Low High Medium Low

potential potential potential class class class
housing housing housi

People with 1/head/day 60 50 40 250 150 75

individual
connections
People without 1/head/day 20 15 10 - - 20
individual
connections
Boarding schools 1/head/day 50

Day schools with 1/head/day 25

WC 5
Without WC
 Hospitals 1/bed/day 400
Regional 200
District 100
other
Dispensary and 1/bed/day 5000
health center

Hotels 1/head/day
High class 600
Medium class 300
Low class 50
Administrative 1/day 25
offices

bars 1/day 500

shops 1/day 100

unspecified 1/ha 20000

Source: Ministry of Water and Irrigation Water Practice Manual, 2005

 Industrial wastewater; wastewater discharged from industries (e.g., manufacturing and

chemical processes). wastewater flowrates from industrial sources vary depending on the
type and size of facility, the degree of water reuse, and onsite wastewater treatment
methods, if any. Typical design values for estimating the flows from industries that have
few wet processes are in the range of 7.5 to 14m3/ha·d for light industrial development
and 14 to 28m3/ha·d for medium industrial development (Metcalf and Eddy,2003 Pg.
162-163)
 Infiltration and Inflow(I/I); Water that enters the sewer system from groundwater
infiltration and storm water that enters from roof drains, foundation drains, and
submerged manholes. Infiltration/inflow is a variable part of the wastewater, depending
on the quality of the material and the workmanship in constructing the collection systems
and building connections, the character of the maintenance, and the elevation of the
groundwater compared with that of the collection system. The amount of infiltration will
vary from about 0.01m3/mm·km·day to 1.0 m3/mm·km·day (Metcalf and Eddy, 2003)
  Storm water as a result of rainfall runoff

VARIATION IN WASTEWATER FLOW RATES

Sewage flowrates usually varies during the day with the highest flowrates occurring the morning
and evening hours and lowest during the middle of the night. In a trunk sewer, peak flow rates
may be two and a half times the average

The variations also occur seasonally depending on either the rate of infiltration during rainy
weather or hot weather when consumption is also relatively high due to persons showering more
frequently

WASTEWATER QUANTITY ESTIMATION

A factor of 0.80 will be applied to the water supply in the study area to be used as the tentative
amount of sewage produced. This is informed by Table 6.8 0f the Sewerage and Design Manual
Final Draft

category Factor(as a percentage)

1 High class housing 75

2 Average urban housing 80

3 Low cost housing 85

4 Communal ablution/latrine block 85

5 Day schools, shops and offices 85

6 Other institutions 80

Source: W.H.O Report No.9

Average dry weather flow(AWDF)= 0.80 × water consumption × population

According to Holmes and Narver,1960, a peak factor should be multiplied by ADWF to obtain
peak dry weather flow. Therefore,
Peak Dry Weather Flow = ADWF× Dry Weather Flow Peaking Factor

Where

Dry weather flow peaking factor = 6.2945×(population)-0.1342