SANITARY SEWERS

Sanitary Sewers are an important class of subsurface open channels (partially full
pipes) that are used to transport domestic, commercial and industrial wastewater, ground-
water infiltration from surrounding soils, and extraneous inflows from sources such as
roof leaders, basement drains and submerged manhole covers.

 Design life or design period of sewer systems – 50 years (ASCE, 1982)

 In cases where there might be significant additional development beyond the
design period, it is generally prudent to secure easements and rights-of-way for
future expansion.
 Pump stations in sewer system can be designed with shorter design periods since
they are relatively short lived and easier to update.
 Sewerage treatment plants are generally designed for periods of about 20 years.
I. DESIGN FLOW
Two components of Design Flow
A. Flows contributed through service connections
B. Flows contributed by infiltration and inflow.
A. Service Flow

Flows contributed through service connections are usually related to present and
projected populations in the service area multiplied by per capita wastewater production
rates. Uncertainty in the population projection resulting from economic and social
variables should always be considered.

Design population densities in residential areas are typically taken as the

saturation densities. Waste water flows from commercial and industrial areas must be
added to the domestic flowrates. It is fairly common to assume that the average rate of
water consumption but this assumption should be made only after careful consideration
of the nature of the community.

TYPE OF AREA DENSITY (person\ha)

Large lots 5-7
Small lots, single-family 75
Small lots, two-family 125
Multi-story apartments 2500
Table 1: Typical Saturation Densities

B. Inflow and Infiltration (I/I)

Inflow
- surface water entering the sewer via flooded sewer vents, leaky
manholes, illicitly connected storm drains, basement drains and other
means than ground water. It is difficult to predict and are usually
lumped with the infiltration, which is then called the infiltration and
inflow (I/I).
- largest flow component in sanitary sewers on rainy days and is often
responsible for the backup of waste water into basements and homes
or the by passing of untreated wastewater to streams and other waste
watercourses.
- Typically range of 600-12000 m3/d/km on a maximum hour basis.

Infiltration

 water that enters the sewer from groundwater and sources of infiltration
flows include defective pipes, pipe joints, connections, or manhole walls.

Maximum allowances for infiltration:

  For sanitary sewers up to 600 mm in diameter – common to allow 71
m3/d/km for the total length of main sewers, laterals, and house
connections.
 For sewers submerged in groundwater – 140 m3/d/km
 For isolated segments – 2350 m3/d/km
 For 100mm of sewer diameter – average infiltration allowance: 3.9
m3/d/km
C. Combined Flow

The ratio of peak flow,Q peak , to the average daily wastewater flow, Q average , can be
estimated by the relation:

Q peak 5.5
=
Qaverage p 0.18

where p is the population of the service area in thousands and the peak flow is defined as
the maximum flow occurring during a 15-minute period for any 12month period.

Other peak flow factors:

Q peak Reference
Qaverage
5.5 ASCE (1982)
p 0.18
5.5 Babbit and Baumann (1958)
p 0.2
18+ p 0.5 Great Lakes Upper Mississippi River
4+ p 0.5
Board (1978)
1 4.0 Harmon(1918)
1.0+
4 .0+ p 0.5
2.69/Q_average Jakovlev et al. (1975)

The ratio of the minimum flow, Q min, to the average daily wastewater flow can be
estimated by the relation:

Q min 0.16
=0.2 p
Q ave
 II. HYDRAULICS OF SEWERS
 Design guidelines published by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the
Water Environmental Federation state that sanitary sewer through 375mm in
diameter b designed to flow half full at the design flowrate with larger sewers
designed to flow three-fourths full. These guidelines ensure proper ventilation in
sewers and also reflect the fact that smaller wastewater flows are much more
uncertain than larger flows.
 Minimum permissible velocities (self – cleansing velocities) and maximum
permissible velocities are important aspect in hydraulic design of sanitary sewers.
- Minimum permissible velocities (self – cleansing velocities) prevent solid
deposition. It should be achieved at least once per day.
- Maximum permissible velocities prevent excessive scouring of the sewer
pipe.
 ASCE recommends that flow velocities in sanitary sewers should not be less than
0.60m/s or greater than 3.5m/s

FORMULA USED:

D θ
h=
2 [
1−cos
2 ]
θ−sin θ D 2
A= D
8

D2 θ
P=
2

5
1
1 A3 2
Q= S
n 23 o
P

−2 5 −8 −1
3 3 3 2
θ (1−sin ⁡θ) −20.16 nQ D S o =0
where D ¿ pipe diameter

Q¿ flowrate

So =¿slope of the channel

D
θ¿ water surface angle
θ

h¿depth of flow

A¿cross sectional area h

P¿wetted perimeter

n¿Manning roughness coefficient

¿ 0.013

¿0.015 for most older existing sewers

h/D n/nfull
0 1.00
0.1 1.22
0.2 1.28
0.3 1.29
0.4 1.28
0.5 1.25
0.6 1.22
0.7 1.18
0.8 1.14
0.9 1.08
1.0 1.00
Variation of the Manning n with depth

III. SEWER-PIPE MATERIAL

Classification of Pipes

a. Rigid Pipes
- Derive a substantial part of their load carrying capacity from the structural
strength inherent in the pipe wall
b. Flexible Pipes
- Derive their load carrying capacity from the interaction of the pipe and the
embedment soils affected by the deflection of the pipe to the equilibrium
point under load.

Rigid Pipe Flexible pipe

Concrete Ductile iron
Cast Iron Steel
Vitrified clay Thermoplastic (PVC)
Rigid and Flexible Pipe Materials
Sample Problems:

1.
2.