Analysis of factors affecting effluent TOC in publicly owned treatment works

Total organic carbon(TOC) was introduced as the water quality index of the rivers and lakes in 2013. This paper evaluated factors affecting effluent TOC concentrations and treated and discharged loads of existing publicly owned treatment works(POTWs). For selected POTWs with greater treatment capacity than 500㎥/day, factorial analysis was used to consider effects of kinds of biological treatment processes, inflow of other types of wastewater(industrial, livestock, landfill leachate wastewater, etc.) with domestic wastewater, sewer separation rate, and effluent discharging zones in which different effluent criteria applied. As a result, those factors did not show significant effect on effluent TOC concentration of POTWs in effluent discharging zone Ⅰ and Ⅱ. However, In effluent discharging zone Ⅲ and Ⅳ, kinds of biological treatment processes, the inclusion of other waste in influent of domestic wastewater, and the sewer separation rate were significant factors. The treated TOC load in POTWs was also not affected significantly by the variables set in this study. On the other hand, those three factors influenced significantly on the TOC load discharged to water bodies. The sum of factorial effects and the contribution rate of three factors to the discharged TOC load was 60.23 and 41%, 59.57 and 41%, and 42.04 and 18%, respectively.