Application of truck transport in district wastewater discharge systems

Abstract

The possibility of applying wastewater truck transport in existing, developing and reconstructed wastewater discharge systems is considered. Truck transport in the form of wastewater vacuum trucks has been used for decades to collect and remove wastewaters from cesspools and septic tanks of private housing and individual enterprises. In this regard, the volumes and distances of economically profitable application of truck transport should be determined, along with the conditions for switching to pipeline wastewater transport in the form of pressure and non-pressure pipelines. Such questions often arise when developing prospective schemes of wastewater discharge in small populated or remote urbanized areas. The amount of truck transportation of wastewaters is increasing annually, largely due to intensification of individual housebuilding and the need to improve living conditions in rural populated areas. However, the conducted analysis showed the absence of a recommendatory and legislative basis for the stated problem to be solved. In the course of the study, the dependences of the life cycle cost of pipeline and truck discharge systems on the volume of wastewaters and the distance of their transportation were obtained. An overlapping of these functions gives intersection points indicating the possibility of applying truck and pipeline wastewater transport in certain areas. According to the volumes and distances of wastewater transportation, the application areas of truck transport depend on the local conditions of pipeline construction, regional seismic activity, electric power cost and environmental requirements. These results can be used in wastewater logistics, organization and optimization of district wastewater discharge systems, as well as when developing methods for optimizing design solutions.