1. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
Griffith School of Engineering
Griffith University
6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program - Thesis
Study of Excess Ammonia in Wastewater during Peak
Tourism Periods
Rhys Knilands s2724385
27th
of March 2015 Semester 1
Redland City Council
Bradley Taylor
A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the
degree of Environmental Engineering
The copyright on this report is held by the author and/or the IAP Industry Partner. Permission has been granted
to Griffith University to keep a reference copy of this report.
2. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
Executive Summary:
This report was undertaken to determine potential reasons as to why excessive levels of
ammonia were occurring during peak tourism periods on North Stradbroke Island and to
recommend options that could be potentially used to reduce these ammonia levels.
There were three reasons that were deemed to be the most plausible to be the cause of this,
with them being:
Cleaning products being used by cleaning companies on North Stradbroke Island
The alcohol and food consumption habits of the tourists themselves
The extra wastewater the was being produced during peak tourism periods
The report determined three potential options that could implemented, with the overall best
option (balancing in many factors, such as difficulty to implement, cost, difficulty to maintain
and economic risks) being the solution to enact a change in the cleaning products that are
currently being used by cleaning companies for tourism rental properties, hotels and other
accommodation types, as ammonia is a main ingredient in many cleaning products.
3. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Mr Bradley Taylor, from Redland Water, and Dr Jimmy Yu, from Griffith
University, for their assistance in helping me in completing this project through the course of this
semester.
6. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
List of Figures :
Figure 1: Source and Activities that can lead to high ammonia concentrations
Figure 2: Increased synthetic fertilizer had led to an increase in coastal eutrophication ******
Figure 3: Water use per tourist per day by category
Figure 4: Generalized representation of the nitrogen cycle
Figure 5: Map of existing land use of North Stradbroke Island
Figure 6: Point Lookout wastewater plant location
Figure 7: Schematic of an external (sidestream) membrane bioreactor
Figure 8: Generic BNR Process
Figure 9: Key Factors that affect nitrification
Figure 10: changes in concentration during the biological phosphorus removal process
Figure 11: Membrane Filtration spectrum for Water and Wastewater Treatment
Figure 12: Redland Visitor Numbers, 2002 – 2009
Figure 13: Peak Vs. Non-Peak Ammonia Levels
Figure 14: Peak Vs. Non-Peak TKN Levels
Figure 15: Total KDH, 31/12/2013 vs. 06/01/2014
Figure 16: Total Ammonia, 31/12/2013 vs. 06/01/2014
Figure 17: Risk Assessment Totals
Figure 18: Ammonia Reduction Multi-criteria analysis
List of Tables :
Table 1: The Areas of Alignment with Corporate Objectives
Table 2: Wastewater Types
Table 3: Typical composition of raw municipal wastewater with minor contributions of
industrial wastewater
Table 4: Percentage of total ammonia present as NH3 in aqueous ammonia solutions
Table 5: North Stradbroke Island Catchment Facts
Table 6: Measurements of dissolved ammonia content in tested cleaning products
Table 7: Urinary Excretion in the Chronically Treated Alcohol-Fed Rat
Table 8: Project Drivers
Table 9: SWOT Analysis, Option 1
Table 10: SWOT Analysis, Option 2
Table 11: SWOT Analysis, Option 3
Table 12: Criteria Ranking and Weighting
Table 13: Measurement of dissolved ammonia content in tested cleaning products
Table 14: Option 1 Risk Analysis Table
7. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
1. Introduction:
1.1 Background:
The Redland City Council has recently approved the construction of a new Wastewater
Treatment Plant at Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island, with construction having
already begun on the site of the original wastewater treatment plant. The main reason that this
new plant is being constructed is that the population on North Stradbroke Island has increased
dramatically (‘Redland City’ n.d.) dramatically since the original plant’s inception more than
30 years ago, with the population expected to increase by another 44% to approximately
8,548 (RCC n.d.).
It has been noticed that the old plant is already occasionally struggling to remain in operation
during peak tourism periods [020], due to the influx of visitors during these periods and the
increase in wastewater production that this brings. Another point of concern, which was
unexpected, is that the levels of ammonia in the raw wastewater during these tourism periods
are exceeding the levels expected from the tourism increase.
It is due to this unexpected increase of ammonia levels that this report has been
commissioned to explore all the different facets of the issue, to give potential reasons as to
why this may be occurring and then to suggest methods to reduce the levels of ammonia
8. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
1.2 Project Justification:
For any project to be considered in the RCC, it must meet to corporate objectives as shown in the
table: The Areas of Alignment with Corporate Objectives.
Table - : The Areas of Alignment with Corporate Objectives 9Cooperate objectives and Strategy descriptions taken
from http://www.redland.qld.gov.au/)
Table 1: The Areas of Alignment with Corporate Objectives (from http://www.redland.qld.gov.au/)
9. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
2. Literature Review:
2.1 Wastewater:
Production of waste from human activities is, at this present moment, an unavoidable side
effect, with one of the main forms of waste being wastewater. The ‘amount and type of waste
produced in households is influenced by the behavior, lifestyle and standard of living of
living of individuals within the households themselves’ (Comeau & Henze 2008). Municipal
wastewater is mainly comprised of water (99.9%) together with relatively small
concentrations of suspended and dissolved organic and inorganic solids from mostly
domestic and industrial sources (FAO n.d.).
Wastewater from society Wastewater generated internally in
treatment plants
Domestic wastewater Thickener supernatant
Wastewater from institutions Digester supernatant
Industrial wastewater Reject water from sludge dewatering
Infilitration into sewers Drainage water from sludge drying beds
Stormwater Filer wash water
Leachate Equipment cleaning water
Septic tank wastewater
Table 2: Wastewater Types (Comeau & Henze 2008)
However, it is due to these small concentrations that nuisance-free removal of wastewater
from its source of generation, followed by the treatment, reuse or dispersal into the
environment is essential for both health and environmental reasons, as the ‘nutrients in
wastewater may contain toxic compounds as well as potentially mutagenic and carcinogenic
compounds’ (Burton et al 2002). Some of the compounds of concern in wastewater are:
Biodegradable organics, Pathogens, Nutrients, Priority pollutants, Refractory pollutants,
Organic pollutants, Dissolved organics and Pharmaceuticals (Constituents in Wastewater,
2008)
.
The various treatment processes used during wastewater treatment (physical, chemical and
biological processes), generates a sludge (generic term for wastewater solids), which is an
environmental issue since this sludge also needs to be treated and disposed of safely. As
wastewater treatment improves, this can end up increasing the amount of sludge produced,
making ‘safe disposal an increasingly important problem for municipal wastewater plants to
deal with’ (Constituents in Wastewater, 2008).
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The design of the wastewater disposal system in place can affect the composition of the
wastewater significantly, with older urban areas potentially having combined sewer systems
where different types of wastewater are mixed, compared the developing countries, which
tend to have separate sewer systems (Comeau & Henze 2008).
It has been stated that, from an aquatic environment perspective, releases from industrial
sources and from Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants have the most significant of water
source health (Charlton et al. 2003, p 527-548)).
2.2 Wastewater Nutrients:
The chemistry of wastewater reflects human activites, with agricultural, commercial,
industrial and municipal activites being represented by the wastewater they produce. Due to
this, the ‘chemical composition of wastewater must be monitored to ensure public and
environmental safety’ (Ellis 2004).
The following table shows the typical makeup of municipal wastewater, where concentrated
wastewater (high column) represents cases with low wastewater consumption and/or
infiltration and diluted wastewater (low column) represents high water consumption and/or
infiltration.
Parameter High Medium Low
COD Total 1200 750 500
COD Soluble 480 300 200
COD Suspended 720 450 300
BOD 560 350 230
VFA (as acetate) 80 30 10
N Total 100 60 30
Ammonia-N 75 45 20
P Total 25 15 6
Ortho-P 15 10 4
TSS 600 400 250
VSS 480 320 200
Table 3: Typical composition of raw municipal wastewater with minor contributions of industrial wastewater
(Comeau & Henze 2008)
The concentration of substances in wastewater varies with time, in many cases, daily
variations are observed. For example, the amount of ammonia present in wastewater can vary
diurnally (Comeau & Henze 2008).
2.3 Ammonia:
Ammonia is a widely used hazardous chemical with many potential applications in
agriculture, industry and commercial products, including various household cleaning
products (Bronstein et al 2005, p. 534-544). Ammonium hydroxide is the ‘primary active
agent for cleaning and disinfecting surfaces in various cleaning products (from domestic to
industrial uses)’ (Bronstein et all 2005, p. 534-544).
11. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
The amount of ammonia manufactured every year by humans is almost equal to the amount
produced by nature every year, however it is most likely due to human production (directly or
indirectly) that ammonia can be found at levels that can cause environmental concern
(ATSDR 2002).
Ammonia is very soluble in water (34% at 20o
C) (EPA 1989) and its presence in water or
wastewater is mainly determined using one of the standard methods for water examination,
such as: colorimetry, titrimetry or an ammonia-selective electrode (Franson et al 1981).
When ammonia is introduced into aquatic systems, the water reacts with ammonia to form
ammonium and hydroxide ions:
NH3(aq) + H20(l) NH3-H20(aq) NH4+(aq) + OH-(aq) (MDA n.d.)
(Ammonia in water) (ammonia + water) (ammonium + hydroxide ions)
Ammonia is toxic to aquatic organisms, but ammonium is not, with there being equilibrium
between the ammonia and ammonium, with this equilibrium shifting back and forth
depending upon existing or introduced environmental changes, such as wastewater release,
water temperature and pH (MDA n.d.).
At a pH of 6, the ratio of ammonia to ammonium is approx. 1:3000, but as the pH rises, this
ratio decreases, for example at a pH of 8, the ratio lowers to 1:30, with it also being found
that more toxic ammonia is found in warmer water as well (Charlton et al. 2003, p 527-548).
Temp (o
C) pH
6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5 9.0 9.5
0 0.008 0.026 0.082 0.261 0.820 3.80 7.64 20.7
5 0.012 0.039 0.125 0.394 1.23 5.56 11.1 28.3
10 0.018 0.058 0.186 0.586 1.83 7.97 15.7 37.1
15 0.027 0.086 0.273 0.859 2.67 8.55 21.5 46.4
20 0.039 0.125 0.396 1.24 3.82 11.2 28.4 55.7
25 0.056 0.180 0.566 1.77 5.38 15.3 36.3 64.3
30 0.080 0.254 0.799 2.48 7.46 20.3 44.6 71.8
Table 4: Percentage of total ammonia present as NH3 in aqueous ammonia solutions (Charlton et al. 2003, p 527-
548)
The presence of ammonia at higher than expected levels can be an important indicator of
faecal pollution it water. Taste and odour problems as well as decreased disinfection
efficiency are also expected if drinking water ‘containing more than 0.2mg/L of ammonia is
chlorinated, as up to 68% of the chlorine may react with the ammonia present and become
unavailable for disinfection’ (WHO 1996).
It has also been found that elevated ammonia levels in raw water can interfere with the
operation of manganese-removal filters because too much oxygen is consumed by
nitrification, resulting in moldy, earthy-tasting water (WHO 1996).
It has been found that for untreated sewerage from domestic sources, total nitrogen
concentrations ‘range from 20 to 85 mg/L, with 12 to 50 mg/L of this is present as ammonia,
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with the remaining fraction being present as organic nitrogen, which is readily broken down
to ammonia and simple amines early in the sewerage treatment process’ (Bell et al. 1998, p.
749-754).
Figure 1: Source and Activities that can lead to high ammonia concentration (EPA 2010)
There is a large number of human activities and associated sources that can contribute to high
ammonia concentrations in aquatic systems, which can lead to the lethal and sub-lethal
effects on aquatic organisms that were mentioned above (EPA 2010).
2.4 Environmental Effects of Ammonia:
There are two conditions under which high ammonia concentrations are present in water
bodies:
‘The discharge of wastewater rich in ammonia (from things such as: water treatment
plants, production of urea, application of animal waste as fertilizer’ (EPA 1989)
Reducing conditions, when nitrate and nitrite can be reduced to ammonia
13. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
Discharges from municipal wastewater treatment plants often contain variable concentrations
of ammonia, with many terrestrial plants and aquatic organisms being at high risk from
wastewater treatment plant discharges (Bell et al. 1998, p. 749-754). Due to environmental,
health and aesthetic concerns, in 2004 the National Health and Medical Research Council
(NHMRC) and the National Resource Management Council (NRMMC) established a
‘maximum concentration of 0.5 mg/L for ammonia in drinking water for acceptable water
quality’ (NPI, n.d.).
One of the main concerns of excess ammonia in wastewater is that it can lead to
eutrophication, which is where an oversupply of nutrients present in water can induce an
explosive growth of aquatic algae and plant life. Typically, eutrophication in water bodies is
‘caused by the autotrophy algae blooming in the water, which composes its bioplasm by
sunlight energy and inorganic substances through photosynthesis’ (He et al 2008).
This has become a pressing issue in the last 30-40 years, with the prevalence of the use of
synthetic nitrogen fertilizers (Howarth & Marino 2006), which are made from ammonia
produced by the Haber-Bosch process.
Figure 2: Increased synthetic fertilizer has led to an increase in coastal eutrophication [0440}
This is an issue, as it can lead to a reduction in sunlight present for other, lower dwelling,
aquatic flora and fauna, as well as depleting dissolved oxygen concentrations (especially
when this extra plant growth starts dying off), with it being found that there is a decrease in
the quality of the fish habitat with dissolved oxygen concentrations drop below 4-5 mg/L
(Ellis 2004).
Due to this excessive algal bloom growth, the waters may become hypoxic (oxygen poor) or
anoxic (completely oxygen depleted), as well as also triggering toxic algae bloom growth,
such as red tides, brown tides and the growth of microorganisms such as Pfiesteria (single
celled organisms that can release toxins in water, leading to fish injury or possibly death)
(NOAA 2008).
Concentration of ammonia that are toxic to aquatic organisms are usually expressed as un-
ionised ammonia (NH3), as NH3 has been demonstrated to be the principal toxic form of
ammonia in the environment, with few exceptions [7]. It has been reported ‘toxic to
freshwater organisms at concentrations ranging from 0.53 to 22.8 mg/L’, with it being found
14. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
that plants are more tolerant to ammonia than animals and invertebrates being more tolerant
than fish (Oram, B, 2014).
As to be expected, fish are most at risk from aquatic NH3, with different species of fish being
able to tolerate different levels of ammonia. However, ammonia toxicity is thought to be one
of the main causes of unexplained losses in fish hatcheries as well as changes in the growth
rates and structural development of fishes, such as changes to gill tissue (hyperplasia), liver
and kidneys (Oram, B, 2014).
Also, fish may suffer a loss of equilibrium, hyperexcitability, increased respiratory activity
and oxygen uptake, and increased heart rate. At extreme ammonia levels, fish may experience
convulsions, coma, and death. Experiments have shown that the lethal concentration for a
variety of fish species ranges from 0.2 to 2.0 mg/l (Oram, B, 2014). At higher levels (>0.1
mg/liter NH3) even relatively short exposures can lead to skin, eye, and gills damage.
Experiments have shown that exposure to un-ionized ammonia concentrations as low as
0.002 mg/l for six weeks causes hyperplasia of gill lining in salmon fingerlings and may lead
to bacterial gill disease (Oram, B, 2014).
Excess nutrients can also degrade the aesthetics of recreational water and can lead to the
increase the incidence of harmful algae blooms, which may endanger human health through
the production of toxins that can contaminate recreational and drinking water resources (EPA
2015), with it also being found the nutrient imbalance in water sources can be the cause of an
increase in toxic production (EPA 2015).
2.5 Tourism
While the amount of water used by tourism globally may seem irrelevant compared to other
industries, such as agriculture, which consumes approximately 70% of global water usage
consumption, tourism is often a ‘major user of fresh water in areas where water can be scarce,
possibly making its contribution to water consumption regionally or even nationally
significant’ (Gössling 2013).
Figure 3: Water use per tourist per day by category (Ceron et al 2012)
One of the basis of tourism is provided tourists with the comforts they would expect, such as
clean drinking water, which is not an issue in Redland Bay. In a country like Australia, with a
long term national drought ending recently (Howden 2012), water scarcity can be of
particular concern with the tendency of tourists to consume more water on holidays than at
home (UNEP n.d.).
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There are a lot of ways tourism can directly and indirectly lead to a large increase in general
water usage, with the main way being accommodation, not just for the tourists themselves,
but for the staff involved in tourist accommodation. As well as this, other things that
contribute to water use are the activities the tourists undertake, the construction of the
infrastructure in use (as the use and construction of buildings being considered responsible
for 17% of water consumption worldwide (Cladera et al 2010)), fuel use and food production,
preparation and consumption [0380].
However, tourism can affect water quality due to the wastewater produced, not just the extra
amount produced via tourism, but also the nutrients as well as potentially other pollutants
contained within, such as chlorinated pool water or chemicals used to dissolve fats and oils
during cleaning and cooking (IPCS n.d.) which are found in higher quantities in wastewater
than during less active tourism periods.
2.6 Nitrogen Cycle
Figure 4: Generalised representation of the nitrogen cycle (EPA 1977)
As mentioned earlier, ammonia is released into the environment from ammonia production
facilities via industrial gaseous emissions and aqueous waste streams (wastewater). Ammonia
in water exists in equilibrium between two forms: Ammonia (NH3) and Ammonium (NH4+),
mostly as a result of the nitrogen cycle (Figure - ):
NH4+ + H20 NH3 + H30+
Due to this, the fate of ammonia in the environment should be considered in the context theat
ammonia is one of the central components in the environmental cycling of nitrogen (EPA
16. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
1989). Due to this, any additional ammonia being added into the environment is being added
to a system already adapted to the presence of ammonia and would therefore by subject to the
same processes as naturally occuring ammonia (EPA 1989).
Some of the major processes in the nitrogen cycle that involve ammonia include the
following (EPA 1977):
Mineralisation:
RNH2 + O2 CO2 + H2O + NH4
+
(Organic Nitrogen) (Oxygen) (Carbon Dioxide) (water) (Ammonia ion)
Nitrification:
NH4
+
+ O2 H2O + NO2
-
(Ammonium) (Oxygen) (Ammonium Ion) (Carbon Dioxide)
Nitrification is a process that is used in Biological Nutrient Removal to convert ammonia-
nitrogen to nitrite-nitrogen, via the Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria.
Nitrogen Fixation:
N2 + [HCHO] NH4
+
+ CO2
(Nitrogen Gas) (Organic Matter) (Ammonium Ion) (Carbon Dioxide)
Nitrogen Fixation is where gaseous nitrogen is transformed to the ammonium ion, generally
by metabolic process, often in blue-green algae and certain types of microorganisms, such as
aerobic organisms such as Azotobacter, anaerobic organisms such as Clostridium and
organisms in symbiotic association with plants, such as Rhizobium (EPA 1977).
Nitrogen is usually present in soil in its organic form, with it needs to be mineralised by
microbial process before being absorbed by plants. The formation of the ammonium ion is
the first step in the minerlisation process, as ammonia is an important intermediate in the
assimilation of nitrogen by plants. With most plants being able to assimilate the ammonium
ion, or it may be oxidsed into the nitrate ion, the most common form of minerlaised nitrogen
in the soil, which may be assimilated by plants as well (EPA 1977).
2.7 Human/Mammal Toxicity
The average daily estimated ammonia intake through food and drinking water is 18 mg and
less than 1mg daily via inhalation (WHO 1996). The ammonia that is absorbed from the
intestinal tract primarily is from the bacterial degradation of amino and nucleic acids from
thing such as ingested food and water or hydrolysis of urea diffusing from the circulation into
the intestinal tract. Almost all of the ammonia formed by this process is absorbed, with the
absorbed ammonia mainly being catabolized rapidly in the liver to urea’ (INRS 2007)/
Ammonia will only have a toxic effect only if the ammonia intake exceeds the capacity of a
person/animal to detoxify ammonia. With there being some evidence that the mode of
ammonia intake can also be a factor in the capacity of individuals to detoxify ammonia.
(INRS 2007).
However, this is not to imply that ammonia is harmless, normal blood ammonia
concentration is approximately < 50 umol/L, with an increase to only 100 umol/L can leads
17. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
to a loss of consciousness and an increase to 200 umol/L being associated with coma and
convulsions in humans (UCL n.d.).
2.7.1 Acute Exposure
The oral LD50 (median lethal dose) for ammonium salts are in the range of 350-750 mg/kg
(INRS 2007). It has also been found that single doses of different ammonium salts at a rate of
approximately 200 – 500 mg/kg of body weight can result in issues such as lung oedemas,
nervous system dysfunction, acidosis and kidney damage (WHO 1996).
2.7.2 Short-term exposure
Being exposed subchronically (90 days of exposure) to ammonium salts (75 – 360 mg/kg of
body weight) via drinking water exhibited physiological adaption to induced acidosis, slight
organ effects or increased blood pressure (WHO 1996).
2.7.3 Long-term exposure
It has been found that chronic exposure to 28 mg/m^3 (40 ppm) ammonia vapor has resulted
in headaches, nausea and reduced appetite (Blanc et al, 1984). With other reported effects to
exposure to ammonia vapor being convulsion, shock, gastritis, utrcaria, leukocytosis and
inflammatory bronchoconstriction (EPA 1989).
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3. Project Methodology:
This section discusses the methods used in this report, including the substantiation and justification of
techniques that were used to ensure the quality of project outcomes.
3.1. Project Discovery:
The main objective of this phase was to gather relevant information for the report by undertaking an
in depth assessment of literature to offer a complete background on the many facets of the project and
to be the foundation for the projects development. The basis of the literature obtained was mostly to
do with wastewater and the effects certain aspects of wastewater could have on a variety of aspects
(environmental, human health, tourism) and were obtained from a wide range of reputable sources.
The key issues assess during this literature review were wastewater properties, included expected
nutrient levels, the properties of ammonia, effects of excess ammonia, tourism impacts on water use
habits and reasons why there could be excess ammonia. These literature source gathered were referred
to repeatedly during the report and referenced accordingly.
3.2. Project Development:
In developing this project, the data gathered earlier from the literature review, as well as other later
sources, such as the Redland Water database, as the Redland City Council keeps detailed records of
the sites they own (which includes Wastewater Treatment Plants), which enabled it to be possible to
gather to necessary information on the excess ammonia situation and enabled it to be visualized.
The Literature Review stage details the information explored during the projects discovery stage.
The literature review starts by narrowing in on the information needed to give background on
ammonia and the effects it can have on wastewater, which is one of the fundamental questions
about this report. This section of the report is to show that the author has an understanding about
the basis of the issue this report is about.
The Purpose and Scope stage identifies the reason and need for Redland Water to undertaken any
research into the issue of excess ammonia. With it also taking into account what will be reviewed
through the research report as well as mentioning what would be considered measures to show that
the project was successful.
Literature Review
Purpose and Scope
Current Situation
Potential Reasons
Options Assessment
Preferred Option
Conclusions
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The Current Situation stage is to give an overview of the current situation of the area that the Point
Lookout Wastewater Treatment Plant is in operation for. First it identifies and gives background
information the catchment in which the Point Lookout Wastewater Treatment services, before going
into detail about the processes the upgraded plant will have at its disposal. After this, the levels of
ammonia in the wastewater during both peak and non-peak tourism periods are discussed.
The Potential Reasons stage is to give a list of potential reasons why excess ammonia is occurring
and goes into detail about how these reasons could cause the issue at hand.
The Options Assessment stage is to create a list of four complete options so that they can be
assessed. Each option discussed will have vastly different processes in achieving their ends, so a
mutli-criteria analysis and SWOT table will be some of the tools used to rank their performance
against each other.
A multi-criteria analysis is used to make a comparative assessment between each option, the
difficulty in implementing it and the impact each option will have. A SWOT table has two parts to it,
the internals and externals of each options. The Strengths and Weaknesses refers to the internals of
each option, such as the options efficiency. The Opportunities and Threats refer to the externals of
each option, such as the environmental issues and implementation and uptake issues the each
option may have. This section also details of implications and associated risks that implementing
each option could have. As well as this, there will be a risk and environmental assessment
undertaken for each option.
Once all analysis and comparisons on each option has been completed, a preferred option will be
chosen, taking into consideration a wide range of factors.
3.3. Project Results:
Each of the procedures used throughout the project discovery and development stage assisted in
assessing the feasibility of implementing the recommendations of the project. The option chosen
was identified as the most sustainable and feasible to implement, through a mix of economic,
environmental and practicality analysis. After the option was chosen, recommendations of the
option selected were made to Redland Water and, by extension, Redland City Council.
3.4. Verification and Validation:
This research project was developed to the high level of standards expected by Griffith University,
with the help of the academic and industry supervisors available. These supervisors assessed the
project to ensure that it was of high quality and the project milestones were consistently met to
ensure the project was completed by the due date. The integrity of the research project was upheld
by ensuring the use of reputable sources, such as journals and textbooks. Each of the deliverables of
the report were created to a high standard and reviewed by both academic and industry supervisor.
3.5. Summary:
Methods used to produce this project include literature, data from Redland Water and contact with
other professional both within and outside of Redland Water. To ensure its quality, the information
acquired was verified as being gathered from a range of reputable source and professionals. The
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project was consistently reviewed by the academic and industry supervisor as well as the student to
ensure the report was of the highest quality.
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4. Purpose and Scope:
The purpose of the project is to determine potential reasons as to why the ammonia levels during
peak tourism times in Redland Bay exceeded expected levels and to come up with possible ways to
reduce this excess ammonia present.
The scope of the work is as follows:
Review the current situation of Redland Bay
Gather relevant literature for the project
Review potential reasons why excessive ammonia is occurring
Review possible methods to reduce the excessive ammonia present
Review how it is possible to put these methods into effect
The measures for success of the project are:
Completion of research report on time
The potential ammonia methods are put into effect and are successful
Full compliance with general water quality standards
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5. Current Situation:
This chapter is about the current wastewater situation in Redland Bay. It gives an in-depth
look at the treatment processes going to be used at the new Point Lookout Wastewater
Treatment plants as well the ammonia levels in the wastewater in Redland Bay during both
tourism and non-tourism periods.
5.1 Current Wastewater System:
Redland Water provides water and wastewater treatment services to the whole area governed
by Redland City Council, which covers an area of approximately 537 km2 and has a
population of around 147, 500 people. Redland Water provides water mostly from SEQWater
and delivers it to Redland City residents through four water supply schemes:
Redland City and Southern Moreton Islands Supply Scheme
Dunwich Supply Scheme
Amity Point Supply Scheme
Point Lookout Supply Scheme
Redland Water does this while ensuring that the water meets the Australian Drinking Water
Guidelines (ADWG) and manages the drinking water quality through an approved Drinking
Water Quality Management Plan (DWQMP).
Redland Water has to collects and treat the wastewater from the Redland City Area, which
includes several catchments:
Tattadarrapin Creek Catchment
Hilliards Creek Catchment
Cleveland and Thornlands Catchment
Eprapah Creek Catchment
South Eastern Creeks Catchment
Southern Creeks Catchment
Upper Tingalpa Creek Catchment
Lower Tinglapa Creek Catchment
Coochiemudlo and Souther Moreton Bay Island Catchment
North Stradbroke Island
The Point Lookout Wastewater Treatment Plant is located in the North Stradbroke Island
catchment and is one of two wastewater treatment plants in the catchment (Dunwich
wastewater treatment plant).
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North Stradbroke Island Catchment
Area 27,190 hectares
Current Population 5,932
Expected Population Growth (by 2031) 44%
Expected Future Population (2031) 8,548
Table 5: North Stradbroke Island Catchment Facts (RCC n.d.)
The North Stradbroke Island catchment is dominated by conservation areas (with over 50%
being national parks), with several large mining tenements and small areas of residential area
around Amity Point, Dunwich and Point Lookout.
Figure 5: Map of existing land use on North Stradbroke Island (RCC n.d.)
The wastewater in the catchment is treated at the Dunwich and Point Lookout Treatment
Plants, with the residential area in Amity Point and approximately half the urban areas in
Dunwich and Amity Point Lookout are unsewered, with effluent treated by septic/on-site
wastewater treatment systems (RCC n.d.).
Within the Redlands region as a whole, there exists a number of environmentally sensitive
receiving waters, including waterways of High Ecological Value (HEV) and wetlands of state
and regional significance. In the North Stradbroke Island catchment, the Environmentally
Sensitive Receiving Waters are the Eastern and Southern Moreton Bay areas, Brown Lake,
18 Mile Swamps and Myora Springs. With the Little Canalpin Creek waterway also being a
24. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
habitat for the endangered Oxleyan pygmy peach (RCC n.d.). Due to all of these areas
located in and around the North Stradbroke Island, mainitaining wastewater (both influent
and effluent) quality is of paramount importance.
Currently, the Wastewater Treatment Plant effluent flows to groundwater are similar to the
effluent flows for the septic systems, with the proportion of the pollutant loads from
Wastewater Treatment Plants being significantly less than the septic systems however. Due to
expected future population pressures, it is seen as likely that effluent discharges from
Wastewater Treatment Plants will dramatically increase to constitute around 80% of the total
flow and 40-50% of total effluent flows (RCC n.d.).
Tourism in the Redland City region is a major and growing industry in recent years, with it
contributing around $50 million to the regional economy and is estimated to support over 750
jobs (RCC 2009).
5.2. Current Wastewater Treatment Regimen:
As mentioned earlier in the report, the wastewater treatment plan at Point Lookout is
currently being upgraded, with it being scheduled to be completed by early 2017, in the
location of the original plant.
Figure 6: Point Lookout wastewater plant location (RCC 2015)
This upgrade is due to the original plant being in operation for over 30 years, with this
upgrade taking advantage of current, state of the art technology, with specialized odour
control being implemented to minimize odour nuisance for the nearby residents (RCC 2015).
This upgraded plant will have the capacity for the sewerage network to be expanded to
include and handle the expected population growth of Point Lookout, with it also being able
to respond to the seasonal fluctuations in the area’s water consumption, with the capacity to
process around 1600 kL of wastewater per day, compared to a demand on currently 700 kL of
water per day during peak tourism periods (RCC 2015).
25. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
The upgraded Point Lookout Wastewater Treatment Plant will use Membrane Bioreactor
(MBR) technology and has the following processes to ensure that the wastewater treated is up
to acceptable standards: Screening, Biological Nutrient Removal (Nitrification/Denitrification
and Biological and Chemical Phosphorus Removal), membrane treatment and disinfection
(RCC 2015).
Figure 7: Schematic of an external (sidestream) membrane bioreactor (‘Membrane Bioreactor’ n.d.)
A benefit of using MBR technology is that secondary clarifiers and tertiary filtration
processes are eliminated, which reduces the plant footprint, as well as having higher effluent
quality and loading rate capability (Spuhler & Stauffer 2011).
The first step in wastewater treatment is always to remove larger non-biodegradable from the
wastewater, such as paper, plastics, feminine hygiene products, needles, condoms, etc. This is
due to the fact that these objects cannot be bio-remediated and to protect the downstream
plant and equipment from and damage and wear that these objects could potentially cause.
Due to the use of MBR technology, the Point Lookout Wastewater Treatment Plant would
use fine screens; typically have openings of 3 to 10mm. The vast majority of plants would
have a secondary screening system in place, as the screens need to be cleaned semi-regularly,
with the wastewater treatment plant running consistently, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
After the screening process, the next step in the Point Lookout Wastewater Treatment Plant is
Biological Nutrient Removal. Generally the Biological Nutrient Removal is a two stage
process, with the wastewater being passed through a bioreactor and then a clarifier. However,
the BNR process that is being used at the Point Lookout Wastewater Treatment Plant does
not use a clarifier, instead just using a membrane filter instead. The main reason this process
is used is to remove both nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater, to prevent the
environmental issues that these compounds can cause in the environment, such as
eutrophication. As the effluent is pumped into the bioreactor, it is disturbed to create aeration
as it flows through the bioreactor, which is made up of different zones: anaerobic, anoxia and
oxygen-rich zones.
26. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
Figure 8: Generic BNR Process [0310]
Note: The Point Lookout Wastewater Treatment Plant does not have a clarifier after the oxygen-rich
zone.
The anaerobic zone is where the water contains low amounts of oxygen and is where the
nitrification process occurs, the anoxic zone is where the water is even more oxygen depleted
(> 0.5 mg/L) and where denitrification occurs. Finally, the oxygen-rich zone is where
phosphorus removal occurs.
In removing nitrogen from the wastewater (nitrification), chemical reactions brought about by
certain species of authtrophoic microorganisms occur, which facilitate this removal.
Autotrophic microorganisms are organisms that use inorganic materials as a source of
nutrients and photosynthesis or chemosynthesis as a source of energy (Water Environment
Federation 2007).
The first step in the nitrification process is oxidizing ammonia-nitrogen to nitrite-nitrogen
via the Nitrosomonas bacteria, before this nitrite-nitrogen is then oxidized to nitrate-nitrogen
by the Nitrobacter bacteria (Water Environment Federation 2007).
Nitrosomona reaction: 2NH4
+
-N + 3O2 2NO2
-
2H2O + 4H+
Nitrobacter reaction: 2NO2
-
+ O2 2NO3
-
-N
Total reaction: NH4
+
-N + 2O2 NO3
-
-N + 2H+
+ H2O (Water Environment Federation 2007)
Effective nitrification depending on the bioreactor having sufficient oxygen and alkalinity (to
maintaing suitable pH), as the Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria require around 4.74mg
27. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
of oxygen and 7.14mg of alkalinity (as calcium carbonate) for each mg of nitrate-nitrogen
formed and yields around 0.06 to 0.20mg of VSS (Volatiel Suspended Solids) for each mg of
nitrate-nitrogen formed (Water Environment Federation 2007).
Figure 9: Key Factors that affect nitrification (Water Environment Federation 2007)
Nitrification is typically a complete reaction, with the result being predominately nitrate, with
this nitrate then being removed from the water with the denitrification process.
The denitrification process is where bacteria reduces the nitrate, produced by the nitirifcation
process, to nitrogen gas, which is then released into the atmosphere as it is not water-soluble.
Denitrication is done by heterotrophic microorganisms, organisms that use organic materials
as a source of nutrients and metabolic synthesis as a source of energy (Water Environment
Federation 2007). A wide variety of heterotrophic bacteria can denitrify wastewater, with
these denitrifiers being able to function in both oxic and anoxic environments, preferring to
use molecular oxygen, but can live in environments containing less than 0.3 to 0.5 mg/L of
dissolved oxygen, as they will gain oxygen from nitrate-nitrogen molecules to synthesize
carbon compounds (eg. BOD), with the byproduct of this reaction being nitrogen gas (Water
Environment Federation 2007).
Denitrification reaction: NO3
-
-N + carbon source + facultative heterotrophic bacteria
= N2 + CO2 +H20 + OH-
+ new bacterial cells (Water
Environment Federation 2007)
The final step in the BNR process is the removal of phosphorus, which can be removed via
either chemical or biological means, but the Membrame Bioreactor uses a combination of
both to ensure adequate removal. In the case of the Point Lookout Treatment Plant, the
biological removal process is undertaken first, as it removes the vast majority of the
phosphorus present, followed by the chemical removal process to remove the remaining
phosphorus from the water.
28. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
Removal of phosphorus biologically is where the phosphorus present in wastewater is
incorporated into the cell biomass of micoorganisms in the water, which are these
subsequently removed via sludge wasting (Lenntech n.d.). These mircoorganisms are
generally known a Phosphorus Accumulating Organisms and are likely known to comprise a
variety of bacterial subpopulations including Acinetobacter, Phodocyclus and other
morphologically identifies coccus-shaped bacteria with a diameter of around 1.2 um (MPCA
2002), with these mircoorganisms being encouraged to grow in the anaerobic zone of the
BNR process, as the configuration of the reactor giving PAOs with a competitive advantage
over other bacteria (Lenntech n.d.).
The primary factor to obtain biological phosphorus removal an activated sludge system is the
recirculation of sludge through an anaerobic and aerobic zone (as Figure – shows). In the
anaerobic zone, P-removing bacteria take up lower fatty acids, main acetate (HAc), into the
cell and store this as polyhydroxy-alkanoates (PHA, for this instance being PHB
(polyhydroxybutyrate)) (Heijen et al 1994).
Uptake of acetic acetic and conversion to PHB: CH2O + (1/2 + α1)ATP + 1/4NADH
CH1.5 O0.5 + 1/2H20
The energy for this transport and storage reaction to occur is thought to be supplied by the
hydrolysis of the intracellular polyphosphate (polyP) to phosphate, which is released from the
cell into the water (Heijen et al 1994)
After this, in the aerobic zone, PHB is used to generate energy for growth and for polyp
synthesis, which results in the intake of phosphorus. The concentrations of the phosphates
and PHBs in the water decreases dramatically in the aerobic zone due to this process (as seen
in Figure -). The uptake and storage of acetate and the degradation of polyP are inversely
related to each other due to metabolic restraints, with the ration between phosphate release
and acetate uptake usually being consistent, with ATP being produced from this degradation
of polyP (Heijen et al 1994).
Production of ATP from degradation of polyp: HPO3 + H20 α2ATP + H3PO4
Due to the consumption of lower fatty acids in the anaerobic zone, the polyP organisms
accumulate in the sludge, allowing phosphorus to be removed by the sludge when it is
collected (Heijen et al 1994).
29. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
Figure 10: changes in concentration during the biological phosphorus removal process (Heijen et al 1994)
With the capacity for these mircoorganisms to absorb phosphorus depending on the type of
ability to store approximately 1.5 to 2.0% phosphorus and Enchanced biological phosphorus
removal having the ability to store phosphorus from 5 to 30% (both on a dry weight basis)
(MPCA 2002).
Chemical removal of phosphorus from wastewater is achieved by the addition of chemicals to
wastewater, with Alum (Alumninium Sulphate) being considered the best precipitant,
followed by iron (III), iron (II) and calcium. This achieves phosphorus removal when added
to wastewater by precipitating the phosphorus in the water for easy removal (Lester et al
1988). When Alum is added to wastewater, the following reaction occurs:
AL2(SO4)3-12H2O + 2PO4
3-
2AlPO4 + 3SO4
2-
+ 14H2O (Lester et al 1988)
The dosage of alum needed depends upon the concentration of the soluble phosphate and
colloidal particles present, first reacting with the phosphate and then only destabilizing the
organic colloidal material after most of the phosphate is precipitated (Nmegbu & Spiff 2014).
It is found for alum, the optimum pH range is 5 to 7, as the solubility of the precipitates
depends vary with pH (MPCA 2002). As well as this, there are many other factors that cann
influence phosphorus removal efficiency, such as Total organic carbon, flow rate, hydraulic
loading, frequency of dose adjustment, etc (Lester et al 1988).
As stated previous, the required chemical dose is related to the liquid phosphorus
concentration. For target concentrations above 2 mg/L (appropriate for chemical addition to a
primary clarifier), a dose of 1.0 mole of aluminum per mole of phosphorus is usually found to
be sufficient (MPCA 2002). As to be expected, for lower concentrations of phosphorus (such
as 0.3 to 1.0 mg/L), the dose necessary for removal can be in the range of 1.2 to 4.0 moles of
aluminum (MPCA 2002).
The final step in the Point Lookout Wastewater Treatment Plant would usually be membrane
filtration. Membranes have been used in water and wastewater applications since the 1960’s,
but were deemed to be too expensive for widespread use, however, due to issues such as
more stringent treatment regulations, the need for higher quality processes become a priority
(WWI, n.d.).
Membrane filtration is one of two categories of membrane processes used in wastewater
treatment (the other category included Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration). Membrane
Filtration is where the wastewater is forced through a micro-porous separating later,
30. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
providing a barrier to the finest particles present in the wastewater, but allowing dissolved
components to pass through (WWI, n.d.).
There are two types of membrane filtration technology, ultrafiltration (UF) and
microfiltration (MF), with ultrafiltration having pores of 0.01 to 0.02 um and microfiltration
having a pore size of 0.04 to 0.10 um (WWI, n.d.). The separation spectrum illustrated in
Figure – shows the particle sizes that different filtration technologies are designed to address.
Figure 11: Membrane Filtration spectrum for Water and Wastewater Treatment (WWI, n.d.)
Microfiltration is used to remove common particles found in water, which includes bacteria
and other microbial organisms, with Ultrafiltration being able to do this as well as removing
viruses from the wastewater, providing a physical disinfection barrier.
While the BNR and Membrane filtration process would most likely treat the wastewater to an
acceptable standard for environmental release, the Point Lookout Wastewater Treatment
Plant will also have the ability to chlorinate the wastewater if it doesn’t meet the required
standards.
Chlorine is used to disinfect wastewater in either its gaseous (Cl2) or as hypochlorite salts,
with the chlorine (no matter what form) reacting with water to produce hypochlorous acid
(HOCl) and hydrochloric acid (HCl), with the HOCl then rapidly dissociates to form the
hypochlorite ion:
When Chlorine is added to water: Cl2 + H2O HOCl + HCl
HOCl dissociation: HOCl OCl- + H+
31. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
Chlorine causes disinfection as it is a strong oxidizing agent, with it killing pathogens via the
oxidation of organic molecules. Chlorine and its products when dissolved in water are
neutrally charged, making it possible to easily penetrate the negatively charged surface of
pathogens, oxidizing the cell walls, leading to cell lysis or inactivation of functional sites of
the cell surface. This ends up making the microorganisms non-functional, meaning that the
microorganisms affected wither die or find themselves no longer able to multiply.
After the wastewater has been treated with the mentioned processes, the now purified water
will be pumped into the existing environmentally-friendly disposal system, where the effluent
is slowly filtered into the sand of North Stradbroke Island to a depth of around 80m. The
upgraded treatment plant will end up eliminating the need for raw sewerage balance ponds,
ensuring that the effluent being released into the environment is of high quality than
previously.
32. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
5.3. Current Raw Wastewater Statistics:
Redland Water has comprehensive records of the wastewater that it treats, with this
information including the amount of raw wastewater that the wastewater treatment plants
need to treat and the nutrient levels of this raw wastewater.
Due to the influx of tourists that the Redland City area needs to deal with during holidays
periods and the amount of environmental sensitive areas present, making sure that there is no
unexpected amounts of wastewater nutrients that may have an environmental and aesthetic
effect of the water bodies is of paramount importance. One of the areas of concern as of late
is the ammonia levels present in raw wastewater, as readings have been showing that the
ammonia levels during peak tourism periods are higher than is to be expected due to the
population increase during these times.
In the year ending December 2009, the Redland region received a total of 159,250 domestic
and 6,951 international visitors, with these visitors generally staying for approximately 3.9
nights in the various types of accommodation present in this region (RCC 2009).
Figure 12: Redland Visitor Numbers, 2002 – 2009 (Tourism Research Australia 2010)
The Australian public often has its holiday periods around the nation public holidays of New
Year’s Day, Australia, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas and Boxing Day or the
school holidays, with holidays often being taken for more extended periods of time around
these dates.
The following two graphs visualize the large discrepancy between both the ammonia and
TKN (Total Kjedahl Nitrogen, which is the total concentration of organic nitrogen and
ammonia and is a required parameter for regulatory reporting at many wastewater treatment
plants) between the peak and non-peak tourism periods. While a discrepancy is expected due
to the population increase, it is higher than expected.
For the purpose of this report, the non-peak tourism period shown on the graphs was on the
24/08/2013 and the peak tourism period was on the 31/12/2013.
33. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
Figure 13: Peak Vs. Non-Peak ammonia levels
Figure 14: Peak Vs. Non-Peak TKN Levels.]
One the reasons there is a large fluctuation between both the ammonia and TKN levels during
the day and night is often because both chemicals often have diurnal pattern in wastewater
levels, most likely due to the excretion habits of a human population, as often urination is one
34. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
of the first things a resident of the area will do, with urine being one of the main sources of
ammonia released from the human body.
The following two graphs show how the levels of KDH and Ammonia in the raw wastewater
can change within a week during and after peak tourism times. While the total KDH levels
stay similar, the ammonia levels drop by an average of approximately 10 mg/L, which is a
significant drop in around a weeks’ time.
Figure 15: Total KDH, 31/12/2013 vs. 6/01/2014
Figure 16: Total Ammonia, 31/12/2013 vs. 6/01/2014
35. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
The reasons why this discrepancy occurs is currently under consideration, with the amount of
tourists the visit and what this influx of tourism entails is being seen as the main culprit, with
two of the main theories being mentioned and explored in the next section.
36. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
6. Potential Causes:
6.1. Cleaning Products:
The release of wastewater, from residential or certain commercial (hotels and resorts)
properties is a major source of contamination of the hydrologic cycle, with there being
numerous solutions being available, with varying degrees of success, to reduce the impact of
wastewater on the environment, both as influent and effluent. However, unlike commercial
operations, individual domestic households are more or less immune from restrictions on the
disposal of household products into the sewage system, with these products including things
such as household cleaning products (Patterson 1998). Due to this, the cumulative effect that
this could have on the quality of the wastewater is often ignored.
As stated earlier, Ammonia is a widely used hazardous chemical with many application in
many different areas, such as agriculture, industrial and commercially. The most likely source
for exposure to elevated levels of ammonia for the general population domestically is from
the use of household cleaners containing ammonia or ammonium salts (ATSDR 2002).
Ammonium hydroxide is the primary active agent in a large number of domestic-,
commercial- and industrial-strength cleaning products used for the cleaning and disinfecting
of nonporous surface, with its presence in these products being quite well-spread (Bronstein
et al 2005, p. 534-544). It has been found that ammonia is often us liberally for domestic
cleaning, which is the main non-toiler source of nitrogen and ammonia around domestic
properties, as ammonia figures prominently in many domestic cleaners.
The concentration of ammonia that is contained by different cleaning products varies, with
general concentrations shown below in Table -.
Product Stated Ammonia
Content
Dissolved ammonia and
percent wt/vol
Measured
pH
Floor and tile cleaner, full
strength
Up to 5% ammonia
per MSDS
28,700 mg/l, 2.9% 11.67
Name brand glass
cleaner, ready-to use
Not stated on current
MSDS
950 mg/l, 0.095% 10.86
Store brand glass cleaner,
ready-to-use
Not stated on current
MSDS
530 mg/l, 0.053% 10.88
Table 6: Measurement of dissolved ammonia content in tested cleaning products (Bronstein et al 2005, p.
534-544)
North Stradbroke Island has a wide variety of accommodation options for tourists, ranging
from numerous Resorts, Holiday rentals and camping grounds. North Stradbroke Island has 9
resorts, a large number of holiday rental properties from 6 realtors and 6 main beachfront
camping grounds (Stradbroke Island, n.d.). During peak tourism periods, where North
37. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
Stradbroke Island is full to capacity, a large amount of cleaning products would be used to
maintain the standard of cleanliness expected by tourists, with a large number of the cleaning
products used containing ammonia.
6.2. Alcohol Consumption:
Australia is one of the heaviest consumers of alcohol of the planet (disbarring the majority of
Eastern Europe), with it being recorded that the average Australian adult (15+) consumes
approximately 12.2 litres of pure alcohol per year (WHO 2011). With statistics showing that
86.2% of Australians aged 14 years or over have drunk alcohol at least one of more times in
their lives, with 37.3% of Australians aged 14 years of over consuming alcohol on a weekly
basis (Australian Drug Foundation 2016). The occurance of public holidays and holidays in
generally have also been noted as leading to an increase in intoxication, with a study funded
by VicHealth providing evidence that acute intoxication, injuried due to assault and traffic
accidents increase of public holidays and other major celebratory events (VicHealth 2012).
The consumption of alcohol can affect the human body in a myriad of ways, especially in the
brain. With it being studied that alcohol can have drastic effect on the hormonal (i.e.,
endocrine) system, having widespread consequences for virtually the entire human body
(Emanuele & Emanuele 1997). Alcohol consumption can affects body parts ranging from the
cerebral cortex, to the circulatory system and the digestive system.
The consumption of alcohol had been known to increase urinary nitrogen excretion, due to
both increasing the amount of urine released from the body, as well as affecting the release of
certain hormones in the human body. Alcohol can produce urine excretion in the human body
within 20 minutes of consumption and as a result of this urinary fluid loss, which can lead to
dehydration if excretion is excessive, the concentration of electrolytes in the blood increases
(Emanuele & Emanuele 1997). This is due to alcohol consumption affecting the pituitary
gland in the brain, inhibiting the secretion of Vasopressin (antidiuretic hormone (ADH)).
ADH’s main role in the human body is to regulate the body’s retention of water, with it being
released when the body is dehydrated and causes the kidneys to conserve water, therefore
causing the concentration of dissolved substances within urine and reducing urine volume
(Emanuele & Emanuele 1997).
However, when alcohol inhibits the release of ADH, segments of the kidney’s tubule system
become impermeable to water, therefore preventing water from being reabsorbed into the
body. When this occurs, the urine formed is dilute and the electrolyte concentration in the
blood simultaneously rises, with this usually being the trigger to activate secretion of ADH so
the fluid balance is restored, however the rising level of blood alcohol prevents this secretion
from occurring (Emanuele & Emanuele 1997).
Related to this is the chemical Urea (CO(NH2)2) is the main nitrogen-containing substance in
the urine of mammal and the cycling and excretion of urea by the kidneys is a vital part of
mammalian metabolism. This is vital as urea plays a role in the countercurrent exchange
exchange system of the nephrons, which allows for re-adsorption of water and critical ions
from the excreted urine due to the actions of the urea transporter 2 (what allows the
transportation of urea across the apical membrane into the luminal space of cells in the thin
descending loop of Henle of the kidneys (Fenton & Knepper 2007)), which allows some of
38. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
this reabsorbed urea to flow into the excreted urine. This mechanism, which is controlled by
ADH is what allows the body to release urine with a higher level of dissolved substance.
Some studies have shown that an excessive amount of alcohol consumption can lead to to an
increase in the urea content in urine, for example, a study undertaken by Reinus et al. (1989)
was undertaken where eight alcoholic patients were continuously fed by a nasogastric tube.
When the amount of ethanol was increased to 40 to 60% or the total daily calories, urinary
urea nitrogen release increased. As well as this, rat models (such as below) also show
changes in whole-body protein metabolism.
Control Ethanol % change P
Excretion
Total Nitrogen (mg/d) 137 ± 11 169 ± 12 + 23 < 0.05
Uric acid (umol/d) 5.3 ± 0.9 12.1 ± 1.4 + 128 < 0.01
Urea (mmol/d) 2.1 ± 0.2 3.4 ± 0.2 + 62 < 0.005
Creatinine (umol/d) 50 ± 3 46 ± 4 - 8 NS
Ethanol (umol/d) 106 ± 23 1320 ± 100 + 92 < 0.001
Alanine (umol/d) 9 ± 1 13 ± 3 + 44 < 0.025
Table 7: Urinary Excretion in the Chronically Treated Alcohol-Fed Rat (Preedy & Watson 2003)
Note: Data is from chronic ethanol-feeding studies in which young rats were fed a nutritionally complete liquid
diet containing either glucose (controls) or ethanol as 35% of total calories. Urine was collected after 6 weeks’
treatment.
As the above table shows, these changes include issues such as reduced rates of protein
accretion and increases in urinary nitrogen, urea and uric acid excretion. However, this
increased urea generation may arise as a consequence of a number of pathways in the body
being unregulated, such as flux of ammonia to hepatocytes, carbomyl-phosphate synthetase
or ornithine transcarbamoylase acitivites, amino acid (i.e., aspartate) availability and liver
blood flow (Preedy & Watson 2003).
The increase of urine production and urea content increase by the human body due to the
consumption of alcohol, in conjunction with the increase in population in the North
Stradbroke Island region during tourism periods and the fact that Australians are more likely
to consume larger amounts of alcohol during holidays, that alcohol consumption is being
considered as a potential reason for excessive increase in ammonia levels recorded by the
Point Lookout Wastewater Treatment Plant.
6.3: Excessive Wastewater Production
A point of contention that became noticeable during the analysis of the total ammonia and
TKN (Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen) levels in the water tested is that the difference in total
ammonia was more discernible than the difference in the TKN levels. This could potentially
show that the excessive amounts of ammonia that became of concern to Redland Water may
be a symptom of another problem.
As to be expected, during peak tourism periods, such as Christmas, far more people are
present at popular tourist destinations, such as North Stradbroke Island, and due to this, more
wastewater is being produced, which is to be completely expected. However, this excessive
39. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
wastewater can lead to a change in the environment of the wastewater before it hits the Point
Lookout Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The majority of the nitrogen (urea and fecal matter) contained in raw sewage is converted
from organic-nitrogen to ammonia (both NH3 and NH4
+
) as it travels through sewer pipes,
this process being known as Ammonification (Weaver n.d.). One of the most common
reactions that ammonification causes is the oxidation of urea, which is one of the main source
of nitrogen in sewage, with 2 units of ammonia being produced when one unit of urea is
oxidized.
Oxidation of Urea by Urease: (NH2)2CO + H2O CO2 + 2NH3 (Science Encyclopedia n.d.)
Ammonification is mostly and anaerobic process and since aquatic environment of sewage is
usually anaerobic, the majority of the influent nitrogen is ammonia by the time it reaches the
wastewater treatment plant (Weaver n.d.), as the overall mass of ammonium generated is
greater in anaerobic conditions (NCHRP Report 565 2006).
Due to this, the amount of ammonia produced due to this may explain the noticeable
discrepancy between the total TKN and total ammonia levels, as the more wastewater
produced during these periods would increase the amount of ammonification occurring in the
wastewater before it reached the Treatment Plant.
40. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
7. Options Assessment:
Now that the potential reasons have been identified and discussed, this section of the report
begins to outline the best option for each potential reason and then begin to analyze each
option in how they will satisfy both the purpose and the drivers of this report.
The options and the stages to them are more focused on changing the behaviors on several of
the groups potentially affected (tourists, cleaning companies and real estate
companies/hotel/tourist area owners).
7.1 Options
7.1.1. Change of Cleaning Products
Stage 1:
Ammonia is a main component in a large majority of domestic cleaning products; the first
step would be to determine which products have the highest levels of ammonia that can be
replaced
Stage 2:
From this, determine if there are any alternatives for any cleaning products that contain
ammonia and see if it is feasible to replace the original products with the alternatives (e.g:
financial, environmentally).
Stage 3:
Supply cleaning companies with a list of products that are to be discontinued from use, but
also mention alternatives to each banned products. Give the companies affected a timeline in
which this switch to alternative cleaning products is too occur, making the transition easier
for the cleaning companies.
7.1.2. Alcohol Consumption Reduction:
Stage 1:
Research and determine the typical diet (food, drink, alcohol) of a tourist to North Stradbroke
Island.
Stage 2:
Create a list of products that are to be limited during tourist periods, contact relevant
businesses to make them aware of this limitation
Stage 3:
Attempt to educate tourists of the limitations in place before tourist seasons start, giving them
time to be aware of the changes that have occurred.
Stage 4:
Ensure that the standards are being upheld across North Stradbroke Island.
41. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
7.1.3. Wastewater Reduction
Stage 1:
Determine which appliances/fixtures that use the most water (most likely will be toilets and
kitchen sinks) and come up with a list of alternative water-saving appliances/fixtures that can
replace them.
Stage 2:
Come up with a scheme to ensure that real estate companies/hotels/camping site owners are
encouraged to replace their existing appliances/fixtures with the water-saving ones, most
likely a financial subside scheme.
Stage 3:
Determine and acceptable timeline in which these changes need to be in place by, with their
being penalties in place if the replacements do not occur on time (e.g: financial penalties).
7.1.4. Maintain the Status Quo
No changes to the behaviors or technology used on North Stradbroke Island
7.2 Capacity to Satisfy Drivers and Purpose
The option determined should try to meet all the project drivers, listed in the table below.
Project Driver Fulfillment of Driver
Dealing with the excessive ammonia The proposed option will reduce the
excessive ammonia levels
Process in place that will work while the
population of North Stradbroke Island
increase
The proposed option will continue to work as
the population increases.
Prevent negative environmental effects The proposed option will majorly lessen the
chance of negative environmental effects
Does not cause negative economic or social
effects
The proposed option will not drastically
impact other aspects of North Stradbroke
Island
Does not dramatically affect any of the
stakeholders.
The proposed option does not dramatically
negatively affect a single stakeholder/s at the
expense of the other.
Table 8: Project Drivers
42. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
7.5 Risk Assessment:
For this report, all the risk assessment that was undertaken followed the 2007 Redland City
Council Risk Assessment Handbook (Redland Shire Council 2007), with this handbook
taking its principles from the Australian Standard AS/NZS 4360. This risk assessment will
identify the risk that Redland City Council should be aware of with the implementation of
each potential option.
Redland City Council has several Risk Categories in place for risk assessment:
People
Businesses processes and services
Economic and financial
Environmental natural hazards
Assets and property
Security
Technology date and knowledge
Commercial/legal liability
Socio-political
The complete risk assessment for each option are included in Appendix -, with the risk
profiles being shown in Figure – below.
Figure 17: Risk Assessment Totals
As can be seen above, the Risk Assessment profile for Option 2 (Change the consumption
habits of tourists) incur a far higher risk that Option 1 (Change of Cleaning Products) and
Option 3 (Wastewater Reduction). This is due to the fact that Option 2 is reliant on the
tourists visiting North Stradbroke Island to be aware and follow the restrictions that would be
in place, which leaves far more room for the standards to be breached, either by accident of
43. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
intentionally. With this being the main reason why Option 2’s risk assessment profile is far
higher.
The slight difference between Option 1 and Option 3 is due to the cost differential to put
these two options into place, with Option 3 being far financially intensive to put into place
that Option 1, even if it may seem to be the better option. Option 4 (Maintain the status quo)
is not represented as this option is seen as more or less unacceptable. While Option 2 should
not be strongly considered due to the risks mentioned earlier, both Option 1 and Option 3 are
acceptable based on risk.
44. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
7.6. SWOT Analysis
As could be expected, each of the potential options that are available have their own
individual Strengths and Weaknesses inherent to them.
One of the ways to determine these is through the use of SWOT analysis (Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats), which allows these four elements to be evaluated
side by side.
Option 1: Change of Cleaning Products
Helpful Harmful
Internal Origin Strengths Weaknesses
Companies will be
under guidelines to
follow standards
While be given time to
transition
Should not be too
expensive to continue
to follow guidelines
after a settling period
Enable companies to be
more environmental
friendly
Potential significant financial
outlay
Companies may have deals in
place with certain cleaning
product manufacturers
Places pressure on
council/government to enforce
guidelines
May affect the profits of
cleaning/real estate companies
Change in products may not be
enough vs growing population
External Origin Opportunities Threats
Easy transition to more
environmentally safe
cleaning products
Can be in a company’s
best interest to be
environmentally
friendly
Enables tourists to
continue their way of
life during holidays
Alternate products may not work
as well
Might not be able to maintain
cleaning standards
Companies may be hesitant to
enact change
Companies may just enact
changes to meet the bare
minimum
Could make it household
cleaning more intensive, raising
prices
Cost could be passed onto
tourists
Table 9: SWOT Analysis, Option 1
45. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
Option 2: Change in Tourists consumption habits
Helpful Harmful
Internal Origin Strengths Weaknesses
Council shows
commitment to do what
is necessary
Most likely the
cheapest option (in
total)
Difficult to enforce
Relies on tourists to follow
guidelines
Difficulty in holding
responsibility of breaches
Can be rather restrictive
Affects the whole island (food
that can be sold, etc.)
Affects one group of
stakeholders (tourists) negatively
dramatically
Requires tourists to be aware of
option
External Origin Opportunities Threats
Potential to educate
people of the effects of
their habits
Accidently breach of guidelines
by tourists
Purposeful breach of guidelines
by tourists
Potential loss of tourist numbers
Potential loss of tourist revenue
Potential loss of long-term
economy
Table 10: SWOT Analysis, Option 2
46. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
Option 3: Wastewater Reduction
Helpful Harmful
Internal Origin Strengths Weaknesses
Long-term solution
Doesn’t need continual
checking up on
Continual improvement
Knowledge of option
isn’t necessary for
tourists
Significant financial outlay for
real estate’s companies/property
owners.
Need for potential replacement
of more effective
appliances/fixtures
Could cut into profit margins
May not seem worth it to
companies
Need for council/government to
enforce standards
External
Origin
Opportunities Threats
Long-term savings in
household costs
Could be a selling point
for tourists
Chance of subsides for
water-saving
appliances/fixtures
Damage of appliances/fixtures,
need of fixing/replacing
Efficiency of appliances/fixtures
may not be what is expected
Cost-benefits analysis may not
be optimal for companies
Table 11: SWOT Analysis, Option 3
47. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
7.7 Multi-Criteria Analysis
Another technique used in determining which option is the best for the problem at hand, is
the Multi-Criteria analysis, where each option is assessed against a list of criteria that was
determined to be important. With the help of a member of the RCC and the previous research
done in this project, the criteria important to this project was determined. The table below
(Criteria Ranking and Weighting), ranks each of criteria categories to determine importance
and then assigns a weighting to each category (and the subcategories of each) to determine
the importance of each.
However, it should be noted that the use of this technique is not definitive and should not
taken as definitive, but serves as a way to gain an insight into the opinions of the stakeholders
involved in this process.
Criteria Rank Weight
Economic Costing 3 30
Environmental Impacts 2 40
Difficulty to maintain option 5 20
Effect on Stakeholders 4 25
Financial Costing 1 50
Table 12: Criteria Ranking and Weighting
In each criteria category, there are several sub-catagories, with each having different ratings
and scores. The compare each option against each other, a MCA assessment was used for the
way it makes it easy to visualize each option.
Figure 18: Ammonia Reduction Multi-Criteria Analysis
48. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
8. Complete Analysis.
In this section, an analysis of each option will be undertaken, using the data gathered in the
previous options assessment stage and listed, in ascending order, to the preferred option.
Option 4: Maintaining Status Quo
While this option may seem to perform average in the different types of assessment done, this
option is seen as the most unviable of the four, as it does nothing to try to reduce the levels of
ammonia in the raw wastewater, which will mostly likely increase dramatically as the
population of North Stradbroke Island and South-East Queensland increases in the next
several decades.
Option 3: Changing of Tourist Consumption Habits
The potential economic impacts that this option could have on North Stradbroke Island is
what makes this one of the most unattractive options being considered. In each type of
analysis done, this option is what ends up being the highest in terms of risk, oftenly quite
dramatically, often to do with the difficulty of the option to maintain and enforce, as well as
the negative effects this would most likely have of tourist behaviours and numbers on North
Stradbroke Island.
Option 2: Wastewater Reduction
This option is seen as the most expensive, mostly due to initial financial outlay real estates
companies and hotels/motels would have to stomach to replace their current
fixtures/appliance with more water-saving ones, as well as the probable need to replace
further if this option was to be continued over the years, leading to further financial costs,
which may not be seen as sustainable.
Option 1: Changing of Cleaning Products
While this option is not as dramatic as the previous two, it is seen as the easiest to introduce
and the cheapest in the long run. Placing the onus of the option on cleaning companies means
that there will be less change for standards to be exceeded or breached. The cost of replacing
current cleaning products with more suitable ones is not that high and this option allows it to
be modified as more suitable products may be found as this option is maintained.
49. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
9. Recommended Option
The recommended option was determined to be Changing of Cleaning Products.
9.1. Preliminary Design :
The basis of this option is that the cleaning companies present and in operation on North
Stradbroke Island are given a timeline to transition to the use of more environmentally-safe
products that do not contain excessive ammonia.
As mentioned earlier, the amount of ammonia present in cleaning products varies, the
following table gives a rough idea of the ammonia that can be present.
Product Stated Ammonia
Content
Dissolved ammonia and
percent wt/vol
Measured
pH
Floor and tile cleaner, full
strength
Up to 5% ammonia
per MSDS
28,700 mg/l, 2.9% 11.67
Name brand glass
cleaner, ready-to use
Not stated on current
MSDS
950 mg/l, 0.095% 10.86
Store brand glass cleaner,
ready-to-use
Not stated on current
MSDS
530 mg/l, 0.053% 10.88
Table 13: Measurement of dissolved ammonia content in tested cleaning products (Bronstein et al 2005, p.
534-544)
9.2. Stages of Option Implementation
Stage 1:
With ammonia being a main component in a large number of the domestic cleaning products
in use by cleaning companies, the first step in implementing this option would be to
determine what cleaning products are currently being used on North Stradbroke Island, which
would require contacting each company individually and obtaining a cleaning product list.
This stage would also, from a planning perspective, be where the timeline for when the
complete transition to this option would occur. In the cause of trying to make the transition to
more sustainable cleaning products as painless as possible, a timeline of at least several
months would be given. This would give plenty of time for communication between cleaning
companies and Redland City Council, in which any apparent issues could be discussed and
(hopefully) solved peacefully.
Stage 2:
50. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
From this, determine if there are any alternatives for any cleaning products that contain
ammonia and see if it is feasible to replace the original products with the alternatives (e.g:
financial, environmentally).
In Appendix -, there is a list of popular cleaning products, with their main ingredients and
their ammonia content. While not a large amount contain ammonia, the ones that do contain
them in significant concentrations and it has been determined that with this option being
recommended, that the products recommended to cleaning companies should strive to be
sustainable and biodegradable. This is due to that fact that the cleaning products in use could
be having other, unknown, effects on the environments and that this slight extra step should
be taken for peace of mind.
Stage 3:
Supply cleaning companies with a list of products that are to be discontinued from use, but
also mention alternatives to each banned products. Give the companies affected a timeline in
which this switch to alternative cleaning products is too occur, making the transition easier
for the cleaning companies.
After the recommended products have been decided on, this list is to be provided to cleaning
companies, with each of them being able to choose acceptable products at their own
discretion. A list of popular cleaning products that do not contain ammonia as their main
ingredient is shown in Appendix 3, with this being the foundation of the list of products
deemed acceptable by Redland Water, with this list being able to be added too and updated as
further research is done.
51. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
9.3 Risk Assessment
A risk assessment of the recommended option is also included, where any significant risks to
do with the option are identified. As well as this, a risk analysis process was used to assess
each of the risks that have been identified, where a rating of the risk is calculated by
determining the likelihood of this risk occurring and the severity of the consequences that
would occur if this risk was to become reality.
This risk assessment is for the preliminary design of the recommended option and a more
detailed risk should be carried out when the option is being implemented.
Option 1: People
Risk Consequence(s) Likelihood
Rating
Consequence Risk
Rating
Risk
Rating
Failure to report breaches
of the proposed option
Council/Government action 2 3 M-12
Doesn’t dramatically
affect tourists activities
Loss of economic growth
from tourism, current and
future
1 2 L-4
Doesn’t dramatically
affect tourists
consumption habits
Loss of economic growth
from tourism, current and
future
1 3 L-6
Failure to define
responsibilities between
the public, businesses,
other stakeholders
Council/Government action 2 3 M-12
Option 1: Economic and Financial
Risk Consequence(s) Likelihood
Rating
Consequence Risk
Rating
Risk
Rating
Impacts spending habits of
tourists
Loss of economic growth
from tourism, current and
future
1 2 L-4
Impacts number of tourists
to NSI
Loss of economic growth
from tourism, current and
future
1 2 L-4
Impacts viability of NSI as
tourist destination
Loss of economic growth
from tourism, current and
future
1 2 L-4
Financial outlay of option
for businesses, council,
other stakeholders
Loss of business profits,
potential shutting down of
businesses.
3 3 M-18
Continual financial impact
of option on affected
Loss of NSI economy,
potential shutting down of
2 2 L-8
52. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
businesses businesses, loss of jobs
Option 1: Environment
Risk Consequence(s) Likelihood
Rating
Consequence Risk
Rating
Risk
Rating
Potential for option to not
be followed stringently
Environment of NSI is
negatively affected
3 3 M-18
Environment effects if
option is breached
Environment of NSI is
negatively affected
2 3 M-12
Option 1: Security of Option
Risk Consequence(s) Likelihood
Rating
Consequence Risk
Rating
Risk
Rating
Holding breach of option
to account
Council/Government Action 2 3 M-12
Option 1: Technology, data and knowledge
Risk Consequence(s) Likelihood
Rating
Consequence Risk
Rating
Risk
Rating
Lack of understanding of
option by tourists,
businesses, other
stakeholders
Council/Government action 1 2 L-4
Purposeful neglect of
following the option
Council/Government action 1 3 L-6
Failure of knowledge of
the option
Council/Government action 1 3 L-6
Option 1: Commercial/legal liability
Risk Consequence(s) Likelihood
Rating
Consequence Risk
Rating
Risk
Rating
Non-compliance with
regulatory requirements
Council/Government Action 2 3 M-12
Option 1: Socio-political
Risk Consequence(s) Likelihood
Rating
Consequence Risk
Rating
Risk
Rating
Potential for
council/government to need
to enforce standards
recommended
Council/Government Action 2 2 L-8
Table 14: Option 1 Risk Analysis Table
53. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
8. Conclusions:
This report has assessed the options available to Redland Water to reduce the ammonia levels
in raw wastewater during peak tourism periods. However, many of these potential options
have been determined to be unacceptable, due to reasons ranging from expensive to
implement to difficulty to enforce and maintain.
In the end, this project found that the most feasible and realistic option in reduces the excess
ammonia levels is to enact a change in the cleaning products currently being used to clean
tourist rental homes, hotels and other accommodation types. It was determined to be the
option with the easiest ability and cheapest to implement and maintain.
54. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
9. Recommendations:
It is recommended that to implement the selected option:
Redland City Council to develop a detailed report on this option.
Council alert cleaning companies of their intention to phase out certain cleaning
products and supply these companies with a list of acceptable alternative products.
Alert the cleaning companies of a timeline in which these changes are expected by.
Redland City Council routinely inspects the cleaning companies and the waterways to
ensure that the option standards are being followed and if it is having the desired
effect.
55. 6007ENG – Industry Affiliates Program, Semester 1, 2015
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