Sewer sediment characteristics and their variation with time

Abstract

Abstract Laboratory‐scale simulations of sewer lengths were used to examine the time‐dependent behaviour of sewer sediments both alone and mixed with their sand precursor. The results show that the redox potential in the sediment bed reaches a plateau value of about ‐450 mV and that the length of time for reaching this value depends on the sand: sediment ratio. This Eh value is too low for the reduction of sulphate to sulphide and, during the trials, sulphide was only detected once. Microscopic examinations showed that, even after 200 days, there was no microbial attachment to clean sand.