Wastewater in small, rural communities: integrated sewage lagoon and ozone treatment

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Management of domestic wastewater is a pressing environmental problem in most rural communities in Canada, including First Nations communities. Typically, these communities collect municipal wastewater for transport to sewage lagoons, and the partially treated wastewater is discharged seasonally from these lagoons into surface waters. Rural communities are struggling to meet new Environment Canada regulations for wastewater effluent quality directed at protecting aquatic life in receiving waters. We propose to integrate ozone treatment with biological treatment to improve the overall performance of wastewater treatment processes. In bench scale tests and in pilot-scale studies conducted in two First Nations communities in Ontario, we will investigate whether ozone applied as a pre-treatment can improve wastewater treatment in sewage lagoons, and reduce impacts on aquatic organism in receiving waters. We will work with Aclarus Ozone Water Systems, a water treatment company based in Peterborough, ON that manufactures robust ozonation systems that can operate under extreme weather conditions. The Ontario First Nations Technical Services Corporation will collaborate on pilot-scale studies in the two First Nations communities. This work will also be supported by CREATE H2O, a program funded by the Natural Sciences and Research Council that is training water practitioners to work with First Nations communities to address water-related problems.