Diurnal Studies of a Micro-Aquatic Engineered Ecosystem

Abstract

Although waste stabilization ponds have been well known for centuries, in the last 30 years there has been rapid progress in the use of these ponds as a waste treatment alternative under varying organic and hydraulic loading conditions. The fundamental bio-geochemical relationships existing within the ponds have been an interesting field of research. The design of these ponds has been based on empirical formulations with utter disregard for some very pertinent functional parameters. In the present study on model G.I. aquaria, emphasis is put on the consideration of these ponds as a micro-aquatic engineered ecosystem and the likely changes in water quality affected by these interrelationships throughout a 24-hour cycle. The dependence of these ponds on solar energy and symbiotic algal-bacterial activity for efficient waste treatment in this era of energy crisis is borne out by the increase in gross production to the tune of 10 times, in dissolved oxygen of more than 2.5 times, and in pH by nearly 1.4 units during one single day.