Does your wastewater lagoon or pond stink? Are you wanting to control odors that are offending your campers or neighbors? Lagoon odor control is a common goal for operators. Fear not, solving and preventing odor problems in lagoon or pond treatment systems is achievable.
Many wastewater lagoon operators want to achieve lagoon odor control. While most people assume that odors are a prerequisite for a wastewater lagoon, odor is a sign that your treatment process is not working correctly. If you can correct your wastewater treatment issues, you can control lagoon odor at the same time. Correcting a treatment process and controlling lagoon odors typically boils down to a few factors. Odor typically has two causes: Sludge accumulation and low dissolved oxygen levels.
As a wastewater lagoon or pond ages, sludge accumulates on the bottom. This sludge is composed of insoluble BOD combined with dead bacteria, live bacteria and inorganics. This accumulation of sludge can be accelerated in cold climates where the bacteria digest at a slower rate for the slower months of the year.
As sludge builds up on the bottom, it forms what is called a “sludge blanket”. If a sludge blanket is 12 inches deep, only the top 2 inches or so will remain oxygenated. The rest of the sludge blanket will be anaerobic. An anaerobic environment is one that is devoid of oxygen. Anaerobic environments are where much of the lagoon or pond odors come from. A thicker sludge blanket will create more noticeable odors. These odors will rise out of the sludge to the surface. Warmer weather and higher water turnover will cause these odors to rise faster.
Removing the accumulated sludge from the bottom of your pond and preventing new accumulation is a crucial first step to controlling lagoon odors. See our wastewater lagoon sludge control page for detailed solutions for removing sludge from your lagoon.
Some odors can come from the digestion of soluble organics and BOD in the water. During the warm summer months, bacteria is most active. As bacteria populations become more active, they consume more oxygen. If your aeration system provides the same amount of oxygen year around, you may be under-aerating during the summer months and your lagoon’s DO level may be falling too low. If the DO level of a lagoon or pond falls too low, anaerobic conditions similar to what happens in the sludge blanket can occur in the water itself.
The solution to this is to have a properly sized aeration system capable of aerating and mixing your lagoon year-around. By utilizing an aeration system utilizing laminar flow technology, you can ensure that you are getting maximum oxygen absorption and complete mixing of your lagoon or pond. Mixing your lagoon or pond will ensure that specific areas that become anaerobic zones do not have a chance to form.
At Clear Water Supply, we offer a full line of solutions by ProLake™. These solutions are custom tailored for wastewater lagoon and pond operators and owners to solve their algae control problems. We are not out to just sell product. We want to develop relationships and work with each of our clients to make sure they have exactly what they need to solve their current problems and avoid future ones.
Click here to see our ProLake™ solutions for wastewater lagoons!
Call us today to see what we can do for your lagoon or pond!
