Dairy Waste Treatment CIRCULAR ANR-963
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ALABAMA A&M AND AUBURN UNIVERSITIES ALA 'BAMA ,......>~ C OOJ>IlRATTVE Planning And Managing Lagoons For ExtenSIOn SYSTEM Dairy Waste Treatment CIRCULAR ANR-963 airy waste lagoons are sign and management the anaer flush system lagoons do not Dearthen structures designed obic lagoon can function for need to be located quite so close for biological treatment and years. Odor from a well-designed to the dairy waste source. long-term storage of dairy waste. and well-managed lagoon will be Good engineering practice, L'flgoons are specially construct only slightly musty; foul odor in as recommended in ASAE ed to prevent leakage of dairy dicates a malfunction requiring EP403.3, calls for lagoons to be waste to ground water. The la corrective action. no less than 300 feet from any goon system allows manure to Advantages of anaerobic la water supply used for human be handled with water-flushing goon systems are: consumption. Natural Resources systems, sewer lines, pumps, • Manure can be handled Conservation Service (NRCS) rec and irrigation equipment. The with water flushing systems, ommends 500 feet but will ac natural biological action on the sewer lines, pumps, and irriga cept 150 feet from an upslope waste results in less odor during tion equipment. well. Alabama Public Health De land application. Nitrogen con • The high degree of stabi partment, Division of Environ tent of the waste is reduced in lization reduces odors during mental Programs Management lagoons by as much as 80 per land application. (Milk Inspection), will not permit cent. This reduction minimizes lagoons to be closer than 100 • High nitrogen reduction land area needed for land appli feet from the water supply on a minimizes the land area required cation and enhances long-term grade A dairy. for liquid effluent disposal. storage. Location of lagoons with re • Long-term storage is pro spect to nonoperator-owned res vided at low cost. Anaerobic Lagoons idences is an important consider Disadvantages of anaerobic ation. ASAE recommends a Anaerobic lagoons look like lagoons include: farm ponds at first glance. They minimum distance of 900 feet • Public perception that a la are larger than manure storage downwind. In Alabama, howev goon is an open container of basins, which do not provide er, recommendations are that la manure. 1 significant biological treatment goons be (1) located at least /4 or long storage periods, but • Offensive odors if improp mile from property lines and smaller than aerobic lagoons. erly designed and maintained. nonoperator-owned residences Even though aerobic lagoons are • Limited nitrogen availability and (2) screened from view with designed to provide a higher de if manure is used as a fertilizer. a natural or constructed screen. gree of treatment with less odor, In some situations, especially in anaerobic lagoons decompose Location Requirements north Alabama, the location of a more organic matter per unit lagoon will be controlled by soil Ideally, lagoons should be volume. Because of their treat and geological considerations. located downslope from the ment and storage capabilities ARCHIVEdairy freestall barn and milking anaerobic lagoons are a good center so that waste can be Soils Investigation compromise between storage drained or flushed to the lagoon Although printed county soil basins and aerobic lagoons. by gravity. If scraping waste is survey maps give general guid Anaerobic treatment of waste practiced, the lagoon should be ance, the dairy operator plan occurs without free m ..rygen to relatively close to the freestall ning a treatment lagoon should liquify or degrade high BOD barn. With a lagoon system, have an on-site subsurface soils (biochemical oxygen demand) waste is usually flushed with re investigation made. Agencies organic waste. With proper de- cycled lagoon water; therefore, with expertise similar to the NRCS can conduct on-site soils per thousand cubic feet. Typical storm. In Alabama, typical annu investigations and make appro recommended anaerobic lagoon al rainfall is at least 12 inches priate recommendations. Soil loading rate for dairy waste la more than evaporates from a borings or backhoe excavations goons in Alabama ranges from 6 free water surface. Dirt lot and are standard procedures to iden to 6.5 pounds of volatile solids berm runoff can also amount to tify shallow soil over coarse sand per thousand cubic feet per day. as much as 4 feet per year. This and gravel, crevice, limestone, or This is 1.5 cubic feet of perma volume from rainfall less evapo permeable bedrock. If any of nent volume per pound of live ration is held in the second stage these conditions exist, proce dairy animal weight. This of a two-stage lagoon and re dures and materials, such as clay amount can be reduced 20 to 35 moved when the lagoon is liners, geotextile liners, or con percent for dairy lagoon installa pumped. crete, to prevent seepage to tions where solids separation fa Sludge volume results from ground water must be used in cilities, which are highly recom manure solids entering a dairy construction. mended, are in use. lagoon and a portion remaining NRCS currently offers this Manure wastewater vol as bottom sludge. Research indi on-site soils and geologic investi ume provides for wastewater cates that approximately 0.19 gation assistance for animal storage of the accumulated ma cubic feet of sludge accumulates waste management structures as nure volume over the designed per year per pound of total dairy part of the animal waste man treatment period. Pump-down cow liveweight adding manure agement technical assistance interval and manure treatment to the dairy lagoon. With solids program. They should be con period are the same and should separation, sludge accumulation tacted for assistance. This be 180 days in Alabama. Storage would be less. The sludge accu process will determine the soil volume per pound of live dairy mulation rate can be used to de suitability for and final location animal weight is 0.5 cubic feet termine volume necessary for of a dairy waste lagoon. for 6 months. Longer treatment sludge over any particular cho time offers greater flexibility in sen design time, most commonly Lagoon Design scheduling pumping operations. from 12 to 15 years. Recom Volume Surface runoff volume mended sludge volume is 0.5 provides storage for rainfall cubic foot per pound of average Proper design of an anaero runoff plus any wash water or dairy live weight bic lagoon requires the calcula other freshwater that may be Freeboard volume is the tion of volume that will be need used for cleaning buildings or lot minimum extra depth above ed to accommodate waste areas. This volume is removed total full pool level, usually 1 accumulation over the desired from the lagoon during pumping foot, after all other volume re treatment period. Total lagoon operations. In Alabama, runoff quirements are met. volume of either a one-stage or from open concrete areas can Figures 1 and 2 show a cross a two-stage system is composed amount to a depth of more than section of one- and two-stage la of several parts (see Figure 1): 4 feet per year over the entire goon designs, which may be • Treatment volume. surface. Reducing the area used throughout Alabama. Sur • Manure wastewater vol where runoff drains directly into face area will vary with depth. ume. the lagoon will prevent unneces ·• Surface runoff volume. sary pumping. Surface water, un less needed for filling or dilu Two-Stage Lagoons • Net rainfall (rainfall minus tion, should be diverted away Where space is available, a surface evaporation, including from the lagoon. Generally the two-stage lagoon should be con the 25-year-24-hour storm). amount of rainfall and runoff to structed to improve wastewater • Sludge volume. be collected and stored in the la treatment and management flexi • Freeboard volume.ARCHIVE goon is figured on the wettest 10 bility. For dairy operations that Treatment volume provides years for net rainfall less evapo recycle lagoon liquid for open enough dilution volume for the ration on lagoon surface plus gutter flushing where animals breakdown of volatile solids by berm runoff. have direct access to flush water, bacteria and is not removed Netra~all.Thelagoon a two-stage lagoon provides from the lagoon during pump must provide storage for the net some insurance against disease down operations. This volume is gain of rainfall minus surface organisms being returned from based on the volatile solids daily evaporation plus the berm area the first stage before a reason loading rate in pounds per day runoff plus the 25-year-24-hour able die-off period. In addition 2 manure wastewater volume stop pumping Figure 1. Capacity of single-stage anaerobic lagoon. manure sludge volume wastewater volume 2-ft. minimum volume for recycle FIRST STAGE SECOND STAGE TreatmentARCHIVE Storage And Treatment Figure 2. Capacity of two-stage anaerobic lagoon. 3 to further treatment, the second slopes below the waterline are both proper volume and seal stage also stores treated waste 2:1 though this depends on soil construction. water for irrigation. This treated type and structure design. Lagoon embankments wastewater can be irrigated An emergency spillway should be constructed to allow through small diameter sprinkler should be provided to protect for usual settling of 5 percent. nozzles. the dam in case of extreme The embankment should be The second stage should flooding. The spillway should be planted with a cover grass to allow for a permanent volume placed a minimum of 1 foot prevent erosion and must be that cannot be pumped (2-foot below the top of the berm, and large enough to accommodate minimum), wastewater volume allowance for settling should be mowers. Suitable fill materials for the waste treatment period made.