ANALYSIS OF OPERATIONAL VARIABLES IN THE BOD5 TREATMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL PONDS

The purpose of this paper is to correlate some geometric and climatic variables with the removal efficiency in terms of total BOD5, soluble BOD5 and COD under the climatic and mereorological conditions prevaili ng in the tropics. This study was conducted in experimental stabilizat ion ponds of three series composed by one facultative and two maturati on ponds with different areas. This ponds system is located in Maracai bo, Venezuela in a tropical climate. The water level during this study was 2.90 m and 1.50 m (deep) for the facultative and maturation ponds respectively, The climate conditions were: wind speed 16.7 Km/h, sunl ight 8.3 hours and temperature 37 degrees C. The results showed that s uperficial area in the facultative pond were not significative in the removal efficiency of BOD5 and GOD; the values obtained in the effluen t varied between 17-27 mg/l of BOD5 and 56-120 mg/l of COD, with remov al efficiencies up 93% por BOD and 84% for GOD.