Abstract:
Many health hazards in developing countries and transition-economic countries are related to poor water quality and limited water quantity (Vandeweerd et al., 1997). According to Vandeweerd et al. (1997), more than 90% of sewerage in the developing world is discharged directly into rivers, lakes, and coastal waters without any treatment. Sri Lanka also faces a number of water and wastewater issues and water related health hazards (WHO, 2000). The large cities such as Colombo, Galle, Jaffna and Kandy have serious problems disposal of sewerage, industrial effluents and industrial and of domestic solid waste, as they generate large quantities but have no facilities for their treatment and/or proper disposal (Bandara, 2003). Moreover, Kandy suffers from a serious problem of wastewater disposal which contributes to the pollution of Mahaweli River. There is no proper system of wastewater disposal, and about 80% of used water is released as wastewater (Thrikawala et al., 2008). In addition, highly polluted water is carried by tributaries like Meda-ela, Pussellawa Oya, and Pinga Oya, which connect to Mahaweli River (Dayawansa, 2006). Pussalla Oya catchment was the main source area for the "Hepatitis A" outbreak recorded in Gampola in May 2007 (Abeysinghe, 2007). Due to lack of the knowledge of health hazards by wastewater or scarcity of resources, sewerage treatment and/or improved sanitation were not given due attention by most communities. According to Gijzen (2001) there have been substantial developments in wastewater management and treatment technology. As a solution to the discharge of untreated wastewater, sewerage treatment plants (STPs) have been constructed especially in rapidly urbanizing cities. Main purposes of this research are study the system and find out the reasons for failures and defect identification in Hanthana STP. Determination of the raw water quality parameters, propose the alternatives for occurring issues and waste discharge per day are also considered in this study
