PUNITA NOOK NAIDU•NATIONAL WATER SERVICES COMMISSION (SPAN)
1st Floor, Prima Avenue 7
Jalan Teknokrat 6, 63000 Cyberjaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan, MALAYSIA•••INTRODUCTION OF
ON-SITE TREATMENTSYSTEM IN
MALAYSIAOVERVIEW
Population : 29.24 mil (Urban, Rural )Area: 330,252 sq. km.

BUMI –PUTRA
67.4 %

CHINESEINDIAN

24.6 %

7.3 %Others0.7 %MALAYSIA

EVOLUTION OF SANITATION IN MALAYSIA
Prior to 1950-s

Early Days inMalaya

Technology

Pour Flush

Septic Tank

Imhoff Tank

1950-s1960-s1970-sPrimitive / Primary Treatment(Address Public Health)

OP/AL

Activated Sludge/ Fully Mechanised
Biological Filters
Plant

1980-s1990-sPartial / Full Secondary Treatment(Address River Pollution)

2000

Year

Future TertiaryTreatment(Address Environment)
4

PROGRESS OF SANITATION IN MALAYSIAWorldwide use of improved sanitation facilities in 2008

(Source: Progress Report on Sanitation and Drinking Water, 2010 Update,
WHO & UNICEF)

Population in Malaysia having access to sanitation in 2008
– Urban– Rural– Total(Source: WHO):::96%95%
96%

ON-SITE AND OFF-SITE TREATMENT SYSTEM

Sewage Treatment System
Off-site
On-siteSmall Sewage Treatment System

Cess pit
Individual Septic Tank (include CST)

6SEWERAGE COVERAGE AREA IN MALAYSIA
TYPES OF SERVICES AND APPLICATION
Type of Services

Units (PE)OFF-SITE TREATMENT
Decentralized (Multipoint)
Centralized (Regional)

8,445 (17,209,749)
79 (6,034,593)

ON-SITE TREATMENT
Individual Septic Tank

1,275,757 (6,608,560)

Communal Septic Tank (CST)

4,380 (528, 875)

Small Sewage Treatment System

24001 (240,000)

Cess Pit (Pour Flush)* Source : Malaysia Water Industry Guide 2013
Note : 1. Estimate installation of SSTS since year 2008

894,859 (4,474,293)

SEWERAGE COVERAGE AREA IN MALAYSIAOFF SITE TREATMENT SYSTEM CAN BE DIVIDED INTO TWO
MAJOR CATEGORY

2,474 nos
(2,555,558)

6,050 nos
(20,688,784)

ON-SITE DOMESTIC
TREATMENTOVERVIEW

Type of onsite treatment
systemCESSPITINDIVIDUAL SEPTIC TANK

An old system(Obsolete system)

Serving single premises withcapacity not more than30PE,

COMMUNAL SEPTIC TANKSMALL SEWAGE
TREATMENT SYSTEM

Obsolete system (serving multipremises)

Provide partial treatment

OVERVIEW
Design standards stringent to achieve effluent
quality if :Discharge of treated effluent located upstream
the of water catchment areas and/or in certain
sensitive receiving watercourse

DESIGN CRITERIA

Governed to a large
extend by the hydraulicaspects of treatedeffluent discharge tosuitable watercourse

OVERVIEW

If location of theground water inthe premises tobe built is moving
towards the well
field, even thoughpremises islocated outside
the 200m radius,
thus the premise
effluent discharge
must comply withthe Standard A

INDIVIDUAL SEPTIC TANK

Diagram 1 : Schematic Diagram of Septic Tank

INDIVIDUAL SEPTIC TANKDEFINITIONDESIGN CAPACITY

Definition of septic tankbasedonWater
Services Industry 2006
(Act 655):“A basic form of onsite treatment facility
consisting of one ormore compartments
thatprovidestreatment of sewage
bymeansofsedimentation
andanaerobic process.”

APPLICATION

Servinga
singlepremise, with capacity
not more than 30PE

For 5 – 30 PE(1.125 – 6.750
m3/day)Othertreatment
systemshallbeprovided if the design
PE more than 30PE.

INDIVIDUAL SEPTIC TANKLIMITATION

Limitation inproviding
primarytreatment

Treatment
performance isinconsistent tomeet therequired
standards

PERFORMANCEMEASUREMENT

Performance issubjected toretention
which isaffected byquantity ofsettled solids
which
accumulated
over time

EFFLUENTQUALITY

MAINTENCE OF
THE SYSTEM

Design for
effluent
discharge
downstream ofwater intake
pointsDesign shallallow regular
desludging

Averageeffluent quality•BOD : 50 mg/l
•Suspended
Solid : 100
mg/

Desludging
shall be atleast once very
3 years.

PLANNING ASPECT OF
INDIVIDUAL SEPTIC TANKSingle Development Up To 30
Units Or 150PE In Total••

Septic tanks regarded
as temporary treatment
systemOwner of system shallprovide the following•
150mm by-passpipe from lastinspection
chamber before
septic tank•By pass pipe
extended it to thedrain outside thepremises•
The pipe shall be
end capped for
future connection

IndividualDevelopment
Outside The
Local Authority
Areas

Owners must becompelled toadhere to rules
and requirement• Product must be approved by SPAN
• Complying with determined effluent
standard• Trenches to be provided for final effluent
discharge• Raised soak away shall be provided if watertable is high• Desludging activities must be provided byregistered desludging contractor

All soak away shall belocated 5m
downstream of wells fordomestic consumption

SMALL SEWERAGE TREATMENT SYSTEM

Diagram 2 : Schematic Diagram of SSTS

SMALL SEWERAGE TREATMENT SYSTEMDESIGN CAPACITY For 31 – 149 PE

TREATMENT PRINCIPLES:(6.975 – 33.525 m3/day)

Limited todevelopmentwith lower
population
size

Additional
aerationprocess atthesecondtank forremoval ofBOD

Provideonly apartialtreatment

Low energy
consumption

The functionof keycomponents
does notrequireintensive
energy andtechnicalability for
operation

SEWAGE CHARACTERISTICS AND
EFFLUENT QUALITY
PARAMETER/CONCENTRATION (mg/l)
COMPONENT(IDEAL)
INFLUENTPE
RANGE

CAPACITY
RANGE(m3/day)

BOD

COD

SS

TN

NH3-N

Oil &Grease

All

All

250500300

503050

BOD

COD

SS

NO3-N

NH3-N

Oil &GreaseP*

EFFLUENTINDIVIDUAL SEPTIC
TANK

P*

5 - 301.12 – 6.75

50200

100

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

31 - 149

6.97 – 33.52

35

160

75

N/A

N/A7.5

10²SMALL SEWAGE

TREATMENT SYSTEM

CHALLENGES IN DETERMINING THE DESIGN INFLUENT PARAMETERS
The influent parameter in Malaysia mostly diluted due to infiltrationand illegal discharges from rain gutter
Note :

1Only applicable for effluent discharge to stagnant water bodies such as lakes and ponds
2 The proposed effluent parameters for SSTSADVANTANGE & DISADVANTANGE OF ONSITE TREATMENT SYSTEMADVANTAGES• Low installation cost
• Easy installation• Serving a single premise

DISADVANTAGE• Inconsistent treatment performance• Require regular desludging frequency ofonce every 3 years• Capacity allowed only up to 30PE
• Lacking of Enforcement

CHALLENGESDESLUDGING TREND IN MALAYSIABACKGROUND

Chart 2: Number of ISTs in Peninsular Malaysia andFederal Territories of Putrajaya and Labuan
300,000

In January 2008, Water
Services Industry Act 2006
became enforceable

263,787

IST

250,000

207,400
200,000

Responsibility ofdesludging individual
septic tank falls
under the owner

175,546
155,396
150,000

134,595

100,000

Prior to WSIA
mandatoryscheduleddesludging was inplace

87,024
76,132
66,042
52,08850,00038,754

6,562019,134
12,9541DESLUDGING TREND IN MALAYSIAKEY ISSUES
AWARENESSPROGRAMME
Campaign being
held throughMalaysia toencourage
Malaysiandesludging their IST.
The message
brought to public toaddress key issues
and awareness indesludge their septic
tanks :

Unbearable stenchpermeating the air

Malfunctioning oftoilets, sinks andsanitary pipes

Higher risk of being
confronted with water
borne diseases

Quality of water
resource will beaffected

A
substantial
decline inexercise asshown

DESLUDGING TREND IN MALAYSIA
CHART 1: INDIVIDUAL SEPTIC TANK (IST) DESLUDGING TREND(2005 - 2012)
160000

Expected no. of IST
desludged per year =434,196 nos. of IST desludged

Number of ISTs Desludged

140000120000!

10000080000

Before2008, desludging
contractors weremore proactive inproviding door todoor notices, offering
desludging services

60000

40000

Actual no. of IST
desludged per year =70,170 nos. of IST
desludged

20000

0

Total Desludging Done

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

148208135982146524

37018

47056

58406

68548

70170

DESLUDGING TREND IN MALAYSIA
Two major contractor arelicensed by SPAN to provide
desludging services
Indah Water
Konsortium
BerhadPERMITHOLDER

Plumber

Majaari Services
Sdn Bhd

PERMITDECSRIPTIONNOs

A

to carry out any construction of,connection of, modification of or
repairs to water pipes and water
fittings which convey or will convey
water from the public mains

13,186B

to carry out any works necessary toconnect a private connection pipe toa sewer or sewage treatment works

941

C

to carry out any construction of,
installation of or modification to any
part of a water supply or seweragesystem

11,882

Dto carry out maintenance services fora water supply system or a seweragesystem but which does not involve theoperation of such system

8,683

Eto undertake, provide or makeavailable sewerage desludging
service

388

Contractor

Desludging activities canonly be carried out byPermit E contractor
registered by SPAN

Total

35,080MALAYSIA
Population: 28 million (Urban, Rural )Area: 330,252 sq. km.

THANKYOU•NATIONAL WATER SERVICESCOMMISSION (SPAN)

1st Floor, Prima Avenue 7Jalan Teknokrat 6, 63000 Cyberjaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan, MALAYSIA•••