BIOLOGICAL WASTE WATER TREATMENT: 1. MONITORING METABOLIC ACTIVITY OF ACTIVATED SLUDGE AND THE CHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF WASTE WATER TREATMENT.

In this paper there are present the results concerning chemical parameters and the rate of metabolic activity of activated sludge in Constanta Nord waste water plant. Special emphasis is focused on time evolution of nitrates, ammonium, phosphorus concentrations and chemical oxygen demand in inlet, waste water and outlet, purified water. These results are discussed in correlation with metabolic activity of active sludge microbiota measured as the rate of resazurine reduction, and microscopic images obtained both in bright field and in epifluorescence microscopy. The results open inter alia the possibility to use the rapid method of resazurine reduction (15-20 minutes) to assess the activity of activated sludge microbiota and to correlate it with standardized, but timeconsuming (hours to 5 days) methods, thus increasing the possibility to take good operational decisions in shorter time.