What is wastewater treatment?

Wastewater treatment is the process of removing toxic contaminants from wastewater collected from municipalities and communities before it is returned to receiving waters or land for reuse. The operation involves several treatment processes to ensure that the water is clean and safe for reuse.

Types:

Primary treatment of sewage water: This type of treatment involves physical operations such as screening and sedimentation to remove floating and settleable solids found in wastewater.

Secondary treatment of sewage water: This type of treatment involves biological and chemical processes which are used to remove most of the organic matter from the wastewater.

Tertiary treatment of sewage water: In tertiary treatment, additional combinations of unit operations and processes are used to remove other constituents such as nitrogen and phosphorus, that are not reduced significantly by secondary treatment.

Why sewage water treatment is required?

Protecting human health: Raw sewage water contains harmful bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens that can cause diseases like cholera, typhoid fever, and hepatitis A. Treating sewage water before releasing it into the environment helps protect public health and prevent the spread of these diseases.

Protecting the environment: Untreated sewage water can harm the environment by contaminating rivers, lakes, and oceans, killing aquatic life and damaging the ecosystem. Treatment plants remove pollutants and reduce the amount of organic matter, nutrients, and pathogens that are released into the environment.

Reusing water: Treated sewage water can be used for non-potable purposes such as irrigation, flushing toilets, and industrial processes. By treating sewage water, we can conserve freshwater resources and reduce the strain on our water supplies.

Meeting regulatory requirements: Most countries have regulations in place to protect water quality and limit the number of pollutants that can be discharged into the environment. Sewage water treatment plants help meet these requirements and prevent fines and penalties for non-compliance.

Industry-wide applications of sewage water plants:

Municipalities and local governments: Municipalities and local governments use sewage water treatment plants to treat wastewater from homes, businesses, and industries before discharging it into nearby water bodies or reusing it for various purposes.

Industries such as food and beverage, pharmaceutical, chemical, pulp and paper: They use waste water treatment plants to treat their industrial effluent and discharge it safely into the environment or reuse it in their production processes.

Agriculture and aquaculture industries: Agriculture and aquaculture industries use wastewater treatment to treat agricultural runoff and discharge from fish farms to reduce the negative impact on nearby water bodies.

Mining and oil and gas industries: Mining and oil and gas industries use wastewater treatment to treat their process water and manage their produced water before discharging it into the environment or reusing it in their operations.

Recreational areas such as parks, golf courses, and swimming pools: They use sewage water treatment to treat their greywater before discharging it or reusing it for irrigation.

Military and disaster relief operations: They use wastewater treatment plants to provide safe drinking water to troops, refugees, and disaster victims in remote locations or emergency situations.
                                                                   
                                                            Sewage treatment plant process flow