The wastewater treatment plant is the place where wastewater gets turned back into water that we can drink or use for household purposes. For example, in India, there are an estimated more than 5000 treatment plants. The majority of sewage water contains human excreta and industrial waste containing organic matters and microbes. It is not suitable to release into the river. So, sewage water goes through filtering before reuse. The wastewater treatment plants play a crucial role to solve water scarcity. The following steps summarize the working of wastewater disposal treatment plant.
- Bar screen: sewage water is grey or dark grey in color and a musky odor due to various gases like Sulfur or hydrogen sulfide. First, wastewater arrives at the wastewater disposal treatment plant. Second, the plant separates solid substances from the water like all sorts of waste materials and primary sludge. This filtration step is called a bar screen or pre-treatment. The filtered content gets transport to the sorting facility where waste is segregated based on their types. For example, plastic toys would go for the recycling process.
- Grit Chambers: Grit Chambers helps to separate soil and sand present inside the water that cannot be filtered using chemicals. There are three types of grit chambers horizontal grit chambers, aerated grit chambers, and vortex grit chambers. They all accomplish the same tasks using different techniques and methods.
- Large basin or primary clarifier: After separated hard water substances, wastewater reaches to the primary clarifier. The main function of the primary clarifier is to filter any solids that are larger than 10mm ( micrometers). The source water flows into varies rates across the large basins to separate solids from water.
- Aeration basin: Water filtered from the big basin is an effluent. Effluent routed to aeration basin where large air bubbles containing proper bacteria release into the effluent. The primary function of this bacteria is to get rid of harmful bacteria from water.
- Disinfection process: In this step, the water is disinfected using chemicals, chlorine, ozone, or ultraviolet filtering materials. These filtering processes have different advantages and drawbacks. Although ultra-violate rays kill good bacteria from water, it also kills the right nutrients from the water.
In these five steps, the water using filtered using physical treatment, biological treatment, and chemical treatment. Only after passing water quality standards following the last disinfection process, treated water released into lakes and rivers for natural use. Every water plants have water quality-based performance testing, which handles the examination of water. At some plants, manual testing of water happens.
Why it is necessary to treat wastewater?
- The world is working on water scarcity and solutions to solve the water crisis. There is a drought situation due to insufficient rainfall in recent years. Researchers and scientists are trying to find new ways to filter and reuse water efficiently. There are three types of water after we dispose of the water — the blackwater, greywater, and whitewater. Greywater is water that we release after taking a bath. This greywater is not drinkable, but with the help use of the Greywater system, it can be filtered and reuse for drinking and other purposes.
- Avoid contaminated diseases: Openwater is a growing place for the harmful virus that leads to dengue and malaria. If Openwater is not the disposal of, it makes a comfortable breeding place for mosquitos and harmful micro bacteria. Therefore, wastewater disposal is necessary to prevent diseases.
- Avoid contamination of toxic substances: Releasing toxic substances into wastewater generates poisonous gases when it dissolves in the air. Wastewater disposal drainage lines help to avoid contamination of lethal gases into the air and maintain ecology.
- Oil pollution: a massive amount of freshwater and seawater is apply for drilling oil from underneath the ocean. During the drilling process, a lot of wastewater gets contaminated in the sea and impacts sea life and plants. By disposing wastewater into water treatment plants helps to keep the ocean surface clean.
- The recollection of wastewater: we can connect leaked pipelines so that dripping water can directly flow into the treatment plant. It saves millions of gallons of water every day.
- Agriculture use: cash crops like cotton can survive on reused water disposed of water treatment plants. Hence it fulfills the high demand for water supply for agriculture purposes from irrigation to drinking water for cattle.
- Avoid Groundwater contamination: Villagers across many developing countries don’t have water disposal treatment plants. Hence water from houses drains to the open land. The water precipitated in such areas flow down underground and contaminates natural groundwater storages like aquifers.
- Life cycle impacts: Wastewater disposal systems lower the headache of environmental effects because it reduces the emission of greenhouse gases.
- Social influence: When there is water, there are is life. When there is life, there are people and civilized societies. When we control water and waste, indirectly, we also manage the population and water deficit.
- Employments: Wastewater treatment plant is a good income business. Many nation’s governments even provide 100% loans and subsidies on building wastewater treatment plants. Governments also provide higher pay for professional who has work in drought areas.
How can we dispose of water if the wastewater disposal system not available in the area?
- Book local municipal authorities to tanker where wastewater sent from your house to water disposal plants. You need to have adequate capacity tanks to store sewage water.
- Use separate large bins for wet and dry garbage. Garbage collecting vehicles visit households every day to collect containers.
- If you cannot wait for collection, then you can form a society fund and arrange a transport vehicle to shift the wastewater to disposal plants.
History of wastewater treatment systems:
The first wastewater treatment plant was installed in 1700 BC during the power of King Minos.
Romans, Greeks European regions make significant progress from 800 BC to AD 1850.
1850, Massachusetts state build the first successful operation wastewater disposal plant. Many universities and colleges have degrees and diploma courses in water treatment plants.