When we turn on the faucet and see water trickle down the drain, chances are you’re not thinking about where it’s going to end up when it flows down the pipes and out of the property. But there’s a path that this “wastewater” takes and a process that it undergoes – and at the end of the cycle, the goal is often for it to be reused once again.
This route often flows through the property’s plumbing to a sanitary sewer system and then to a wastewater treatment facility. There, it’s treated so it can be safely reused or discharged. In this post, we’ll get more into the details of what happens at these wastewater treatment centers and the role they play in cleaning water for a community. Read on to learn more about the basics of wastewater treatment.
Wastewater 101
Let’s start by discussing just what wastewater treatment is and why it’s important. Specifically, wastewater treatment is a process that helps municipal water reach a certain discharge standard and be reused. When many people think of wastewater, they immediately think of sewage. While sewage is a part of wastewater, it’s not the only thing that makes this up. Aside from sewage, wastewater may include detergents, cleaning agents, food scraps, oils, soaps or any byproducts of an industrial process. Wastewater may also consist of rainwater.
Think of wastewater like this: It’s all water and waste that’s collected from either a drain, a sink, a toilet or a gutter. And this wastewater usually flows into a municipal wastewater treatment plant for proper treatment before it can be reused or discharged. We’ll get into the process in the next section.
Wastewater Treatment: The Basic Steps Involved
So what steps does wastewater have to go through before it can be reused? If the wastewater is flowing to a municipal treatment facility, it’s a two-step process that includes solids removal and filtration. Here’s a closer look at each step:
Solid Removal
Before wastewater can be reused or discharged, any and all solids first need to be removed from it. Solids removal, also known as grit removal or screening, may consist of several strategies to achieve this. There’s sedimentation, or the process of removing solids using gravity. More advanced solids removal is often accomplished with a Membrane Bio Reactor, or MBR. MBRs use ceramic membranes to separate solids and liquids.
Sedimentation and the use of an MBR are typically used to remove solids like waste, hair, sand, gravel and stones. Facilities may also use a “screener” or wastewater screens to remove larger items like bags, plants, textiles and more. These larger items are usually removed from the system and sent to landfill.
After solids are removed, the water goes into the next phase, which largely involves cleaning and disinfection.
Filtration and Treatment
After the solids are removed, the remaining water needs to be treated so it can be safely reused or safely discharged. This treatment tends to remove any carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus that’s remaining in the water. Aeration helps grow microorganisms in the water to better separate particulates.
Then, one of several processes may be utilized to remove bacteria from the water body. Such processes may include reverse osmosis, which removes 99.9 percent of all bacteria and purifies the water for safe consumption. Ultrafiltration, ceramic filtration and ultraviolet filtration are other processes that have been effectively utilized in treatment plants.
Which treatment method works best? It really depends on the type of wastewater that you’re treating and what the intended end use of the water is. Water that is repurposed for human use or consumption will need to take a more rigorous approach to disinfection and treatment than water that’s going to be used in industrial processes, for example.
Do you need help identifying the best wastewater treatment methods or assistance managing wastewater? If so, consider working with a qualified wastewater solutions provider to manage your programs and meet your goals. From maintenance to the management of all wastewater systems and the infrastructure that brings wastewater from drains to plants, a good provider can serve as a true asset to your municipality, campus or facility.
