Waste Water Treatment

Introduction

Wastewater treatment is a series of physical, chemical and biological processes are aimed at eliminating the physical, chemical and biological agents present in the effluent water for human use. The goal of treatment is to produce clean water (or treated effluent) or reusable in the environment and a solid waste or sludge (also called bio-solids or sludge) suitable for disposal or reuse. It is very common to call waste water treatment to distinguish it from drinking water treatment. The wastewater is generated by residences, institutions and commercial and industrial. These can be treated within the site which are generated (e.g. septic tanks or other means of treatment) or can be picked up and carried through a network of pipes - and eventually bombs - a municipal treatment plant. Efforts to collect and treat domestic wastewater discharge are typically subject to local regulations and standards, state and federal (regulations and controls). Often certain pollutants from industrial sources present in wastewater treatment processes require specialized.

Brief History

Wastewater problems are very old. But it was not until the mid to late 18th century that management of water quality and wastewater began. Events such as the Broad Street cholera epidemic in London led to the enactment of the first regulations to protect public health and drinking water from wastewater discharges. The “sanitary idea” of Edwin Chadwick in London proposed that wastewater must be collected via sewerage networks away from the highly populated centers and the community water supply sources. The collected untreated wastewater was then discharged untreated into water bodies further downstream of communities. Engineers during these times favored the construction of drinking water treatment plants instead of having to spend money in treating wastewater prior to its being discharged.

Concern for the pollution of rivers resulted in the creation of the first type of surface water quality standards, the “dilution standards,” which are still used today in combination with what are known as “end of pipe” effluent standards (for wastewater treatment plants, or WWTPs), and ambient water quality standards for the protection of river basins.

Broad irrigation and intermittent filtration of wastewater on land were the first known types of treatment other than discharging untreated wastewater into water bodies. Intermittent filtration was the first step in the development of sewage treatment techniques that involved the biochemical oxidation of the organic matter. In the late 19th century, several methods of sewage treatment were developed and tested. Examples of the new technologies developed in that period were the contact and trickling filters developed by Joseph Dibdin and the septic tank developed by Donald Cameron. Modifications to the Cameron septic tank later followed. Modern technologies evolved from these simple but effective wastewater treatment systems.

Discussion

Water is pumped into a column containing activated carbon; the water leaves the column through a drainage system. The activity of active carbon column depends on the temperature and the nature of the substances. The water passes through the column constantly, resulting in an accumulation of substances in the filter. For that reason ...