Sewage Treatment And Management

By Author: Jeremy Miller
Total Articles: 21
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Wastewater is water that has been affected by outside human influences. It can be comprised of liquid waste from commercial properties, industry, agriculture, and domestic residences. Sewage is wastewater that has been contaminated by human excrement and is also often used to describe any type of wastewater.

Sewage treatment and wastewater management are techniques used to remove sewage and wastewater contaminants. The techniques used involve physical, chemical, and biological processes and are important in creating environmentally safe waste for disposal or reuse. Some wastewater has even been turned into safely consumable water by using these processes.

A lot of sewage is collected using gravity sewers, force mains, manholes, regulators and lift stations. The sewage is then conveyed to the water treatment plant using systems such as local sewers, combined sewers, intercommunity relief sewers, interceptor sewers, automated regulators and pump stations. Use of these systems ensures the wastewater is safely transported to the wastewater management plants where it can then go through the treatment process. The treatment ...
... process used consists of two treatments: primary treatment and secondary treatment. During the primary treatment dirt, sand, and other solids are removed. However, there are still solids that have been left behind, so a secondary treatment (using a biological process) is used to remove the remaining solids. After this treatment is complete, the safe water is released to a river or lake.

Some homes and businesses do not have connections to any collection and conveyance system that relays the wastewater to the city’s waste management facilities. In this case, alternative methods are used such as septic tanks, personal wastewater treatment plants, and cesspools. Determining the right method of wastewater management depends on the situation it will be used in. Septic tanks are appropriate for almost any situation and use an anaerobic bacterial environment within the tank to decompose and mineralize the waste. Personal wastewater treatment plants are great because they are somewhat easier to install and more environmentally friendly by using filtration systems. With many septic tanks, conversion kits can be purchased so one can turn their septic tank into a water treatment plant. Cesspools are simply holding tanks and should be used as a last resort since they have to be emptied very regularly.

Septic tanks and personal wastewater treatment plants can actually be more beneficial than using local wastewater treatment plants as they provide onsite wastewater treatment instead of the sewage being sent to a public wastewater treatment facility. This will allow homeowners and business owners to save money by not paying for sewer lines and to benefit from groundwater being cleaned onsite which will provide more clean water for plants to grow and assist in keeping a better water supply. Using these methods over city sewage treatment plants also reduces the risk of raw sewage leaking and contaminating local groundwater. This problem can occur when sewer lines age and are not properly maintained. Properly maintained and installed septic tanks and personal wastewater treatment plants do not carry this same risk and are much more environmentally friendly.

J Restall has expertise in sewage treatment. He has written many informative articles on sewage treatment as well.