Definition of Wastewater
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Florencia Ucha, in Nov. 2012
The concept of sewage water designate the one type of water that is especially contaminated with human or animal fecal matter and urine.
Waters contaminated with substances toxic to living beings and used in domestic or industrial instances
Although of course, it is not only reduced to this presence, they also have other residual substances from the domestic, industrial, water rain, and the typical infiltration of water on the ground.
Wastewater is not clean water, it is dirty and contaminated by that use that it covers, it may contain fats, detergents, organic material, industrial waste, agricultural livestock and toxic substances, among others.
Purification treatment to eliminate pollutants before being returned to the natural environment
Therefore, these waters, before being returned to nature, to come into contact with the environment again natural, must be purified, treated in a special way, so that they are released from the aforementioned toxic agents that invaded.
Then, wastewater must be properly treated in treatment plants, to which they enter as soon as they leave their use in the aforementioned contexts and before entering in contact with the nature.
These plants undergo a treatment that will try to restore their natural properties and eradicate toxicity or contamination they have had.
Unfortunately, in many towns and cities this much-needed purification work is not carried out on wastewater and it is directly discharged into rivers and other waters.
Of course that such irresponsible and negligent action regarding the health care of the environment has caused tremendous consequences on those waters in which they drain, such is the case of the instantaneous death of living beings and the pollution, generating that these waters are not in any way suitable to be taken and not to come into contact with any living being for him danger of toxicity they represent.
They are also designated as sewage water and this is in relation to the fact that they are transported through the sewers, which are works designed precisely to evacuate waters of this type or another type of water that has use.
As a consequence of the threat concrete that they suppose for the medium environment and also for the health of living beings, wastewater requires special treatment systems to release precisely these highly polluting substances.
Therefore, this type of water must be carefully treated to protect public health as well as to take care of our natural environment.
Treatment phases
First of all, its composition must be known for sure, a phase that is called water characterization.
Through this, we will know the biological and chemical elements present, and thus, based on this information, expert professionals will design a suitable treatment plant.
The ultimate goal is for the water to return to the environment in a purified way and free of all pollutants.
Depending on the type of contamination that exists, it will be decided which is the best method to apply it.
For example, in the case of suspended matter, sedimentation and filtration, and in the case of matter already dissolved, biological treatments are used.
The wastewater that enters the treatment plant or station remains for a few hours and receives a treatment that involves: removal of large waste, such as grease and sand, or solid.
The water is then allowed to settle in a decanter pond; Floating debris will accumulate on the surface and the heaviest debris on the bottom, and all of them will be removed automatically.
Once its treatment is satisfactory, the water is returned to a natural course such as the river or it is destined for other uses.
It should be noted that it is also indispensable that the plant that is developed for the purposes of treating wastewater has strict regulations that protect the environment, it is say, that their activity does not cause annoying odors, or the possibility of contracting some type of condition, for those who live around the herself.
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