Wastewater Treatment

Running head: WASTEWATER TREATMENT MANAGEMENT

Wastewater Treatment Management in El Paso County

Lee Campos

Karen Mahich

Emilie Martinez

University of Phoenix

Wastewater treatment

What is wastewater and why is it treated? In short wastewater is water that has been used, and comes from things such as sinks, bathtubs, toilets, washing machines, dishwashers and even storm runoff. Because it has been used it contains things like food scraps, human waste, chemicals, soap, and oils. Although nature can treat these things naturally in small amounts, society has taken hold and made mass amounts of wastewater. This would devastate nature if released back into the environment without being treated to remove the pollutants. Some of the negative impacts include harm to wildlife and the fish population, depletion of oxygen, restrictions on recreational water use and contamination of drinking water. An example of some pollutants that can be found in wastewater are; decaying organic matter, phosphorus and nitrogen, chlorine compounds and inorganic chloramines, bacteria, viruses and disease-causing pathogens, metals and other substances. The general principal of treating wastewater is to remove the pollutants, and treatment facilities are designed in stages to do just that.

Influent

This is the preliminary step of the treatment process "Influent is the raw material that has been collected and conveyed to the plant for treatment. It includes all the water and debris that entered the collection system."(water.me.vccs.edu )

Primary treatment

This is the second step in the wastewater treatment program and separates the suspended solids, and floatables from the wastewater flow using primary clarifiers. This process is made up of screening and a gravitational settling. After the floatables are collected they are sent to a sludge holding tank. The primary treatment does not eliminate the inorganic and organic compounds that remain suspended in the wastewater, in fact, it does very little. In some countries like Mexico for example only use the primary treatment, their laws aren't as strict.

Secondary treatment

There are several secondary treatments;

Trickling filter is a secondary treatment process that uses bacteria and microorganisms (aerobic bacteria's) in aerated rock beds to degrade the organic material in the water.

Activated sludge treatment after the wastewater is circulated through the bacteria rich particles and aerated the suspended organic material is suspended and the particles are allowed