Chemistry

Waste Water treatment

The principal objective of wastewater treatment is generally to allow human and industrial effluents to be disposed of without danger to human health or unacceptable damage to the natural environment. The most appropriate wastewater treatment to be applied before effluent use in agriculture is that which will produce an effluent meeting the recommended microbiological and chemical quality guidelines both at low cost and with minimal operational and maintenance requirements. There are two wastewater treatment plants namely chemical or physical treatment plant, and biological wastewater treatment plant. Biological waste treatment plants use biological matter and bacteria to break down waste matter. Physical waste treatment plants use chemical reactions as well as physical processes to treat wastewater. The following is a step by step process of how wastewater is treated:

1. Wastewater Collection-Collection system is put in place by municipal administrations, to ensure waste water is collected and directed to a central point. This water is then directed to a treatment plant using underground drainage systems or by exhauster tracks owned and operated by business people.

2. Odor Control-Wastewater contains a lot of dirty substances that cause a foul smell over time.  All odor sources are contained and treated using chemicals to neutralize the foul smell producing elements.

3. Screening-Screening involves the removal of large objects for example nappies, cotton buds, plastics, diapers, rags, sanitary items, nappies, face wipes, broken bottles or bottle tops that in one way or another may damage the equipment.

4. Primary Treatment-his process involves the separation of macrobiotic solid matter from the wastewater.

5. Secondary Treatment-Also known as the activated sludge process, the secondary treatment stage involves adding seed sludge to the wastewater to ensure that is broken down further.

7. Tertiary treatment- The tertiary treatment stage has the ability to remove up to 99 percent of the impurities from the wastewater. This produces effluent water that is close to drinking water quality.