WASTEWATER TREATMENT
Most of us ignore the advice of environmentalists and water conservationists that water is ‘blue gold,’ that it is valuable, and that we must conserve it. Maybe it’s because we tend to take water for granted. Why shouldn’t we? Our modern lifestyle provides us the luxury of having clean water 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For so many of us, all we have to do is turn on the tap or shower, and clean water flows out. We flush the toilet, and dirty water flows away. We open the fridge, and we have available a seemingly endless stream of cool, clear, drinkable water, whenever we feel the need.
We use the toilet and all human waste drains away through a pipeline. But do we ever pause to think what happens to our dirty shit when we flush our toilets? Where exactly does the water end up? What happens with the used water afterward?
No! We don’t care– but we should be concerned. Everyone should be concerned because it impacts us from a personal as well as an environmental standpoint.
Whether we think about it or not, the truth is that wastewater is a typical by-product of our current way of life. It continues to affect our lives even after the water that we use in washing machines, dishwashers, and many other appliances disappear in the drain.
Let’s find out how, but first things first— let’s start with few basic concepts.
What is wastewater?
Wastewater is the form of water whose physical, chemical, or biological properties have been changed due to the introduction of certain contaminated substances. Some of the substances include:
- Human waste (feces and urine)
- Hair shampoo
- Hair strands
- Cleaning supplies
- Food scraps
- Fat
- Detergent powder
- Fabric conditioners
- Toilet paper
- Chemicals
- Household cleaners
- Dirt
- Plastic bags
- Micro-organisms (germs)
- Oils
- Soaps and chemicals
Apart from household sanitary waste, domestic wastewater from the kitchen and laundry is also generated as runoff from wet roads.
Businesses and industrial units also add to the amount of wastewater. This contaminated water is unfit for human consumption and requires to be treated before being released into another body of water to prevent additional contamination of water sources.
Types of Wastewater
There are three types of wastewater or sewage:
Domestic Wastewater
Also called sanitary sewage, it includes toilet wastes; used water from sinks, baths, showers, washing machines, and dishwashers; and anything else that can be put down the drain or flushed down the toilet.
Industrial Wastewater
It includes used water from manufacturing or chemical processes.
Storm Wastewater
It is runoff from streets, lawns, farms, and other land areas that are collected in a system of pipes or open channels.
What are the pollutants in wastewater?
Water is said to be polluted in broad terms when it contains enough contaminants to make it inappropriate for a specific use, such as drinking, swimming, or fishing. A wide spectrum of impurities can be found in wastewater. The quantities and concentrations of these substances are determined by their source. The principal impurities found are:
Domestic Wastewater – Usually contains putrescible organic waste materials and plant nutrients (compounds of nitrogen and phosphorus), but domestic sewage is also very likely to contain millions of disease-causing microorganisms per gallon.
Industrial Wastewater – Usually contains distinct and easily recognizable chemical compounds as well as significant concentrations of suspended solids, depending on the nature of the industrial process.
Storm Wastewater – Usually contains nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants from fertilizers; organic materials; grease, oil, pesticides, and other chemicals from gardens, bacteria from pet waste; and sediments from construction sites, and other substances picked from the ground during the course of its travel.
What makes wastewater so dangerous?
Water is usually tainted with mineral impurities or microbial and bacterial growth. When this wastewater reaches the water that is used as a community’s drinking water source, it can lead to serious health consequences. Pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites (including worms and protozoans) found in wastewater are harmful to humans and can lead to a variety of ailments. In sewage and sewage sludge, fungi can cause skin, eye, and respiratory illnesses. Gastroenteritis can be caused by a variety of bacteria in wastewater. Cryptosporidium-related infections, Hepatitis A, typhoid, polio, cholera, and dysentery are all diseases spread by wastewater. These diseases can be life-threatening. Scientists estimate that wastewater includes hundreds of disease-causing organisms that have yet to be identified.
Improperly disposed wastewater can also have a detrimental influence on the environment. Metals including mercury, lead, cadmium, chromium, and arsenic can be hazardous to animals in both acute and chronic forms. Other compounds, such as some pharmaceutical and personal care items, which reach the environment mostly through wastewater effluents, can endanger aquatic life, and animals. Excess nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen (including ammonia), can cause eutrophication (excessive growth of algae and plankton), which can be toxic to aquatic organisms. Fishes and another aquatic biota may be unable to thrive, their reproductive cycles may be disrupted, oxygen levels may be depleted, habitat may be altered, and it may result in the extinction of certain valuable species of fish (e.g., trout). Aquatic invertebrates, algae, maybe poisoned by chlorine compounds and inorganic chloramines. Bacteria, viruses, and disease-causing organisms may contaminate beaches and shellfish populations, limiting human recreation, drinking water intake, and shellfish consumption.
What is Water Treatment?
The process of transforming used or polluted water into a level of purification that renders it fit for the next usage in agriculture, industry, and even as a potable drinking source is known as tertiary water treatment. It is a necessary process that eliminates toxins and impurities from water and allows it to be reused.
Turning wastewater into something that can be reused is a difficult operation that can only be done properly at a facility like a wastewater treatment system. This type of treatment eliminates all solids, germs, bacteria, sediments, plants, inorganic compounds, organic compounds, and algae to turn it into environmentally acceptable water that can even be used as drinking water once it has passed through all the different levels of filtration.
Last Drops
Because of the major health issues that wastewater can create, water treatment has become a viable option to minimize environmental damage as well as human illness, misery, and death. By treating wastewater, you not only safeguard the organisms that live on it, but you also safeguard the earth as a whole. It’s about taking care of our surroundings as well as our personal health.
Benefits of Waste Water Treatment
Wastewater treatment is the process of converting wastewater that is no longer needed or is no longer suitable for human consumption – into reusable water that is safe for discharge back into the local environment. Wastewater from toilets, sinks, washing machines, baths, and other residential water-using appliances is collected, stored, treated, and disposed of by a wastewater treatment system.
Because wastewater is such a serious problem, treating it should be promoted on a regular basis. This will not only help preserve water, opening the path for a healthy and sustainable environment, but it will also protect millions of people from water-borne diseases.
In India, wastewater treatment plants have become an integral pillar of the wastewater management landscape.
There are several benefits that go with wastewater treatment. Here are the major benefits of wastewater treatment system:
Eliminates Potential Diseases
Wastewater treatment systems kill dangerous organisms as well as disease-causing microorganisms. Before the wastewater leaves the tank and enters the ground, it is filtered to remove these impurities. Diseases are prevented from entering water sources or reaching plants and farm animals through this filtration process.
Provides clean, safe water
Many people are unaware that wastewater can be converted into useful water. During the treatment process, toxins are eliminated, resulting in clean and safe water. Only about 3% of the world’s water is drinkable. Although it is a renewable resource, evaporation, and rain take a long time to eliminate contaminants. The procedure is speedier with wastewater treatment, and it helps provide crystal clear saline water.
Environment friendly
It is one of the most important environmental conservation processes. The primary goal of water treatment is to remove hazardous contaminants. As a result, when it enters the earth, it will have no detrimental impact on the ecosystem. If you’re dealing with industrial garbage, it could be a hassle. It is suggested that a high-quality wastewater treatment system be purchased as a significant expenditure.
Helps in Water Conservation
It indigenously utilizes nature’s most valuable natural resource: water.
It ensures that enough water is available for other uses such as irrigation, to cool machines in factories and industries. It will reduce the need for freshwater, so saving water in some ways. That is why it is critical to promote this process and make it a regular part of our life.
Water bodies Protection
A major impact of wastewater on the environment is that it contributes to the protection of natural ecosystems, as well as the species that live there, by preventing their exposure to hazardous chemicals that threaten their basic survival.
We are convinced that the Post COVID era will bring with it huge opportunities & stability for all entrepreneurs. It will also present us with a new set of challenges that most businesses will have to endure. Waste Water Treatment projects are a compulsory subject for the C&I sector in PAN India.
As our upcoming Waste Water Treatment projects, we are completing in the next 2 years. Out of that, we are closing on 3 business models among others, namely:
i. Current CAPEX model
ii. OPEX/LEASE model
iii. Deferred Payment model wherein off-taker will pay for the cost of equipment in form of EMIs in 5 – 7 years. EMI calculations need to be done to arrive at monthly EMI which is commercially viable for both SNAD, our partner Investor, and off-taker.