What is household wastewater?

What is industrial wastewater?

One of the most dangerous polluting wastes produced by human beings is wastewater. This name groups together all the waters that, due to the action of man, have been contaminated and are potentially dangerous if they are discharged into the environment without prior treatment. However, it must be taken into account that, although all of them are wastewater, they are not all the same, nor do they all contain the same quantity and quality of pollutants. If you want to know a little more about what wastewater is and how it is classified, keep reading EcologíaVerde and we will explain it to you.

Wastewater pdf

Wastewater or also called sewage is any type of water whose quality has been negatively affected by anthropogenic influence. Wastewater includes used water, domestic, urban and industrial or mining liquid waste disposed of, or water that has been mixed with the above (rainwater or natural water). Its importance is such that it requires channeling, treatment and disposal systems. Its null or improper treatment generates serious pollution problems. FAO defines wastewater as:

Water that has no immediate value for the purpose for which it was used or for the purpose for which it was produced because of its quality, quantity or the time at which it is disposed of. However, wastewater from one user may serve as a supply for another user at another location. Cooling water is not considered wastewater.

Urban wastewater is usually piped through a sewerage network and treated in wastewater treatment plants for purification before discharge, although this is not always the case in all countries. Wastewater generated in areas or dwellings without access to a centralized sewerage network is treated on site, usually in septic tanks, and more rarely in septic drain fields, and sometimes with biofilters.

Types of wastewater

Domestic wastewater is the product of the use of the liquid in the different activities of a household, which produces a level of water pollution that can manifest the presence of solids, organic waste, detergents, soaps and grease, which requires a process for its elimination.

The treatment process begins with the collection of wastewater through septic tanks in which the first purification step is carried out, in this part an anaerobic effect is carried out in which the solid waste settles in the water, forming a muddy material product of the settlement of the waste, which facilitates its subsequent filtering.

Due to the large number of uses that can be made of water in households, the level of contamination of the water often requires more extensive purification processes in wastewater treatment to free it from residues such as feces, fats or harmful minerals.  Highly certified technological equipment is used by treatment plants to decontaminate the liquid.

Domestic wastewater treatment plants

Go to contentWastewater is all water that has been affected by human use. and is a mixture of organic and inorganic materials that may be dissolved or in suspension.The average characteristics of domestic wastewater are established in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSS).Types of wastewaterThere are three types of wastewater:Wastewater treatment is more demanding in the case of industrial wastewater.Types of domestic wastewater