Environmental Benefits of Wastewater Treatment
Life thrives on Earth due to the presence of water, and water is a scarce commodity. However, what many fail to notice is that water is also a depleting resource. To put things into perspective, imagine this – only 3% of the water on this planet is suitable for human consumption. Now, out of the 3%, 2% is locked in the form of solid ice at the poles. What does that leave us with?
To top it, the precious little that we have is polluted. According to U.S. EPA, about 3.28 billion gallons of sewage from industrial and household waste of the nation is dumped into water bodies every day. This alarming practice has given rise to waterborne diseases that affect two million children under the age of 5 years.
photo D. Sharon Pruitt from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, USA
Given these circumstances, the UN has made its primary goal to address the increasing water scarcity in the world. To address this challenge UN lays stress on wastewater management that focuses on treating water polluted with sewage, toxic chemicals, and industrial wastes.
Wastewater Treatment
Treating wastewater comes into three stages:
Stage 1: A permeable screen filters out large, physical pollutants like metal, paper, and plastic from the wastewater. Then, the filter removes finer particles of grit and silt,and water enters an aeration tank.
Stage 2: The aeration tank pumps water with microorganisms that can consume organic pollutants and waste nutrients to convert them into oxygen. This improves the quality of water. Once treated with microbes, the aerated water flows to a sedimentation tank.
Stage 3: The third stage involves chlorination where the water gets chemically treated to kill any pathogens that can cause illness. If the treated water is supposed to come in close contact with humans, then this stage is repeated more than once to ensure that the water is free of disease-causing microorganisms.
Benefits of Wastewater Treatment
Environmentalists stress on wastewater management because mere one liter of wastewater can pollute approximately eight liters of clean water, deeming it unfit for consumption. Polluted water can cause serious illnesses like cholera, dysentery, and gastroenteritis.To prevent such pollution, it is necessary to treat the wastewater before letting it out in water bodies. Apart from keeping water unpolluted, there are other benefits of wastewater management too:
- Great for the environment: Apart from humans, treated wastewater is good for the natural ecosystem too. They decrease introduction of toxins and chemicals into the water cycle. This leads to healthy vegetation and prolific wildlife.
- Production of biogas: The biodegradable waste separated from wastewater may produce methane, a biogas, that can fuel electricity. A good number of wastewater plants can help propel electricity for a designated area serving as an alternative and green energy source.
- Creates employment: A wastewater plant plays a key role in providing employment to people in the ecological sector. There people required to monitor and research on the contamination levels of water. This pollution-free plant also attracts eco-tourists who help in creating awareness about the grave problem our planet faces today.
A clean future is still within our reach, that is, if we act now. And, setting up a wastewater plant is the first step towards it.
Author: Lee Sadaowski
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