Sewage sludge

Sampling Wastewater at a Wastewater Treatment Facility 1993 EPA Training Film

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• published: 06 Jun 2015
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more at http://scitech.quickfound.net/environment/environment_news.html 'National Small Flows Clearinghouse - Sampling Wastewater at a Wastewater Treatment Facility: Covers Sampling Trip preparations, wastewater sampling techniques, and facility self-monitoring and program review.' Public domain film from the US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wastewater_treatment Wastewater treatment is a process to convert wastewater - which is water no longer needed or suitable for its most recent use - into an effluent that can be either returned to the water cycle with minimal environmental issues or reused. The latter is called water reclamation and implies avoidance of disposal by use of treated wastewater effluent for various purposes. Treatment means removing impurities from water being treated; and some methods of treatment are applicable to both water and wastewater. The physical infrastructure used for wastewater treatment is called a "wastewater treatment plant" (WWTP). The treatment of wastewater belongs to the over-arching field of sanitation, with the management of human waste, solid waste, sewage treatment, stormwater (drainage) management, and water treatment. By-products from wastewater treatment plants, such as screenings, grit and sewage sludge may also be treated in a wastewater treatment plant. If the wastewater is predominantly from municipal sources (households and small industries) it is called sewage and its treatment is called sewage treatment... Disposal or reuse Although disposal or reuse occurs after treatment, it must be considered first. Since disposal or reuse are the objectives of wastewater treatment, disposal or reuse options are the basis for treatment decisions. Acceptable impurity concentrations may vary with the type of use or location of disposal. Transportation costs often make acceptable impurity concentrations dependent upon location of disposal, but expensive treatment requirements may encourage selection of a disposal location on the basis of impurity concentrations. Ocean disposal is subject to international treaty requirements. International treaties may also regulate disposal into rivers crossing international borders. Water bodies entirely within the jurisdiction of a single nation may be subject to regulations of multiple local governments. Acceptable impurity concentrations may vary widely among different juridictions for disposal of wastewater to evaporation ponds, infiltration basins, or injection wells. Processes used Phase separation Phase separation transfers impurities into a non-aqueous phase. Phase separation may occur at intermediate points in a treatment sequence to remove solids generated during oxidation or polishing. Grease and oil may be recovered for fuel or saponification. Solids often require dewatering of sludge in a wastewater treatment plant. Disposal options for dried solids vary with the type and concentration of impurities removed from water. Production of waste brine, however, may discourage wastewater treatment removing dissolved inorganic solids from water by methods like ion exchange, reverse osmosis, and distillation. Sedimentation Solids and non-polar liquids may be removed from wastewater by gravity when density differences are sufficient to overcome dispersion by turbulence. Gravity separation of solids is the primary treatment of sewage, where the unit process is called "primary settling tanks" or "primary sedimentation tanks". It is also widely used for the treatment of other wastewaters. Solids that are heavier than water will accumulate at the bottom of quiescent settling basins. More complex clarifiers also have skimmers to simultaneously remove floating grease like soap scum and solids like feathers or wood chips. Containers like the API oil-water separator are specifically designed to separate non-polar liquids. Filtration Colloidal suspensions of fine solids may be removed by filtration through fine physical barriers distinguished from coarser screens or sieves by the ability to remove particles smaller than the openings through which the water passes. Other types of water filters remove impurities by chemical or biological processes described below. Oxidation Oxidation reduces the biochemical oxygen demand of wastewater, and may reduce the toxicity of some impurities... Industrial wastewater treatment plants Disposal of wastewaters from an industrial plant is a difficult and costly problem. Most petroleum refineries, chemical and petrochemical plants have onsite facilities to treat their wastewaters...