Wastewater Treatment

Water is a key element in the function of day-to-day domestic, commercial and industrial operations.

Cleaning, washing, irrigation, cooling and heating are but a handful of the essential daily operations that rely on it. Inevitably, with water comes wastewater; and in industrial and commercial applications where water use is far higher, equally high volumes of wastewater are produced.

Sources of wastewater

Municipal and Domestic:

Toilets
Showers
Baths
Kitchen sinks
Laundries
Stormwater

Industrial or trade:

Manufacturing operations:
- Food processing
- Heating and cooling towers
- Cleaning plant equipment

Common contaminants

Human waste
Detergents, soaps and chemicals
Bleaches
Fats and oils
Bacteria and pathogens
Salts
Food residue

Sewage vs. Wastewater

Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, sewage refers to a subset of wastewater that is often associated with human waste from domestic and commercial sites. Wastewater simply refers to the diverse array of contaminated water from all sources.

So how can this wastewater be handled?

There are various laws and regulations that surround how wastewater can be handled. In urban areas, sewage is often simply pumped to a municipal sewage treatment facility while industrial wastewater will likely require pre-treatment onsite before being channelled to the municipal facility. In remote locations, both domestic and industrial sites are often required to supply their own sewage and wastewater treatment systems, and treated effluent is released to the land as irrigation.