Downs.MMA.Spring2009.EnergyandWater

Waste water treatment Wastewater is mainly comprised of the water that goes down the drain such as, showers, sinks, dishwasher, washing machine, and toilets. The average person produces over 265 liters of waste water every day. When the water goes down the drain it’s forced by gravity to go down the sewerage pipes and heads to the treatment plant. When the water gets to the waste water treatment plant it is first screened for anything that might have been in the sewerage pipes like dead animals, wood, and any other foreign object that could cause harm to someone. After the screening process it then goes to settling tank to separate the solids out of the liquids. Once they have been separated the liquids get chlorinated and become clean reusable water. The solids are pumped to the aeration treatment facility where the solids will be exposed to microorganisms to decompose them and the water gets separated from the remaining waste. The remaining waste is then shipped off to a landfill.
 * how it works. **



Greenhouse gases bad.

When the sludge is brought to the aeration tanks energy is needed to treat the sludge and decompose. The energy used comes from fossil fuels and produces co2 in two ways. One way is from the use of the energy which omits greenhouse gases. The second way is the natural co2 that is omitted from the decomposing sludge in the aeration tanks. Scientist are trying to produce more natural co2 which is used as renewable energy by turning to alternative energy instead of fossil fuels. By changing from anaerobic to aerobic sludge treatment processes (for the same aerobic main process) has a massive impact on the CO2 production from fossil fuels. An additional 0.8 kg CO2/kg COD(removed) is produced by changing to aerobic sludge digestion, which equates for a typical 100,000 EP plant to an additional production of over 10 t CO2 per day. Preliminary cost estimates confirm that the largely anaerobic process option is a fully competitive alternative to the mainly aerobic processes used, while achieving the same effluent quality.



The importance of H2O

Treating wastewater helps to produce reusable water in a fast and efficient way. Water is a precious resource and the average person uses over 265 liters of water a day. The natural process to clean and reuse the water would take too long and the wastewater treatment speeds up the process to fit the demand for water and recycles it into the population. This process is important because this one molecule sustains life and allows it to flourish. Without clean water viruses and harmful bacteria would create a cesspool that would be harmful for any creature that drank it.