Evaul.Erickson.Wiki.spring.2011

=WASTE WATER TREATMENT=

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 * __THE PROBLEM AT HAND-__**

Nature itself is amazing in that it can handle some amounts of waste water and other pollutions.Think of how many times you flush the toilet a day, or take a shower or run the sink; now multiply that by how many people we have on this planet and you have an extreme amount of water that is being used and without treating it, the environment would be overwhelmed with the pollution and the amount of waste water. Waste water or sewage is not only water used in the bathroom It is also, food, chemicals, oils and soaps.It is storm runoff. Most people believe that rain is safe, but in reality it is not. It contains bacteria and chemicals picked up along its travel to the sewage. So put together the daily use of water from everyday people to restaurants and businesses and also storms, and you have a huge problem on your hands with treating water to become clean so we do not run out of fresh water. So the problem we have is that if we could not treat the water, we would eventually run out of fresh water and pollute the earth beyond belief.Think of place with a lot of poverty without waste water treatment and how bad disease and sicknesses spread do to polluted, unhealthy, non consumable water. This also makes it hard for places without fresh healthy water to plant food and this could eventually lead to famines and starvation of entire communities world wide.The waste water treatment plants we have throughout the world take all the water and treat it so the water is able to return to the environment in a healthy way.


 * __How Wastewater Treatment Works__**

The wastewater from out homes and rain runoff are recycled and reused for everything except drinking water; only Singapore uses their recycled water for drinking water. There are many steps in the treatment of reused water. This process must be precise otherwise it could endanger many people. The first step in the treatment of wastewater is called the Preliminary Treatment. In this stepof the treatment the wastewater flows through a screen that allows only 6mm sized particles to flow through. This means that rocks thick mud and other large sized debris will not make it past this stage. These larger particles usually will flow to some sort of landfill or sewage dump. The next step in wastewater treatment is called the Primary Treatment. In this stage the wastewater sits in tanks that allow the particles that made it through the first stage to sink. This is called the sludge, after it collects at the bottom of the tank it is pumped out of the tank full of water. Also during this stage, the oil and lighter substances float to the top of the water and are skimmed off the water. Secondary Treatment uses bacteria to get the dissolved oxygen-demanding organic substances out of the water. After the bacteria is used to its full potential, the bacteria and water are then separated using gravity. The last stage of the treatment is called Tertiary Treatment. This stage removes anything from the water that may be harmful such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and viruses. After this stage is complete the water treatment cycles is complete and the recycled water is ready to use.



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Have you ever seen how its made? well this is a great video similar to that show that'll help show you exactly how the process of reclaimed water is done, from your toilets to your sprinklers this is the process in between, ENJOY!

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 * __How Useful is Wastewater Treatment?__**

Wastewater treatment is becoming more and more popular as a way to reuse water. One country has actually started to use recycled water as a drinking source. You may think “drinking human terd? That’s just awful” but Singapore, the lonely nation, has taken their water treatment to a higher level and can purify their water to a point were it can be safely used as drinking water. Singapore is not the only country using reclaimed water however; in the U.S. in 1995 (the last year for which wastewater-treatment data was compiled) about 44,400 wastewater-treatment plants sent 44,600 million gallons per day of treated water back into the environment. About 983 million gallons per day was used for mainly irrigation. That’s a lot of reclaimed poo water used to water my lawn. All in all, wastewater treatment is extremely useful and effective.



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__WHAT PEOPLE ARE DOING AND NOT DOING TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.-__

If you asked someone what they were doing to help the environment and help us sustain a healthy world, they would probably say something like," I recycle." To the common person, especially in America, waste water treatment is not that big of thing, but to someone who knows how important it is and how important it will be in the future, it is extremely important. The problem we have as a planet as a whole on top of the problem of producing freshwater is that we are not doing as much as we could to help the problem. Many people are doing the exact opposite of helping the problem. People do not realize that poring chemicals down the sink or poring oil in the non appropriate disposals is going to cause the problem to increase to a new extreme. On the other hand, there are people who are doing good to help the issue. The waste water treatment plants that we have throughout our world are going to be huge for our success as a planet to sustain a fresh water supply for the years to come. The people who are involved with the building,designing, daily operation and work put into the plants are just some of the people who are helping us resolve some of the problem. Other people that are helping is pretty much anyone who is aware of the situation and takes any kind of action to help. Including saving water, which means don't long showers, don't eat a lot;which means you don't poo a lot, therefore you do not flush as much. On a serious note, anytime you need to dispose of chemicals or any other waste that needs to be treated to be made into freshwater, don't just dump in in the woods or leave it in parking lot, do the right thing and dispose of it correctly so that in 100 years from now you are not drinking your own poo or the antifreeze you dump in you front yard that went into your water table and is now poisoning your water. In the following article the exact subject of treating water is talked about. It touches on what needs to be done and what is not being to to solve the problem. So if you would like to be further educated, i would suggest you read it.

"The World Needs a Unified Policy on Water
On March 22, the world will celebrate World Water Day. This year's theme focuses on the impact of rapid urbanization, climate change and natural disasters on water systems. This initiative was created by **//[|UN-Water]//**. With access to water set to become a serious global issue, now is the time the international community needs to ask what else can be done to address this pressing issue. The data speaks for itself. By 2025, it is estimated that about two thirds of the world's population (roughly 5.5 billion people) could be living in areas facing moderate to severe water stress. According to UN-Water, 827.6 million people living in slums lack safe drinking water and sanitation facilities across the world. The United Nation's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) report says that the world could see more than 800 million people without clean drinking water and 1.8 billion people deprived of basic sanitation by 2015. In the ghettos of Jakarta, Manila and Nairobi, poor people pay 5 to 10 times more for water than those living in high-income areas like in London or New York. More than 2 million people are reported to have died of water-borne diseases in the year 2000. It is universally believed that water is a basic human right. But achieving this right has been a distant dream for many. The stark reality of the present scenario means that in the future, nations will be fighting wars to seize control over water resources. Water will become one of the most significant issues that will change the dynamics of International Relations. The present equation between nations will no longer remain the same. Such concerns have been raised and asserted many times by academics, activists groups and individuals yet surprisingly, the resultant response of the global community has been passive, vague and disoriented. At present, UN-Water exists to help various countries achieve their MDGs. But this organization is just a ‘mechanism', not a concrete platform that can combat water related issues. Moreover, the visibility of such an organization and its capabilities are negligible. Many states also have their own national water policies. As far as effective implementation of water policies is concerned, developed nations are farther ahead than developing countries. In the cases of less-developed nations like India, half hearted actions are reflected in the way that national water policies are implemented. This is evident from drying and polluted water bodies, senseless wastage of water, de-regulation for industrial use and lack of public awareness, which speaks highly of the pathetic reality on the ground. Also, we lack authentic data on the depleting condition of water resources, usage and wastage of water, and lack of political will to address this challenge. Taking into account the nature of the issue, pure hegemony may not be a relevant way to address it. A multilateral water regime is needed, where both states and non-state actors can negotiate policies that address the issues of water suitably. This present grappling context presents the United States and the European Union with a new opportunity to come forward and take the lead in addressing the issue of water. Both players have had their differences in climate change, owing to their respective stance on the climate debate, which has caused a considerable strain in their relationship. Therefore, no credible breakthrough has been achieved in the climate negotiations. Global issues cannot be solved effectively unless the US and the EU work in a united way for it. Therefore, the issue of water has potential to open up a new and significant chapter in the transatlantic relationship where both the EU and the US can work together in engaging other nations to form a multilateral regime under which an effective //Global Water Policy// can be formulated. This policy has to be comprehensive and workable for nations according to their realities on the ground, both at macro and micro level. Certain key areas which have to be emphasized and incorporated for the global response to this strategic issue are: > The world cannot afford to sit back and wait for the worst to happen. Already a lot of damage and wastage has been done to our water bodies at every level. Recently, the effort of the concerned actors for water reflected in Cancun Summit in Mexico was a welcome step. However, in the current scenario, water needs an independent global platform just like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is for climate-policy making. As in the case of climate change, a vigorous discourse is required to promote water as a critical focal area. Water is the most precious gift that nature has endowed on us. It is our duty and requirement to do the needful. Now is the time for collective and sincere efforts to save and manage water. So this year, March 22 must be celebrated with new enthusiasm. It should be the starting point of many required activities for a future agenda by the global community ahead, one of them being the formulation of a global water regime under the active leadership of the European Union and the United States. //Vijeta Rattani and Trupti Sahu are Doctoral Research Scholars at the Centre for European Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi."//
 * Vijeta Rattani and Trupti Sahu:** Water is becoming an issue which will change the dynamics of international relations. This has been raised and asserted many times in the past, yet surprisingly, the response of the global community has been passive and vague. The current situation offers the EU and US a chance to work together formulating a multilateral global water policy.
 * Treat water as an urgent and immediate security issue for which the West should take the lead.
 * Focus should be on technology-transfer and funding to lesser-developed nations in successfully addressing water issues.
 * Engage NGOs in a massive awareness campaign at various levels. Governments and players at international level should genuinely consider feedback from non-state actors for a planned and systemic solution.

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__**Best Aspect**__

There are many great aspects to wastewater treatments but theyres one that stands out above the rest. When the water is treated the biproduct is called sludge. This is a combination of anything that was in the water including human feces. A known fact is that most types of fertilizers are in fact made from feces. So not only can the reclaimed water be used on the crops but also the byproduct of sludge can also be used to fertilize them.



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__**Reclaimed Water Critics**__

Many people oppose this thought of using reclaimed water. They’re argument is very legitimate and is a problem that must be solved in order for this type of treatment to be more effective. The problem faced with wastewater treatment is that the byproduct of sludge can sometimes not be used in agriculture so it is a growing problem of how to get rid of the sludge. Most plants dump the sludge off in a dump which causes people of the town its in to become very upset. Many people believe the cleanup of the sludge is way too costly for the use of reclaimed water. In Raleigh, North Carolina they had this same growing problem what to do with this sludge? Their temporary fix was to send it off to farmers and landscapers. Although this was not an inexpensive feat, it cost 4 million dollars to deal with this issue. So as long as this sludge issue is not solved, some people will not embrace wastewater as an effective way to reuse water.

THE AMOUNT OF CO2 IT PRODUCES OR INHIBITS

===Part of the process of wastewater treatment is the digestion of the wastewater. There are two different types of digestion in this treatment.There is Anaerobic and Aerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion is a bacterial process like the one we have here at the school. It is carried out with the absence of oxygen.The sludge is fermented in small tanks. This type of digestion is the most common. This process produces a bio gas which is most commonly methane and it can be used for generating electricity. This seems like it is an excellent process, but it is more expensive because it consumes so much energy for heating the sludge. The next form of digestion is Aerobic digestion. It is also a bacterial process except it happen with oxygen. In this process, the bacteria consumed the organic matter really fast and the end result is CO2. When wastewater treatment was first used, the process of aerobic digestion was just as costly as anaerobic because of the energy needed for pumps and motors to put the oxygen into the sludge. Now they use fine bubble diffusers that do not cost nearly as much but it still has a few problems. It was hard to find a Stoichiometry equation for this process because the reactants are bacteria and poop and one of the products is CO2. The only one I could find is unfortunately from Wikipedia but it will have to do.===

The basis for the COD test is that nearly all organic compounds can be fully oxidized to [|carbon dioxide] with a strong [|oxidizing agent] under [|acidic] conditions. The amount of [|oxygen] required to oxidize an organic compound to carbon dioxide, [|ammonia], and water is given by:

WHAT DOES A SCIENTIST HAVE TO SAY?

Many scientists believe that wastewater treatment is an awesome process and will be more helpful and appreciated in the future. What people do not seem to realize is that wastewater treatment had become and is becoming a more cost efficient way to turn our sewage into clean renewable water. There are also other uses for it. For example, we can use the mud left over from the wastewater treatment plants for cement. This is very benificial because it helps us release a less amount of CO2. Most scientists job in researching wastewater treatment is to find new efficient ways to clean our water and also use the products of wastewater treatment to also make the environment healthy and so we can all sustain healthy lifestyles.“As this mud is already waste, burning it does not enter into the atmospheric CO2 emissions assigned to each country under the Kyoto Protocol”, José Luis Domingo, lead author of the study and director of the Toxicology and Environmental Health Laboratory at the URV, tells SINC.

[|(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090623090358.htm)]

[|These communities have done an excellent job of removing pollutants from **wastewater** and complying with their permits to the degree they've been able to help expand local recreational opportunities. These communities, the operators of the facilities, and city leaders all have a right to be proud of their commitment and performance in carrying out this important responsibility.] ~ [|Roger Larson]

This quote by Roger Larson is a prime example of how much wastewater treatment is valued and how much we depend on it now and will depend on it in the future. The wastewater treatment we have now is good but it can get better. With the world population on an incline and the amount of waste and pollution increasing, we need to find a way to improve wastewater treatment so it is able to sustain the waste and also create less pollution.


 * __HOW IT COULD HELP SOLVE SOME OF THE PROBLEMS OR CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEM.-__**

As stated in the begining, the problem at hand is the world possibly running out of freshwater in the future and the places where freshwater is already scarce, we need to find a way to treat the water they already have so that they can grow food and stay away from disease and sickness. There are not many ways that wastewater treatment can add to the problem because the all it does is turn or waste water into usable fresh water. Many places do not use their wastewater for drinking purposes but Singapore does, their use of wastewater is something that the world should follow. Wasterwater treatment can help the problem in many ways. With new digestion processes being found and and the process always trying to be improved, it only shows hope to our future that wastewater treatment will be a very important factor to the world having fresh water for the many years to come.

__**How much is reclaimed water actually used?**__

Reclaimed water is growing and starting to become a widely used water source. Reclaimed water is widely used for irrigation, cooling water for industrial services and even used in some fire hydrants. As the technology for using reclaimed water progresses it may even be used for drinking water. Singapore uses reclaimed water for the main source of their drinking water supply. Although the facts for how much reclaimed water is actually being used i have found enough facts to get the point across. In Southwest Florida more than 50 percent of the water used is reclaimed water. Its used for almost everything other than drinking water of course. They use Reclaimed water for residential, golf course and agriculture irrigation. So as reclaimed water technology advances it will be even more widely used and even though its pretty hard to stomach, it may even be used for drinking water as more and more countries follow in Singapore's footsteps.

WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TOO DO WASTEWATER TREATMENT BETTER AND ON A BIGGER SCALE.

There are a few things that we can do to improve wastewater treatment to make it better and use this process on a larger scale. One problem we face is wastewater treatment in low income areas or places with not a lot of water at all. Some of these high poverty places also have very warm climates; this makes constructed wetlands another way we can improve wastewater treament.Constructed wetlands act as natural wastewater treatment systems, they use flow beds to help use the water loving plants. The plants provide the aerobic treatment that is used in wastewater treatment plants. This process with help break down the contaminants.These wetlands can help with an affordable solution to wastewater for the places with the high climate temperatures and high water tables. Because they are all custom, they are able to be used for houses or whole town.There are different types of constructed wetlands. Subsurface flow and surface flow.Subsurface is usually the most common in homes and neighborhoods because it keeps the sewage and other wastewater underground. Surface flow on the other hand, is more economical. This type of wastewater treatment is one way we can improve wastewater treatment as a whole.

Another way to also improve Wastewater treatment and do it on a bigger scale is exactly what Entex Technologies is doing right now. What they are doing is improving the wastewater treatment in two different ways. As of right now we are having trouble expanding wastewater treatment because it has only been improved “to the limits of technology” said Kenneth Reckhows who works for Entex. But what Entex is doing is changing the game of wastewater treatment by doing two new things; they are one, to have more sewage going to a plant so they can process more at once and two, to have bigger tanks where the microorganisms can grow. This allows more microorganisms to consume more sewage, therefore, creating more clean fresh water. This way to improve wastewater is one of the best ways out there that we have. if we use this system as a means of getting fresh water in more wastewater treatment plants, it could be the means we are looking for to improve wastewater treatment and do it on a bigger scale.

WHO USES THIS TECHNOLOGY-

This technology is widely used throughout the world and it will continue to be used as long as we keep making improvements to it. It is used specifically by places that are not poverty ridden and that have the economy to sustain a wastwater treatment plant. The people who do not use them are people with not a lot of water to start off with and places with bad ecomomies.

**How reclaimed water could be changed **

It would be great to see reclaimed water be used for a wider spectrum of things including drinking water. If the United States adopts the technology that Singapore uses then it is quite evident that reclaimed water will soon be a major part of our drinking water supply. The benefits of using reclaimed water more widely is it relieves the stress on the drinking water supply and its cheaper than drinking water. Why waste clean drinking water on watering your lawn when you can use cheaper reclaimed water. Not only is the water cheaper but it also has nutrients that drinking water does not have. Reclaimed water has nitrogen and phosphorus in it which are nutrients found in fertilizer, so using reclaimed water will be healthier for your lawn. So as the years go bye i can only hope that reclaimed water is used more extensively than its already used now.

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