Pro's and Con's of Wastewater Treatment

Water is a vital resource that we are still struggling to manage, and we are using too much of it and polluting the water we have. Water treatment is an essential part of the problem, and we need to find better ways to deal with it.

Wastewater treatment is a vast topic, especially if you want to know all about sustainable wastewater treatment, as that’s a hot topic right now.

There are various advantages and disadvantages of using wastewater treatment, and there are a lot of challenges associated with the same as well.

The multiple benefits are:

Prevents waterborne diseases
Safeguard public health and safety
Improves efficiency
Minimize waste
Increase by-product recovery

While the disadvantages are:

Routine pumping out
Installation cost
Smelly and bacteria accumulation
Maintenance charges and so on

These are difficult to treat due to the nature of the waste and the high concentration of heavy metals and other pollutants. This blog will look at some interesting facts about wastewater treatment.

What Is Wastewater Treatment?

Contaminants are removed from wastewater during wastewater treatment, and it is done before we discharge them from the treatment facility.

Usually, wastewater treatment is executed in 3 steps:

You can look at our other article explaining each wastewater (sewage) treatment step in detail.

Generally, solid and liquid wastes are full of impurities and pollutants, and they can lead to contamination, toxicity, and hazardous effects on local water bodies. Advanced infrastructure is required to ensure that the water supply and proper waste disposal are well taken care of.

The wastewater treatment plant can offer this solution. A wastewater treatment plant provides you with a wide range of services. For instance, it converts wastewater into reusable water.

How Does A Wastewater System Work?

Wastewater systems are something that most people don’t think about, but it is crucial. This blog will take a look at how wastewater systems work, and we will look at how these systems are used in our cities and why they are essential.

A wastewater treatment plant is the central part of the wastewater treatment process. It includes the physical and chemical processes that treat the wastewater. All the solids and liquids have to be separated from each other for these processes to work. It is called primary treatment, and the solids that come out at the end of it are called sludge.

Advanced wastewater treatment plants will also use biological activity in tanks known as the Activated Sludge Process. It is where wastes are biologically treated using bacteria and other microbes.

These microbes convert organic matter into inorganic matter, and nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are converted into non-toxic forms.

Wastewater Treatment Pro’s and Con’s Infographic

What Are the Advantages of Wastewater Treatment?

Sewage and wastewater contain harmful chemical substances. If it is discharged into the water body, it will be detrimental to the environment.

Managing wastewater and wastewater treatment is thus essential. In this post, we will look at the advantages of wastewater treatment and discuss ways to improve the quality of these treatments.

1. Prevent waterborne diseases

Millions of people suffer from waterborne diseases. Massive clean-up efforts are undertaken to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases. Still, there is a lot more that we can do to avoid the cause of these diseases.

Large numbers of people die due to waterborne diseases in developing countries. Many people worldwide have no access to safe water and are seen using contaminated water from nearby water sources.

It is the responsibility of the government to protect and preserve water bodies and prevent waterborne diseases.

2. Safeguard public health and safety

Without proper wastewater treatment, public health can be a significant concern. Since 2005, the number of issues on public health has increased, and polluted water puts the health of humans and animals at risk.

Municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants are the last line of defense before the water is released. The wastewater treatment plant receives wastewater that needs to be treated and discharged back into the environment.

The water entering the plant can be very polluted and contaminated, and the water leaves the plant clean and safe for reuse by humans or animals.

3. Improve efficiency

Wastewater, a combination of household sewage and industrial waste, is biohazardous, and it can be treated and recycled for reuse.

Biomodification is applied to the wastewater treatment plant, and it can be used as a resource. The wastewater treated in the plant can be reused for irrigation and agriculture by the treated wastewater. In this way, the efficiency and reusability of the water are increased.

4. Clean and safe processed water

Water is an essential aspect of our lives. We need it for almost everything, and we can’t survive without it. Nearly two-thirds of the global population does not have safe and clean drinking water, and it is why we need innovative solutions to help solve this problem.

This blog will talk about one such solution that has been designed to make water clean and safe for drinking, and that is wastewater treatment.

5. Minimize waste

The treatment and disposal of wastewater, or sewage, is an integral part of reducing the amount of waste in our waterways.

Most of the water we use and all of the water used by industries and municipalities to operate are ultimately discharged as wastewater.

This wastewater can be treated and used again or treated and released back into the environment.

6. Avoid industrial equipment damage

Industrial equipment damage can happen when you don’t have industrial wastewater treatment. The water becomes corrosive, picks up bacteria and other contaminants.

As a result, it eventually starts to erode and damage the equipment. To avoid this expensive equipment damage, you need to invest in industrial wastewater treatment.

7. Increase by-product recovery

Average by-product recovery is relatively low in many industries. Out of the total volume of wastewater generated in the textile industry, only 15% is treated, and the rest is discharged into the ocean or nearby water bodies. Recovering by-products and waste is an efficient way to reduce waste.

8. Beneficial to the environment

Indeed wastewater management is a great way to safeguard our environment. On the one hand, we are recycling water, and on the other side, we are recycling waste.

In both ways, it is beneficial to the environment.

9. Way to minimize waste

Waste management has been a significant problem all over the world. Many people see wastewater management as a way of getting rid of what cannot be recycled.

Yet, you can use the water from wastewater management for many different purposes. One can use it for irrigation, cleaning, transportation, and more.

What Are The Disadvantages of Wastewater Treatment?

Many of us use wastewater treatment systems without a second thought. Sometimes we fail to realize that wastewater treatment can harm the environment.

If we don’t treat wastewater properly, its pollutants can seriously harm the environment and the organisms living in it. Now we will look at the disadvantages and challenges of wastewater treatment.

1. Routine pumping out

Most people, especially those with a septic tank, understand the importance of maintaining the tank. But few people know the importance of pumping and cleaning their septic tank.

It is essential to carry a pumping out exercise at least once or twice a year to clear out the drainage system of sludge and scum, and it helps to keep the drainage system clear and free-flowing.

2. Smelly and bacteria accumulation

It is well known that a poorly maintained septic tank can cause sewage odors to emanate from a property and, in extreme cases, can contaminate the water table. However, not many people know how septic systems work and what can go wrong.

An imbalance between the number of good bacteria required to decompose the sewage can cause problems in the septic tank. So it is essential to balance the system.

3. Installation cost

The cost of a sewage treatment plant can be seen as a disadvantage compared to connecting to your local sewage system or constructing a septic tank system. Once installed, the system has minimal costs and will last much longer than septic tanks.

4. Leaves an environmental footprint

If discharged in large quantities, the water can raise stream temperatures locally and contaminate aquatic life. Wastewater acids and alkalinities affect the environment very much.

5. Continuous power supply

Filtration may sound like a simple process, but in reality, it requires a lot of electricity. As the world creates more sustainable energy, the power needed to run these plants poses a big problem.

6. Maintenance required

Water treatment plants are getting more advanced in terms of technology and processes. Yet, they are getting more complex, which means more maintenance and upkeep. Some water treatment plants rely on automating tasks.

7. Space required to position the plant

Water treatment plants need to be positioned to have easy access to a good water source. Consider that water would require chemical treatment and then be put into a pipe network that would serve the neighborhood. These are large and heavy structures that would be difficult to relocate and find a good position for the plant.

8. Sporadic use

You must continuously supply water for this type of wastewater treatment to keep the unit from drying out. It would not be suitable for homes with intermittent water usage or long periods of inactivity.

What Are the Challenges of Wastewater Treatment?

People often think that wastewater treatment is when clean water comes out the other end, which is not the case. The wastewater treatment process gives you clean water, but it is not without challenges.

Any water treatment plant has to deal with several challenges, and sludge is one of the most significant issues that they have to deal with.

1. Lack of staff workers

Wastewater treatment plants require trained professionals, and a simple mistake can lead to heavy damage to the environment. Twenty-four hours a day, they are on call to handle everything from leaks in pipes to electrical malfunctions.

This work is incredibly challenging during seasonal inflow and outflow changes, and it is a big challenge to appoint staff workers for a wastewater treatment plant.

2. Sludge disposal problem

Sludge is the solid material that is separated during wastewater treatment, and it is generated in water treatment plants, etc. Sludge can also be a problem if disposed of in unscientific ways.

Sludge disposal is always one of the most challenging aspects of treatment. The sludge produced can be a valuable resource or a burden, depending on how it is managed.

3. Energy consumption challenge

Wastewater treatment plants consume more energy in their process than is commonly realized. Wastewater treatment can directly or indirectly consume close to 50 percent of the total energy consumed in many modern cities.

Wastewater treatment plants rely on thermal energy and electricity to operate, and it creates a significant environmental impact and a challenge for the wastewater treatment plant.

4. Requires a lot of lands

The wastewater treatment process is complex. In theory, if the wastewater treatment plant is not perfect, the final discharge of wastewater will be uncontrolled.

Therefore, the requirements for the design and construction of wastewater treatment plants are very high. A good plan requires a lot of space, and that’s why it is a big challenge to find land which suits all the criteria of the wastewater treatment plant.

Conclusion

The management of wastewater is a severe issue. On the one hand, you have a lot of people living in areas that are not connected to a sewer system. On the other hand, many folks connected to a sewer system are not treating their sewage correctly.

Wastewater is generated by almost every city and town in the country, and this wastewater needs to be treated and managed. This blog analyses the different aspects of wastewater management, and it looks at how wastewater is generated and what can be done to reduce this generation.

It describes the advantages as well as disadvantages of a wastewater treatment plant. We have also discussed various challenges faced by a wastewater treatment plant.