Wastewater management and Wastewater treatment
Abstract agriculture needs a steady supply of freshwater for
Human activities, such as industrial operations, home
garbage, urbanization, and agricultural waste, have
contaminated water supplies. The effects of wastewater
pollutants on the environment are becoming increasingly
more widely known. Even while several common
wastewater treatment techniques like the employment of
powerful chemicals, the phenomenon of sorption of gases
and solid waste, and activated sludge have been utilized to
remove contaminants, there are still significant limitations,
most notably high operating costs. The use of aerobic
wastewater treatment as a reducing medium is gaining
popularity due to its cheap operating and maintenance
costs. Additionally, it is simple to obtain and has good
efficiency and the capacity to breakdown contaminants.
Major pollutants found in wastewater, including
halogenated hydrocarbons, heavy metals, dyes, and
pesticides
Keywords : pollutants, treatment, techniques
1. Introduction
The development and maintenance of a variety of human
activities depend on a constant supply of clean water. By
supporting aquatic life and irrigating crops, water resources
contribute to the production of valuable food. The majority
of water sources in the world are, however, contaminated
by the liquid and solid wastes that are created by industrial
and human activity.
1.1 Waste waster
Waste water is used to describe water that has been
polluted by different human activities. In addition to being
a valuable resource, this so-called "wastewater" will also
be released after treatment to our land, streams, or the
ocean. Wastewater is the term for used water from things
like sinks, toilets, showers, baths, and industrial activities.
Impurities suspended in waste water are many. Sewage is
the term for the waste water in which these pollutants are
present, which is referred to as contaminants.
1.2 Causes of waste water
Wastewater is generated nearly everywhere. These include
home dwellings, hotels, restaurants, cafes, motels, bars,
resorts, schools, colleges, universities, places of worship,
stadiums, theatres, hospitals, clinics, apartments, and all
alike When people use this water, it becomes contaminated
with a variety of elements, such as chemicals, bacteria,
fungal colonies, metallic impurities, and organic matter,
which significantly affects the purity of the water,
rendering it toxic and useless and, in effect, turning it into
wastewater.
Other natural things like flooding, drainage from gutters
and cracks, water from swimming pools, vehicle garages,
and cleaning facilities can also contaminate water.
Additionally, wastewater is contributed in part by these
sources.
Agricultural land also produces wastewater. To keep
agricultural fields healthy and provide a strong crop yield,
irrigation. Unluckily, wastewater is also created when that
water is used in agriculture. This is due to the fact that
agriculture uses a variety of synthetic chemicals, including
growth hormones, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, and
fertilizers.
1.3 Effects of waste water
we use more water in our daily activities, we are turning
more of it into wastewater, effectively considering it useless
for us and depleting an already finite supply of clean water.
We must remember that most wastewater eventually makes
its way into the numerous water bodies on our world, even
though that 70% of the planet is made up of water. The
effluent then begins to damage these water bodies,
eventually rendering that source of water, which was really
important to us, worthless since it has become polluted.
Loss and ruin of marine habitat
Water bodies aren't the only natural resources that can
become affected by wastewater other natural environments
where wastewater can discharge can also be contaminated.
The species that live in these areas risk death from this
wastewater's toxic fuel, toxins, and other pollutants. If there
is major wastewater pollution, the habitat and its ecosystem
risk being completely destroyed  Additionally, chemical
pollution from agricultural runoff may result in cultural
eutrophication, which is very harmful to marine ecosystems.
Increased Prevalence of Diseases
Wastewater is a harbor for various disease-causing
organisms. According to the World Health Organization,
waterborne illnesses claim the lives of up to 3.4 million
people annually. In addition to the different diseases that
wastewater may contain, it also contains a number of gases
that, when inhaled, can result in a number of respiratory
issues as well as cancers in the body. If the polluted water
body is close to a large population, many individuals will be
exposed to these hazardous vapors, making the situation
even more perilous. Additionally, since the majority of the
chemicals used in agriculture today are harmful, if animals
or humans come into touch with this wastewater, they may
be vulnerable to a number of diseases and even death.
2. Waste management
A waste management system is a process used by an
organization to dispose of, reduce, reuse, and prevent waste.
Recycling, composting, incineration, landfills,
bioremediation, waste to energy, and waste minimization
are all potential waste disposal methods. Wastewater is a
type of water whose physical, chemical, or biological
characteristics have changed due to the introduction of
pollutants, making it unsuitable for particular uses, such as
drinking. As the majority of a person's daily activities
depend on water, "waste" is discharged into the water. Body
waste (faces and urine), hair shampoo, hair, food scraps, fat,
laundry powder, fabric conditioners, toilet paper, chemicals,
detergent, household cleansers, dirt, and microorganisms
(germs) that can harm the environment and make people
sick are a few of the substances. Water treatment is required
because it is well known that a major amount of the water
supplied turns into wastewater. To ensure a healthy
environment and the welfare of the general people,
wastewater treatment is the method and technology used to
remove the majority of the pollutants present in
wastewater. Wastewater management, then, refers to the
treatment of wastewater in a manner that preserves the
environment while promoting public health, economic,
social, and political stability
2.1 Water management
Implement water management by river basin, in particular
through river basin authorities. continue to improve the
efficiency of water and waste water services by extending
the formation of municipal bodies to the whole territory, by
opening the water service supply sector to private operators
and private funding and by applying the user pays and
polluter pays principles. Mobilise national and
international technical, human and financial resources to
achieve the 2006 objective of 90% of population connected
to public waste water treatment. promote the use of
economic instruments such as pollution charges for
industry and withdrawal charges for agriculture. prepare
national pollution reduction programs for all hazardous
substances discharged into water (e.g. by industry).
implement environmental impact assessment of large new
irrigation projects, pursuant to new EIA legislation. extend
water quality monitoring to all groundwater sources used
or intended for drinking water abstraction.
2.2 History of wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment is a fairly new practice although
drainage systems were built long before the nineteenth
century. Before this time, “night soil” was placed in
buckets along streets and workers emptied them into
“honey wagon” tanks. This was sent to rural areas and
disposed off over agricultural lands. In the nineteenth
century, flush toilets led to an increase in the volume of
waste for these agricultural lands. Due to this transporting
challenge, cities began to use drainage and storm sewers to
convey wastewater into waterbodies against the
recommendation of Edwin Chadwick in 1842 that “rain to
the river and sewage to the soil”. The discharge of waste
into water courses led to gross pollution and health
problems for downstream users.
3. Types of wastewater
Status of wastewater in India
The total wastewater generated by 299 class-1 cities is
16,652.5 MLD. Out of this, about 59% is generated by 23
metro cities. The state of Maharashtra alone contributes
about 23%, while the Ganga river basin contributes about
31% of the total wastewater generated in class-1 cities. Only
72% of the total treated wastewater generated is collected.
Out of 299 class-1 cities, 160 cities have sewerage system
for more than 75 percent of population and 92 cities have
more than 50 percent of population coverage. On the whole
70% of total population of class-1 cities is provided with
sewerage facility, compared to 48% in 1988. The type of
sewerage system is either open or closed or piped. The main
objective of this study was to perform a review of the
treatment of domestic sewage using the aerobic sludge to
ensure effective discharge and/or re-use/recycling.
3.1 Impact of agriculture on wastewater
generation
Agriculture is the single largest user of water, it uses an
estimated 70 per cent of total global fresh water, returning
the majority of this water back to the system. The daily
drinking water requirement per person is 2–4 litres, but it
takes 2 000 to 5 000 litres of water to produce one person’s
daily food. Optimizing agricultural practices including
irrigation techniques, fertilization practices, and reducing
water evaporation and crop selection, can save significant
amounts of water with a subsequent reduction in wastewater
production.
The wastewater produced from rural agriculture and
livestock production, as well as inland urban areas,
represents indeed the first phase in wastewater production
and pollution and constitutes a considerable challenge for
downstream users. It is characterized by organic and
inorganic contaminants; originating from dissolved contents
of fertilizers, chemical runoff (such as pesticides), human
waste, livestock manure and nutrients.
Where agriculture takes place in upper catchments, it may
be the first cause of contamination in the water basin.
However, agriculture also takes place downstream, where
the water may already be polluted by other human activities
that result in domestic and industrial waste. Hence there is a
complex relationship between water quality, agriculture and
food quality, which is in turn linked to human and
ecological health. In particular, the excess nitrogen and
phosphorus introduced in their natural cycles drive algal
boom, including toxic red tides and devastating hypoxic
events that impact fish stocks or human health.
3.2 Opportunities for (re)using wastewater?
Improving watershed management will be crucial and
finding ways to reduce, optimize and recycle water, will
become increasingly essential in the future.
Wastewater is already being used for irrigation and
fertilization and can continue to expand this role,
particularly for peri-urban or urban agriculture, and home
gardens. But maximizing water efficiency in the entire
water chain, including before water enters the cities, and
reducing production of wastewater should be primary goals
throughout the entire management scheme.
There are clear health advantages related to wastewater use
in agriculture, stemming directly from the provision of
food (mainly vegetables) to urban populations or to
generate biogas, thus turning the nutrients contained
therein into resources. Typical concentrations of nutrients
in treated wastewater effluent from
conventional sewage treatment processes would supply all
of the nitrogen and much of the phosphorus and potassium
normally required for agricultural crop production. Other
valuable micro-nutrients and the organic matter contained
in the effluent would also provide benefits.
It is estimated that 10 per cent of the worlds population
relies on food grown with untreated, contaminated
wastewater. Whilst providing affordable food, the use of
wastewater for food production without proper
management can pose a serious risk. Untreated wastewater
is often used in the informal, unregulated sector, and
directly benefits poor farmers who would otherwise have
little or no access to water for irrigation.
Forests and wetlands, including salt marsh
and mangrove forests, have also an important natural role
to play in wastewater management, capturing water,
filtering out nutrients and other contaminants, and releasing
water into lakes, rivers and coastal seas.
3.3 Wastewater treatment in India
Out of 16,662.5 MLD of wastewater generated, only
4037.2 meld (24 %) is treated before release, the rest (i.e.
12,626.30 MLD) is disposed of untreated. Twenty-seven
cities have only primary treatment facilities and only forty-
nine have primary and secondary treatment facilities.
3.4 Need of sewage treatment
Wastewater treatment involves breakdown of complex
organic compounds in the wastewater into simpler
compounds that are stable and nuisance-free, either
physico-chemically and/or by using micro-organisms
(biological treatment). The adverse environmental impact
of allowing untreated wastewater to be discharged in
groundwater or surface water bodies and or lands are as
follows: The decomposition of the organic materials
contained in wastewater can lead to the production of large
quantities of malodorous gases. Untreated wastewater
(sewage) containing a large amount of organic matter, if
discharged into a river / stream, will consume the dissolved
oxygen for satisfying the Biochemical Oxygen Demand
(BOD) of wastewater and thus deplete the dissolved
oxygen of the stream, thereby causing fish kills and other
undesirable effects. Wastewater may also contain nutrients,
which can stimulate the growth of aquatic plants and algal
blooms, thus leading to eutrophication of the lakes and
streams. Untreated wastewater usually contains numerous
pathogenic, or disease causing microorganisms and toxic
compounds, that dwell in the human intestinal tract or may
be present in certain industrial waste. These may
contaminate the land or the water body, where such sewage
is disposed. For the above-mentioned reasons the treatment
and disposal of wastewater, is not only desirable but also
necessary.
4. Characteristics of wastewater
Depending on its source, wastewater has peculiar
characteristics. Industrial wastewater with characteristics of
municipal or domestic wastewater can be discharged
together. Industrial wastewater may require some
pretreatment if it has to be discharged with domestic
wastewater. The characteristics of wastewater vary from
industry to industry and therefore would have different
treatment processes—for example a cocoa processing
company may have a skimming tank in its preliminary
treatment stage to handle for instance spilt cocoa butter
while a beverage plant may skip this in the design. In
general, the contaminants in wastewater are categorized into
physical, chemical and biological. Some indicator measured
to ascertain these contaminants include (Peavy, Rowe and
Tchobanoglous, 1985 & Obuobie et al., 2006)
4.1 Process of wastewater treatment
Due to the nature of contaminants in wastewater—physical,
chemical and biological, the unit operations and processes
in wastewater treatment can also be categorized as such.
The units operations and processes in Waste-water
treatment are summarized as follows (Economic and Social
Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), 2003)
Physical unit operations
• Screening
• Comminution
• Flow equalization
• Sedimentation
• Flotation
• Granular-medium filtration
Chemical unit operations
• Chemical precipitation
• Adsorption
• Disinfection
• Dichlorination
4.2 Methods of wastewater treatment
There are conventional and non-conventional wastewater
treatment methods which have been proven and found to be
efficient in the treatment of wastewater. Conventional
methods compared to non-conventional wastewater
treatment methods has a relatively high level of
automation. Usually have pumping and power
requirements. They require skilled labor for operation and
maintenance of the system.

5. CONCLUSION
This report is a review of variety of options that may be
employed in the treatment, recovery and reuse of
wastewater. It is apparent that a variety of options are
feasible for use in the developing world and even more
apparent that many low-technology options can be mixed
and matched for very high efficiencies. Natural treatment
technologies are attracting a significant level of interest by
environmental managers. Natural treatment technologies
are considered viable because of their low capital costs,
their ease of maintenance, their potentially longer life-
cycles and their ability to recover a variety of resources
including: treated effluent for irrigation, organic humus for
soil amendment and energy in the form of biogas. This
report examined emergent issues and technological options
related to the scale of collection and treatment systems.
There is increasing momentum developing behind the
notion that recycling loops, from point of generation (e.g.,
the household) to point of treatment and reuse must be
shortened

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