FST 171 Assignment 5

Name: Kathlyn Micah P. Mongas . Section: J .

Date Submitted: November 16, 2022 .

Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment

1. A. General Treatment Process for Drinking Water

Fig. 1. Steps involved in the drinking water treatment process (lifted from cdc.gov)

Shown above in Figure 1 is the general drinking water treatment process that is
employed in some states in the USA. Before the treatment starts is the collection or transfer
of the water from the water source. There are two common sources of drinking water: either
the surface water, which is the water that are gathered on the ground or in bodies of water,
such as rivers, lakes, and reservoirs; or the ground water, which is the water located below
the surface of the earth that has filtered through rocks and soil and has collected in the
saturated layer of the earth’s crust. After collection from the source, the treatment process
begins, in which the water passes through a coagulation step. In this step, positively charged
ions are added to the water, which neutralizes the negatively charged particles in the water,
coagulating the particles into larger particles. Next is the flocculation step, in which the
water is gently agitated to form “flocs”, or the heavier particles that have coagulated from
the previous step. From there, the water now undergoes a sedimentation step, where the
formed flocs are allowed to settle at the bottom of the treatment tank in order to separate
them from the water. Next is the filtration step, where the cleared water from the
sedimentation step is filtered further to remove other particles and possible microorganisms
with the use of porous layers with different filtration abilities. Then, the filtered water goes
through a disinfection step, such as the addition of safe levels of chlorine, to kill the
remaining microorganisms left in the water. From there, the treated water leaves the
treatment plant and would then be distributed to the community via a water utility service
provider. As a general flow, the drinking water treatment process involves two major steps:
the separation of the physical contaminants and the removal of microbiological
contaminants.

B. General Treatment Process for Wastewater

Fig. 2. Steps involved in the wastewater treatment process (lifted from bio.libretexts.org)
 Shown in Figure 2 are the steps involved in a typical wastewater treatment
facility. There are three general treatment steps involved: the primary, secondary, and the
tertiary treatment steps. However, a pre-treatment step is also a common addition to the
process before the primary treatment of the wastewater. The pre-treatment step involves
the screening of wastewater for solid matter, such as leaves, twigs, garbage such as plastics
and sanitary items, and other debris in the wastewater. Wastewater is commonly
categorized into either greywater (i.e., water from dishwashing, laundry, and bathing) or
blackwater (i.e., water from toilet and contains human waste). The primary treatment step
involves the separation of the water from the sludge and oils present in the wastewater.
From there is the secondary treatment step, wherein the remaining dissolved solids and
suspended biological matter (including microorganisms) are removed from the water. Then,
the tertiary treatment step, also called “effluent polishing”, is where the treated water from
the secondary treatment step is further treated. The tertiary treatment step can involve a
variety of treatments, such as sand filtration, where water is passed through a sand filter to
further remove particulate matter, and lagooning, wherein the treated wastewater is
collected in a lagoon and native plants, algae, microorganisms, and zooplanktons are
introduced to the lagoon to filter nutrients and other particulate matter from the wastewater.
Disinfection of the treated wastewater is also done during the tertiary step to release clean
water as an effluent. After the tertiary step, the treated wastewater is commonly released
back into the ecosystem via bodies of water. When drinking water is sourced from bodies
of water containing recycled water (a.k.a. treated wastewater), more complex technologies
are employed (e.g., reverse osmosis, etc.) to produce potable water.

2.
a. Total coliform, in terms of water supply, refers to a basic test for water quality and
indicates the sanitary condition of the water. Coliforms refer to the group of bacteria
that are always present in the digestive system of humans and animals and are
usually found in their fecal wastes, and specifically, fecal coliforms are those that
are present in the waste of warm-blooded animals. Among those of the fecal
coliforms, E. coli species is one out of the five major groups of bacteria comprising
this group. It is considered one of the best options as an indicator organism for the
sanitary conditions of water, especially for fecal contamination or pollution and the
possible presence of other pathogens, since it is the only species that is generally
not able to grow and reproduce in the environment.
 b. Dissolved oxygen refers to the amount of oxygen that is dissolved in water and is
commonly sourced from the atmosphere. This dissolved oxygen is used by aquatic
animals, and other catabolic processes brought about by the microorganisms present
in water. Therefore, it is imperative to maintain the proper levels of dissolved
oxygen in water to support life. In order to increase the amount of dissolved oxygen
in water, common practices such as aeration processes are often used to dissolve
the oxygen in the atmosphere in the water. On the other hand, biochemical oxygen
demand (BOD) refers to the amount of oxygen that microorganisms consume
during the breakdown of wastes during wastewater treatment. The oxygen being
referred to in the BOD is the dissolved oxygen present in the water.

References:
https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/water_treatment.html
https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Microbiology/Book%3A_Microbiology_(Boun
dless)/17%3A_Industrial_Microbiology/17.3%3A_Wastewater_Treatment_an
d_Water_Purification/17.3B%3A_Wastewater_and_Sewage_Treatment
https://www.nyc.gov/site/dep/water/wastewater-treatment-process.page
https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/coliform_bacteria.htm
https://archive.epa.gov/water/archive/web/html/vms52.html