Clean water is a necessity to survive. Despite this fact, many people don’t have access to clean water. This is the reason why it should never be taken for granted. Many of us consider clean water as a basic requirement and while it may be the case, sadly, it is not accessible for everyone which is why there are millions of people around the world who are in danger.
The importance of dealing with wastewater cannot be emphasized enough, especially when caused by human endeavours. Dirty water can contain several infectious diseases, including cholera and typhoid to name a few. An unfortunate number of people die every year from waterborne diseases and there is a lot of work that needs to be done to manage wastewater and prevent this from happening.
Sanitation is crucial for people as well as the environment because it will allow people to have access to sources of water that are both clean and safe. It’s important to know some facts which shed light on this problem to better understand waste water management:
- Gray water and black water are the two different types of wastewater. Gray water refers to wastewater that comes from domestic kitchens, laundries, and baths. Blackwater refers to wastewater that contains human, animal or food waste.
- There are two types of technologies used to dispose of wastewater – the decentralized and centralized systems
- When waste is deposited in nearby water sources like streams or rivers it is the decentralized approach or the unhealthy way of disposing wastewater and harmful for both humans as well as the environment
- The safer option is the centralized system which uses self-cleansing sewers which is much healthier. This system places wastewater through several different processes:
- The first treatment separates the solids and liquids through screening and sedimentation.
- The second treatment introduces bacteria to consume any organic matter still in the water.
- The third treatment sees the water being placed through a treatment in which activated carbon removes even more organic matter through adsorption.
- The final water may contain oxygen to ensure that the environment and water bodies that receive it have the right levels of dissolved oxygen
- The waste from these treatment processes is not wasted thanks to a process called wastewater reclamation. For example, the solid and liquids that are separated during the initial treatment become available as fertilizer that can be used for agricultural use.