Managing waste water has been one of the unique challenges of today's modern society. The amount of waste produced correlates directly to the size of the population. The national waste water treatment infrastructure deals with millions of tons of this material annually and how this is accomplished is certainly interesting.

Environmental Impact

This fluid is composed mainly of organic matter and as such is a threat to human health as well as to the environment. It not only has a foul smell; it also contains pathogens that can potentially spread disease to other living organisms including humans. Before people realized the importance of sanitation, sewage was diverted directly into bodies of water such as rivers or seas, unfortunately with negative consequences. Its high nitrogen and phosphorus content ended up destroying local marine life. For that reason, dumping it directly into rivers or seas has been banned since the early 1900’s. Today, these fluids are treated before being reintroduced into the environment.

Waste Water Treatment

This type of treatment is a process consisting of many steps with the first one getting the sewage to treatment facilities. In cities, this fluid travels inside a network of pipes and tunnels underneath streets to the respective treatment facilities. Liquids that are not safe enough or too highly contaminated to safely use this method of transportation are collected and transported manually by septic trucks.

The dissolved debris is first separated from the water by letting it sit for a certain amount of time, allowing the debris to settle. The liquid is then filtered to separate it from the rest of the mix. The next step of recycling is to break down organic content by using micro-organisms that feed on the content and break it down in the process. The water is then treated to kill off any pathogen content before being returned to the environment.

What is left after the conclusion of this process is known as sewage sludge. This material is composed mainly of organic debris such as fecal matter and decaying food particles.

Past Recycling Methods

For the most part, sewage sludge is the part of waste water that must be handled very carefully. Due to the composition of sewage sludge, it must be dealt with very cautiously. Before sewage sludge was recycled, it was disposed of in various ways including incineration and distribution to landfills. These disposal methods are no longer used due to their destructive impact on the environment.

Current Recycling Trend

The most recent method of handling and disposing of sewage sludge is to convert it into organic fertilizer. The nitrogen and phosphorous that is abundant in sewage sludge is an element beneficial to plants. Many countries have implemented sewage sludge recycling as a means of disposing of waste material. Not only does it reduce the expense of disposing of the material; farmers also benefit from the considerably low cost of this organic fertilizer.

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