- Define wastewater and provide an example of where wastewater originates in your community?
- Some common measures of water quality are contaminant nutrient levels (nitrates, nitrates, and phosphorus), temperature, turbidity, bacteria, pH, dissolved oxygen, and toxic substances. Choose a measure of water quality and provide an explanation of how this quality is measured for in water and what the allowable ranges are in the water supply.
- Review your local community, town, city, or state government’s website for information and policies on water conservation and wastewater treatment. You can also use the EPA site to learn about your local water. https://watersgeo.epa.gov/mywaterway/
- Post at least one interesting fact that you learned in your research. Be sure to provide the resource for the information with your post.
- Lastly, describe the treatment process used to clean wastewater in order for it to be allowed back into the water cycle or reused. What is one way to now reuse non-potable wastewater?
Just response each posted down below # 1 to 3
Posted #1
Hello everyone
Wastewater according to USGS, n.d is used water such as water after we have showered, washed our dishes, and even flushed our toilets. Also, water waste is storm run-off water which is rainwater that has fallen on our city streets, on our houses or apartment buildings, and ended up in our sewer lines or in our reservoirs, to be treated and redistributed for use. The cycle continues. According to NYC Environmental Protection: Drinking water, “each day more than 1 billion gallons of fresh, clean water is delivered from large upstate reservoirs-some more than 125 miles from the city-to the taps of 9 million customers throughout New York State.”
The measure of water quality I chose was pH, as it is NYC drinking water is at 7.2 which is explained by Curbed, 2017 they stated; “ New York City’s tap water comes from three main sources outside of the city: the Delaware, Catskill, and Croton watersheds. These watersheds have limited limestone and a natural pH balance of 7.2—as close as it gets to a “pure water” pH balance of 7.” Which I think is amazing as I personally have not drunk tap water since my family relocated to NYC in 1989. (health reasons)
According to NYC Environmental Protection: Wastewater Treatment Process explains that the treatment plants for wastewater has five major processes before the water can be redistributed. These treatment processes are as followed: preliminary, primary, secondary, disinfection and finally sludge treatment. Also mentioned is the fact that the primary and secondary treatments remove 85-95% of pollutants before the water gets to the disinfecting portion and released into the local waterways. The sludge itself is then treated and “dewatered”, this material is now “biosolids” and is then able to be used as fertilizer or compost to further enrich our vegetation on land.
What I found quite interesting about everything that I have learned is that everything gets recycled and reused for a greater purpose. I find that truly amazing in how far Science and technology have come.
Posted #2
Wastewater is all water already used, like in showers, flushing the toilet, cleaning, bathing the dog, etc. The water in NYC originates in upstate NY around 125 miles away. The city drinking water starts at the Delaware and Catskill systems west of the Hudson river and the Croton system on the north of the city (Salazar). The measure I chose is turbidity. Turbidity is measured through physical test with a water sample and using a nephelometer or turbidimeter. The allowable limit of turbidity in the water supply is 5 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Unit).
NYC has the privilege to have one of the best tasting water in USA do to the fact that our water comes from lakes and reservoir located up in the mountains, which helps with the natural process of the water mineralization. The process for wastewater treatment in NYC is as follow:
- The first step is the preliminary treatment, which takes care of removing all big items in water like newspaper, rags, cans, bottles, etc.
- Next, primary treatment in which the water enters into sedimentation tanks for one to two hours.
- Secondary treatment, is where the water gets aerated and gets ready for the following step.
- Disinfection, the water spends 15-20 in tanks in contact with chlorine to kill bacteria and organism that stills in the water.
- Sludge treatment, thickening, digestion, and sludge dewatering are the last steps (nyc.gov. n.d.)
An interesting fact I learned while doing this research is that the complete treatment process in NYC last around 20 days before water cycle starts again (nyc.gov. n.d.), this sounds amazing to me.
Post #3
Wastewater is simply used water. Wastewater in Killeen, Texas comes from Lake Belton. (Bell County Water Control & Improvement District No. 1, 2018). Oxygen (DO) is easy to measure from water. It is often compatible with the aquatic life in a water body. If DO is to low it is because of excess of nutrients in the water. If the nutrients have a large amount it will cause an over growth of vegetation. Too much vegetation and decay will cause low DO (Pappani, n.d.). “Dissolved oxygen levels can range from less than 1 mg/L to more than 20 mg/L depending on how all of these factors interact” (Fondriest Environmental, Inc., 2018). I’ve learned that the town I’m living in is currently trying to expand our water treatment plant to make 17 million gallons per day from a raw water pump station. This has been in the making since October 2017 and will be complete in March 2020 (Bell County Water Control & Improvement District No. 1, 2018). The treatment process used to clean wastewater in order for it to be allowed back into the water cycle or be reused is first a collection system is put in to collect all water from businesses to homes. Then after it is at the collection plant it goes through an odor control treatment using chemicals. Then all large items are removed from the water, also know as screening. Then begins the primary treatment, separating the sledge(macrobiotic solid matter). Next is the secondary treatment which adds seed sludge to the water to break it down even more. Next is the tertiary treatment which removes 99 percent of impurities of the wastewater. Lastly, they disinfect the water. (What is Wastewater Treatment and Process of Wastewater Treatment, 2016). Recycled water is the best way to reuse non-potable wastewater.
