How Do Sewage Treatment Plants Remove Harmful Nutrients?
Clean water is essential for human health, a flourishing environment, and functional ecosystems. However, the wastewater generated from our homes, businesses, and industries can contain high levels of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that pose a significant threat to this delicate balance. When present in excessive amounts in our waterways, these nutrients act as fertilisers, fueling the rapid and uncontrolled growth of algae and aquatic plants. This process, known as eutrophication, depletes oxygen levels in the water, creating conditions that are sterile and even lethal for fish, shellfish, and other aquatic organisms.
Sewage treatment plants have an important job - cleaning up the water before it goes back into lakes, rivers, and oceans. One big thing they need to remove from sewage is nutrients that can be harmful in large amounts.
The Harmful Nutrients
The two main nutrients are nitrogen and phosphorus. These are natural elements that plants and animals need to live. However, when too much gets into water bodies, it causes serious problems. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus act like fertiliser, causing massive algae growth. This uses up all the oxygen in the water, suffocating fish and other aquatic life.Treatment plants use microorganisms like bacteria to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from sewage water. This natural process is called biological nutrient removal.
Special tanks are designed to create the ideal environment for bacteria to grow and consume nutrients. These tanks are particularly effective in removing nitrogen from the system.
Removal of Nitrogen
For nitrogen, it's a two-step phenomenon. First, one group of bacteria converts ammonia (a nitrogen compound) to nitrates through nitrification. Then, a second group of bacteria does denitrification - turning the nitrates into harmless nitrogen gas that can escape into the air.
Taking Out Phosphorus
Phosphorus removal is a bit different. Some get removed naturally, but to really get it out, the plants use enhanced biological phosphorus removal. Certain bacteria are really good at storing phosphorus in their cells. By cycling between anaerobic (no oxygen) and aerobic conditions, the treatment process forces these bacteria to soak up and trap the phosphorus so it can be removed.
Extra Purification Steps
If regular treatment isn't enough, sewage treatment plants can use additional advanced methods like membrane filters or chemicals to further take out those stubborn nutrients before discharging the cleaned water.
Sustainable Nutrient Management
These days, treatment plants try to be sustainable by finding ways to capture and reuse the nutrients they remove instead of just throwing them away. Techniques like anaerobic digestion produce energy from nitrogen/phosphorus-rich solids. Other approaches include growing algae or makingfertilisers from the nutrients.
Conclusion
Dealing with too many nutrients is a big water pollution issue. However, sewage treatment plants work hard using natural biological processes and modern technologies to remove these harmful nitrogen and phosphorus compounds. By getting rid of the bad nutrients, treatment facilities help keep our lakes, rivers and oceans clean and healthy for all the plants and animals that live there.
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