Overview

When anyone is planning for a new construction, the first thought that comes across the mind is how to deal with the wastewater!

Getting a main sewer connection is not always possible, that’s where sewage treatment plants come in picture. Before one opts for this, the way a sewage treatment plant operates should be clear. A sewage treatment plant cleans wastewater and converts it into cleaner water which can be further reused for different processes.

By the end of this article, you will come to know about how a sewage treatment plant actually works!

How do sewage treatment plants work actually?

Sewage treatment involves multiple steps. These involve removing of solids and pollutants, breaking down of organic matter and restoring the oxygen content of treated water.

What happens to the sewage in primary treatment?

Primary treatment uses bar screens, grit chambers and sedimentation tanks to get water free from waste substances. It involves the following-

i. Screening of sewage: This is a pre-treatment step in which sewage is first screened to remove coarser objects such as plastic, stones, scraps of materials, etc. These large floating matter can block pipes or damage equipment’s.

ii. Grit removal: This is then followed by primary treatment in which the flow of sewage is reduced to encourage sedimentation of small objectsin grit chamber to remove significant amount of grit, oils, fats and grease.

After these two steps for removal of large and small objects, sewage water may contain suspended solids with organic and inorganic content.

What happens to the sewage in secondary treatment?

After completion of the primary stage, when effluent leaves the sedimentation tank, aerobic biological processes are used to degrade the remaining organic content in the waste water. Here trickling filter and activated sludge process comes into play.

1: In trickling filters, sewage is passed through a deep bed of stones and then is transferred to another sedimentation tank to remove bacteria.

2: In activated sludge process, which gives quick results and is used nowadays. Sewage after primary stage flows into aeration tank. It is blended with air for few hours to break down the organic matters. This partially treated sewage is then sent to another sedimentation tank where the effluent is disinfected with chlorine to remove odour and to destroy pathogenic bacteria.

This treated sewage will be released into the environment and can be used in gardening, flushing, irrigation, cleaning and construction.

Sometimes, for disinfection purpose, tertiary treatment is also involved which includes RO plants, or other filtration techniques or disinfection procedures.

Conclusion

With limited supply of fresh water, we need to reuse treated water for secondary purposes to balance out the growing need for fresh water. Wastewater treatment plant plays an important role in solving water scarcity problem and promoting a sustainable lifestyle.

How can Netsol water help you in this?

Netsol water is one of the leading water treatment company in India offering projects and services in the field of water and wastewater treatment plant manufacturing and supplying machines like compact sewage treatment plant which not only turns your waste water into usable water but also acts as a savior of Mother earth and its precious resource “water”.