What happens when raw sewage is dumped directly into water?

The water which is not treated that is, it is a wastewater and thus is known as raw sewage. The sources of raw sewage is mainly two.

The first one is from kitchen, bathrooms and even laundries. But there is also more solid waste that comes from cooking, washing of utensils and dishes, toilets, showers and sinks. All this causes the quality of water to deteriorate, that affects aquatic life to a large extent.

When raw sewage goes into a water body three things may occur: It gets dissolved, it becomes suspended in the water column or it will sink to the bottom and remains there.

A large variety of dissolved and suspended impurities are present in raw sewage. Food and vegetable waste are the organic wastes. When these waste hits the water, microorganisms’ starts to decompose these materials which uses up some of the oxygen that is dissolved in the water as these microorganisms use it in their metabolism.

The first problem that is caused by dumping the sewage directly in water is microorganisms feast on sewage that creates many problems.

The main problem caused by dumping raw sewage into water is that these raw sewage causes eutrophication. Eutrophication is an increment in the concentration of chemical elements needed to live. The nitrates, phosphates and other organic matter found in human feces is used by many bacteria and algae as food. The algae and bacteria grows in large numbers and grows to the point where most of the dissolved oxygen that is found naturally in water is used up by these algae and many bacteria's.

This in turn makes it tougher for other organisms in the aquatic ecosystem to survive as they are basically being constricted to survive and this ultimately causes the death of other aquatic creatures. Some other problems are algae blooms and fish kills. Also, the pathogens that are present in raw sewage can contaminate ecological systems, and humans and other animals get sick. Raw sewage mainly consists of many bacteria's and viruses as well as microorganisms that causes many health problems.

Also there are many other chemicals in raw sewage that are toxic to a very high extent mainly to shellfish, other fishes, animals and other creatures in the environment of water.

The contamination of sewage that flows into a water body causes a large harm to the chain reaction. It starts as an overdose of chemical elements, and at the end ruin the ecosystem and is very harmful to the environment. 

Usually, it is used to be said that “the solution to pollution is dilution.” Actually, whenever small amount of raw sewage is dumped into a flowing body of water, a process which is natural that includes cleaning of steam or self-purification starts.

But the science behind the phrase is still correct and also true, the reality is there are very few small sewage discharges anymore. These raw sewage are giant and very harmful.

Netsol Water is a leading platform that aims at spreading knowledge on recycling of waste treating, treating polluting water, management of effluent etc. Also, Netsol has a large variety of machines and instruments to treat the unwanted sewage.