High-quality water ensures good human health, economic and social development, as well as the ecosystem. But with the expanding worldwide population and rising degradation of the natural environment, ensuring a safe and sufficient water supply for everyone has become a huge challenge. A big portion of the solution can be to generate less pollution and improve the management of wastewater.
A more sustainable and circular economy is only possible if the potential of wastewater is valued, instead of simply discarding or ignoring it. More than being an alternative water source, efficient wastewater management helps safeguard the ecosystems while giving nutrients, energy, and many recoverable materials.
What are the Opportunities in Wastewater?
Water needs to be managed properly throughout the entire water cycle, right from the abstraction of fresh water, pre-treatment process, distribution, then collection and finally till post-treatment. Even the utilization of the treated wastewater and its eventual return to the environment needs to be effectively managed. Given the population explosion, accelerated industrialization, and urbanization along with economic advancement, the amount of wastewater produced and the resultant pollution level have surged worldwide.
Sufficient and safe water supplies’ availability is inextricably associated with the management of wastewater. Copious levels of untreated sewage, coupled with industrial discharge as well as agricultural runoff degrade the quality of water while contaminating water resources everywhere.
The world over, nearly 79% of wastewater goes right back into the ecosystem untreated or reused, which aggravates the situation where close to 1.11 billion citizens are forced to drink water filled with feces. This makes them extremely prone to dysentery, cholera, polio, and typhoid. Instead of being ignored or discarded, wastewater can potentially help cater to the mounting water demand in burgeoning cities, raising the energy production rate as well as industrial development.
What is Wastewater?
Wastewater can be described as water produced after industrial, commercial, and domestic use. Wastewater’s composition keeps on changing and is extremely variable, owing to which it is hard to pinpoint exactly what it means.
Wastewater is mainly composed of 99.9% water while the remaining 0.1% gets removed. The remaining 0.1% has microorganism compounds, along with inorganic and organic matter. Wastewater effluents are unfortunately sent to lakes, streams, ponds, estuaries, oceans, and rivers. Wastewater can also include storm runoff since toxic substances wash off parking lots, rooftops, and roads.
What are the Key Types of Wastewaters?
Wastewater can be narrowed down to two broad segments – sewage as well as non-sewage.
Sewage
Sewage refers to the wastewater generated post-domestic activities, which can include public toilets, houses, schools, restaurants, hospitals, and hotels. These structures produce colossal amounts of wastewater every day, mostly containing feces and urine.
Non-Sewage
Non-sewage includes every other type of wastewater, such as stormwater and rainwater from flooding, as well as the water that is produced post-commercial activity like laundrettes or garages. It also covers water coming from industrial plants.
What is Residential Wastewater?
Yellow Water
Yellow water is wastewater made essentially of pure urine. This urine comes from certain sources that don’t have the contaminants generally found in black water or grey water such as toilet paper, chemicals, food particles, and feces.
Greywater
Simply put, grey water is just black water without feces, food waste, or urine. It is produced from bathroom sinks, washing machines, and baths. While it has chemicals as well as cleaning liquids, it can be reused since it is not pathogenic.
Blackwater
Blackwater can be described as wastewater produced from kitchen sinks, dishwashers, and toilets. It has all the contaminants expected from these fixtures and appliances. Urine, toilet paper, feces, discarded food chemicals, and cleaning liquids are all present in black water. Therefore, it is extremely contaminated and can lead to diseases.
What are Water and Wastewater Pipes?
Piping remains one of the most vital aspects of water and wastewater treatment systems, cooling water systems, desalination units, water pumping units, and more. Piping systems are almost like the veins in modern plants. Piping carries water and wastewater, coupled with mixtures and chemicals from one point to another. The construction, design, maintenance, and operation of different piping systems should involve understanding and assessing piping materials, fundamentals, specific and generic considerations, installation, fabrication, inspection, and testing requirements, and examinations, besides local as well as international regulations.
What are the Types of Wastewater Pipes?
- Ductile Iron Pipes
- Concrete Pipes
- Fiber Cement Pipes
- UPVC Pipes
- Clay ware Pipes
Ductile Iron Pipes
These types of wastewater pipes have impressive tensile strength and are chemical resistant. These pipes are, therefore, used extensively for carrying industrial waste. High resistance to second cover damage, easy installation, and economical are other excellent features of ductile iron pipes. They don’t get easily damaged during transportation and have high elongation or ductility.
Concrete Pipes
These types of pipes are eco-friendly and offer excellent structural strength. These usually carry wastewater produced from sewer lines. High resistance to most chemicals and abrasion, ease of installation, and high reliability are some properties that foster their appeal. They even become stronger with time while a steel-reinforced concrete pipe’s life cycle is substantially longer than many other pipes.
Fiber Cement Pipes
These wastewater pipes are corrosion-resistant and maintain the quality of both inorganic and concrete fiber. Their total service life is of at least 50 to 75 years and they are easy to store. They maintain their strength even in extreme temperatures while also maintaining thermal conductivity of nearly 120 times lesser than metal pipes. They have low friction losses and smoothbores.
UPVC Pipes
UPVC pipes are the types of wastewater pipes that are used primarily for drainage purposes and boast of superior working pressure and intensity. They are safe for the environment, chemical resistant, and offer lasting quality. They are easy to install, are economical, and offer ideal water tightness.
Clayware Pipes
Clayware pipes are extremely convenient when it comes to layout and handling. With rigid fittings, they don’t change their forms under loading. With significant corrosion resistance, these offer flexible joints at frequent and sufficient intervals.