Reasons for wastewater reuse

The most common reasons for establishing a wastewater reuse program is to identify new water
sources for increased water demand and to find economical ways to meet increasingly more
stringent discharge standards
Types of reuse
Urban reuse- the irrigation of public parks, school yards, highway medians, and residential
landscapes, as well as for fire protection and toilet flushing in commercial and industrial
buildings.
Agricultural reuse- irrigation of nonfood crops, such as fodder and fiber, commercial
nurseries, and pasture lands. High-quality reclaimed water is used to irrigate food crops.
Recreational impoundments- such as pond sand and lakes.
Environmental reuse- creating artificial wetlands, enhancing natural wetlands, and
sustaining stream flows
Industrial reuse- process or makeup water and cooling tower water

Application of treated wastewater

Agricultural
irrigation
Crop irrigation
Commercial
nurseries
Landscape
irrigation
Parks
School yards
Recreational/ environmental uses
Highway medians
Lakes
and ponds
Golf
courses
Marsh enhancement
Cemeteries
Stream-flow augmentation
Residential
Fisheries
Non-portable urban uses
Fire protection

Industrial recycling
and reuse
Cooling water
Boiler feed
Process water
Heavy construction
Groundwater
recharge
Groundwater
replenishment
Saltwater intrusion
Potable reuse
control
Blending in water supply
Subsidence
control
reservoirs

Pipe-to-pipe water supply

Air conditioning
Toilet flashing

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF VARIOUS SEWAGE TREATMENT SYSTEMS

A recent World Bank Report (Shuval et al. 1986) came out strongly in favour of stabilization ponds as the
most suitable wastewater treatment system for effluent use in agriculture. Table 15 provides a comparison
of the advantages and disadvantages of ponds with those of high-rate biological wastewater treatment
processes. Stabilization ponds are the preferred wastewater treatment process in developing countries,
where land is often available at reasonable opportunity cost and skilled labour is in short supply.

Table : ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF VARIOUS SEWAGE

TREATMENT SYSTEMS

C P A E B O AW
ri a c x i x e as
te c ti t o i r te
ri k v e l d a st
a aanoa t a
g t d g ti e bi
e e e i o d li
p d d c n l za
l sl a a d a ti
a u e l it g o
n d r fi c o n
t g a lt h o p
e ti e n o
por
n
l n
d
aa
sy
nc
st
t ti
e
v
m
a
t
e
d
sl
u
d
g
e

Pl B F F F F G G G
a O
nt D
p re
er m
fo o
r v

m al
a
n
ce
F P P F P F GG
C
re
m
o
v
al

S FGGGG F F
S
re
m
o
v
al

H PFP P FFG
el
m
in
th
re
m
o
v
al

V P F P P F GG
ir
us
re
m
o
v

al

E Si P P P P F F G
c m
o pl
n e
o a
mn
ic d
fa c
ct h
or ea
s p
c
o
ns
tr
u
ct
io
n

Si P P P F F P G
m
pl
e
o
p
er
at
io
n

L GG G G G F P
a
n
d
re
q
ui
re
m
e
nt

MPP P F PP G
ai
nt
e
n
a
n
ce
c
os
ts

E PPP F PPG
n
er
g
y
d
e
m
a
n
d

Sl P F F F P F G
u
d
g
e
re
m
o
v
al
c
os
ts

Key:
FC = Faecal coliforms (facultative anaerobe)
SS = Suspended solids;
G = Good;
F = Fair;
P = Poor.

LITERATURE SURVEY
Before the late 1800s, the general means of disposing human excrement was the
outdoor privy while the major proportion of the population used to go for open
defecation. Sewage treatment systems were introduced in cities after Louis Pasteur
and other scientists showed that sewage born bacteria were responsible for many
infectious diseases. The Early attempts, in the 900s, at treating sewage usually
consisted of acquiring large farms and spreading the sewage over the land, where it
decayed under the action of micro-organisms. It was soon found that the land
became 'sick'. Later attempts included the discharge of wastewater directly into the
water bodies, but it resulted in significant deterioration of the water quality of such
bodies. These attempts relied heavily on the selfcleansing capacities of land and
water bodies and it was soon realized that nature couldn't act as an indefinite sink.
In general from about 1900 to the early 1970s treatment objectives were concerned
with:1. The removal of suspended and floatable material from wastewater.
2. The treatment of biodegradable organics (BOD removal).
3. The elimination of disease-causing pathogenic micro-organisms
The CWA (clean water act) requires that municipal wastewater treatment plant
discharges meet a minimum of 'secondary treatment'. Over 30 percent of the
wastewater treatment facilities today produce cleaner discharges by providing even
greater levels of treatment than secondary.

WASTEWATER TREATMENT PROCESS

By definition, process means a series of actions or changes. Treatment facilities incorporate
numerous processes which in combination achieve the desired water quality objectives. These
processes involve the separation, removal and disposal of pollutants present in the wastewater.

The treatment of wastewater is accomplished by four basic methods or techniques; physical,

mechanical, biological and chemical.
Composition of Wastewater
Wastewaters consist of water in which solids exist as settleable particles, dispersed as colloids,
which are materials that do not settle readily, or solids in a dissolved state. The wastewater
mixture will contain large numbers of microscopic organisms, mostly bacteria that are capable of
consuming the organic component (fats, proteins and carbohydrates) of the mixture and bringing
about rapid changes in the wastewater. Since the sources of wastewater as well as the inputs are
highly variable and since there is also an active microbial component, the composition of all
wastewaters is constantly changing. Prior to entering a wastewater treatment plant, a wastewater
is sometimes called raw wastewater or raw sewage.
The solid components of wastewaters actually represent a very small part of most discharges,
usually less than 0.1 percent by weight. However, it is this small component of the wastewater
that presents the major challenges in wastewater treatment, operation and disposal. Essentially,
the water component, the other 99.9 percent can be viewed as providing the volume and the
vehicle for transporting the solid and microbial component of the wastewater.
Although the solid component of wastewaters was noted above as consisting of less than 0.1
percent by weight of the wastewater, the common method used to express the components of
water is not percentage. The amount of materials commonly found in or added to wastewater are
more easily expressed as a concentration in milligrams per liter. This is sometimes still called
parts per million. For practical purposes, these terms may be considered equal. For purposes of
conversion, one milligram per liter is equivalent to 8.34 pounds per million gallons.
Considered chemically, wastewater is a very complex mixture of components that would be
difficult to completely define. In broad terms, it consists of an organic and an inorganic
component. Although a variety of chemical tests are used to characterize wastewaters, not all of
the chemical components will be discussed, only the most important. Probably the most often
measured characteristics of wastewater are suspended solids and BOD. Because solids are an
important category in wastewaters, their composition is explained in some detail.

Reference
1. http://www.slideshare.net/pulkitshukl/recycle-and-reuse-of-wastewater?qid=ea785c4650b3-41ed-ad6f-05930d346ebb&v=&b=&from_search=1
2. Source: Arthur (1983)

3. http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0551e/t0551e05.htm
4. http://water.me.vccs.edu/courses/ENV149/methods.htm
5. Shuval et al. 1986