Lecture 4 Flashcards
(31 cards)
Non Water Carried Methods of Disposal
- Discharge on soil
- Discharge to pit
- Privy/ Latrine
- Composted (Clivus multrium)
Water Carried Methods of Disposal
- On site
- Direct discharge
- Water pollution control facility
Treatment components of onsite waste water disposal
- Cesspools/ Septic tanks
- Types of leaching areas
- Treatment
Quality of treatment and limitations of onsite waste water disposal
Do not do anything with chemicals, they don’t treat anything
Benefits of onsite waste water disposal
- Treatment/ Maintenance
- Cost (Better than establishing a whole new system)
- Private not public
- Little training
- Recycles/disperses pollution
Problems of onsite waste water disposal
- Site limitations (ledge rock that’s under the ground, ground water, poor soil to accept the liquid, all kinds of hell)
- Size
- Treatment
- Oversight/ Responsibility
- Repair costs
Explain waste water treatment plants
o Separating out the solids and the floatable materials and discharging the effluents into waters and let it be diluted (no treatment)
o “Dilution is the solution”
Waste water treatment plant primary treatment
Remove scum and sludge (physically)
Waste water treatment plant secondary treatment
o Reduce demand for oxygen
o Reduce suspended particulates
Waste water treatment plant tertiary treatment
o Nitrates/ phosphates/ toxics
o Nitrates and phosphates are in fertilizers, end up creating a lot of algae, when algae dies, they take up a lot of O2 and fuck over the fish
Waste water treatment plant disinfection
o Reduce bacteria/ Kill microorganisms
o Always the last step
Positive aspects of waste water treatment
o Development (of cities/towns/communities) o Single point source of pollution to monitor and control o Quality of treatment (only as good as the money you put into it)
Issues of treatment plants
o Cost to construct/ operate/ maintain o Training of staff o Infrastructure costs o Increased flow requires increase treatment (potential design problems here with pipes and leakage) o Single point of discharge
Even more things wrong with treatment plants
o Secondary treatment sensitive to chemicals
o Tertiary treatment (land disposal)
o Diversions/ minimum flows
o Disinfection (chlorination vs. uv ozone for treating effluent)
More issues with treatment plants
o Leakage in collection o Equipment failures o Odors o Extension of sewers o Combined sewer overflow (CSO)
MS4
o Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems
o Anything that’s on any surface that goes over the surface of the ground goes in through MS4
Explain indicator organism
o Coliform
o 0 is too little, keep an eye for too much
o Test often
Discharge of effluent: where does it go?
o Water o Land o Reuse: Irrigation Golf Course Street cleaning o The effluent is treated based on where it’s going
Role of WPCA (Water Pollution Control Authority)
o Operation/Maintenance
o Extension of Sewers
Expand on WPCA’s role for operating and maintaining
o They’re operating and maintaining: Treatment plants Satellites/ sewers Pumping stations Lab
Role and extent of health departments
o Onsite (Under 5,000 = local, over = DEEEP)
Site Approvals
Inspections
o All systems
Complaint investigations (often local health dept)
Quality Control for waste water treatment plants
Surveillance (make sure everything is being pumped right, generators are functioning, there’s a point of discharge)
Conservative Federal Administration concerns about the program
o Cost
o State not federal issue
o Water quality not improving that much (federal dollars being used to increase growth of cities/communities/ etc)
Other waste water issues
o Industrial waste
o Gray water (example: washing machine water)
o Reuse
o Public vs. private onsite systems
Sources of non-point source pollution
Def: Polluted run off water o Erosion o Parking lots o Agricultural areas o Lawns o Storm drains, not sewers, surface water that goes into our rivers and streams and oceans o Carry lots of sediment, drainage from parking lots (oils, solvents from radiators), fertilizers from lawns So we have water quality problems
