Early in the 1970's, the United States began to foresee many problems in the future of the nation's water. The main problems were the concern for sanitation, as well as the need for additional water sources. With the help of several environmentalist and engineers, they devised a way to knock out the problem with one stone. As a result, Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972. Through this act Congress put the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and corresponding state agencies in charge of regulating all activities that threaten the quality of the nation's water resources. In addition, Congress also adopted the Federal Clean Water Act, which set a national goal to eliminate the discharge of pollutants into all navigable waters by 1985. With the framework in order, several organizations began popping up. Among these, was the revolutionary process of wastewater treatment.
The wastewater treatment process is very complex. It is basically a recycling process of our everyday water. It takes the dirty sewage water from our residences and businesses and makes it pure again before it is reused, applied to land, or before it enters another body of water. The main goal of this treatment is to remove or reduce organic matter, nutrients, solids, disease causing organisms and other toxic pollutants.
The first step of wastewater treatment is the preliminary treatment. This step is basically the process of screening out all the bigger parts of the polluted water. Common things screened out during this process are sticks, large food particles, sand, gravel, etc. This step gets all the larger particles out before it enters the plant so that it will not damage the machinery and pumps within the plant. This collected debris is usually disposed of in a local landfill. .
The next step in the treatment process is referred to as the primary treatment. During this step the remaining solids and greases are separated from the wastewater.
