Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals and Design - Chapter 11

BOOK TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOC > Ch. 11 > 11.13 The Final Product(s)

# Chapter 11 Wastewater Treatment

James R. Mihelcic, David W. Hand and Martin T. Auer

## The Final Product(s)

Influent is water that "flows in". This is the raw, untreated wastewater.

Effluent means to "flow out". This is the treated wastewater.

The picture below compares influent and effluent. More than 95% of the pollutants have been removed.

This water is safe for discharge to lakes or rivers.

A job well done!

However, since we have been taking things out of the wastewater as it passed through the treatment plant, we need to deal with these residuals. The following page provides a schematic of a wastewater treatment facility, identifying points in the process stream where materials leave the plant. You will have an opportunity there to identify the residuals and the manner in which they are managed.

### Activity - Where Does It All Go?

Below is a treatment plant flowchart, illustrating the processes used to separate wastes from water. We can Trap'em with chemical precipitation, Zap'em with ultraviolet light, Eat'em with the help of microbes, Sink'em through gravity settling, and Squeeze'em physically. Processes are identified by color.
| At each location where a "T" occurs, something leaves the treatment plant. In the menus on the left, identify what is leaving and its destination. Open the flowchart in its own window while you work on the activity below.

#### Credits

Raw and Treated Water photo: Emil Groth (Michigan Tech).
Wastewater Treatment Plant Flowchart illustration: Marty Auer.
Wastewater Product Destination activity: © 2007 State of Michigan.