What is Wastewater?

We’ve all driven by those “wastewater treatment facilities” that are usually miles away from our city or town. You know the place even before you see it; many times, in the summer you can tell where it is by following your nose. Have you ever wondered what happens at those facilities? Basically, dirty water is cleaned and returned to streams and lakes in the following methods.  

What Is Wastewater? 
Many people confuse the terms wastewater and sewage. According to Wikipedia, wastewater is any water that has been corrupted by human waste, but can also include industrial pollutants, as well as surface, storm, or sewer runoff. Sewage is a specific type of wastewater from human waste. 

How Is Wastewater Treated? 
Municipal wastewater is treated in municipal wastewater treatment plants. Once treated, wastewater is released back into water systems. In some municipalities, storm drains run directly into moving waterways such as creeks and rivers. In other municipalities where there is a high level of chemical runoff or where the storm drains combine with sewage, the wastewater is sent to sewage treatment plants. 

Sewage treatment is simply the process of removing contaminants from wastewater so it can be safely released back into the environment. The solids that are removed from sewage, often referred to as sludge or slurry, often undergo further treatment before being burned or even used as fertilizer. 

There are physical, chemical, and biological processes involved in wastewater treatment. 

The Three Main Types of Municipal Wastewater Treatment 

Physical Wastewater Treatment - Physical or mechanical treatment of municipal wastewater removes the heaviest solids from raw sewage and municipal runoff. The process includes screening, sedimentation and allowing solids to sink, and often removes as much as 50-60% of the solids. 

Biological Wastewater Treatment - In this second phase, live microbes are added to consume the dissolved organic matter that escaped the physical treatment stage. Microbes consume organic matter as food and then convert it to carbon dioxide gas, water, and other less harmful waste. Additionally, much of the remaining organic material recombines or binds together. So, additional sedimentation and screening may occur. At this point, as much as 85% of the solid waste will be removed from the wastewater. 

Chemical Wastewater Treatment - This is the final step that will ensure the removal of more than 99 percent of all the impurities from wastewater. Chlorine disinfection is the most common chemical treatment. Other processes attempt to remove levels of phosphorus and nitrogen. Additionally, carbon filtering may be used in this final stage before clean water is released back into the environment. 

What About Septic Systems? 
According to some estimates, as much as 20% of the United States is currently treating their own sewage using onsite septic systems. Septic systems take all the water flow out of the home including the human and household waste. The wastewater flows into a septic tank where solids sink to the bottom and oils float to the top. These solids and oils are then removed on a regular basis. The remaining water flows into a drain field where the remaining liquids dissipate into the surrounding soil. 

The Importance of Good Quality Microbes in Your Treatment System and Lift Stations 
There are words in our language which trigger instant, negative sensations in those that encounter them. Sometimes, these feelings are justified; other times, they are not. Words like ‘bacteria’ and ‘microbe’ fall into this latter category. 

These words are often associated with disease, with decay, and with general ill-health and uncleanness, but we need bacteria and microbes to survive. Microbes help us to maintain healthy digestion, they support entire ecosystems, and they can be used to great effect in our cities and towns. 

Lift stations, or pumping stations, perform vital functions in our municipalities, but they can become unpleasant and even dangerous if they are not properly maintained. Therefore, good quality microbes and bacteria are vital in a treatment system and lift stations.  

A Fresher, Cleaner Environment in the Local Community 
The nature of a pumping station – and the nature of the materials such stations handle – can unfortunately render them somewhat unpleasant to the people who live and work in the surrounding area. While people understand the vital work that lift stations do in municipalities all over the world, it is still the responsibility of the public works department to safeguard the quality of life of people nearby. Using good quality bacteria can assist with this. 

Bacteria and microbe products work to neutralize odors, securing a fresher and far cleaner environment for the nearby city or town. They can also be used to treat the wastewater of the lift station – usually the source of the unpleasant odor. Oil, grease, and other unclean substances are broken down by the application of bacteria and can then be easily removed or drained from the site. A healthy balance of microbes is vital to operations of the treatment system and lift stations.

Put an End to Backing Accidents

According to the National Safety Council, one out of four vehicle accidents can be blamed on poor backing techniques.  Backing accidents cause 500 deaths and 15,000 injuries per year in the United States.  The use of safe vehicle backing techniques by municipal personnel can help reduced accidents while on the job. 

• Blind Spots:  Know where they are.  In a medium-sized truck, blind spots can extend up to 16 ft in front and 160 ft behind a vehicle. Drivers need to remember that mirrors can never give the whole picture while backing. In the photo below, the blind spot to the rear of the fire truck is 247 ft. 

• Think in advance: Don’t back your vehicle unless you must.  Plan before you park.  If possible, park along a curb, in an alley, at the gas pump or pull through a parking spot. 

• Back Slowly: Back your vehicle at less than 1 mph. If you do strike an object, driving slowly will limit damage. 

• Park Defensively:  Don’t park near high traffic areas, for example at the entries of businesses; these areas are where you are most likely to be involved in an accident. 

• First-Pull-Forward: Back into your parking spot upon arrival.  If you have parked forward in a parking space, at the time of departure, by the time you shut the door and click your seat belt a car or group of people could now be in your backing path. 

• Use Correct Backing Path: Only back up if you must.  If you do back up, use the correct backing path: (listed from least hazardous to most hazardous) straight backing, backing using the driver's mirror (swinging to the left), backing using the passenger mirror (swinging to the right). 

• When backing, be cautious of front-end swing:  When driving forward the rear wheels follow the steering axle; when backing, the front of the vehicle will swing wider than the rear axle.  This swinging could result in the vehicle striking vehicles or other objects. 

In the photos above, if the sanitation truck driver were to back up and swing right, the truck would strike the silver Camaro sitting next to it.  You can see in the third photo that the car is not visible to the driver in the side-view mirror. 

• Use backing aides:  At a minimum most vehicles have a rear-view mirror and side mirrors.  Some vehicles have additional mirrors, backing sensors and/or backing cameras.  Don’t focus on just mirrors or a backing camera, use all of the tools at your disposal to back safely.  

• Do a walk around:  Walking around a vehicle gives a driver a firsthand view of the backing area and any limitations.  They can check for children, soft or muddy areas, potholes and other dangers.  In addition, they can also check for obstructions, low-hanging trees and wires, and other potential clearance-related hazards. 

• Every backing situation is new and different:  Sometimes a driver visits the same location several times a day and should be watchful each visit for changes and any new obstacles. 

• Use a spotter:  Drivers should use another person to help them when backing.  The driver and spotter should use hand signals instead of verbal ones.  Before using a spotter, agree on the hand signals to be used prior to backing.  If you get a signal you don’t understand, stop and don’t continue until you understand the information the spotter is giving you.  In addition, don’t have spotters walking backward while giving signals and don't place them in a caught-in-between hazardous situation (i.e. a backing sanitation truck and dumpster, or backing truck and a wall). 

Long-Term Solutions to Safe Backing 

• Implementing backing policies/procedures can help reduce accidents and injuries. These are some considerations for backing policies: 

• Limit backing to a specified distance: Do not back more than 200 ft. If you must back further, pull forward to get in a better position to shorten your backing path. 

• First-Movement-Forward: Require all vehicles to back into parking spots upon arrival. 

• Require spotters for vehicles with poor driver visibility, such as sanitation, fire and dump trucks. 

• Shorten backing path and improve visibility in areas of constant backing, such as at sanitation transfer stations. 

• Installation of backing sensors and rear-vision camera systems in vehicles assists in limiting rear blind spots. Investing in rear-view camera systems for vehicles can put drivers in better visual control of the rear of a vehicle. 

• No amount of forward-driving experience can help a driver with backing a truck or other vehicle. All drivers need to practice safe backing techniques and limit backing to only when absolutely necessary. 

• Creation and support of a municipal-wide training program: The program should include a driver’s course to teach and review backing techniques, and also cover equipment usage, hand signals, dangers to avoid, and other risk-lowering topics. 

*Special thanks to Albert Pierce (Solid Waste Director, City of Durant) & Stephen Coy (Fire Chief, City of Warr Acres) for their contributions to this article.