Seminole County Florida Wastewater Treatment Plant

The Seminole County wastewater treatment plant cleans and recycles the water for future use.

• There are three phases of treatment:  primary, secondary, and tertiary.
• During the primary phase, sewage and other large particles are removed.  When removed, these particles are condensed into sludge which is used for fertilizer or disposed of at the local landfill.
• The secondary phase serves as a clarifying process for reducing organic materials.

•  The tertiary phase, also called effluent polishing, is necessary for reusable water.  The water is processed through chlorination and amonia stripping.  About 1.5 million gallons of water is recycled a day for irrigation use, including use by commercial businesses (e.g. local car washes).

India Wastewater

In urban India, houses are sometimes built before the wastewater systems causing wastewater to pool outside of homes.

• With the lack of wastewater systems, pools of wastewater emerge in the streets.
• These pools of wastewater become breeding sites for mosquitos, which can cause  widespread disease.
• In some cases, wastewater is being mildly treated and used for farmland irrigation water.  This is contaminating the food chain which can also cause widespread disease.

 Comparison of Wastewater Treatment:

The US has set regulations and standards for wastewater treatment compared to developing countries, like India, where water is dismissed without any treatment or after only the primary phase of treatment.  From the poor management of wastewater, most surface water and groundwater transports diseases, including typhus and cholera.  Also, the lack of wastewater treatment leads to polluted waterways.  Polluted waterways have a greater effect on the environment and on human society than the pollution that is generated from wastewater treatment plants.  Wastewater treatment plants use up electricity which ultimately effects global warming, but the sanitation process that occurs benefits the development of human society. 

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