The quality of water resources defines the quality of life but on the contrary water crisis has been the major environmental concern for the past decade. Water resources are getting contaminated by various factors which include both domestic and industrial pollutants. The sewage water has both biological and chemical wastes and hence risks are high when they are directly released into the living ecosystem. Sewage treatment of wastewater is highly recommended as they help in purifying the major impurities. Sewage treatment plants perform the function of treating the sewage water collected from industrial and domestic sources. The industrial and domestic sewage water contains heavy solid impurities, organic wastes, toxic chemicals and so the sewage treatment process should be efficient in treating and removing the toxic wastes before the disposal of wastewater in living systems hence making it safe.

Stages of Treatment

The constructional design of Sewage Treatment Plants is simple and the working involves a series of treatment process. The primary stage of the sewage treatment involves the sedimentation process. The sewage water which is collected in huge tanks is allowed some time which results in the sedimentation of heavy solid impurities to the bottom of the tank while the liquid impurities floats over the top surface. Later the liquid impurities including oil floats, grease are removed using clarifiers which are mostly circular in shape and this process is termed as clarification.

The secondary stage of working in the sewage treatment plant is the aeration process. Aeration is basically the sludge activation process which is carried out using large sized fans called aerators. As the organic impurities requires high BOD (Biological oxygen demand), the aerators supplies oxygen to the bacteria and they results in the formation of sludge which is removed at the later part of the secondary stage. The efficiency of the aeration process depends on the design of aerator fins and the tanks design dimensions.

The treated water from the secondary stage has chemical or physical infect ants. Tertiary stage involves the disinfection process of the toxic impurities thus making it safe for the disposal of treated water. Sewage treatment plants helps in reducing the hazardous contamination getting released into natural water bodies thus controlling water pollution.

Sewage treatment plant helps in putting the brakes over water pollution thus giving a stable hold to maintain the balance in the ecosystem. Though the process of sewage treatment is simple it is not followed extensive. Awareness on sewage treatment must be shared through various platforms of the media. The major reason for poor growth of population in underdeveloped countries is due to water crisis and water contamination kills the health of good and hygiene life. Though the world has three fourth of its content to be water, just a couple percent is available for human usage. So the reuse of water in agricultural sectors and industries should be encouraged. Reuse is not possible without proper treatment of the sewage water and hence the sewage treatment plants are as important as hydro power plants.