taking a Look at Wastewater Treatement

Apart from the article by Barnett, several other papers have been written concerning water crisis. For instance, the American Water Works Association writes that in as much as the world is covered with 70% water, 97% of it is salty, and therefore it is not suitable for consumption. Another 2% is ice that is found at the poles. Primarily, this cannot be accessed for consumption since it is far from habitable places. Only 1% is available for use (American Water Works Association).

The Earth is a huge planet this is covered by 70 percent water. Astonishingly from this 70 percent the human population can only use 1 percent of the world’s water the rest of it is salt water, frozen, or in some way unattainable (Santa Clara Valley Water District, 2016). Humans have found many different ways to obtain this 1 percent of fresh water they need, but the techniques vary depending on location. In San Jose, California we obtain our water from 3 major sources: groundwater, imported surface water, and local mountain surface water. These 3 sources contribute different amounts of water to the San Jose community. Imported surface water composes about 50 percent of our water supply, while ground water composes roughly 40 percent, and local mountain surface water composes approximately 10 percent (Santa Jose Water Company, 2016). However, these percentages can change due to factors such as weather and global warming.

Water may be a renewable resource, but the world’s supply of drinkable fresh water is being consumed more rapidly than ever before, and most importantly, more rapidly than it can be replenished. Only 2.5% of water on Earth is fresh

Water is all around us. This substance is of high importance to every living thing which is on planet earth. As much as we consider water to be life and the most important substance, still we don’t seem to appreciate it very much, as it is being wasted in such great amounts. Everyone believes that water will always be around but not taking into account that the majority of the water on planet earth are not for human consumption. Human beings can only survive on consuming fresh water. The percentage of

Around the world our water supply is depleting. Our water is becoming contaminated making it harmful for both mammals and aquatic life. Today over one billion people go without adequate water supply and every fifteen seconds a child dies of waterborne illness. Sources of water that once supplied water to millions can no longer meet the supply and demand of the water need. Scientist predict that the amount of useful water will keep depleting greatly in the years to come. In the next couple of pages it will talk about both the geological and human reasons as to why are water supply is depleting.

The earth is like a living organism; it thrives full of life with a fragile balance. This balance has been thrown off by many different things. Water seems to be one of the biggest problems with this offset balance. Water is a magic liquid keeping all of life thriving. Humans drink and use water, plants use water, water is used in everyday life, and it’s slowly being taken away. In the future, there will be no water left to sustain life on earth.

Water is essential to life. It is a vital resource that makes up 70% of the earth’s surface. However, only 3% percent of the earth’s water is freshwater and two-thirds of that freshwater are frozen in glaciers and ice caps, leaving an incomparably small portion available for sustaining earth’s life forms (“How Much Water is in the Ocean?”). Rising surface temperatures, caused by greenhouse gasses that are released when burning fossil fuels, are threatening this water supply by accelerates the rate of water evaporation and limiting precipitation, which leads to droughts and water shortages. Furthermore, earth’s growing population is consuming an increasingly larger fraction of freshwater, which is causing the earth’s natural aquifers to dry up. This global water crisis is especially acute in the western United States where California is experiencing critical drought conditions that are endangering the state’s ability to sustain life. The current California water crisis will ultimately make the state uninhabitable because of several severe, long-term consequences.

The water crisis in the world is increasing, and it will continue to increase if something is not done. Water makes up approximately seventy-one percent of Earth’s surface. This does not include the water underground. Everyday water is being taken more than it is being put in, and people have a large role in this. Climate change, the number of people in the world, and water wasted is among the uppermost causes of the water crisis. It is simple, if you do not have water, you will eventually die. The water crisis is a health crisis for everyone globally.

A surge in the global population in the past century has brought about an immense strain on the commons. It is estimated that 35% of the global population suffers from “severe water stress” (Wada et al., 2010). Only 3% of the world’s supply of water is freshwater, with 68.7% being locked away in the glaciers, 30.1% in ground water, and 0.9% in surface water bodies (Shiklomanov, 1993). This makes groundwater the most abundant fresh water source readily available for human consumption. Estimates for global groundwater withdrawal are between 750 and 800 cubic kilometers per year (Konikow et al., 2005). Severe land subsidence and depletion of the groundwater table is occurring in both developing and developed nations. This has made

Water covers 70% of our planet, and it is easy to think that it will always be plentiful. However, freshwater, what we drink, bathe in, irrigate our farm fields with makes up only 3% of the world’s water, and two-thirds of that is stored in frozen glaciers or unavailable for our use. Many of the water systems that keep ecosystems thriving and feed a growing human population have become stressed. Rivers, lakes and aquifers are drying up or becoming too polluted to use. Already, 80 countries suffer from water shortages that threaten health and economies while 40 percent of the world—more than 2 billion people—does not have access to clean water or sanitation

Water is the main source of life on the Earth. It is vital for normal existence and functioning of organisms. Earth is sometimes called “water planet.” But, in fact, the number of freshwater is limited. “Only about 2 percent of the planet's water is fresh.” (How much water is there on Earth?) This water is not enough even to meet daily needs of mankind. According to World Health Organization, “a lack of water to meet daily needs is a reality today for one in three people around the world.” (2009) In the Middle East the situation is especially hard. This region is thought to be one of the droughtiest places in the world, most of it’s territory is deserted. Freshwater accounts to 1 percent of the world’s supplies, while the population comes

In today’s society, the idea of a limited resource is not a foreign concept. Most people understand that eventually humans will use up many of these resources, such as fossil fuels, and they will cease to exist. However, very rarely does a conversation about limited resources get started over the water. While water itself is not a limited resource, clean drinkable water is becoming scarcer as people continue to use excess water. The documentary “Last Call at the Oasis” highlights how precious water is to survival and just how much miss use of water occurs in the United States alone. Even though the United States has gone down the wrong path with its water consumption methods, it may not be too late to recover. With the proper systems and education in place, the chances of delaying a water crisis increase exponentially.

Surface waters necessitate water treatment before consumption to eliminate the risk present to the consumer. Poor quality water which consists of suspended and dissolved particles pose health risks. The most harmful contamination is the microbiological contamination which leads to infectious diseases (Water treatment, 1994).Since the early 1800’s water purification systems have been used to eliminate the health risk posed by the recycled water. During the final process of treatment alternate disinfectants are used, however UV radiation and chlorination are predominantly employed techniques. UV radiation emitted by the sun was discovered to have germicidal effects on pathogens and micro-organisms present water. From this discovery came the introduction of UV radiation lamps, which emit similar UV rays to the sun to disinfect the water. Chlorination systems had come into use a few years later during the 1900’s as scientists had discovered the disinfection properties of chlorine. Both methods have benefits and weaknesses, however chlorination is more suitable due to its low cost of production and decreased risk of bacterial products in metropolitan areas.

Water scarcity is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage within a region. It already affects every continent and around 2.8 billion people around the world at least one month out of every year. More than 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water. Water scarcity involves water stress, water shortage or deficits, and water crisis. While the concept of water stress is relatively new, it is the difficulty of obtaining sources of fresh water for use during a period of time,result in further depletion and deterioration of available water resources. Water shortages may be caused by climate change, such as altered weather patterns including droughts or

The disposal of untreated wastewater coming from the industries into the water bodies will pollute the water bodies because of its high concentrations. So, the wastewater produced from the industry should be treated properly to meet the permissible limits given by central and state pollution control boards. Therefore it is necessary to treat the wastewater properly with the help of an appropriate treatment plant. However, the treatment plant even though properly planned may not work satisfactory because of several reasons. Hence, it is essential to evaluate the treatment plant considering individual treatment unit in the entire treatment flow. In the present work emphasis has been given to the study of the performance of treatment facilities because of its importance in the conventional treatment of wastewater. Hence, the literature review related to the evaluation of the entire treatment process along with biological treatment process particularly suspended growth process Activated Sludge Process (ASP), attached growth process Trickling Filter (TF) and a combination of the both suspended and attached growth process Hybrid Reactor (HR) is presented in the following sections of this chapter.