Sustainable Engineering, "Waste Water Treatment"

Sustainable Wastewater Treatment

The centralised sewage treatment technologies have proven to be expensive, complex and are failing to cater to the total wastewater generated. The untreated/partially treated wastewater makes its way to the water body causing immense degradation of the ecosystem and the environmental health.

Need is for sustainable wastewater treatment technologies - to locally treat the sewage and also reuse/recycle. The decentralised sewage treatment can be both electro-mechanical system that have higher energy requirement or natural systems with less or no energy requirement.

CSE has reviewed and documented select case studies that present innovative, sustainable and affordable ways treating the sewage locally including reuse/recycle. The case studies comprise of the wastewater treatment systems which have been implemented at individual, community/cluster and at municipal level. The case studies documented discuss the principle, salient features, and performance indicators and provide details of individuals or agencies/institutions who have implemented the system

Four position papers for state, local, and tribal government officials and interested stakeholders. These materials include information on the uses and benefits of decentralized wastewater treatment and examples of where it has played an effective role in a community's wastewater treatment infrastructure.

Introduction to Decentralized Wastewater Treatment: A Sensible Solution
Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Can Be Cost Effective and Economical
Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Can Be Green and Sustainable
Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Can Protect the Environment, Public Health, and Water Quality
EPA and 18 partner organizations are joined by an MOU to work collaboratively at the national level to improve decentralized performance and protect the nation's public health and water resources. EPA initiated this MOU partnership in 2005 through an MOU with eight public and private sector organizations. The MOU was then periodically expanded, reaching 18 partners in November 2014.
The 2014 MOU renewed the commitment of EPA and its partner organizations to work together to encourage proper management of decentralized systems and increase collaboration among EPA, state and local governments, and decentralized system practitioners and providers.
Many programs, both at the EPA and elsewhere, relate to EPA's decentralized wastewater program and provide information about how decentralized wastewater is integrated in environmental quality, planning, protection, and conservation.
During the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment facility, solid, semisolid or liquid untreated residue, called sewage sludge, is generated. When sewage sludge is treated and processed, it becomes biosolids. Biosolids can be safely recycled and applied as fertilizer to improve and maintain productive soils and stimulate plant growth.