OBJECTIVES OF WASTEWATER TREATMENT The primary objective of this wastewater treatment plant operation is to meet th e permit requirements.

At the same time, the operation must protect the safety, health and well-being of the plant's employees and neighbors. In establishing th e requirements for wastewater treatment, the regulatory agencies considers the f ollowing, as well as compliance with minimum statutory requirements: 1. Prevention of disease, 2. Prevention of nuisances, 3. Avoidance of water supply contamination, 4. Elimination of all pollutant discharges to navigable waters, 5. Maintaining clean waters for the propagation and survival of fish and other a quatic life, 6. Protection of waters for personal bathing and recreational use, 7. Preservation of pristine waters for ecosystem protection, and 8. Conservation of water.

Primary treatment and Secondary treatment:The principal objective of wastewater treatment is generally to allow sewage and industrial effluents to be disposed of without danger to human health or damage to the environment. Conventional wastewater treatment consists of a combination of physical, chemical and biological processes and operations to remove solids, organic matter and sometimes nutrients from wastewater. Wastewater treatment me thods can be broadly classified as: (i) Physical unit operation: The removal of pollutants by physical forces. (ii) Chemical unit operation: The removal of pollutants by addition of chemicals or by chemical reactions. (iii) Biological unit operation: The removal of pollutants by biological activit ies. These treatment methods occur in a variety of combinations in wastewater treatme nt systems, to provide various levels of wastewater treatment. The typical flow diagram for wastewater treatment There are generally four levels of wastewater treatment: 1) Preliminary treatment 2) Primary treatment 3) Secondary treatment 4) Tertiary/advanced treatment. Preliminary Treatment

Preliminary treatment is the first step in wastewater treatment. The purpose of preliminary treatment is the removal of coarse solids and other large materials often found in wastewater. Preliminary treatment consists mainly of physical unit operations such as: 1. Screening Screening in the removal of coarse solids in wastewater which may clog the mecha nical equipments and pipes bar racks and screens are common types of screening d evices. Most screens in treatment plants consist of parallel bars placed at an a ngle in a channel in such a manner that the wastewater flows through the bars. T rash collects on the bars and is periodically raked off by hand or by mechanical means. In most places these screenings are disposed of by land filling or incin eration. 2. Combination Combination is the grinding of coarse solids into smaller and more uniform parti cles, which are then returned to the flow stream for subsequent treatment. 3. Flotation Flotation in the separation of suspended and floatable solid particles from wast ewater this can be achieved by introducing fine air bubbles into the wastewater. 4. Grit removal Grit includes sand, ash, cinder, egg shells, etc. of diameter less than 0.2 mm. The specific gravity of grit varies from 2.0 to 2.6. Grit should be removed earl y in the treatment process because it is abrasive and rapidly wears out pumps an d other equipments. Since it is mostly inorganic, it cannot be broken down by bi ological treatment processes and thus should be removed as soon as possible. Grit is usually removed in a long narrow trough called a "grit channel" (grit ch annel is designed to provide a flow-through velocity of 0.3 m/s. The settled gri t can be removed either manually or mechanically. Primary Treatment After preliminary treatment, wastewater is passed forward for primary treatment. The objective of primary treatment is the removal of settle able organic solids by sedimentation and the removal of materials that float (scum) by skimming. Primary sedimentation tanks or clarifiers may be circular or rectangular basins, typically 3 to 5 m deep, with hydraulic retention time (time taken by a particl e to travel from inlet to outlet) ranging between 2 and 3 hours. In a circular b asin, the flow pattern is radial. To achieve the radial flow pattern, the wastew ater can be introduced in the centre of the basin. At the centre of the basin, t he wastewater enters a circular well, designed to distribute the flow equally in all directions. The scraper attached to a rotating arm rotates slowly around th e bottom of the tank. The scraper pushes the settled solids (sludge) towards the centre and into the sludge hopper. The settled solids are known as primary slud ge. They are collected for further treatment prior to disposal. Scum is collected by a rotating blade the primary tank flows from the tank ong enough to allow the treated water t a high velocity, particles settling at by to at the surface. The clear surface water of passing over a weir. The weir must be l leave at a low velocity; if it leaves a the bottom may be picked up and carried

from the tank. Approximately 30% of the incoming biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), 50-70% of th e total suspended solids (SS) and 65% of the oil and grease are removed during p rimary treatment. Some organic nitrogen and phosphorus are also removed during p rimary sedimentation. The effluent from primary sedimentation units is called as the primary effluent. Secondary Treatment (Biological Treatment) The goal of all biological treatment systems is to remove the dissolved and the non- settling organic solids from the primary effluent by using microbial popula tions. Biological treatments are generally part of secondary treatment systems. The microorganisms used are responsible for the degradation of organic matter an d the stabilisation of organic wastes. With regard to the way in which they util ise oxygen, they can be classified into: 1. Aerobic (require oxygen for their metabolism) 2. Anaerobic (grow in the absence of oxygen) 3. Facultative (can proliferate either in the presence or absence of oxygen). Stabilization of organic matter by microorganisms in a natural or controlled env ironment of biological treatment process is accomplished by two distinct metabol ic processes: 1. Respiration 2. Synthesis. Respiration is a microbial process in which a portion of the available organic s ubstrate is oxidized by microorganisms to liberate energy. The energy derived fr om respiration is utilized to synthesize new microbial cells. The biological treatment processes used for wastewater treatment are broadly cla ssified as aerobic (in the presence of oxygen) and aerobic (in the absence of ox ygen). Aerobic process Aerobic degradation occurs in two steps. In the first step, complex organics (ca rbohydrates, proteins, lipids, etc.) are broken down by extracellular enzymes in to simple organic compounds. In the second step aerobics microorganisms (in the presence of oxygen) convert simple organic compounds into oxidized end products such as carbon dioxide, nitrate and phosphate. The energy released in this proce ss is used for biosynthesis of more bacterial cells If the microorganisms are suspended in wastewater during treatment, the operatio n is called 'suspended growth process'. When the microorganisms are attached to a surface over which they grow, the operation is called 'attached growth process '. So the conversion of organic matter to gaseous end products and cell tissue ( biomass) can be accomplished aerobically, an aerobically or facultative using su spended and attached growth systems.