Can you help me please?

Question

In untreated sewage, what are the compounds that are presnt?

That is, the compounds that can cause water pollution.

Answer 1

There are about a zillion!

So, everything that goes down anybody's sink, garbage disposal, bathtub, shower, washing machine, dishwasher, a city manhole cover or sewer opening, any drain in any factory or restaurant or school, etc etc! All that water from all those places goes in the untreated sewage.

So if you went to the supermarket and wrote down the name of every chemical that is on all the food packages and all the soap and detergent and cleansers, and all the paints and garden chemicals with all their pesticides, and all the many different chemicals in cigarettes and tobacco that people flush. And all the drugs and medicines that people take and then flush the extras down the drain, and all the chemicals in peoples clothing, and in paper, etc etc -- all that stuff gets down the drain in someones house or factory or business.

Chemically speaking, untreated sewage is about the most complicated substance in the world!!!

Answer 2

Nitrates, Methane Gas (farts), Metals, by-products of foods,........there are also many biological organisims such as bacteria (e-coli, fungi, coliform, parasites etc.)

Answer 3

I would have to say that it is full of bacteria, both good and bad.