What becomes of human waste when it arrives at a water purification plant & turned into clean water to drink?

Question

We know it is skimmed off the top as it rises to the top and filtered. But, what do they do with the stinky stuff that's left behind? Same goes for urine! Whe knows, somewhere along the way you might be drinking the water you got rid of at the "adult watering hole" (the toilet bowl). Ugly thought isn't it?

Answer 1

Ultimately the solids that are collected from the waste water treatment plants go into landfill facilities. I worked at a treatment plant for 6 months, so I know. All you people who think you're reducing your contribution to landfill (garbage dumps) by sending food left-overs, eggshells, orange peels and the like down the garbage disposal, think again. The treatment plant collects and sends it right over there for you!

All solids are treated....human waste included. Primary sedimentation tanks are used first. Some items sink, like eggshells, and are collected off the bottom of the tank, other items float and are skimmed off. Then the water continues to Secondary treatment. Biological agents are introduced. Microscopic organisms feed on the waste, get fat and heavy and sink. Again more scraping up off the bottom, more skimming. Some facilities use a DAFT or Dissolved Air Floatation Tank, again more collection of floatables.

Each step the water gets cleaner. Also water samples are taken from each phase, dehydrated and weighed to measure residual dissolved solids to insure effective processes. Eventually the final chemical treatment, chlorination and other chemicals to kill any leftover bacteria or viruses, then off the water goes back into the rivers or bays nearby. The EFFLUENT (final water product leaving the treatment plant) is completly sanitized and is drinkable.

Whew . . a mouthful I know, but that's the bulk of it!
Have fun!

Answer 2

It's just a mechanical representation of what the Earth has done for millenia. The water you drank today was certainly at one time a component of blood, someone or some animal's urine,feces, or just sitting in a lake where fish crap in it. The stinky stuff is used either for fertilizer or landfilled. It's not an ugly thought, pee is mostly water and when the water is evaporated off, the components that make it pee are left behind. Filters work the same way, trapping impurities and letting the water pass.

Answer 3

Unless you know of some other source for water on earth...it is definitely all recycled back to start....humus fertilizer is also from that same source...
In Riverside, CA you can actually drive by the place and get a real load of what the plant looks like with its recyclying vats in full view...and when the wind is blowing the wrong way...loooook out!
But once the water is purified then back it goes to start...
In Rhode Island the take the dirtiest water, with toxic chemicals and sewer water and in three days is better than when it started...they do this process in three natural environment vats with natural disposal without adding more chemicals that end up back in the soil that ends up backin the drinking water. Toxins are much worse in our water.

Answer 4

Do you know how many times the same water you drink is recycled? It is the same water the dinosaurs drank. Natural processes have cleaned it many millions of times now. Sewage treatment plants do much the same thing a bit faster. No big deal. Most of the solubles are returned to the soil, often in the form of commercial fertilizers.

Answer 5

The firt step in water purification is settling. The solids are settled out . Bacteria compost this material. The remains canbe used as fertilizer in areas where food is not grown. It has been broken down into elemental or small compound components. The effluent is areated, chlorinated and put into the nearest body of water. Bacteria are used to break down organic materials that might be present in any of the sewage.

Answer 6

We have sewage treatment plants to remove most of the human waste for a city or town or whatever. Without going into specifics, the urine and feces are converted into non-waste biological matter, which is then collected and dewatered. The water exiting the conversion process is disinfected before reaching a river.

As for you drinking your waste matter, drinking water treatment facilities are usually upstream of wastewater treatment facilities. However, your drinking water facility may be downstream from someone elses wastewater treatment facility.

Answer 7

It is broken down by bacteria in the sand as it is filtered through. It eventually becomes CO2 and water and all the water soluble minerals in living matter.

Answer 8

The sewage is broken down and the water purified. The references will give you pictures and diagrams of the various processes used.