is the sewerage that we flush go through a purification system?

Question

do we recycle our refuse through a water purification system before putting it back into the ocean.or into a cesspit? the usa's sewerage system must be very intricate,i would imagine.

Answer 1

Yes, but its dependent on what municapality you are talking about. In Los Angeles, its sometimes recycled to the point of going back into our drinking supply. The facility that treats our water is called Hyperion and it is under the LAX airport. SOme only perform a crude form of treatment though. THe US sewage system is piecemeal and insufficient, but some are quite advance. We do recycle some fo the waste. The sludge from the settling pool is used to make methane to generate electricity in some cities and they use too, but I don't know for sure, cook the sludge to make fertilizer.

Answer 2

the raw wastewater enters into a large holding area at the wastewater treatment plant. when entering, a large screening machine first pulls out things such as longs, bricks, garbage, etc. then it goes into a series of clarifiers. these clarifiers are the large round tanks you see at a wastewater treatment plant. there is a small amount of mixing done in the bottom of the tanks. there are many types of processes, too much to explain in depth here. after a long process, you are left with two things: sludge and water. the sludge is then digested in by bacteria. the water is then further purified with filtration, generally sand. last but not least the water is chlorinated to kill any left over microorganisms. All of the water leaving the treatment plant must be up to potable water standards for that area.
http://www.college.ucla.edu/webproject/micro7/studentprojects7/Rader/asludge2.htm
this is one of the most advanced wastewater treatment plants in the world, the hyperion plant in CA. the solids produced by the sludge are used to generate electricity. it is an interesting read and will teach you everything you'd want to know about wastewater. I've had the opportunity to do some consultation work here.

Answer 3

In the USA and most of Europe it is but in China and India they dump the raw sewage right into the rivers. China's largest river, the Yangtze, is so polluted that it is undrinkable. The Yellow river is so bad that the water can not be used for drinking, fishing or swimming. The river absorbs 1 Million tons of raw sewage from the city of Xian alone. Crops that are watered with the river water are killing the people that eat the crops, but they have to eat some thing.

Two thirds of the 1.2 billion people that live in India do not have clean water to drink.

But even in the USA where we have sewage treatment plants in most cities we are polluting the ground water with fertilizers and runoff from polluted land that used to have factories on it. Even hand soap is affecting the fish, I read. The fish are loosing their sexual orientation and are a bit of both sexes. How confusing that must be while spawning.

Answer 4

In sewage, methane gas is given off. Methane gas is flammable and after dis accident where de pipes burst (eww) because of de pressure built up and sum idiot lightin a cigarette (smokng kills) a lot of peeps died. So now de sewage peeps hav built pipes in a way dat excess methane can escape, so no pressure build up will occur. In chemical science both gases and liquids are called fluids, because dey relatively hav de same physical properties, so if every1 flushed at once,all the excess sewage (mostly the liquid part) wll escape de same way as methane, out of the holey thingys on de street dat rats go into! By the way methane doesnt smell bad, dats hydrogen sulphide, which is not given of as much. And also methane is a green house gas (sniff!)!!!

Answer 5

Yes. It runs through a generally pure system and then runs back into lakes, rivers, or oceans.

There would be much bigger environmental problems than we are currently facing if we didn't do something to purify the large amounts of waste we produce before sending them back into the environment... though that doesn't mean we can't do better.

Answer 6

Yes of course! It is call Water Treatment in the USA.

Most places get billed for Water and Waste Water usage!

Answer 7

sewage treatment relies on bacteria to treat it with just a few more additives , very quickly raw sewage flow first passes through screens to take out rags ect , then passes through a large square like container , the flow is slowed down at this point via baffles to remove grit , flow then carries on into settlement tanks where the flow is slowed even more to remove the solids , the flow then often goes to large aeration lanes where air is added , it takes about 12hrs to go through the aeration tanks , when its comes out of aeration lanes it goes into other or final settlement tanks , very large , again the it all settles out but this time the surplus sludge ie settled sludge is returned to the works but the rest which looks like tap water is returned to the water courses . ie rivers , this is only a brief outline hopefully it helps ..

Answer 8

The solids settle out and the water is chemically treated. After that, the water is called "effluent water". Its not safe to drink but is commonly used to irrigate golf courses or is released into local waterways.

Answer 9

Yes every city has a purification system, if they don't they should be reported tjo federal government they have laws about that....

Answer 10

yes it does it goes through multiple stages but the end product is water that is 98% drinkable and the other product is used in fertalizing plants aka poop.