Towards Clean Water: Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Technologies

Wastewater has distinct tendencies and affinities, the identification of which reflects the origin of the discharge. It can be domestic, the most abundant type (washing, kitchen, laundry, toilet water, etc.), the most harmful type of wastewater because of its fermentable and pathogenic nature, industrial wastewater or, in very variable proportions, rainwater. Urban wastewater contains solids, dissolved substances and microorganisms, the latter along with heavy metals being the main reasons for the restrictions imposed on reuse. All this domestic wastewater, as well as that generated by industry and agriculture, ends up in rivers and can contribute not only to the destruction of their flora and fauna, but also to the pollution of the aquifers from which man draws part of his drinking water. That’s why it’s vital to treat wastewater.