One of the most dangerous polluting waste produced by the human being is wastewater. With this name all waters are grouped that, due to the action of man, have been contaminated and are potentially dangerous in the event that they are discharged into the environment without prior treatment.
However, it must be borne in mind that, although all of them are wastewater, not all are the same or all carry the same amount and quality of pollutants. If you want to know a little more about What are wastewater and how they are classifiedkeep reading ecology see and we explain it to you.
What are wastewater
When we talk about wastewater, we are referring to All types of water that has been negatively affected by the action of the human being. In this way, those waters that, for natural causes are not suitable for consumption or, for example, also all the waters that, having been affected by the action of man, yes, are not left.
In this sense, wastewater They are all those waters that have been used in domestic and urban environments, in industries and livestock, as well as the natural waters that, by accident or bad praxis, have mixed with the previous ones. In this way, we find that wastewater is water but, in addition to water, they also contain a A large number of polluting elementswhether solid or dissolved in the same water.
Regarding the pollution that wastewater can carry, it must be said that it is an almost as wide variety as the actions that the human being can perform on the water. Chemicals from domestic use (soaps, detergents, cosmetics, etc.), solid products (toilet paper, “disposable” cotton wipes, plastics of various sizes, etc.), heavy metals and very pollutants from the industry (lead, zinc, mercury, cadmium, bromine, etc.), and also organic remains, mainly, mainly, mainly, mainly, of fecal matter and urine.
In this other ecology article, you can know the causes and consequences of water pollution.
How wastewater is classified
At the time of classify wastewater We are going to find that they exist different systems To do it. This is due to the value we take as a reference. In this way, wastewater can be classified according to their quantity and type of chemical substances that carry, according to their characteristics of bacteriological type, according to the relationship between water and suspended matter and dissolved matter, or, which is usually the most common parameter of all, according to their origin.
Classify wastewater according to their origin It has an advantage over the rest of the systems, which consists, simply, that it is a much easier method to work with when performing the classification. In fact, the rest of the methods, require a series of scientific and study materials that allow analyzing the quality of wastewater to which we are. In this way, these are very useful classification systems, but within the scientific and environmental field.
How wastewater is classified according to their origin
At the time of Catalog Wastewater We will also be able to find different types of classification. However, the most common of all is the one that divides 4 types of wastewater (although these can then present their own internal categories).
Domestic or urban wastewater
This type of wastewater is the one that comes first to the head when we think of it, since it is a type of wastewater with which we are in contact every day. This type of wastewater is the result of the Use of water in homes and urban nucleiwhere a large number of shops or workplaces are also concentrated. It is a wastewater that is especially high in Organic and sedimentable solid pollutantsas well as in bacteria. It is the water we discard when we pull the toilet chain, when we showered, when we use the sink of the kitchen or even the water of the pools.
Industrial wastewater
This type of wastewater is the result of the processes that are carried out in the secondary sector of the economy, that is, the one referring to the industrial activities. Here the water that is discarded from the factories, to the energy production plants or any other activity that is intended for the manufacture of consumable products or manufacturing products is included. This type of wastewater is characterized by containing a high level of polluting components of the type of Heavy metalsamong which would be lead, nickel, copper, mercury, or cadmium among many others. Likewise, these are also wastewater that contain huge amounts of Artificial chemical elements of a very wide variety.
Wastewater and Livestock Water
This type of wastewater is less frequent in agriculture, since most of it is used for irrigation, although it is true that some crops, as well as activities aimed at the treatment of certain agricultural products, make use of plenty of water and produce wastewater.
However, the vast majority of wastewater in the primary sector comes from livestock, especially from the Intensive livestock. These waters contain high levels of contaminants derived from both certain chemicals that are used to raise cattle and, especially, those derived from the purines of the animals, that is, the fecal waste and the urine of the animals that remain in stabulation. These pollutants are very dangerous, since they can affect the fertility of the soils, coming to convert a fertile soil, into a complete moor due to the toxicity and saturation of the fecal particles they contain.
Wastewater derived from acid rain
Acid rain is a type of wastewater is usually unnoticed for most people. In spite of this, it constitutes a true example of wastewater generated by the action that the human being has in the atmosphere. This type of wastewater occurs due to the effect of the rain by dragging the pollutants present in the atmosphere, especially in the urban centers, which reach the ground and contaminate it. Most of this water, when they take place in cities, end up in the public sewer, where they join with domestic or urban wastewater.
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