Bacterial Metabolism in Wastewater Treatment Systems

Water that has been used by people and is disposed into a receiving water body with altered physical and/or chemical parameters is defined as wastewater. If only the physical parameters of the water were changed, e.g., resulting in an elevated temperature after use as a coolant, treatment before final disposal into a surface water may require only cooling close to its initial temperature. If the water, however, has been contaminated with soluble or insoluble organic or inorganic material, a combination of mechanical, chemical, and/or biological purification procedures may be required to protect the environment from periodic or permanent pollution or damage. For this reason, legislation in industrialized and in many developing countries has reinforced environmental laws that regulate the maximum allowed residual concentrations of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous compounds in purified wastewater, before it is disposed into a river or into any other receiving water body However, enforcement of these laws is not always very strict. Enforcement seems to be related to the economy of the country and thus differs significantly between wealthy industrialized and poor developing countries. In this chapter basic processes for biological treatment of waste or wastewater to eliminate organic and inorganic pollutants are summarized.