Water and wastes：Treating and Recycling Water.pdfVIP

P a r t II WATER AND WASTES C h a p t e r 11 Treating and Recycling Water In the United States, each person generates almost then a meadow. Meanwhile, the farmland is gradually 75,700 liters (20,000 gallons) of sewage each year. drained of nutrients. Farm productivity falls, and pro- Fruits, vegetables, grains, milk products, and meats de- duce quality declines. Artificial fertilizers are applied to rived from nutrients in the soil are brought into cities, replace the wasted natural fertilizers. to be later flushed out as sewage. Some communities Designers can step into this process when they make discharge bacteria-laden sewage into nearby lakes, rivers, decisions about how wastes will be generated and han- or the ocean. Most cities and towns send the sewage to dled by the buildings they design. Sewage treatment is treatment plants, where the solid matter (sludge) settles expensive for the community, and becomes a critical is- out. The remaining liquid is chlorinated to kill bacteria sue for building owners where private or on-site sewage and then dumped into a local waterway. treatment is required. In a geographically isolated com- The sludge is pumped into a treatment tank, where munity, like Martha’s Vineyard off the Massachusetts it ferments anaerobically (without oxygen) for several coast, restaurants have been forced out of business by weeks. This kills most of the disease-causing bacteria the high cost of pumping out their septic tanks. One lo- and precipitates out most minerals. The digested cal businessman calculates that it costs him abo