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What is wastewater?
Dirty water that is sent down our drains and toilets is called wastewater.
It contains materials that need to be removed before the water is returned to
the natural environment. These can include:
- solids and organic matter
- pathogens (disease causing organisms)
- nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, etc.)
- chemicals (cleaners, disinfectants, medications)
- heavy metals (mercury, lead, etc.)
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Wastewater
Ensuring that our wastewater is treated is important
for a variety of reasons. Untreated wastewater can pose
a health risk to people, pets and wildlife that drink or
come in contact with it. Disease causing microorganisms,
toxic contaminants, and levels of nitrates high enough
pose health threats can be found in untreated wastewater.
Untreated wastewater can also be an environmental threat
to surface and groundwater quality due to its organic matter
and nutrient content (phosphorus, nitrate and ammonium)
and the household synthetic cleaning products which it may
contain. It can fertilize water bodies, a process called
eutrophication, degrading water quality by causing noxious
blooms of algae and excessive pondweed growth, reducing
clarity and oxygen levels, and smothering habitat. All of
these effects typically lead to degraded food webs and fisheries.
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