Industrial Wastewater Pollution and Advanced Treatment Techniques

Background

The main wastewater collector, the Cloaca Maxima, in Rome presumably follows the course of an old ditch which was used at about 500 BC as a collector for wastewater ((Lamprecht, 1988). By 1880, scientists began to understand pathogenic bacteria and their association with specific disease. For example, calcium chloride was used to treat faeces from typhoid patients before disposal to sewers (White, 1972). Frankland (1869) proposed ten parameters to analyses the river water quality. The first activated sludge wastewater treatment plant was taken into operation in 1932, Kyläsaari, Finland. The first modern treatment plant functioned properly built after the Second World War in 1957 in Tali. An Industrial ecology was recognized as one step in “waste utilization” rather than “waste treatment” in the late 1990s. In 1996, the construction of a new blower building steel air lines, and provision of new sanitaire diffusers in the aeration chamber was established. The replacement of the original gas chlorination equipment was done with a liquid chlorination facility to meet E. coli effluent limitations in 2012. According to historical studies it has been observed that wastewater treatment techniques have improved with the development of economic conditions, civilization and awareness towards public health. The pollution due to industrial wastewater and the modern treatment techniques are discussed in this chapter.