Waste Water Management Notes

• Water is a precious resource and we use water for various activities.
• But most of these activities make the water dirty after use. This dirty water is called wastewater.
• With all the waste in it, water becomes unfit for animals and plants to survive.

Wastewater

• When life forms in these water bodies die, the bacteria present in dirty water start decomposing them.
• As a result the water begins to sink. Hence, it becomes essential to have a proper mechanism for wastewater disposal.

• An excessive growth or 'blooms' of algae in lakes rich in nutrients such as phosphates is called eutrophication.
• Normally it takes thousands of years to progress, but human activities have enhanced this process greatly.

Eutrophication in a lake

• Oil spill is the intentional or unintentional release of oil into the natural environment, especially rivers and oceans, as a result of human activity.

Persian Gulf

• The Gulf war oil spill was one of the worst oil spills in history, resulting from actions taken during the Gulf war in 1991.
• It caused considerable damage to the marine life in the Persian Gulf.