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CHARACTERIZATION OF REUSABLE MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER EFFLUENTS AND CONCENTRATION OF ORGANIC CONSTITUENTS
Citation:
Smith, J., A. Englande, M. McKown, AND S. Lynch. CHARACTERIZATION OF REUSABLE MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER EFFLUENTS AND CONCENTRATION OF ORGANIC CONSTITUENTS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/2-78/016.
Description:
The main thrust of this project was to collect organic concentrates from operating advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) plants for use in health effects testing. A reverse osmosis process was employed in the first stage concentration; the organics were further concentrated and recovered from the resulting brine solution via liquid/liquid extraction. The final product was supplied to EPA for identification and toxicity testing in other on-going research efforts. In addition, chemical, physical, and biological analyses of effluent from the six AWT systems were conducted to determine how the quality of the effluents from these systems compared with current drinking water regulations. In spite of the fact that the AWT systems were not designed to produce potable water, all were characterized by high quality effluents. Pilot and fully operational plants evaluated were Lake Tahoe, California; Blue Plains, District of Columbia; Pomona, California; Dallas, Texas; Escondido, California; and Orange County, California. These systems were selected primarily because of availability and because effluent quality exceeded that of secondary treatment systems. Spot samples taken over a six to nine month period indicated that the parameters found to exceed drinking water regulations in most of the treated effluents included nitrogen (ammonia and nitrate), phenol, odor, carbon chloroform extract, turbidity, and specific heavy metals.