Protecting Human Health from Pathogens

The primary objective of sewage treatment is to protect human health and the environment. Wastewater contains several substances which are removed in Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) before discharging or reusing the treated wastewater. These are mainly: carbon(COD, BOD), nitrogen (ammonium, nitrate, etc), phosphorus, pathogens (harmful bacteria and virus), and solids (Total Suspended Solids, Total Solids, etc).
Regulations set by authorities give the discharge limits of what can be discharged safely into the environment or reused
to replace potable water, and municipalities have to comply with these standards. During wastewater treatment the end-products are treated wastewater and sewage sludge. Both of these have
their own set of discharge limits.

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