Waste Water Operator 2 Study Guide

Receiving Water

A stream, river, lake, ocean or other surface or ground waters into which treated or reclaimed wastewater is discharged.

Nutrient

Any substance that is assimilated by organisms and promotes growth.

Nutrients that promote the growth of algae

Nitrogen and Phosphorus

Biosolids

A primarily organic solid product produced by wastewater treatment processes that can be beneficially recycled.

Effluent

Raw, partially treated, or completely treated water flowing from a reservoir, basin, treatment process, or treatment plant.

Fit-for-purpose treatment

Wastewater treatment variations that produce water of an acceptable quality for its intended reuse while minimizing the risks to human health and the environment.

Indirect potable reuse

Treated water stored before being delivered to a water treatment plant.

Direct potable reuse

Treated water returned to the plant without being stored.

Domestic contribution

Wastes originating in a residential facility or dwelling.

Organic wastes

Waste that may come from animal or plant sources.

Manufactured or synthetic organic waste ____ normally be consumed by bacteria and other organisms.

May not

Inorganic waste

Chemical substances of mineral origin that are only slightly affected by the action of organisms. Soil, sand and grit also may be classified as inorganic waste.

Suspended solids

Solids that either float on the surface or are suspended in water or wastewater.

When suspended solids is referred to as a waterborne constituent…

Total suspended solids (TSS) is the quantity of material removed from water or wastewater in a standard lab test.

Sludge

1. The unsettleable solids separated from liquids during processing. 2. the deposits of foreign materials on the bottom of streams or other bodies of water or on the bottoms and edges of wastewater collection lines and appurtenances. 3. Also called Biosolids, however biosolids typically refers to treated waste.

Primary treatement

A wastewater treatment process that takes place in a rectangular or circular tank and allows those substances in wastewater that readily settle or float to be separated from the wastewater being treated.

A septic tank is considered ____.

Primary Treatment

Milligrams per liter mg/L

A measure of the concentration by weight of a substance per unit volume.

In reporting the results of water and wastewater analysis, ____ is preferred to parts per million.

mg/L

PPM is ____ to mg/L

Approximately equivalent

Grit

Heavy material such as sand, coffee grounds, eggshells, gravel and cinders.

Aerobic bacteria

Bacteria that will live and reproduce only in an enviornment containing oxygen that is available for their respiration, namely atmospheric or oxygen dissolved in water.

Water combined chemically such as H2O, ____ be used for respiration by aerobic bacteria.

Cannot

Secondary treatment

A wastewater treatment process used to convert dissolved or suspended materials into a form more readily separated from the water being treated. Usually the process follows primary treatment using sedimentation

The _____ process commonly is a type of biological treatment followed by secondary clarifiers that allow the solids to settle out from the water being treated.

Secondary treatment

Stabilization

Conversion to a form that resists change.

Organic material is ____ by bacteria that convert the material to gasses and other relatively inert substances.

Stabilized

____ organic material generally will not give off obnoxious odors.

Stabilized

Anaerobic bacteria

Bacteria that live and reproduce in an environment containing no free or dissolved oxygen.

____ bacteria obtain their oxygen supply by breaking down chemical compounds that contain oxygen.

Anaerobic

____ which erodes concrete, may form explosive mixtures with air and is a toxic gas capable of paralyzing your respiratory system.

H2S

____ is a primary objective of a wastewater treatment plant.

Preventing disease

____ are the major types of waste discharges.

Domestic and industrial

____ wastes fit neither the organic or inorganic classification.

Thermal (heated) and Radioactive

Why are nutrients in the discharge of treated wastewater a concern?

They promote algae growth or bloom.

Disinfection

The process to kill or inactivate most microorganisms in water or wastewater. Includes pathogenic bacteria.

____ is the most frequently used form of disinfection in water and wastewater.

Chlorination

pH

The expression of the basic or acidic condition of a liquid, 0 being the most acidic and 14 being the most basic.

Algae

microscopic plants containing chlorophyll that live suspended in water or attached to submerged surfaces, producing oxygen in daylight and using oxygen at night.

The biological activities of ____ affect the pH, alkalinity and dissolved oxygen of water.

Algae

Total Solids include ____.

All solids. organic and inorganic, suspended and dissolved.

Suspended solids are composed of What 2 parts.

settleable and nonsettleable.

Organic Carbon

Carbon from living organisms such as plants and animals. it is in both dissolved and suspended forms.

____ are found by evaporating untreated wastewater and weighing the remaining material.

Total solids

NPDES permit

A regulatory document that limits discharges into US water ways and provides monitoring and reporting requirements and other provisions to ensure that discharges do not hurt water quality or peoples health.

POTW (publicly owned treatment works)

Devices and systems used to store, treat, recycle, or reclaim municipal wastewater or industrial liquid wastes that are owned by a state, municipality, special sewer district, or other publicly owned and financed entity.

1972 Clean water act (CWA)

Established programs including the NPDES and enforced by the EPA.

Combined collection system

Collects both storm water and wastewater.

Preliminary treatment

The use of bar racks, screens, shredders, and grit removal to remove materials that may hinder operation.

Screen

A device used to retain or remove suspended or floating objects in wastewater.

Shredding

A mechanical treatment process that cuts large pieces of waste into smaller pieces so they will not plug pipes or damage equipment.

Dewater

to remove or separate a portion of the water present in a sludge or slurry.

Clarifier

A tank or basin in which water or wastewater is held for a period of time during which the heavier solids settle to the bottom and the lighter materials float to the surface.

Weir

A wall or plate placed in an open chanel and used to measure the flow of water or to control flow to ensure a uniform flow rate and avoid short circuiting.

Media

The material in a trickling filter or rotating biological contactor on which slime accumulates and organisms grow on the material through which water or wastewater flows in a gravity or pressure filter.

Dissolved Air Flotation

A process in which air is dissolved into wastewater under high pressure and is then released into the bottom of the treatment tank to allow the air to come out of the solution in very fine bubbles and float the solids to the surface.

Permeate

The liquid produced from membrane filtration processes that contain a low concentration of dissolved solids.

Retentate

For a pressure driven membrane process, the portion of feed solution that does not pass through the membrane. Also called reject.

constituent

any non water substance contained in a solution or suspension.

Dalton

A unit of mass designated as 1/16th the mass of Oxygen-16, the lightest and most abundant isotope of oxygen. Equals one mass unit.

Reverse Osmosis

The application of pressure to a concentrated solution, which causes the passage of a liquid from the concentrated solution to a weaker solution across a semipermeable membrane. It allows the passage of water but not dissolved solids.

Potable Water

Water that does not contain objectionable pollution, contamination, minerals, or infective agents and is considered satisfactory for drinking.

Total Dissolved Solids

All of the dissolved solids in a water.

Photosynthesis

A process in which organisms with the aid of chlorophyll, convert carbon dioxide and inorganic substances into oxygen and additional plant material using sunlight for energy.Fa

Facultative Lagoon

Lagoons that contain an aerobic top layer and an anaerobic bottom layer.

Mercap