{"id":111,"date":"2019-03-12T23:10:32","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T23:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/outsight-2\/"},"modified":"2023-04-02T03:13:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T03:13:39","slug":"outsight-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/outsight-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Out of Sight Out of Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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\n

Out
\nof Sight

\nOut of Mind<\/span><\/span>

\nA Wastewater Primer<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

  Sewer
\nSystems<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Some sewer
\noutfalls, the pipes which carry wastewater into the Sound, discharge
\nmillions of gallons of treated water each day. Toxic chemicals
\nthat are not removed in the water treatment process enter the
\nSound. <\/span><\/p>\n

In
\nsome areas of the Sound, elevated levels of toxic materials have
\ncontaminated the bottom sediments by binding to the fine mud particles.
\nAnimals living in the bottom muds and sand digest these toxic
\nchemicals along with their regular diet. Shellfish in the area
\nalso ingest toxic chemicals as they filter the water for their
\nplanktonic food. These may seem like sad, but unimportant, facts
\nuntil we understand that the worms, shellfish, and other bottom
\ndwelling animals are lower links of a foodchain that often ends
\non our dinner plates. <\/span><\/p>\n

Proper wastewater
\ntreatment, therefore, is very important. For example, before the
\nestablishment of METRO in King County in the early 1960s, most
\nraw sewage was pumped directly into Puget Sound and Lake Washington.
\nMuch has changed since then, but much remains to be done.<\/span><\/p>\n

Primary
\ntreatment<\/span>
\nremoves most of the floating and settleable solids by passing
\nthe wastes through grates, screens, skimmers, and settling tanks.
\nLittle more than half of the materials suspended in sewage can
\nbe removed through primary treatment. The remaining water, the
\neffluent, is usually treated with chlorine to reduce the risk
\nof disease organisms being released into the environment. <\/span><\/p>\n

Secondary
\ntreatment <\/span>removes
\nwaste materials biologically. Bacteria and other organisms break
\ndown dissolved organic materials present in wastes. Special filters
\nor activated sludge tanks provide suitable growing conditions
\nfor the organisms. Secondary treatment increases the removal of
\nsuspended solids to 85-95% and eliminates almost all disease bacteria.
\nSecondary effluent is also usually treated with chlorine. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tertiary
\ntreatment,<\/span>
\nwhile rarely employed, can further remove almost any undesirable
\ncomponent in the wastes including toxic substances, usually through
\nadditional biological action. <\/span><\/p>\n

New
\ntreatment strategies<\/span>
\nincluding chemical systems and use of artificial wetlands are
\ncurrently being examined to improve wastewater quality.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A
\nWord About Pathogens…<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Under nominal
\nconditions, properly maintained municipal sewage systems release
\nvirtually no disease causing organisms as part of their wastewater
\nstream. But in some systems, the pipes that carry wastewater from
\ntoilets, showers, sinks, etc. also carry stormwater from street
\ndrains. <\/span><\/p>\n

During heavy
\nrains, these combined sewer outfall (CSO) systems can receive
\nmore water than the treatment plant can handle. In these cases,
\nraw sewage mixed with the rainwater runoff by-passes the treatment
\nplant and is released untreated into the environment. These occurrences
\npresent both human health risks and a high risk of environmental
\ndamage. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

\n

\n

The
\npractice increases the flow of water throuigh your treatment system,
\ndecreases the treatment efficiency, and contributes to these by-passes
\nof untreated wastewater. If your community wastewater system uses
\nCSO’s, support efforts to separate the two types of wastewater
\nor to reduce the amount of overflow through other methods. <\/span><\/p>\n

Pet droppings,
\nanother source of disease organisms, are often washed into the
\nnearest storm drain or stream. Clean up after pets by burying
\nwastes or flushing wastes down the toilet.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

\nSeptic Systems <\/a><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Out of Sight Out of Mind A Wastewater Primer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9058,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template_6.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/111"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9228,"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/111\/revisions\/9228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.forsea.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}