Sanitation facilities treat wastewater, removing impurities and producing safe water. They can handle human waste, chemicals, and gray water. Processes vary and can be operated by governments or as a business. They can also sell water for agricultural or landscaping use.
A sanitation facility is a facility that treats wastewater. As water passes through the system, it undergoes a series of processes designed to remove dangerous impurities, producing safe and stable water at the other end of the sanitation process. Sanitary facilities vary widely in size and scope and are found throughout the world, primarily in urban areas and manufacturing centres. They are usually closed to the public, although those who are curious can arrange a guided tour of the facility.
One obvious use for a sanitation facility is in the treatment of water that has been contaminated by human waste. Many human waste disposal systems rely on the transportation of waste in water, with the water being treated in a sanitation facility or septic tank. In these plants, the water can be treated to various levels of purity and then released. Some sanitation plants sell their water for agricultural use, while others may distribute their water to landscaped city sites for the purpose of maintaining a green city without using fresh drinking water on the landscape. Others release treated wastewater directly into waterways such as rivers and streams.
A sanitation facility can also handle water that has been contaminated by other materials, such as chemicals. Some factories have attached sanitation systems that treat water that has been compromised by factory use. These facilities may be required to treat their own wastewater before releasing it into a sewage system, with the aim of removing impurities that a conventional sanitation system cannot handle. Sanitation facilities may also treat gray water, in regions where wastewater and gray water are handled separately.
A variety of processes and techniques can be used in a sanitation plant, depending on the type of material to be treated. Basic filtration is used, along with techniques such as allowing contaminants to settle to the bottom of large holding tanks while relatively clean water is allowed to flow out the top of the tank. Plants can also face specific problems such as known bacteria in the water or specific chemicals that may not be eliminated through normal wastewater treatment practices.
Sanitation facilities can be operated as a service to the public by a local government that wants to ensure that sanitation is provided for environmental health reasons, although they can also be operated as a profit-making business. Specialty sanitary systems such as those connected to hospitals and manufacturing plants are designed by sanitary engineers who address the specific needs of the system in their designs.
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