The 3 Different Types of Wastewater

It’s essential to understand the different types of wastewater to treat them properly. The whole purpose of wastewater treatment is to remove the suspended solids before the remaining water – the effluent – is sent back into the environment. 

Knowing what type of wastewater you’re dealing with will enable you to treat it properly so the effluent can be used for your industrial facilities. 

There are three different types of wastewater – clean water, greywater, and blackwater. This blog covers everything you need to know about each type of wastewater so you can properly treat it for your industrial facility. Keep reading to learn more. 

Clean Water

Floodwater that won’t hurt anyone it comes in contact with is known as clean water. Don’t let the term fool you, though. That doesn’t mean it’s safe to drink or cook with. It still needs to be treated to remove suspended solids – including solids that are invisible to the naked eye – so the effluent can be used. 

Clean water won’t make you as sick as greywater, but it can still negatively affect your health. Examples of clean water include melting snow, stormwater, malfunctioning appliances, and water from toilet tanks (the tank, not the bowl). Advanced filtration systems can make clean water safe for cooking or drinking.

Since clean water won’t harm anyone, you can clean it yourself. But do so quickly! In less than two days, the clean water can turn into greywater, which requires professional cleaning because of the particulates and suspended solids it contains.

Greywater

Also known as sullage, greywater is wastewater that hasn’t been contaminated with feces. Examples include water from your bathtub or shower, washing machine, dishwasher, or sink. 

You can use greywater for purposes like toilet water or lawn irrigation, but you’ll want to keep it away from people, pets, and food, as there are suspended solids that could make them sick. Flowers are safe with greywater; fruit and vegetable gardens aren’t.

You can use greywater instead of clean water to conserve water, but you must be very careful. In industrial settings, you don’t want to store water for longer than 24 hours since it can turn septic from the lack of oxygen. 

Be careful not to use the wrong equipment, either. Conventional drip emitters, gravity-fed irrigation systems, and perforated pipe designs should not be used with industrial wastewater systems since you can’t always control where the water will go. 

Something could easily go wrong without you realizing it right away, costing you time and money. Not to mention, you could also end up with clogs from suspended solids that get stuck or from root infiltration. Carefully picking the right equipment can ensure that these mistakes don’t happen. 

Blackwater

Blackwater is about as far from clean water as you can get. It most often contains urine, feces, and toilet paper. It’s highly contaminated, dirty water you don’t want in your home. Unfortunately, many developing countries only have access to blackwater. It’s a major source of illness. 

Unlike greywater, blackwater should not be used for irrigation because the waste doesn’t have enough time to break down and decompose in the water. Blackwater will contaminate anything it touches; it’s dangerous, ruins most things it touches, and is a biohazard that should only be cleaned by professionals.

There are other types of blackwater, too. It can include water from a restaurant’s food preparation sinks or dishwashers. In short, any raw sewage counts as blackwater. You could encounter pathogens, dissolved chemicals, and particulate matter. 

There are four types of pathogens found in blackwater: viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Coming in contact with blackwater can cause viruses as mild as the common cold and as severe as HIV and AIDS. Blackwater can cause bacterial infections like strep throat, Lyme disease, bacterial meningitis, or tuberculosis. 

Dissolved chemicals in blackwater are particularly dangerous since they can be mostly or entirely invisible. The same is true for particulate matter that’s microscopic in size, which brings us to an important point. 

The term “blackwater” can be misleading; the color of the water isn’t necessarily black. In fact, you might not be able to tell the difference between clean water vs. greywater vs. blackwater, which is why wastewater treatment in your industrial facility is critically important.

Effluent Water

The ultimate goal for the different types of wastewater is to clean them sufficiently for their intended purpose. Not all effluent water needs to be clean enough for drinking water. 

As we mentioned earlier in this blog, greywater can be used for watering plants and flowers. And while blackwater should never be consumed, it can be re-routed through the pipes as toilet water, which is already considered blackwater. 

Effluent water is essential for water conservation. Without it, clean water would constantly need to be produced, stretching resources thin and creating water shortage problems that effluent water can resolve. 

Get Your Wastewater Treatment System from J.Mark Systems.

If you don’t already have a wastewater treatment system, you’ll want one now that you know about the different types of wastewater. 

No matter your industry – be it automotive, aerospace, metal finishing, plastic plating, electronics, power generation, petrochemical, mining and metals, or PFAS remediation – J.Mark Systems has what you need to ensure you have the right kind of water for your industrial needs.

Our treatment systems include ion exchange, reverse osmosis, sludge dewatering and drying, membrane separation, multimedia filtration, chemical feeds, and more. 

Our process is simple. Let us get to know your business’s needs. We’ll propose what we think will work best for you. If you like what you see, we’ll design, fabricate, install, and start your water treatment system. 

We also provide operations and maintenance services should something go wrong or it comes time for maintenance. We can also remotely monitor your system to stay a step ahead of potential problems.

Are you ready to get started with your water filtration system with J.Mark Systems? Our experts will take great care of you and ensure you have everything you need. Contact us through our website to get started!