ABSTRACT
Historically, the options available for the treatment of industrial wastewaters have been broadly similar to those used for domestic wastewaters. These are direct discharge to surface water, direct discharge to sea through long outfalls or treatment prior to discharge of an effluent of acceptable quality. Treatment can be conducted at the industrial site, in which case the plant will often (but not always!) have been designed specifically to cope with a certain waste composition. Alternatively industrial wastewaters can be discharged to sewers with or without on-site pretreatment and treated in admixtures with domestic sewage at a municipal treatment works employing conventional processes.
