ABSTRACT
The development of wastewater treatment processes is related to treatment objectives, which are in turn dictated by wastewater characteristics and effluent quality requirements or standards. Although major constituents of municipal wastewater have not changed during the 80 or 100 years of modern wastewater systems, many new constituents and chemicals have appeared in the last three decades in municipal wastewater, due to technological advances in new products, changes and modernization in household habits and increased urbanization. Of particular significance was the appearance of synthetic detergents and associated washing formulations with widespread use of phosphates and the many synthetic organic chemicals widely used for a variety of household purposes. The major sources of these ‘new’ problematic constituents is industrial wastewater discharged into public sewers and reaching the wastewater treatment systems.
