• Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
  • Call Me Back
  • About
  • Knowledge
📞 Call us on 0330 223 31 31
  • 0Shopping Cart
Water Treatment Services
  • Home
  • Water
    • Applications
      • Boiler Water Treatment
      • Cooling Water Treatment
      • Closed Loop Water Treatment
      • Legionella Control
    • Services
      • Cooling Tower Cleaning
      • Cooling Tower Maintenance
      • Chlorine Dioxide Water Treatment
      • Commercial Water Softeners
      • Pre-Commission Cleaning
      • Tank Reline & Repair
      • TMV Servicing
      • Water Chlorination & Disinfection
      • Water Leak Detection
      • Water Testing
        • Drinking Water Testing
        • Metals Testing
        • Pool Water Testing
        • BSRIA Closed System Testing
        • SDI Testing & Analysis
        • Trade Effluent Testing
    • Training
      • Water Treatment Training
      • Basic Chemistry of Water
      • Industrial Treatment
      • Pre-Treatment
      • Boiler Treatment
      • Cooling Systems
      • Closed Systems
      • Wastewater Training
      • Advanced Treatments
      • Training Dates 2021
  • Wastewater
    • Metals Testing
    • Trade Effluent Testing
    • Wastewater Training
  • Air
    • Ductwork Cleaning
    • Indoor Air Quality
    • Local Exhaust Ventilation
    • Mould Testing
  • Energy
  • Legionella
    • Legionella Risk Assessment
    • Legionella Training Courses
      • Legionella Awareness Training
      • Responsible Person Training
      • Water Hygiene Awareness
      • Pseudomonas Training
      • Training Dates 2021
    • Legionella Testing
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
You are here: Home1 / Knowledge2 / Energy3 / Wastewater Treatability Study – Understanding Your Industrial Effluent S...
Wastewater treatability study

Wastewater Treatability Study – Understanding Your Industrial Effluent Streams

This expert guide from Water Treatment Services reviews the processes involved in a wastewater treatability study and highlights the benefits it can deliver. It explains what this type of study involves, and how a detailed evaluation of a business’s industrial effluent stream can help to reduce liquid waste disposal costs, improve environmental performance and support regulatory compliance processes. The guide highlights the importance of the initial wastewater testing and analysis stages, and then goes on to consider each step in detail.

What is a wastewater treatability study?

A wastewater treatability study is the process of looking at the wastewater a business produces and considering the best way of treating it from a process, environmental, regulatory and cost perspective.

A good treatability study will firstly identify the problem or problems the business faces in dealing with its liquid wastes, and then suggest which treatment solutions may be most appropriate.

Environmental and regulatory standards

Wastewater treatability studies should also look at any local environmental and other regulations affecting waste treatment processes when it comes to discharging water.

For example, if you are planning to discharge your wastewater or trade effluent directly into the public sewer, any water must come up to the standards set by the water company.

  • Learn more about trade effluent

If the water is to be discharged into water courses such as streams, rivers or the sea, different types of regulations may apply.

When pulling together a wastewater treatability study, at the early stages it is important that you examine in detail the relevant local environmental and waste regulations in order to establish what sort of biological and chemical make-up you need to achieve in the wastewater flowing out from your plant, factory or site.

  • Are you being overcharged for your water and wastewater?

How to construct a wastewater treatability study

Constructing a treatability study is an important process which can be split in to a number of distinct stages which are explained in more detail here:

Step one – Identify your wastewater problems

Usually, an organisation will already have an inkling about what their wastewater and contamination problems are before commissioning an external specialist such as Water Treatment Services to carry-out a detailed wastewater treatability study of their processes.

The wastewater specialists you engage will seek to identify ways of treating the problems you have already highlighted as well as testing for other contaminants not previously identified.

They will also review any changes in your internal processes which may have led to a change in the quality of the wastewater leaving you plant, process or site.

Thorough testing of the wastewater is always the starting point for any good wastewater treatability study.

This detailed chemical analysis will show exactly what minerals, chemicals, biological and other contaminants are in the water and that could impact the quality of your trade effluent.

This type of wastewater analysis is also sometimes known as a characterisation study and is an important initial step.

Once the microbiological and chemical composition of the water has been established, the next step is to look at which treatment solutions are most effective on that particular mix of contaminants.

Step two – Analyse the results of your wastewater tests

Depending on the size and nature of the wastewater treatability study, it can typically take as long as three months for the laboratory to come up with accurate water testing results that can be used as part of the investigations.

In an emergency situation, such as a spill or other type of on-site contamination, a temporary lab can be set up to fast-track tests through the system.

If the situation is less urgent, wastewater testing is typically done off-site and in a more detailed manner.

    • Learn more about wastewater testing and laboratory analysis

Three months is the worst-case scenario for a wastewater treatability study, as most straight forward water tests usually take up to a fortnight to complete.

This involves a number of days for scientific analysis in the lab, another few days to interpret the data, and a week or so to compile the analytical report and make recommendations for action.

If you know that your effluent streams are complex or involve complex contamination or organics, this timescale might be stretched closer to the three-month level.

At this stage of the investigation, the specialists which you have asked to perform your wastewater treatment study will typically liaise closely with staff on-site and deal with the person who is responsible for Health and Safety, or managing the company’s environmental responsibilities.

The techniques suggested for treating the wastewater must ensure that the water is brought up to the minimum standards set down by law, and preferably exceeding them.

Step three – Evaluate alternative treatment processes

Once the wastewater treatability study is completed, you should be very clear about what problem contaminants you have to deal with.

At this stage, some businesses will choose to trial the various options for treating or removing contamination from their effluent streams to see which approach is most effective from a process, environmental, regulatory and cost perspective.

Stage four – implementation of the preferred wastewater treatment approach

Once the most effective method, or methods have been established for dealing with your effluent, the next job is to work out how to scale up the approach to deal with much larger volumes of contaminated wastewater.

This might involve buying a new piece of plant or equipment, or making adjustments to some of the processes or equipment you already have on site.

Most wastewater treatability studies will look at the range of options for wastewater treatment, and will make a recommendation based not only on the most effective method of removing contamination, but also the most efficient and cost-effective based on the equipment and expertise you already have in your business.

On a final note, you should be wary of specialist companies who push their own bespoke wastewater treatment solutions only, and don’t take into consideration the specific requirements of your plant or current processes.

Wastewater treatability and industrial effluent solutions

Water Treatment Services offer a comprehensive range of industrial effluent and wastewater management solutions.

Find out how we can help reduce your costs, achieve regulatory compliance and improve environmental performance with a detailed wastewater treatability study.

Our experts can provide advice and full support to help you identify the most appropriate strategies for managing your liquid waste and effluent streams.

With offices in London serving the South and South East England, Manchester (North West), Birmingham (Midlands), Bristol (South East England and Wales), Leeds (North and North East) and Glasgow (Scotland), supported by regional teams of specially trained engineers, wastewater specialists and technicians we offer cost effective environmental support solutions across the whole of the UK and Ireland.

Contact us today to learn how our expert wastewater management solutions can help improve environmental performance, reduce costs and achieve cost effective discharge consent standards.

Contact Us Today

Further reading…

Learn more about our industrial wastewater solutions.

Tags: Trade effluent, Wastewater treatment
You might also like
Groundwater remediation and treatment Groundwater Remediation Techniques for Treating Contaminated Groundwater
The Mogden Formula and trade effluent charges Calculating Trade Effluent Charges Using the Mogden Formula
Water Efficiency in the Food and Drink Sector Improving Water Efficiency in the Food & Drink Sector
Guide to Treating Industrial Effluent Guide to Treating Industrial Effluent (Trade Effluent)
What is biological wastewater treatment? Biological Wastewater Treatment – What Is It & How Does It Work?
What is aerobic wastewater treatment? What is Aerobic Wastewater Treatment?
10 causes of industrial equipment-failure 10 Causes of Industrial Plant and Equipment Failure
What are the challenges facing wastewater treatment plant operators? What Challenges Face Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators?

Search…

What’s New

  • What is Trade Effluent?

    What is Trade Effluent?

    Trade effluent is defined as any liquid waste which …
  • Troubleshooting Problematic Closed Water Systems

    Troubleshooting Problematic Closed Water Systems

    This technical troubleshooting guide looks at closed water systems, …
  • District Heating – Heat Distribution Networks Explained

    District Heating – Heat Distribution Networks Explained

    This technical guide explains the concept of district heating …
  • Legionella Guidance for Landlords

    Legionella Guidance for Landlords

    In the UK landlords have a legal responsibility to …
  • Water Tube Boilers – Industrial Steam Generation Explained

    Water Tube Boilers – Industrial Steam Generation Explained

    This guide considers the use of water tube boilers …
  • Improving Water Efficiency in the Food & Drink Sector

    Improving Water Efficiency in the Food & Drink Sector

    This guide considers water efficiency in the UK food …

REVIEWS

4.8
4.8 rating
Water Treatment Services is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars (based on 94 reviews)
Read our reviews

Free Newsletter

Receive exciting features, news, latest research and special offers! Just add your email address and we'll do the rest.

Contact us

Water Treatment Services

[email protected]

Tel: 0330 223 31 31

© Copyright 2021 - EDG Ltd. Operating as Water Treatment Services
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
  • Home
  • About
  • Careers
  • Privacy
  • Environment
  • Reviews
  • Sitemap
Groundwater Remediation Techniques for Treating Contaminated Groundwater Groundwater remediation and treatment TMV valves - preventing scalding and legionella risks TMV Valves – Preventing Scalding & Legionella Control
Scroll to top

WTS response to Covid-19. As a responsible organisation we have robust Business Continuity Plans in place to ensure business as usual whatever the circumstance. In response to Covid-19, our aim is to ensure continued operations whilst protecting both our people and our clients. To this end we have initiated a number of practical measures that will allow us to continue to support our clients in the most appropriate way. Rest assured that we are making every effort to prevent or minimise any impact on our services during this public health challenge.

OK

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy
Accept settingsHide notification only