The Collection and Treatment of Wastewater and Other Public Safety Issues
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) focuses on a variety of issues that pertain to the collection and treatment of wastewater and domestic sewage in an effort to protect the public’s health and safety. Furthermore, they are instrumental in the process of ensuring that there is sufficient supply of clean water for various purposes, which includes potable drinking water.
The Safe Drinking Water Act
In 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act was enacted by Congress. It was subsequently amended and reauthorized in 1986 and again in 1996, according to the EPA. This federal law gives authorization to the EPA to set national standards, which apply to public, rather than private, water systems. In order to accomplish this task, the EPA works in conjunction with states, localities, and water suppliers.
Water Collection Systems
There were 208 million people in the United States being served by centralized water collection systems in 2000. There are more than 151,000 public water systems currently providing drinking water for most people in the United States.
Sewage and Wastewater Collection
Currently, there are 16,000 operational municipal wastewater collection and treatment facilities that serve more than 75% of the country’s residents. When sewage and waste water are collected from houses, businesses, and various industries, the EPA indicates that it is then routed to wastewater treatment facilities prior to being reused or released into the environment.
Combined sewers and separate sanitary sewers are the basic types of systems that have been used by municipalities on a historical basis. The former consists of a single-pipe system that was designed to collect sanitary sewage and stormwater runoff. The latter is just used to collect wastewater, however.
The EPA reports that a variety of issues can arise with sanitary sewers when they’re not watertight. In addition to the occurrence of overflows, operational problems may also arise. There are, of course, different causes that can lead to sewage overflows. These may include blockages, broken pipes, equipment failures, and vandalism.
Preventative and Back-up Measures
Since these systems can fail, it’s important to have preventative measures in place, which includes back-up systems. Given the nature of a specific business or industry, it may be necessary to have on-site systems in place.
Is your company, for example, looking for above ground cistern tanks, custom water storage tanks, or potable water tanks for sale? When your business is located in a rural or industrial area, for example, it makes sense to locate potable water tanks for sale in order to ensure that you have sufficient drinking water. In addition to potable water tanks for sale, your company may have other needs, such as a wastewater treatment aeration tank, a fire protection water storage tank, or another type of customized storage tank.
