Chemical composition of domestic wastewater

Pollution reach to watercourses from many different sources, which vary both in strength and volume. The composition of domestic wastewater is a reflection of the Life styles and technologies practiced in the producing society has large effect on the composition of domestic wastewater (Gray, 2004).

Wastewater is mainly water by mass (99.9%). the contaminants in wastewater contain suspended solids, biodegradable dissolved organic compounds, inorganic solids, nutrients, metals, and pathogenic microorganisms. The suspended solids in wastewater are primarily organic particles, composed of body wastes, food waste, toilet paper. Inorganic solids in wastewater include surface sediments and soil as well as salts and metals (Templeton and Butler, 2011).

The typical approximate composition of domestic wastewater. (Templeton and Butler, 2011)

Wastewater is a complex mixture consists of natural organic and inorganic materials as well as man-made compounds. Three quarters of organic carbon in sewage are present as fats, carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, and volatile acids. The inorganic constituents include large concentrations of metal as sodium, magnesium, calcium, potassium, chlorine, sulphur, phosphate, bicarbonate, ammonium salts and heavy metals (Lim et al., 2010).