Sources of critical contaminants in domestic wastewater: contaminant loads from household appliances

[摘要] The Smart Water Fund and CSIRO are conducting research aimed at understanding the origin and distribution of priority contaminants affecting water reuse and recycling (total dissolved solids, colour, arsenic, copper, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel and zinc).Increasing the understanding of the contribution of domestic households to the quality of wastewater is an important step to more effective water reuse and the development of contaminant management strategies.Wastewater produced from households is comprised of grey water and black water. The characteristics of household grey water are complex as flows are variable and the composition of grey water is typically dictated by local household features such as water supply, surrounding infrastructure and inhabitant lifestyles. In addition, as individual appliances have differentdischarge patterns, monitoring of wastewater streams from a household constitutes a technical challenge.This report Contaminant loads from household appliances describes the analysis of household appliance streams in a laboratory study. It is part of the Smart Water Fund project Round 3 – Project 5 Household sources of priority contaminants in domestic wastewater. The aim of this work is to characterise flows and contaminant profiles from different household appliances that require MINIMAL human interaction (i.e. washing machines, dishwashers or shower and sinks) under controlled conditions. This work will generate data which will create a better understanding of the temporal quality variation of wastewater flows from appliances and also identify significant contributors to contaminants identified as priority by the Smart Water Fund. It provides the basis for comparison for the next stage of the overall study which will measure and characterise human inputs and assess contaminant inputs from tap water.

[发布机构] CSIRO

[学科分类] 地球科学(综合)