Where does used water from washing machines go to?

carlowplayer

When I was growing up ages ago the water used in our clothes and dish washing machine went through two pipes and was dumped into the woods at the bottom of our garden. Is this how most wastewater is disposed of or does it get sent to waste water treatment plants?

Victor

The phosphates used in washing powders can cause serious pollution, especially if they get into water bodies.

In urban areas, the waste water goes into the sewers and eventually ends up in a sewage treatment plant. Traditionally, combined sewers were used, which took both sewage and rain water (from roofs, roads, etc.). However, there is a move towards separate drains for sewage and rain water, so that the rain water can bypass the sewage treatment plant - it may however be subject to some superficial treatment, e.g. removal of oils and grits. The objective of the separate system is to stop the rainwater forcing polluted water out the far end of the sewage treatment plant and reduce treatment costs.

In rural areas, it ends up in a septic tank or biocycle unit. These should be emptied about once per year, but often aren't. About 50% of septic tanks are polluting the ground around them.

djpbarry

carlowplayer, you've started multiple threads over the last few days, mainly with simple questions that could easily answered by consulting Wikipedia, for example.

This is not Yahoo Answers, it's a discussion forum - please consider that the next time you start a new thread.

Thanks.