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Concept
Decentralized wastewater system
Summary
Decentralized wastewater systems (also referred to as decentralized wastewater treatment systems) convey, treat and dispose or reuse wastewater from small and low-density communities, buildings and dwellings in remote areas, individual public or private properties. Wastewater flow is generated when appropriate water supply is available within the buildings or close to them.
Decentralized wastewater systems treat, reuse or dispose the effluent in relatively close vicinity to its source of generation. They have the purpose to protect public health and the natural environment by reducing substantially health and environmental hazards.
They are also referred as "decentralized wastewater treatment systems" because the main technical challenge is the adequate choice of a treatment and/or disposal facility. A commonly used acronym for decentralized wastewater treatment system, is DEWATS.
Centralized wastewater systems are the most widely applied in well-developed urban environments and the oldest approach to the solution of the problems associated with wastewater. They collect wastewater in large and bulk pipeline networks, also referred as sewerage, which transport it at long distances to one or several treatment plants. Storm water can be collected in either combined sewers or in a separate storm water drains. The latter consists of two separate pipeline systems, one for the wastewater and one for the storm water. The treated effluent is disposed in different ways, most often discharged into natural water bodies. The treated effluent may also be used for beneficial purposes and in this case it is referred as reclaimed water.
The main difference between decentralized and centralized systems is in the conveyance structure. In decentralized systems the treatment and disposal or reuse of the effluent is close to the source of generation. This results in a small conveyance network, in some cases limited only to one pipeline. The size of the network allows for applications of different conveyance methods, in addition to the well-known gravity sewers, such as pressurized sewers and vacuum sewers.
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