An innovative greywater treatment system for urban areas ... - SuSanA

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 LITERATURE STUDY
In the initial phase of this work a literature study took place to get an overview of
greywater characteristics, like volume, ingredients and chronological sequence. The reason
behind this approach was to find out the average daily quantities of freshwater used and the
amounts of different types of wastewater such as greywater and blackwater (drain from
toilets) produced in Germany. With this information insight of water consumption and
potential options of greywater reuse was obtained. Additionally, a summary of legal
foundations for water recycling was collected. Furthermore, a comparison of different
treatment technologies was carried out to get an overview of diverse treatment methods and
to extract typical membrane bioreactor characteristics compared with other technologies.
2.1.1 DEFINITION OF DOMESTIC PARTIAL WATER FLOWS
A multiple use of water in the household is the aspiration of greywater recycling. To create
a uniform understanding of the indications of the domestic water flow, the terms must be
defined. The chart in Figure 1 gives a visual impression of water flow in a building. In sanitary
engineering, there are common specific water terms and this is described in the following
paragraph.
Figure 1: Domestic partial water flows; (ewu aqua, 2011, modified)
Drinking water is defined according to the drinking water ordinance (TrinkwV) §3 as water
used in its original state or after treatment, intended for drinking, cooking, preparing food and
drinks, or in particular to the following other domestic purposes: personal care and - cleaning,
cleaning of objects intended to come into contact with food, cleaning of objects, which are
intended not only temporarily in contact with the human body. This applies regardless of the
origin of the water, its physical state and regardless of the way of deployment (by public
uilities, by tanker trucks, in bottles or other containers). With respect to the quality of water
intended for human consumption, water regulations define several requirements (TrinkwV,
2011):
- Water for human consumption must be free of pathogens, edible and pure.
- In the water for human consumption, pathogens within the meaning of § 2, No. 1 of the
Infection Protection Act must not be included in concentrations that can be responsible
for human health damages (microbiological requirements).
- In the water for human consumption it must not contain chemicals in concentrations
that can cause damage to human health. Concentrations of chemicals that
contaminate the water intended for human consumption or affect its quality adversely
should be kept low, in compliance with the generally accepted rules of technology at a
reasonable cost, taking into account the circumstances (chemical requirements).
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