Wastewater in our life is a data analysis essay, which talking about the proportion of domestic sewage and sewage treatment conditions in Canada.

The picture is from the Japan plans to release Fukushima’s wastewater into the ocean by Dennis Normile

The water pollution issue in Canada

Water sources around the world are connected, so it is difficult to estimate the extent of water pollution in Canada (Hancock, 2022). However, according to statistics from the SDWF, it is enough to prove that water pollution in Canada is serious. Canada uses 5 million tonnes of road salt each year; fertilizer use is more than 15 times what it was in 1945; more than 360 compounds are found in the Great Lakes; Lake Erie is experiencing eutrophication due to excess phosphorus and nitrogen, and Canada currently uses about 70,000 commercial and industrial compounds and introduces 1,000 chemicals each year; “the Sierra Legal Defence Fund reports that 21 Canadian cities dump more than one trillion litres of untreated sewage are dumped into our waters every year” (Hancock, 2022).

Do you know the harm caused by wastewater?

Wastewater is a major factor in the decline of coral reefs worldwide (Wear and Thurber, 2015). According to the Wastewater Pollution by the Government of Canada, wastewater not only affects the environment and harms marine life, but pollutants from wastewater can also be released into the air, land and surface water affecting human health.

What is Wastewater?

Wastewater is the used water for domestic, industrial, and commercial use. Wastewater has a large number of chemicals and highly variable components. The removed component, it contains organic matter, microorganisms, and inorganic compounds. Wastewater will be released into lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, estuaries, and oceans. Another description of wastewater is storm runoff, for example, stormwater combines with pollutants from roads, parking lots and roofs and flows into the ground (Tuser, 2021).

The Treatment of wastewater

(The description of the following treatments are from the Government of Canada)

No treatment: No treatment process or only screening and/or grit removal.
Primary treatment: Removing a portion of suspended solids and organic matter by physical and/or chemical processes.
Secondary treatment: Removing organic matter and suspended solids using biological treatment processes and secondary settlement.
Tertiary treatment: Removing specific substances of concern (solids, nutrients and/or contaminants) after secondary treatment using a number of physical, chemical or biological processes.

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Volume and Source of wastewater in each province

The chart below reports the total amount of wastewater used in each Canadian province, as well as the sources and volumes of wastewater used. Among the surveyed provinces and territories, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Yukon were the major area of wastewater releases. Other Recreational and Sport Fishing account for a certain percentage of water use in each of the Canadian provinces. This is followed by Contact Recreational, Agriculture, and Commercial Fishing. The total wastewater volume in Saskatchewan is 7,744,727 m3 which is the largest volume of wastewater in Canada. Apart from “Other” (3,657,929 m3), agriculture is the largest part of wastewater production, with a volume of 1,125,337 m3. The other wastewater comes from Contact Recreational, Drinking Water Source, Other Recreational, and Sporting Fishing. The province with the second largest volume of wastewater is Yukon, which has 38,733,317 m3 of wastewater. Only two sources are given in the report, Other Recreational, which has a volume of 2,803,055 m3 of wastewater, and Sporting Fishing, which has a volume of 494,191 m3. In Quebec, the total volume of wastewater is 3,682,199 m3. Excluding “Other” (634,570 m3), the largest volume of wastewater came from Sporting Fish, which amounted to 519,130 m3. The other wastewater comes from Agriculture, Commercial, Contact Recreational, Drinking Water Source, Industrial, and Other Recreational.
(Note: “Other” is the no classified or recorded sources of use.)

Secondary Treatment

Methodology

In 2021, a news story occurred that the whole world opposed. Japan decided to release 1.25 million tons of treated Fukushima’s wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. The move has stirred a global sensation, with people in many countries voicing their opposition, especially environmental groups, fisheries organizations, and neighbouring countries immediately condemning the decision (Normile, 2021).

In 1983, The Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) provided data on wastewater treatment in order to focus on Canada’s performance in environmental sustainability. The aim was to improve the level of wastewater treatment and thereby reduce the harm to people and the environment. The chart below shows the level of wastewater treatment in Canada. Over the 1983 to 2009 period, secondary and tertiary wastewater treatment methods are slowly developing, and the percentage of untreated wastewater is decreasing. As mentioned the percentage of no-treatment wastewater decreased from 20% to 3%. The primary treated effluent has been maintained at 11-20%. Secondary and tertiary wastewater treatment has a large trend of ups and downs. Secondary wastewater treatment has an overall upward trend and reached 48% in 2004. In 2009, secondary wastewater treatment continued to increase, reaching a maximum of 53%. Until 1999, tertiary wastewater treatment was on a steady rise and had the highest percentage. After 2004, the proportion of secondary wastewater treatment increased rapidly, and the proportion of tertiary wastewater treatment began to decrease. The percentage of untreated wastewater has proven to be reduced by 17% through enhanced higher levels of wastewater treatment. This has significantly reduced the impact of pollutants on the environment and human health.

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Overall, the impact of treated wastewater on nature and human health can be reduced through better control of wastewater treatment. This chart shows wastewater treatment volumes by province in Canada from 2013 to 2017. As it turns out, secondary treatment is the main method for wastewater treatment. Secondary wastewater treatment accounts for a large percentage of usage in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, especially in Yukon where the usage rate reaches 100%. Only a small number of areas still have untreated wastewater.

The chart is from the Government of Canada - Municipal wastewater treatment

All data on wastewater treatment levels and provincial wastewater volume are from the Government of Canada.

Tool:

WordPress

Data Wrapper

Skill:

Data analysis

Wastewater in Our Life