Wastewater & sewage treatment: what’s NASA got to do with it?

Following on from my post about London’s most recent sewage incident, which killed over 3,000 fish, I take a look at NASA’s contribution to sewage treatment, improved air quality and biofuels …

In August this year, the third worst drought in Texas forced municipal water managers in Big Spring to consider recycling sewage water. The effluent, which would typically be discharged into a creek, would be treated and blended with potable water. In essence, shortening a process that would normally occur naturally, but with greater results.

This process isn’t as extreme as one might initially think, after all, a tank on the International Space Station collects and cleans urine to recover water for drinking, cooking and cleaning. Similar distillers and filters on the space shuttle Endeavor produced 6,000 pounds of potable water each year from the sweat and urine of astronauts!

In the 1970s NASA began to investigate the uses of sewage for this purpose. NASA’s research lead them to look at the environment’s ability to clean itself of pollutants. BC Wolverton, an environmental scientist who initially worked with the military to clean up environmental messes, was tasked with using plants to clean waste water at the NASA Center. It was identified that water hyacinths (commonly seen as invasive, nuisance weeds), thrive on sewage; absorbing and digesting the minerals in wastewater, giving clean water from sewage effluent!

Common water hyacinth

Today, water hyacinths are used to handle sewage in cities across the United States, such as in the city of Hercules, Georgia, where a 350,000-gallon-per-day water hyacinth wastewater treatment plant has been built. Despite this, water hyacinths still receive bad press, this year a water hyacinth invasion in California has caused the ‘weed’ to clog waterways, decreasing oxygen levels and killing plankton.

Solving London’s sewage problem: 3,000 fish killed by sewage in the River Crane

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The Angling Trust have described it as “devastating” and “tragic”, while Thames Water admit that it was regrettable. Thames Water issued an apology last week, after it was forced to allow sewage to spill into the River Crane near Twickenham after a sluice gate became jammed and engineers were unable to re-open it. Thames Water, who have acknowledged blame for this major pollution incident, said:

The six-tonne, cast-iron penstock, used for controlling flows, jammed closed on Saturday morning in a trunk sewer at Cranford Bridge on the A4 Bath Road while engineers carried out routine maintenance.

Attempts to re-open the sluice gate were not successful until 8am on Monday, when engineers used a custom-made lifting device to force it open.

With 3,000 fish now dead and an entire seven-mile span of the West London river uninhabitable, it is reckoned that it will be years, not months, before the river returns to its original, thriving state. The Environment Agency (EA) are in the process of carrying out a full investigation, intimating that prosecution may be an outcome. Since then, Thames Water have issued an apology with Chief Executive Martin Baggs pledging that the company is “committed to put things right over the long term.”

Dead fish in the River Crane and its tributary, the Duke's River, London

The EA have been working continuously with Thames Water in an effort to minimise any further environmental damage by taking water samples, as well as monitoring levels of dissolved oxygen and ammonia in the river. Although the pollution has now spread into the River Thames, it is reported as having had little impact.

Improving Britain’s Rivers: 10 Most Improved Rivers & Oxygenating the River Clyde

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Today, the Environment Agency published a list of the ten most improved rivers in England and Wales, which includes the the River Thames, Wear and Dee. This is great news for the people responsible for meeting stringent EU targets for water quality. By 2015, European Union Member States must achieve a good level of water quality for all rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal waters and groundwater, as set out in the 2000 Water Framework Directive (WFD), which became law in the UK in 2003.

The top 10 most improved rivers in England and Wales are:

1. River  Wandle, London
2. River Thames, London
3. River Wear, County Durham
4. River Stour, Worcestershire
5. River Darent, Kent
6. River Dee, Wales and North West England
7. River Nar, Norfolk
8. River Taff, South Wales
9. River Stour, Dorset
10. Mersey Basin

Britain’s rivers are the healthiest they have been in 20 years: no longer a symbol of our industrial past, but a flourishing haven for wildlife. A number of factors have contributed to the regeneration of these rivers, including habitat improvement projects, better regulation of polluting industries, and the Environmental Agency’s review of thousands of abstraction licences, which are required for those impounding or taking more than 4,000 gallons of water each day from streams, rivers, canals and reservoirs.

The River Wandle in 1973. The river was subjected to extreme pollution by local industry and declared a sewer in the 1960s

Now, the River Wandle tops the list of most improved rivers

Ian Barker, Head of Land and Water at the Environment Agency, said:

Work that we have done with farmers, businesses and water companies to reduce the amount of water taken from rivers, minimise pollution and improve water quality is really paying off – as these rivers show. Britain’s rivers are the healthiest for over 20 years and otters, salmon and other wildlife are returning for the first time since the industrial revolution.

In Scotland, work is also being carried out to help reach the targets set out in the Water Framework Directive and successes are being noted. Only last month, populations of resident and migratory fish were found to be thriving in the Glasgow city centre’s River Clyde, which is commonly perceived as uninhabitable due to the city’s heavy industrial and shipbuilding past.