Chamin Kim
Hong Kong International School
Abstract
The treatment of wastewater is an important aspect in preserving water, an increasingly pressing issue as available water for consumption lessens. Wastewater is considered unusable due to high levels of contaminants and toxins, making it unfit for both human consumption and its return into the natural environment. Wastewater treatment plants are therefore implemented to allow for wastewater to be recycled and used again in the future. However, wastewater treatment methods vary in sustainability, with several conventional treatment methods proving to potentially hold harm to the environment by producing harmful byproducts during the process. Sustainable treatment of wastewater is crucial to ensuring the effectiveness of treatment and the safety of its future usage. The utilization of microorganisms during the treatment process poses as a promising solution to this. This paper will examine the viability of using microorganisms during the treatment process as a potential primary form of wastewater treatment. The paper will outline the wastewater treatment process using microorganisms, detail what function microorganisms serve to be sustainable, provide real-world implementation examples, and analyze the advantages and limitations and provide solutions to overcome the limitations with this treatment process.
