Guidelines for Sewerage Systems - Effluent Management
Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand and the
Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council, 1997
Download
Preamble
Australian communities generate large volumes of wastewater with domestic water use alone producing about 70,000 litres per person per year. Wastewater also comes from industry and commerce. Treated wastewater, known as effluent, is normally discharged to the environment, requiring proper management to protect public health and the environment.
A sewerage system:
- receives domestic, commercial and industrial wastewater
- treats the wastewater to the required level
- discharges the resulting effluent and solids to the environment.
In providing this service, the sewerage system:
- manages the liquid waste produced by a community, to protect public health and the environment
- treats and disposes of the effluent at a location distant from an individual's property, enabling higher density development, with savings in other services such as water supply, energy and transport
- enables large scale treatment installations to be built and operated, resulting in considerable cost savings
- results in point source rather than diffuse source discharges, which are easier to manage, monitor and modify.
The series Guidelines for Sewerage Systems covers sewerage systems as a whole. The five separate documents in the series deal with particular aspects of sewerage systems. This document provides national guidelines for the management of effluent.
Before you download
Some documents are available as PDF files. You will need a PDF reader to view PDF files.
List of PDF readers
If you are unable to access a publication, please contact us to organise a suitable alternative format.
Key
Links to another web site
Opens a pop-up window