Full-Scale Plants for Dedicated Treatment of Hospital Effluents

Abstract

Hospital effluents are usually discharged in the municipal sewer system without any previous pretreatment. However, hospital wastewater contains a complex mixture of hazardous chemicals and harmful microbes, which can pose a threat to the environment and public health. Therefore, some efforts have been carried out in the last years with the objective of treating hospital wastewater effluents on-site before its discharge either in the sewer system or into the receiving natural water body. Several initiatives and case studies of full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) implemented in hospitals are gathered together in this chapter. Different treatment train types were considered and reviewed, and the most common and efficient primary, secondary, and tertiary treatments applied were discussed. Several water quality parameters were monitored in the 23 studies comprised in this chapter for the performance assessment of the hospital wastewater treatment plants (HWWTPs). Special attention was paid to specific contaminants that are present at relatively high levels in hospital effluent such as antibiotics. In line with this, the spread and dissemination of antibiotic resistance from hospital and HWWTPs was considered an important topic to be addressed in this chapter.