Wastewater discharge refers to the intentional release of treated or untreated wastewater from point or non-point sources into receiving environments such as rivers, lakes, coastal waters, or groundwater. As a research topic, it encompasses the characterization of effluent composition (e.g., nutrients, organic load, pathogens, micropollutants), hydrodynamic and dispersion processes, and the assessment of impacts on physicochemical water quality, ecological status, and human health. It also includes development and evaluation of regulatory standards, discharge permits, and best available technologies to minimize pollutant loads, as well as modeling and monitoring strategies to quantify emissions and their environmental fate.
The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority may have been caught loving that dirty water a little too much, as its board has halted a proposal that clean water advocates fear would dump sewage into the Charles River forever.
Environment
Nov 17, 2025
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Greenhouse gas emissions from many wastewater treatment plants may be more than twice as large as previously thought. This is shown in a new study from Linköping University, where the researchers used drones with specially ...
Environment
Oct 30, 2025
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Philadelphia discharges 12.7 billion gallons of raw, diluted sewage into the Delaware River's watershed each year—with Camden County adding to the mix, according to a new report.
Environment
Oct 28, 2025
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43
The antimicrobial triclosan is widely used in personal hygiene products, textiles and plastics, but when it enters the environment via wastewater, it poses a significant threat to aquatic organisms.
Nanomaterials
Oct 23, 2025
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83
Municipal wastewater treatment plants are ineffective at removing Prozac (fluoxetine) and other common pharmaceuticals in wastewater, causing the drugs to be discharged into lakes, rivers and streams where they pose a risk ...
Environment
Sep 24, 2025
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Urban water bodies—rivers, lakes and oceans—are in trouble globally. Large sewage volumes damage the open environment, and new chemicals and pharmaceutical compounds don't break down on their own. When they are released into ...
Environment
Jul 7, 2025
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Rising rural populations, drought and climate change are making water scarcity a problem in country townships—with more efficient handling of sewage system wastewater part of the solution.
Earth Sciences
Jul 4, 2025
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39
Across Africa, many rural communities face a growing sanitation crisis. Wastewater treatment systems, where they exist, are often old, overloaded, or broken. In some towns, untreated sewage flows directly into rivers, contaminating ...
Environment
Jun 2, 2025
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104
Scientists at the University of Stirling have developed a new method of monitoring the presence of pathogens in rivers polluted by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).
Environment
May 27, 2025
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30
Laughing gas (nitrous oxide or N₂O) is primarily released by the microorganisms responsible for cleaning our wastewater. These microbes live in complex communities, with each group performing a specific role. Emissions vary ...
Environment
May 8, 2025
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30
