Remediation and Management of Sewage Sludge

*Farzana Malik, Muhammad Yousuf, Zeeshan Umer, Wajid Malik, Abdul Majid and Sajid Iqbal*

#### **Abstract**

In recent times, along with urbanization, the population of the city is also increasing rapidly. In this regard, the discharge of municipal sewage is increasing year by year, which is a worrying situation for living beings as well as the environment. In fact, wastewater is an important by-product of modern industry and contributes significantly to polluting the aquatic environment. Its sources are based on many industries and anthropogenic pollutants. The nature of wastewater is organic and inorganic. Many harmful pollutants especially heavy metals are present in sewage sludge and wastewater. Phytoremediation has become a significant experimental and practical strategy to use plants to remove heavy metals from sewage waters, sludges, spillage sites, and polluted places.

**Keywords:** sewage, sludge, contamination, phytoremediation, wastewater

#### **1. Introduction**

A vital requirement for human survival is water. However, this problem will only get worse over time because we are still far from fulfilling the world's standards for clean water. Due to declining water quality, global climate change, and population growth, there is a growing need for clean drinking water [1]. In recent times, the city's population has been increasing rapidly along with urbanization. In this regard, the discharge of municipal sewage is increasing year by year, which is a worrying situation for living organisms as well as for the environment [2]. High concentrations of microplastics (MP) have been observed in municipal sewage sludge. In various countries, it is used as a fertilizer for agricultural land. The application of microplastics to land can contaminate other uncontaminated areas, leading to uncontrolled pollution in those areas [3]. Municipal sewage is an accumulation of commercial water, domestic water of citizens, and municipal unit water. Municipal wastewater must be properly treated. Otherwise, it will be a serious threat to the ecological environment [2].

In fact, wastewater is an important by-product of modern industry and contributes significantly to polluting the aquatic environment. Based on the many industries and pollutants, there are different types of sewage sludge. Each industry sector releases its own unique set of contaminants. In general, there seem to be two types of wastewaters released from industries, chemical wastewater and biological wastewater [4].
