wastewater
🇺🇸 /ˈweɪˌstwɔtɜr/
📖 Definitions
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noun
Water that has been used and contains dissolved or suspended waste materials, typically discharged from domestic, industrial, or commercial establishments, and requiring treatment before being released into the environment.; Water that has been contaminated by human activity, including sewage, industrial effluent, or agricultural runoff, as distinguished from clean or potable water.; The liquid waste or byproduct resulting from a manufacturing or industrial process.
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adjective
Relating to or involving wastewater, used attributively to describe systems, treatment, or infrastructure associated with the management of used water.
🔗 Details
Word forms
uncountable
Collocations
wastewater treatmentwastewater treatment plantmunicipal wastewaterindustrial wastewaterwastewater managementwastewater disposalwastewater system
Synonyms
sewageeffluentsewage waterwaste water
Antonyms
freshwaterpotable water
Commonly confused
sewage
EN: 'Sewage' refers specifically to the waste matter (solid and liquid) carried in water, while 'wastewater' refers to the water itself that has been used and contaminated.
effluent
EN: 'Effluent' typically refers to wastewater that is discharged or flowing out from a treatment plant or industrial process, whereas 'wastewater' is the general term for any used water.
Spelling tips
EN: Can be written as 'wastewater' (one word), 'waste water' (two words), or 'waste-water' (hyphenated). The unhyphenated one-word form is now standard in technical and environmental writing.
💬 Examples
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The city's wastewater treatment plant processes millions of gallons of sewage every day.
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Untreated wastewater from the factory was found to be polluting the nearby river.
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The chemical plant must comply with strict regulations regarding the disposal of its wastewater.
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The municipality invested heavily in upgrading its wastewater infrastructure to meet new environmental standards.