Term: Tertiary treatment

Tertiary treatment

Tertiary treatment or advanced treatment in a WWTP is yet not applied widely. It provides a final stage to raise the effluent quality to the standard required before it is discharged to the receiving environment. More than one tertiary treatment process may be used at any treatment plant. In most cases it is a further nitrogen or phosphate elimination and/or a disinfection. Additional steps like lagooning or constructed wetlands are also counted as tertiary step if they are used after secondary treatment.