Compared with other types of sewage, medical wastewater contains special pollutants such as diagnostic reagents, pharmaceuticals and disinfectants, along with abundant bacteria and viruses. Direct discharge without reaching compliance standards will cause severe harm to the surrounding environment. Extra caution is required, especially for hospitals receiving infectious patients. Wastewater monitoring plays a vital role in the medical wastewater treatment process.

The core goal of medical wastewater treatment facilities is to eliminate pathogenic microorganisms in sewage and sludge. Several reliable treatment processes are widely applied at present:

1. This process is designed based on biological purification and hydro-mechanicsprinciples. The treatment sequence is septic tank → grating tank → regulating tank → biochemical tank → sedimentation tank → disinfection tank → discharge. Wastewater treated by this process can meet domestic discharge standards.
2. Biological contact oxidation combined with sedimentation and disinfection. The workflow follows grating → regulating tank → sedimentation tank → biological contact oxidation tank → reaction tank → secondary sedimentation tank → disinfection tank → discharge. Like the process above, wastewater will be disinfected and verified compliant before discharge.

For both processes above, online water quality monitoring instruments shall be installed at the outlet of the disinfection tank. Real-time medical wastewater monitoring is carried out to confirm all parameters meet requirements prior to discharge.

3. Another approach uses microorganisms to remove soluble and partial insoluble organic pollutants in wastewater through their metabolic activities, so that the treated sewage satisfies discharge standards.

Regardless of the adopted treatment technology, wastewater monitoring remains an essential step in the medical wastewater treatment process. Targeted testing and analysis shall be conducted on various pollutants in the wastewater. Fecal coliform is a key indicator for medical wastewater. The WECT-900 Online Coliform Analyzer can be used for real-time monitoring to check whether the measured value complies with relevant standards.